In this blog post I will be talking through 4 game ideas that I would like to execute. As a child I grew up playing so many games with my brothers outdoors, so I'm going to take all my inspiration from my memories of fun times growing up. I think this will make my games original, and they will have more meaning to me. Hope you enjoy!
Game One
For game one I drew my inspiration from my childhood memory of growing up on the River Shannon. Every summer I spent 3 months on my fathers boat on the River Shannon around Leitrim and sometimes we would travel all the way down to Galway on the boat.
After doing the Unity Tutorials with the vehicle I thought of a cool game idea. The idea is that the player view would be behind a speedboat which is speeding through the river and the player controls the boat by moving side to side, dodging obstacles such as markers and buoys on the river and jumping over ramps.
I looked for other games like this on the market and found this game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6fAgEffDnY
The difference between my game and that one is that you would not be playing against other players, it would just be yourself in the game world and also I would not have such realistic waves etc. I would prefer it to look more "cartoon-like."
Game Two
For my second game idea I drew inspiration from my love of music. Growing up I played piano and guitar
and I wanted to create a game that had music in mind. I want this game to be different than all the other music games out there. I want it to work off pace and memory not ability to play.
I came up with the idea of pressing piano keys to the pace of the music by memory. The game would work in levels and the player would be played a piano piece of a song off the charts and they would have to try memorise the sequence the keys were played in and repeat the sequence.
To move forward in the game the player would have to speed up and with each level the pace of the piano gets faster and the sequences get harder. I found this very interesting article on music in games that you might be interested in
here.
(Game Three)
Another idea I had kinda ties in with game two. The idea is more drawn from my favourite game
(read here) which is subway surfers. I was thinking of a game where a player or a vehicle is going through a environment and as they knock into certain stars the music plays in steps like note after note, but if they knock into something they die.
Another aspect of this game would be that the player will speed up the further they get in the game. This would be a level game also, each level being a different song and the songs being harder and harder as the levels progress.
If I was creating a game that included music I'd have to look into the rights I have to use music in games. It is possible though as other apps such as Tik Tok etc. have many songs in their platform.
Here's a look into Tik Toks music rights.
Game Four
For my fourth game I drew inspiration from my childhood of playing basketball. I played basketball from the age of maybe 8 all the way up to the age of 18. I played it all throughout secondary school and it was one of my most enjoyable memories of my teenage year, getting on the bus in the early frosty mornings to travel all around the country to play matches against other schools, and don't forget the missing class part!
For this game I was thinking back to the game development article we read and how if there was a target things would be easier. So I imagine a game where you have to throw a ball up towards a larger hoop. But the trick is that you only have 3 seconds to watch the hoop before it starts disappearing.
Thinking into it, this game could have levels. Maybe the first level the hoop is in a fixed position and you have 10 seconds to throw the ball and as the game progresses you have less time, the hoop starts moving etc. I feel like there's many ways the player could feel progression in this game, which is something that keeps the player intrigued. High scores are something I feel keep people interested and wanting to play more.
This article talks a lot on player engagement. It speaks about the thrill of a player when they hit a new level etc. which is something I want to look into when creating this game.
Hi Robyn, It is nice to see you are taking your game creating ideas from your childhood experiences that really creative good. I like the basketball game you are talking about I have not seen anyone else think about that. And the piano tiles I loved playing that game as well in my childhood, the focus and determination involved in that game was something else. I hope you find one of these ideas to go forward in a create a freat version of it. -Tochi
ReplyDeleteHi Robyn, I really like your first game idea because most people would want to make a competitive game where two players compete each other. I also like the way you get your ideas from your childhood experiences because I think it would make you feel comfortable making your game as you can relate to it! I also prefer games that I can play by myself just to pass time! Hope that you will enjoy whatever ideas you chose!
ReplyDeleteHey Robyn, I found it very interesting that you played basketball and that it was such a fun experience for you that you looked to that as inspiration into making a video game. I used to play basketball for my school as well and still do just as a fun way to keep active but I'm wonder if you could find exactly what you enjoyed most, other than missing class, that you could use as a game mechanic that will also be fun for the players who get to experience your game. I remember the best part about playing basketball was the passive rivalries I would have with other players and even team mates. This would compel me to keep practicing to be better than everybody else. This could be an easy thing to transfer to your game that will create more replayability and keep people coming back to your game. I was thinking what if you incorporated a high-score mechanic into the game that keeps track of the players score that the player could then easily share their high-score with friends containing a link to the game.
ReplyDeleteHey Robyn its Ellen x I really like all your games ideas I think any one of them would be very fun to play. I also enjoyed your blog post it was nice that you related your games to real life experiences and told us a bit about yourselves. Im not sure which game idea you have chosen decided on and chose to further develop but they are all great. I think the boat idea is cool especially in a cartoon world. what obstacle would the boat be dodging like fish or boys in the water?? how would the player know they have finished the level and will the levels get harder as they go on?? I think that having a lighthouse as the finish line would be really cute and fun way to end a level. Cant wait to see what idea you went with and how it turns out!! x
ReplyDeleteHey Robyn,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your first game idea and it's always interesting to see where people get their ideas from be it from real life or from other sources of media and it's good to see that you took your own experiences into account to come up with an idea. I could see great success from the game personally and I think you should focus on it :)
Hi Robyn
ReplyDeleteI have to say l Like your first Idea about the speed boat it seems vary fun to play but will it be one stright line or will there be forks in the roud(or in this case river). I also like your third idea as I enjoy subway surfers too maby you could even chose the music that is being played.