Next GameDev Challenge?

Some random ideas:

Escapism would be cool, generally. Like something very far away from the current world.

What about something that allows us to be social, seeing as we are all observing social distancing?

Just random thoughts from my mind.

deltaKshatriya said:
What about something that allows us to be social, seeing as we are all observing social distancing?

This is an interesting idea. Multiplayer? Maybe a social network integration? Discord integration? Or a gameplay element that requires in-game social activity?

khawk said:
This is an interesting idea. Multiplayer? Maybe a social network integration? Discord integration? Or a gameplay element that requires in-game social activity?

I'd go further and say coop/multiplayer with some social features (at least chat, or as you said Discord integration) - without specifying the exact genre.

khawk said:

deltaKshatriya said:
What about something that allows us to be social, seeing as we are all observing social distancing?

This is an interesting idea. Multiplayer? Maybe a social network integration? Discord integration? Or a gameplay element that requires in-game social activity?

I think a broad, generic focus on multiplayer and encouraging us to be social with one another, in a fun, creative way.

Multiplayer and social/chat elements are cool ideas. I like where it's going.

It's only been a day, but are there any other opinions from anyone else? If not we can get this going in the coming days.

Is this gamedev challenge leaning towards making a peer to peer game?

Rutin said:

Is this gamedev challenge leaning towards making a peer to peer game?

Maybe that would be an option? Or some variation of multiplayer?

I generally feel like the focus should be to be social, in creative and inventive ways. So whatever that generally means to you!

I think this will need to involve multiplayer in some form, but it doesn’t need to be super complex. It could be as simple as just having a chat client open in your own phone.

A play by mail game ?

Thinking about it - game where you build/manage some kind of society? Like city builders or similar?

Or we could get all nuts - multiplayer city builder with society where you get instructions by email.

Vilem Otte said:

Thinking about it - game where you build/manage some kind of society? Like city builders or similar?

Or we could get all nuts - multiplayer city builder with society where you get instructions by email.

I would be up for a city builder. Maybe even something where people plug themselves into VR machines and your job is to build the VR world as the regular world is on lock-down. I'm more for themes to be honest, not so much making just an “online game”. I think we did an online challenge awhile back? Pac-Man?

@rutin I'm for themes as long as it is not too binding.

Theme of “Dystopian city builder” is kind of okay-ish. Theme of 2D Pac-man is somewhat binding (although you can always do some huge plot twist - and include it in a way you like).

This being said - multiplayer doesn't exclude with any theme in general.

Vilem Otte said:

@rutin I'm for themes as long as it is not too binding.

Theme of “Dystopian city builder” is kind of okay-ish. Theme of 2D Pac-man is somewhat binding (although you can always do some huge plot twist - and include it in a way you like).

This being said - multiplayer doesn't exclude with any theme in general.

I'm personally not really into making multiplayer games as it is. That is why on the Pac-Man challenge I did split-screen and not p2p. Either way, I'll have to wait and see what the requirements are before I commit. I only referenced Pac-Man because it was the only game I remember that had a 2-player requirement… I believe?

Rutin said:

Vilem Otte said:

@rutin I'm for themes as long as it is not too binding.

Theme of “Dystopian city builder” is kind of okay-ish. Theme of 2D Pac-man is somewhat binding (although you can always do some huge plot twist - and include it in a way you like).

This being said - multiplayer doesn't exclude with any theme in general.

I'm personally not really into making multiplayer games as it is. That is why on the Pac-Man challenge I did split-screen and not p2p. Either way, I'll have to wait and see what the requirements are before I commit. I only referenced Pac-Man because it was the only game I remember that had a 2-player requirement… I believe?

What if it's something that require multiple players but maybe not a networked multiplayer game? Ie, you need someone else playing the game at the same time in order to solve the puzzles/win the battle or whatever, but not actually be present in the game?

deltaKshatriya said:
What if it's something that require multiple players but maybe not a networked multiplayer game? Ie, you need someone else playing the game at the same time in order to solve the puzzles/win the battle or whatever, but not actually be present in the game?

You just brought back memories of Half Life: Decay.

Vilem Otte said:

deltaKshatriya said:
What if it's something that require multiple players but maybe not a networked multiplayer game? Ie, you need someone else playing the game at the same time in order to solve the puzzles/win the battle or whatever, but not actually be present in the game?

You just brought back memories of Half Life: Decay.

Not quite what I was thinking actually. More like just synchronized gaming.

Generally, I think a broad emphasis on encouraging social interactions would be the best route.

deltaKshatriya said:
Not quite what I was thinking actually. More like just synchronized gaming. Generally, I think a broad emphasis on encouraging social interactions would be the best route.

The problem I see with this is generally lower amount of players that will play this (it is after all, GameDev.net only challenge). Add to the mix that most of us are living in different time zones and it would end up in waiting for other players.

@khawk Any ETA on when this kicks off?

Rutin said:

@khawk Any ETA on when this kicks off?

@rutin Soon. I'm targeting this weekend. I think there's enough of an idea to put something together here.

I also want to get everyone's past challenges recognized in the new system (I didn't forget ?).