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

[FSi++]

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?

It reminds me of an old ZX Spectrum game (IF if you like) I played. It was called ID.

[InCreator]

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.

I second both.

Also, we should avoid inside jokes.

[IndieBoy]

Here is an idea:

A young boy and his father goes out sailing into the ocean. A storm brews and the father falls overboard. Puzzles would involve trying to keep the boy alive and getting help. Such as making a home-made flare, fixing a radio, catching fish for food etc.

Is that cliché?

[InCreator]

No, it's good! 

[Oliwerko]

Maybe this is a bit cliché but who knows:

A man is on his journey with his jeep, exploring the world or this kind of stuff. He is just in the middle of a desert and his car breaks. So he waits until the morning and he realizes that he is in the middle of nowhere, just with one small village near an oasis nearby. (people here haven't seen anyone in years) So the "room" is actually the mini-village and his car. Puzzles - he does not speak the villagers' language - that is the main problem so he must find a way to communicate (+ the people may be afraid of him), he is cold at night, he has to get to his destination because of something (marriage or anything more probable) so that invokes some healthy stress. He uses things from his car to make the villagers more friendly - he shows them new things.

Just a thought, maybe someone can improve it?

[rock_chick]

Oh man, they've already started the comps and I just found out, I was the one who brought up the whole idea of having contests over there. Glad to see they're having them.

[m0ds]

Kudos to you, I actually understood something you said for once 

[Questionable]

Here is an idea:

A young boy and his father goes out sailing into the ocean. A storm brews and the father falls overboard. Puzzles would involve trying to keep the boy alive and getting help. Such as making a home-made flare, fixing a radio, catching fish for food etc.

Is that cliché?

He could be stranded on an island, and ultimately his father comes to save him, after being recued by a fisherman.

The problem is, how does this kid have the knowledge to make a flarE? or fix a radio? How does he have th materials? How would we implement catching fish as an entertaining an interactic experience? (turn based batlle? =P )

Oli: I think that's being a little bit liberal with the one room scenario. Even being trapped on a boat/island is pushing it. Plus it doesn't sound compelling enough for me to want o play it off that description alone.

----------------

Private investigator imprisoned by the person he's investigating.

Trapped in high security prison, some organization lead an assault on the prison, leaving most of it in rubble, they escape with several prisoners and leave everyone else for dead... you're still alive, though hurt... any maybe some other people are too.

David Bowie steals your little brother... nah, hollywood wouldn't even touch that, nevermind.

You're in a phone booth and there's a sniper on you... no, sounds too farfetched. (Neer thought how much "Phone Booth" and "6 Day Assassin" are similar.)

What about a monkey-bone inspired thing. You die right when something great is about to happen in your life... but you're not in heaven, nor in hell. Your fate is still being decided. You're in this dark surrealist limbo and you've got to get back to the real world.

You're a young girl and you're kidnapped... they lock you in a basement. Now get out.

You're a magician, you're in search of the next big trck, that little edge. You begin to delve into the occult, black magic, hoodoo, and ancient magic. Somwhere along the way you meet this guy that for some reason uses REAL magic and contains you in a book. A children's book, adult fiction, whatever and you've got escape... This sounds like a fun idea for a series. He can gain magic spells as he continues, combined with his scientific logic and sleight of hand he adventures the worlds "real magic" scene.

Alternative: Maybe he shrinks you and locks the door to his study, so he can use you later. You have to escape using all the crazy stuff in his room/house.

Maybe for the zombie story, a viral outbreak is turning people into zombies (any variation) and you're put into a quarantine, it would appear as though the zombies are going to over-run the weakly defended quarantine and you're trying to figure out how to escape the country and make for Hawaii/Virgin Islands, or some other island with your family, maybe just by yourself. Maybe people aren't even zombies... aybe it's just a fatal sickness and there are rumors that some people IN the quarantine have it... just brainstorming here.

[Neil Dnuma]

David Bowie steals your little brother...

Hah! Best idea so far.

[InCreator]

20 days left!!

No time to brainstorm anymore.
Let's decide something, or vote on presented ideas.

Also, let's set the team.

Currently, we need a coder. And someone to put story down. It's critical. I could start with BG/character graphics and some additional artists could join later, too. But storymaker and sure coder are first priority to be set NOW.

[Questionable]

I say the stranded on a boat one.

I have some problems with the original concept. How does a young kid know how to build a flare? Do you know ho to build a flare? Can you fix a radio? I can't. Let's bring his age up. For practical purposes I'll say 25. Now, why are you out on a boat? I was thinking, ~Maybe they're fisherman~ but fisherman don't usually go out that far, not just two of them. Okay, how about a rich father and son? Well, it's hard to get stranded on a boat with no motor, how about a sailboat? A Rich father takes his son out on a two man sailboat for his 25th birthday. A storm hits, the son is scrambling to get life vests, seat cushions, anything! Next thing he knows, his dd is gone, the sail rips off/mast cracks and the storm tropical storm is gone, just as quickly as it came. He's on a giant boat, with no means of propulsion... no father... just a small island, barely an island, in the distance. Too far to swim, especially as weak as he is, but the boat is drifting slowly toward it. In the mean time, he must build a flare to try and attract attention, he must build a contraption to collect condensation, for fresh water. He has to get food, somehow, fishing, shooting a bird, diving in the water and grabbing a turtle, whatever. He tries to open up communications with... well, anybody.

Finally he's on the island. Now he must build a fire, he's been freezing for days. He must collect food. He mus build a shelter. His water machine is destroyed, he must build a new one or die of thirst. He gets through to someone but can't describe where he is, they say they will get help. Finally, his father (who managed to grab a life vest and float for a day, was picked up by a man driving his cigar boat, whtever...)

Happy ending to a dangerous tale. I think we can get away with this because the CORE CONCEPT is identical to an escape the room style game.



Though I quite liked my idea of being trapped inside your own head as a metaphor for having to escape a room, and what's more compelling than a comatose father trying to reain consciousness in order to save his daughters life? Cool as it sounds, it's not very deep game play wise. I think the design of the island game has the potential to be the most rich game concept suggested.

We have no more time to debate. STATE YOUR MIND NOW! April 30th to May 1st; then we start working on the game concept with the most votes!

[LimpingFish]

Wow! It's the Sims Castaway! Or Lost in Blue! Or Lost in Blue 2! Or Lost in Blue 3! Or...

And they say originality is dead!

All I seem to make is single room games. Maybe I could enter this.

...if I didn't sleep 23 hours a day.

[InCreator]

I'm in on sailboat story.
Also, I'm quite positive I'm able draw bg's for this one. It's not like anyone else volunteered for art... 
To save time, I probably 3D-model everything I need and retouch to look 2D, just like I'm doing for latest BG's for Henri.

For some hardcore drama and explanation to somewhat bizarre situation, let's say that protagonist had a quarrel with his/her dad, they didn't talk to each other for years and they finally decided to do something together, to get together again. And then storm happens...
This supplies us with dramatic cutscene idea for game intro...
And ending. When they meet again, they understand how much they really cared for each other, or something... what do you think? Too cheesy?

[Dualnames]

If you need a programmer I might be able to help out.

[Questionable]

I'm in on sailboat story.
Also, I'm quite positive I'm able draw bg's for this one. It's not like anyone else volunteered for art... 
To save time, I probably 3D-model everything I need and retouch to look 2D, just like I'm doing for latest BG's for Henri.

For some hardcore drama and explanation to somewhat bizarre situation, let's say that protagonist had a quarrel with his/her dad, they didn't talk to each other for years and they finally decided to do something together, to get together again. And then storm happens...

This supplies us with dramatic cutscene idea for game intro...
And ending. When they meet again, they understand how much they really cared for each other, or something... what do you think? Too cheesy?

I'm going to start working on characters and story. I like that story about them coming together, I tried about 3 dialogues so far and at some point it all comes off as weird. I'll keep writing. Worst case scenario, we can recycle any graphics we make if we ultimately decide that a different game would be a better path, but I really like this concept.

[rharpe]

If this is a true collaboration, add all the zombie, Ouija board, elevator escape ideas together and have a new bundle of cliches in one game?

[TwinMoon]

If you need someone to bounce you're ideas off, I'm willing to help writing / designing puzzles.

Expanding on InCreator's ideas, what about a rich adventurer (think Steve Fossett), who takes his spoiled good-for-nothing daughter (think Paris Hilton) along on a journey and they get stranded on a small island and the father is badly wounded.

They know they will be found but it could be a day or a week, so in the mean time the spoiled daughter has to - make a fire, - collect things from the ship that have washed ashore (I can see a puzzle here with something vital just out of reach) - get food / get a coconut down from a high palm tree, but she can't climb - make a small shelter.
You can use the father character to tell you how to do things, but since he weak, you'll have to make sense of what he's saying. This seems like a nice dramatic relationship, with the daughter scared and unsure and the father being sure they'll be rescued, but badly hurt.
There could be a tearjerky cutscene when night falls, the father sleeping and the daughter talking to herself about how scared she is they won't find them on such a small island.

As a closer, in the morning there's a plane flying and the last puzzle is to attract attention (the plane turns around as soon as your attentiongrabber is done).

A thought about the background: The scene could be a wide piece of beach, possibly looping.

[Peder 🚀]

I am interested in the coding part but I am not a person with alot of free time as I roughly got about 5 hours a day, where I also during these hours work on my own company, though if worst comes to worst I am willing to try and help!

Eitherway I hope this happens!
I personally like the Ouija board idea and Questionable's idea:

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...

the best.

[brokenbutterfly]

Many good ideas here  but since time is running out, maybe you should get it on with the "stranded on a boat/island" one, since there is already a bit of development about it?

I can help, if you still need some writers.

[Questionable]

After researching ocean survival here are some things one might need to contend with:

Hyperthermia. Hyperthermia is the heating up of the body from external sources. Differing from a fever in which a fever is regulated by the body, in fact it is CAUSED by your body in order to allow your immune system to function more efficiently and also to create a negative environment for the bacteria/virus the body is combating. Hyperthermia on the other hand is not regulated by the body and is more dangerous than a high fever. The average human body temperature is between 97-99°F/36-38°C. Around 103°F/40°C conditions are life endangering. At approximately 106°F/41°C your cerebral neurons begin to deteriorate. After several hours, you become brain dead, essentially your brain can no longer function. This may include a loss of control over major organs; such as the heart and lungs, in which case you will die within minutes. You may also lose only pieces of human functionality. With modern medicine (life support) machines can keep you ave in hopes of medicine being able to repair these functions. Being trapped at sea however means that prolonged contact with the sun may ultimately result in your death even if you are well fed and watered. This is called a "Heatstroke" or "Sunstroke."

Use in a Game: sing a points based system, the player can do things to reverse heat stroke. Cooling off with water,
wearing a hat, sunscreen... etc.


Dehydration. Being lost at sea, either stranded on an island or afloat, one of the major concerns is dehydration. Salt water is not safe for regular digestion and can lead to life threatening conditions, therefore the procuring of freshwater is important for survival at sea. There are three common methods for collecting rainwater: Rain catch, Condensation Trap and Boiling Desalinization.

Use in a Game: A rain catch is a simple enough contraption for the player to set up, a bucket on the ground, a shirt or a rag that can be wrung out. Boiling Desalinization is the most difficult, most complex but also the most readily available method of collecting freshwater, in that; a rain catch requires rain (though it rains nearly everyday in the tropics) and a condensation trap requires time. Boiling desalinization is essentially a condensation trap though instead of waiting for water to condense/dew to form/evaporation to occur through solar energy a man made heat source forces the evaporation and the steam is then collected and contained for consumption. It would seem to me that all three methods could be implemented in a game:

Rain Catch


In Black is a bucket. The bucket is filled with urine (yellow), Seawater (aqua) and Leaves/Greenery (green). The Sun and it's rays (red) force the water to evaporate and condensation appears (pink) on the lining of the plastic bag (blue) which is attached with rope, rocks or the ends are placed under the bottom of the vessel/bucket. The condensation collects and falls to the lowest point of the bag, being weighed down by rocks (brown) and collects in the broken champagne bottle your Dad brought to celebrate (orange)

For a boiling distillery, replace the bucket with a can or a pot filled with the same material, then add a fire and take away the sun. It's more dangerous, less efficient and more difficult t perform, you can have fresh water at any time day or night, however. EDIT: for the boiling method, a shirt or a rag may be used to collect the steam , then wrung out into a container... this will not work with the solar method as the nature of that method is slow and the evaporation will escape from the cloth.


Food. The most abundant source of food in the ocean is going to be fish. Fish often make the underside of a slow moving vessel (a sailboat, for instance) their home as the cool, darker waters are comfortable and algae/plankton collect on the bottom of most vessels, follow this down the food chain and you may attract larger  and larger fish, some which are easier to catch than others... beware this maybe also lead to sharks... or dolphins! Fish are far from the easiest food source to catch though. Most likely one will be able to retrieve giant conchs and giant sea snails. Sea Snails are easy enough to prepare, boil them in water until they float. Remove the entrails and feed on the meat. Conchs are even easier to find and prepare. Simply grab the conch, smash the outer shell and cut away any meat that isn't a bright white in color... you may eat the meat raw with no ill effects. Green sea turtles (the kind without beaks) can be found feeding on Turtle Grass throughout ocean reefs, grab this suckers back and haul him away. You can flip him over and cook him right in the shell... be human and kill him first, this is about survival, not torture. EDIT: Lobsters can also be found in many tropical reefs. Once on land, most small Keys or Islands have an abundance of lizards, giant roaches and often birds nests. Most tropical Keys will have palm trees and bamboo, while bamboo serves no food purpose it is an extremely useful material. Green coconuts have quite a bit of liquid inside which can keep you hydrated... they have also been known to cause diarrhea in some people. Brown coconuts are harder to get into and has less liquid, the meat however is what we think about when we think of coconuts and is a relatively nutritious and tasty treat.

I think the use of food in this game is obvious.


Noteworthy things:

Most small tropical Keys will have a collection of "garbage" washed up on their shores and materials from shipwrecks.

Many small Keys will have been used by "deep sea poachers" in the past, some of their remnants can usually be found left behind, including cleared areas lined by rocks used as methods of keeping roaches and scorpions away.

At night, there is no light pollution and it is generally bright enough to see for quite a distance.

After spending many days as sea, people have been known to get "stillness illness" and will feel as though they are still at sea, while on land.

Bamboo burns for a long time.

It rains several times a week in the tropics, especially at Dust and Dawn.

When drifting at sea, usually one will drift in one direction during the day and another during the night... luckily the days are considerably longer than the night.

On the vast ocean, there are times when there are no waves... the ocean is dead still. There are also times when there is no wind.

One of the biggest challenges survivors face is a psychological one. They usually start to feel claustrophobic, even on large ships, due to the vastness of the ocean surrounding them. Some survivors report bing able to actually SEE ships on the horizon, only to have them fade away, a maddening occurrence. Lone survivors have the added strife of not having anyone to be heroic for , no one to protect and no one to talk to.

Small Keys dot the ocean landscape. They can range anywhere from dozens of feet to about 100x100 meters, any larger and they are considered islands.

Coral reefs can be dangerous by themselves. Strong as steel they can easily destroy the hull of a ship in seconds. They are sharp enough to kill sharks and even small fish, and can rip the skin and break the bone of any man.

Scurvy, or a vitamin C deficiency, will not become a life threatening issue unless it is prolonged, by the psychological manifestations such as depression and laziness may begin to surface.