The Ideas thread

a place to look if you run out of ideas for games for ze Pirate Cart.
or if you don't have an idea for it, i guess.

First Idea: You are a pixel. Find a way to defend yourself from everything larger than 2 of yourself.

Danni's picture

Some general brainstormers

Some general brainstormers to help people come up with ideas for new games:

- Try to come up with the craziest sport imaginable (ala Bikefencing).
- Remake an arcade game using Klik & Play and its Klipart (ala Apple Jam 2010 or Horse Kong).
- Document Internet Drama and turn it into a game.
- Make a parody of someone else's game (but don't do it too much).
- Remake an arcade game using Klik & Play... but with a twist!
- Make fun of some horrible movie you saw recently (ala Twister: The Game).
- Make fun of Klik & Play itself.
- Grab random bits of Klipart, throw them into the frame, and then decide where to go from there.
- Surf the Internet for funny pictures, and then make a game about whatever comes to your mind.
- Make a game that involves a horribly contrived plot twist.
- Turn real (false?) life or life events into a game (ala The Relationship Saga).
- Decide on a theme, and then try to (very loosely) stick to it.
- Take some aspect from a game and base another game off of it (ala Awesome Fucking Teleporting Jogger).

snapman's picture

General suggestion

Think of some activity that is catchy. You know how some people always fiddle with a random object if they're nervous? (Like snapping a rubber band, bending the inside of a paperclip, opening and closing a phone, etc) Try to pick apart the central element of that activity, and interpret it as a game. Add elements that naturally flow from whatever mechanical action the player does. Then think of a theming of that arrangement of nouns, verbs, goals and obstacles. Ta-da, it'a a game!

rinse, repeat

radix's picture

Verbs are the new black.

Verbs are the new black.

snapman's picture

hm

Was I too trendy there?

radix's picture

I'm going to make a game

I'm going to make a game without nouns and it's going to be the artest game ever.

Pizza Time's picture

Dinosaur The American Football

I would make this one myself but I do not know how to play American football. So someone else will have to.

Sorry.

ExciteMike's picture

ideas

Some things I think I want to try:
- something that will only make sense after you've explored it
- 2-player co-op where you can work together, but it's easy to mess with each other instead
-- Something very difficult and reflex-based
- A multiplayer game where you can take your time and have a conversation while playing. Like playing cards.
- Something either to make fun of (why do we call them) achievements, or to attempt to do them in a way I would like.
- Something where you go for a high score within a time limit
- You are a tiny like 2-pixel thing going through a fairly complicated level. Hopefully looking it looks like you were just really zoomed out on a NES style platformer. vgmaps.com is the inspiration for this one. (an example)

Brainstorming a few more ideas
- Try really hard not to be clever or anything. Just make something based on something else you've seen, but don't worry about copying it in detail or very exactly, but if you feel like trying something, do it. You'll probably accidentally innovate in small ways.
- Take some small mechanic from a game you like and throw it into a different context. Like in Mario 3 how you had to run to pick up speed before you could fly, you could make a 2-player tag game with it.

I seem to always come up

I seem to always come up with the title for the game and then build the game around that. Paired with my expansive collection of truly AWFUL MIDI files, this is a recipie for a trainwreck.

Examples (past and future...)
>Anatidaephobia: The Game
>Judge Judy's Grand Day Out
>Full Tilt! Veloceraptor Bicycle