Share your game ideas!

Started by BunnyShoggoth, Tue 07/08/2018 14:48:25

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BunnyShoggoth

Got a game idea but feel you don't have time or dedication to work on it? Share it here, perhaps it would be useful for others!

My suggestion: a game about Mandela effect, probably based on multiverse/Everett's many worlds! I. e. where you could travel through different versions of the world with differently-looking places, different trademarks, etc., and there could be puzzles based on those differences. Maybe kinda similar to DOTT, only instead of three time periods (past, present, and future) you could have three or more Everett's worlds.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/christopherhudspeth/crazy-examples-of-the-mandela-effect-that-will-make-you-ques?utm_term=.dm6GjdM2Y#.bdGk6aO4b

VampireWombat

So, obviously the game will involve the movie Shazaam starring Sinbad? Could be interesting if done right. Elements from Back to the Future 2, Sliders, and maybe even Looper.

And an idea I had was less of a specific game, but making shared worlds for people to make games in. Kind of like the Reality on the Norm and Maniac Mansion Mania games. Except not limited to a specific area. And they could be expanded upon for any time period, but assets could be freely shared, etc.

The idea split into 3 different worlds. A "goofy" world which is kind of like LucasArts games. And the future would be more optimistic and colorful.
Another would be a "punk" world where most time periods would be gritty. Graphics would be more realistic, and the farther future would be along the lines of Alien/Aliens.
And the other would be more "normal".

Blondbraid

Here's an idea for an adventure game:
Ever since I first read the legend about The book of Thoth, I wanted to see the story get a modern adaption, and I think it'd lend itself well to an interactive game with several puzzles and spell-casting mechanics.

The story revolves around prince Setna, son of pharaoh Ramses the second, and his quest for the book of Thoth, a magical book containing the secrets of the god of wisdom. But the book is hidden in the tomb of the sorcerer Neferkaptah, whom himself was cursed to see his family die and then taking his own life after stealing the book and his mummy now has sworn to guard it for all eternity. After challenging Neferkaptah to play a board game (where Setna sinks further into the ground by each turn he loses!) and being rescued by his brother, Setna manages to steal the book, but Neferkaptah curses him as he leaves the tomb. Soon, Setna finds himself in a living nightmare and unable to tell illusions from reality.
Spoiler
The curse goes as far as eventually tricking Setna into murdering his own children. Then, at the moment of his uttermost despair, it is revealed to Setna that it was all just a horrible dream and his children are still alive, but the next time it won't be an illusion. The story ends with a penitent Setna returning the book to Neferkaptah's tomb and then sealing the entrance forever.
[close]
Here is the full story.

If you've read the story, it's obvious that it's not only a great story with a timeless message, but the ancient egyptian setting paired with hunting for a MacGuffin inside an old tomb would make an excellent plot for an adventure game with built-in puzzles and riddles alongside an in-story boss battle sequence where you'd get to play a game against an undead sorcerer prince. Why wouldn't anyone want to adapt this story?


BunnyShoggoth

Quote from: VampireWombat on Tue 07/08/2018 15:50:55
So, obviously the game will involve the movie Shazaam starring Sinbad? Could be interesting if done right. Elements from Back to the Future 2, Sliders, and maybe even Looper.

And an idea I had was less of a specific game, but making shared worlds for people to make games in. Kind of like the Reality on the Norm and Maniac Mansion Mania games. Except not limited to a specific area. And they could be expanded upon for any time period, but assets could be freely shared, etc.

The idea split into 3 different worlds. A "goofy" world which is kind of like LucasArts games. And the future would be more optimistic and colorful.
Another would be a "punk" world where most time periods would be gritty. Graphics would be more realistic, and the farther future would be along the lines of Alien/Aliens.
And the other would be more "normal".

In fact, what I had in mind was more along the lines of merchandise, i. e. candies, cereal brands, comic books, etc., as well as altered versions of our world's well-known places (like Big Ben and Eiffel Tower, for instance) - or it could be in one particular place (like a city or a mansion) but in drastically altered versions of it, like the mansion in DOTT. I also thought that some of the worlds could be really weird - for instance, we could have our 100% normal world with normal candies, a world with magical creatures in which the candies turn you into a vampire or a werewolf, a world full of spies and conspiracies in which the merchandise items have secret messages inside, a surreal world in the style of Sam & Max Mystery Vortex in which the laws of physics work backwards, etc. The protagonists in different worlds (or different versions of one protagonist) could pass items to each other, like Bernard, Hoagie, and Laverne, or find other ways to cooperate.

I'm really curious about your idea too; could you please tell me more about it? You mean, that there are three worlds, each with their own past, present, and future? Are they interconnected somehow?

VampireWombat

Quote from: BunnyShoggoth on Tue 07/08/2018 23:44:37
In fact, what I had in mind was more along the lines of merchandise, i. e. candies, cereal brands, comic books, etc., as well as altered versions of our world's well-known places (like Big Ben and Eiffel Tower, for instance) - or it could be in one particular place (like a city or a mansion) but in drastically altered versions of it, like the mansion in DOTT. I also thought that some of the worlds could be really weird - for instance, we could have our 100% normal world with normal candies, a world with magical creatures in which the candies turn you into a vampire or a werewolf, a world full of spies and conspiracies in which the merchandise items have secret messages inside, a surreal world in the style of Sam & Max Mystery Vortex in which the laws of physics work backwards, etc. The protagonists in different worlds (or different versions of one protagonist) could pass items to each other, like Bernard, Hoagie, and Laverne, or find other ways to cooperate.

I'm really curious about your idea too; could you please tell me more about it? You mean, that there are three worlds, each with their own past, present, and future? Are they interconnected somehow?
Oh, okay. So much more exaggerated than the Mandela Effect. Though still some elements similar to Sliders and Fringe.

Honestly, I don't have much more than I said. Mostly I just created a vague timeline based on movies, tvs, and games and gathered reference pictures for figuring out the art style.
I hadn't intended the worlds to be interconnected, but that doesn't mean it's not possible.
Maybe I can make a graphical outline to give a better idea.

BunnyShoggoth

Quote from: VampireWombat on Tue 07/08/2018 23:57:55
Maybe I can make a graphical outline to give a better idea.

That would be awesome!

Ghost

Had an odd idea once where a normal office worker went through his daily routine and faced a couple of very mundane little obstacles- long line at the coffee machine, stapler not working, papers to be signed and what have you. Everyday stuff.
You could solve all these obstacles in a completely sensible, realistic fashion, which would result in a normal day in a cube-drone's life.
OR you could don several masks- ninja, cowboy, pirate etc and tackle the obstacles in an over-the-top and elaborate genre-specific way. Basically living out a child's fantasy in a mundane world, the solutions would all be very cool and unpractical, of course. Much harder than "just making it through the day", but that was the whole point :)

It was a silly little idea but looking back at it I think there'd be fun to be had here. If someone can take some spark of a game from it, you're welcome!

VampireWombat

I can see potential in that idea. Certainly not something I'd be interested in making on my own, but I'd be willing to help with if someone else was working on it.

BunnyShoggoth

@Ghost: I think this idea is very cool, but I thought it could also be modified in the following way: a character could have BOTH realistic and weird escapades. For instance, the protagonist could be going to work and see men in black following him, or trying to repair the coffee machine to buy a cup of coffee and spot a fairy creature popping out of it, or go to the cafeteria and find a passage to the other world in the freezer, and after all that he would return to his work as if nothing happened. With the implication that he's probably going crazy and the weird stuff happens only in his head, but the line between the two is very much blurred. Like in the movie "Beautiful Mind" in which the schizophrenic protagonist had both real-life events (his work in mathematics, his marriage, etc.) and imaginary spy adventures.

Ghost

Bunny, that would be a fun little background event for sure. Not something I'd have implemented though, but that's a matter of taste. I thought it more fun for the player to actively try out the weirdest things and then the world reacting to that. I never really got it fleshed out though and I think it would be quite a challenge to keep track of what the player did and how the office gets more and more interrupted by his imagined adventures.

Still, I'd absolutely download and play the hell out of ANY GAME that has fairies pop out of coffee makers.

DBoyWheeler

Wow!  A "Share your idea" thread!  I might need to keep this in mind in the future.

Heck, this oughta be a "Sticky" or "Pinned" thread here, if it has not been made so already.

Cassiebsg

Nice thread... :) Also there's the pitch competition, that kind of started like "share you ideas, in the kind of pitch" and mutated into a theme competition, which at the end of the day (once you have run out of ideas) is a bit more challenging. ;)
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

BunnyShoggoth

#12
Quote from: Ghost on Wed 08/08/2018 17:37:11
Bunny, that would be a fun little background event for sure. Not something I'd have implemented though, but that's a matter of taste. I thought it more fun for the player to actively try out the weirdest things and then the world reacting to that. I never really got it fleshed out though and I think it would be quite a challenge to keep track of what the player did and how the office gets more and more interrupted by his imagined adventures.

Still, I'd absolutely download and play the hell out of ANY GAME that has fairies pop out of coffee makers.

Well, it doesn't have to be a fairy, it can be a gnome or a Cheshire cat :wink: I completely agree with you that it would be cooler if the protagonist had a choice between "normal" and "weird" course of action, and this impacted the game world and the outcome. What I meant that it could be not only about him doing weird stuff, but also about him encountering something weird; for instance, during the lunch break, he would go out to smoke and see a mysterious alley (or a tunnel inside a freezer, or a door that wasn't there before). If he ignores it and comes back, everything would be in order; if he follows it, he would find himself in a couple of weird places with misadventures, and the boss would be angry with him being late and his shabby appearance. It all could have escapist overtones, with the implication that he's bored with his life and wants to escape into a fantasy (or not-so-fantasy) world. I also thought that it could have three endings: if he chooses to focus on "normal" stuff and ignore the weirdness, he would get back to his ordinary life and probably even get a promotion; if he tries to do both this and that, he would eventually lose his grip on reality and end up in asylum; finally, if he ignores his job duties and does only the "weird" missions, he would mysteriously disappear with the implication that he's now in a different world.

Anyway, I would be happy to work on such a project, either your way or mine, but I wouldn't manage that entirely on my own, since I'm a terrible artist/animator (I'm a story/puzzle/dialogue writer, and also a bit of a coder).

Snarky

Quote from: Cassiebsg on Wed 08/08/2018 19:08:44
Nice thread... :) Also there's the pitch competition, that kind of started like "share you ideas, in the kind of pitch" and mutated into a theme competition, which at the end of the day (once you have run out of ideas) is a bit more challenging. ;)

There was only that one round that specified a theme. The current round is back to "whatever your idea is". There's still a couple of hours to submit.

Cassiebsg

I stand corrected. :-D
I thought "son of a pitch" was the theme... (roll) Have no ideas right now, maybe next round. (nod)






There are those who believe that life here began out there...

mkennedy

Something that might be cool is an Ocean Spirit Dennis and Spongebob Squarepants game. The evil ghost pirate the Flying Dutchman has captured Dennis' partner Ray so he needs the help of the residents of Bikini Bottom to rescue him. Main characters would be Dennis, Spongebob, Sandy, and Patrick, and possibly Squidward. Other characters like Krabbs and Ms. Puff could be minor roles.

dactylopus

Quote from: mkennedy on Thu 09/08/2018 03:46:12
Something that might be cool is an Ocean Spirit Dennis and Spongebob Squarepants game. The evil ghost pirate the Flying Dutchman has captured Dennis' partner Ray so he needs the help of the residents of Bikini Bottom to rescue him. Main characters would be Dennis, Spongebob, Sandy, and Patrick, and possibly Squidward. Other characters like Krabbs and Ms. Puff could be minor roles.
Better yet, pastiches of those types of characters.  I'm down for anyone's Oceanspirit Dennis games, though.

mkennedy

Quote from: dactylopus on Thu 09/08/2018 08:55:28
Quote from: mkennedy on Thu 09/08/2018 03:46:12
Something that might be cool is an Ocean Spirit Dennis and Spongebob Squarepants game. The evil ghost pirate the Flying Dutchman has captured Dennis' partner Ray so he needs the help of the residents of Bikini Bottom to rescue him. Main characters would be Dennis, Spongebob, Sandy, and Patrick, and possibly Squidward. Other characters like Krabbs and Ms. Puff could be minor roles.
Better yet, pastiches of those types of characters.  I'm down for anyone's Oceanspirit Dennis games, though.

You're probably right. If using actual Spongebob characters the game would likely have to be safe for the younger players lest Dennis be hit with a "Cease and Desist" order.

dbuske

Monkey Island but the main character is Meathook in drag. He changes his name to Buffy.
He likes LeChuck and is trying to collect parts of his human body to bring him back to life.
Of course LeChuck doesn't want this to happen.
Buffy must collect the Lechuck parts.
What if your blessings come through raindrops
What if your healing comes through tears...

BunnyShoggoth

One more idea of mine is a game about qualia. The concept of qualia implies that different people may actually be seeing the world in different ways; for instance, one person may see a color as "red" and another as "green", but since they both use the word "red" for it, we would never find out that they perceive it differently. I thought that in the game it could be taken to the extreme: you could play as several characters who see the same locations in a very different way (one sees them as photorealistic, another in cartoony CMI or DOTT style with bizarre colors, another in retro painting-esque fashion, etc.), and there could be some puzzles related to that.



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