Come up with a videogame concept

[maninahat]

Just to show how easy it is to come up with any idea for a new game. Here are a couple of concepts I've toyed around with.

A puzzling, platforming game featuring a kid and a fish. The fish is on the end of a hook, attached to a fishing rod, carried by the kid. Puzzles require the two to work together, the kid "casting" the rod to send the fish flying into out of reach places, whilst the fish can only flop small distances on his own accord. To proceed through the game, the kid must use precision skills (degree of force and angle) to cast the fish into the right direction.

Another idea, using a similar gimmick: a platformer involving lots of physics puzzles and a harpoon gun. The protagonist has to get around by harpooning various objects, tethering the protagonist to them. The trick is to knock heavier objects off edges, using the weight of the falling object to propel/drag you in various directions. Likewise, you can drag lighter objects, say pulling crates down onto pressure buttons. I'd just like to see a game with a "grappel" feature that works well (unlike a certain, Bionic Commando game).

 

[SturmDolch]

Yup, and that's why you can't really make money by "selling game ideas" unless it's truly revolutionary. It's more about how you can implement your idea than just creating it. So to become a "game designer", making the ideas for games, you usually need industry experience and reputation first.

 

[dududf]

A mage accidentally opens a rift into a Parallel dimension.

With one difference. No one knows magic but him.

The year is 2750, Earth was nuked, but countless other planets have been colonized.

The mages goal is to travel to an inhabited solar system, align the planets, destroy the planets, open the rift on the sacrifices and go home. With the weapons, and then rule his own dimension with an iron fist.


Actually... this is hard.

 

[Timotei]

snip

Hello I'm Suiseiseki IRL with EA games. We're interested in your ideas and we think it can make a lot of money. We'd like to have you head the team that will create these games.

However we will provide you with insufficient funding and almost no marketing while we bury your game under ads for this year's versions for every sports game we currently make and another flop game we're going to advertise rigorously.

I think you're better off going indie sir.

 

[Sam_Winchester]

Here's one: An RPG set in a zombie apocalypse, where everything can be used as a weapon, or, if need be, a healing item (for example, a lighter can be used with aresol to create a "flame thrower," while at the same time it can be used for cauterizing wounds). The player is given an open world to run around, attack zombies, figure out how it all started, and teem up with the 1% or so of humans still alive. Maybe it could be set in the world of Left 4 Dead, where the zombies get more and more mutated for the longer you play it. Just thinking out loud.

 

[Emptor]

You're a space marine with a gun that shoots happy thoughts,once the enemy has been "killed" by these happy thoughts they become your slaves and the game evolves into a combination of RTS and FPS as you attempt to enslave the world while murdering the unenslavable.Then at the end it turn out.You're the dictatorial monster and the villain for the next game.

 

[maninahat]

Yup, and that's why you can't really make money by "selling game ideas" unless it's truly revolutionary. It's more about how you can implement your idea than just creating it. So to become a "game designer", making the ideas for games, you usually need industry experience and reputation first.

WWell despite all that, it would be interesting to see what novel ideas people can come out with.

 

[Composer]

Here's one: An RPG set in a zombie apocalypse, where everything can be used as a weapon, or, if need be, a healing item (for example, a lighter can be used with aresol to create a "flame thrower," while at the same time it can be used for cauterizing wounds). The player is given an open world to run around, attack zombies, figure out how it all started, and teem up with the 1% or so of humans still alive. Maybe it could be set in the world of Left 4 Dead, where the zombies get more and more mutated for the longer you play it. Just thinking out loud.

so it would sort of take dead rising to a higher level of openness(fk the timespan for events) and item abundance?

 

[d7rth j0e]

The games I want to see are Dune, (would most likely be a stealth rpg/rts type thign where you play as paul and use spice) and the 7th tower books would make sweet games. Using sunstones to solve puzzles and toast enemies. And we need alan dean foster to help make a game or at least write a story for one.

 

[SturmDolch]

WWell despite all that, it would be interesting to see what novel ideas people can come out with.

Oh, sorry, I didn't know we were supposed to post our own game ideas! I was commenting on what you said about how easy it is to make one.

Anyways, my idea is for a World War II game. "Oh no, not again!" groaned the masses. But this one is different. This one has dragons!

I wrote up a short script on my website. [http://seventhcirclegaming.com/2009/12/16/game-idea-1-nazi-dragon-blitzkrieg/] I also detailed the gameplay in my post, but I'll copypasta it to here:

This game should play as a First Person Shooter. The right mouse button controls the sword swinging and the left the gun shooting. The aiming reticule aims for both. What the sword does depends on the enemy. All attacks take the same length of time, about 1-2 seconds, and can include stabbing, slicing, slashing, etc. It depends on how close the enemy is. If an enemy gets stuck on the sword, one needs to press the left button to shoot them off. This earns extra Adrenaline.

Adrenaline. This is the player?s life meter. It rises with each consecutive kill and the amount of style the player uses in killing enemies. Simply standing in place and shooting everything doesn?t do much. You may get through it all, but it?s doubtful as in this game, you WILL get shot. But if you?re in the fray, cutting apart enemies and shooting guys, you?ll be earning enough Adrenaline to keep on going and going.

Dragon Fighting: This depends on the dragon. Each one will have a specific strategy to defeat it. There should be a hierarchy ofdragons, or rather, enemies. For every 10 Nazis , there is a Wyrmm, a smaller dragon that is quite easy to defeat. For every 10 Wyrmms, there is a small Dragon, which is harder to kill than a Wyrmm but not impossible. Keep this going, throwing in a medium dragon in here and there which is hard. Once the end is reached, a Boss Dragon shows up.

These take the forms of anything from large black dragons that scorch the earth where they land to three-headed hydras attacking you in a boat (Yes, there is a boat level), to basilisks shooting out of the ground.

The music should be extremely loud metal, but without lyrics, to set the atmosphere. Perhaps throw in an era-specific tune playing on the radio once in a while, in quiet parts (although there shouldn?t be that many.)

As for graphics? As realistic as possible. Definitely lots of gore and people being torn in half by the dragons. I?d love to see your character charging forward sword raised, leading his squad, through a scorched battlefield with half bodies lying around and screaming burningsoldiers running the other way.

I feel that most shooters place you in the role of squad member that is somehow also a one-man army and try to make the shooter somewhat realistic. This is getting dull. This game, you have a reason for being the badass: You?re a captain of your own squad. Your squad members move by themselves of course, although they generally follow you. A select few should have personalities; these guys don?t die in battles. And screw realism. There?s dragons. In World War 2. How realistic were you expecting this to be?

TLDR: Basically, I envision a first person shooter with a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other.

 

[Dark Knifer]

WWell despite all that, it would be interesting to see what novel ideas people can come out with.

Oh, sorry, I didn't know we were supposed to post our own game ideas! I was commenting on what you said about how easy it is to make one.

Anyways, my idea is for a World War II game. "Oh no, not again!" groaned the masses. But this one is different. This one has dragons!

I wrote up a short script on my website. [http://seventhcirclegaming.com/2009/12/16/game-idea-1-nazi-dragon-blitzkrieg/] I also detailed the gameplay in my post, but I'll copypasta it to here:

This game should play as a First Person Shooter. The right mouse button controls the sword swinging and the left the gun shooting. The aiming reticule aims for both. What the sword does depends on the enemy. All attacks take the same length of time, about 1-2 seconds, and can include stabbing, slicing, slashing, etc. It depends on how close the enemy is. If an enemy gets stuck on the sword, one needs to press the left button to shoot them off. This earns extra Adrenaline.

Adrenaline. This is the player?s life meter. It rises with each consecutive kill and the amount of style the player uses in killing enemies. Simply standing in place and shooting everything doesn?t do much. You may get through it all, but it?s doubtful as in this game, you WILL get shot. But if you?re in the fray, cutting apart enemies and shooting guys, you?ll be earning enough Adrenaline to keep on going and going.

Dragon Fighting: This depends on the dragon. Each one will have a specific strategy to defeat it. There should be a hierarchy ofdragons, or rather, enemies. For every 10 Nazis , there is a Wyrmm, a smaller dragon that is quite easy to defeat. For every 10 Wyrmms, there is a small Dragon, which is harder to kill than a Wyrmm but not impossible. Keep this going, throwing in a medium dragon in here and there which is hard. Once the end is reached, a Boss Dragon shows up.

These take the forms of anything from large black dragons that scorch the earth where they land to three-headed hydras attacking you in a boat (Yes, there is a boat level), to basilisks shooting out of the ground.

The music should be extremely loud metal, but without lyrics, to set the atmosphere. Perhaps throw in an era-specific tune playing on the radio once in a while, in quiet parts (although there shouldn?t be that many.)

As for graphics? As realistic as possible. Definitely lots of gore and people being torn in half by the dragons. I?d love to see your character charging forward sword raised, leading his squad, through a scorched battlefield with half bodies lying around and screaming burningsoldiers running the other way.

I feel that most shooters place you in the role of squad member that is somehow also a one-man army and try to make the shooter somewhat realistic. This is getting dull. This game, you have a reason for being the badass: You?re a captain of your own squad. Your squad members move by themselves of course, although they generally follow you. A select few should have personalities; these guys don?t die in battles. And screw realism. There?s dragons. In World War 2. How realistic were you expecting this to be?

TLDR: Basically, I envision a first person shooter with a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other.

This sounds like pure win. You have to get this game published. I would buy it on release.

 

[SturmDolch]

This sounds like pure win. You have to get this game published. I would buy it on release.

I've heard that a lot xD I do hope to work in the industry, so maybe in 20 years or so, you'll see this on your Zbox W∞∞².

 

[maninahat]

Reminds me of that amusing "Dino D-Day" mod for half life 2 (Nazi dinosaurs). Incidently, that is a great mod which I suggest you all go play if you have Half Life.

 

[darkfire613]

A Zombie Apocalypse MMOFPS. When the game first starts up, bots would be used for the zombies. After your character gets killed, it's stuck as a zombie until your squad (or another squad) manages to subdue you and administer an antidote. Ideally, all the idiot players would get turned into zombies quickly, while the skilled players remain as humans. As a human, you would play with other humans, and have a "squad" (sort of like a guild in other MMOs) who would be your team, like the L4D survivors. Your squad/team could alliance with other squads if you wished, or you could go solo. While a human, as you played, you would level up for more stamina, and put skill points into different areas useful to zombie survival, such as medicine, light guns, heavy guns, driving, flying, etc. When you started playing, you would choose your profession from before the apocalypse, which would be your class. For example, choosing military would give you a boost in weapons, while choosing doctor would boost medicine.

When your character becomes a zombie (eventually inevitable), you would level up in different areas relevant to being a zombie. Strength, speed, and special powers would all be options. For example, putting a lot of points into strength would make your character more like a Tank, while speed or jumping could make your character like a Hunter. Also, there would be powers you could choose from each level, like the abilities in RPGs. These could be varied, and would be stuff like the Smoker's long tongue, or the Boomer's bile (obviously, the game wouldn't use the L4D ideas, I'm just too lazy to come up with my own right now).

I mentioned in the first paragraph an antidote. With this, the former members of your squad (or any other squad) would have to find you and nonlethally incapacitate you, then administer the antidote. You automatically become a member of the squad that rescues you, regardless of whether it was your original one or not. However, if you meet your squad as a revived human, you could switch to them if you wanted. This mechanic keeps the members of the squad fluctuating, giving you a core group of skilled players while other people join and leave.

The issue with the antidote is it's hard to make (otherwise all the zombies would be cured). To create the medicine, you would need a doctor with at least X points in medicine, as well as the right ingredients harvested during you squad's travels, in order to make it. Additionally, the revival process would not be short, and the zombie captured would have the chance to fight to get away.

Now, to combat the issue of the zombie just letting himself be captured and revived as a human, if the zombie has line of sight with human for a certain amount of time, within a certain distance, the zombie player would be required to attack. a "rage" meter would fill, and if it filled all the way, the zombie player would die and be respawned away from the humans. This would simulate a "real" zombie's drive to kill humans, and prevent the player from surrendering to be reverted. In addition, the human players' names would be hidden from the zombie player, so the zombie player couldn't tell if the people were his squad or not.

 

[Emptor]

WWell despite all that, it would be interesting to see what novel ideas people can come out with.

Oh, sorry, I didn't know we were supposed to post our own game ideas! I was commenting on what you said about how easy it is to make one.

Anyways, my idea is for a World War II game. "Oh no, not again!" groaned the masses. But this one is different. This one has dragons!

I wrote up a short script on my website. [http://seventhcirclegaming.com/2009/12/16/game-idea-1-nazi-dragon-blitzkrieg/] I also detailed the gameplay in my post, but I'll copypasta it to here:

This game should play as a First Person Shooter. The right mouse button controls the sword swinging and the left the gun shooting. The aiming reticule aims for both. What the sword does depends on the enemy. All attacks take the same length of time, about 1-2 seconds, and can include stabbing, slicing, slashing, etc. It depends on how close the enemy is. If an enemy gets stuck on the sword, one needs to press the left button to shoot them off. This earns extra Adrenaline.

Adrenaline. This is the player?s life meter. It rises with each consecutive kill and the amount of style the player uses in killing enemies. Simply standing in place and shooting everything doesn?t do much. You may get through it all, but it?s doubtful as in this game, you WILL get shot. But if you?re in the fray, cutting apart enemies and shooting guys, you?ll be earning enough Adrenaline to keep on going and going.

Dragon Fighting: This depends on the dragon. Each one will have a specific strategy to defeat it. There should be a hierarchy ofdragons, or rather, enemies. For every 10 Nazis , there is a Wyrmm, a smaller dragon that is quite easy to defeat. For every 10 Wyrmms, there is a small Dragon, which is harder to kill than a Wyrmm but not impossible. Keep this going, throwing in a medium dragon in here and there which is hard. Once the end is reached, a Boss Dragon shows up.

These take the forms of anything from large black dragons that scorch the earth where they land to three-headed hydras attacking you in a boat (Yes, there is a boat level), to basilisks shooting out of the ground.

The music should be extremely loud metal, but without lyrics, to set the atmosphere. Perhaps throw in an era-specific tune playing on the radio once in a while, in quiet parts (although there shouldn?t be that many.)

As for graphics? As realistic as possible. Definitely lots of gore and people being torn in half by the dragons. I?d love to see your character charging forward sword raised, leading his squad, through a scorched battlefield with half bodies lying around and screaming burningsoldiers running the other way.

I feel that most shooters place you in the role of squad member that is somehow also a one-man army and try to make the shooter somewhat realistic. This is getting dull. This game, you have a reason for being the badass: You?re a captain of your own squad. Your squad members move by themselves of course, although they generally follow you. A select few should have personalities; these guys don?t die in battles. And screw realism. There?s dragons. In World War 2. How realistic were you expecting this to be?

TLDR: Basically, I envision a first person shooter with a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other.

The only thing that could make that better is a scene where you hijack a a dragon and install mechanics into it to turn it into an Ally and then fight another dragon in mid air.

 

[Sam_Winchester]

Here's one: An RPG set in a zombie apocalypse, where everything can be used as a weapon, or, if need be, a healing item (for example, a lighter can be used with aresol to create a "flame thrower," while at the same time it can be used for cauterizing wounds). The player is given an open world to run around, attack zombies, figure out how it all started, and teem up with the 1% or so of humans still alive. Maybe it could be set in the world of Left 4 Dead, where the zombies get more and more mutated for the longer you play it. Just thinking out loud.

so it would sort of take dead rising to a higher level of openness(fk the timespan for events) and item abundance?

I was thinking of more of a first person horror-fest, dripping with atmosphere and plenty of people getting jugulars torn out by zombie teeth. There would only be about 10 truly "safe" zones, or towns, with the rest of the game world being overrun by quick-moving, flesh-eating, Zombieland-style zombies.

 

[SturmDolch]

The only thing that could make that better is a scene where you hijack a a dragon and install mechanics into it to turn it into an Ally and then fight another dragon in mid air.

That could be in the final area, Berlin. You know how they hung Swastikas on all those lamp posts? As you take the reins of the dragon/fly past them in gameplay or even just in a cutscene, they burst into flame.

 

[Composer]

Here's one: An RPG set in a zombie apocalypse, where everything can be used as a weapon, or, if need be, a healing item (for example, a lighter can be used with aresol to create a "flame thrower," while at the same time it can be used for cauterizing wounds). The player is given an open world to run around, attack zombies, figure out how it all started, and teem up with the 1% or so of humans still alive. Maybe it could be set in the world of Left 4 Dead, where the zombies get more and more mutated for the longer you play it. Just thinking out loud.

so it would sort of take dead rising to a higher level of openness(fk the timespan for events) and item abundance?

I was thinking of more of a first person horror-fest, dripping with atmosphere and plenty of people getting jugulars torn out by zombie teeth. There would only be about 10 truly "safe" zones, or towns, with the rest of the game world being overrun by quick-moving, flesh-eating, Zombieland-style zombies.

i see....well i like this idea the more i hear about it, quick pitch it to every game developing company while zombies are still considered "in"

 

[Jekken6]

WWell despite all that, it would be interesting to see what novel ideas people can come out with.

Oh, sorry, I didn't know we were supposed to post our own game ideas! I was commenting on what you said about how easy it is to make one.

Anyways, my idea is for a World War II game. "Oh no, not again!" groaned the masses. But this one is different. This one has dragons!

I wrote up a short script on my website. [http://seventhcirclegaming.com/2009/12/16/game-idea-1-nazi-dragon-blitzkrieg/] I also detailed the gameplay in my post, but I'll copypasta it to here:

This game should play as a First Person Shooter. The right mouse button controls the sword swinging and the left the gun shooting. The aiming reticule aims for both. What the sword does depends on the enemy. All attacks take the same length of time, about 1-2 seconds, and can include stabbing, slicing, slashing, etc. It depends on how close the enemy is. If an enemy gets stuck on the sword, one needs to press the left button to shoot them off. This earns extra Adrenaline.

Adrenaline. This is the player?s life meter. It rises with each consecutive kill and the amount of style the player uses in killing enemies. Simply standing in place and shooting everything doesn?t do much. You may get through it all, but it?s doubtful as in this game, you WILL get shot. But if you?re in the fray, cutting apart enemies and shooting guys, you?ll be earning enough Adrenaline to keep on going and going.

Dragon Fighting: This depends on the dragon. Each one will have a specific strategy to defeat it. There should be a hierarchy ofdragons, or rather, enemies. For every 10 Nazis , there is a Wyrmm, a smaller dragon that is quite easy to defeat. For every 10 Wyrmms, there is a small Dragon, which is harder to kill than a Wyrmm but not impossible. Keep this going, throwing in a medium dragon in here and there which is hard. Once the end is reached, a Boss Dragon shows up.

These take the forms of anything from large black dragons that scorch the earth where they land to three-headed hydras attacking you in a boat (Yes, there is a boat level), to basilisks shooting out of the ground.

The music should be extremely loud metal, but without lyrics, to set the atmosphere. Perhaps throw in an era-specific tune playing on the radio once in a while, in quiet parts (although there shouldn?t be that many.)

As for graphics? As realistic as possible. Definitely lots of gore and people being torn in half by the dragons. I?d love to see your character charging forward sword raised, leading his squad, through a scorched battlefield with half bodies lying around and screaming burningsoldiers running the other way.

I feel that most shooters place you in the role of squad member that is somehow also a one-man army and try to make the shooter somewhat realistic. This is getting dull. This game, you have a reason for being the badass: You?re a captain of your own squad. Your squad members move by themselves of course, although they generally follow you. A select few should have personalities; these guys don?t die in battles. And screw realism. There?s dragons. In World War 2. How realistic were you expecting this to be?

TLDR: Basically, I envision a first person shooter with a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other.

I want this game. It should be more like a hack n' slash in first person, though.

 

[rosemystica]

There's a cowboy rambling around the desert somewhere. He's got two guns that can be loaded with magical bullets that have various effects, and he runs around shooting at desert dragons and vulture monsters.

I just really want there to be more games with cowboys. Cowboys are under-utilized as game heroes. XD