I’ve been in video games forever. I’m a competitive, and not a casual gamer. For me, Brink has the makings of something great. SMART and character-badass is defiantly something I can get behind. You recognize those core elements of interaction. How I can execute my play (terrain is extension of my hand), and how others perceive me.
Character customization reminds me of the quakeworld days, where any player could paint different textures on their models. You had everything from nudity to stormtroopers to guys with targets on their backs to whatever. Half-life 1 dm, where people could swap in different player models, like toothpaste roll or gumby, or megaman or whatever. UO, where people had tons of room to customize their get-up. Ride in on a lama with a neon orange shirt and a Mexican sombrero. God… those were the days. The real point was the players are extremely memorable. It’s Big-Bird, he is awesome… runnn! And while you could take other peoples skins and use them - for the most part, you always know when the real big-bird is on. The look, the style lasts. I like how this is a core design tenet.
SMART is excellent. While no real opinion can be created without a controller in your hand, the direction is spot on for gamers seeking control. Reminds me most of the freedom of ‘The Hidden’ Half-life mod. It would be great if you could remove the SMART button, and activate it automatically based on what you think the player is doing. If I run up to a bench and hit space… I want to jump on the bench. But if I hit it a bit soon, then I want to slide to it. Make timing your ally. There are loose and fast comments as I’ve had no direct contact with your game - but I do wonder - will I just duck tape that button down?
In addition, I want view inversion when my character is physically upside down. If doing a back flip or side roll, I want my camera to follow my rotation. And, I want my back flips to be seen by others, not just a local client simulation. I don’t want others seeing back flips when I didn’t know I was, and I don’t want to do back flips and have others not see it. Essentially, I want to use the terrain, jump down, have my view being spun around, and headshot an enemy while wearing some really goofy looking shit.
Another concept I would love to see is bounty. This idea comes from infantry zone, the game that Sony killed. If I am amassing kills, a bounty starts to grow on my head. Killing me gives some type of reward - maybe just recognition or ammo restock or something - lot of flexibility here.
Another wonder I have is how you are going to target different gamer markets and how you think your game will meet the needs of different players.