Game Ideas Lab

Game Ideas Lab Moved

2008-04-03T19:42:00.002-04:00

I know this is late, but the Game Ideas Lab has been moved to http://www.mrsunstudios.com/game-ideas-lab/

Thank you for understanding

Game Idea #13 - Sabotage

2008-02-06T19:34:00.000-05:00

STORYLINE

We've all heard of and played those defense games
But, what happens when you no longer want to defend the castle?
You are a poor peasant man, sick of building up your castle just to have it destroyed
It is time for sabotage

GAMEPLAY

You must lay mines/bombs/other weapons
You can't do this without materials however
There are two parts of the game

Scavenging for resources
Setting up traps/killing builders/other sabotage

Scavenging for resources could comprise of the following:

Stealing
Looking throughout nature

Game Idea #12 - After Domination

2008-02-04T18:18:00.000-05:00

STORYLINE

Everyone knows that the villains of a story or movie always want to dominate the world
But, what happens if they accomplish that task?
Perhaps World Domination ain't as great as it looked like
It is your job to rule the world you have just dominated
You're in for one hell of a time

Game Idea #11 - Keyboard Master

2008-02-03T09:33:00.000-05:00

GAMEPLAY

This is really guitar hero with letter keys
The letters will be flying across or down the screen
If the letter is in contact with a certain point, then the player must press the certain key
The player can choose his/her skill level

Basic: A S D F
Easy: A S D F G H J K L
Medium: A S D F G H J K L Z X C V
Hard: A S D F G H J K L Z X C V B N M
Impossible: Every single letter on the keyboard

This is really an educational game, for students to develop their typing skills

Game Idea #10 - Innocent Cheater

2008-02-02T08:18:00.000-05:00

STORYLINE

You are an A+ student, and are loved by all of the teachers
Suddenly, your parents decide that your school is too easy, and decide to send you to the toughest school in the country
You try your best to do good, but all you do is fail
Now, your only choice is to cheat

GAMEPLAY

Your eyesight follows the cursor
You are surrounded by students that could be potentially cheated off of
There is a teacher at the front desk, watching everything
Your job is to create distractions, or take a quick glance and another's test
But, you must copy from the paper of a smart person
Your test is multiple choice and you have to click the right answer
The answers are all on the students test, you have to take them
Money is given to you for good test grades by parents, and can be used to:

Buy distractions

Bribe other students

Game Idea #9 - Microwaver 5000

2008-02-01T18:32:00.000-05:00

STORYLINE

You are a the new Microwaver 5000
It is your job to heat the food of your master
Try not to burn it

GAMEPLAY

Each level is the act of heating up a certain food
You must shoot waves at the parts of the food that need heating
Shooting waves comprises of:

Shooting the certain color waves at the right parts

The colors will be marked with the color opposite of the color wheel

This means that if a part is marked yellow, you must shoot it with purple

Useful Links Pt 2 - Game Development Communities

2008-01-31T17:05:00.000-05:00

Game Discovery ++++
A very useful site for those game developers and designers. It contains loads of information that can help anyone of any skill level, why not give it a click?

Devmaster.net ++++
A nice community full of some great game developers. You can learn game programming of all kinds here, and there are tons of tutorials from which you can learn! You can also visit their forums for personal questions you want answered.

Gamedev.net +++++
A site very similar to Devmaster, but I think it's much more professional, and the forums are much more active. This too has huge amounts of tutorials to learn from, which are updated everyday! They cover gaming topics of all sorts, from the simplest, to the most complex of development methods.

Game Programming Wiki (GPWiki for short) +++
This is yet another site whose content is entirely based on the community's input. It's just like wikipedia, but with gaming. It contains topics like game design and project management. Just give it a try.

Game Idea #8 - Digital Messenger

2008-01-30T20:46:00.000-05:00

STORYLINE

Have you ever wondered how digital files are transferred from computer to computer?
Well, here is how, and its now your job to do it!
You are a digital messenger, and it's time for work

GAMEPLAY

It is a platformer game through the digital world
You must first retrieve the file which you must transport and then carry it to the receiver
The larger the file is, the more difficult and complicated the level is
You begin with a 5kb file, which is basically just walking from one side of the level to the other
You finish with a file millions of petabytes in size, you can guess how hard that level is
There are also time limits to each level, which are based on the speed of the sender and receiver's internet connection
After each level, you get to pick from a list of jobs to complete
The list of jobs will be marked with the size of the file to be transferred, and the speed it must be transferred in

Game Idea #7 - Hammerwood

2008-01-29T09:37:00.000-05:00

STORYLINE

You are a carpenter, and you must build other people's houses!
You must continue the legacy of your family, the Hammerwoods

GAMEPLAY

Levels are like puzzles
You are given a blueprint of what the building should look like, and with only that you must build it
Points are earned based on how accurate the building is compared to the blueprint
You have to match the certain materials with the ones noted on the blueprints
You also have to paint everything the right color

Useful Links Pt 1 - Making a Good Game

2008-01-28T18:10:00.000-05:00

Here are links to some informative articles and sites which will tell you what goes into a good game

What Makes a Game Good? by Wolfgang Kramer: ++++
This article has contains a lot of useful information about making a good game, which I have used as a guide for my games. It explains the certain criteria a game must exemplify, like originality and surprise. There are also a few graphs that explain some of the ideas.

What Makes a Good Game? Carleton College: ++
This is basically the same thing as the previous link, but it introduces some other aspects that weren't covered before.

Game Idea #6 - Surviving Poverty

2008-01-28T16:18:00.000-05:00

STORYLINE

You are an impoverished man, just trying to live with life
But, it is getting increasingly harder as living conditions worsen
Your goal is to earn money, no matter what it takes...

GAMEPLAY

It is really up to you how you want to make this game

Game Idea #5 - Musical Mayhem

2008-01-28T06:17:00.000-05:00

STORYLINE

You are a millionaire whose most prized possession is a collection of the most valuable music in the world
The collection has been kept in a locked vault for all your life
But, when you open it, there is nothing there, just a note and a map
The note says, "Only music can find it"
The map has the locations of the collections
You set off on a quest to find the missing music
You are rich, so you can hire the most talented musicians to solve the case

GAMEPLAY

You start off with a million dollars to hire certain musicians
There are musician classes, like drummer, violinist, guitarist, etc, who each have their own unique advantages
You can buy either upgrades for these classes like instruments or clothing
The game is like one of those classic fighting games, but with music instead
Instead of health, there is crowd support
When crowd support falls to 0, the group of musicians is booed off the stage, and the player loses the round
Winning rounds makes money
After each round, you can:

Buy upgrades

Perform at gigs to earn money, which is really just playing a round against a random opponent

Continue to the next stage

Stages, AKA levels, each lead to a piece of the missing collection, and winning means getting the piece

Game Idea #4 - The Number Devourer

2008-01-27T10:50:00.000-05:00

STORYLINE

You are the Number Devourer, and it is time to feed...
But, you are only a small child in the beginning, you must eat to grow
Start off in the city of Numbers, and begin eating, when you are in nursery school
As the levels increase, the place you feed changes, from nursery school to elementary to college to work to the senior hospital

GAMEPLAY

Gameplay is similar to that of the game, Fishy, or Dog Eat Dog
You start off as number 1, and the more you eat, the higher number you become
You are only able to eat those that are of a lower number than you
As you become a higher number, the victims have more complicated numbers

Addition problems
Subtraction problems
Advanced Algebra, etc.

If you reach a certain number, then you die, and the game is over, then you are able to submit you high score, and you unlock some bonus thing
Points are awarded through the complexity of the number you eat, not on how large the number is

Game Idea #3 - Robotic Invasion

2008-01-27T10:14:00.000-05:00

STORYLINE

Robots have taken over the future world
Main character is the last human on earth
The only thing he has, is a synthesizer, a small building, and a laser pistol
Synthesizer can take raw materials, and create new items, can be anything, from buildings to weapons
He has armor that the synthesizer created that cannot get him damaged
Information disks have recipes to new items
Disks can be found by exploring
The robots attack him all the time

GAMEPLAY

Each round is a wave of robots trying to attack the synthesizer
In the round, the player can move freely to shoot with his weapon to destroy the robots
If a robot comes in contact with the player, the player is stunned for a certain time
Killing robots gives experience and raw materials
Power-ups can be dropped by robots:

Recharger, increases recharge rate for certain amount of time

Weapon Magnifier, Increases weapon damage

Time Warp, Slows down enemies for certain amount of time

Player can spend experience on stats
Player Power

The player has a certain amount of power to use

Shooting weapons uses power

Stronger weapons require more power

Available stats:

Effeciency, decreases amount of turns needed to do something and increases stuff

Dexterity, Increases movement speed and accuracy

Resourcefulness, Increases amount of raw materials received

Command, Increases amount of robots able to be recruited

Tech, Increases strength of robot allies

Power, Increases power recharge rate and total power

After the round, the player gets shown his statistics and then has a number of turns
Choices for using turns:

Explore for information disks, player must fight robots

Synthesize items/upgrades:

Wall
Weapons or upgrades to them

Laser Pistol: Basic Starter Weapon

Freeze Ray: Slows down enemy and has chance to freeze

Poison Grenade Launcher: Slow but does large area damage and poisons over time

Turrets

On the Spot Repairs

Friendly Robots to either attack others or heal friends

Decrease turn usage

Increase turn creation

Repair the base

Search for Raw Materials

Train, gain experience and get more stat points

After using the turns, another tougher wave of robots attack
If the Synthesizer building is destroyed, the robots become 10 times stronger and attack the player who eventually will die

Other Note:
I actually was in the process of making this game, which is why it goes in so much detail. But, it turned out that the code I wrote was too messy, and I didn't feel like continuing.

Game Idea #2 - The Life of a Game Developer

2008-01-27T09:54:00.000-05:00

STORYLINE

You are a game developer, trying to become the best, but you right now have no skill
You start off as a teenager, who just earned a present from his parents, Flash
You have to go online to search for the right tutorials to increase certain skills needed
Skills you can learn are the different programming languages
You can create games and get sponsors for money
Money is used to either buy books or online lessons

GAMEPLAY

It could be similar to a sim game, with a certain number of hours in each day
The goal of the game is to create the world's greatest game
Scores are rated by how short it takes to achieve this
Very realistic obstacles that a real game developer has to go through

Game Idea #1 - Scientist RPG

2008-01-27T09:44:00.001-05:00

STORYLINE

You are an aspiring student scientist, trying to make it to the top
You start off in a high school science class
After passing high school, you can move up to college
In college, many other challenges are introduced, like money
After college, you must choose a field to specialize in (Biology, Physics, Medicine, etc.)

GAMEPLAY

Game is comprised of other mini-games, like brick
Each mini-game corresponds with a certain scientific aspect
Beat a mini-game in order to pass certain schools
Each mini-game has certain goals that
Skill Points are awarded for completing the goals (achieving certain scores)

The Game Ideas Lab has now OPENED!

2008-01-27T09:34:00.001-05:00

Alright, this blog is simply for those game developers (usually flash) who have really no inspiration about what they should make a game about. Well , the game ideas lab is simply a collection of game concepts that I have made up that I am not able to create at the moment. Feel free to use my ideas, but don't copy them exactly as I explain them.

Thank you and have fun! I hope you get some inspiration