Ideas for games you've had

[gurugeorge]

I've always had this idea kicking around in my mind for a multiplayer game based on Jack Vance's Dying Earth series of hybrid s-f/fantasy stories (which partly inspired Gary Gygax with D&D, particularly the magic system, but also the atmosphere and lore).

In that lore, it's millions of years in the future, the Sun is dying, even the galaxy is starting to fade out. The history of Earth stretches aeons into the past, with all sorts of stellar empires, cultures and civilizations having risen and fallen, both science-based and magic-based. It's basically a bucolic world with a more or less mediaeval general level of culture, with strange creatures wandering the forests, and a handful of notable magicians living off snippets of magic lore from a bygone era.

So the idea is that there are vaults, caches, ancient museums, ruins, etc., all over this world, with artifacts from all those past eras (so either s-f or fantasy themed, sometimes both). The basic MMO would be standard, but for the endgame player guilds would compete to "discover" new vaults by following clues left around the world by developers, and the way the leading guild followed clues (the conclusions they'd come to about what the vault is going to be like) would enable the developers to shape ad-hoc (partly procedural) mini-expansions that enabled the winning guild to open one of these vaults, museums, ruins, etc., with each having a different theme, some guarded by monsters, some with puzzles and traps, etc. The winning guild then keeps the best goodies and sells the rest to one of the big NPC magicians for the magician's collection. Once a vault is opened it becomes a permanent fixture in the game, and other guilds can enter the vaults and pick over the increasingly slimmer pickings that are left, with the dregs of its goodies stlill available to newer players who stumble across it, with weaker monsters still wandering around. Each "season" would be a kind of treasure hunt with different clues delivered in different ways (might be an item in the world here, a conversation with an NPC there).

 

[Grauken]

I'm stealing all the ideas in this thread

 

[NJClaw]

I've one great idea for a videogame: exactly Icewind Dale 2 but with more stuff in it and turn-based.

Feel free to steal this and make it happen.

 

[Falksi]

"The Secret of Clunge Mountain"

Like the Secret of Monkey Island, but up a mountain with lots of vagina.

 

[Krice]

Another idea I had a while ago was a game where you would play one of races, actual races, and it's about a war in distant future where races try to destroy each other. You can already see that in real life, because there is racism against whites and people don't even count it. Back then I thought about it from white race perspective, but I guess it makes more sense to play one of races. I even planned the name would be "White Power RL" (roguelike) and there was some slight criticism against it.

 

[barker_s]

I have a pet idea for a game that I intend to start working on once I finish my current 4X project (in a few years ) .

Setting:
An alternate history scenario. Once the Great War devolved into trench warfare, both Entente and Central Powers started looking for alternative ways to get an edge over their rivals. They started employing mages, charlatans, and diviners in hopes that it would tip the scales in their favor. All this meddling in paranormal affairs eventually resulted in The Cataclysm - a hole, called The Rift, was torn in the thin veil which separates our world and the worlds beyond. This allowed all kinds of horrible creatures to enter our reality. Entities, previously known only from folk tales now roamed the lands - zombies, werewolves, vampires, demons, and worse. Millions died or met a fate worse than death in a matter of days.

Fast forward to the "present-day", 1945 Europe. It's been over twenty years since the Weird War ended. The only civilization exists within walled-off fortress city-states separated by vast, monster-infested wasteland. Their only connection with the outside world is the railroad network and armored trains that utilize it.
There are three major factions in this world:

• The Church - after The Cataclysm, people of true faith discovered that they possess powers to fight the aberrations that invaded our world. The crucifix kept monsters at bay, holy water burned them and blessed bullets seemed to be more effective. The Vatican is now considered the most secure city in the entire world. The Pope sends his Battle Priests out to spread the word of God, protect people from the Devil's horrors, and collect tithe, with the intention to eventually seal The Rift and save mankind. There is, however, a sub-faction in The Church that wishes to keep The Rift open, keeping the status quo in order to forge a Holy Empire.
• The Cabal - loose, informal brotherhood of mages. They have no intention of closing The Rift, as it allows them to cast spells and perform rituals, which they believe they can use to help humanity prosper again in this weird world. They often operate in secret, as The Church operatives are more than happy to burn them at stakes.
• The Cult - a secretive organization of religious fanatics, who believe The Rift is spreading, and once it's wide enough, It'll attract the attention of The Sleeping One, a lovecraftian god-monstrosity residing on the other side of the veil. Their intention is to accelerate this spreading, hopefully gaining The Sleeping One's favour and avoiding horrible death.

Gameplay:
The game is an X-Com clone. You lead a band of mercenaries, recruit new blood, buy equipment, and go on missions. You travel on a map of Europe, going from city to city, looking for contracts, both randomly generated (protect a farm from monsters, escort caravan, raid a bandit hideout, find an artifact in a ruined city) and hand-made. Tactical missions take place on grid-based, destructible maps. Combat is phase-based - you give orders, end turn, and watch the actions unfold. Unexpected events get resolved by a mix of the general orders you assign beforehand (e.g. shoot on sight, stay low), mercenary traits (e.g. Trigger-Happy might disregard the "keep low profile" order and open fire at will) and stats (e.g. if a mercenary goes around the corner and bumps into an enemy, he might have to take a Reflex roll to see who gets to act/shoot first).

As you progress into the game, you earn money which allows you to buy better equipment and hire better mercenaries. You also gain fame, which attracts the attention of the big players, who might seek your services. If you decide to take sides, you'll most likely have an impact on the political landscape and change the outcome of the conflict that takes place in the background. The world is dynamic. Factions gain or lose influence over the cities. Monsters attack farms and caravans, leading to resource shortages or famine. Even whole cities may fall. Perhaps the game ends in X years and you're rewarded with Fallout-like ending slides describing how your actions shaped the world.

 

[J1M]

More interesting than most alternate history concepts. But where does food come from in your setting if there are large cities but no farms?

 

[barker_s]

There are some farms (or rather, walled-off, heavily protected latifundia), but I can see how it might not be believable that they're able to feed the remaining population. I might rip-off Glukhovsky's Metro and have people cultivate shrooms underground.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I have a pet idea for a game that I intend to start working on once I finish my current 4X project (in a few years ) .

Setting:
An alternate history scenario. Once the Great War devolved into trench warfare, both Entente and Central Powers started looking for alternative ways to get an edge over their rivals. They started employing mages, charlatans, and diviners in hopes that it would tip the scales in their favor. All this meddling in paranormal affairs eventually resulted in The Cataclysm - a hole, called The Rift, was torn in the thin veil which separates our world and the worlds beyond. This allowed all kinds of horrible creatures to enter our reality. Entities, previously known only from folk tales now roamed the lands - zombies, werewolves, vampires, demons, and worse. Millions died or met a fate worse than death in a matter of days.

Fast forward to the "present-day", 1945 Europe. It's been over twenty years since the Weird War ended. The only civilization exists within walled-off fortress city-states separated by vast, monster-infested wasteland. Their only connection with the outside world is the railroad network and armored trains that utilize it.
There are three major factions in this world:

• The Church - after The Cataclysm, people of true faith discovered that they possess powers to fight the aberrations that invaded our world. The crucifix kept monsters at bay, holy water burned them and blessed bullets seemed to be more effective. The Vatican is now considered the most secure city in the entire world. The Pope sends his Battle Priests out to spread the word of God, protect people from the Devil's horrors, and collect tithe, with the intention to eventually seal The Rift and save mankind. There is, however, a sub-faction in The Church that wishes to keep The Rift open, keeping the status quo in order to forge a Holy Empire.
• The Cabal - loose, informal brotherhood of mages. They have no intention of closing The Rift, as it allows them to cast spells and perform rituals, which they believe they can use to help humanity prosper again in this weird world. They often operate in secret, as The Church operatives are more than happy to burn them at stakes.
• The Cult - a secretive organization of religious fanatics, who believe The Rift is spreading, and once it's wide enough, It'll attract the attention of The Sleeping One, a lovecraftian god-monstrosity residing on the other side of the veil. Their intention is to accelerate this spreading, hopefully gaining The Sleeping One's favour and avoiding horrible death.

Gameplay:
The game is an X-Com clone. You lead a band of mercenaries, recruit new blood, buy equipment, and go on missions. You travel on a map of Europe, going from city to city, looking for contracts, both randomly generated (protect a farm from monsters, escort caravan, raid a bandit hideout, find an artifact in a ruined city) and hand-made. Tactical missions take place on grid-based, destructible maps. Combat is phase-based - you give orders, end turn, and watch the actions unfold. Unexpected events get resolved by a mix of the general orders you assign beforehand (e.g. shoot on sight, stay low), mercenary traits (e.g. Trigger-Happy might disregard the "keep low profile" order and open fire at will) and stats (e.g. if a mercenary goes around the corner and bumps into an enemy, he might have to take a Reflex roll to see who gets to act/shoot first).

As you progress into the game, you earn money which allows you to buy better equipment and hire better mercenaries. You also gain fame, which attracts the attention of the big players, who might seek your services. If you decide to take sides, you'll most likely have an impact on the political landscape and change the outcome of the conflict that takes place in the background. The world is dynamic. Factions gain or lose influence over the cities. Monsters attack farms and caravans, leading to resource shortages or famine. Even whole cities may fall. Perhaps the game ends in X years and you're rewarded with Fallout-like ending slides describing how your actions shaped the world.

can you play as americans tho

 

[barker_s]

In the DLC brah

 

[Heapcleaner]

I've been having this idea for quite a while:

Genre:
Historical sandbox RPG

Settings:
19th century earth, at the height of European imperialism, Industrial revolution, America's Manifest destiny, slavery, etc.

Gameplay:

There's a lot of things that the players can do in the game: they can travel all around the world, building up reputation and wealth by taking quests or trading, starting a business empire, becoming mercenaries, or they can just waste their life doing menial labor all around the world.

The battle would be a fast turn based battle where each characters in the party leads their own troops against the enemies; The way to win a battle is to whittle down the enemies' morale, not to cut them down to the last man.

The world will try its best to run towards its destined future... the opium war will start at 1839 when the Chinese emperor refuses the deal offered by the Britain, Selk'nam tribe in Argentina will suffer genocide at the hand of the gold crazed Chilean expedition, etc. The most challenging aspect of the game would be to change the course of history and make an alternate future, you can convince either the Chinese or the Britain to not start the opium war, or you can suppy tons of tea to the Britain so that they're content enough with them to not start a war with the Chinese, you can arm the Selk'nam tribe against the expedition's expedition, or you can persuade/convince the expedition to not do the genocide...

The game ends at the end of the 19th century, the future consequences of the player's actions are depicted as the game's ending (just like in fallout): for example if the player managed to "steal" Tesla from his master (Edison), the earth technology, especially electrical engineering. advanced at a rapid phase leading to earlier space exploration

 

[Tavernking]

I don't share my game ideas, I (attempt to) make them.

 

[Mastermind]

Another idea I had a while ago was a game where you would play one of races, actual races, and it's about a war in distant future where races try to destroy each other. You can already see that in real life, because there is racism against whites and people don't even count it. Back then I thought about it from white race perspective, but I guess it makes more sense to play one of races. I even planned the name would be "White Power RL" (roguelike) and there was some slight criticism against it.

A few years ago I had an idea for a RTS called "race wars" where you would pick between white, black or asians and all the units were racial stereotypes.

IE:
*blacks would have the Gangsta as their basic infantry and they would walk around the map with their pants around their ankles, Jamaincan drug dealers who smoked pot to boost healing rates of other infantry
*whites would have a Faggot unit that spread disease on contact with enemy troops and KKK elite minigun infantry who carried burning crosses on their backs giving them a debuff aura vs enemy troops
*asians would have Ant People as basic infantry and the best nerds, etc.


edit: some more ideas:
Blacks would be able to build suburban white neighbourhoods and their basic workers (burglars) would rob them for cash. the neighborhoods would also occasionally produce bikes and tricycle that your gangstas can steal for a speed boost
their basic turret would be the crackhouse, which produce superhuman melee crackhead infantry that has a limited lifespan but is highly resistant to enemy fire and does tons of damage.

if whites spy on black crack labs or blacks spy on white meth labs they would get a special unit (like in red alert 2 when you send spies into research labs), the tranny abomination

white people would gather resources from Walmarts and their basic worker unit would be a wheezing boomer on a scooter
they can also get free trash infantry by building trailer parks (which also increase available supply)

asians can train tiger moms which beat the experience of already experienced infantry into an entire barracks (similar to atreides infantry in emperor, battle for dune) and movie star martial artists that can't actually fight but intimidate enemy troops into running away by making bruce lee noises.

 

[overly excitable young man]

I don't share my game ideas, I (attempt to) make them.

This. But a little more insulting to previous posters.

 

[Darth Canoli]

My main current idea is a cRPG with a ToEE-like combat system but with homebrew mechanism :
- Wizardry 8 like skills growing by doing but limited by some attributes
- Mastery system a bit like in M&M 6
- Custom races and classes with interesting backgrounds and abilities, something i think about since i played my first CYOA back in the days.

There's a couple of features that would make it unique
- You could manage multiple garnisons, cities or trading post, depending on your background (or conquer them, get elected mayor and whatnot)
- Your starting background would define your starting status
- There would be competing adventuring parties and/or possible limited multiplayer (like 2-4 people on the same and huge world playing different roles, one being a necromancer, one an adventuring party commissioned by one of the kingdoms, one possibly a nobody trying to survive or a common thug, another one being a merchant, different roles being available.
- Eventually, "shadows" adventuring parties from friends playthrough or your own in single player mode, among them the real heroes, way stronger than yourself who could eventually intervene to save you along the main story, you could even antagonize them if you feel like it.
- Quests would be dynamic and different scenarios could be played by the AI.
- On top of the dynamic quest system and the scenario (with some scripted events ala KotC like the early main fort assault by the orcs or the village invasion later on), some random events like an orc tribe settling in or a dragon moving in a empty cave would occur.

And so on...

It'd be something.

 

[[UCHIHA]XxDarkSasuke420xX]

Dungeon Keeper but instead of evil dungeon master you play as Orochimaru and build a secret testing lab and kidnap people for research and you need to protect your lab from Shinobi Raids

 

[Communist]

Another idea I had a while ago was a game where you would play one of races, actual races, and it's about a war in distant future where races try to destroy each other. You can already see that in real life, because there is racism against whites and people don't even count it. Back then I thought about it from white race perspective, but I guess it makes more sense to play one of races. I even planned the name would be "White Power RL" (roguelike) and there was some slight criticism against it.

Hmm ...
I am just making such a game. With the help of an old whore called an RPG maker.
This is a small adventure game inspired by The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. The evil white Western civilization fled to another planet, where it began to oppress the blacks, who later started a racial war and won, placing all whites in the ghetto. But before the start of the racial war, 100 years ago, the Mormon sect fled to another planet, where, with the help of bio-engineering, created a medieval society headed by self-appointed "gods."
What makes me especially proud is this work with plugins and deleting everything unnecessary. These guys are awesome! They made plugins that allow you to change the screen resolution, allow for diagonal movement. There's even a plugin that splits the 48 pixel grid by 1/8, making your movement similar to what you see in Fallout!
If I needed money, I would put this fake up for sale, but I just work for fun. I even include videos that I made in the game The Movies.
I don’t think you will assess it correctly. Ultimately, I am doing it under the influence of Max Nordau's Degeneration and Huysmans' work. I will not talk about Spengler, it goes without saying. There will be very violent moments associated with rape, incest and other horrors. Shit worthy of Scott Baker and Clive Barker. I came up with a moment with three heroes - a man and a woman in their reality, and a trans-non-binary being, in which they incarnate in the fantasy world. Pedophilia and bestiality are present. There are also moments of racial betrayal.
This is not a communist work, it is completely decadent work, expressing everything that I hate.

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

Immersive Sim in VR. Get the Boneworks guys to make it. Full physics. Dynamic ways to get to the end of a level. Don't say it's not possible because that's exactly what they did with Boneworks.

Use physics to solve problems, build bridges, set things on fire, do things the devs never intended and play to VR's strengths of immersion and being able to grab anything without canned animations.

Add a faction system like Stalker, set it underground. Basically make it a shameless Arx Fatalis rip off.

 

[Galdred]

Things I toyed with before deciding to start working on Zodiac Legion:

- Robin Hood 40K
- Turn based "open world" Children of a Dead Earth
- Birthright without the licence

Web prototypes I made ages ago:
- MMO browser space conquest turn based game (with 2*12h turns) with detailed ground invasions (aka Shadow Empire in Space. Actually, I wanted to reuse some of the mechanisms seen in Advanced Tactics gold).
- MMO feudalism strategy game with feudal relations between players and automated (Dominions like) tactical combat.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

I though of a village-witch or other unholy caster simulator, where you have to do some questionable magic stuff while maintaining social stealth so that you wont get lynched by local population or burnt on a stake by inquisition. You will have to start from selling cheap potions or doing abortions or whatever to earn money and slowly advanced to higher levels of magic which will allow you to cast powerful curses, raise dead an etc. Magic will be used both to earn money by providing services to citizens and to help you eliminated people who suspect you or plant some evidence to get other person lynched and lower paranoia level for a short time.
Magic spells will require you to find specific reagents in various places like city graveyards, holy places, some reagents may require you to steal stuff from a person you want to cast a spell on and etc. Maybe sacrifice children or smh. I think this can be a pretty fun game as a dwarf-fortress like simulator where you can dick around and find interesting results.

 

[Barrishimi]

"The Secret of Clunge Mountain"

Like the Secret of Monkey Island, but up a mountain with lots of vagina.

Ahhh, also known as "The Secret of SPUNKY Island". <3 I would probably play it!

 

[Falksi]

"The Secret of Clunge Mountain"

Like the Secret of Monkey Island, but up a mountain with lots of vagina.

Ahhh, also known as "The Secret of SPUNKY Island". <3 I would probably play it!

"I'm selling these fine leather whips....."

 

[Darth Canoli]

Another idea:

A reverse Fallout/Mad Max where you're a gang leader.
Turn-Based, full party control, isometric.
Most of your goons are weaklings and you'll have to fight "heroes" of the wasteland coming for you as well as other gangs and other communities you want to plunder.
The good news is, there's no shortage of wretched souls wanting to enlist and eventually, you'll get a couple of stronger ones.
And/or you can turn into the Master and create different breeds of mutants with different perks and strength...

 

[Hag]

As I am reading the Arabian Nights I feel it would make an awesome setting. These are stories of adventurers, poor sods and rich nobles traveling the world, underhand magic, powerful genns, underwater kingdoms, monsters of every size, shape and alignment. There are thieves organizing competition just for fun, mages from far away countries building flying automatons, merchants crossing the sea for fun and profit, and girls (and boys) so beautiful entire kingdom rise and fall for them. Basically any page is an adventure or rpg game in the waiting.

I toyed with the idea of making a simple 2D iso game in this setting, where you would travel around underwater empire with few islands. A merchant/adventurer game, with different options according to your social situation, a strong luck characteristic (a bad one bringing unique options as well). Looks good in my head but I know how time consuming game development is, so yeah, one day maybe.

 

[Barrishimi]

Hag, that sounds excellent! I've always wanted a retro game you can take different boats you make across waters and trade... economy and different items. A economy and trading goods with some ships would fit perfect in there! Sounds awesome.