Unrefined Awesome

Wondering what the deal is?  Check my explanation on Day 1.  On with today’s idea…

Theme: Delivery

Explanation:

Goods, cargo or people need to get from A to B, and someone has to take them there!

Potentially Appropriate Genres:

Sandbox/simulation, adventure/racing hybrid, “management”.

Brief Game Ideas:

The player is a pizza delivery girl who has to get orders to customers on time; too many late orders and she loses her job!  The player is given multiple orders and has to prioritize them, choose the correct route, deal with any problems that come up on the way, etc.  I envision this as a game where the player picks up orders with a simple informative selection dialog and then controls a car (or bike?) from an overhead perspective.

The player runs a shipping company, and is responsible for having enough boats/planes, deciding which goods are transported by which method at what time, etc.  This would be a statistics-heavy game and would call for a mostly non-graphical interface.

The player is responsible for disrupting supply of goods via sabotage, bribery, outright physical attack, etc.  The player’s opponents should be significantly more powerful than the player if taken on directly and openly, forcing the player to be careful and selective in their play.

If you’re wondering what this is, see the explanation at the beginning of Day 1. Otherwise, I’ll continue with today’s idea…

Theme: “Disco”.

Explanation:

Think of the movie/show Grease, of Simpson’s character Disco-Stu, etc.  Bright colours, outlandish hair, tight pants, happy dance-music, colourful lights.

Potentially Appropriate Genres:

Musical arcade game, dancing games, (retro!) car games.

Brief Game Idea:

The player controls a dancer at a disco, and has to stay in time with the music and perform special dance moves in order to impress other disco patrons, avoid becoming uncool, etc.

If you’re wondering what this is, see the explanation at the beginning of Day 1.  For the rest of us, on with today’s idea…

Theme: Insects

Explanation:

Bugs!  Creepy Crawlies!  I say insects, but arachnids or other similar critters would also be perfectly acceptable.  There’s a whole range of different and interesting creatures out there with a whole load of unusual or interesting behaviors that could make a great basis for some interesting games.

Potentially Appropriate Genres:

Puzzles, sandbox/simulation, tower-defense (or attack!).

Brief Game Ideas:

A simple strategy game where the player controls a colony of ants.  Tasks would include gathering and appropriately using resources, scouting for said resources, fighting off intrusions, colony maintenance, etc.  Defence of the queen would be a critical objective.  This game could also be easily adapted to a hive of bees.

A game where the player is a snail, and has to carefully navigate the environment whilst staying out of sunlight, avoiding predators, etc. and reaching supplies of food.

What?

As an exercise in thinking creatively - as well as a nice way to produce some potentially useful ideas - I intend to try to come up with a different theme and/or setting that could be used for a video game every day for the next 30 days.  Each one will come with a general description, a couple of game-types it might be appropriate for, and one or two very brief game ideas which somehow makes use of the theme or setting in question.

Should you wish to use any of the themes, ideas, etc. posted feel free to do so - you’re certainly welcome to credit me for it if you do, but it’s by no means required, and I expect many of the game ideas won’t be particularly original in any case.  Now that the explanation is out of the way, on with the first theme…

Theme: Old West

Explanation:

Like the “Western” genre of movies and TV shows.  Think cowboys, horses, saloons, six-shooters, etc.  This theme could work well either as a serious setting, or as more of a parody in the tradition of spaghetti western movies.  A few examples in popular culture such as the TV series Firefly or the 90’s comedy Wild Wild West have also done well by applying this theme to a more modernised or even futuristic setting.

Potentially Appropriate Genres:

Adventure games,  shooters, themed-arcade, interactive fiction.

Brief Game Ideas:

An adventure game where the player is a deputy-sheriff.  Adventures include identifying and tracking down bandits, surviving shootouts, and interactions with colourful local personalities and the town’s saloon.

A 2d arcade game where the player has to herd cattle, dealing with various difficulties including cattle-rustlers, predators, sick cattle and environmental hazards.