The Thought Pot

Game Development
1

Wasn’t sure if this was GD or Gen, so mods relocate as needed?

Anywho, it’s like 2 in the morning and I’m afraid to turn out the lights atm. I figured I’d peruse the forum to see what people wanted to see in CS games, and then I thought, “Well, I have ideas that I most likely won’t do myself, though I would definitely play them!” So that’s this thread: the junkyard of unborn games. Feel free to dump ideas, proposals, seeds, and/or dreams here or take any of those and run with it.

Here are some aborted ideas/contemplations:

The Werewolf Game - After the blog example and CotV, this seemed obligatory for obvious reasons. (My Interest Level: 6/10. Like I said it was an obligatory contemplation.)

The Musician Game - After just really learning about GNS theory, this pretty clearly appeals to the simulationist’s taste (read: mine). (Interest Level 8/10. Between the different genres of music, the possible dilemmas - addiction/love/money/fame - I find it easy to get lost in the idea. Less adventurous than of CoGs, but could work, right?)

The Modern Dragonslayer - Set, let’s say a century, in the future, the titular things are around, be it magic-based, natural evolution, or genetic tampering, just kill the damn things. Think the movie Reign of Fire, only fairer to both sides.

So, do you have any scrapped concepts?

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I like your idea of a Musician Game! It feels like it would be different. I quickly get tired of Fantasy games when there’s so many of them. Dragons ans stuff? Blah! Give me something different! :slight_smile:

3

Musician sounds pretty good, and so far I am working on a game aswell. If I were you I would do the one that interests you most.

4

How would you do the Musician Game? Would it be like A Rockstar Ate My Hamster and Kudos Rock Legend? Would it be a game where you play the member of a band, or a solo popstar, trying to make it big and need to balance up your desire for fame with your credibility? I actually think that’s a great idea for a game, and one that you should go for.

Would the main character sell out? Would you enter an American Idol style contest in the hope of hitting it big that way, and if the seedy producers wanted you to act a certain way for ratings, or propose to your girlfriend live on air, tell a sob story would you compromise your own ideals to do so? And when they tell you to dress up in a ridiculous outfit, and sing a song you know is cheesy and terrible, would you actually do it, or would you refuse and risk being branded a difficult contestant and have the producers, the judges and the newspapers all turn upon you.

Actually I think Choice Idol itself would make for a fascinating game, one based on reality TV shows and what kind of deals with the devil you have to strike in order to win. Do you sabotage your fellow contestants? Do you befriend them? When a famous popstar tries to seduce you do you accept knowing it will be splashed everywhere in the papers, or do you refuse their advances and risk their ire.

And I think it’s a game that could explore the subject of both gender and sexuality in an interesting way.

Wow I see what you mean about the idea being one that can easily be run with.

Since even not going the Idol route you have the whole a music producer approaches you and tells you to ditch your band members and he’ll make you a star alone, do you accept? They want to make your soulful ballad into a catchy pop tune do you let them?

I would love to see this game. I would love to see The Musician Game. I think it’s an absolutely fantastic idea. It has such incredible promise.

Edited to add.

Also the Musician game would appeal to a completely different demographic for those that Choice games usually cater to. All of the Choice games have a fantasy/sci-fi element to them. None are set in the real world.

There’s an untapped market out there, especially if it’s advertised and marketted right.

If I were doing it, which I won’t since I don’t have enough time, I’d do it as a game about the rise to becoming a popstar, I’d include a bunch of romantic interests and have a theme of being true to yourself or do you sell-out for fame.

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A game based on greek mythology, that is all.

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@ninjasplaycardgames2

I am doing a game that’s slightly based on Greek Mythology (well as much as Xena Warrior Princess and Hercules ever were). Admittedly I’m using the Roman names where applicable instead of the Greek ones because they work better with the setting, but the Romans did take a lot from the Greeks and I know Greek mythology better.

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gonna work on a athlete/ sim game… but that’s 3rd on my list

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@FairyGodFeather pretty much nailed most of the points that I liked/considered about the Musician Game:

The different dilemmas, the adaptability, the different appeal…

But for whatever reason, I feel like it’s bigger than me, or different from what I’d make… I want to be playing it, not making it.

I felt selfish keeping the idea to myself, which is why this thread was born. Maybe I’ll start it, and work on it from time to time when I’m not working on what I want to work on, but if anyone feels like doing it yourself, by all means! Go for it!

So anyone else got ideas?

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forget ALL of those ideas!! do one with dinosaurs and lasers and aliens and zombies and any other crazy stuff you can throw in and just go from there

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@bocoom You sir… are a genius… how would you feel about zombie dinosaurs?

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And they are half robot and can shoot lasers

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XD sounds like Deus Turok: Left 4 Dead

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And they can fly

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Hmmm, I’ve been thinking lately. I wanna see like some kinda CoG that is based around running a buisness perhaps? idk what specific buisness but something interesting, or maybe even a based around school life? I hated school life but there were some pretty fun times to be had between being sent to detention and getting straight Cs, and maybe more mystery type stories…

more murder mysteries are welcome, and maybe a story with… idk how to explain it but a story with different way of being told, and like a story from multiple view points where you control multiple people, perhaps in a medieval fantasy setting where your in some traveling caravan of mercenaries?

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I would like school life and about school i have to go in 20 minutes ind im still in bed

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@Caddmuss I’ve written it down in my notepad of ideas. I really like the concept. I have a feeling that it’s just not my type of game to write. I can’t see a hook into the plot for me yet. I’ve jotted down some ideas about it but it’s flat. I suspect it is that I love sci-fi and fantasy and I don’t read any fiction which is not in those categories.

Now, I could see something similar to Scott Westerfield’s, Extras, a dystopian future which provides a commentary on fame and the use of social media, and write a story of becoming a musician in the near-future. Or a future where battles are fought through music, and it’s a cut throat world and everyone wants to be famous. I can start spinning out sci-fi ideas to make it work, but when I start doing that it’s no longer really about the music.

At its core I think the music idea is sound enough to stand alone. In fact I think it would be better and far more accessible being set in the real world with names of companies and bands tweaked a little. It’s just not really my sort of game to write either.

If I were making games to sell with the aim of making money I think it’s the first game idea that I’d jump on. I’d start bashing out all my problems with personally approaching the concept, write up a design document, puzzle out how I could make it work.

But, I’m sitting on so many ideas of my own that excite me, which while not seeming at all commercially viable to me, are the type of games I’d like to write. So for now the music game will be an entry in my notepad which I fiddle with every so often.

Besides the current game I’m working on has a weird and crazy music section to it and a talent contest you run in one of the next episodes.

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@2Ton The best ever business simulation I’ve played was “Fairy Godmother Tycoon”. It was fun. I played a lot of those games back in the day. Second comes something where you breed your own cute fuzzy animals and must deal with all of the antics that entails as well as finding the perfect pet.

One of the best things about being my age is that school is so wonderfully far in the past now. For a school game to be interesting to me it would need to add something interesting. It would need to be a school for killing, or for super-heroes or wizards or a Buffy style game. Or even a game where you’re the new girl in town and everyone inexplicably loves you despite your clumsiness and there’s these two guys, one of whom is pale and stalkerish and the other has anger management issues. How do you go about killing them without their families finding out what you’ve done?

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You know you could always bring in a weird element that seems to make normalish ideas better? like maybe you make a deal with a magic being and you get like this really cool musical intrument that will evolve as you play it and make you learn different types of music faster but at the cost of your soul? idk it just adds to it. Im just blinding firing ideas hoping to hit something of interest

And wait there is a Fairy Godmother Tycoon? do you have the highscore? lmfao

And also, Dont girls just love the pale and stalkerish type? thats the message I got from hearing girls blabber on about twilight

19

Pfffff nobody in my class likes twilight

20

I was dragged along on a double date and decided “Hey! Twilight cant be as bad as everyone says it is!” so I gave it a shot… big mistake! I was trapped in one of those moments where everyone in the movie was all mesmerized by the screen like they were brainwashed sitting on the edge of the seat, while I was confused like were they looking at the same movie?

I have to go on a rant for a moment here bear with me. Its just the movie is overrated I was surrounded by like dozens of preteens acting like they were in a concert I swear! I thought they were gonna just start throwing their training bras at the screen when pale vampire guy comes on, and then the chick who is the main focus makes like the most awkward faces that dont match the situation she looks constipated the entire movie.

Im very sorry she had to work under those conditions, and my date was older than me like 28 and she was just as bad as the preteens yo, she is like in awe over this guys abs, yes, they are nice abs… Now put the shirt back on bro, youve proven you have abs… like every time 10 mins, and I wanted to stab my eyes out literally, im talking about id rather be waterboarded than to watch twilight.

Um… I give it -30 stars out of a 10. I hope you guys enjoyed my review of Twilight XD