Game Idea: Office building RPG

RPG adventure game, in the style of Elders scroll, set in an office building.

Quests: surf internet instead of work, fix printer, fetch staple, shady meeting in parking garage, etc.

Promotions: Drone, executive, boss, etc.

Stats: urge to kill, suicide.

I will try and flesh this concept out better when I get a chance.

Game Idea: Nervous

An 'unwinnable' dating sim.

A simple flash based adventure game, where the player has to chose from branching dialogue options. Some leading to positive progression, and others taking a very negative turn.

The story is basically a lonely guy lucks into a situation where he gets to drive a girl home. His choices determine whether she agrees to go out with him or flees then and there. The vast majority of choices leading to a Bad End.

Part gag game, part player torture.

Cartoonish and played for humour. As in reality there is no HUD, so the player has to chose wisely and pay close attention if they want to succeed. Kind of like a mystery.

Not dead, just sleeping

It has been a long time since I last posted.

Since I've finished my Games Design course, I have been doing a new course in 「Teaching English as a Second Language」. However, this does not mean I've given up entirely. Even though I haven't had time to do anything, I've been thinking. I now have several ideas on how to make KanaKana work better as a learning tool.

For the time being, bullet point:

• Racing game, Highway Hunter style. Letters appear randomly on the back of the car, and players have to match them to an oncoming gate with the corresponding kana.
• Bullet hell game. Play has to fly their ship with similar conditions to above. Avoiding incorrect letter/kana combos, while matching the correct ones. Starts off slow with plenty of time to match and dodge, then gets faster.
• Alternate Bullet hell game. A typing game. Player types in a letter to shoot down oncoming targets. E.g a = あ. Again, slow at first, then working up to insane.
• Game show game, Root Beer Tapper style. Player runs along the bottom of the screen, running between 5 buttons. At the top of the screen is a TV displaying a kana. Players must select the correct answer as fast as possible. A good game for learning and practicing the basics.

I've also had an idea for how to get the typing to work. A script checks if a, i, u, e, or o is pressed then loads the correct letter image. Default is 'a' category. By pressing a different letter first, e.g 'k', the script can tell the images in queue to load that set instead. Then when a letter is pressed instead of a = あ, it will be k:a=か. Afterwards it returns to default. Possibly including 'del' to clear if the play hits the wrong key.

Hopefully I'll get some time to actually start working on some of these.

Alphabet You Bet

Occasionally when I show people my concept for KanaKana, they will ask me if I plan on making the game for other languages further down the line. While this is a possibility, it probably won't happen until I've had a chance to study those languages and seen how they work.

That being said, I've had an idea for the first such spin-off.

Alphabet You Bet
A game designed to aid in helping Japanese people learn the English letter system.

It won't take much to make once KanaKana is ready. A simple palette swap at best. Replace the English menu with one in Japanese, and change the letter sets from ひらがな (Hiragana), カタカナ (Katakana), and Romaji (Roman letters, the alphabet) to UPPERCASE, lowercase, and カタカナ (Katakana, the foreign word system).

Both languages involve the use of two letter sets (as well as the home language letter set), so I won't have to monkey around with the code to get it to work. I have gone with another play on words (that no one will get) for the tile, to keep in line with KanaKana.

For now it's just something to think about, but one day I'll try and make it a reality.

Kana Brainstorming

Now that the project has a little momentum beneath it, it's time to start considering ways of making it a bit more playable.

_initiate_

Path 1: Bomb drop
Players click a section of the screen, placing a bomb. They then type a letter for that bomb to use. When the invading symbols enter the bomb's radius it explodes, taking out any symbols of the letter it was programmed with.
This would make it a kind of puzzle/strategy game, getting the player to work on clearing the screen with as few clicks as possible.

Path 2: Lasso pool
Not long ago I made a game involving using gravitational attraction to put an orb in a hole. This would be along a similar line of capturing a letter and luring it into the correct goal. Each goal would correspond to a letter set (a,i,u,e,o). Possible to even make it fit along the scope of billiards by having the player line up to sink the letter.
This would probably end up as a puzzle game, with the typing aspect removed in favour of matching the hiragana symbol with it's English opposite and then navigating the best way to get it in the hole.

_end_

I'll probably come up with a few more ideas in the next couple of days or so, luckily the requirements for most of the ideas I've come up with can be done using more or less the same code base. Therefore, I'll be able to build one then work others into a kind of arcade pack.

Game Idea: Lang-games

Kanji card flip:

A simple card flip game using kanji and images representing their meaning. Played by clicking a card and then finding the matching meaning.


Kana scroller:
Played like DDR with symbols scrolling down the screen. The player then types in the appropriate 2 letter combo for each symbol. Gets faster the longer it's played.

Game ideas: Sparrow

A flight/racing game where players take control of a sparrow.
Having flown in and gotten confused the little birdie must find a way out of the parking garage and back to the surface. Being careful not to collide with anything (especially windows), players must navigate their way through a maze of concrete and metal from a bird's perspective.
Done as either a FPS or with the camera positioned just behind the bird. Sparrow racing multiplayer event.

Game idea #9 Train dash

Riding a train. No ticket. Security is coming. Run.

Dash the length of the train using the arrow keys to dodge other passengers. Up to jump, down to duck, left and right to dodge. Stop moving and it's game over.

A simple game set in a confined linear space. The only option is to run.

Game idea #8 Grey cube

Inside a cube, plain grey walls.
Bouncing a ball off the walls.
Painting the walls with the ball.
A game just in smearing colour across the walls while keeping the ball in motion.

Like handball but with pretty colours.

Game idea #7 Catapult

A simple game where you fire a catapult at an apartment building, trying to hit people (with water bombs or such) as they appear in windows or on balconies. Just a quick game of mindless (good-humoured) violence.

Game idea #6 GFS platformer

A game based on our time as GFS students.

Either a platformer or fighting game, using members of the class as characters. The story (levels) would be based on the various trials and tribulations of going through the Game Design course in its first year



The art style would be using a very comedic 2d layout where all the characters are cardboard puppets (taken from photographs of the students). Played for laughs, I think the tale of the numerous times the course structure screwed us.

Game idea #5a: Langauge game redux

A simple asteroids/shooter game using the first syllabary of Japanese, Hiragana. What happens is a symbol appears and to destroy it you have to type the correct sequence of letters (あ = a). This style should be simple enough for even those who haven't studied the language to keep up. A display at the beginning level will demonstrate which letters are in use, and each level will focus on a limited number of symbols.

Game idea #5: Langauge game

In trying to learn another language (Japanese), I have noticed a stunning lack of language games that are actually fun. I think it would be an interesting experiment to try and make a fun one.


Awhile ago I came a cross a game with an interesting mechanic behind it, here. Essentially what happens is a steady stream of enemies march down the screen and are taken out by typing words, attempting to incorporate letters being provided.


A mechanic similar to this would be a big help in improving vocabulary skills when learning a foreign language. Even, if the end result is a Space Invaders type game with funny looking words in, it should still be an interesting game to play. Add a bit of fun to an otherwise difficult activity.

At the very least, I'd like to know how to import different character sets in to flash or unity.

Game idea #4: GPS racing.

The GPS.

One of the most evil devices on the planet, it claims to lead you where you want to go yet takes every opportunity to get you lost. Applied to a desperate race across town this becomes a serious issue.


A test of how well the player follows orders by having the GPS flash directions that will lead the wrong way, prompting a hasty U-turn (just like a real GPS). Not every direction is wrong though, so being clever is crucial.


At the start of the game a path through the city will be highlighted, so the player to see where they need to be. Hints like street signs and graffiti will help the player decide when the GPS is lying and when it can be trusted.


Most probably suited for a top-down puzzle/racer, whether objective based (like pizza delivery) or just straightforward racing. For a unique twist the game style could be set on the inside of a GPS screen (see above).

Game Idea #3: Cart dasher

Everybody's done it, pushing the shopping cart around you kick off and ride it down the aisle. The wild rush of adrenalin as your rickety cart rockets down the aisle. The constant thrill of narrowly avoiding running down the pedestrians. The inevitable point where you either stop or flip the cart trying. This is cart dashing. This is life.


The object of this game is to get your trolley up to maximum cruising speed without crashing. As you move you collect items to weigh down the cart, if it's too light it'll flip over. As you progress down the aisle you must avoid collisions with stock crates, the shopping elderly, and rival dashers.


An over the top view angled just above the cart would work best as used in countless racing games. This game would work be developed for the iPhone and controlled by tilting the screen in the direction you want the cart to move.

Game idea #2: Pacman physics

Pacman, the little yellow eating machine that roams a maze where physics bends in on itself. Whenever he runs up a straight alley he can see himself retreating into the distance. Similar to an effect used in the game Portal.


This object of this game is to amplify those physics by removing the top down maze and driving the player through a mindbending maze with ghost swarming around corners affecting aspects of the maze. Powerpellets in this game would serve the function of letting pacman pass through walls in pursuit of the ghosts.

Game idea #1: Worldbreaker

The end has come and gone. The virus has spread. The Aliens have invaded. The zombies have eaten. And yet, mankind survived. The time has come to face this harsh new world, and take back what's ours.

Worldbreaker is real time strategy game of a type similar to Age of empires with scenarios based around various world ending catasthropes.


As leader of a survivor settlement the player must find ways to ensure survival whilst fighting dangers from within as well as outside. These dangers can range from collecting resourse to keep the people from starvation to quelling uprisings to fending off zombie hordes.


The most unique feature of this game is the need for creative solutions to problems such as expanding your settlement across a golf course in order to develop a farm within your defences or raiding a Twinkie factory for quick sustenance.

* Update: Opted for prototyping (10/03/10)

Game ideas

I have several game ideas which I am toying with at the moment. I will post them here once I've organised them a bit.