High Concept: This game looks at addiction and reliance. The selling point of the game, the ability to forget, is meant to make players aware of the world and the effect their character has on it.
You play a classic puzzle platformer with a strange twist. When we play a platformer we know there are things to avoid, like spikes, pits and lava. We actively hop out of the way when we see these death traps inbound. Forget Spikes takes that idea and switches it up.
Platfrom: XBLA Title
Why it needs to be made: Puzzle Platfromers are a gaming staple. Everyone has played either Mario or Sonic once in their life, and the lessons taught in those games expanded through the creation of other games. Forget Spikes questions the simple ideas put forward in those games. Who are the spikes bad for? The player, or the character. Who created them, and is it possible to just forget what they do?
Description: You play as a character who has a bit of a memory problem. Everything is fine until you bump your head and then things get a little, well, strange. Sometimes you forget things, sometimes you remember things. Sometimes your best friends become your worst enemies.
You play as a protagonist is a wacky world of spikes, lava and enemies. Sometimes however you will be faced with an obstacle that looks almost impossible to navigate. Like a floor of spikes and no platforms around. The player needs to find a way to then bonk the character's head and forget that spikes hurt him. Doing this will make the screen go a little wavy and the sound gets a bit distorted, but the player can now walk on spikes! He has forgotten if they hurt or not.
Too many bonks on the head may make the character forget what was good for him too. Do normal flat platforms mean safety? Then why is it when I stand on it things seem to get worse? Did that extra life just kill me?
At the end of every level the character and the world reset, and the player can use the forget mechanic all over again.
As the player forgets more, the game begins to get more wavy, the sound more distorted. Too many bashes and the character begins to loose sight of where they are supposed to be going, who they are supposed to be saving and what their power-ups do. They begin to lose touch and the world warps, what seemed to be an advantage early on now seems to be a curse, but the player has to use it! There is no other way around this seemingly impossible obstacle, right?!
As the player continues through the game they will be presented with more obstacles, like lava, acid and electricity that would kill them if they came into contact with it. Bashing their head against something to forget is the only chance they have for getting through, or so it would seem. The player will be taught early about this mechanic and there will only be one level, the tutorial on how to use the forget mechanic, where it needs to be done to complete the level. The rest of the game every level is solvable without the forget the mechanic but it will be difficult.
Why it will be fun: The Forget Mechanic is meant to entice the player into getting themselves gummed up in their own brilliance. Bashing the characters head in and watching the world turn new colors, warp and become easier will be fun, but the mess it gets the players in later will be fun as well. That is, the player will approach a puzzle in the later levels and will try and Forget the things around them to complete it, when the character forgets what a 1-UP is, or can't get to the end because he forget where the door is, the player has a new problem to solve.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Game Idea #2: The Mad King
This idea came about when fellow designers Jake Anderson and Greg Mladucky were rolling for Noble Houses using the Song of Ice and Fire RPG book. We rolled a house that had madness as one of its aspects and it took away from a few of the stats houses were given, but added to others. Madness can sometimes be profitable, and it led to this game idea.
High Concept: RTS games where the player creates a kingdom and set of units to assault an enemy have been done several times. Strategy is a serious part of this, being in the title RTS, but never like this. In this game you play an insane king whose madness leads to the profitability of his kingdom. The strategy here is thinking with a fevered mind.
Platform: PC Title
Why it needs to be made: Strategy games that around rely to much on common conventions. Knights are beaten by Knights on horses, defenses are taken down by siege engines. All of these tried and true methods of war have been done and done again in video games. This game puts you in a place where the weight of the crown is indeed too heavy on the head that it lies. You don't so much as defeat other kings as intimidate them.
Description: The player takes on the role king who is more then a little off his rocker. The player sees the traditional screen of an RTS. A large display on most of the screen commands in the lower part and a mini-map on the lower right. The commands area of the of the screen will have the basic command "Build" after a few tutorial levels about how to build buildings and units more commands will appear after selecting units.
For instance, in a level where the player needs to intimidate a superstitious king he will click on his peasant, unit, the lowest unit and builder, and the command next to "Build" will say "Dig Up Corpses" if the player clicks that the peasants will begin to dig corpses. Clicking the corpses will let you place them on buildings, towers and on horses that ride around without player control. The visiting king will be so horrified by the sight, "Look what he does with his dead! He'll do the same to us! We better allow him to...absorb us" that he bends knee there and then.
All sorts of these little options will open as the levels progress. Its really a combination of a point and click adventure game and an RTS. The players discover new ways to make other kings fear them and have fun doing it.
Why it will be fun: There is fun in being daft and ridiculous. The ways you prove to the other kings how rich and insane you are makes them frightened of you. One king is intimidated by show of wealth, so you build 13 towers next to each other. Sure, their ability is redundant that close, but look at how much gold you have! You must be a powerful king!
Final Notes: While I wrote this I should have been writing an paper on how Ireland wasn't conquered by the English until the Tudor conquest. Life imitates blog!
High Concept: RTS games where the player creates a kingdom and set of units to assault an enemy have been done several times. Strategy is a serious part of this, being in the title RTS, but never like this. In this game you play an insane king whose madness leads to the profitability of his kingdom. The strategy here is thinking with a fevered mind.
Platform: PC Title
Why it needs to be made: Strategy games that around rely to much on common conventions. Knights are beaten by Knights on horses, defenses are taken down by siege engines. All of these tried and true methods of war have been done and done again in video games. This game puts you in a place where the weight of the crown is indeed too heavy on the head that it lies. You don't so much as defeat other kings as intimidate them.
Description: The player takes on the role king who is more then a little off his rocker. The player sees the traditional screen of an RTS. A large display on most of the screen commands in the lower part and a mini-map on the lower right. The commands area of the of the screen will have the basic command "Build" after a few tutorial levels about how to build buildings and units more commands will appear after selecting units.
For instance, in a level where the player needs to intimidate a superstitious king he will click on his peasant, unit, the lowest unit and builder, and the command next to "Build" will say "Dig Up Corpses" if the player clicks that the peasants will begin to dig corpses. Clicking the corpses will let you place them on buildings, towers and on horses that ride around without player control. The visiting king will be so horrified by the sight, "Look what he does with his dead! He'll do the same to us! We better allow him to...absorb us" that he bends knee there and then.
All sorts of these little options will open as the levels progress. Its really a combination of a point and click adventure game and an RTS. The players discover new ways to make other kings fear them and have fun doing it.
Why it will be fun: There is fun in being daft and ridiculous. The ways you prove to the other kings how rich and insane you are makes them frightened of you. One king is intimidated by show of wealth, so you build 13 towers next to each other. Sure, their ability is redundant that close, but look at how much gold you have! You must be a powerful king!
Final Notes: While I wrote this I should have been writing an paper on how Ireland wasn't conquered by the English until the Tudor conquest. Life imitates blog!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Game Idea # 1: First is the Worst
Here is my first idea, and one I'm quite enamored with at the moment.
High Concept: People always want to be first, because being first means you did it. You win. You worked hard to get to this position. You get to stand on that little pyramid thing and hold the gold. That is unless you live in a society where being better is looked down upon. In this game you race to survive and try your best not to be first. This game is the virtual saying "One does not need to be faster then the bear, just faster then your friends".
Platform: XBLA Title / Kinect Title
Why it needs to be made: Its easy for a game to create a competition where people strive to come out on top. People get caught up in being in that number one place while the other places are considered "worse". This game looks at those worse places and makes them a place for the player to strive for.
Description: In a brutal dystopian society everyone must be the same in certain aspects. There is a norm that everyone must strive to be and no one is allowed to be better or worse then this norm. This is true for the large working class, but not so much for The Fist, the government that rules this State.
Every year a race is held for both public entertainment and population control. This race weeds out the more physically fit and the less fit so only the norm remains. Players take on the roll of people pressed into these races by The Fist. They just need to survive and not be too good or too bad. These racers are fit with packs that will not allow them to stop running. They will keep running until the race is over. Natural fitness will show who is better... unless the player takes underhanded measures to keep out of first.
The player's are given characters and the race begins. The characters race for 3 seconds taking places 1 from 7 without player interaction, then the player's take over. As they race they will gain power ups like Lactic Acid or Adrenaline. Players can use these on themselves or players in front or behind them. Adrenaline speeds up while lactic acid slows down. At the end of a race people in deadly places lose.
Every race a place becomes deadly. The first race first place will get you killed. The second race last place will get you killed along with first. This continues until only fourth place is the safe place. The game's re-playability comes with the different tracks, power ups and game modes. One would of these modes would provide a player a bonus for being in a certain place when a timer runs out. A better bonus would be assigned for people who make their way to the taboo places for that particular race.
This game can be played as an offline Story Mode, and offline multiplayer, or an online multiplayer.
Why it will be fun: This is a race game where most of the players will feel relatively safe in the back for a few rounds. It gets to a point where the pressure gets pumped per level till the final level everyone is on edge.
Final Notes: I love dystopian futures. I hated gym as a school kid. This game combines both for a fun and exhilarating experience for everyone involved. Combine with the Kinect and you get a good workout while trying to race for your life.
High Concept: People always want to be first, because being first means you did it. You win. You worked hard to get to this position. You get to stand on that little pyramid thing and hold the gold. That is unless you live in a society where being better is looked down upon. In this game you race to survive and try your best not to be first. This game is the virtual saying "One does not need to be faster then the bear, just faster then your friends".
Platform: XBLA Title / Kinect Title
Why it needs to be made: Its easy for a game to create a competition where people strive to come out on top. People get caught up in being in that number one place while the other places are considered "worse". This game looks at those worse places and makes them a place for the player to strive for.
Description: In a brutal dystopian society everyone must be the same in certain aspects. There is a norm that everyone must strive to be and no one is allowed to be better or worse then this norm. This is true for the large working class, but not so much for The Fist, the government that rules this State.
Every year a race is held for both public entertainment and population control. This race weeds out the more physically fit and the less fit so only the norm remains. Players take on the roll of people pressed into these races by The Fist. They just need to survive and not be too good or too bad. These racers are fit with packs that will not allow them to stop running. They will keep running until the race is over. Natural fitness will show who is better... unless the player takes underhanded measures to keep out of first.
The player's are given characters and the race begins. The characters race for 3 seconds taking places 1 from 7 without player interaction, then the player's take over. As they race they will gain power ups like Lactic Acid or Adrenaline. Players can use these on themselves or players in front or behind them. Adrenaline speeds up while lactic acid slows down. At the end of a race people in deadly places lose.
Every race a place becomes deadly. The first race first place will get you killed. The second race last place will get you killed along with first. This continues until only fourth place is the safe place. The game's re-playability comes with the different tracks, power ups and game modes. One would of these modes would provide a player a bonus for being in a certain place when a timer runs out. A better bonus would be assigned for people who make their way to the taboo places for that particular race.
This game can be played as an offline Story Mode, and offline multiplayer, or an online multiplayer.
Why it will be fun: This is a race game where most of the players will feel relatively safe in the back for a few rounds. It gets to a point where the pressure gets pumped per level till the final level everyone is on edge.
Final Notes: I love dystopian futures. I hated gym as a school kid. This game combines both for a fun and exhilarating experience for everyone involved. Combine with the Kinect and you get a good workout while trying to race for your life.
An Explanation
I have been challenged to post a game idea a week for a year. This sounds easy enough, and so I will take up this challenge and try my hardest to get you all some really strange game ideas. I have a varied history of game playing and creating. That is, I have created and played Table Top games, card games and video games.
A bit of background: I am a Game Designer living in Chicago going to school for...Game Design. I recently worked on the Student Project "Octodad" that has just placed in the IGF Student Competition. I often come up with strange and bizarre games. I was challenged by a professor at my University who heard me pitching games to write them all down and eventually the conversation led to this blog. This professor was Patrick Curry, also a Chicago Game Designer who pursued the same task of creating a year's worth of games.
I intend to follow his template of game pitches, the one sheet approach, and pitch to you a game a week. More if I feel the moxy to do so.
A bit of background: I am a Game Designer living in Chicago going to school for...Game Design. I recently worked on the Student Project "Octodad" that has just placed in the IGF Student Competition. I often come up with strange and bizarre games. I was challenged by a professor at my University who heard me pitching games to write them all down and eventually the conversation led to this blog. This professor was Patrick Curry, also a Chicago Game Designer who pursued the same task of creating a year's worth of games.
I intend to follow his template of game pitches, the one sheet approach, and pitch to you a game a week. More if I feel the moxy to do so.
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