Original Post
Figured I should kick of the contest by throwing a couple of ideas out there - feel free to borrow/adapt as you see fit, and add your own... #1: Zombie Defence 2D top-down side-scroller, or 3D third-person shooter The protagonist is a lone survivor of a zombie apocalypse. The zombies if the area multiply rapidly if unchecked [proliferation], and become faster/stronger/deadlier over time [evolution]. The protagonist is not strong enough to face the zombies directly, but has the ability to spread long-lasting fire across the ground [fire], which can be used to trap and kill the zombies (who will mindlessly walk through it). Unfortunately for our protagonist, there are shifting pools of water [water], which prevent him from placing fire, and put out fires he has previously placed. #2: Prevolution 2D puzzle game Game takes place on a board consistign of many cells (can be square/hex/whatever). A large number of cells contain either ice [water], or lava [fire]. Each player or AI controls a colony of bacteria, attempting to survive in this arena. However, the player is only able to directly influence the 'queen' organism, at the center of the colony. The player loses if their queen is killed, and wins by eliminating all enemy queens. Play is turn based, and each turn the player may either breed, mutate or move. Breeding causes the queen to give birth to a number of bacteria, which occupy the cells immediately surrounding the queen, and push earlier generations outwards [proliferation]. Mutation adds a player-chosen trait (from a tree of possible traits) to all future generations [evolution]. Moving allows the queen to move one cell in any direction, switching places with any bacteria that may already occupy the cell. Traits can affect the combat abilities of bacteria (combat occurs when the edge of your colony collides with the edge of another colony), the ability of the bacteria to themselves multiply (faster colony growth), or their ability to withstand ice/lava. High-level defensive and offensive traits require the colony to have access to (and consume) quantities of ice and lava respectively. [Edited by - swiftcoder on November 4, 2009 12:48:55 PM]