I hate the idea of using other people's resources. In Arden's Vale, while I used objects and background ideas from other games, I always redrew them by hand. It just helps the graphics look uniform. But I hate the time it takes to create all the resources on my own. It takes forever!
So here's my thinking: cram as much story and as many puzzles into the smallest possible space room-wise. Like a OROW game, but more complex. I'm currently fleshing out story and puzzles for two new games and would like some feedback before I actually start working on the coding/graphics/etc.
Game 1: Cops and Robbers. You play the policeman in a certain given scenario and attempt to corner the thief. You follow protocol, use intuition, and somehow, miraculously, the thief escapes. Then you play the thief and have to figure out how to escape while the computer cop does roughly what you did as a cop. Same room, same situation, two different play experiences. Repeat for as many rooms as can be devised.
Game 2: Yesterday's Child.You play a character who has a really horrible day (you're held hostage, attacked by aliens, expelled from school, trapped in a Chilean mine, whatever). If only you'd known this would happen yesterday, you could have done something to prevent it and save yourself! So you switch alternately back and forth playing today's you and yesterday's you, moving, locking/unlocking, destroying etc. things yesterday that make today's character able to make it through the day.
Both game ideas would reuse items, characters, and most importantly backgrounds in unique ways that facilitate easier production. But both, at the same time, would require much sneakier puzzles to make the games function and be enjoyable.
My question is: does this approach sound feasible? Which game would you rather play? What kind of awful pitfalls do you see in this kind of game? Would either even work? Do you prefer games with more locations anyway? Can you think of more practical ways to get more bang for your graphics buck? Any other comments?
