When E.T. comes to work

So what would you do if aliens really invaded earth? Would you scream and freak out? Would you start praying? Would you hide your ass from anal probes?

Well one game idea I had is based on just that question. What would you do if you were at work in some huge skyscraper building and one day during work a "alien" invasion occurred. Imagine waking up to realize all the power in your building was gone and that the top of your building was beginning to crash down.

The basic premise of the game would be for the player to work his way down to the exit of the building and escape before the building collapses. There wouldn't be a timer or anything, but the threat of the building collapsing would still be there.

Game play would be very puzzle based with a bit of action here and there. The main character is your average schlub who gets thrown into this scary situation and must use everything around him to get out of the building. Imagine MacGuyver and you sort of get the idea. You won't be alone and there would be survivors near you, but end up leaving you alone since your escape plans seem to risky.

Since the building you are in is a mix of business and entertainment, other levels in the building would have different type of environments and puzzles. Everything to fighting off wildlife to figuring out how to escape from a mall jail.

Mind you, you will never actually see the aliens. They aren't really the threat. Its the building caving in on you that the giant threat in this game. I wanted a more "real" threat for the player to have to deal with then the already used and somewhat tired "killing aliens" concept.

Meaning I don't want this to turn into a third Half-Life game. Valve and Bungie got the whole killing alien thing down, so let them have it. I want a game where you end up having to fight other humans for survival and its about you escaping a real threat that was caused by something fictional.

I think this would be a good way to test out people's brains since the game would have multiple items that could be used to escape as well as a few different paths that could be taken out of each building level.

Anyway, thats it for now. Just a short concept since I haven't given it to much thought in a little bit. I just like the idea of a puzzle type game with a creepy atmosphere where its dog eat dog and you are just trying to survive against your fellow man.

-P. Knight