AGS Community Project: Please VOTE for the Best Game Concept!

[Questionable]

UPDATE 5/30/2008:

With less than one month to produce a game in order to qualify, we must decide on a game concept. Please choose one of the already listed unless you have a very original and viable game concept. VOTE NOW!

Voting ends 1:00 A.M. May 2nd, GMT!




Adventure Developers (www.adventuredevelopers.com) has started having contest. There are currently two contest, one for design, and one for art. The design contest is open to all engines and systems.

So, without any further ado; let's get started.

The two main goals thsi thread is going acomplish is to nail down a direction for the game, and more importantly get a list of contributors going, as well as a core directional team.

I'm just going to go off the top of my head as to what positions we need to fill.

--Story Director(s)/Writer(s)
--- Will be required to take the concepts the team agrees on and create a dynamic
---engaging storyline, dialogue, character arc and plot.

--Artistic Character Lead
--- Will be in charge of designing and "painting" the characters involved in the story.

--Artistic Background Lead
--- Will be in charge of deisgning and "painting" the barkgrounds to be used in the game.

--Artistic Animation Lead
--- Will be in charge of animating the characters and objects created for use in the game.

--Music Director
--- Will be in charge of the musical style and the creation or acquisition of music for the game.

--Scripting/Code Lead
--- Will be in charge of compiling all components into a functioning game.


Whether a Lead or a Director, does the work himself or gets help from others is entirely up to the the team and him/her. As far as I can recall, that's the list. Any shakers and movers out there have some words to share?

[Stupot]

I've got an idea...


You're locked in a room with seemingly no way out.  You find a Ouija board and lay it on the table.
Progress is made my asking questions using a verb parser system.
You would obviously begin by asking questions like "is there anybody here?"

The ghost would be shy at first and may not answer straight away, but searching the room further reveals some clues... newspaper cuttings or diary extracts from an unsolved murder that time forgot...

You return to the Ouija board and ask questions based on your new clues...

The ghost begins to answer your questions and slowly provides more of a back-story.  The ghost wants you to solve its murder and maybe even avenge him or her and in return you will finally be able to leave the room...


This kind of format gives the game scope for a chilling gothic ghost story while being contained in one room... and instead of having lines and lines of text telling the back-story, it could be told in the form of flashback sequences of video and/or gameplay.

[Emerald]

Who said it has to be confined to a singular room?

[Stupot]

Who said it has to be confined to a singular room?

Urinate, the contest coordinator.
http://www.adventuredevelopers.com/forum/index.php?topic=1632.msg9762#msg9762

[Emerald]

When he says "room", do you think he means a physical room which you must stay in until you escape (i.e. in the context of the story), or just 'one background'?

If it's the former then we could base it on a holodeck/VR simulator, which would give us unlimited potential, and make for a dramatic ending (when you discover that it's all a simulation)

[InCreator]

I volunteer for either background or character art. Animations too, atleast some.
(If we get another artist onboard, we could decide who does which part of the graphics.)

But only when we have some kind of basic story and setting together. I won't do ANY game.

And Emerald, get your act together. Every single thing you posted today reflects your shitty mood.

[GarageGothic]

Who said it has to be confined to a singular room?

Urinate, the contest coordinator.
http://www.adventuredevelopers.com/forum/index.php?topic=1632.msg9762#msg9762

Where exactly does it say that? Yes, the theme is "escape THE room", but he also clearly writes "scene(s)" with an optional plural and says it "does not actually need to be a room". I see no mention that the location can't be a series of rooms.

[InCreator]

I think that whether it be one or eleven rooms, the number is set by how this team-creating goes and what will be our capabilities.

In less than a month, I don't think we could pump out many BG's, neither code them all.
Especially if no-one's saying anything solid ontopic.

EDIT: To complain less and contribute more, here's a random game idea:

Zombies!

You play either alone or as a member of a group, getting trapped in a

* spaceship (future ,a member of crew)
* haunted house (a member of stupid, investigating teenagers)
* mansion (a detective called by royal family to investigate - um - a strange corpse with bite marks)
* ship (a seaman or a pirate)

...and it turns out that other occupants of the place (ship personnel, nearby villagers, royal family members, other pirates) have turned into zombies and you have to survive

well, and puzzles go around fortifying, improvising weapons & things to scare zombies, losing "unzombified" mates in a fight, investigating for clues - let's say - to find out ancient curse which turns things into zombies (diaries, newspaper clippings, etc Alone in The Dark stuff)

...and so on. That's simply first idea I got, inspired from that superb flash game Last Stand and "I Am The Legend" movie. And even this has tons of options.

[Emerald]

I can do some of the writesy stuff.
I've always been good at dialogue and character development. It seems to come to me much easier than plot/story stuff, though I could help with that, too.

Role-playing is actually great practice when it comes to designing characters. You really get a feel for what personality traits fit into which situations, and what back-stories suit both the character and story context.

[Stupot]

Who said it has to be confined to a singular room?

Urinate, the contest coordinator.
http://www.adventuredevelopers.com/forum/index.php?topic=1632.msg9762#msg9762

Where exactly does it say that? Yes, the theme is "escape THE room", but he also clearly writes "scene(s)" with an optional plural and says it "does not actually need to be a room". I see no mention that the location can't be a series of rooms.

Yeh, he says it doesn't actually have to be ONE room.. but that doesn't mean it can't be...

besides, my Oujia board suggestion, despite being set in one room overall, leaves plenty of room for story-driven flashback sequences which could be as much a part of the gameplay as the room itself.

[InCreator]

Oujia idea isn't bad.

But, text parser? Would people play this?

[Questionable]

You wake up, you're amenisic. What's going on? You're trapped in this room... you escape the room, things are weird... very weird... You have these niggling images flashing in your mind and for some reason you feel a sense of urgency. You're in a house... a familiar house... how did you get here... why are there screams? ...there's blood on that bed... there's objects destroyed... you're scared... you've got to get out of here. Any door that could lead outside refuses to budge... you have no choice to but to explore and try to find a way out... GOD! STOP THAT SCREAMING!!! IT's splitting your head...open a door... there are people on the floor, bags on some heads, cuts on others... WHAT IS THIS NIGHTMARE!! More images... memories you think. there are things wrong about the house... things are supposed to be a certain way, what way? how? You remember... a child... you rush upstairs... this door wouldn't open before... it swings opens... it's a girls room... YOUR DAUGHTER! She's nowhere... Where's mother?! You rush to the bedroom... she's dead, on the floor, a mess, there's smears everywere... WHAT IS HAPPENING! You fix more in the house... a window... what about a window? It WAS BROKEN! A man, he came in through the window! YOUR DAUGHTER! THE SCREAMS! You run for the front door, you bash it down, your eyes open, you're alert, on your knees, on your feet, you're looking around, you here the screams... you remember... he hit you... left you for dead? you don't care, you're alive, YOUR DAUGHTER! You run to find her... the house, that damned house in your head showed you what to do! You do it! There he is, holding her down... wispering in her ear ashe holds his hand over her mouth... you raise the gun... BLAM! Credits...


It's flawed, but isn't that what team-mates are for?  I'm going to get a taco and i'll brainstorm for other ideas.

[Stupot]

Oujia idea isn't bad.

But, text parser? Would people play this?

I anticipated this question so I came up with this idea... as you gain clues (or as the story unfolds and new pieces of information are gleaned from the ghost), you bank these clues in your inventory, and then you simply use these clues on the Ouija board to ask more questions...

How does that sound?

[Fee]

QUick Idea for a game and some details.
Incomplete, but let me know what yas think

Back Story:
You work for a game company, lets call it 'Adventure Studio Games'
Your latest release game *insert comical title here* has been released and unfortunatly for you (the games key designer and lead programmer) the game sucks, and hundreds of ASG fans have gathered outside the building waiting for your exit so they can lynch you!

Cut to game:
Start off in your office, its late, and your working back to make up for being late this morning so you are the only ones there. Just as your about to finish up for the day, you get the news about the situation brewing outside.
You decide to call the police.
But how to make the call? You check your mobile, its flat and you never could work out the fancy dialing system to get the office phone to call an outside line. Walk round the building for a bit, find a pay phone, but ahh, no coins :S *insert typical puzzle to find a coin here*(eg. Coin in drain with magnet on stick) you got the coin, turns out the phone is broken *insert typical puzzle to fix the phone here* (eg. use plyers with lenght of wire, Use tape with stripped wire, ect)
Finally, the police are on the way!

Cut scene: Cops arrive and enter the buildings lobby to talk to you and escort you out. That is untill they also find out it was you who was responsible for the desecration of their favorite game series. Have a small chase around the lobby, bfore you give them the slip and enter the elevator.

Cut to game:
You in elevator, you hear from the other side of the door "lets take the stairs".
how to get out of the elevator? all floors lead to being arrested.  *puzzle how to escape the elevator* (eg. Stop elevator between floors, use man hole, use screwdriver on vent, get into vent and crawl to new room.

Now in a server room for the company, thats locked from the other side. *puzzle to escape room* (eg find code on a screwed up piece of paper in the bin, enter code 1234 into the terminal near the door.)

Cut Scene: Meanwhile...
Cops let the mob into the building to help search floor by floor. Floor 1 is now off limits.

Cut to game: Your in a new room off the server room, its the IT Lab. Your see the experimental company robot in the corner and decide it could be your protector, if only you could get it working and reprogram it. *insert puzze to get robot working* (eg. Use battery with Robot, use USB cable laptop, use usb-latop with robot) Robot powers up, and vows to help you get rid of the people.
You send the robot on a recon mission.

Cust Scene: He bursts into flames and dies. fortunatly he still get rid of the people, as the sprinkler system and fire alarm went off, and everyone ran.

*insert more here*

End Cut Scene: Finally making it home after a hard day at work, you head off to bead, dreaiming of good things.
You awake in the morning and lookoutside your window, only to see a mob of people ready to lynch you again. NOOOOOOO!

The end!



Well, thats my general idea for an outline of a possible game.

[Emerald]

Two things. Please, for the sake of everything holy, no amnesia. An amnesiac protagonist who wakes up in a strange environment is the mother of all cliches...

Also, I don't think a comedy game is a great idea. A game with jokes and humour in context is fine, but random, zany 'antics' seems like it would be very messy, especially as a collaborative project.

Zombies!

You play either alone or as a member of a group, getting trapped in a

well, and puzzles go around fortifying, improvising weapons & things to scare zombies, losing "unzombified" mates in a fight, investigating for clues - let's say - to find out ancient curse which turns things into zombies (diaries, newspaper clippings, etc Alone in The Dark stuff)

I think this is the best idea so far. Coincidentally I was thinking the same thing..

[Questionable]

what if you were the zombie?

[Questionable]

You're in college, you have an important test coming up... your buddy gives you a No-Doze anti-sleep pill... only it's not... like alice in wonderland on acid, literally. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

[Jon]

What about a game in the life of a superhero?

[EldKatt]

I can agree that amnesia is a cliche, but zombies isn't now?

[Questionable]

I can agree that amnesia is a cliche, but zombies isn't now?

But it's not really amnesia. A guy breaks into his house a fight ensues, his wife gets killed and he gets knocked out. The robber assuming he's a murder decides that the house is his to take his sweet time. He discovers their tenage daughter and is well... use your imagination there. The man is "amnesic" because he's been clonked on the head, and he's in a comatose state, he needs to escape his mind in order to snap back to reality. Back in reality he needs to rescue his daughter.

Zombies ARE a cliche, but more so in movies than in games. When I think of zombies though, I think of action, not clicking around a screen... which is why I suggested the player being the zombie, although i'm not sure what the goal whould be, beause then you wouldn't have to worry about action sequences, there's no one to eat...

The Oujia board is original, but could it be fun? I'm having trouble seeing that.

Escaping from a mob of angry AGSers? Sounds like a good piece of farce, but not everyone has a taste for farce. Plus, when not done correctly instead of farce it comes of as bad... really bad.