Last Edition to Game Ideas

While working today and discussing games with a coworker today, I came up with one final idea.

The idea would be to keep the basic idea behind the math-based combat system, retaining the action bar format I talked about in the previous post, but go about it like a fighter. Everything would be from a side scrolling view and the combos would tie in better to the playstyle.

I then got to thinking that the entire RPG could be a side scroller--similar to how games like Maple Story and Dungeon Fighter Online have done. I would want to keep the basic inventory, avatar customization, and puzzles. The main difference being that it is all side scrolling. However, the inventory and avatar could be dropped for sake of time constraint.

I feel that the game would not only be easier to play, but also a little easier to make.

Education - The RPG! (Revised)

(Revision and new ideas at bottom of original post.)

My topic of interest is helping the minds of the youth develop in such a way that they are prepared for the tasks in their future. I feel that kids in America aren't getting the education they both deserve and need. Schools will try and fix this by focusing on a few subjects, and then letting the others fall instead of trying to balance it out for all. Not only that, but we fall behind many other countries in terms of Languages. Kids in Europe can usually speak at least three languages by the time they reach middle school. Not all schools do bad at this, but it seems that as an overall majority the public school system falls short. I would like to encourage creative thinking in youth so that they enjoy and excel in Math, Science, Reading, Writing, and Art.

My idea for a game to get this across would combine a good amount of these elements so that the player has to use various techniques from every area to achieve their goal. I want to do it subtly, but also effectively. I feel that this will be the best way to do it because it isn't in your face about it, but merely makes you use your knowledge to move the game along. The gameplay type I am going to use will be that of an RPG.

To tackle reading, writing, and a good amount of imagination, I would create a simple but splendid story. Something that would attract a young player's mind into this world that I'm going to trick them into learning with. It would be your standard RPG formula: Strange events spark the arrival of problems for the area surrounding the main character's town. While going about doing their daily chores, like getting X amount of ingredients for mom because she only has Y amount but needs it to total Z, they stumble upon one of these “problems” which then sucks them into the main plot. Other tasks or quests along the line would require the players knowledge of elements, geometric shapes or languages to solve other puzzles. (Player needs to open a door that requires one element that you can only get by combining the two or three elements that make it. Things like that.)

The last piece of my game would be that of a combat or battle system. I would make it turn based, much like Final Fantasy, and have various battle options.

The player will be fighting monsters that are relevant to the story, and will do so in three ways:

1. Attack Combos: Each different Combo will have a different Base Number every battle. Each type of attack will have a different number as well. To actually do the Combo, the player has to choose the right types of attacks so that the numbers equal the desired Combo's base number.
2. Magic/Special Skills: Throughout the game, players will discover certain elements, and if they combine them right, will unlock spells.
3. Items: Players can do things like heal damage by using an item like Cloth to make a bandage. They can prevent certain status effects by knowing what types of foods prevent or help certain ailments.

As a whole, I think this game would be a success in both entertainment and education levels. If done right and frequently enough through the game, the kids might not even know they are learning right away. Even if they already have some of the knowledge, the game would reenforce it and help them practice it.

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Thoughts after getting feedback - 23 Jan 2011:

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I must admit that I neglected to think of scale when forming this idea. Were it to follow the FF trend closely, the game would be massive and not doable in a semester. The only way I could think to make this J-RPG format work would be to do a very short story, like a single act from an FF game.

After getting feedback from Marty, I started looking at other game types and thinking of new ideas that could incorporate the elements I've already thought of. Two ideas that came to mind for a game using similar battle and item mechanics would be something closely related to either Diablo or King's Bounty. Both would still contain various RPG/RTS elements, but would not require an elaborate story or grand scale.

The only story in the game would be what is needed to set up the world the player is in. Gameplay would be sending the player to do various basic tasks/quests. The tasks could incorporate educational themes. (Math-based item collection quests, geometric puzzles, finding the right types of words to fill in a discovered distress note, etc.) Tasks give the player equippable items or gold. The gold can then be used to purchase items from an in-game shop. My main idea for items and avatars will be that players can customize their avatar in terms of look and items, and the incentive to come back and play more would be to get more gold and get more items for their character. Much like the basic carrot-on-stick mentality that various Facebook, web-based or MMO games have.

With both games, the player looks down on their character from above and clicks around on the map to move. They can left-click for the default action (talk for NPC's, attack monsters) or right-click to bring up a menu with more options.

My idea for a Math-based combo system could still work for battles. The main difference between my original idea and this is that rather than having a turn-based system with menus, the basic attacks that build the Math-based combos would be skills on an action bar.

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The other idea that came to mind for me and an education game would be something similar to Myst in terms of gameplay. The player would start off knowing almost nothing, starting the game in a room with a table or desk that has a note on it. The note is from a mysterious character who's name is most likely fake. He tells them the basics: The player is trapped, what the player needs to do, why they need to do it, and where to go to start looking for clues.

The game will be a first-person view and movement will either be with WASD or a point/click system. The player will need to solve a set of puzzles to progress through each area, ultimately ending the game when they solve the last puzzle and are then able to leave. Geometric, word, color, and other various puzzle types. Clues on how to solve the puzzles will be located in any of the areas before the puzzle. Anything from a note to something scribbled in the corner of a picture on the wall.

The difficult parts of this game will be making the various puzzles and the amount of artwork that would be needed, but I think it would be well worth it to make.

First Assignment

We've been asked to play games for homework and choose three to write about.

First up - Killer Flu (http://www.persuasivegames.com/games/game.aspx?game=killerflu)

The main thing I noticed when playing this game was that it felt a lot like Roller Coaster Tycoon. Mainly the graphic style, camera angle, and basic interaction with the characters on the field. The game was made to demonstrate how the spreading of illness works, and how fast it can happen. The developers did a good job in getting this agenda across, and the game was even entertaining. I found myself enjoying the mischievous act of infecting citizens and sending them to doom their peers to a temporary life of misery. However, I do feel that they could have improved the infecting process. Sometimes the characters would not stop from a mouse over like they were supposed to.

My Second Choice - WolfQuest (http://www.wolfquest.org/)

Of the three games I've chosen, I felt that this one had a better interface than the others. I felt that you had a good amount of customization for your character, and it was nice to have locations for quests marked on your map. I would like to believe that the game was made to educate users on wolves and how they live; mainly because that's what it does. I don't know much about wolves, but I did see everything I already knew about them present in the game. Things like animation, health bars, and textures could be greatly improved. I felt at times that the game did not even have textures for the ground and they chose a single, solid color. I think that more than one tree model could have improved the game as well. One thing that it did have going for it though: a surprisingly high view distance from lack of graphic quality. Were I a child, or had any children of my own, I would probably enjoy this game because it wasn't nearly as bad as some that I played tonight.

Third Choice - Hungry Caterpillar (http://www.kidsplaypark.com/games/caterpillar/)

I felt the need to choose this game for one of my three as an example of what not to do. As a game, it's nothing special: a rehashed Snake with a caterpillar and cherries as replacements for the usual snake and dots. What I found the game to do wrong was that, while it was on a site for education, it did not seem to meet the agenda. All the other games on the educational site used math, spelling, chemistry, and other notable areas of education. Hungry Caterpillar on the other hand, did not. Had they incorporated some time of math system into it, the game would have been more appropriate. I think an improvement I would personally add would be to have a UI where each of the four directions of the arrow keys had a simple math problem. When the user types in the answer to the problem on the desired arrow, the snake then goes in that direction. My only other thought on this game was that the "Yum" sound effect was very unnecessary.

Overall, the majority of the games on these sites were simple, but some were well done. The main downfall for the majority was having subjects that are incredibly hard to make fun and appealing.