And Maw! This

GDC was pretty inspiring for me

March 11th, 2007

I had a game idea for each day I was at GDC…so that’s five ideas total (I’m spelling it out cause recent evidence shows programmers lack basic math skillz)
So here’s the ideas and the inspiration behind them:

1.) Fold: During the “Portal” and “Crush” talks my mind wondered about folding space. Specifially, given a 2D world which can be folded in the 3rd dim, what sort of neat puzzles could you create to torment your poor players.
2.) Everybody Shooter: “Everyday Shooter” cleaned up at the awards But, before they won (Colin and Jon please correct me if I’m wrong) it appeared that people were intimated by the game, since its got bullets and stuff moving around! On my first play, I almost one-credited the first level…until Jon jinxed me by pointed that out to Colin Overall, the levels are really balanced and extremely playable, a rare treat for non-shooter fans. But, along the lines of making this genre appeal to others, I wonder if a “move-assist” ala the “aim-assist” that EVERY CONSOLE FPS seems to have would help the appeal of these games.
3.) Unconformity: This one is hard to explain, you’d have a spring-rigged shape which is constantly being pulled or pushed at various points to be turned into something else. So, you might start with a circle but the forces that be try to turn you into a square. Its all about resisting their draw while filling yourself with joy. This came from Mr. Fun-Motion’s talk and the general innovation buzz which is always a part of any game discussion
4.) Push To Beat: An action game which requires / rewards you for doing things on the beat. Imagine “Gears of War” where you’d cover/uncover and attack based on the beat, meaning the enemies would be in sync to the rythem, firing in the gaps and giving you a chance to pummel them on the beat.
5.) Karma: This one is pretty…vague, you’d play a game with many lives, and as your actions collect and your reincarnate, you’d experiance the karma-consequences of things. It’d be a short game session, perhaps an hour max to play all 10 lives, and it’d be less about story and much more about goals being effected, ie a karma-puzzle game!! This came out of the AMAZING stuff we got to see at the expirmental gameplay workshop, which I’m not really at liberty to discuss.

Prototypes of the ideas are coming soon, and will hopefully inspire someone else

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