Game Ideas!

[Equinox]

A new swing on the mafia concept, it has potential lol

[rowbvp]

Not a bad idea,maybe ill have to take my own words.and plan on redoing my game again,
trail and error the key to learning

[Equinox]

So many different ideas, problem I have is that I come up with features I want to include but they dont fit the genre, so I then try to adapt it to include everything lol

[rowbvp]

I think we all have that problem,That why I have made so many changes to my game.

[Rimmy]

A thought just kind of occurred to me. What if we all (everyone here on the forum) worked together and released a massive community game? LOL, it could be pretty....interesting to see what happens.

[MachineGunBrowwn]

I would like to see some sort of superhero type text based game I dont quite know how different powers would work but  I am going to start working on something some friend and I started working on years ago as a sheet rpg based game suggestions and help to get something started would be cool

[overklokan]

there's like THOUSANDS of not even touched themes for games ... that is especially true if
we limit out scope to browser-based MMO and PBBG games, which more or less cover only FEW
themes out of thousands (on contrary, Flash games cover much bigger thematic scope but
usualy don't have multiplayer + persistent capabilities) ... if we speak about ROLEPLAYING
games, then all one must do in order to find idea is think about all existing roles in real life! All
you should do if you are lacking ideas is check job-offering sites, write down some "roles" and
think a little ... than think more and start connecting dots, writing down your future game details

[JohnMunsch]

The idea that all the ideas have been used or even "almost" used is just wacky. It's like saying all the book ideas have been used up. Go read The Road, Kavalier and Clay, Of Mice and Men, and just about all the other award winners out there. All very very different and spread across many decades. Nobody is close to using up the ideas, you just need to broaden your way of starting.

For example: mini-golf. How many game ideas can you imagine based around min-golf?

I can imagine a role-playing game where you are a world-renowned mini-golf player in an alternate version of things where the "sport" has as much adulation as the NBA or the NFL. The top players are given ad deals like Tiger Woods. In this game you travel around, compete in different tournaments against other players, have to make endorsement deals, rest, practice, etc. All very tongue-in-cheek humor throughout.

Or, how about a large Flash-based game which encompases several different mini-golf courses of increasing difficulty. A very straight forward and simple online time-killer.

Or, some sort of fusion of mini-golf with tower defense? What would that be like? Maybe you're the one sending in creatures instead of defending against them and you're trying to hit a specific target with them but you have to cross directly across it. Meanwhile the course isn't just a difficult shot to begin with, it's building new defenses against your "balls" as you play.

Or, the game is a multi-player and each player has competing mini-golf courses all across the world. Each player is ready willing and able to do anything to build up his/her mini-golf empire by opening new courses, sabotaging other players greens, counterfeiting your competitor's tokens for the arcade games, etc.

Free associate off of something that appeals to you and see where it leads. It's a big universe.

[robotix]

A thought just kind of occurred to me. What if we all (everyone here on the forum) worked together and released a massive community game? LOL, it could be pretty....interesting to see what happens.

That would bring interesting results 

[Binatone]

i know this is pretty lame - but how bout a stockmarket sim?
dunno if they already exist.

btw - wouldn't be such a bad idea to link it up with some actual data 

tycoon online is a kinda stock market sim/

[jannesiera]

i know this is pretty lame - but how bout a stockmarket sim?
dunno if they already exist.

btw - wouldn't be such a bad idea to link it up with some actual data 

tycoon online is a kinda stock market sim/

If you want stock market sims: http://www.virtualstock-exchange.com

[howto774]

not sure if this is a good game but its called animal kingdom (you start off as a bug and work your way up)and you have to drive the family insane by getting different animals to come and destroy the house! and there is loads of secret places and you can learn how to swim in a toilet and stuff like that and then you have to take over the street and then the WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Zeggy]

Haha, that actually sounds pretty funny. Not sure about how you'd do the game mechanics, but it's still a good idea

[Tribal]

HaHA Yea!

Isnt there a new game out like that called "Spore". I think that has the same concept

http://eu.spore.com/home.cfm?lang=en

[Caesium]

Hello everyone, this is my first post here on these boards.

I've been lurking here for a while because I've always wanted to make a PHP online game, I've just never known exactly how or what to make it about.  I've researched some of the design philosophies for making BB games and think that I'm ready to start off and try to make something.  My coding skills have always been good but creativity has always been a problem for me, so any ideas to get me started would be awesome.

I just had an idea about 30 minutes ago about what I might want to make eventually.  I'm a huge hockey fan and post a lot on hfboards, so I would like to make a game about being a hockey GM.  At first I thought the idea was gold, but then reality creeped in and popped my balloon.  There's a lot of complexity to something like that, and there are several games like NHL 09 and EHM that do this.  Problem is, games like that have teams of developers working on them and they're still not perfect.  I don't plan on working with anyone else for this project, so I'm wondering if it might be a little too big to tackle.  Anyways, what's the point of rambling on about this anyways?  What I'm curious about is how people handle large scale simulations like two teams having a hockey match.  Who scores, who assists, penalties, hits, blocked shots, etc.  Designing an attribute system would also be a nightmare.  Has anyone ever worked on something like that before?

I'm also wondering how a game like this would be timed.  Would a schedule be made at the beginning of the season and teams would be locked until next season?  How long in real world time should a hockey season be?  How do you handle scouting players for a draft?  I think how this differs from a lot of other BB games is that there is a lot of content generation without any user interaction going on, so the AI of it really needs to be top notch.  This is a game I would really love to see happen, but I'm having second thoughts.

Anyways, hello again.  I tend to ramble a lot and think out loud, sorry about that

[DonSanderino]

I have an idea to make a text based wargame with a friend but i dont really know how to make it
So please give me some tools if you know. Help is also welcome. btw Do someone of you know a free php script tutorial

Greetz Sander

[Pdquinn]

There is a lack of originality here. I like the Gold Farmer idea tho. That should be made ASAP.

I had the idea of a survival game set in an apocalyptic world.
A small tribal type game where the player is in charge of a nomadic group of survivors looking for supplies. The player would start with basic vehicles, buses, station wagons etc. They would have to spend a portion of their "stamina" looking for supplies (I.E fuel, food, weaponry scrap) survivors (adding combatants, welders, electricians, chemists, regular working folk, drivers etc) occasionally when the player has enough supplies they can set up a trade, military, research, mining outpost that will generate a specific resource (I.E trade would add gold or credits, research would add recipes for scrap, that welders can use etc) up until the player discovers radio technology he would have to return to his outposts. After a certain amount of outposts the player could set up a small town and then the game would evolve into a city managing game Akin to Tribal wars involving research, control of trade routes, military expansion etc.

Thats all I got, not very original itself I admit.

[Nox]

I had the idea of a survival game set in an apocalyptic world.
A small tribal type game where the player is in charge of a nomadic group of survivors looking for supplies....Thats all I got, not very original itself I admit.

Well...I like it very much and love (post)apocalyptic settings, sounds great

[Pdquinn]

Maybe I'll give it a go developing it....I dunno. Its alot of work and I just dun have the knowledge right now.

Maybe if it generated enough interest.

[Donace]

ohh didn't see this! well apart from the Idea (which seems to be done before) that I sketched out here: http://community.bbgamezone.net/index.php/topic,2087.msg13150.html

Got a few more:

Akin to the idea I stated before; except you control a group of outlaws (post apoc in space!)....you could start with one or two in your squad.

There can be a few 'branches'

- The good guy ... do freight missions etc
- 'Bad' Guy ... rob, steal, pillage, assassinate etc

Aim being get cash / xp use this to

- recruit new NPC/PC to your 'gang' so you can do bigger missions.
        - can be specialist NPC's that give bonuses..pilot etc
- Purchase upgrades such as ships / weapons for yourself/crew/ship etc etc

Level up you get skill point akin to normal RPG's etc

Take on rival gangs in fights .... rob them etc etc

repercussion system - so if you rob X they will not give you missions, local police etc chase you if you go to a planet / location you have misdeed-ed in before

throw in later once big enough you have homebase and then can go attack the evil 'empire' and get control of more planets and floating death stars etc.

The only issue I see with this idea is knock it out of space you got a dreaded mafia game!
Leave it in only 'ships' and upgrading that doing missions you got 'ogame' rip off!
The evolution from one man to one country may make it cross to many genres and kill it in the water.

[shoespeak]

I really love the setting of a post apocalyptic world where players try to survive...it has always been an interesting setting to me, and presented as a game there is a lot of room for a deep story, making political statements, etc.

One idea that I have been working on (that originally I was going to use for an apocalyptic game) was a system of stats and traits. The stats would be things that the player controlled and could change with stat points (such as strength, agility, etc.) The traits would be similar to stats but would evolve based on player decisions, tendencies, and just in general how they play the game. (For example, if a player is offensive with their message board posts, you would see this somewhat reflected in their traits.) We could then use both stats and traits in determining things such as weapon damage, exploring success, equipment compatibility, etc. 

There are many benifits to this system that I see.
1. Players have much more options as their path to follow...they don't just get to pick between good or evil, warrior or farmer, etc.
2. Many more stats that can be tweaked and used, instead of just having all actions determined by 4 different stats.
3. Having a system that evolves with the player would lessen the appeal for multis
4. Basically I am just pretty interested in modeling human behavior

[jannesiera]

I really love the setting of a post apocalyptic world where players try to survive...it has always been an interesting setting to me, and presented as a game there is a lot of room for a deep story, making political statements, etc.

One idea that I have been working on (that originally I was going to use for an apocalyptic game) was a system of stats and traits. The stats would be things that the player controlled and could change with stat points (such as strength, agility, etc.) The traits would be similar to stats but would evolve based on player decisions, tendencies, and just in general how they play the game. (For example, if a player is offensive with their message board posts, you would see this somewhat reflected in their traits.) We could then use both stats and traits in determining things such as weapon damage, exploring success, equipment compatibility, etc. 

There are many benifits to this system that I see.
1. Players have much more options as their path to follow...they don't just get to pick between good or evil, warrior or farmer, etc.
2. Many more stats that can be tweaked and used, instead of just having all actions determined by 4 different stats.
3. Having a system that evolves with the player would lessen the appeal for multis
4. Basically I am just pretty interested in modeling human behavior

Wouldn't you then have to systems for the same goal? I thought stats existed to represent charasteristics, which would influence how the game is played, and thus creating variation in gameplay and characters. Higher replayability and more intresting gameplay.

So to me it's useless to create 2 features doing the same thing. Then don't use a normal stats system, but just go with your new system. Though I suggest that you don't make it to invisible. You could, for example, indicate with each action a character takes on which charastiristic the action will have an influence.

[shoespeak]

They do seem pretty similar, but I think there are actually two different goals. I would like to let players have some control (stats), and create unique gameplay/stories (traits).
Give players some control, but also create a unique system that has much more passive benifits. In a way, players would have control of both stats and traits (since they could obviously change their behavior and gear it towards a certain trait).

This could also provide a way for players to try different builds/classes/whatever (by resetting stat points) yet still allowing players to "build" a complex character that is truly persistent and also more accurately reflects the players real life character. Imagine if missions and quests were automatically tailored to a personal level. This would provide a much deeper and more complex game then I have yet seen from a bbg.

[raines80]

The next generation in games will be ones that illicit actuall feelings from people..... sure games already make people angry, frustrated, and furious.... but I was leaning towards feelings of saddness, excitement, fear, and love. Movies have gotten the furthest to this. It is time for games to move in this direction.

I have read a lot about a post apocalyptic era. This is a great idea and I believe it could be used to create the emotions above. This part is going to sound a little bit crazy, but here it goes anyways. Why not have each player start out as a child? Some may say.... there are already games that do this, but they haven't done it like this. You start off as a child and it should take a good month worth of gameplay before you reach your teens. You would be born into a community of other players (when the beta comes out obviously no one will have been playing long enough to be an adult yet, but there are ways around that). Every character will look different. If as a child you fall by the river and hit your head on a rock then you will have that scar forever. You growup in this town of other players. If someone quits the game they can't come back. Their character will end up dying from whatever and you have lost a friend for real. After a month or two of the growing phase you are now old enough to begin a trade. (remember this all post apolcalyptic) Now.... as a child you never got to witness the Raids that occur on a weekly basis. Other colonies attempting to conquer your lands. You feel anger... hate even... towards these outlanders. You have done nothing to them!!! You fight for your land and you win.... your blood is rushing through veins because of the adrenaline... the adrenaline is there becuase you know that if your character would have died that is it... no comming back. You look to your right and you see another citizen of your colony hidding under a tarp... they were too scared to risk their characters life....  you look to your left and see the girl you had imagined yourself with lying in a pool of blood... at first you feel sick then you feel the pain... she will not be back.


I know that is pretty intense, but I think it would work... 

[jannesiera]

It's not very hard to create bad feelings. But creating positive feelings: joy, happiness, excitement, love, ... is much harder!

It's a very interesting topic, but remember you're (pretending to be) a game designer. Okay, some bad feelings can help make the good better. Still, when you can have positive feelings without the negative, that's always the better option. Don't forget the more fun and happiness you create the better.

This can be tricky in multiplayer games though, but that's where the challenge lies. For example in shooters: when you shoot some one, they die. The one player experiences a good feeling, the other experiences a bad feeling. That's why an option where both players can shoot each other simultaneously is a good design decision. (I noticed this in Soldier Front)

It's obvious that bad feelings are necessary. Still, when you can avoid them you should. I feel many people tend to forget that fact.