Pitches & Ideas

[Donut]

Hey girls & guys!

I was thinking that sometimes it's a bot hard to find game ideas or to pitch the game we're making or want to make into something truly exciting for the eventual player. I thought we could have a topic for brainstorming, maybe giving ideas that we'd like to see but don't want to do ourselves for others, or check if a game pitch is well done before doing an actual presentation topic for it, or kind of setting up a team of people with same interest in developing an idea.

I found the website of Pippin Barr quite funny for it, as he has all those weird ideas which could make really cool games. The idea for this topic would be to provide new ideas (maybe can be used as constraints for a chain game or a Charas JAM as well?) that might result in awesome features in awesome games.

I'm giving some ideas from the previously mentioned website that caught my eye for example, with an elevator pitch if I could figure something out (I'm no expert on elevator pitch, so if it sounds awful you can just ignore). Note that those ideas might not be new but I haven't heard of them so they are for me ahah:
- Everybody smiles at you in the corridor of the spaceship because you're a good person => The goal of the game would be to make everyone think you're bad, but each time you do something bad, people would forgive you because they think you're a good person. It would play as a P&C Adventure game, which puzzles will gravitate towards making the biggest most evilest prank ever.
- You get old & you keep getting older => A game where every action you do makes you age by an extra year. I'm thinking of an arcady game here, where the goal will be to reach the furthest into the game before you actually die of being old. No ennemies (so it's not a PV related thing), but rather about 100 actions limits before you die. This would imply moving, eating, pushing items, etc...
- It's a walking simulator but you don't feel like going anywhere => I was thinking of exploring those nightmares you have when everything is so blank and you don't know where you're going with your life: you can actually get stressed and anxious. You'd be standing all the time because you don't want to go anywhere or do anything about making your future better, but the world carries on. Basically, everyone bu the player is walking on the walking simulator. Story wise it would explore anxiety, fear of change and schtuff like that.
 - You make mistakes and they resonate indefinitely => Here I thought it would be interesting to "force" somehow the player (but without him thinking it's the fault of the game but his own bad decision) to make mistakes and/or fail some stuff; and give maluses for the rest of the game. Similarly to the previous idea, it would explore mental problems, like how some people can't get past failures.

And here is one I thought could be a cute & funny P&C adventure (I'm actually thinking of doing that one on either RM2k3 or AGS):
- You're a robot medium => You would play a robot medium (duh) who is able to change body with other robots to solve puzzles, or to move around places that you can't get to. The problem is that each of the robot is limited in what he can do and say, as they are designed for one purpose only. For example you could become a cleaning robot but only speak spanish - sorry for the cliché - and only be able to use a broom.

[Prpl_Mage]

- You make mistakes and they resonate indefinitely => Here I thought it would be interesting to "force" somehow the player (but without him thinking it's the fault of the game but his own bad decision) to make mistakes and/or fail some stuff; and give maluses for the rest of the game. Similarly to the previous idea, it would explore mental problems, like how some people can't get past failures.

I always loved how Chrono Trigger did this to you with the trial. Just random things like if you helped Marle up or picked up the jewlery first and things like that came back to kick you in the groin. Basically a lot of things that could be angled towards your good character was presented. So something like that?

And here is one I thought could be a cute & funny P&C adventure (I'm actually thinking of doing that one on either RM2k3 or AGS):
- You're a robot medium => You would play a robot medium (duh) who is able to change body with other robots to solve puzzles, or to move around places that you can't get to. The problem is that each of the robot is limited in what he can do and say, as they are designed for one purpose only. For example you could become a cleaning robot but only speak spanish - sorry for the cliché - and only be able to use a broom.

I like this idea, to elaborate on it further - each robot has a limited life span, meaning that using one will eventually lead to its untimely rusty collapse.

I should have a couple of notebooks of game ideas that I've abandoned for many different reasons, some of these are less original than others but I'll try to find it.

[Prpl_Mage]

Okay I managed to find that notebook so here goes


City management game:
You are the mayor of a fantasy city and need to make sure it prospers. At the start of each election year you will be given the choices to promise expansion of certain business or stuff. That will give you a material collection for that election year that you should finish for mad rep. So each game from start to end has a limited amount of "election years" that is finite. And your choices decides what facilities you have available and which characters get new gear and skills.

Pay to win game:
A typical MMO style game, but you are given a credit card at the start of the game. This can be used to unlock things, as in most MMOs these days. Some of these are unique, others are simply ways to shortcut around actually playing the game. At the end of the game a score, and judgement, will be given based on what you spent money on.

[drenrin2120]

I messed around a bit with a Text Adventure maker, as a poor attempt to learn a bit of Java. I found some interesting games that were built using the engine and scratched up some notes for a theoretical game about hiking. Essentially, you'd be a hiker/adventurer in a fantasy based world. It wouldn't have be fantasy, but that theme seemed to work. You'd be given a map with hiking routes and destinations. At some stops you could restock on rations and supplies. At others you could scavenge for supplies, search for treasure, take various risks for various potential rewards. The whole game would rely heavily on RNG and the main mechanic of the game would be the journey between locations. Each Day would pass with random events affecting stats such as health, hunger, stamina, etc. Each pass would have different events and obstacles that you'd have to plan for. You would need a certain amount of rations for each day of the trip and you would need different supplies for different paths.

You could use cities and taverns as a way to tease out rumors of dangers and hidden treasures and what not. The whole point of the game would be something simple: How many days can you survive on the road? How much money/treasure did you collect?

I don't know, just spitballing. I might return to that eventually.

Pay to win game:
A typical MMO style game, but you are given a credit card at the start of the game. This can be used to unlock things, as in most MMOs these days. Some of these are unique, others are simply ways to shortcut around actually playing the game. At the end of the game a score, and judgement, will be given based on what you spent money on.

I like this. I can see a lot of potential humor in it.

[Donut]

I always loved how Chrono Trigger did this to you with the trial. Just random things like if you helped Marle up or picked up the jewlery first and things like that came back to kick you in the groin. Basically a lot of things that could be angled towards your good character was presented. So something like that?

Oh yes, I forgot CT did that. That's interesting actually. We could make something like an interactive Ace Attorney, where the player first starts playing the defendant doing actions. Then playing a defense attorney who tries saving the defendant from a crime he didn't commit, but the outcome and proofs would be different depending on the player's action on the first part of the game.

I like this idea, to elaborate on it further - each robot has a limited life span, meaning that using one will eventually lead to its untimely rusty collapse.

That could be interesting yes, I'm not sure how to implement that in a P&C "short" game like I was aiming for. but i'll think about it!

Pay to win game:
A typical MMO style game, but you are given a credit card at the start of the game. This can be used to unlock things, as in most MMOs these days. Some of these are unique, others are simply ways to shortcut around actually playing the game. At the end of the game a score, and judgement, will be given based on what you spent money on.

That reminds me a bit of DLC Quest, minus the judgment part.

I messed around a bit with a Text Adventure maker, as a poor attempt to learn a bit of Java. I found some interesting games that were built using the engine and scratched up some notes for a theoretical game about hiking. Essentially, you'd be a hiker/adventurer in a fantasy based world. It wouldn't have be fantasy, but that theme seemed to work. You'd be given a map with hiking routes and destinations. At some stops you could restock on rations and supplies. At others you could scavenge for supplies, search for treasure, take various risks for various potential rewards. The whole game would rely heavily on RNG and the main mechanic of the game would be the journey between locations. Each Day would pass with random events affecting stats such as health, hunger, stamina, etc. Each pass would have different events and obstacles that you'd have to plan for. You would need a certain amount of rations for each day of the trip and you would need different supplies for different paths.

You could use cities and taverns as a way to tease out rumors of dangers and hidden treasures and what not. The whole point of the game would be something simple: How many days can you survive on the road? How much money/treasure did you collect?

That'd be an interesting twerk on the usual "Choos Your Own Adventure Book" that Text Adventure Maker is usually used for.

[Prpl_Mage]

I messed around a bit with a Text Adventure maker, as a poor attempt to learn a bit of Java. I found some interesting games that were built using the engine and scratched up some notes for a theoretical game about hiking. Essentially, you'd be a hiker/adventurer in a fantasy based world. It wouldn't have be fantasy, but that theme seemed to work. You'd be given a map with hiking routes and destinations. At some stops you could restock on rations and supplies. At others you could scavenge for supplies, search for treasure, take various risks for various potential rewards. The whole game would rely heavily on RNG and the main mechanic of the game would be the journey between locations. Each Day would pass with random events affecting stats such as health, hunger, stamina, etc. Each pass would have different events and obstacles that you'd have to plan for. You would need a certain amount of rations for each day of the trip and you would need different supplies for different paths.

You could use cities and taverns as a way to tease out rumors of dangers and hidden treasures and what not. The whole point of the game would be something simple: How many days can you survive on the road? How much money/treasure did you collect?

Reminds me of Death Road Canada, and other games it was inspired by