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Man, you people are such girls...

I don't think I've ever been moved to tears by anything. I might sit there, floored for a while, but never cried...

I don't remember it specifically (been ages since I read that book) but I remember there was a short chapter about a mattress on some planet who 'wargled' and 'rumped' to himself (or something like that). I thought it was funny.

To be honest, I never really had that fascination with bizarre British humour...

Your aim when making a game should not be to please us. It should be the adventure game you have always wanted to play

That's a fair point. But I really would be equally happy writing anything (within a certain degree). So, I might as well do something that other people are going to enjoy. Besides, the most likely thing to happen is that I'll get bored - but the more people who are enthusiastic about what I'm trying to do, the more I'll feel guilted into continuing

Nice responses so far. It's funny to see the differences of people's tastes around here...

None of those idea seem particularly original, but I guess that is not what you were asking.

You're absolutely right - that wasn't what I was asking

The idea here isn't to show off my amazing originality and creativity. I'm trying to get a feel for people's tastes. Like I said at the top - each 'idea' is a very basic concept, mostly stripped of characters, plot, setting.
This is because I only want opinions on the concepts. It's a given that people like well-written, involving plots with deep, developed characters and an original storyline.

Besides, complicating a plot just for the sake of originality isn't exactly going to make the story great. There's nothing more annoying than when two plot elements don't mesh properly and it just ends up looking like a frankenstein plot... (e.g. in the XDAS series, the whole 'world of science/world of magic' thing seemed incredibly misplaced and random)


Edit:

I must emphasize the need for multiple and not too contrived solutions though, not something like 6 Day Assassin. You could have more focus on deception through dialog and other character interaction instead of sneaking and hiding in the shadows

That was the main idea. I loved the way the Hitman series allowed you to dress up as a bodyguard, or a waiter and just wander around, giving you pretty much all the time you need to talk to people and figure out your best course of action, the escape routes, etc.
That, and the way you had an almost infinite number of possibilities, from sticking a bomb in a cake to pushing them off a ledge as they go out for a smoke break...
And since I always went for a 'silent assassin' rating, it always seemed more like an adventure/puzzle game than an action game (i.e. I'd try to figure out the perfect solution, using minimal violence, rather than just shoot my way through)

Whoa, that's almost four years between SSH's and Tuomas' posts...

Anyway, I've been reading Oscar Wilde lately. The Picture of Dorian Grey and The Importance of Being Earnest are classics for a reason...

Well, I've always found conceiving of games/novels/what-have-you to be the best and most exciting part of the entire process. Unfortunately, it's the first step in the process, so once I come up with a good idea, I usually don't make it any further...

Anyway, I was just wondering, out of the following list of ideas, which would you most like to play? (And which would you rather gouge out your eyes than play?)
Keep in mind, this is about the basic concept - the plot, characters, setting, etc can come later


1. A game based around three people (a genius girl who suffers from OCD and mild autism, a silver-tongued guy who's good with people but tends to panic, and a tormented soldier-of-fortune who's lost his will to live) get thrust together for some reason. Possibly involving a paranormal plot - the important part is the interplay between the characters, and the way you can switch between them to take advantage of each of their strengths (problem-solving, people-handling, danger-coping)

2. An assassin game, where you must explore the area and devise ingenious ways of taking out your target and making it look like an accident (somewhat like the Hitman series, only without the option of shooting up the place). It's like a standard adventure game, where you talk to NPCs and solve a series of puzzles in order to progress, except instead of your ultimate goal being to escape an island, or find a girl, you're trying to kill some crimelord. After several missions, you're eventually caught up in some sort of conspiracy, etc.

3. A virtual reality game, in the vein of 'The Game', or 'Total Recall', where you can never really tell what's real, and what isn't. You use all five senses to solve puzzles, with your ultimate goal being to find out what's happening (are you going insane, are you still in the game, or is it all real?)

4. A game based off Columbine, which centers around a mature, highly emotional storyline (rather than that shitty RPG) where you have to escape a high-school shooting, saving as many people as you can. The primary focus would be on trying to instill the horror and evil of the whole thing, giving the player a sense of helplessness and frustration (like a real survivor would feel) as he/she watches it unfold.

5. A game about the IRB, and the early years of Irish Independence (in the vein of 'Michael Collins' or 'The Wind that Shakes the Barley') and the Civil War. You play both a Fenian, and a British Constable trying to hunt them down. Solve puzzles ranging from outsmarting the Black & Tans to saving a farm from being burned down.

6. A game about an agency known as the 'Time Keepers', who ever since the invention of the 'time machine', has been tracking offenses and enforcing the 'Interdimensional Temporal Constitution', with their ultimate goal being the assassination of the man who invents the time machine, and the destruction of any information relating to its construction, prior to it being constructed, in hopes that time will 're-lineate' itself.

7. A game about an underground world of vampires, and one man's struggle to keep hold of his humanity.

8. A game based on 'Pulp Fiction', about drugs, sex, violence, and Royales with Cheese. Puzzles would range from 'breaking and entering', to 'pumping adrenaline into the heart of your boss's girlfriend as she OD's on the kitchen floor of your drug-dealer's house because if you took her to the hospital said boss would find out and blow off your kneecaps'.

9. A game in the same vein as 'Heroes', where every character is a normal person who discovers they have special powers. Telekinesis, telepathy, time-controlling, etc. could make for some innovative puzzles.

10. A game based on the 'film noir' or 'hard-boiled' style - much like Grim Fandango, only less comical, and more gritty and dark, with a down-trodden, pessimistic main character traipsing through the seedy underbelly of society.



Also, would you prefer:
a) a longer game with less choices/variations (and thusly less replay value)
or
b) a shorter game with more choices/variations (and thusly more replay value)

Speaking of which, I don't think you ever told us your website...

And just so we don't wander too far a-thread...one escape I would like to see in a game is someone locked inside a big standing floor safe.  Theoretically, if they had a light source and a screwdriver, they could unscrew the back of the lock panel, and then just line up the wheels of the combination lock, retract the latch and open the door from the inside.

Doesn't he kind of do that in Grim Fandango? Except it's from the outside...

Not only wheelchair-bound people. Imagine - if you will - a impulse-reading controller that you could use to write things almost immediately out of your head.

We'd never have to lift a finger, or figure out the right words to express ourselves again. Y'know, in theory. I doubt it'd be that sensitive though.


I do remember this time when I was at my friend's house, and his uncle had developed this game controller which was a lot like the Mindlink thing, only instead of muscle sensors, it detected subtle eye movements.

I played Unreal Tournament with my freaking eyes! That was pretty cool. (Well, I still had a keyboard and mouse - it's just that where ever I looked on the screen, the camera moved, which saved a lot of time and wrist strain, but also caused some accidents...)

Wait... the hot, blonde, big-boobed girl in pink is called Aphrodite?
Unless she's some sorta stripper, and that's her stage name, I find that hard to believe

Also, Jenni herself looks kinda awkward. Like she's intentionally running chest-first into these creepy dark rooms... (Y'know, to poke out the eyes of any lurking sex offenders...)


Seriously though, it looks better than any adventure game I've ever seen... (graphically speaking)

Can I headbutt the Annoying Plotdevice Character then? Now that is something I've  been wanting to do for a long, long time.

You mean the old mentor that will inevitably betray you, but that can't be preemptively decapitated in his sleep?

I hate him...

Yes. Thank you for the mental scarring.

- Huw

I agree. I'm starting to think this thread might be opening a pandora's box here...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7254523.stm

First of all, I'd really like to know what kind of scientist would hold that kind of experiment.
"Let's get 20 women into this lab, take ultrasounds of their love tunnels, and then make 'em all orgasm"
I mean, I didn't think anything like that actually happened outside of a porn studio...

Goddamnit, I hate it when this happens... I really should copyright my ideas...

Now, when I do it, it'll look like I'm copying them...

(I seriously have started a game based on this exact concept...)

Cool. Looks like ya'll are really coming up in the gaming industry.

I never would've believed you could get that kind of attention just from making a game with AGS. Guess I underestimated it.

No story synopsis? Progress report?

Art is pretty good, at least. Though I do not speak French so I do not know why I care (damnit, I really need to fix my apostrophe button...)

I am sure there is a french member of the forum who could help you translate. I have never met a translator that did not suck... (they should only really be used for very basic sentences, and even then, should not be trusted entirely)

And even if people picked up on the previous person's intentions they are more likely to want to impress their own intentions... all writers are a little selfish like that.

Yeah, I wrote an article to that effect. I have known a bunch of writers on different sites, and in real life, and the one constant between them all seems to be inherent narcissism.

I mean, it is the dream of every writer to be published - to have as many people read what they write as possible. That, in itself, is proof of their narcissistic tendencies.

Not that there is anything wrong with a bit of narcissism...

What... the hell are you saying to us? Those look like words, but they fill my head not with understanding, but with pain and torment...

Art is pretty cool though. It has an original style. Very bizarre and anarchist.

Speaking from a purely aesthetic point of view, I would say his collar is a little bit odd-looking... it is far too wide - looks like his shirt is bursting open from the top. Also, his right hand is a bit too rigid - it should be more relaxed...