Ideas: Good or Bad? YOU DECIDE!!!

[PhilRoberts2004]

Alright, I am only posting some SMALL game title ideas, for my first project. Now, some of these have copyrighted figures in them, but, just allow me to explain.\

I have been kicking myself around this past week coming up with a good game project, yes, it is gonna be a possible big one...but then again, I dunno, as of yet, unless I know what I am dealing with.

So, without further delay, here are the game titles I have come up with!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

King Of The Hill

The Simpsons: Land of 1,000 DOH's!

High Impact

Waterman: Night of the Saliva

Leisure Suit Larry: XXX
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So far, those are the only game titles I could come up with. Leisure Suit Larry, Simpsons, & King of the Hill..are the ones with the copyright issues, as far as I know, I am wondering what you guys think...because I would really like to have a game project that flows in with what you guys would like to see. I know that somebody has released a Garfield game, which IMO is cool. But, I seriously would like to know what you people would like to see as my 1st project using A.G.S!


Feedback is appreciated!

[Sutebi]

Uh, I'm kind of tired from a long day, so I might have missed something, but are you merely basing games around a title? If you want our opinions, then post some ideas of what the games will be like. Do a quick little thumbnail sketch of what these games would compromise. Then maybe people will suggest what you should try.

I say the best thing to do is play around with AGS, making a game that you might not even really release, just to get a feel for how everything works.

[Flippy_D]

How original.

[Shattered Sponge]

Never has a signature served as more appropriate punctuation to a post.

(in referral to flippy, natch)

[m0ds]

No
No
No
No
and
No.

Just make something original.

So, here are some original titles for you to consider, and base a story around!

- Scrondenblurgs Castle
- Mystery Of The Fence
- Phillips Technological Adventure (or perhaps, TDK: The VHS Cassette Adventure)
- NTSC, My PAL
- Smokey Smokes Smoking Quest


m0ds

[BerserkerTails]

NTSC, My PAL is the best thing I have ever heard, Mods. that sounds like it'd be the best thing in the entirety of best things.

[PhilRoberts2004]

I say the best thing to do is play around with AGS, just to get a feel for how everything works.

I have & AGS rocks! I just need some idea of a game that I can make that won't cause me much trouble when the time comes for a release. OK?

[Kinoko]

Honestly, you don't want to go making a game based on an existing idea for your first project, especially if it really is just a 'play around' game. Just sit down for a few days if need be and think of a simple, original idea. Even something cliched would be better than taking on yet another Simpsons game or GOD FORBID King of the Hill! I'll beat you up verbally with a long vacuum cleaner if you make that game and screw it up ^_^

Some cliched ideas that would be fine for you to use:
-A game starring YOU as the main character!
-A game about a guy's quest to find the perfect topic for a game
-A prince who has to... find a princess.

OK, that's not as easy as it sounds. Seriously, just anything as long as it comes out of your head and doesn't breach copyright.

[Gilbert]

Or... a RON game.

Well it's an existing idea, but one of its purpose is to aid beginners into making AGS games, as there're resources available for you to play with.

Just don't ever mess with BIG names if it's you first game.

[LordHart]

When did the RON site change to that layout?

[Nine Toes]

Didn't you post something like this a long time ago... asking us which game we would like to see made?

[Moox]

If you make a ron game dont kill anyone 8)

[Nacho]

Do whatever you want except the Simpsons... that guys are dead, Homer is more and more stupid each day happens (Not in a funny way, I must say...).

Go for Futurama.

[Ali]

I wonder how one would draw a land of 1000 D'ohs. Perhaps it's best to steer clear of that minefield.

(Farlander: I don't know if Homer gets stupider every day, the BBC aren't showing the Simpsons because of a dispute with Fox. It's all because people in spain could pick up the Simpsons without paying. Somehow, I suspect you were behind this.)

I suggest Waterman, because It's intriguing and High Impact doesn't really sound like it's about anything. Exept maybe a meteorite.

[Nacho]

Dear Ali (Excuses sir Phil for going out of topic):

Yes, we see the Simpsons here for free, and chapters of the news season are being broadcasted every friday. I must say that I never was a great fan of Homer, I am a fan of Bart, and seeing how the series were focusing on Homer was a great deception for me, but, nowadays, with the new season (11th maybe?) even the Homer's zealots are starting to say, "Good Lord, how stupid he is!"

I've never been a great fan of humor based on "dumb" people. When I examine my humoristic references I see no dumbs: I love the Marx brothers... maybe Harpo has taken that image in our minds, but he actually was quite smart (Do you remember him picking up girls in "duck soup"?)  Nah... The Marx brothers have no humor based on dumbs.

Let's see the dumber character of "Monty Python", the gumbies... They're deer, they have no culture, but the laugh does not come when we see their mistakes or how stupid they are.

Bender is a nice example of a "supposed" to be secondary character (like Homer) that I love... But he's not dumb, he's cruel and insensitive.

Fry is not very smart, but he show many times that he is not a retarded. Fry is careless, but he can take deep decissions, and many times the character used in Futurama to show total dumbness is Zoidberg (Which is cool, because he is an alien, and it's natural to be a total dumbass when you're out of place... it makes the gags more realistic and, therefore, reliables funny).

I remember a scene in the Simpsons where Bart writes in Homer's head "Insert brain here", and Homer starts to twist in the floor trying to see what Bart has written in his nape. The scene is so pathetic that even Bart, Marge and Lisa start to feel bad about how stupid Homer is after an initial laugh. That's cruel because... which must be your intellectual coefficient to make that? 50 or less? Only the retarded people have such a low coefficient, and laughing of that is cruel. Maybe you don't see it in such a radical point of view, but I do.

*All the said before works for "family man" and "dumber and dumb".

[shbaz]

I don't buy that "stupid people can't be funny" bit.. there's a reason that this kind of thing has been consistently reliable. In American television, the Three Stooges and Gomer come to mind.

Maybe us Americans just love to feel smart and that's why the dumb characters are appealing. 

[DGMacphee]

I don't think it's as much the stupidity that's funny. More so, it's how his stupidity is being challenged. That's how I see it, and here's why:

There's a author on comedy and creativity called John Vorhaus. He wrote that most comedy is two things: truth and pain.

For example, when Charlie Chaplin kicks someone in the arse, it is painful, yet the truth is we all subconsciously think: "I'm glad Chaplin didn't kick me."

Which leads me to another aspect of comedy I learnt from my drama teacher: It's funny when it happens to someone else, but a tradegy when it happens to yourself. (And I think this can be applied to Farlander's example of Homer's "Insert Brain here" dilemma)

Situation is also important. For example, Chaplin could be working in a restaurant under brutal dictator-ish restaurant manager who has been ordering Chaplin around. Chaplin gives him a kick in the bum. Why do people laugh? Because sometimes our bosses give us a hard time (pain) but we hope to one day get the btter over them (truth). But Chaplin fulfills this, which helps us identfy with him.

This also shows that identification with the main character is important to comedy.

Homer is an example of a classic comedy character. Take, for example, this famous exchange:

Homer: Hello. My name is Mr Burns. I believe you have a letter for me.
Postal worker: Okay, Mr Burns. What's your first name?
Homer: (thinks) I don't know.

The truth: Sometimes we all get caught in desperate situations.
The pain: When we get caught in a desperate situation, sometimes our solutions might not work.

Homer's humour does not come straight from his stupidity, but rather the fact that he's put in situations that challenge his stupidity. It's those situations that challenge his stupidity that bring out the such truth and pain. On certain levels, we can identify with Homer's troubles. However, if we were actually put in such a situation, it wouldn't be funny to us while in the moment. We'd feel desperate to get that letter or else we'd lose our job.

(On a related note, I haven't liked the latest seasons of the Simpsons, mainly because I don't identify with Homer as much anymore. Perhaps it's more so because the writers are doing episodes where they just make Homer do stupid stuff without any challenge to his stupidity.)

But likewise for Futurama, I can identify with Fry because his personality is challenged by his surroundings constantly.

On a completely different note, I find it sad that I identify with cartoon characters.


A side note about the above: Comedy isn't always truth and pain, but these aspects do certainly maketh the bulk of comedy. There's other aspects such a satire and absurdity, which requires a whole different discussion. But remember, these aren't laws or anything. Break them if you feel like it. You won't go to directly jail and not collect $200. But on that note, The Simpsons also includes such things as satire and absurdity, as well as the whole truth/pain theory. That's what made it a great show.

[Kinoko]

I swear, if anyone makes a Futurama game without a lot of game making experience and a FANTASTIC sense of humour, I -will- kill. If you do this, keep it on your harddrive and away from me because I am an irational purist.

I'd forgot about RON games though, that wouldn't be a bad idea if you can't think of a totally original idea yourself. It's definitely worth looking into.

I don't need to go into analysing what's funny and what isn't ^_^ Futurama and the Simpsons are two of the best things in life and both are funnier than I think the average person will ever get (and I'm talking about the kinds of people who say "Homer did some funny stuff the other night, hur hur." not implying that I'm a genius and I'm just sooo above your little minds). They're funny on so many levels it's.. it's just not funny. Though it is!

Excuse me for being frank, Farlander, but you're just taking things WAY too seriously. I get sick of people talking about Homer's "stupidity" when the joke isn't always that he's stupid, it's just the way the joke is told, the context, the unbelievability, the... a lot of things. It's not like going, "Hur hur... Homer is dumb. Dumb people are stupid. I'm going to go out and laugh at a spastic." A lot of the times, he isn't so stupid! There are a lot of different kinds of jokes and moments in the series it's hard to generalise. The series' today aren't a patch on the first 4 or so but I guess that's like everything. They still manage to write some great stuff into the newer episodes but on the whole, I think all long term fans of the series have to agree that it's lost that special something with a lot of the new writers and the fact that it has been going on for sooo long. DG is right though, don't get me wrong. Sometimes, that's exactly the reason we laugh at some of his ... er... I shudder to use this word but 'antics'.

...but back to my original point. Unless you're extremely well versed and experienced with AGS and you have above average writing skills and an impecable sense of humour, stay right away from my favourite shows > It's the same reason people who talk about making a new Monkey Island game get so many replies from people demanding screenshots and story ideas. It's important you don't fuck the things that people like up ^_^

[Nacho]

As DG said, nothing is an "axioma" in comedy... I took Homer's case too seriously because I preffer Bart, but I can understand that somebody can like him.

It is just that I have never had a laugh with his jokes...

[LGM]

Oh I have.. I've laughed out loud for more than a second on some of them.

I'll try to paraphrase something that made me laugh very hard:

"I'm not a very easily amused man.

...

Oh look! A blue car!"

Hahaha