Bored programmer seeks simple game idea

Make a multiplayer fun game, like Monopoly or Risk.

An overhead 2D tank "sim", like the old NES Iron Tank.

Ye Olde Gravity Tank Game [see scorched earth]

Merchantman-era naval combat, around the end of the 1700s. Wooden ships, iron balls, Horatio Hornblower, all that. Use the changing wind and rolling seas to gain a tactical advantage over your opponent. It's a premise that I'll probably be implementing myself in a month or so, but I wouldn't mind seeing another one out there (and it's a genre with a huge amount of room for customization).

POOL!, everyone loves a good 3D pool game :);)

How about a version of snake where the snake can move 360 degrees, instead of just four directions? Then you can throw in the occaisional powerup, which can make the snake faster, slower, bigger, smaller, or one that reverses the controls. Throwing in some obstacles, some stationary, some moving, would be neat too.

Massively Multiplayer Online Pong

I like Sneftel's idea, it sounds interesting.

Other than that, a remake of a long lost Amiga classic such as Gravity Power or Skidmarks couldn't be a bad plan.

Jump Tron
Just like classic Tron game with the exception that you can jump one trackwidth.

Ummm..... other than that how about MMO Pong? (dang it, I was beaten to the punch.)

make a volleyball game

Some suggestions to help you decide.
1 Choose a popular old game a update it kind of like what some people said said.
2 what game would you like and ask other how they would make it better.
3 Combine old games into one game.
4 Or try something original and ask people to give you games on that.
5 Some remakes are Lammatron game (like smash TV)
6 a more complex pacman with multiplayer and you have power ups in the level to go fast, jump, push enemy, go though wall, warp to other screen, etc. but if adding more things does not make harder then forget it.
7 dull down your other games and just have a mini game of your big game.

Starcontrol clone spice with 3D graphics, serve with lan and internet multiplayer... yummy

Luck!
Guimo

There's an old DOS freeware game called "Ball" that I'd like to see updated. You play a spherical space ship with lasers and a missile (only one missile in play at a time) that tracks the enemy ship. There's a sun in the middle of the playing area, and inverse-square gravity. After each round of combat, you receive 100 credits minus the percentage of your ship that was damaged, with which you can buy upgrades to your ship.

Or just make a 4X game in the tradition of Space Empires. You can never have too many 4X games.

Quote:

Ok, I need a new game project, except all my game design ideas are pretty ambitious and I want something simpler.

That's actually my favourite way to design. For instance, a RPG where you only do quests. It's like a normal RPG, except when you kill all the goblins a messagebox pops and tells you won the quest you were on and asks you to improve your level, etc. except you don't get to actually kill the goblins - you always stay at the messagebox level.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean, Diodor. Could you explain further?

Someone mentioned to mix two games... my suggestions:

- A mixture of sokoban with chess. The chess pieces can be the bad guys or can help you (or maybe both, using both black and white pieces). The needn't to be chess pieces at all, but different entities with different behaviours. I always get this idea when playing "Adventures of Lolo" or similar games.
- Snake... with pipes (once you enter, you have to go all the way out), with underground (moles, rabbits, hidden rocks, pipes that won't let you pass...), with trees (trees that you can climb)...
- Rotation tetris (the gravity goes down, then right, then up, then left, then down again) or any similar variation.
- The miner game. Think of Dig-dug, but you can only see around you, and where you have posted torchs (can be funny to see just "cartoon eyes" when the enemies goes into the dark). Doesn't need to be a mine, it can also be the interior of a Pyramid, or something similar. You need to reach the treasure, the key, the door... You can include flood (water level is going up), so some parts of the screen will be unaccessible soon.
- Arcade bridge building game. A plataformer (Mario style, by example), where there's a train that goes slower than you, but in the same direction. Apart of the classical problems of that kind of games (maily the enemies), you have to find bridge parts and put them in the holes to avoid the train crashing. The game can also include tunnels (tunnels YOU have to dig, of course), detours, classic western way of attacking trains (i.e.: woods in the middle of the way), etc...

Of course, all of those ideas need to be elaborated (a lot). I was trying to be generic enough to let you add or remove features to fit your requierements.

Btw, have fun coding your new game project. :)

[Edited a little. But my english isn't perfect, though]

[Edited by - theNestruo on September 22, 2004 12:02:44 PM]

Quote:

Original post by Kylotan I'm not entirely sure what you mean, Diodor. Could you explain further?

My idea was a RPG without anything usually found in RPGs except quest selection and character improvement (experience, money, objects). Battles are instantly solved by a random function (which does consider the player's attributes). Failed quests don't usually lead to death, but can influence the game's evolution (the quest may get harder or it may not be available anymore). Quests are connected and conditioned in intricate ways.

There is no physical representation of the player at any point in the game. No map (except maybe an abstract one), no tiles, no AI.

A quest is generally made out of several choices. Choose quest out of 10 currently available. Choose to climb wall/ enter through front gate/ force backdoor. A guard notices you: fight/run.

All buttons. All messageboxes.

Make me a 3D platform game alà Bud Redhead

All you need is a wife who can make lovely art like this lucky guy's one.

How about this…please bare with me as I am typing while thinking this up…

Remember the old game where you and your (human) opponent had an artillery piece. The goal was to fire a shell and hit the opponent’s gun. The process was complicated by:
a) You had to adjust the guns firing angle and the amount of “powder”
b) Wind – shots are fired in turns and for each turn the wind strength change meaning that you always have to adjust firing angle and power.
c) Terrain – the terrain is also an obstacle as your shell might hit a tree or a hill. The terrain and hill are randomly generated for each match.

Now… for this game, lets call it Panzermench…

Panzermench is a player vs. player game. On each side of the screen you and your opponent has a Big Gun. The gun is protected by three forcefields. Your objective is to knock out the enemy gun. To aid you, your own gun have two firing modes. The first is a Panzermench Catapult. Use it to lob small armoured soldiers. You lob them into the air and when they land they run towards the enemy gun. If they manage to reach a shield, it will be destroyed. When all three enemy shields are destroyed they will blow up the enemy gun. Your secondary firing mode is a machine gun. Use the machine gun to shoot down enemy incoming soldiers.

Controls:
Moving the mouse upwards and downwards aims the gun.
Right mouse button: Lob soldiers. The longer you hold down the button, the longer the soldier will be fired.
Left mouse button: Fire machinegun – press down to fire a stream bullets in a straight trajectory

Simple? Alright here comes the “deep gameplay” –

Each soldier has 100 health. The further you lob your soldiers the more health he will lose on impact. Firing the soldier all over the battlefield, next to the enemy gun will definitely kill the poor zap.

The reload speed of your Catapult depends on the power you used for the last shot. For full power 6 seconds, 50% power = 3 seconds. The catapult can never fire faster than 1 soldier / second.

The Machinegun – the machinegun holds 20 bullets. Its rate of fire is 1 bullet per 0.5 seconds. After 20 bullets has been fired it must be reloaded (automatically), this takes 2 seconds. During reload neither machinegun or catapult can be fired.

Each machinegun bullet damages 10 health – the bullet should traverse pretty fast but slow enough to require the player to aim ahead of the enemy soldiers.

Panzermench running speed – it should take approximately 10 seconds for a soldier to run from the middle of the screen to the enemy gun.

Wind direction changes throughout the game, say every 3 seconds. The wind speed should be randomized and slowly climb and rise. It’s the Murphy factor that sometimes makes that great shot lob the Panzermench a little to far and have him die from the impact.

Terrain – rolling hills. For the first draft no special terrain objects should be necessary. The fun aspect comes from shooting down and lobbing your own panzermench. When the gameplay is solid, effects of terrain could be implemented.

GUI
The whole battlefield should be visible on the screen with each gun and its remaining shields on each side. The wind should be represented by flowing leaves, clouds and other debris.
Ammo counter for the machinegun
Power-meter for the catapult
Remaining shields are displayed as game art
Wind-meter – the direction and the strength of the wind

Closing comments… Panzermench is obviously a multiplayer game and would probably be require network code. For a simpler version the mouse controls can be switched to keyboard only to facilitate two players on the same computer. Player 1 uses: W/S for gun elevation, Q to lob soldiers and E to fire machinegun. Player 2 uses the numpad: 8/5 gun elevation, 7 lob soldiers and 9 to fire machinegun.

.Grimjack