Game Idea #3: Forget Spikes

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.