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Activity Boards => Assorted Creations => Topic started by: Bongo Bill on March 05, 2008, 03:13:55 PM

Title: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on March 05, 2008, 03:13:55 PM
Say you've got a strategy tabletop wargamey thing (or something like it) where you take your guys and you can have them Move and then you can have them Do Things. Here's how you could use another, better game to manage that. Specifically, cribbage.

The player whose turn it is deals. If the starter is a Jack then the weather conditions on that turn or something are favorable to that player. Then in the next phase, for every point each player earns he gets a certain number of points that he can use to move his pieces around the board. He must use them immediately upon receiving them or discard them, and presumably different pieces on different terrain types can move cheaper or more expensively.

Then when they count the values of their hands, the total point value of each hand is then spent making the various units perform actions. Points must be used immediately and any unused points are lost. Exception: the dealer combines the total point value of his hand and the crib, and then spends them.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on March 21, 2008, 09:09:17 PM
For some reason I can never get the idea of game/movie/book that takes place in the arctic and begins with the investigation of a crash of some sort.

I like the idea of a game that starts in a barren arctic setting and we can see just behind a small hill that crops up out of the snow and ice, some black smoke rising up. The player is in a helicopter that is already flying towards this crash. I immediately give you control of the copter but there is no where else to go in this game world other than that crash, so you can fly off in some other direction, but you only have so much fuel so you can become a crash yourself or land and wander out into the cold and die from exposure or whatever, but if you're smart you'll just play ball and fly towards the crash, would you kindly?

Anyway, the radio crackles to life and you get some generic instructions to look for survivors once you land over the crackly radio. You probably won't be able to make out a lot of it but the details don't seem important. And this is it for instruction, this is all I will ever tell you to do. You are in the arctic aproaching a crash site and the rest is really up to you. Once the radio transmission stops you have no key to press to call back or anything, just the sound of the copter blades and the blowing wind of the arctic.

Once you land you can see that the wreck is actually a submarine that has come out of the ice at a rather bizzare angle. Some searching around will reveal foot prints, blood, and then finally a wounded Russian Submariner. He will only speak Russian with no in-game translation and will probably promptly die or may threaten you after rambling at you in Russian nonsense and then proceed to assault you if you don't stay away from him. He will be very irrate and crazy and will probably die from his wounds rather quickly in game time.

The hatch he crawled out of will be easy to find and will take you into the sub. The rest of the game will take place in the submarine and below it...
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Cannon on March 21, 2008, 11:20:09 PM
and what if like

there is some kind of alien that can assimilate and imitate humans or other lifeforms

Not so keen on the false choice at the start, and if there aren't irate ninjas in the submarine, then I will be disappointed.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Koah on March 22, 2008, 12:34:23 AM
there is some kind of alien that can assimilate and imitate humans or other lifeforms

But there is no infection here, Cannon.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on March 22, 2008, 11:04:27 AM
Oh, thanks.  I didn't want to be the first one to draw the obvious but ultimately false parallel to The Thing.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on March 22, 2008, 11:43:53 AM
Oh, thanks.  I didn't want to be the first one to draw the obvious but ultimately false parallel to The Thing.
Yeah, I sort of Like The Thing. The old movie of it is pretty good and everyonce in a while I think to myself that someone should remake it nowadays, but then I realize that would probably suck since the original is pretty cool already.

They made a game of it as well, I think, where you had to shoot the alien things and maintain good standing with the sanity meters of the other humans in the station. I don't know if it was any good or not. It seemed pretty generic to me.

But yeah, in this there's no infection and no sort of social cabin fever thing going on. Although later in the game there may be the aspect of meeting other human characters and always having to think twice about trusting them or being fearful of them.

Quote from:  cannon
Not so keen on the false choice at the start, and if there aren't irate ninjas in the submarine, then I will be disappointed.
A big part of the feel of the game that I'd want to have is the feeling of isolation and freedom as well as the harshness of the environment. I want to force you to cling to whatever oppurtunities seem to arise hungerly because I've made you realize that too much hesitation or fucking around in the wrong way is quickly unfruitful.

As for Ninjas in the sub well, the sub itself will not hold any hostile encounters, at least not with creatures. If you try to leave the sub once you have entered it for any significant length of time, you will step out of the hatch to find that the whole crash site is now surrounded rather spookily by a group of inuits. They look like the Inuk of old, their wooden slit-snow-googles coving most of their faces. Approaching them or attempting to talk to them will only get you pushed back forcefully or a warning spear thrown at you. They will slowly encroach on you to force you back into the sub if you stay out there long enough and if you try to stay out there past that, they will just club you to death or maybe just club you and you will awaken in the sub with only hatch out sealed.

Other than the sub, the arctic barrens around it, and the main area of the game, there will be four other main areas; a tropical forrest in South America, a mountain range in asia, and an area in that dried up sea in the Ukrane.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: François on March 22, 2008, 12:24:07 PM
They made a game of it as well, I think, where you had to shoot the alien things and maintain good standing with the sanity meters of the other humans in the station. I don't know if it was any good or not. It seemed pretty generic to me.

It's probably pretty good if you really really like fixing fuseboxes (http://spoonyexperiment.com/games/Thing/).
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on March 22, 2008, 12:58:35 PM
There were a lot more oppurtunities there to edit in parts of the movie to make for a funnier review. AVGN would have done a better job.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on March 22, 2008, 01:37:32 PM
I've been toying with the idea lately of making a comic* about a man who, as a child, played and almost beat Polybius, and since then has been haunted by horrible images of death, and thus has spent most of his adult life searching for the game so that he could finally beat it. The climax would have him find the elusive urban legend in an abandoned warehouse, beat it (complete with all the windows in the warehouse exploding and flocks of doves taking off a la John Woo), and screaming "I'm free! I'm finally free!" as a horde of demons drag him to hell.

*Although I think that it would make for a killer rock opera.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on March 23, 2008, 10:26:21 AM
Replace Polybius with Time Traveler and you've pretty much got my autobiography.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on March 30, 2008, 09:28:03 AM
A magical universe in which interplanetary travel is accomplished by committing suicide.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Catloaf on March 30, 2008, 11:49:49 AM
If you believe Disgaea in that heaven and hell are just planets in a distant galaxy, that could be reality.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Guild on March 30, 2008, 12:01:19 PM
Say you've got a strategy tabletop wargamey thing with cribbage.

I'd play this. I'm a card game and wargame whore. I'm assuming that the actual cribbage game has no real value other than resource fuel.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on March 30, 2008, 04:15:34 PM
Say you've got a strategy tabletop wargamey thing with cribbage.

I'd play this. I'm a card game and wargame whore. I'm assuming that the actual cribbage game has no real value other than resource fuel.

You assume correctly.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on April 03, 2008, 12:24:26 PM
Take any old violence-based MMO where large groups of characters can fight each other. Add to that this nifty feature: those so authorized by their guild can, instead of playing normally, enter "general" mode, where they A) issue orders to guild members who are in the battle, and B) take limited RTS-style control of guild member-owned characters who are not currently logged in, with their owners' consent. The characters controlled in this way have rudimentary AI for making tactical decisions and the general does not have fine-grained control over them, and their stats are not changed in any way aside from their current HP and temporary buffs/debuffs/whatever. If you log in a character who's participating in a battle, you can choose to wait until they're killed, jump in the battle immediately, or resume from where you logged out before the battle began. Generals are optional and you can maybe also enable an AI general if needed. You don't need to be fighting a big group of enemies, either - you could do it in one of them "raid" things you kids are so keen on nowadays.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on April 03, 2008, 03:40:18 PM
An MMO Natural Selection, although keen, would seem largely unnecessary.  But then again, who hasn't dreamed about commanding armies of soldiers who are controlled by real people?

...enlisted
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on April 03, 2008, 04:06:07 PM
It's tough to do.  In any teamplay experience, griefing is always a problem.  It'd be easy enough to incentivize following the commander's orders, but the commander shouldn't be ordering everyone to suck frog pee.  Unless it is a game about sucking frog pee, in which case he shouldn't be ordering everybody to not suck frog pee.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on April 03, 2008, 05:45:36 PM
The idea is to graft it onto an existing, more-or-less-working setup, and make it voluntary. The character you're currently playing as has no more reason to obey the general now than you have to normally listen to whomever your guild put in charge of coordinating things, and your other characters can easily opt out. You can go off and do your own thing playing the normal game, but large-scale activities can now be much more coordinated and much, much bigger.

It rewards the most dedicated players - guild leaders - by giving them a new form of game that is close to what they were already doing. It creates more reason for people to make alts, which makes them stick around longer. It lets more casual players feel useful in spite of their limited playtime, which encourages them to join guilds and also to stay in them even if they don't play enough themselves. It makes it less of a hassle to coordinate a huge event or boss fight, which means more huge events and boss fights can happen and they can be huger and fightier. And for those who don't want to deal with it, it just means they have more meat puppets to fight with in whatever sort of PvP there is, since AI-controlled characters can't think tactically as well as a meatspace player can. It's a great novelty, adds a new fun mechanism and a little layer of depth, plus possibilities for further exploration of the idea, really highlights the social features, and overall just increases the value of the game.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on April 04, 2008, 02:59:57 PM
Been done, I believe. Can't for the life of me remember what it was called, but I remember it won (or at least was nominated for) some independent game award.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on April 04, 2008, 04:39:44 PM
Good ideas are meant to be stolen!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Koah on April 06, 2008, 10:21:37 AM
A post-apocalyptic Mormons vs. Scientologists RTS.  The setting is post-apocalyptic, I mean, not the Mormons.  Well, if they're in the setting they'd have to be too, but so would the Scient- well, you get what I mean.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on April 06, 2008, 02:58:38 PM
Post-cyberpocalyptic.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Büge on April 06, 2008, 06:21:00 PM
Post-infocalyptic.

 :evil:
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on April 08, 2008, 09:45:50 AM
In The Future, everybody in the world will have an indestructible Internet-enabled handheld supercomputer with an automagic operating system, a million billion well-functioning add-ons, and a battery life longer than God's dick.

The game that people play using these devices will be Take Pictures Of Animals. Whoever has the most species in their Internet gallery is the winner. People can also rate each others' pictures. Don't get caught putting pictures in your gallery that you didn't take.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on April 08, 2008, 10:13:13 AM
okay dudes this is a good one

think Pokemon Snap meets Audiosurf... in space

maybe with guns

Edit: Hmm, maybe Take Pictures Of Guns for the NRA crowd....
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Büge on April 08, 2008, 10:46:43 AM
Now I've got an idea!

You play as a recently-dead Chuck Heston, armed with his trusty Smith & Wesson and a fat bankroll. The object of the game is to use your charisma and political clout to influence American policy before your corpse rots away. Your ability to influence people will change over the game. For example, early on, you can use your gun, but people will respond more to your words and deeds. As time goes on, however, you'll need to resort to violence, bribes and intimidation because your decaying body will horrify and repulse everyone. There will be weapons upgrades and embalming fluids you can buy too. Eventually you'll collapse into a pile of dust, but if you play it right, you could end up the first zombie president!

We'll call it Cold Dead Hands.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on April 08, 2008, 06:45:20 PM
I can't wait to see the sorts of simple, stupid game that people make with Google App Engine (http://code.google.com/appengine/). I came up with a really simple, really stupid one.

Distributed tic-tac-toe. It has a shitload of concurrent games. When you go to the page, it looks for one that isn't finished yet, and sometimes it serves you up a fresh new one instead. You get to make one move on that board, and then it goes back into the pile to be served to somebody else. When a game is finished, it is discarded after incrementing the value for "X Wins" "O Wins" or "Cat's Game" as appropriate.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Superface on April 10, 2008, 07:06:24 AM
Quote
MMO FPS with a General

Hah, I was just looking at this a week or so ago. You're basically describing Savage 2, the almost-MMO FPS where you can play as a General and RTS with human-controlled players, or you can FPS as one of the grunts, meleeing or casting spells and leveling up. It's free to play the single-player and tutorial, but a multiplayer account requires buying it for a one-time fee of $29.99.

It's more World in Conflict than World of Warcraft in terms of persistence, meaning there really isn't any. There's in-match levelling, but once the match is over everything's reset. The rest of the stats get tagged to your persistent character for a player ladder, but I don't know if there's even so much as a 3D representational lobby. Supposed to be great fun though, and pretty much exactly what you're talking about: fantasy FPS with RTS elements for the commander.

savage2.s2games.com (http://savage2.s2games.com)

Also notable for having a native Linux client, which is why I was looking at it in the first place. Someday my dream of Linux exclusively on my desktop will be realized...
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on April 10, 2008, 07:36:11 AM
Planetside did a few things right: having 3 sides to balance combat and keep the situation nonbinary, the squad/platoon system as well as the overall Command Point structure, and making your average newbie grunt just as dangerous as a veteran.

My biggest concern was of scale: the battle was split up over like 12 different worlds, and in the game's wane, only one or two of them actually saw any combat.  Depending on how many of each empire was logged on, one empire could go around capturing entire continents uncontested (this was called "ghosting" and it took hours).  The real trouble with that is that the game reset every day.  What the hell was the point?

If you're going to have persistence, make it really persistent.  Give me 100 nations in a massive, contiguous world and let's fight until one nation rules everything (players in defeated nations re-choosing their allegiances or remaining in their homeland as rebels and attempting to retake their territory).  Make it take six months to a year.  I want today's battlefield success to matter tomorrow.  I want commanders whose orders go beyond "Leave there, fight here!"  And I definitely don't want tanks to just appear out of the damned ground; time and money should be invested in them and they should be driven to the front lines.

Arglebargle farts.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on April 10, 2008, 09:47:39 AM
Planetside did a lot of things right in the time that I played, but it seemed to become too much about vehicles and also seemed to be too big for the number of players. I did like that two guys crawling slowly across a continent could just capture towers until the other side noticed and suddenly you had a large-scale battle erupting, though.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on April 12, 2008, 09:22:44 PM
Competitive Survival Horror.

At the start of each round, up to three out of a maximum of eight players get to be the bloodmonsters that feast on the warm innards of helpless civilians (either at random, in turns, through votes or what-the-fuck-ever) while the other five get to be the helpless civilians with delicious organs. The civilians are slow and can't aim worth a shit, and the bloodmonsters are almost invincible and can kill any civilian in at most two hits. Civilians win if they can reach designated escape points on the maps, bloodmonsters win if they kill the civilians. For every civilian killed, the bloodmonsters get a point -- and for every civilian that escapes, the civilians get a point. Whichever side has the most points at the end of the round wins. If the Bloodmonsters kill all civilians, bonus score and other neat things.

On each map there are several "Slaughter Pits". If a bloodmonster can drag a still living civilian to one of these pits and chuck him in, the bloodmonster gets extra points and a new toy that makes killing the other civilians that much easier. If a civilian can knock a bloodmonster into the Slaughter Pits, he'll only gain a few points, but no weapon, but the bloodmonster will be removed from the game for the rest of the round. If all the bloodmonsters die, civilians win.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on April 14, 2008, 01:45:08 PM
I was thinking today that for MMORPGs to ever appeal to me ever again, they have to not be WoW, RO, GuildWars, or Starwars Galaxies.

I do not what to play an other MMORPG where you gain levels and make you character more powerful solely by participating in combat.

Some newer MMOs coming out are trying to at least make combat different than the same damn, click icons to use skills while your character auto attacks system that every MMORPG since Everquest still seems to use. Age of Conan for instance, although I cannot confirm this first hand, seems to actually be proposing a new combat system to us. But I say, too little too late.

I thought today of a game like the MMO + RTS that people had been discussing for the last little while in this thread but where the uber players who were made the commanders of the RTS component did not have to be players who had gotten to that level through fighting in combat. A character could perhaps have built a guild around him by creating a successful trading company. At the beginning of the game he had to defend himself a few times with weapons or with magic because the world he lives in is a dangerous place. But once the Bartz Company had grown to the point where he had enough guards with him whenever traveling and so forth, there was rarely need for him to have to defend himself with his own abilities.

An other player was a great scholar or inventor.

An other player was a great politician and thrived in that area of the game.

I think something along these lines would get my excited about the genre again.

...

Then Zara MSNed me and we joked about why nintendo hasn't cashed in on the idea of an RTS or Strat/RPG where you were Bowser and you commanded the koopa troop to victory with log tanks and airships and the whole nine yards. When the going got tough and the evil new badguys that you were facing seemed to be getting the upper hand on you, Mario and Luigi would join your army as super units to sway the tide back in your favour. Of course, Bowser would be to proud to accept help from those meddling plumbers, so they would have to disguise themselves as Hammer Bros to successfully join the Koopa Troop.

It would be a good excuse to bring Jinx back into the continuity of the series as a mentor and troop trainer too.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on June 12, 2008, 08:53:32 AM
Mobile sim/civ MMO

(http://www.supermariothree.com/images/airship.PNG)

I've probably just been playing Dwarf Fortress too much, but I like the idea of a mobile game where you are in command of a big naval ship, airship, or fortress that sits on the back of a giant colossus or something.

You have to build your moving the fortress by collecting resources from the surrounding country-side/ocean Which you can only do when you are landed/anchored. Landing or anchoring or whatever is done whenever you start the game. When you leave the game all your crew strap themselves in for hyperspace travel or whatever and their highspeed travel is linked to your actual travel outside of the game world, your body is the mobile fortress if you will, or in the colossus model, your mobile device is the fortress and you are the giant it sits on. Whenever you start the game up, the fortress lands/anchors at your current global position based on your GPS location. The game then generates terrain based on your actual global location or if you have no GPS functionality on your phone, then it just randomizes it.

Using various resources around you and learned over time crew skills, you can construct thingslike:
-crew quarters
-various workshops
-storage areas
-fisheries/butcheries
-farms perhaps
-research libraries
-better fortress components (defences, propulsion)
-barracks
-hangars/bays

This last building type would be used for the construction and maintanence of "scouts", small vehicles that you can upgrade or replace as your fortess gets better that you can use to ferry people and goods to and from your fortress with the world around you. One of the big problems with multiplayer mobile gaming is that over the air comunication is to disjointed to allow for any sort of real-time interaction. Bluetooth and wifi do a much better job and make real-time possible, but are not always availiable. So the idea is that your scouts would be used in a sort of action/response capacity to allow you to interact with other players of the game in your area without too much annoyance from latency. However, more realtime interaction could be possible if you actually "docked" your fortress with someone else's by literally walking over to them and setting up a bluetooth connection. These interactions could be for trade purposes or combat. Scouts could also be used to send envoys to NPC towns and castles and such which could be randomly generated or based on map locations of real town and city centers.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on June 12, 2008, 09:08:45 AM
A big part of the appeal of online games is that you can interact with others regardless of geography. So give in-person communications a privileged status but keep normal play possible with people who are like six thousand real miles away.

So I think it'd be better to allow the player to establish his own correspondence between real-world locations and in-game locations, so that logging in from a particular place makes you start off docked there (but of course you can move while in the game, as well). For example, you might set it up so that if you log in from home, you appear in Upper East Hypotheticaland, whereas logging in from work drops you off in New Azeroth or whatever. Log in from an entirely new location and you get the option of being assigned a random unexplored destination or transferring one of the older in-game locations to the new real-world location.

You can't land anywhere you don't have map data from; however, the only thing that you can't exchange across the Internet is map data. Passive communication is automatically initiated with anybody in the real-world vicinity, and map data is exchanged. For all the rest of it you have to explore it yourself.

Perhaps I'm completely misunderstanding you, of course.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on June 12, 2008, 01:13:03 PM
You can't land anywhere you don't have map data from; however, the only thing that you can't exchange across the Internet is map data. Passive communication is automatically initiated with anybody in the real-world vicinity, and map data is exchanged. For all the rest of it you have to explore it yourself.

Perhaps I'm completely misunderstanding you, of course.

Perhaps, but I can't be sure because I don't know what the hell you're talking about. Why can't you exchange map data over the Internet? exchange it with who? What the hell are you babbling about?

My idea was that anyone that is connected to your service provider and is playing the game would send out a passive message that they are playing the game to other people. They would show up on a sort of fortress radar you could build that didn't show a real location (or maybe it would but only for people who have GPS on their phones, others would just be shown as "near" you but not have an exact location) but that just told you they were within a scout's flight radius. You could then send and receive scouts to and from these people facilitating limited trade, communication and warfare. Actually walking up to someone with the game running would let you dock with them through blue tooth and have less limited contact. For obvious reasons, docking may have to happen under a flag of peace or at least truce because no one is going to stand there while you pillage them and I don't want actual fist fights to develop as interesting of a game component as it could be.

The point of the whole fortress movement while game is off was just to give the player a way to find new areas with new resources and things in them just by playing the game in different places, but I suppose I could allow you to warp to places you have been in the past while playing. I sort of like the idea that I think you were getting at where players could trade maps as part of their trading. That way you could get access to new areas that you hadn't actually travelled to.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on June 12, 2008, 02:54:56 PM
I think maybe you should start from the very beginning, here. Are you thinking more along the lines of Dwarf Fortress plus GPS-powered social networking, or are you thinking more along the lines of World of Warcraft on a cell phone and instead of an avatar you have a crew?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on June 12, 2008, 03:08:08 PM
The former, where sieges and trade envoys can come from other players' fortresses as well as from NPC cities and you can perhaps attack certain "enemy" NPC cities with your fortress, employing the aid of other players if they are near you in person.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on June 12, 2008, 05:01:11 PM
So there's no persistent world?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on June 12, 2008, 05:02:27 PM
Well, there is, but it's based on the real world and the map data that is pushed to smart phones from google maps.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on June 12, 2008, 05:14:52 PM
So there is a persistent game world, but you can only move around in it by moving in the real world?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Mothra on June 12, 2008, 05:27:38 PM
I'M TRAPPED UNDER A THOUSAND FEET OF WATER
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on June 12, 2008, 05:58:43 PM
So there is a persistent game world, but you can only move around in it by moving in the real world?

Correct, but not if in play testing this proves to be annoying. Although, the idea is that the game will be such that you could play it in just one area and never move and the game would still be fun (Like Dwarf Fortress) but moving around and having terrain be related real world terrain would be a nice novelty.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: jsnlxndrlv on June 12, 2008, 11:56:40 PM
Thinking about the Mayor's battle/character advancement system, when I realized: at some point, I'd like to see an RPG where the only way to improve your character's stats is by choosing certain dialogue options when talking with NPCs.  Kind of like what Torment did, except minus any sort of equipping or leveling-up.  If you can talk the talk, then your character will walk the walk, etc.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Koah on July 04, 2008, 11:20:34 PM
Tangentially inspired by the sub-conversation in the comics thread (http://brontoforum.us/index.php?topic=16.80): Some sort of small-scale Dynasty Warriors (one-on-twelve or thereabouts, we'll say)/third-person moderately non-linear beat-em-up based on a very loose interpretation of Megatokyo, by which I mean "render everything in it down to its most basic element, strip out all the dating sim trappings and turn it into some sort of bastard lovechild of Suda51 and Itagaki."  So from what I remember about the comic it'll basically be about two guys who end up in Japan and need to fight off zombies, highly visible ninja, Japanese secessionist military forces et alumni, using off-brand anime weapons bought from cosplay shops.  Including Guts' massive fucking zweihander, because there's not a game that can't be improved by adding a sword that requires you to use the word "splatter" to describe what happens to people when you hit them with it.

I never said it was a good idea.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on July 17, 2008, 01:06:14 PM
Listening to a podcast of Retronauts, I heard Parish and the Shark musing about how they really should have made a quick-draw centric gunslinger cowboy game for the Wii by now and that it would have been a lot better than Link Has a Crossbow.

This reminded me of how before the Wii ever rose out of the ashes of the gamecube I wanted to make an iaido* game. In my head it would be an arcade game that you would play on a fairly large mat or playing area with a screen on all four sides of you. On every screen would be a dipiction of of your avatar who would come under attack by assailants. You would have a sword controller in your hand that was maybe just a sword hilt with no "blade" on it so that you didn't hit anything in real life and you would have to slash around to defeat your attackers. Because you were actually monitoring the action on the screens in 3rd person, you would beable to exercise the sort of sixth sense people like Musashi probably actually had and there for react to multiple attackers coming at you from all sides in a fairly badassed manner.

The encounters or stages, would be based on the actual iaido katas that iaido practicioners do for gradings. So if you know any iaido, you could actually attempt the levels by performing the real katas only you'd get to see these virtual ronin getting dispatched by your attacks rather than just imagining opponents and what they might be doing. But if you don't know any iaido, it doesn't matter, just react and try to survive. Your performance on each level would be measured on how quickly you killed all your attackers and how hurt you yourself got in doing so. With this in mind, it could be quite possible to get higherscores by coming up with your own techniques that actually kill everyone faster.

I'd have lots of other levels after the main kata based on other less well known katas from less mainstream schools perhaps and other sources, and of course crazy made up ones where you are attacked by giant toad summoning ninja and such of course.

Then the Wii came out and I thought "Hey, you don't need some big arcade set up that only a handfull of big arcades and theme parks would ever bother buying and installing. You could make something like this for everyone and their grandmother to play thanks to the Wii!"

Then I played Red Steel and blocked out this entire idea from my head.

But now with the release of the wiimote upgrade and the glowing reviews I've seen of the sword fighting Mii game that comes with it, I'm thinking something like this might actually be possible again. The Retronauts Clint Eastwood simulator inspired me further into thinking that maybe this could be made even broader and cooler by making it less Japanese swordsmanship edutainment (not that I wanted it to be too heavily that anyway) and more of a crazy anime styled fap fest by making the game about either a samurai and a gunslinger or one character who is both at the same time controlling his sword with one side of the nunchuk and his peacemaker with the wiimote.

It could all be one game where you could use a sword, a six-shooter or hell, maybe even a whip to try and survive ambush after ambush. I'd call it something like Kenjuro the Wanderer, A Stranger Came to Town, Momment of Truth, Life's Edge, Time to Die, Faster than Death, or my favourite; Die Like the Rest.

* samurai sword techniques were the openning move is an attack straight from the scabbard and then the final motion is to return the sword to it
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on July 22, 2008, 09:09:48 PM
the civilization games are very good, but i think that managing so many units in the late game is very cumbersome.  i feel like military actions should be abstracted.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: sei on July 22, 2008, 10:08:06 PM
I've managed more units in RTS games and it's been less cumbersome.  Unit grouping would be a part of it, but I found military procedure in Civ 4 somewhat agonizing in general.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Koah on July 24, 2008, 06:45:10 AM
Some sort of action game set in a major city twenty minutes into the future, wherein you play as a psychic and must do some heroic thing or another; overthrow a corrupt government or corporation or invading army or something like that.  Mostly it would be you in urban settings versus soldiers, tanks, small-scale powered-armor, helicopters, et cetera.  This part needs more work; the next doesn't (comparatively).

There'd be branching skill trees with several different abilities and modifications to said abilities that you could pick and choose from depending on how you wanted to play.  For instance, you could put a few points in the Telekinetics tree and start pitching around barrels to knock people out, then upgrade it and start throwing around cars, catching missiles, et cetera.  Dump a few in Clairsentience and you get a more detailed map to work with; add a few more and you can pinpoint the locations of enemies you can't see visually.  A power in Presience might give you a chance to automatically avoid some incoming attacks, while another would let you see where enemies were going before they even went there.  Telepathy would let you either distract or overwhelm the senses of people you're fighting, and later powers would let you mentally dominate entire squads and boss them around a la Kingdom Under Fire, or maybe just make them all turn their guns on themselves.

Something like that.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Saturn on July 25, 2008, 09:00:05 AM
the civilization games are very good, but i think that managing so many units in the late game is very cumbersome.  i feel like military actions should be abstracted.

Some sort of KILL THAT GUY button?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on July 29, 2008, 12:29:54 PM
the civilization games are very good, but i think that managing so many units in the late game is very cumbersome.  i feel like military actions should be abstracted.

Some sort of KILL THAT GUY button?

Just, like, here's your troop amount, here's your tech level, here's your balance between hardy rocks, damaging papers and quick-moving scissors.  Click where you want your forces to attack.

Shit, it even opens the game up for better tactical options, because you can choose to attack all-out, or set up a siege, or rampage around destroying improvements first, without having to issue each individual goddamned order to each individual goddamned unit.  Do you want your scissors to chase down injured units or stay with the group?  Do you want to risk everything on one assault, or attack incrementally, taking and fortifying city territory as you go?  Just radio buttons would do.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on July 29, 2008, 12:36:21 PM
Another post for another thought:

A lot of concepts haven't been done to my satisfaction just yet.  How about a multiplayer FPS where you start one guy (or a small team) at one corner of an open-ended urban map, and tell him to get to the other corner within X minutes?  And then make the other team hunt you down through the city and stop you.

The big popping-out problem is that the defenders would just camp the goal, but that's easy to fix.  Just weight points for defenders, based on how distant you are from the goal when you make the kill,   That way, they want to go out into the city and actually find the attackers.

Also, perhaps make it so that the defenders only know the vague neighborhood of the goal, while the attackers know its exact location.

I just like the idea of a large urban environment where people could be hiding in any given spot, anywhere in the map.  12 players would be great for a game like this; I am tired of games with maps that are tremendously large but have 64 players filling up the entire damned place.  It's too chaotic.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on July 29, 2008, 12:40:59 PM
Quote from: Kazz
Just, like, here's your troop amount, here's your tech level, here's your balance between hardy rocks, damaging papers and quick-moving scissors.  Click where you want your forces to attack.

Shit, it even opens the game up for better tactical options, because you can choose to attack all-out, or set up a siege, or rampage around destroying improvements first, without having to issue each individual goddamned order to each individual goddamned unit.  Do you want your scissors to chase down injured units or stay with the group?  Do you want to risk everything on one assault, or attack incrementally, taking and fortifying city territory as you go?  Just radio buttons would do.

It seems like what you're asking for might get pretty complicated and open for problems when you run into the amount of randomness Civ terrain can throw at you. But perhaps you could have some sort of system where you can give high level commands like that and then the same logic that is used for enemy AI tries to follow your Doctrine lets call it.

What I think is needed is for it to just suggest all these moves and then you can look them over quick and authorize the turn or go in and make alterations and then authorize it with your changes.

Quote from: Kazz
The big popping-out problem is that the defenders would just camp the goal, but that's easy to fix.  Just weight points for defenders, based on how distant you are from the goal when you make the kill,   That way, they want to go out into the city and actually find the attackers.

You can just do it like Man Tracker; only the prey know where the goal is and the hunters have no idea. Although your suggestion where the hunters have a general idea is okay too.

I think it might work pretty well if it worked just like Mantracker though; The prey start in the middle of the map and have to get to a specified point on the map that can be in any direction from the start. The hunters spawn a set time after the prey and have to find out which direction they went and find them before they get to their goal which they as the hunters have no knowledge of. Some mechanics where the prey leave signs of their passing could make it interesting.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on July 30, 2008, 02:49:20 PM
Just came up with a little RPG idea: a noir-style murder mystery set in an alternet universe where magic is real. You play a detective of your own creation, and you have quite a bit of freedom in how you go about solving the case: you can, of course, play good cop and acquire all your evidence  through entirely legal means, or you could go the Jack Bauer route and use more questionable methods, or you could even play a crooked cop and take bribes and plant evidence.

And of course there's all the fun ways magic plays into the picture. You'd be able to use low-level empathic magics to determine if your interrogation subject is telling the truth (legal) or, if that doesn't work, mind probe them (illegal). And, of course, the validity of all magically-learned information becomes questionable if your detective's magics aren't as powerful as the suspect's.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on July 30, 2008, 10:12:03 PM
civ 4 combat stuff

I had a much simpler idea.  Just make it so that the strength of a unit is relative to the time you spend building it.  That way, a single unit serves just as well as a stack of twenty of the same unit, as long as you commit enough time to it.  You can split up the unit as you like, and you can set many cities to send production to the city where the unit pops out.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on July 31, 2008, 07:13:32 AM
Yeah, to be honest, smarter unit combining like that seems perfect. It does force you to make large amounts of one type of unit to take advantage of though as you'd want even similar units to have their own stacks due to their differences. But even if I make 8 swordsmen, 8 spearmen, and 8 axemen and then say split up the spear men into two units with the strength of 4 at one point due to two chariot units attacking me from either side, that's still far more desirable, having 4 uber-units to move rather than 24 units every turn.

It might be interesting to think about how you want combat to resolve with those uber-units though. Do you want to just stick to how civ 4 would already handle it if they were just a stack or would you want a smarter system that tries to take size of units and possible flanking into account? I wouldn't mind a system where you can attack a unit or uber unit with smaller units from different directions and all at once.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on July 31, 2008, 10:18:13 AM
I wouldn't want to ruin that system by encouraging smaller unit groups in the combat calculation.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on August 03, 2008, 09:44:18 PM
I need an approximate, but less-buzzwordy synonym for "Web 2.0" (here meaning the use of Internet-style technologies in services where you trick your users into creating all your content for you), or else I won't be able to make this post without feeling like a tool.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on August 03, 2008, 09:47:07 PM
I won't be able to make this post without feeling like a tool.

Too late.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on August 03, 2008, 10:13:06 PM
Well, anyway, I was thinking of a way to make a (Tactical?) RPG with characters, dungeons/encounters, stories, and such, provided by users, and imported selectively into one's own "copy" of the game according to such fancy metrics as ratings, tags, and whether your buddy was the person who made it. A TRPG is better, I think, because then you can get more mileage out of character and map editors, without the threat of the game turning into the penis hell that would result from allowing (or worse, requiring) user-provided graphics.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on August 03, 2008, 11:12:23 PM
Well, anyway, I was thinking of a way to make a (Tactical?) RPG with characters, dungeons/encounters, stories, and such, provided by users, and imported selectively into one's own "copy" of the game according to such fancy metrics as ratings, tags, and whether your buddy was the person who made it. A TRPG is better, I think, because then you can get more mileage out of character and map editors, without the threat of the game turning into the penis hell that would result from allowing (or worse, requiring) user-provided graphics.

I like this idea.  Thinking of it mainly in terms of FF Tactics, where instead of a bunch of randomly-named rubes popping up in the recruitment halls/battlefield you get a bunch of user-generated rubes popping up in the recruitment halls/battlefield.  Give achievements to users whose characters seem to be kicking bunches of ass - it encourages creative, competitive character building, and in well-enoughed balanced tactical environment tends to backfire badly on people who rely too heavily on a powerful but popular build with known weak points.

Then again, it may just turn into WoW.  Shadow Priest kekekekeke.

EDIT: WHY AM I ALWAYS AFTER THE PAGE BREAK mumble mumble modify quote submit
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on August 03, 2008, 11:58:00 PM
And think of the possibility of adding Fire Emblem-style support conversations, even.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: MadMAxJr on August 04, 2008, 06:56:50 AM
Damn.  I've never seen it put so plainly.  Just shut up and code already (http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001160.html).

Whoops.  This might go in the programmers wanking thread instead.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on August 04, 2008, 05:36:19 PM
Damn.  I've never seen it put so plainly.  Just shut up and code already (http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001160.html).

Whoops.  This might go in the programmers wanking thread instead.

Well, it applies to just abou' everything.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on August 04, 2008, 08:28:55 PM
I think the best example is Da Vinci, who never stopped creating for two goddamn seconds, and you can bet that not everything he made was brilliant.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on August 05, 2008, 02:35:02 AM
I don't know how involved it is to script Garry's Mod for something like this, but I suspect it'd be fairly easy. When I get to learning how to deal with Source, maybe I'll do it then.

ROLLERMINE WRANGLER

There are about a hundred rollermines all in the middle of a map, or perhaps fairly distributed throughout it. At far opposite ends of the map there are goalposts, which are harmless to humans but which disable rollermines as soon as they pass through. Unarmed players with finite HP form teams to try to lure the most rollermines into their own goals. Play continues until all rollermines are disabled or all players are dead. For added fun, construct maps with obstacle courses that either make it hard to avoid rollermines or hard to get them to follow you en masse.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on August 05, 2008, 10:29:58 AM
It'd be easy to set that map up, as long as you figure out a way to get the goals to kill the mines.  Lasers might work, but they would kill the players.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: McDohl on August 05, 2008, 01:02:36 PM
So, Chu Chu Rocket where the mice explode?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: MadMAxJr on August 05, 2008, 01:07:58 PM
Except the mice are hellbent on chasing you.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on August 05, 2008, 01:58:41 PM
It'd be easy to set that map up, as long as you figure out a way to get the goals to kill the mines.  Lasers might work, but they would kill the players.

How hard is it to give them infinite health and have them count as a target for the mines?  Or you could, you know, give them finite health, if you want to add that level of challenge.  Or just change the goalposts to, like, terrified NPCs.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on August 05, 2008, 03:18:05 PM
Maybe just a big hole with an elevator (which is activated by PCs but not by rollermines).
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on August 05, 2008, 09:53:40 PM
Or maybe just a big hole.

Which sort of turns the whole thing into a Double Dare event.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on August 06, 2008, 01:12:21 PM
So... what's the difference between a Half-Life level and a Double Dare event?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: MadMAxJr on August 06, 2008, 01:19:42 PM
Only one of them has Marc Summers secretly telling himself 'Unclean. UNCLEAN!' and rushing to a bathroom stall to scrub himself with steel wool afterward.  Well not really, but he is OCD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Summers#Mental_health).
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on August 06, 2008, 01:43:25 PM
Can anyone here think of a 2d platform game where there are one or more player characters that each have unique abilities that are needed to progress through a level easily, or even at all (like the Lost Vikings) that is multi-player? Obviously I'm thinking of having something here where you play over the net and yell at eachother over ventrilo, but has there ever been a game like this before that just used a multitap or something to let three people play on one tv or something like that?

Is it just me or is that an amazing idea that has never been done because of the perceived outmodedness of 2d platformers once online play became an expected game feature?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on August 06, 2008, 01:44:55 PM
No way, G-Man is totally Summers.  He's all like, "Grab the flag, Mr. Freeman, and prossssseed to the next obssstacle," and then he adjusts his tie.  Over and over again.

Can anyone here think of a 2d platform game where there are one or more player characters that each have unique abilities that are needed to progress through a level easily, or even at all (like the Lost Vikings) that is multi-player? Obviously I'm thinking of having something here where you play over the net and yell at eachother over ventrilo, but has there ever been a game like this before that just used a multitap or something to let three people play on one tv or something like that?

Not quite what you're talking about, but FFCC:Ring of Fates will alter all the dungeons in Multiplayer to require each player to use his or her special abilities to proceed.  And every so often you can skip ahead by cleverly forming a tower and throwing each other.

Also this may or may not be the idea behind Little Big World.  Honestly at this point if anyone can explain Little Big World in less than 10 pages then they get a cookie.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on August 10, 2008, 08:06:08 PM
After I make Devil's in Heaven with XNA starting in september and making a little Blackberry rogue-like about moles, my next big game idea that isn't Mount Darwin is for a game where you have a sled or wagon that is pulled by various... well pokemon really.

You'd ride around seeking out new pokemon to pull your wagon or fight for it and speed of travel would be a big factor in the game. Like, a sled that was fast but had weak attacking capabilities would still have a big advantage over other sleds and could wittle them down while circle strafing them and going over jumps and shit. Plus, fast sleds/wagons could do cargo missions faster and do the harder missions that required long journeys in a short time. But you'd want good fighters pulling your sled to so that you can fight easier and make battles end faster so that they didn't hold up your shipments too much. You'd have to strike a balance.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on August 10, 2008, 08:44:53 PM
the sled would only go as fast as the slowest creature, though.

so i think the top speed of an animal wouldn't matter as much as how much endurance it has.  a fast animal pulling at half speed would tire slower than if it pulled at full speed with a bunch of similarly fast animals.

having a lot of creatures would raise your upkeep quite a bit and you'd probably have to keep them from fighting.  maybe by ensuring that animals who don't get along (predator/prey or similarly aggressive) are nowhere near each other in the hitching order.

i think the sled would make the most sense.  maybe one big hurdle is environment; a bunch of heavy-coated animals do great in the tundra but have a really hard time in the desert.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on August 10, 2008, 09:27:35 PM
That stuff he said

I think you could come up with some sort of system where you could have animals traveling with you, along side you what weren't pulling you. That way, you could hitch or un hitch animals according to the situation (just cruising, trying to get the sled away from something in a hurry, fighting, etc).

About your sled only going as fast as the slowest animal thing though. I could see having it where by faster animals whould reduce the amount of pulling that slower animals have to do and therefore save their endurance where the slower animals would lessen a lot of the weight that is pulled by your faster animals so they don't  waste strength. This would work under a system where.

pulling a sled of X weight requires Y strength
pulling a sled for Q time requires P endurance

Also maybe have something where the lead animals alter the way the rest of the pack gain stats.

I also like the idea of auxiliary animals that don't pull the sled but that do other things like generate supplies or act as scouts
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on August 11, 2008, 06:08:22 PM
But back to my Blackberry roguelike which I might actually start working on just because I found a pretty good open source, java roguelike engine on source forge and I'd like to try to port it over to blackberry APIs and etc and then use it to make a little roguelike.

Your character would be a mole in this game and the first four classes I would try to make are the:

Miner
Muncher
Mugger
Mystic

I was wondering if any of the game design wanks on here would have any cool ideas for abilities for the Muncher class. My basic idea for him in my head is that he is a melee fighter who has poor armour wearing and weapon using abilities and gains those stats slowly due to his low intellect. His strengths are that he is very physically strong and tough, with high natural attack power when using his trademark teeth based attacks from which he also gains life on successful attacks and which he levels up in quickly. He's the sort of class that is able to deal a lot damage physically, but who gets into trouble quickly if he is stunned or otherwise disabled since he needs to be able to constantly attack to keep his health up because of his lack of good armour choices.

Some other side abilities would be his instestional fortitude; he can eat almost anything for food and not suffer the ill effects other classes might, a good ability to have in a roguelike. I was also thinking of maybe giving him a sort of kirby-like power stealing ability at high levels too, but that may prove overly complicated. I do like the idea of his ultimate teeth attack being the ability to engulf an enemy and slowly damage them until they are digested or force him to spit them out though.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on August 11, 2008, 06:12:02 PM
Since it's about moles, all the characters need the ability to dig through walls, and that ought to be a major factor in the game. Adjust class balance by changing the speed with which they can dig, and maybe the amount of waste dirt produced. Also needed: the ability to use waste dirt to make new walls.

As for the Muncher himself? Give all enemy meats an intrinsic bonus, but each of them requires a minimum Digestion skill, below which you might get no effect at all or even be harmed by it. Munchers get high Digestion.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on August 11, 2008, 06:28:51 PM
My first thought for munchers is that they can eat just about any sort of item for a temporary buff (the more useful the item, the better the buff).  This could be his way of dealing with vendor trash, since he doesn't need as much money for weapons and armor.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on August 11, 2008, 09:27:57 PM
I like both of your ideas.

Quote from: Bongo Bill
Since it's about moles, all the characters need the ability to dig through walls, and that ought to be a major factor in the game. Adjust class balance by changing the speed with which they can dig, and maybe the amount of waste dirt produced. Also needed: the ability to use waste dirt to make new walls.

Yeah, I want to have exactly that, lots of digging mechanics that are sort of like what you see in Dwarf Fortress a little, though more combat and escape oriented and less architecture oriented. Stuff like causing cave ins to bury persuing monsters, openning up pitfalls under unforunate monsters' feet. I think all moles will be able to dig in some limited capacity, but only miners will have the combat digging moves availiable to them or they will be the only ones that usually reach a high enough level in digging to access them. Mole Muggers will be able to dig sneaky things if they have enough time though, like foot holes and pit-traps and the like, eventually being able to make dreaded spike pits.

I like both of your Muncher ideas. I'm leaning more towards something like what Bongo said though just because that way it can be more of a general game mechanic that Munchers excel at than yet an other Muncher only mechanic (like his bite attacks). I think that is more intune with the general feel of roguelikes in that, all classes can attempt anything, some just excel in certain areas and some are comepletely worthless in some areas. Also I want to have items like armour and weapons, and a muncher eating a weapon and then gaining a bonus, while playing to his goofy persona as a bottomless eating machine, is going a little to far into the absurd maybe. Him being able to eat a lava worm and not only beable to stomach it but actually benefit from it where a Miner attempting the same thing would just burn himself terribly, I think works just as well as a sort of goofy ability that a expert eater would have and yet retains some logic.

Just for further reference for the other classes

Miner - Heavy armor user and weapon master who is good at digging (since high weapon skill equates to good digging skills)
Mugger - Crafty rogue, master of speed, stealth, disguise, unlocking, and valueable item apraisal.
Mystic - Wise soothsayer, master of magic, alchemy, and all other things arcane such as magical item identification and enchanting
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on August 11, 2008, 10:09:21 PM
I guess it depends if you want it to be strictly or loosely classist. That is, can any character theoretically acquire any single skill, or are certain things off-limits, and, if so, is it because of class restrictions, or just because there's no mathematical way to build up the needed stats?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Saturn on August 12, 2008, 12:31:46 AM
EAT PRIME NUMBERS TO INCREASE YOUR STATS.

BUT WATCH OUT FOR THOSE GODDAMN TROGGLES.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on August 12, 2008, 02:38:43 PM
Maybe all this Molehill Mountain talk can be split.

But as for weapon ideas; I want weapon skill to equate to damage done or chance to hit with weapons as well as how well a mole can dig with them. The currently planned weapon types are

Picks
Shovels
Spades
Teeth (unarmed fighting) paws (unarmed digging)

I was thinking today that I could use some other ideas for weapon types. But now that I look at that list, I'm actually pretty happy with it. It's maybe a little limited, but it's simple and understandable and really, I don't want to add in other weapon types if there's no reason to have them. Other types of weapons should either serve to differentiate classes or provide different weapon mechanics. From that list I can see having shovels be better at digging quickly through dirt where as picks can break boulders faster but are slower at actually digging. You also can't move waste soil with picks. Spades are a lighter, in between weapon that only require one hand and/or strike faster. In combat, picks can cause deep wounds that bleed, shovels can stun.

Edit: Thinking back on this I may give spades the ability to blind the target on critical hits and give shovels the chance to block incoming damage as well as their chance to stun. This would be offset by the fact that picks do much more damage and spades attack much faster.

With the above list in mind, Miners are the masters of all or almost all weapons, muggers are best with spades but can make use of other weapons decently, and Munchers and Mystics are poor with most weapons but compensate with their other talents (superior unarmed fighting and superior magical item use respectively).

One idea that springs to mind are off-hand wieldable items for the two less weapon oriented classes that boost what they are good at through a passive buff or chance on hit ability. My immediate ideas are talismans for Mystics and forks for Munchers.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on August 16, 2008, 05:52:22 PM
I was sitting on the can today and I didn't feel like playing Patapon on my PSP cause I'll I'm doing in it right now is grinding to get three decent Megapons (these are not ultimate pons, their name is a pun on "Megaphone" because they attack with music shot from big horns) and also because PSPs use optical media and there for have to load and any company that figured that'd be a good idea for a portable system and would be able to compete with the current gameboy is retarded. So, I picked up my nesGBA with it's 3rd party flash memory cartrige in it and started playing some Metroid: Zero Mission. My saves were lost because the little battery in my flash cart has run out and so saves often wipe on it. So I started playing from the start again for the umpteenth time and was sort of bored despite the game's inherent good design, satisfying visuals and tight controls.

It was boring because I'd played it before. It strikes me that it would be pretty cool to make a metroidvania that was randomly generated like nethack. Certain key areas and boss rooms would be static and unchanging but the mazes that needed to be explored before getting to one of the recognizable pregenerated places like those would be different everytime, constructed out of building blocks. You could even have it set up so that certain rooms or situations were pre-canned but the way that you discovered them or entered the area was one of a few possibilites. One time you would smash a big boulder through a gate that led to the Forgotten One's chamber, the next time you would fall through a bittle ceiling and land in the room unexpectedly after walking over it and breaking it accidentally because you hadn't encountered one of those floors before in previous play-throughs.

I think a game like that where you made it so that good players could actually beat the whole game without having to get all or maybe even any of the special items but where newer players would want to take more time and explore more until they found all the help they could get would be pretty cool. That way you could have a lot of new power granting items that weren't necessary so it would be okay if they didn't appear every game, but that would always be useful.

I'd set the game in 1600 Mexico. You could be a Spanish Conquistador, a Spanish Priest, an Aztec Warrior, or an Aztec Shaman.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on August 16, 2008, 06:15:28 PM
It's very difficult to tune a random stage generator to make completable games, much less interesting one. It works better when your game is tuned to fundamentally work with just about any layout. That'd work better with some Metroidvanias than others.

Incidentally, ever given MetroidRL (http://slashie.net/page.php?24) a try?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on August 16, 2008, 07:52:33 PM
I dunno, I think it sort of comes down to, stuff like, jump X is doable via wall jump but hi-jump makes it easily accessable. etc.

The point of the idea is to see if you can do enough stuff like that, for enough power ups to make it fun while keeping some of the same fun found in nethack. That is to say, the fact that players can learn what works and what doesn't, what they can do to beat things that doesn't seem immediately apparent (bombjump :: make excalibur).
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on August 17, 2008, 09:22:23 PM
So I've been thinking up the design for a tactical RPG, here's what I got so far.  I'll try to keep this as organized as possible.

Main points:

The one thing I want to avoid is combat where the characters stand next to each other and trade blows other until one falls down.  Once characters are engaged in close combat, they will attempt to maneuver each other into a strategic position to gain an advantage (which lowers the opponent's defense).

Once engaged, a character has three choices on how to fight on his turn.


Each of these choices is also an attack, as it is assumed that the duel is ongoing while these shifts are being made.  The advance option is risky and will wear you out quickly, but gives you an opportunity for a huge advantage.  Advantages can be gained through the environment, such as higher ground, or through teamwork, such as flanking.  There will be opportunities for double or triple teaming an enemy, but I have not worked out specifics for that yet.

When a battle is over, experience will be rewarded for speed (number of rounds) and tactics (number of advantages employed).  A slow, thoughtful battle will be as rewarding as a quick, brutal one.  However, the best results come from a battle where advantages are employed quickly, making the victory even quicker as a result.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on August 17, 2008, 09:32:41 PM
Illustrations plz
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on August 18, 2008, 07:14:26 AM
So I've been thinking up the design for a tactical RPG, here's what I got so far.  I'll try to keep this as organized as possible.

Main points:
  • Turn-based tactical combat on a square grid
  • Small parties, no more than 5-6 characters
  • Small, 3D battlefields that have many interactive elements
  • Emphasis on close combat and strategic maneuvering therein

The one thing I want to avoid is combat where the characters stand next to each other and trade blows other until one falls down.  Once characters are engaged in close combat, they will attempt to maneuver each other into a strategic position to gain an advantage (which lowers the opponent's defense).

Once engaged, a character has three choices on how to fight on his turn.

  • Advance: The character forces his opponent out of his square and into an adjacent one.  If the opponent's back is to a wall, he can use this to gain an advantage.  Using this lowers the attacker's defense.
  • Hold: The character either stays in his current square, or shifts to a square on either side of his enemy.  No change to the attacker's defense.
  • Defend: The character must back up, and cannot use this unless the square behind him is available.  His defense increases, but attack power decreases.

Each of these choices is also an attack, as it is assumed that the duel is ongoing while these shifts are being made.  The advance option is risky and will wear you out quickly, but gives you an opportunity for a huge advantage.  Advantages can be gained through the environment, such as higher ground, or through teamwork, such as flanking.  There will be opportunities for double or triple teaming an enemy, but I have not worked out specifics for that yet.

When a battle is over, experience will be rewarded for speed (number of rounds) and tactics (number of advantages employed).  A slow, thoughtful battle will be as rewarding as a quick, brutal one.  However, the best results come from a battle where advantages are employed quickly, making the victory even quicker as a result.

This sounds pretty amazing, as far as gridan' games go anyway. Don't get me wrong, I love FFT and Disgayx0rz. The thing with those games though, is that it was really the character development and job systems that I loved and not so much the actual "tacticallness" of their combat.

You said you want the game to focus on close combat so that this whole melee, fighting for advantage system can be the main focus of the game. I think that makes sense, I don't think I'd want any magic or something where people can just pick a square and blast someone. Maybe spells that alter the strategic significance of certain tiles would be cool though.

What do you think though, of the idea of having the reach of people's weapons affect combat though? Like, a fighter with a spear would want to keep people at a distance and could pester anyone trying to get close to him, but once people did get close to him, they would have the advantage if they had a hatchet or whatever. You could keep this simple with just different lengthed melee weapons or play it out to an extreme by having crossbows and guns and stuff like that play into this some how where they would still use the same system of engaging, just with a wider and more affectable range of possibilities (crossbow is unusable with an enemy "all up in your grill" but is very effective if you have some distance on the target and they are not acting defensively or have some cover like terrain or a shield.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on August 18, 2008, 09:30:47 AM
I was thinking that last night.  You can't really Advance on someone with a spear unless you're willing to get poked.  Maybe a halberd wouldn't let you Advance on that character at all.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on August 18, 2008, 10:25:41 AM
Only if the spear is leveled at you, you could attack him from the side. Also you can have deflection upon advancing if you are good at advancing with whatever weapon you have or even if you just have a longer spear yourself.

I think it would just be good to have all weapons have the chance to stab you if you advance on someone wielding them who is defending but that stuff like spears are the weapons that have the high chance of doing this. It would be at least one of their advantages over other weapons if not their main one.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on August 18, 2008, 02:51:24 PM
Good thoughts, guys.  I want to keep things simple and somewhat abstract, so I was thinking to seperate swords and polearms by class.  All polearms function the same, but they can only be used by Lancer characters.

As for magic, I think it would be a support class with little or no direct damage.  Same thing for any sort of ranged class.  If you have too many ranged characters, your melee characters will be overwhelmed by the numbers, and then the support characters will be easily slaughtered once the meat shields are gone.

I would love to see a magic class that focuses on mutating the battlefield to give his allies the advantage.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Catloaf on September 05, 2008, 11:24:05 AM
Could a whore get away with it if she called herself a "Fluffer (or understudy) for amateur porn?"

Would it work if she took a digital camera with her and would offer a fee to "buy" the video and destroy it, or a discount for allowing her to put it on the internet?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on September 05, 2008, 01:41:56 PM
 :facepalm:

These aren't the stray thoughts we're looking for.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on September 14, 2008, 04:01:26 PM
I just realized something fundamental about most MMORPGs.

The more you do, and the more powerful you are, the less important you as an individual become, and more reliant on other theoretically powerful but completely dependent individuals.

Why doesn't it ever seem to work the other way?  Wouldn't it make more sense to have players form larger groups in the beginning, when they're all much more limited and specialized, and as they grow stronger and more diverse they break away into smaller units until finally becoming singular heroes?

I'm sure there are arguments against this from a design perspective, but it also seems to be a fairly untested concept.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on September 14, 2008, 04:38:21 PM
I just realized something fundamental about most MMORPGs.

The more you do, and the more powerful you are, the less important you as an individual become, and more reliant on other theoretically powerful but completely dependent individuals.

Why doesn't it ever seem to work the other way?  Wouldn't it make more sense to have players form larger groups in the beginning, when they're all much more limited and specialized, and as they grow stronger and more diverse they break away into smaller units until finally becoming singular heroes?

I'm sure there are arguments against this from a design perspective, but it also seems to be a fairly untested concept.

Well, it's pretty simple from a design perspective.  Once people hit a max level, they tend to bunch up, making it much easier to form large groups. 

Most MMORPGs are designed to be more fun in a social group, so having that be the end reward is much smarter than having the most fun at the beginning, then growing bored as you do stuff alone at the end of the game.

Once people are at the end of the game, they're experts in their role, and are more competent in being part of a team.  Having the new people form large groups would be an exercise in frustration (see TF2, would you rather team with new people or experts?  Especially if those experts are your friends).

Yeah, it makes little narrative sense, but in a design perspective, there seems like little reason to do anything else.  Maybe it would be fun, but entirely cutting out group content from the endgame would be destroying the lasting appeal of playing.

And the final, most obvious thing: if you didn't want to be in a group, why the hell are you playing a multiplayer game?  Singles PVP?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on September 15, 2008, 03:35:12 AM
I recall discussing a game about the African savannah with Bal.  At the start, the players are Meerkats or something, and must stick together in order to survive.  Gradually, as the player gains experience, they can choose to be animals higher on the food chain, until they are elephants who can shitstomp anything they come across.

Elephants still tend to travel in herds, though.  That way they can shitstomp harder.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on September 15, 2008, 08:31:05 AM
I'd rather be the Boers, or the AIDS virus.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on September 15, 2008, 08:42:22 AM
I AM CANDIRU
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Niku on September 16, 2008, 03:17:36 AM
god I hate your avatar
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on September 16, 2008, 03:51:26 PM
Okay, so, the poorly-lit, brown-gray age of video games sucked.  We all know that now.  But sweet Christ you guys need to stop overcompensating for it.  Everything in Dead Space is just... I mean it's freaking radiant, and the game's supposed to be poorly lit and suspenseful.  And you stop chuckling over there, Bioshock, I'm looking at you too.

The whole HDR/Bloom thing works okay in moderation on games that are supposed to be bright and sunny (Oblivion, Guild Wars, probably a bunch of kiddy games I never play except those never have bloom for some reason), but yeah everywhere else it needs to die.  Painfully.  Even the latest iterations of the Source engine are teetering on the edge of too-fucking-much-light (Portal actually runs screaming over this edge, but it's entirely on purpose.)
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on September 16, 2008, 09:52:42 PM
I was just thinking about how much I'd like to see a straight-up slasher game. It would be half stealth / survival-horror, half adventure game. During the stealth/survival horror sequences, you'd have to run and hide from this one murderous person (and I mean just one) -- Farmer Brown, we'll call him. Now, Farmer Brown has all sorts of wonderful toys to play with: axes, a shotgun, throwing knives, a chainsaw, a sniper rifle. You get some mace.

Every once in a while, though, you won't have to worry about him at all for a while; maybe he fell down some cliffs, or you're in his house while he's checking the corn fields, whatever. During these little sequences, you'll have to solve little puzzles and maybe even learn about what's going on and why Farmer Brown is trying to murder you.

You'll also acquire three or so companions. Three wonderful, sympathetic people who will help you survive and bring necessary insight into the puzzles and story. And just as you start to fall in love with them, naturally, (with maybe the exception of the last companion, depending on how you play your cards), they will all die, gruesomely, by Farmer Brown's hand, right in front of you.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on September 16, 2008, 10:14:49 PM
Sounds like the old original Clock Tower, where the only real menace was the Scissorman... okay, and a few people trying to kill you more subtly, but mainly Scissorman, who turned up pretty much everywhere.  Walking down an empty hallway?  Scissorman spawns out the other end.  Climbing a ladder?  Ladder falls, Scissorman pops outta nowhere while you're on the ground.  Boarding an elevator?  Scissorman won't even come out of it... you just go in, and moments later blood spurts out the door to let you know he got you.  There's even one ending that's basically "You escaped.  Scissorman followed you home and killed you.  The end."
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: on September 16, 2008, 11:00:47 PM
I recall discussing a game about the African savannah with Bal.  At the start, the players are Meerkats or something, and must stick together in order to survive.  Gradually, as the player gains experience, they can choose to be animals higher on the food chain, until they are elephants who can shitstomp anything they come across.

Elephants still tend to travel in herds, though.  That way they can shitstomp harder.
(http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/738/evoso9.jpg)
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on September 16, 2008, 11:29:49 PM
Or, you know, that other game.

(Neither one actually required you to group up, although arguably Spore is entirely about that after the creature phase.)
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on September 22, 2008, 03:14:01 PM
So I may be getting a new client soon that's going into, of all things, marketing for independent games.

If it takes off I'll let you guys know.  I'm sure a couple of you could use it.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on October 03, 2008, 12:27:34 PM
So this guy's pong watch is pretty cool.

 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdPAzvWQBCI)

It's not entirely clear from the video, but I think it's just a watch that plays pong against itself and then the score at the bottom is actually just the time cleverly disguised as the expected pong score. If that's not what it is and the score is actually just the score then the watch is lame and he should remake it to be what I just described.

It's a cool idea though, I think you could do it with a lot of games that have on screen score and/or lives and coin indicators. Even if your recreation game wasn't 100% accurate because you changed it a little to fit on a practical screen size/resolution and so that the time was displayed large enough.

It would be cool to have like, an Arkanoid watch, a generic shmup watch or something else like that.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on October 06, 2008, 01:12:53 PM
You know what I was thinking today? I was thinking that instead of making Chrono Trigger remakes and Rehash of Mana games, Squarenix should make a Chrono Trigger sequel/spinoff about Ayla's glorious Iokan caveman regime.

You would play as Ayla leading her tribe through the iceage that follows Lavos' impact into the planet. Your party would be Ayla's family, Kino and her kids basically. Playing as Ayla, you would raise the Iokan royal family in sort of a Princess Maker like manner, only you'd have lots of princes and princesses. Unlike in Princess Maker where you have to raise your child in one way, you'd be raising say 4 children to be a balanced party led by Ayla in sort of a Leneth Valkyrie sort of role.

There really aren't enough party based RPGs where you actually have an onscreen avatar who plays the maternal leader of the party. I think it would play well in the geeky RPG playin' girl market and then us guys would just play it and boast about how good a head crusher our eldest son is and then tell everyone we just had an eyelash in our eye when our youngest daughter got married.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kayma on October 06, 2008, 01:54:08 PM
It would probably be exclusively for cell phones....
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on October 06, 2008, 02:37:57 PM
Reminds me of a concept that drifted through my mind not terribly long ago. For lack of anything better I named it "Mama" and then never did anything with it.

So. The valiant, hot-blooded swordsman and his ragtag band of misfits destroyed the World-Devouring Evil some years ago, then went their separate ways. Ol' hero ended up marrying one of the party females, settling down in fantasyville to have N children (where N corresponds roughly to this game's difficulty level) and lead a quiet life in a time of relative peace.

The poor bastard caught the plague and died, leaving behind a wife (that's you) and children, his house, and a distressingly small life insurance policy (adventurers are considered high-risk). Since adventuring is just about the only thing you're qualified to do these days, you pick up your old gear, noting with some dismay that years of idle domesticity have caused you to revert to level 1, and set out to right miscellaneous wrongs! You need money for your kids' upbringing, and you need to be around to tend to their age-appropriate crises. Sure, in certain situations you can hire a babysitter to keep 'em out of trouble, or send 'em off to school in the daytime, but sometimes they just need mom to be there.

Making sure that your kids don't die or become delinquent takes time out of your day, and time is your most precious resource. The monsters are getting tougher and the cost of henchmen is increasing; if you're not leveling up at a good pace, you could struggle just to avoid being wiped out, and that's no good. As your kids age, you might be able to get them to ease your burden a bit: teenagers can hold jobs, watch younger siblings, or even accompany you on your quests. Provided that they're trustworthy; a home with one parent dead and another often absent isn't always the most morally nourishing environment to grow up in.

The game ends when A) you die, B) all your surviving children have come of age or run away, or C) you save the local peril-prone royalty from the World-Despoiling Menace and are rewarded with aristocracy. C might not be applicable.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on October 06, 2008, 02:42:29 PM
I like mine with the healthy household better. Also Cavemen... also Ayla... also better.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on October 06, 2008, 02:57:34 PM
Bongo's sounds more like actual Princess Maker, except the adult does the actual adventuring.  But otherwise it's the same.  Right down to the absolutely pitiful salary given for BEATING SATAN IN A SWORDFIGHT.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: McDohl on October 06, 2008, 03:09:31 PM
"Thanks for killing the embodiment of pure evil!  Here's five bucks!  Oh and you knocked up the spirit of another planet/constellation.  Have fun with that!"
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on October 07, 2008, 09:13:13 AM
While pondering MMOs, Classic had a vision: Instead of making monsters drop rare loot really rarely, instead have players accumulate some drop probability effecting points. Spend 2^16 (or maybe 2^32) and guarantee your rare drop.

Too... Too math-y? For a "Haz millionz of playerz" MMO that rakes in zillions for Blizzard, I mean.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on October 07, 2008, 09:23:12 AM
It shouldn't be a problem as long as you include a progress bar.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Niku on October 07, 2008, 09:32:45 AM
In theory, that's how WAR's public quests work.  Now in reality contribution is nebulous and pretty much fucked up, but in public quests and keep sieges and whatnot, basically if you are in x place on the contribution list, you get a little medal that adds y number of points to your loot roll.  If you do the public quest multiple times in a row, in addition to the contribution bonus, you also get a persistence bonus on your loot roll until you win something.  If they can actually make contribution itself work, it's a fairly non-retarded system.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on October 07, 2008, 12:32:52 PM
That's not what he's talking about.  He means making it so that doing a raid 5 times pretty much guarantees your claim to the Leather Boots of Domination, as opposed to actually encouraging those fucking DPS wankfests.

Sorting loot probability by DPS/HPS/WTFPS is pretty much the opposite of what Classic wants.  I have to agree with him, too - being in x successful raids is probably a better indicator of contribution than "I got x points because I know how to rape the system."
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on October 07, 2008, 01:24:41 PM
But then people will only do the raid 5 times!  THEN WHAT DO OUR SUBSCRIBERS DO?!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on October 07, 2008, 01:54:42 PM
I wasn't clear about this, but part of the original model, you see, included SPENDING those points. So after putting in X amount of grindy kills, you can pay up a lot to ensure you get something nice.

Come to think of it, I like Brent's version better. Disregard.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on October 07, 2008, 02:41:16 PM
I wasn't clear about this, but part of the original model, you see, included SPENDING those points. So after putting in X amount of grindy kills, you can pay up a lot to ensure you get something nice.

Oho!  So you could have monsters drop some manner of currency which you could then spend at various vendors for items of increasing quality!  Ingenious!
:pop:
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on October 07, 2008, 02:58:08 PM
I wasn't clear about this, but part of the original model, you see, included SPENDING those points. So after putting in X amount of grindy kills, you can pay up a lot to ensure you get something nice.

Oho!  So you could have monsters drop some manner of currency which you could then spend at various vendors for items of increasing quality!  Ingenious!
:pop:


Dammit Brent, I was RACING home from work so I could post this snarky reply.  Damn you.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on October 07, 2008, 03:44:21 PM
 ::D: Yes! Only the vendor is a monster you're about to gut!

It makes merchanting more violent, which is all anyone really wants from vidjagames.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Romosome on October 08, 2008, 03:55:44 AM
But then people will only do the raid 5 times!  THEN WHAT DO OUR SUBSCRIBERS DO?!

Dailies to get rep/gold for a mammoth or BGs while waiting for Wintergrasp to be up.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on October 08, 2008, 08:01:06 AM
Dammit Brent, I was RACING home from work so I could post this snarky reply.  Damn you.

I AM ALWAYS HERE.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on October 08, 2008, 11:28:38 PM
I'm not really one for online multiplayer FPS-ery, but I just now realized how much I want to play such a game in which, instead of vehicles, you get dinosaurs.

And it would be called "Savage City Riders"
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on October 16, 2008, 11:02:37 PM
Sancho Numero Uno -- Zatoichi, only with Mexican bandidos.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on October 19, 2008, 10:43:26 PM
Combine the graphics of a roguelike and the gameplay of a JRPG.

Golly, when you put it that way it sounds awful. But I think it could stand out:

Any time you're navigating the map, it uses your basic ASCII setup: @ for the main party, typography for topography, and a letter of the alphabet for other entities. Could be that they're randomly generated; certainly there's no random encounters in that noise.

All the rest of the time, it's all done in text. You don't see a picture of the monster you're fighting; instead, you can bring up some text describing its appearance. Ditto NPCs and items and scenery and anything else you can think of. Every attack gets a unique sentence for explaining why the victim has taken 277 damage. In this environment, of course, an honest-to-god Talk To Your Party option is essential.

I mean, if you're making a game out of text, you might as well go whole hog. The only reason to use a ASCII map is because it's easier to use and program than an interactive fiction parser, and there's no already-existing parser that'd be good for the non-navigation parts of the game.

And that gameplay is all turn-based, with the console RPG style of unique and exploitable character growth systems, controlling the entire party in combat, a separate screen for world navigation, overblown mostly-linear plot featuring entirely premade characters, and the occasional minigame.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: McDohl on October 20, 2008, 05:39:20 AM
Essentially, when I read the first sentence of your post, I immediately thought, "So, Persona 3?"
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on October 21, 2008, 01:51:19 PM
Strip MULE.  Rank 4th for the month, remove an article of clothing.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: François on October 21, 2008, 02:18:27 PM
Replace gambling option with "dance for money" rhythm minigame. Pole peripheral recommended.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on October 21, 2008, 02:22:23 PM
 :kowhyee: I LIKE IT! :freddie:
DON'T STOP ME NOW!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on October 21, 2008, 02:46:06 PM
Have an idea for a webcomic RPG:

It's a game of chess detailing a war between the armies of the Kingdom of the White Sand and the Empire of the Obsidian Tower. Every week, a few pages come, illustrating the latest move of the chess game. Moves are determined by popular vote.

It would be kind of a large thing, especially since there would be at least 32 unique characters.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on October 21, 2008, 03:16:50 PM
that would turn into the fool's mate immediately
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on October 21, 2008, 03:19:03 PM
Not if you establish your audience from the ranks of chess aficionados rather than webcomic readers.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on October 21, 2008, 03:20:32 PM
I think the readers should play white and the author should play black.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on October 21, 2008, 03:22:06 PM
Sign up on the forums and randomly assign readers to teams. Extend voting privileges sparingly.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on October 21, 2008, 03:27:00 PM
Well, the point of the whole webcomic thing would that, ideally, people would become fond of certain characters or one side, and get together to hatch strategies in order to ensure that their favorite(s) survive.

I think the readers should play white and the author should play black.

I suck at chess.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on October 21, 2008, 05:04:33 PM
so?  your readers aren't allowed to kick your ass?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on November 06, 2008, 11:54:13 PM
Which is worse:

a game where you need to limit the use of a particular weapon because it's the only thing that hurts a boss, and if you use it up before then you're pretty much screwed

or

a game where the boss poops the ammo that you need to kill it?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on November 07, 2008, 12:06:55 AM
Definitely the first scenario.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Guild on November 07, 2008, 02:14:12 AM
would totally participate in that comic, dni

kazz: both have merits. depends on the gameplay, really. i like megaman AND metroid.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on November 07, 2008, 04:52:42 AM
Which is worse:

a game where you need to limit the use of a particular weapon because it's the only thing that hurts a boss, and if you use it up before then you're pretty much screwed

or

a game where the boss poops the ammo that you need to kill it?

They're both worse than using only weaponry that can't be depleted.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on November 07, 2008, 10:16:22 AM
Unwinnable game states should be avoided, always.  Short of the obvious, I mean (i.e. you have 1 HP and there's a missile 1 pixel away from your face).
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on November 07, 2008, 11:57:03 AM
You can do your MISSILE DEFLECTION COUNTER and punch the missile back toward your opponent!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on November 13, 2008, 02:30:31 AM
So an ambition of mine is to crank out a console-style RPG that somebody finds as fun as I found Final Fantasy V. To that end, I have invented a job system. I intended that early-game play would primarily be focused on choosing a good combination of jobs within your party, whereas late-game play would primarily be focused on synergistically combining in each character the various attributes of several jobs. Power progression is geometric, therefore, and driven principally by the effects that various powers have on each other.

Your current job determines what your weapon and armor are. These, in turn, are the sole determinants of the effectiveness of abilities that you use or that are used against you (aside, of course, from the abilities' strength and such).

Each job provides several "skills" that you are working toward all the time. All the AP (or whatever I call it) earned brings you closer to the next skill of each of these types:
A character of a given job may use the next skill of each type for their current job, or any skill that has already been unlocked.

An enhancement skill may be attached to your current weapon or armor, but not to both (except under rare circumstances to be listed later). Its effects on the different types of equipment are usually similar, primarily focused with conferring an added effect to weapon strikes or a special resistance to the armor.

An active skill is something, other than the default ATTACK/DEFEND/ITEM/RUN, that you can do in battle.

A passive skill is something that automatically affects the character.

A field skill is like an active skill, but it can only be used outside of battle. There is a default field skill (which sucks).

Each character has the weapon and armor from their current class, with any enhancement skills available to them attached. Freelancers may select any combination of weapon and armor from any job they have mastered. Additionally, freelancers may apply the same enhancement to both weapon and armor, provided that they have mastered the class from which the enhancement is learned. Finally, characters of a given job may "double up" any enhancement skill from their current job that they have already unlocked.

Each character has three active abilities, two of which must come from their current class (freelancers are not subject to this restriction). I am not certain about this number; I'd like to make it a bit less restrictive at high levels. Maybe it'll be: one ability must be from the current job, one must be from the current job or from any already-mastered job, and one may be from any job.

Each character has two passive abilities, one of which must come from their current class (freelancers are not subject to this restriction).

Each character must have either an unlocked field skill from their current class, or the default field skill which sucks. Freelancers may have any unlocked field skill.

Innate base stats may increase with EXP, or they might go up every time AP goes into a job, or they might just remain static, with job advancement being the only kind of improvement.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Guild on November 14, 2008, 03:38:09 PM
A character of a given job may use the next skill of each type for their current job, or any skill that has already been unlocked.

Promise me that every job will have a skill that can never be learned so when I learn all of every job there is still a reason to make four different classes instead of all Ninjas so my speed is retarded-high.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on November 14, 2008, 04:01:03 PM
A character of a given job may use the next skill of each type for their current job, or any skill that has already been unlocked.

Promise me that every job will have a skill that can never be learned so when I learn all of every job there is still a reason to make four different classes instead of all Ninjas so my speed is retarded-high.

When you've mastered every job you'll want your party to be four freelancers with unique builds. You'll be able to have retarded-high speed and several other jobs' crazy-broken powers.

It's a good idea, but I think it kind of defeats the purpose of what I'm trying to go with.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Koah on November 27, 2008, 12:55:46 PM
Okay, so I'm watching the Let's Play of Red Steel (http://fromearth.net/LetsPlay/redsteel/) (is that our Lobst doing commentary?) and it goes without saying that it could be done a lot better, at least in theme (mostly because the story (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_steel) is really, really horrible).  Although saying "I can come up with something better than what professional game developers made" sounds sort of presumptuous, I'm going to do it anyway.

Okay, so.  The Yakuza and the Cosa Nostra have been at war for years along the west coast (Note: This may not actually be even remotely true in real life) and the heads of the respective branches are getting kind of sick of the fighting.  So they come to an agreement, mark off territory, prepare for peace and, to seal the deal, arrange a marriage between a Yakuza daughter and a Mafia son.

Unfortunately, one of the Yakuza lieutenants considers compromise to be reprehensible when he could just kill the heads of both families, take control of the Yakuza for himself, kill the Mafia and claim their territory... so he does, and he takes the bride-to-be as a hostage.  So it's up to her brother and fiance to follow after him while shooting the ever-loving shit out of everything in their path in the name of... honorable criminals, I guess.

The core gameplay would be roughly the same - get guns, aim with Wiimote, shoot people - though with the inclusion of actual difficulty levels and voice acting that doesn't insult you.  Both characters would have physics-defying action movie abilities, though what they would be would differ: The Yakuza would have the time-stopping skill and the ability to shoot peoples guns' out of their hands, while the Mafioso would be able to unleash his white hot Italian rage, drastically reducing damage taken while completely ignoring the need to reload his weapons after firing.

The katana duels would still be there, and while the Mafioso can just shoot the guy with the sword or whatever they have, doing so will piss off his underlings something fierce, making subsequent sections much more difficult.  I'm not sure how katana duels would work with him, though.  Maybe have him grab a pipe or a bat or something else from the environment when one comes up.  His style would probably be a bit more... visceral than the Yakuza's, too; it's the difference between "duel" and "trying to beat the shit out of this guy with a pipe."  Sort of like how Condemned 2 has it, if you've seen the fights in that.  The ones that don't involve shouting so loud you make peoples' heads explode, at least.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on November 27, 2008, 06:38:11 PM
The problem with Red Steel isn't its story, the problem is that it SUCKS SHIT and consists of trying to play an FPS with rail shooter controls or wagging your Wiimote at the screen so that your character does canned sword moves that don't correspond to anything you are doing enough to make the experience enjoyable in anyway.

If you discribe the game in 3 words, it sounds like a cool game that a person like me would love. Unfortunately its actually just a pile of bullshit.

The solution is not to make a better story, it's to make a completely different game. I've expressed my idea for this sort of a game a while back in this thread  (http://brontoforum.us/index.php?topic=225.msg17950#msg17950)(The cowboy/samurai quickdraw duel and saloon brawl game) so I won't bother going over it again.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Koah on November 27, 2008, 07:41:25 PM
I think the ideas behind Red Steel are sound; it's just that they did a poor job of implementing them simply because they had nothing to go off of.  Plus the entire thing was an excuse to put the psuedo-buddy film plot up someplace so I could forget about it, so I was pretty much ignoring the minutiae of it.  :nyoro~n:
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Niku on November 27, 2008, 09:13:39 PM
Red Steel is amazing if you only play the first level and solely to laugh at the hilariously Trespasseresque arm physics.

I got to the second level and the joke got old.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on November 27, 2008, 10:08:09 PM
Quote
Why do you hate this great game Niku-chan!? Kuso!

Watching my younger brother play it (when I should have been playing Legend of Zelda) made it seem that the FPS stuff was tolerable/fun, but the sword fighting elements too unwieldy to actually be fun. But at the end of the day, I was just watching and not playing, so what stuck out for me was the ridiculous fanficcy story. Oh, and everything that pissed off that professional translator about modern fansubbers.


Oh, happy thanksgiving the lot of you.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on December 02, 2008, 07:09:53 PM
I was thinking today that taking X-COM:UFO's entire engine and system and then just replacing the alien defence premise with that of being a fire fighting agency would be really cool if you could come up with enough play mechanics to flesh it out.

Like, make it so that you definately need some people equiped with axes, others with hoses, some with ladders and spare breathing apparatus for located civilians you are rescuing, that sort of thing. You could even have powerful but clumbsy fire-fighting rovers like the remote tanks and hover tanks of X-COM.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on December 02, 2008, 07:14:14 PM
part of the fun of X-COM was the mystery, the variety of aliens, the unexpected situations.

fire is sort of simple.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on December 02, 2008, 07:30:10 PM
Well, I think that F-COM could replace X-COM's mystery and terror with urgency and terror.

You don't know how many people are alive when you start a battle against a blaze or how long they will remain so. Stuctures would burn and come apart as a result which could catch inexperienced players, who don't know what signs to watch for or even experienced ones who are caught off guard by unseen structual damage and result in frightening situations as fire fighters become trapped.

It would definately require a sophisticated fire and structure system that is obviously not in X-COM. Something where structural soundness of tiles of buildings is determined by material and application and can be degraded overtime by fire, or quickly by axes, etc. Fire would survive and spread based on its three needs: heat, fuel, and oxygen. When provided with all three in the required amounts it grows and creates smoke based on its fuel. Fighting requires you to beat back one or several of fire's needs.

I think with some clever level design and good procedural fire and civilian behaviour, it could be pretty interesting. It would still have the whole aspect X-COM has of tactical actions, and tactical equiping of units and research.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Romosome on December 02, 2008, 07:31:47 PM
Fire can result in plenty of unexpected situations.  It may lack the "mystery" of alien beings but in a firefighting setting, flames do all sorts of varied and crazy shit.

Backdrafts, climbing flames, flammable metals that get so hot they pull water apart into fuel...

There's been one or two games about this already, actually, and they were kinda cool.  What was the one on the SNES that was kind of a top-down adventurish shoot em up complete with Boss flames?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on December 02, 2008, 07:38:11 PM
It was called The Firemen.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Romosome on December 02, 2008, 07:56:27 PM
WHAT WAS THAT ONE CARTOON ABOUT THE SUPER-POWERED COPS
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on December 02, 2008, 08:10:38 PM
BONKERS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1budzJP6VRo
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Norondor on December 02, 2008, 09:32:33 PM
So basically a turn-based burning rangers, is what i'm hearing

and i love it

Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on December 02, 2008, 11:07:26 PM
Is it possible to make firefighting as interesting as alienfighting?

UFO had small-scale tactical combat, technology reverse-engineering, new weapons research, alien autopsies, UFO crashes, alien rampages, base building, staff hiring, global funding, technology production and base invasions. I'm sure you can affix Fireman Sam to a turn-based tactical mode, but you lose a lot of those cool elements.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on December 03, 2008, 01:14:53 PM
Is it possible to make firefighting as interesting as alienfighting?

UFO had small-scale tactical combat, technology reverse-engineering, new weapons research, alien autopsies, UFO crashes, alien rampages, base building, staff hiring, global funding, technology production and base invasions. I'm sure you can affix Fireman Sam to a turn-based tactical mode, but you lose a lot of those cool elements.

No, you lose three of them. Do you people not have a creative bone in your body?


8 out of 11 ain't bad in my mind, plus there's the added content of both greater environment interaction as well as far greater friendly NPC interaction.

Quote from: Norondor
So basically a turn-based burning rangers, is what i'm hearing

and i love it

Basically, just with more of an X-COM feel with a bigger team of normal people rather than Burning Ranger's Super Sentai style team and angle wing jet packs. But like both X-COM and Burning Rangers, it will have cool futuristic fire fighting equipment and armor that you have to tech up to that will give your units greater power and/or mobility in a firefighting scenario.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on December 03, 2008, 04:52:57 PM
As a game, it's do-able. I just don't find fire as easy to villify as global alien invasion.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on December 03, 2008, 04:59:52 PM
Which is odd, considering how many of us have probably been attacked by fire, as opposed to aliens.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Norondor on December 03, 2008, 05:05:26 PM
Basically, just with more of an X-COM feel with a bigger team of normal people rather than Burning Ranger's Super Sentai style team and angle wing jet packs. But like both X-COM and Burning Rangers, it will have cool futuristic fire fighting equipment and armor that you have to tech up to that will give your units greater power and/or mobility in a firefighting scenario.

Can we still have powered armor with verniers on the back because those kick so much ass that it's not funny.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: MadMAxJr on December 03, 2008, 08:34:25 PM
What if it's about fighting EVIL fire?  It's black or something, and it is telling other fires what to do?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on December 03, 2008, 08:44:00 PM
Do... Do you really need to vilify fire? It's not... It just doesn't care about you.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on December 03, 2008, 08:44:06 PM
What if it's about fighting EVIL fire?  It's black or something, and it is telling other fires what to do?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Ca_edg6RE

...or, y'know, Firebird.  I guess.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: MadMAxJr on December 03, 2008, 08:53:23 PM
Random note from #FF ideas.

Capcom vs. Valve.  Someone get on that.

Heavy Weapons Guy vs. Megaman on 2Fort
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on December 04, 2008, 01:43:25 AM
People have made puzzle packs that spin off of Portal. Why not make a two-player variant? Player One has the orange portal, Player Two has the blue one. Cooperative rooms! Or deathmatch (they are trying to kill each other with physics)!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on December 04, 2008, 08:09:15 PM
That's a terrible idea and you're terrible for having it!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on December 04, 2008, 10:42:21 PM
Capcom vs. Valve

What would Mega Man get from Free Man? Gravity Blaster? Crowbar? Crabs?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Koah on December 05, 2008, 10:29:55 AM
As a semi-logical extension of the above: A FPS-themed Mega Man clone.  Doom Man, Hack Man, Ranger Man, Duke Man, Unreal Man, Free Man, Chief Man and... eh, we'll go the comedy route.  Katana Man.

Best part is that it would work both as a typical Mega Man game and as a hub-based FPS TC.  Can toss in John Romero's screaming severed head on a stick to take the place of Dr. Wily, too, while we're at it.

Capcom vs. Valve

What would Mega Man get from Free Man? Gravity Blaster? Crowbar? Crabs?

Resonance Cascade.  Standard screen-clearing weapon a la Rain Flush or Gravity Hold.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on January 18, 2009, 04:33:25 PM
An MMO with a clear separation between combat and not-in-combat, with a pseudo-turn-based progression of battle. You are automatically in a group with anybody nearby (the bigger the group, the smaller the distance), as well as anybody who's in their group, and people can only join combat if they're in your group and close to the battle and they attempt or accept an invitation to join and nobody in the battle kicks them out.

Group chat is default chat, time-constrained turn-based combat is slow enough to allow for tactical coordination. Encounters balanced around group combat, but see to it somehow that raw numbers are more important than having the right balance of classes. Force people to fight together, then force them to talk in order to fight. This will mitigate the problem, common to MMOs, where the likelihood of a person being worth talking to is inversely proportional to their talkativeness.

In theory, socializing in games is a big draw and something I'd like to try. In practice, Barrens Chat's infamy has exceeded the game that it emerged from.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on January 18, 2009, 11:04:32 PM
A competitive Collectible card game, only the cards are blocks, and it's a Tetris-style puzzle game.

That's all I've got so far.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: hdon on January 22, 2009, 07:27:59 AM
I'm sure you can affix Fireman Sam to a turn-based tactical mode, but you lose a lot of those cool elements.
No, you lose three of them. Do you people not have a creative bone in your body?
  • technology reverse-engineering -> no equivalency
  • alien autopsies -> no equivalency

If I may be so bold:

Reverse engineering could be had if the game had more of a business tycoon slash hotdog stand angle to it, and provided you with competitors. Remember the firefighting scene in Gangs of New York?

Also:

alien autopsies -> forensic investigation of arson
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on January 26, 2009, 11:15:00 PM
An adventure game maybe? I don't know.

Android private detective working the mean streets of the largest space station-city in the solar system.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Koah on January 31, 2009, 01:31:21 PM
A side-scrolling brawler starring Obama and McCain fighting off the forces of the Ron Paul Revolution, featuring the art style of Paul Robertson.  So basically a political Pirate Baby Cabana Battle.  Only not really, because it would have about as much to do with politics as Bubble Bobble has to do with the Venezuelan economy.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Friday on January 31, 2009, 01:34:13 PM
MARRY AND REPRODUCE

OBEY

GO TO SLEEP

THIS IS YOUR GOD
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on January 31, 2009, 01:47:55 PM
What a very stray thought.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Beat Bandit on January 31, 2009, 03:02:53 PM
Someone apparently saw "They Live" for the first time.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Lady Duke on January 31, 2009, 03:09:34 PM
Oh mannnnnnnnnn, that movie.
 :facepalm:
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Spram on February 05, 2009, 07:30:21 PM
A long time ago before Metroid Prime, I wanted to make a Metroid total conversion for half-life. Of course, I only ended up with 5 small maps and a bunch of missing textures and I cant model characters or change the programming and all that stuff.
 :facepalm:
I did like what I did enough to record it and the quality is horrible shit. But here it is:

I apparently sound like a freak, I was just trying to not be loud. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6KTDZzsQqs)

According to the commenters, I sound like a creep :(
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on February 12, 2009, 03:57:21 AM
An RPG where the reason for gaining money from dead monsters is because you taxidermy them.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: McDohl on February 12, 2009, 08:00:10 AM
So, The Janitor, The Game?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Romosome on February 12, 2009, 09:13:26 PM
I just realized there's never been a game about cosplay.  Not a game with cosplay, but like, a cosplay sim.

You'd pick a character (probably all generic/knockoffs for legal purposes and for more creative license), and then you'd have to get the materials for the costume within your budget, construct it, and then at the con you'd have to wear it and brave the crowds, trying to pose for as many photos as possible without getting fatigued or breaking the costume.  All of this would get increasingly harder as you took on more and more elaborate and intricate costumes up to crazy huge ones with props and such that'd require a small entourage of friends to help you with.  Aim to win masquerades, cultivate internet fame, and maybe even find love DRAMA.

I like the idea of having original/made-up "characters" for the costumes, too.  They'd serve as mascots for the game, and show up in fanart of their own if it got popular, and then people would cosplay as them in real life and the recursion would just make everyone reel.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Lady Duke on February 12, 2009, 09:19:05 PM
I like animal crossing because I can wear ridiculous costumes.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on February 12, 2009, 09:27:10 PM
I just realized there's never been a game about cosplay.  Not a game with cosplay, but like, a cosplay sim.

Maybe not in America.  I find it hard to believe that something like that hasn't bubbled up somewhere in the murky depths of the Japanese sim market.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: on February 12, 2009, 09:33:33 PM
I know there's a few that about Cosplay first, and fucking the hell out of the cosplaying woman second.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Romosome on February 12, 2009, 09:45:09 PM
Like I said, a game about actually cosplaying, not a game where you dress a girl up in kitty ears and either beat the crap out of people with her or put your penis in her or whatever.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on February 12, 2009, 09:49:20 PM
That's not actual cosplaying?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on February 13, 2009, 11:55:11 AM
There have been manga about it, but a game raises the question of the gameplay type. The only option I see for this is a visual novel, but visual novels rarely have a female protagonist. The presence of the protagonist is typically minimal, rather than central.

Now a game where you meet cosplaying girls, that's do-able, but it's easy to see how this devolves into a porn game.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Romosome on February 13, 2009, 12:33:35 PM
Visual novel?  Fuck that, I want full customization and crafting, struggling to remain within your budget.  At the very least dating sim/princess maker style rather than Visual Novel.  The convention segments would play like a small squad-style tactics game with you trying to proceed from point A to point B properly, while your friends are on hand to carry gear and water and fend off creeps.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: MadMAxJr on February 13, 2009, 03:02:49 PM
Winner is whoever earns the most free stuff at a con?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on February 13, 2009, 03:39:34 PM
Winner is whoever earns the most free stuffings at a con?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on February 13, 2009, 05:18:25 PM
Everything that happens at the con (including the transit to and from) is worth either a positive or negative amount of points.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on February 13, 2009, 05:37:43 PM
You defeated a Man-Faye! You gain 50 EXP! You lost 100 Dignity Points.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: The Artist Formerly Known As Yoji on March 03, 2009, 10:32:48 AM
In the middle of work yesterday, pretty much out of the blue, I thought "...man, I'd kill for a Panzer Dragoon demake."

Now I'm really wishing I hung out with more programing-savvy people.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Koah on March 07, 2009, 01:16:09 PM
Less a game, more an idea for options in a game after you beat it: American and European mode.  American mode triples the amount of blood and increases the chances for dismemberment and other assorted nastiness but all the female characters suddenly acquire layered clothing or bulky armor (as appropriate).  European mode has the female characters wearing censor bars and nothing else but all the weapons are changed to their Nerf equivalents and anything more extreme than people just falling over is excised.  All this would, of course, be for a puzzle game.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on March 07, 2009, 01:27:37 PM
Every once in a while, I think of World War kawaII -- my strategy RPG idea wherein WWII is reenacted by adorable little girls.

I realized that I am a terrible human being while I was coming up with the Loli-versions of each head-of-state. For example: Mussoli-nee. Also: Roosevelt was a man in a wheelchair who wore glasses, I do not believe I need to tell any of you what he'd be turned into.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: on March 07, 2009, 02:25:17 PM
Every once in a while, I think of World War kawaII -- my strategy RPG idea wherein WWII is reenacted by adorable little girls.

I realized that I am a terrible human being while I was coming up with the Loli-versions of each head-of-state. For example: Mussoli-nee. Also: Roosevelt was a man in a wheelchair who wore glasses, I do not believe I need to tell any of you what he'd be turned into.

Japan is way ahead of you (http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/2712/1218085640726kw5.jpg)
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Norondor on March 07, 2009, 04:43:58 PM
There's also the BL version where it's a lot simpler as all the characters are just named after the countries they represent. America is totally gay for Britain.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Norondor on March 07, 2009, 04:44:16 PM
Well, i mean, obviously he's gay for him, it's BL, but still.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on March 07, 2009, 05:34:11 PM
Also Axis Powers Hetalia, which may or may not be what Norondor is going on about but I've never seen the thing and don't know what BL is.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Norondor on March 07, 2009, 06:02:08 PM
BL means Boy's Love. I may or may not have been being facetious. NOBODY CAN SAY
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on March 07, 2009, 07:09:30 PM
THE WORD IS :gay4: SPEAK EMOTICON LIKE THE REST OF US
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on March 07, 2009, 11:41:37 PM
In any given computer RPG... multiply the amount of experience earned by a character by the average level of the other party members, enabling you to quickly get neglected characters up to speed, and preventing high-level characters from rapidly outstripping the others, in a way that is possibly maybe more easily tuned than just having an extremely rapidly-accelerating experience curve.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on March 07, 2009, 11:50:53 PM
In any given computer RPG... multiply the amount of experience earned by a character by the average level of the other party members, enabling you to quickly get neglected characters up to speed, and preventing high-level characters from rapidly outstripping the others, in a way that is possibly maybe more easily tuned than just having an extremely rapidly-accelerating experience curve.

I'm not sure exactly how it was done, but Suikoden was very good at getting low-level characters up to speed very quickly.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on March 08, 2009, 12:01:54 AM
I thought about The Mayor Game earlier, too. The Mayor Episode 1: Doctor Strangelovecraft. You'd do battle with Kongthulhu.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Norondor on March 08, 2009, 12:44:50 AM
I'm not sure exactly how it was done, but Suikoden was very good at getting low-level characters up to speed very quickly.

It also tended to get characters of exactly the right level a literally infinite amount of xp.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on March 08, 2009, 08:35:08 AM
I'm not sure exactly how it was done, but Suikoden was very good at getting low-level characters up to speed very quickly.

It also tended to get characters of exactly the right level a literally infinite amount of xp.

I'm not sure how this is a failing.
What then, is the problem with the d20 system where each level (up to 10 or 15) takes double the xp needed to make the last level? Is it that the challenges faced by a party of even one level higher than the straggler are too much for the straggler to reliably survive? Or that the process is just too slow?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on March 08, 2009, 12:04:58 PM
Less a game, more an idea for options in a game after you beat it: American and European mode.

Something much like this happened with a late Amiga beatemup called Capital Punishment, which topped Mortal Kombat with the addition of a bare-chested dominatrix ninja girl. The UK-based staff were surprised to find that the Germans wanted the blood and gore toned down but were okay with a bare-breasted woman, whereas the Americans okayed the violence but insisted that the ninja girl put some clothes on.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on March 21, 2009, 03:43:23 PM
A third-person shooter in which you play an American mercenary fighting both sides of a war between two fictional countries. Halfway through the game, CHUDs attack, wipe out both factions, and you have to lead the last few survivors in a ragtag, all-out offensive and save the world.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Cyan Prime on March 21, 2009, 04:09:00 PM
A third-person shooter in which you play an American mercenary fighting both sides of a war between two fictional countries. Halfway through the game, CHUDs attack, wipe out both factions, and you have to lead the last few survivors in a ragtag, all-out offensive and save the world.
Halo?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on March 30, 2009, 02:36:36 AM
MMOs as they exist today bear the curse of DikuMUD unto the seventh generation. It's interminable iterations on "Kill X of Y" until you get to the endgame, where legend has it that the good stuff accumulates in a paper-thin layer that can be scraped off of the walls of dark, dank, dreary, drama-infested caves.

Or, I mean, that's what it looks like to an outsider.

And not that there's anything wrong with that! Sometimes all you really want is to kill X of Y. But let's assume that those who wish to grind will find a way to do so regardless of whether it's what the game is optimized for. How do you take the good stuff, the bits of planning and strategy and cooperation and arcane combination of rare ingredients that keeps people playing long after the novelty of killing boars has worn off, and give it to them throughout and from the beginning, without the pretense that killing boars was a novelty to begin with?

So here's what I'm thinking. Take the resources that go into making a vast world full of quest hooks that nobody ever reads, and epic bosses that 90% of your subscribers will not have the patience to see, and colorful animals that can be safely ignored once you've determined the amount of HP and mana you must lose in order to kill one, and put it all into making bosses. The bulk of the gameplay must be in unique, tactically interesting encounters, balanced for a variety of team sizes. The first time you kill it, you get EXP. Once per day, you can kill it to get one of its good drops (killing it more than once in a day does not yield additional rewards). Every day after the first time, you get one of its bad drops automatically. Drops are ingredients which NPCs or players of various profession can combine to make the various items that influence advancement in other ways, like gear.

Basically, if a summary of what the player is doing resembles a quest in Progress Quest, it should never be in a real game.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Romosome on March 30, 2009, 03:14:22 AM
isn't that kinda what Monster Hunter is?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on March 30, 2009, 03:44:17 AM
When too many games in a given series are released in rapid succession, I tend to instinctively ignore the lot of them. Capcom does not get the love it deserves from me. I shall have to look into this series, though.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on March 30, 2009, 01:19:16 PM
The 4E Dungeon Master's Guide specifically advises that a quest never just consist of "kill 10 ogres". That might be what you need to do to fulfil a quest, but never the point of the quest. You're adventurers, not fetch-questers.

I'm surprised more MMOs haven't taken after D&D's approach. Perhaps gamers prefer the simple gamesiness of "score ten goals" to a more engaging cinematic narrative? Does the focus on grinding for drops, levelling, monster respawns and raiding take away from the more storytelling approach you see in maybe JRPGs?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on March 30, 2009, 01:21:47 PM
I'm surprised more MMOs haven't taken after D&D's approach. Perhaps gamers prefer the simple gamesiness of "score ten goals" to a more engaging cinematic narrative? Does the focus on grinding for drops, levelling, monster respawns and raiding take away from the more storytelling approach you see in maybe JRPGs?

Consider RP servers.

Just... consider them.  You'll find your own answer quickly enough.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on March 30, 2009, 03:43:51 PM
The 4E Dungeon Master's Guide specifically advises that a quest never just consist of "kill 10 ogres". That might be what you need to do to fulfil a quest, but never the point of the quest. You're adventurers, not fetch-questers.

I'm surprised more MMOs haven't taken after D&D's approach. Perhaps gamers prefer the simple gamesiness of "score ten goals" to a more engaging cinematic narrative? Does the focus on grinding for drops, levelling, monster respawns and raiding take away from the more storytelling approach you see in maybe JRPGs?

It's mostly technical limitations and laziness.  Possibly because no one would care about the story anyway and just want to kill things to get to the endgame where all the actual interesting quests are.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Mongrel on March 30, 2009, 04:07:31 PM
Story is dead! Long live story!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on March 30, 2009, 11:50:03 PM
The 4E Dungeon Master's Guide specifically advises that a quest never just consist of "kill 10 ogres". That might be what you need to do to fulfil a quest, but never the point of the quest. You're adventurers, not fetch-questers.

Well, the quests in MMOs often do provide a context that explains why you're hunting for twenty boar tongues. It's just that nobody pays attention to them after a while. The only information about the quest that changes what they need to actually do are the values of X and Y, which is why those are the only things that players pay attention to after they've done about fifty or sixty of the things.

You can't stop them from ignoring the story; for a designer to insist on the player seeing it, in fact, can often just be rude and intrusive. The trick is to make sure that the quests require different strategies, the way bosses often do in single-player RPGs, be they J or W.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on April 05, 2009, 02:27:59 PM
I was thinking that taking the Dwarf Fortress model of having a population of labourers under your influence and then setting up jobs that they then do when/if they can and in the order they feel like it due to fairly complex decision making algorithms and applying it to other situations would make for some damn good games. This is especially true if said ripoffs where a little more accessable to a wider audience UI-wise.

The Orion Belt

My first idea in this vein was to make a game about a group of Marsian colonists who have to colonize an asteroid belt. Colonists who aren't wearing spacesuits equiped with oxygen can't travel outside and must stay inside of habitation pods or the mines that reach into the asteroids below them. This brings a new danger to miners. Dwarfs can flood a mine with water or lava, but only Marsians can accidently breach and depressurize one, sucking its contents into the cold reaches of outer space. Transport pods are necessary to traverse between asteroids unless costly interasteroid bridges or ziplines are made. Inside your colonies you can farm food, produce oxygen and building materials or gizmos, etc. On the outer surfaces you can hunt wild bugaloo, etc.


Zombie Fortress

This one I like even better, where your underlings are human suvivors of a zombiepocalypse. You can start your Zombie Fortress in the middle of a destroyed urban area, in the country, in a mall, wherever. You must forage for food and resources and use tools to modify the surrounding area into a defensable fortress. You can destroy stairways, build barricades, board up windows, while all the while sending out scavaging parties to find food, weapons, tools and other needed materials and resources.

Appart from zombies and other terrors, migrants will flock to your secured location too. Is one of them a doctor or nurse? Set up an infirmary so you lose less survivors to zombie inflicted injuries and other sicknesses. Do you have land for a farm? Start one. Set up a firing range and barracks for your militia so you'll have the security force you need when ever an Overlord let zombie attack or crazy biker raid occurs. Also, watch out for tremor worms.

If your fortess becomes comprimised, run for it. Set up a way point for fleeing refugees and start an other fortress.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on April 06, 2009, 04:34:11 PM
I think if I made the latter case described above in a 3d engine rather than with sprites (maybe you could still do this with sprites though if you were clever about how stuff was placed) I would make it such that equipable equipment like weapons, tools, tool belts, gasmasks, etc, would all be worn over a person's clothes. Their clothes would just count as clothes regardless of what they were so like, if you found clothes and then someone wore them as their old ones wore out, they would just look like whatever that person's clothes were. This would be determined by their highest ranked profession. It would be just like how in Dwarf Fortress they use colours to denote this with green dwarves being jobs relating to animals (hunters, trainers, disectors), yellow dwarves being woodworkers, purple dwarves being administrators and money handlers, and so on. In Zombie Fortress* though, there would be room for variation based on simple and easily indentifiable themes. For instance:


*which I would probably actually call something like The Last Tribe, The Final Sancuary, or Ark of the Damned
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on April 19, 2009, 12:30:08 PM
I was thinking of a way to do MMO's differently.

Instead of a massive, sprawling world filled with oceans and continents, it should be merely one massive, sprawling city broken by a strict caste system and by a self-destructive, splintered religion.

And at the very core of this city (both physically and metaphorically) is a Babylonian-proportioned tower, and it's within the tower that most of the game's content exists. Many of the Tower's floors are instanced randomized dungeons; many aren't. You'd be able to warp to any floor up to the highest one you explored, and the people who've climbed to the highest possible floor would get some sort of special recognition.

There'd be all sorts of content outside the tower, of course. Missions would most all revolve around political intrigue, and few if any would require exploring the tower -- though the spoils from exploring the tower would make accomplishing your missions much easier.

Beneath the tower and the city you'd find most of your PvP and newb torturing content. Don't go in unless you've got a big sword and the ability to murder everything that moves.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on April 19, 2009, 01:18:13 PM
yeah, i think so too.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on April 19, 2009, 01:32:56 PM
I'd like an MMO that doesn't put a premium on advancement.  Like, make the level cap something like One Million, and then make it so that you can easily gain like ten levels a day.

Also, a "Rested" bar like in WoW, but with an XP multiplier that starts out at like x10 and then quickly drops off as you level, to discourage people from grinding for 20 hours a day.  Put other shit in the game that's interesting to do that doesn't involve pumping your numbers up (maybe some kind of gold-getting whatever or just talk to goddamn women or something) and while you're doing that interesting shit you count as "resting".  Variety for suck's fake.

By the way, let's say your first 100,000 levels are relatively quick, then at 10 levels a day you would take 90,000 days (or about 246 years) to reach level 1,000,000 but you'd still fucking feel like you were getting anywhere when you logged on for the day.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Norondor on April 19, 2009, 02:32:39 PM
if you want a game where you can level up forever, FFXI is it
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on April 19, 2009, 02:36:25 PM
Asheron's Call had a pretty good system of letting you spend your XP like cash on stat or skill increases etc.

You had something called a level but it was really just a bullshit number you had for when someone cons you.

Even on a bad day you could usually get, like, a point in strength or something.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Norondor on April 19, 2009, 02:51:46 PM
Or cooking or thrown weapons

YES MY CHARACTER WAS TERRIBLE
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on April 19, 2009, 02:53:27 PM
I don't see the advantage of having a game pretend you're advancing more per play session than you actually are.  If individual levels become meaningless, then players will focus on something else to base their progress on, even if it means every 100 or 1000 levels.  Either that, or players will be so underwhelmed by the meaningless levels that they will feel that they have nothing to work toward.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on April 19, 2009, 03:06:34 PM
If you can get just slightly better at killing boars every time you do it instead of marginally better every 100 times you do it then it it will stave off a lot of the frustration inherit in killing boars.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on April 19, 2009, 03:15:49 PM
If you can get just slightly better at killing boars every time you do it instead of marginally better every 100 times you do it then it it will stave off a lot of the frustration inherit in killing boars.

I would rather fix the problem of games expecting you to kill 100 boars than the problem of your relative power every time you do so.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on April 19, 2009, 03:18:55 PM
UPDATE TABLE games SET genre = 'fps' WHERE genre = 'rpg'

Awesome, I'm taking the rest of the weekend off, that'll be $1000.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on April 19, 2009, 06:04:26 PM
here's what i want

when you're level 100 you're killing boars with a sword

when you're level 1,000 you're killing ten boars at a time with a sword

when you're level 100,000 you are launching a thousand boars a mile into the air with waves of force created by your cock.  all the time.

playing the game should be viscerally exciting and constantly self-reinforcing.  you should get a big "DING DING DING" and point indicators and get to watch the boars slam into the mountainside in slow-mo and your screams shatter the heavens.

and you can get to level ONE MILLION.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on April 19, 2009, 06:06:03 PM
Basically you're asking for a Korean game, but not made by Koreans.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on April 19, 2009, 06:08:39 PM
and the game should lie to you and tell you that everybody else is worse, but could catch up soon!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on April 19, 2009, 06:10:17 PM
Combine it with the idea where you're not killing boars, but getting in actually interesting encounters.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on April 19, 2009, 06:20:37 PM
here's what i want

when you're level 100 you're killing boars with a sword

when you're level 1,000 you're killing ten boars at a time with a sword

when you're level 100,000 you are launching a thousand boars a mile into the air with waves of force created by your cock.  all the time.

playing the game should be viscerally exciting and constantly self-reinforcing.  you should get a big "DING DING DING" and point indicators and get to watch the boars slam into the mountainside in slow-mo and your screams shatter the heavens.

and you can get to level ONE MILLION.

I don't see why you need a million levels to accomplish this.  I understand wanting to make the player feel powerful and special, but it's difficult to do so in an MMO setting where many players will be more powerful than you (and with a million levels, it will be impossible to catch up with them).

Think about what problem you want to solve in MMORPGs, and work on that.  Your suggestions seem to be trying to cover the whole mess of pet peeves you have with the genre, without stopping to consider how they would work or if they would be feasible.  At some point you'll realize that the "ideal" MMO won't be nearly as addictive or cost effective as existing MMO models, and would lose a lot of money.

You're better off thinking of a new direction for MMOs instead of trying to fix the WoW model that was nearly perfected by Blizzard.

and the game should lie to you and tell you that everybody else is worse, but could catch up soon!

:shrug: It's just a pet peeve of mine when people try to "fix" MMOs without considering what makes MMOs successful.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on April 19, 2009, 06:25:04 PM
i want to be level 100,000 so that i can do 2,454,324 damage per hit

with a big flashy effect
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on April 19, 2009, 06:33:05 PM
So you want to play Disgaea.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on April 19, 2009, 07:13:51 PM
Like who wouldn't play Disgaea Online.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on April 19, 2009, 07:14:44 PM
I want Disgaea's huge numbers but without any of the other gameplay elements of Disgaea.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Romosome on April 19, 2009, 07:31:30 PM
Kazz wants a more dynamically scaled Diablo.

Sounds good to me, honestly.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on April 19, 2009, 07:36:17 PM
But you hit enemies so hard they fucking explode or fly through the air

AT NO POINT IN YOUR GAMEPLAY EXPERIENCE SHOULD YOU FEEL NON-AWESOME
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: MadMAxJr on April 19, 2009, 07:38:06 PM
...  TF2 + Diablo?  Heavy skill tree plz.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on April 19, 2009, 07:38:32 PM
Devil May Grind
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on April 19, 2009, 07:40:23 PM
But you hit enemies so hard they fucking explode or fly through the air

AT NO POINT IN YOUR GAMEPLAY EXPERIENCE SHOULD YOU FEEL NON-AWESOME

Play God Hand.  If you need to talk to your friends while doing it, get on Vent.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on April 22, 2009, 05:52:02 AM
NO DAMMIT

I WANT TO PUNCH MY FRIENDS TO DEATH
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on April 22, 2009, 05:52:36 AM
(in a videogame)
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on April 22, 2009, 05:52:49 AM
AND ALSO IN REAL LIFE
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Doom on April 22, 2009, 06:25:55 AM
Whatever happened to that Fist of the North Star MMO, then?!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on April 22, 2009, 06:27:50 AM
It's Already Dead.

 :scanners:
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Zaratustra on April 30, 2009, 09:36:52 AM
Pinball Tower Defense.
How would this work? I don't know.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on April 30, 2009, 10:03:38 AM
Something like Odama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odama)?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Norondor on April 30, 2009, 10:08:20 AM
 :rori: :profit:

you have no idea how long i spent playing that with friends.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Zaratustra on May 14, 2009, 09:46:05 PM
(posting here so friday can read it)

This is a dream I had.

I was playing a randomly generated point-click adventure (although it was first-person view and quite realistic). It was composed of five episodes, each of which centered around the search for some maguffin (whether always the same for all five eps or different I do not know). In each episode I cooperated/competed with a mysterious woman. At the end of the episode some dark secret of the woman was revealed, and I could make a final choice on what to do that'd determine the ending of that episode. Each episode has about five endings, three depending on that final choice, and a couple of more depending on what decisions you took during the episode.

The first episode was a fairly normal urban chase story, with me being hired by the woman for my skill in operating a Tricorder-like device. At the very end I get the chance to use it on the woman, and discover she has a cat brain, whatever that means. I do not recall how the episode concludes.

In the second episode, a gang of cowboys is also trying to get hold of the maguffin. The episode ends with us at gunpoint, and the cowboys asking me to deliver whoever was responsible for something or other. I finally get to see the woman's pendant, which is a twisted bar of metal that can be bent to make a human silhouette. Whatever that means, I keep mum, and everyone is killed. The cowboys then race away through the fields (camera accompaining them old-school cowboy serial style), taking a few potshots at the blue sky, which tears and falls apart as if made of paper.

In the third episode, I follow the woman down the stairs of some sort of combination lounge and voodoo ritual grounds. The decoration is all black and fluorescent blue and purple. Then I wake up because the whole dream is making me pretty nervous even though it wasn't a nightmare per se.

I imagined doing this as interactive fiction, but in comic form. You'd have 24 pages to each chapter, and each action you performed would occupy so many panels. Maybe the comics could be printable at the end.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Koah on June 20, 2009, 11:04:52 PM
Oh hey I remembered that this thread existed.

Okay, so.  Game with some sort of morality meter.  However, the main character is, rather indefatigably, good, so Bioware Morality and a linear meter that determines whether you're good or evil doesn't really come into play; rather, it's more of a grid that determines what kind of "good guy" you are.  Factors influencing this include but are not limited to: Collateral damage as a function of time, the amount of people you directly save through some mechanic or another (medical attention, maybe?), the means by which you stop the nameless opposition (finesse versus brute force versus talking someone down versus "you just shot a guy in light armor with a rocket launcher"), how much emphasis you put on getting paid and generally how much of a dick you are.  Various abilities and/or gameplay features will then be locked or unlocked depending on what category you fall under, and people will react accordingly (e.g. being known for causing lots of collateral damage with heavy weapons results in smaller paychecks to cover damage to the environs, but enemies will be less likely to mess with you because they like staying in one piece, being a high-finesse person who saves a lot of people results in partisan assistance from nearby buildings, being greedy and violent results in you being able to purchase black market weapons).  Mass Effect might have done something like this but I didn't play it and didn't read much about it so to hell with it.

"But what if you intentionally shoot good guys?"

The only reason you would intentionally shoot civilians and/or your own soldiers (if you do have "your own soldiers" to worry about) is, out of game, because you can and because you want to see what would happen.  In-game there's no reason to, so in essence, the main character does it because he's suffering from a fit of insanity.  Continue to shoot people and the game will start treating the character as if he really is going insane, with the audio and visuals changing to fit.  So the angle of the screen might be slightly off somehow and the colors seem a little washed out and even though you're suddenly surrounded by enemy soldiers all shouting and firing at you none of the shots seem to hit and there's this screaming like a bunch of people are scared but it sounds so far away...

Something like that, anyway.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on June 21, 2009, 02:54:16 PM
Paragon/Renegade?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on June 21, 2009, 06:10:25 PM
Outfoxed by Bioware itself.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Koah on June 21, 2009, 08:14:05 PM
Yeah, like I said, I didn't know if Bioware did it already.  Google says it's two different scales though, only instead of Good and Evil it's Good & Nice and Good & On the Edge and Not Playing By The Rules which is still sort of the same thing and not really determined by how you play, just what you say.  I think.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: The Artist Formerly Known As Yoji on June 30, 2009, 09:55:32 AM
So any old schmuck can make himself a scrolling shooter. But has anyone tried a rail shooter? I guess there was Torus Trooper, but I kinda wonder what else could be done with the genre.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on July 05, 2009, 08:02:03 PM
A horror/mystery adventure-type game in which your characters takes it upon him/herself to stop a series of paranormally-perpetrated homicides. The number of people you're able to save determines the ending you get.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: yyler on July 06, 2009, 10:33:11 AM
A horror/mystery adventure-type game in which your characters takes it upon him/herself to stop a series of paranormally-perpetrated homicides. The number of people you're able to save determines the ending you get.
(http://aidanmoher.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/persona-4.jpg)

sup
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on July 06, 2009, 12:31:51 PM
Yeah, clearly that couldn't have fucking crossed my mind. I only fucking logged 175 hours into it and unlocked over 90% of the fucking persona compendium.

And, also obviously, what I described is exactly like what happens in Persona 4. Like that part in which if you don't save Yukiko from the serial killer the game keeps going and it affects the ending you get.

Thank you for your helpful and insightful remark. From now on whenever something pops into my head, I'll run it past you first in order to make sure that the Simpsons didn't do it first.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: yyler on July 06, 2009, 01:23:41 PM
Pretty similar. There are multiple endings if you do things wrong.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on August 12, 2009, 08:57:38 AM
Ronin Puzzle Game

You are a little chibi Ronin with a katana and a strawhat (Maybe one of those straw raincoats too).

Levels are grid-based, like a roguelike or gridan games like Final Fantasy Tactics, etc.

There can be buildings, stones, trees, and other such things in levels to create obstructions and bottlenecks.

Time progresses like it does in roguelikes that is to say, anytime you move or take an action, everyone else gets to move or take an action. However, to make this more tetris like, you may have the added duress of a time limit on your turns.

On your turn you can move left, right, up or down, you can turn your body to point left right, up or down, or you can attack with your katana.

The style of your attack depends on the last direction you moved in relation to where you are pointing so strafing left or right makes you ready to attack with a horizontal slash, moving forwards makes you go into an upright stance and you attack with a downward slash, moving backwards makes you bring your sword in front of you and allows you to do a stabbing attack.

Different enemies are vulnerable to different types of attacks. A sneaky ninja, hiding his ninjato behind him needs to be dispatched with an overhead strike, a charging warrior monk needs to be stabbed, gate guards need to be slashed horizontally, etc.

The basic idea is to set up screens and enemy aproach AI such that a sort of recognizable puzzle is created that requires you to attack, kite and arrange your enemies in such a way that they can be taken out with the correct strikes.

May have some element of health so you can fuck up a few times and still beat a level.

May have combo concept where if you line up a bunch of guys that all take sideway slashes and attack the first guy in the column, you'll slash through all of them rapidly and find yourself in the last square in one turn.

This could also work with lining up opposite guys in an alternating pattern of vertical, stab, vertical, stab...

May be able to buy time and spacing by defending against enemies but not killing them by doing the same direction attack they do like horizontal slashing at a ninja doesn't kill him like an overhead would, but it blocks his attack.

Could have other aspects like archers denying squares with arrows that move one, two or three squares a turn or something like that. A guy could have a chain weapon that he swings around denying squares.

One thing I wanna have for sure is the idea that when you finish a level, the whole thing then replays in realtime and you run around super fast cutting everyone down like a good little movie/anime samurai before the level complete text comes up and you see your score and time.




I'd call the game Mushin or something like that.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on August 12, 2009, 09:41:45 AM
Pretty sure you did this one already.

Not that it's a bad idea.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on August 12, 2009, 10:01:40 AM
Oh, I wasn't sure if I had or not and I thought that I'd come up with more and better ideas for it this time. But maybe I'm just remembering what I said before. I don't tend to keep good (or any really) notes on ideas like this unless I am actually working on the game actively.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Norondor on August 12, 2009, 01:40:29 PM
sounds pretty much like Deadly Rooms of Death but better, so i am already behind the idea.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on August 12, 2009, 07:24:38 PM
Heh, I actually totally forgot about DROD. Mostly because I've never actually played it. But a childhood friend of mine had it when we were in elementary or highschool and I remember him and his brother being quite fond of it. I always appealed to me but I just never got around to playing it.

But regardless of not really knowing what DROD is actually like, I'm gonna just go ahead and agree that my game sounds better. Though, looking at DROD does suggest the possibly good addtional idea of having level interaction as well as just enemy interaction. That might just be unnecessary overcomplication though. It's hard to say without a prototype. Right now I'm working on Pike & Shot though. Maybe I'll do this next if I don't feel up to making my Mole themed Rogue-like instead.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on August 16, 2009, 10:33:33 AM
So RPS linked to an article (http://resolution-magazine.co.uk/content/indie-isolation/) that is basically about sadlets. Well, specifically, "loneliness or isolation, manifest in ... short, shoegazing platformers backed by a minimalist piano tinkle." So this got me thinking.

About a beat-'em-up (or at least a fightin'-centric platformer) where you're leading a riot. One of your buttons is to stir up the crowd, and then they'll follow you and break things and improvise weapons and get in fights with riot police. If they go too long without fighting, of course, they'll go off on their own and get out of your control. I'm trying to think of some mechanics that will make you want them to fight where you want them to, rather than just going to the nearest breakable symbol of civility and order, which is tricky if it's just a standard "walk to the right and punch things" setup.

Maybe they'll start turning on each other. Or they'll focus more on the background scenery (windows, cars, etc.) and less on the enemies. Possibly, they'll go crazy like that if you stir them up too much, as well. Maybe rivals will start springing up from amongst the crowd, and lead them back in the opposite direction.

Enemies, of course, totally outclass you, so you need vastly superior numbers to reach the end. If one of your followers gets isolated from the pack in the vicinity of several enemies, there will follow a brutal beatdown that draws your other followers closer to it. You can climb onto cars and fire escapes and things and the crowd will pay much more attention to you.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on August 16, 2009, 02:08:08 PM
There was a neat little Flash game based Don't Taze Me Bro or some similar incident where you had to escape from the po-lice, but instead of fighting them directly all you could do is manipulate the audience into slowing them down for you.  I'm reminded a little of that.

More likely you're looking at Dynasty Warriors mechanics though; you've got a bunch of people all over the place sort of milling about who'll vaguely follow you, and it's your job to direct them towards whatever they need to be hitting.  Or you can just lose patience, charge into the thick of enemy mobs, and single-handedly take out every ranked officer in China if you prefer.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on August 18, 2009, 08:40:27 AM
I was reading some stuff on Street Fighter III just now, and it got me ta' thinking about character objectives. Like, how a character who uses zoning to control the battle space is at his best when the opponent is jumping towards him.

I'm not sure if this has been done before, but is there a fighting game character whose goal is to waste time and win battles by default? He'd have to be fast, do piddling damage, take a punch like glass, and most of his special moves wouldn't actually do much or any damage, merely incapacitate the opponent for a short time. Or be used to avoid taking a hit.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: François on August 18, 2009, 09:01:39 AM
I don't know if it's been done, but if it hasn't then there's a good reason: it would be extremely boring.

I mean, it's interesting to imagine such a character in terms of effects on balance and game mechanics and such, but in practice it would probably suck a million balls.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on August 18, 2009, 10:04:12 AM
Yeah, that wasn't lost on me. I figure even if you make the character incredibly charming and fun and as aesthetically interesting as possible, you'd probably still only have a few matches before the play style got annoying.

Also, the character would be rendered almost entirely useless by setting the battle timer to "infinite".
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on August 18, 2009, 10:56:38 AM
I dunno, I mean, that is essentially Dhalsim. All your suggesting is a more extreme Dhalsim who even pros would have trouble directly winning matches with but would have a very easy time stalling with.

If you watch really highly ranked Dhalsim players like Iyo, most of his game is just trying to keep an opponent from being able to attack him properly.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: SCD on August 29, 2009, 06:44:50 PM
Project Space Kittens:  A 3-game series that has nothing to do with kitttens

The first game is the one I want to focus on and make the money with, essentially, a Freespace 2 clone meets battlefield.  Single and Multiplayer modes

User can take the perspective of either one type of strike craft, heavy strike craft or bomber.  HUD and controls would be similar in experience to freespace 2 with some minor changes, most notably that constant thrust does not equal constant velocity.  back thrusters, removable missile pods which result in increased acceleration when spent.  Different classes would one or two roles in taking out other strike craft, frigates, or capital ships. 

User can also take perspective of Frigates, although user interface would resemble third person with freely rotating camera.  Depending on the frigate's role, user as the ability of setting multiple targets and numbered priorities through a mouse interface.  Based on Frigate's role and weapons systems, targeting would be easier for certain craft above others, although manual fire can be available. 

Frigate movement would generally be of a control style similar to homeworld 2, although certain keys are reserved for maneuvering thrusters (such as the fighter movement keys)

In addition, there would be two or three types of support frigates, one type of AWACS frigate which would increase greatly range and quality of fire control for a certain number of units in the area, all units would have similar interfaces, but less ability to defend themselves, and would rely on units they are supporting to do so.  Support frigates would specialize also in ammunition, repairs, and parts replacement for parts destroyed or burned out. 

Main focus would be multiplayer, with multiple scenarios including station assault/defense, equal cap-ship attack where each team has a certain level of resources, and any (Reinforcing jump in ) respawn after the initial engagement would lessen resources available to team in a tokyo wars fashion.  Frigates would take many more resources than strike craft and would be more resistant to damage, but strike craft can change the balance of battle through well-placed hits. 

For this game, teamwork and the proper balance would be key.  Obviously a lot of production time would have to be spent to ensure a proper balance of ships so that no one class would be the all-powerful and that support craft become an advantage or even required in order to last.

Second game would be a squad-leading FPS in an enviroment of capital ships frigates and bombers.  objective would be to hop from ship to ship and disable or capture.  Any babylon-5 Thirdspace fans out here?

Third game would be an inexpensive minigame that allows you to control a fleet as a fleet commander.  Would involve direct control of one or two capital ships as well as the ability to order priorities to frigates and strike craft, to which they can follow if they choose.  Single player element in this game would have to show admiral how to deal with less-than-cooperative task forces. 

----

I have been putting most thought so far into first game concept.  The second and third one are not even on the drawing board, but the only major feature I want if all three can be created is multiplayer interoperability through centralized servers.   If possible I want this through stealth so that no one figures out that these three games were meant to go together until they hit the market - not an advertised feature or selling point, but an easter egg. 

I_M, Buge, Fredward, I have already started to talk about this to you and have expanded a little bit since. 

Thoughts?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Mongrel on August 30, 2009, 08:50:47 AM
You can count on me for any committees you need set up to endlessly deliberate things!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on September 02, 2009, 01:38:02 PM
I saw that a Steam friend of mine was playing Gary's mod and I asked her what she was up too. She said that she was playing a TF2 tower defense game where the classes were the towers.

I've never really liked Tower Defenses that much to be honest with you. They tend to bore me with the need for a long lead up to action they have to have in order for them to not become too hard too fast. I find it takes too long to get any noticable feedback about whether what you are building is working or not and then you rarely have the resources to alter what you are doing to improve the situation that much. It doesn't feel like a game to me, it feels like running a simulation and seeing if how you set it up was correct or not only you have no fast forward key.

But that said, I realize that it is a very successful genre and I believe it is for the same sort of reason that a game like DotA is; it takes something that is normally only tackled by the RTS genre, big battles, and simplifies what you have to do in them until it's less stressful and therefore more fun. DotA does this by simply making you a very powerful unit who fights along side an AI controlled army, a demigod if you will or a living legend from a league of other such legends. Tower defense accomplishes the same sort of simplification by changing the scenario from a battle to simply base design and defense with no units that need controlling, just placement.

But anyway, I think I thought up a decent idea to make the genre more palatable to me; JERRY RIGGING!

Remember on any Star Trek show when they got into some big battle or some overly polarized gravametric field was disrupting the warp core and preventing the ship from creating a stable warp shell? When shit hit the fan, what did they do? Well, Geordi or Miles O'Brien would re-route power from something. Deep Space Nine was great for this sort of thing because the base station was all Cardasian and so anytime they had to repair or upgrade some old system it was almost always somewhat Jerry-rigged to work with the Starfleet components and tools they had to work with. Alright, so maybe this always resulted in someone openning a panel somewhere and pushing some simple instrument up against something while it made a funny noise and perhaps waggling it around a little, and maybe people never got dirty or had to lug big components anywhere, but the idea was cool.

tldr;

The Connected Systems Tower Defense Game

I'd like to make a tower defense where all the towers can be connected somehow and where the player can re-route power around to trouble spots as they arise. The idea is that every tower you make does two things, it shoots or attacks in someway at mobs that come down the pipe, and creates power for a certain kind of system or network.

For instance, a lava funace fires molten lava balls at the enemy but it also creates heat that can be shared with any other heat system based tower that it is connected to. Similarly a Tidal Fountain fires out waves all around it and creates pressure for the hydraulic system, thundering capacitors shock anything near them and generate electricity for the electric grid, hurricane fans make air pressure for the pnematic system, etc.

Some buildings might just make power for one or more of the systems and not have an attack, and some might just drain power to perform very powerful attacks but give nothing back to their systems. Also, there could be special buildings that allow you to transfer power from one system to another. A water wheel could convert hydralic pressure into electric power or a steam generator could convert equal amounts of hydraulic and heat energy into electric power, a heating element turns electric power into heat that sort of thing.

You could also maybe turn natural things on the map into energy of different types depending on what sort of collectors you have or even have recycler buildings that can catch the extra damage run off of AoE towers and put some of it back into your systems in the form of energy.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on September 03, 2009, 03:05:07 PM
While nothing I can think of matches your idea, Geo, you should check out The Space Game (http://www.kongregate.com/games/CasualCollective/the-space-game), which is a tower defense-type game in which you maintain a power grid to activate your defenses and your resource gathering.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on September 03, 2009, 08:12:42 PM
Tim said that tower defense he was making for WC3 had a similiar sort of idea, but just one system and a battery as your main building that powered everything.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on September 04, 2009, 12:47:30 AM
i liked in tie fighter when you could redirect your energy between the lasers and the engines and the shields and stuff
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on September 04, 2009, 12:32:36 PM
Silly Kazz, standard TIEs don't have shields!

I think it was TIE V. X-Wing?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: François on September 04, 2009, 12:39:35 PM
TIE Defenders have shields; there were plenty in that game.

OH MY GOD I HAVE JUST REALIZED I AM A GIANT NEoh who am i kidding i've known for a long time
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on September 07, 2009, 03:18:25 PM
A movie based on Nethack.

A young wizard follows his friend, a tourist, into a dungeon. He later encounters and must defeat his friend's ghost. The film is characterized by frantic action scenes broken up by dull adventures while he talks to his dog.

There's a twenty minute scene of the protagonist training a horse to shoplift, and another where he pushes boulders for no reason.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on September 07, 2009, 03:20:47 PM
So the atmark is played by Will Smith I take it.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on September 07, 2009, 03:25:08 PM
The movie ends tragically when he falls on a sink.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on September 16, 2009, 10:14:32 AM
A series of some sort about a brilliant surgeon/diagnostician who deals with maladies of paranormal nature. Sort of like House, only the walls bleed.

I thought of a good disgusting first case, too. A widow has a Mandrake plant growing inside of her; she got it when she and her husband were performing some erotic asphyxiation play that went too far, and ended up with her swallowing her dead husband's sperm.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Transportation on September 17, 2009, 08:29:48 AM
So, like a videogame version of Darkplace except serious?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Royal☭ on September 17, 2009, 05:47:27 PM
Have to jot this down before I forget it and to prove I had the idea first:

Lumberjack MMO.

Lads and Lasses generate lumberjacks and dive into the heart of the American north-west to become the top axe-cutter around.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: yyler on September 17, 2009, 05:51:08 PM
I would play that if it had Paul Bunyon and his big blue ox.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on September 17, 2009, 05:55:53 PM
I'm not going to say it I'm not going to say it I'm not going to say it I'm not going to say it I'm not going to say it I'm not going to say it I'm not going to say it I'm not going to say it

Can you put on women's clothing and hang around in bars?

...

FUCK
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: jsnlxndrlv on September 17, 2009, 06:52:23 PM
I would play that if it had Paul Bunyon and his big blue ox.

I would play that if it were actually a parable about labor relations and Paul Bunyan and other romantic archetypes of American grit were constantly mentioned in the game and "rumored" to be secret NPCs in high-level areas but actually didn't exist anywhere in the game.

Well, okay, I might not play that, but I'd love to script quests and encounters for it.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Smiler on September 17, 2009, 09:15:58 PM
John Henry would be the final boss though.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Lottel on September 17, 2009, 10:43:56 PM
If you make it for a Facebook app, you'd be famous as all get out for a few months.

Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Frocto on September 18, 2009, 12:07:55 AM
I would play that if *terrible suggestion*.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on September 20, 2009, 05:30:55 AM
A Diablo-like game where you just automatically equip shit that is better than what you already have and automatically sell whatever you've replaced.  Like, you're fighting, you run over a nice new battleaxe, and the game checks its relative DPS with what you've got, and if it's better the battleaxe appears in your hands and the old weapon disappears and you get a little gold.

Special effects like poison or slows or DoT would be seperate from the weapon, like a gem system or some shit.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Doom on September 20, 2009, 06:02:00 AM
WoW itemization is currently so rigid as to be entirely like that.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on September 20, 2009, 06:03:11 AM
yeah but you have to open an inventory screen

what a bunch of hooey
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Doom on September 20, 2009, 06:26:18 AM
I miss the actual literal inventory grid system of Diablo 2, to be honest.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on September 20, 2009, 07:11:56 AM
Lumberjack MMO.

We did this. Remember the time #finalfight all loaded into Runescape, made identical green-haired characters and chopped down entire forests at once?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on September 21, 2009, 06:57:43 PM
More of a Wishful Thought: I really want to play a 2D Japanese-style RPG with glorious, high-res graphics that I can download right onto my XBox. I mean it, I want to see a game with Braid / Aquaria / Street Fighter II HD Remix caliber graphics. I want it to be as epic as Final Fantasy VI or Phantasy Star IV.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on September 25, 2009, 09:01:42 AM
I've got this bizarre feeling like I should make an effort to recreate the SSI DarkSun games for NWN or NWN2. What's wrong with me?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Frocto on September 26, 2009, 11:35:41 AM
do it and you shall be as gods
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Frocto on September 27, 2009, 12:12:24 AM
[16:04] Frocto: I just had a bad idea for a game
[16:05] Frocto: it's super mario, but when you hit the blocks, you get things from sadlets
[16:05] Frocto: like sad music or your wife dies
[16:05] Frocto: or bad poetry
[16:09] Garlic Bug: I like the thought of hitting a block and 'YOUR WIFE DIED' flashing on the screen
[16:09] Garlic Bug: and the next block over says 'AND YOU KILLED HER'
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on September 27, 2009, 12:36:40 AM
Are there happylets? Games that provide you with cheerful thoughts?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Misha on September 27, 2009, 12:40:56 AM
http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on October 01, 2009, 02:21:04 PM
I had... a terrible, terrible idea. I just found this:

http://vimeo.com/6569275

You can't really read the fine print at that size, but basically it tells you that every time you destroy an enemy a file on your computer is deleted. Immediately after, I thought about this article (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/6519-Building-a-Better-Kind-of-DRM) about screwing over pirates with bugs that only appear in cracked copies of the game.

I am a terrible person.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: yyler on October 01, 2009, 02:24:50 PM
Bugs that only appear in cracked games are a bad idea (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=42663). Titan Quest failed commercially because of it and the devs folded.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on October 01, 2009, 02:44:28 PM
Arkham Asylum got away with it.

Actually destroying anybody's data on purpose is liable to get you sued, though, even if the intended victim is technically committing a crime.  It's the same concept that says you can't go and shoot a person just because they happen to be in your house (unfortunately).  Plus given the industry's track record with avoiding false positives, ahahahaha, no.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: yyler on October 01, 2009, 02:46:56 PM
Arkham Asylum did okay because people reported it as a bug and got told they were filthy thieves. And because half the copies pirated didn't have that DRM after a day. Because it was obvious.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Royal☭ on October 01, 2009, 02:52:24 PM
Titans Quest was a great game.  That guy is still a stooge though.  Every problem Titan Quest had is entirely other people's fault, apparently.  He rants about how having the crippling anti-software in there was bad, but still ultimately blames piracy.

He then acts like a smug asshole because some guy completely reformatted his computer and the game still didn't work until he flashed his BIOS.  Titan Quest is a fun game, but every time I play with my friends it's about 30 minutes of just trying to make sure none of us get kicked out of the game before we start questing.

Then he cites a 5 to 1 sales statistic of Console vs PC and doesn't even consider cross over sales (people who have both a console and a PC might just buy for console instead of PC).  He also cites some crazy 80-90% pirating statistic, which is something I can't even fathom how you could get an accurate number on.

A lot of game devs like to whine about piracy as the reason they can't make it, but really, none of them want to have an honest discussion about not treating their audience as thieves and putting out a strong, finished product.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on October 01, 2009, 02:57:33 PM
It's the same concept that says you can't go and shoot a person just because they happen to be in your house (unfortunately).
Well, it depends on your jurisdiction, but software piracy and trespassing are even less analogous than software piracy and theft.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on October 01, 2009, 03:03:23 PM
I heard Titan's Quest failed because it sucked.

I heard that casters were super overpowered, the game was really repetitive, even more so than Diablo, and everyone's PC looked the same all the time.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: yyler on October 01, 2009, 03:05:11 PM
I never played it. Constantine makes good points. I think, though, that as whiny as that guy is he's right in some respects.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on October 01, 2009, 03:06:54 PM
Yeah I just reread the article and nearly fell out of my chair when he got the part about the guy having to update his freaking BIOS to get the game to run.  I would really like to know how the hell the game was coded that that could ever be an issue.  Was it written in assembler or something?  Because it doesn't run all that great besides.

I wouldn't go as far as to say no developers are interested in making DRM a less toxic aspect of PC gaming.  In fact in most cases the developers would prefer to not put their code at risk by adding that sort of crap, and it's the pencil-neck publishers reading the bottom line who force them to do it (which makes sense, considering how each of them are paid).  Generally the solution these days for smaller developers these days is either "Whatever make it Steam-exclusive" or "Fuck this we're moving to consoles", which are both fair enough.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on October 01, 2009, 03:47:30 PM
It's as I once predicted - the company that could make DRM tolerable to end-users would bring in megabucks. It just turns out that company was Valve, and they only managed to do it by inventing a DRM scheme that adds features overall.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Norondor on October 01, 2009, 06:34:40 PM
I heard Titan's Quest failed because it sucked.

I heard that casters were super overpowered, the game was really repetitive, even more so than Diablo, and everyone's PC looked the same all the time.

I heard something similar about how the expansion totally unbalanced the game and made it pointless to have any character at all who wasn't dream/---, no matter what kind of character you wanted to make in the game.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on October 01, 2009, 06:54:41 PM
also i heard that the maps weren't randomly generated and therefore running through the game more than once (to get friends up to level) was the most monotonous bullshit in the world
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on October 01, 2009, 07:22:57 PM
It's as I once predicted - the company that could make DRM tolerable to end-users would bring in megabucks. It just turns out that company was Valve, and they only managed to do it by inventing a DRM scheme that adds features overall.

The DRM was pretty secondary to what they actually accomplished, though.  It's really just a nice bonus.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on October 03, 2009, 11:00:25 AM
A NetHack/Dwarf Fortress style game where you build and decorate temples and monuments to your deity. Your power depends on the layout and decoration of your temples. You adventure for treasures, gems and rare things to decorate your temple and increase your god's power.

If MMO character generators are a socially acceptable equivalent to dressing up dolls, this game would be a doll house.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on October 03, 2009, 01:09:57 PM
(http://hundredcoins.org/brentai/images/juste.jpg) Oh that's a fabulous idea!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on October 20, 2009, 09:14:57 AM
I get RPS's feed since it basically came with Google Reader, so I'm privvy to their bitching about the general pacing of co-op RPGs while rendering the verdict on Borderlands (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/10/20/the-rps-verdict-borderlands/).  I think it's an interesting, legitimate problem, especially because I'm generally the jerk who takes too much time juggling shit and eventually gets left behind to try and solo 8x Hell Difficulty mobs.  So I'm thinking of a compromise that lets faster players actually accomplish something while allowing the slow damn idiots Jesus Christ don't you know how to play this game you noob to not feel so pressured to slam their build together haphazardly and run out the door half-naked.

Basically it comes back to the town-hub/instanced-dungeon idea I've been wanting to see implemented correctly (think Guild Wars, only... uh well actually Guild Wars probably did it exactly right, nevermind).  The obvious problem with that is that the faster players end up standing impatiently by the instance gates while their cohorts run around like idiots buying Orange Dye.  One solution would be to allow players to enter the instance whenever they like, and drop a portal to their position whenever a new player arrives while scaling enemy strength/experience to however many players are active (like Diablo does, only it doesn't count people stuck in town when calculating difficulty).  The only problem with this is that noobs tend to get a little butthurt when people start a run without them.

Another idea is to have sort of a "waiting room" area between the town and field proper, which has appropriately leveled monsters wandering around for players to beat up while waiting for the rest of their team to arrive.  A good example of this is implemented in, of all weird things, .hack's virtual-virtual world.  From the little demo I played there seems to always be a "surface" where you can run around bashing little respawning enemies until you're ready to get down to the business of running to that big treasure chest or whatever.

I suppose what I'm talking about is really no different than hanging around instance entrances in WoW and picking off wandering trash mobs, but I'd like to see it done in a way that's less funky/irritating.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Norondor on October 20, 2009, 12:35:47 PM
Maybe like the training stage you go to when waiting on people in Brawl? The game throws more/bigger stuff at you to test your limits. You don't get XP or money for winning or any penalty for losing, and the game tracks your best performance in practice land.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Doom on October 20, 2009, 12:43:21 PM
It's a fantastic idea, though does not actually exist in WoW. Wandering trash mobs are not worth the time it takes to find and kill them and many instance entrances are separated from possible trash mob spawn areas.

What you might consider instead is a way to intelligently use this time. As an engineer, I can produce Bank or Mail access from anywhere in the world, so if I have to wait on derp-a-doos, I can craft bandages, disenchant random garbage and mail it to my bank alts. So maybe if your profession system has a plausible time-waster, like you can play peggle to polish a jewel into an improved state...

Or hell, to polish your weapons and armor for a +bonus to whatever you do. But that gives you the danger of everybody standing outside the instance entrance and being forced to complete a round of polish your plated boots...

Yeah, a room of monsters with actual rewards is the ticket.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on October 21, 2009, 11:59:29 AM
Maybe like the training stage you go to when waiting on people in Brawl? The game throws more/bigger stuff at you to test your limits. You don't get XP or money for winning or any penalty for losing, and the game tracks your best performance in practice land.

That's basically what I was going for, but the idea that you are making real (if probably minor) progress in the meantime is important.  You can probably get away with PRACTICE MODE in something like Borderlands where there is actually a real game buried under all that numerology, but when it's just grindgrindgrindgrindgrindgrindgrindgrind people are going to be just as annoyed being stuck in the waiting room as they are stuck pissing around town or the Hellmouth.  Giving people a chance to soak some XP will mollify the waiters a bit and probably encourage the slowpokes to hurry the hell up.

Waiting Room should probably never drop anything of value though.  Then you're just going to get drama.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on October 21, 2009, 12:17:31 PM
Probably retarded idea: what about a minigame? Like a competitive game in which you gamble small amounts of Gold or Copper Pieces or whatever. How about a few rounds of Rock-Paper-Scissors? Play some Dice, or maybe Black Jack.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Norondor on October 21, 2009, 03:24:13 PM
How about as your record increases in the training room, you gain access to tiered vanity crap? Everyone likes fancy hats and furniture and crap.

By which i mean, not everyone. But enough people.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on October 21, 2009, 03:55:32 PM
Oh HELL no.  That's pretty much begging for a massive drama clusterfuck.

Imagine all the people going apeshit about hats in TF2.

Now multiply that by stupid shit like "Dude if you hadn't connected right then I could have gotten my Water Buffalo Grand Imperial Poobah Hat!  GKICK!"

otoh you may actually want players to get worked up over ridiculous vanity shit if you're a corporation.  Assholes.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Doom on October 21, 2009, 04:38:59 PM
Actually, you'll just end up with groups forming with one "AFK" guy and four people grinding funny hats. There would probably even be bots to fill the role of the "AFK guy, and failing that, good old fashioned double accounts could probably do the trick.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on October 21, 2009, 05:15:45 PM
Either way it doesn't sound like a lot of fun.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on October 21, 2009, 07:34:45 PM
DISPUTES SHOULD BE SETTLED WITH PACHINKO
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on October 21, 2009, 09:44:45 PM
DISPUTES SHOULD BE SETTLED WITH PACHINKO AND COSPLAY

... I I kind of liked that dirty game frocto was playing.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Superface on November 04, 2009, 09:02:14 PM
Ok, I have like three. First: an RPG musical. 

Not a musical RPG, like Rhapsody, more like an RPG with an epic scope, real, colorful characters, as much full voice work as possible, and SONGS, meaningful ones with fantastic lyrics that are integral to the story. 

This could be so BEAUTIFUL. I've been cooking it up in my head over the last three years or so. 

How come games don't matter more to players? There need to be more striking emotional scenes in games, like there are in movies. And this needn't be 100% cinematics, either, a huge amount of dialog could just get woven into gameplay. Just look at the narration for quests in D&DO, for heaven's sake. 

Characters should be real. They should do things that real people do, like be uncertain, be afraid, have hangups, laugh at things that are funny. They should have natural reactions to the things that happen in the story, the kinds of reactions real people would have. The hero should get depressed and cry. The main love interest should like another person, romantically. Her parents shouldn't already know the hero.

And the songs. The world map song should be sung by all four characters. It should be an inspiring, hearty song, like the kind that plays during the climactic public crowd lovers reunion scene in romantic comedies. 

There should be an Introductory Sequence with it's own solemn song, sung by the brave-hearted child protagonist. It should have kettledrums and low, powerfUl cellos backing. It should have words that immediately throw your heart onto the story. I have a very rough first draft:

I was a lonely boy,
My heart lay in the land,

They were a world away,
Tyrants in shifting sand,

But now the war
Has bastardized our farms,
And now her life
Rests plaintive in my arms

And so
We stand alone
And thrust this sword against the evil of the day,

We vow as one,
Scabbards bereft,
We promise all our strength enrolled against the fey,

And on, we march,
Our paths so long
They stretch in front of us forever and a day,

We sing aloud
This battle-song
And we forsake the fear with which we used to lay,

We've bigger things
To rage against,
We gird our flanks,
We rise as men

Foretold in age,
Our cornerstone,
We make this vow our own to keep:

To Morrione.

To Morrione,
To Morrione. 
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Superface on November 04, 2009, 09:13:50 PM
Also: shop takeback in RPGs.

How many times have you bought something in a shop, only to find out it doesn't fit on the character you bought it for, or they already have something better on, or you find a free one in a treasure chest five minutes later?

You can't sell it, because you'll only get half it's value back. But what the fuck else would you do with it? Unforge it, so you can get a peice of iron and a leather square worth 1/10 what you spent on the damn thing in the first place?

So, we introduce shop takeback, or the ability to undo the last n transactions you made at shops. Don't like that weapon? Hit undo on that transaction and it's gone, and the money's immediately back in your account-ALL of it. Why penalize the player for a mistake YOU helped them make?

"What about consumeables?" Easy; if you don't have it anymore, you can't undo buying it. Buy a potion, drink it. Hit undo on that transaction, and you get a "You don't have it now, you used it up! You can't return something that's all used up!" error message.

"What about list transactions, like from the Tales games?" What about them? Those are more the exception than the rule; it wouldn't take a lot to get players used to buying one thing at a time again, especially if they can get shop takeback as a result.

What do you think, wouldn't this be a lot better? Do you know how simple it would be to implement in code? And you don't even have to go crazy with it, if you just provided it for as few as the last 10 transactions players would love you for it, and for a bare minimum of bookeeping/memory.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on November 04, 2009, 10:25:58 PM
I'm levelling
I'm levelling
I'm levelling a lot

I'm a high level now
And I'll be higher tomorrow
And one day, I will hit the cap

And when I get there
I'll have the greatest gear
And out of the final boss I shall beat crap
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on November 04, 2009, 10:46:47 PM
I wanted more stuff like Luna's Boat Scene, yes.

I think you're more likely to get Finny Fun though.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: McDohl on November 05, 2009, 08:48:59 AM
:fuckyou: :fuckyou: :fuckyou: :fuckyou: :fuckyou:
 :MENDOZAAAAA: FUCK YOU BRENTAI :MENDOZAAAAA:
:fuckyou: :fuckyou: :fuckyou: :fuckyou: :fuckyou:
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Superface on November 05, 2009, 10:12:54 AM
I lol'd. :D
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on November 06, 2009, 01:36:34 PM
Did I mention that I kind of liked the rhythm games in Steambot Chronicles?

Well, I mean, except that the music was either intolerably bad or hilariously bad.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on November 07, 2009, 12:56:45 AM
I came up with a monster: Worm People. They're 1-inch tall, slimy, jet-black human-shaped things. They're incapable of standing up on their own, so they just roll around like little boneless rag-dolls.

And they eat your eyes with their tiny, needle-like teeth.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on November 09, 2009, 09:46:43 AM
Is there a "Darwin Day" meme yet?  Because really that's a far more appropriate thing to shout right before removing somebody from the gene pool.

...what?  That is totally a stray thought.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Beat Bandit on November 11, 2009, 05:28:28 PM
A nerd dating site. A good one.

I was poking few a few places that call themselves "geek" or "nerd" dating sites, but I don't see any differences between them and anything else you find for lonely people on the internet except a drastically higher BMI.

So I come here today to suggest to you all a dating site that actually works for nerds. It would include all the dating site standards, of course, but the vast majority would be specific to nerdy interests.

Nerd Type:
Specify if you're a weaboo, videogame nerd, tabletop nerd, trekkie, Jedi, comic nerd, furry (I don't care they would flock to a dating site that specifies them) or any mix.

Inside that, you could specify if you're a fighting game nerd, RPG nerd, etc. for each category.

Favorite *:
Listing of favorite shows, games, comics, scenes, items, anything that you think firmly defines the type of nerd you are.

Hated *:
Nerds love to hate things, too. You could specify things that should have a candidate ignored. For instance, if I were on the site I would consider myself an anime nerd, but as everyone here should understand, do not want to be grouped with people that have DearS on their favorite shows list.


tl;dr: Nerds control the internet, why do all their dating sites suck?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on November 11, 2009, 10:09:57 PM
I think it has something to do with how no one actually has the balls to use them? I've never felt desperate enough to use any dating site, let alone a "nerd" dating site. I also suspect that a majority of dating sites' (legitimate) clientèle are the sorts of people who use the internet to read news, keep track of what parties they want to attend, and not much else (except porn, obvs.).
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on November 12, 2009, 07:34:14 PM
I kind of want to do a Let's Play of both Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.

In chronological order.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: François on November 12, 2009, 07:42:36 PM
So does that mean you start with Cross or Trigger?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: jsnlxndrlv on November 12, 2009, 07:45:13 PM
Record the entire thing, but stop each clip when you jump through time, and then sequence the clips according to NPC chronology rather than player chronology?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on November 12, 2009, 08:02:28 PM
So does that mean you start with Cross or Trigger?

I believe it would go:

Ayla's time > Magus' time > Frog's time > Lucca's mom gets crippled > Crono's time > Serge goes back in time to save Kid > Chrono Cross > 1999 > Robo's time > End of Time
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on November 13, 2009, 01:32:11 AM
I take it then that you intend to lose the final battle against Lavos?

Also, I don't think the "end of time" comes chronologically before or after any other event. I think you'd be better off using those segments elsewhere.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on November 13, 2009, 01:35:40 AM
TIME PARADOX! If I lose to Lavos and keep the future from changing then Chronopolis won't come into existence and that'll just fuck everything up.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on November 13, 2009, 04:13:36 AM
Eh? 2300AD != Robo's Time???
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on November 13, 2009, 01:44:26 PM
I was just thinking about how to do a survival horror RPG with random encounters.

The actual encounters wouldn't be turned based, per se. They're be more formless, like Valkyrie Profile 2. You can walk around as much as you want, but every time you take a step, so can the enemy. The battlefield would be shrouded in a thick darkness, so half the fight would involve actually figuring out where the enemy is while trying to stay hidden yourself.

Random encounters would flow seamlessly from and into the actual field, you may not even realize you walked into one until it would be too late. There'd be indicators, though; the aforementioned darkness would grow deeper the further you went in, your character would get headaches, the walls might start bleeding, and so on.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Lottel on November 13, 2009, 02:09:03 PM
I've done some survival campaigns. My favorite was this city was infested with the undead. And basically each session was one long encounter.  Hordes of undead everywhere, easy to kill but endless. The basically had to go from safehouse to safe house and try to help people just survive.

It was fun watching everyone constantly check to see what they could use and could not without resting first, as sleeping was something they couldn't just do. If they tried to take a five-minute rest after a battle, a zombie or something would wander up. It was pretty fun for everyone. A lot of item and spell management, though...
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on November 17, 2009, 04:29:24 PM
So this isn't a game idea, rather than a gaming website idea.  I was kinda inspired while thinking about our "Babble about a video game" topic, and the idea of a community blog which this board has more or less become.

The idea is that anyone can make an account and post their babbles about a game.  Each time you post, you choose the game you're posting about from the comprehensive list of new and old games, and you write a 1-2 paragraph babble about it.  Your account page will have a list of every post you've made.  People can comment on individual posts like any blog.

If you're on the page to read other's posts, you can find whatever you want through the database search.  You can list all babbles from a particular game, a particular system, a particular user, or just get them randomly.  If you like a user's posts, you can rate them up and give them reputation.  The highest rated users will have their babbles featured on the front page.  You can "follow" any user like a Twitter account, and have their feeds sent to your main page.

So this is basically like the 1up blogs, but each post is indexed by the game it talks about, and you don't have to go to 1up.com.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on November 19, 2009, 09:39:12 AM
I had a video game dream. It was a massive, Shadow of the Colossus / Metroidvania / Legend of Zelda-styled game. The player character, Notlink, was wandering through a great desert littered with the bleached skeletons of giants when he happened across a massive stone angel in the sky that fired lasers from his eyes.

To beat the angel, you needed wings of your own. First thing's first, the only place you could avoid his eye lasers is on the back of his head. Then, while he was recharging, you'd attack his weak points: blood-filled pustules scattered across his arms. And you'd need to be quick, too, not just to avoid his laser eyes but because he would obvious start swatting at you like you were a mosquito.

I don't remember what happens after that.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on November 19, 2009, 10:17:32 AM
I've sort of had a loose idea rumbling around for a while about making an MMO jungle combat game. I'm not sure whether the setting would be contemporary, science fictiony or maybe something like a WW2 sort of setting. Whatever it was though, it would be a fictious setting, possibly with multiple humanoid races and everyone's gear and uniforms would be just inspired by real military equipment.

Players would be small recon teams fighting for a larger army and might be mercenaries rather than regular forces so that the choice of which big army your are fighting for could be more fluid and up to the players.

Things could be very persistant or more instance based, but the general idea is that you would get recon style missions where your smaller squad would have to do things with the intention of giving the much larger main army some sort of advantage or support in their campaign. So it would be stuff like scouting, sabotage, rescue of prisoners, etc. But whatever you were doing, there would always be the threat of the enemy. You are in the middle of a war and so while you may have intel of where the main enemy force in the area is depending on the mission, running across enemy patrols or even other merc squads is always a danger. The areas in the game would be very large and rugged and so spotting the enemy before they see you or avoiding detection would be just as big a part of the game as actual combat would be.

There would be mulitple classes that the player could choose to be or perhaps just work towards in a system where putting points into certain abilities/perks leads to unlocking further abilities and then before you know it your character is designated as a scout with appropriate uniform and gear options where as buddy #1 is a sapper, buddy #2 is a grenadier, and buddy #3 is a gunner.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on November 19, 2009, 10:22:10 AM
Is this an Avatar MMORPG?

This really sounds like it's going to be an Avatar MMORPG.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on November 19, 2009, 05:12:23 PM
Well... I'm not a furfag... so... no?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Koah on November 20, 2009, 03:57:44 PM
Had a weird one while driving around today.  It's not actually connected to driving in the least, I'm just saying.

Anyway.  Typical indie game presentation: Pixel art, low-quality music, side-scrolling, the works.  You control a princess that's been captured by some force or another and stashed away in a castle's dungeon.  You're guarded by a single soldier with his back turned to you and there's a chamber pot nearby, with the obvious solution being braining the soldier and escaping the castle via stealth: Sneaking around in the dark, through anachronistic vents, around the outside of the castle walls and using the environment to take enemies out when you can't get around them...
 
...but none of that is necessary: If you don't do anything and just stay there for ten minutes or so, a knight will come in, kill the guard and take you out of the castle, whereupon the screen fades to black, "THE END" comes up on-screen and the game closes itself.  Compared to, of course, the slightly more elaborate ending that comes from actually playing it.  Like a typical indie game it's all done in the name of a delivering a message with all the subtlety of a brick through a glass window: Everyone wants to hold out for someone to save them when things go wrong, but sometimes you need to save yourself no matter how hard it might be.

Something like that, at least.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: The Artist Formerly Known As Yoji on November 20, 2009, 04:03:22 PM
With some good art direction and atmosphere, I'd pay bucks for that.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on November 20, 2009, 04:29:00 PM
I like the base idea, but I don't see how the secret ending would be any more than an Easter Egg.  Waiting for 10 minutes is not a gameplay style, nor is it fun.  People couldn't stumble upon it by accident.

Maybe if halfway through the escape you see the hero coming to save you through a vent or something.  At that point, the game lets you choose whether to be "saved" or to continue the escape alone.  Then again, Cave Story already did exactly that.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on November 20, 2009, 04:54:14 PM
Well, you could do like Monkey Island, and have the princess exclaim "It won't take my beloved Prince more than 10 minutes to come and rescue me!"

Also: have a difficulty setting. Changing between Easy and Hard would have no effect on the Princess' escape, BUT if you choose hard after the ten minutes are up the Great Evil will appear at your prison cell instead of the Prince, gloat, and then hurl the broken and bloodied husk of the Prince at you.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on November 26, 2009, 01:29:58 PM
The Nameless Mod is a Deus Ex mod that has recently been announced completed after seven years.  This interview talks about a lot of the logistics of it. (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/11/26/interview-off-topic-on-the-nameless-mod/)  Very interesting and relevant read.

Also, some rather amusing responses in light of our own Katestory.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on December 15, 2009, 03:36:20 AM
IDEA:
Comic where female lead possesses magical, full body tattoos that when exposed to the light of the sun or moon make her invincible proportional to the amount of the magic ink that's being touched by that light. BUT, she firmly believes in personal modesty/is embarrassed by the enchantment/design of the tattoo. I think it could make for a decent 30-40 page story.
that is exactly the opposite idea of empowered, where she has a super suit that gets weaker the more torn up it gets
I thought it got weaker the more self-conscious and unconfident she got, which just went up as it tore.

:nyoro~n: I had no idea what the fuck empowered was, so at first I thought you were talking about female empowerment for some reason. I DON'T KNOW! IT'S FINALS WEEK!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on January 11, 2010, 10:12:24 AM
Had an idea about how to accomplish more abstract, JRPG-esque battles in MMORPGs. Basically, it'd work sort of like Grandia, or Chrono Cross, in which you'd see the enemy on the field and running into it would initiate an instanced encounter. However, to other players looking in, it would only look like you and the monster were trading generic attacks, where for you it could be a grueling, hour-long turn-based battle to the death.

I mean, it would sort of fall apart once you had to deal with raids and parties, at least not without some reworking, but at least there wouldn't be any killstealing.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on January 29, 2010, 08:27:30 AM
If you are ever making a fighting game or maybe an RPG, action RPG, etc where the characters each have their own style of fighting that they are good at and makes them distinct, make the characters different animals, sort of like pokemon and then make it so that there's a burly but none the less cute Octopus or Squid character who is a master of wrestling.

I mean, what else really makes sense for that character? He's going to be a grappler, clearly.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on February 12, 2010, 07:18:28 PM
As it turns out, I really like the idea of a Shooter/RPG hybrid. I love Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, and I'm also looking forward to Alpha Protocol.

The only problem is: I don't really care for shooters. I'm just not good with 'em.

Solution: Upgradeable Auto-Targeting. It's a stat shooter fans don't have to bother with, and for un-dexterous like me I get to just point my gun in a badguy's general direction and he'll keel over.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on February 12, 2010, 07:21:59 PM
The VATS system in Fallout 3 was basically an attempt at that sort of system, although in general even if you're terrible you're likely to be more accurate than the VATS percentages.  In the end it's basically just for blowing up people's heads in bullet time.

Did you try Borderlands?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on February 12, 2010, 07:27:30 PM
I'm not particularly interested in that brand of RPG.

Slash-Shooter.

Really, all I want is more Dialog Trees, but for some reason it's more fun when Shotguns are involved.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on February 12, 2010, 08:08:12 PM
So, Fallout 3?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on February 12, 2010, 08:47:56 PM
Perhaps you should get out of here.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on February 12, 2010, 09:50:54 PM
VATS+Melee weapons seems like the kind of thing that would make me super-happy. Especially since I can't find my copy of Vagrant Story.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Royal☭ on February 14, 2010, 11:58:33 AM
Scorched which uses geolocational positions and topographical data to pit players against each other.  i.e. where you login from is where you're based, and the terrain is based upon realworld land data between you and your opponents.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: François on February 14, 2010, 12:02:43 PM
That's great if you want to see Tibetans pwn the hell out of the Dutch.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Royal☭ on February 14, 2010, 12:03:13 PM
You don't?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: François on February 14, 2010, 12:04:02 PM
No, I do, I mean, who wouldn't?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on February 14, 2010, 12:07:41 PM
Tibet has the high ground over China.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Royal☭ on February 14, 2010, 12:07:58 PM
::lifts finger off the send PM to Kabbage telling him to put his finger on the 'Ban Zedpower' button::
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on February 14, 2010, 12:24:20 PM
Scorched which uses geolocational positions and topographical data to pit players against each other.  i.e. where you login from is where you're based, and the terrain is based upon realworld land data between you and your opponents.

I wanted to make a GB/Famicom/Advance Wars type game for mobile phones where the area you are fighting over is your actual local area as seen by google maps or something like that. The idea being that the game would parse the map objects as game objects of some sort, like roads and rail roads provide faster mobility or create supply lines between bases/fronts/ residential zoned areas provide tax revenue, industrial areas provide production, schools provide a research bonus, you need to capture an airport in your area to field air units, etc.

The concept would be a sort of post apocalypse setting where the ruins of our world are still there and exploitable to the future warlords that are the players.

An other idea for it is a sort of Dwarf Fortress sort of deal only the player is creating a big airship that they can expand almost indefinately. Whenever they move physically in real life, their airship moves too on the world map. Whenever you play the airship lands and you can maybe find new things to harvest or encounter in the area of the world map you are on.

I sort of like the idea of slightly asynchronous system where players can send envoys to other airships near them if they pick them up on "radar" (wifi or blue tooth?) to interact with them in different ways.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Royal☭ on February 14, 2010, 01:12:58 PM
You could probably use Google Maps as a way to make a kind of zombie survival game.  When a player creates a new character, it uses wherever they are as the starting point, then must navigate the terrain.  Zombie population could be based upon CIA world book populations of real cities, and infrastructure could be mapped out.

I started making a Game Maker game that was similar to this.  The scope was smaller, where you were a guy who just fled a zombie infected city and found a small, slightly ruined house in the woods.  From there you had to kind of carve out a living.  It was have day and night cycles, where day was meant for scavenging, finding other survivors, and building up your camp.  Night would end up in siege mode, where zombies would be attracted to your base and you'd have to defend while they tried to break in.  After each night, the map would expand slightly giving you more territory to explore (reflecting your confidence in the terrain).

As the game went on, you'd be able to find other survivors and put them to work doing various tasks.  Some could be medics, builders, soldiers, farmers, etc.  They'd be able to help out around the camp with various tasks.  At first new survivors would be bite-free, but as the game went on each new survivor would have increasing odds of having a hidden bite, meaning that they might turn while inside your camp.  As a result, the further along in the game you might have to decide how much you might want that medic, or that soldier, or that farmer.

I think I have the demo I started making somewhere.  Wasn't much.  Zombies kind of stumbled around a forest while the player could shoot or use an ax.  Needed more work.

EDIT: Why the hell not.  These Woods, the not-even-a-demo or proof-of-concept (http://www.monstersareeverywhere.com/TheseWoods.exe).  Arrow keys move you, when you find the gun, CTRL shoots, and if you find the axe it just gives you a chance to kill a zombie if they hit you.

Also F4 will make it Fullscreen.  Man, I don't know what I was thinking of for how shit worked.  If it seems like a zombie isn't dying, that's because I went with "Only head shots kill a zombie!", which means when you shoot one it rolls a dice and on 9 or 10 or something it gets a head shot.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on February 14, 2010, 01:30:06 PM
This isn't a virus or some sort of SCREAMER is it?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Royal☭ on February 14, 2010, 01:30:44 PM
IT IS A REAL GAME I CAN DO THINGS SHEESH
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on February 14, 2010, 01:36:03 PM
Well, from my first playthrough (LP is in the works, should be up sometime tomorrow) My suggestions so far are the following.

I couldn't find the gun or the axe, could I start with some sort of of other weapon at the start like a knife or crow bar or something.

I think it would be cool if melee weapons had a second utility purpose/function. For instance, the axe can chop wood, chop through obstacles, the crowbar could break open doors, loot boxes, pull heavy loads, etc.

Can you implement a flag to play an 8-bit sounding version of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal when you move to the east/right?

Also, thanks a lot for the SCREAMER that plays if you play the game for 15 minutes! ASSHOLE!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Royal☭ on February 14, 2010, 01:38:12 PM
There are all things I could do if I gave a fuck.  As I said, it was like a few days worth of work and I haven't done anything with it in quite some time.  I had forgotten how shitty the controls were, and it's really confusing if you don't know where the house is (it's in the middle of the map, it has the axe and the gun).


Also your feedback is valuable and will be addressed in the order it was received.  Must make note to add things like "trails" and "sign posts" that indicate where to go.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on February 14, 2010, 01:44:21 PM
Can you implement a flag to play an 8-bit sounding version of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal when you move to the east/right?

It wouldn't take that long.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on February 14, 2010, 02:30:55 PM
You could probably use Google Maps as a way to make a kind of zombie survival game.

Apparently the claim that The Last Guy did this turned out to be false.  Blah.

The soundtrack actually exists and is not a product of my fevered imagination though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg2SdQLHX8Y
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on February 23, 2010, 07:15:40 AM
Ideas for asynchonous multiplayer games, possibly for social networking sites

#1

I like the idea of a game that is fairly simple concept like say Pike & Shot or whatever but made so that you play it online, picking levels to play from a real world map.

This world map is based on the real world, but the scale of parts of it are determined by how many players of the game live in that area. When you play a level, if you beat it you take over that territory.

You may get the chance to create the level that people play when they try to play that level using a little simple level editor that more or less just lets you choose what units to put in that level. The more territory you have, the better stuff you have access to use in your levels. When you are designing a level, people can't capture it. If they go to the level while you are making it they instead play the original level that the game designers put there. The idea is that when no one is editing a territory's "Level" (town, castle, whatever) you can capture it by playing the level, when they are editing it, and you try to play it, you instead do something for the town like attack the bandits that are about to beseige it, that sort of thing.

The idea is that playing by yourself, it is very hard to capture and hold any real amount of territory for any significant amount of time, but if you form a guild with your friends, working together you can create a little empire and actually expand and defend it practically with more players. Forming a guild costs real money.

#2

An other idea that I like is the idea of a sort of Battlestar Galactica/werewolf game where the main game is something like the existing facebook game Mafia Wars but when players create a character, they choose what secret faction they are actually a part of, the regular good guys (say the colonials for the sake of metaphor) or the insidious infiltrators (Cylon skinjobs). You join your friends to form teams just like in mafiawars and fight against other teams, but on the side you are also gaining advantage for your secret unknown faction of the two factions that you chose at the start. So basically, you want to ally with as many of your friends as you can so that you can beat other teams/mafias/ships whatever you want to call them BUT at the same time, you don't know if they are the same secret faction as you are. You need to route out the traitors and form alliances with confirmed members of the same faction.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on February 23, 2010, 10:38:27 AM
i always thought a good idea would be something where you could design a zelda-style dungeon and then make others go through it and time them and then they'd get currency for cool stuff to put in their own dungeons for completing other people's dungeons

or perhaps just a sort of persistent cooperative tower defense game where you have to hack n slash to get the money for towers to defend your little city
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Lottel on February 23, 2010, 10:50:33 AM
i always thought a good idea would be something where you could design a zelda-style dungeon and then make others go through it and time them and then they'd get currency for cool stuff to put in their own dungeons for completing other people's dungeons

I'd play that. As long as it was fun to play. It's a great idea.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on February 23, 2010, 10:54:16 AM
Yeah I like that to. I mean, my idea could work for a lot of games, I was just presenting Pike & Shot as an example for obvious reasons. The the STRAY THOUGHT as it were was just the idea of people making their own ones and then getting the resources to do so from beating other ones. Of course I presented the idea of capturing territory like this, but that's optional, I dunno how much I like that.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on February 25, 2010, 11:27:35 AM
They should put Naga Siren from DotA back into HoN only make her more of a mermaid who's ultimate is called Carribean Symphony, a big chanelled AoE spell where a conductor's stand springs up, she starts singing and waving her wand around and a big The Little Mermaid style underwater symphony springs up and damages people in the AoE with loud musical attacks.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Frocto on February 26, 2010, 10:16:45 PM
Jotting this down in case I want to do something with it later.

Basically, I wanted to make an adventure game along the lines of Clock Tower, that takes place either in a girl's dormitory or boarding school, with about 12 girls. Every day, you pick four of the girls and gather clues, then every night you have to avoid a dangerous serial killer who is running loose in the dorm.

Only some girls can get to certain areas, but those ones are not as good at defending themselves against the killer. Only survivors can turn in clues they find. Once a certain number of clues have been uncovered, you get to confront and defeat the killer with all the remaining girls at once. Of course, if not many have survived, you can still get a bad end.

To give it a Ryona Grindhouse vibe, the killer has contextual kills based on which room he is in at the time. In the forest, he uses bear traps, in the kitchen he uses an electric egg beater, and so on. Really, I want the entire thing to feel like a Grindhouse game, right down to having a title like SEXY WOMEN DYING: THE BLOODBREASTS and lots of throwaway dialogue about quasi-lesbianism.

Ways to save on programming: All girls use same sprite, rooms are just recolours.

<lapKazz> it's like clock tower meets white chamber meets some godawful film with ten sequels
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on February 26, 2010, 11:10:03 PM
I bet 4chan would love that game.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Frocto on February 26, 2010, 11:56:50 PM
you think 4chan would like something exploitative, cheap and nasty?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: yyler on February 27, 2010, 12:00:05 AM
i always thought a good idea would be something where you could design a zelda-style dungeon and then make others go through it and time them and then they'd get currency for cool stuff to put in their own dungeons for completing other people's dungeons

I'd play that. As long as it was fun to play. It's a great idea.

Yeah um actually that sounds really really great.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on March 02, 2010, 01:36:41 AM
Is this the right thread for this? A guy I read on Livejournal has a neat article up on game and level design (http://kayin.pyoko.org/?p=372).
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on March 09, 2010, 11:19:27 AM
Have I ever mentioned that of all sci-fi tropes, I fucking love Nanomachines most of all? You can literally combine any synonym for "small" and "robot" and you can get me practically jizzing all over the place. Seriously, you can come up with whatever dubious science fiction-y mumbo jumbo you want, and the second you add the word 'nanomachine' to it it will actually sound somewhat plausible. So, naturally, I just love thinking up shit people might some day be able to do if and when nanomachines become viable.

Holograms: Maybe I'm just too small-minded, but I don't think we'll ever see true holograms. BUT a cloud of nanomachines, each individual machine emitting a different hue, could be the closest we'll ever come.

Sense-Destroying Weapons: Did someone just call your name? No, you just have some nanomachines in your ear. Do you smell bacon? Nope, you just have some nanomachines up your nose. Did someone just enter the room? No, you just have some hue-emitting nanomachines in your eye.

Nanomachine Physical Therapy: Sort of like that one episode of Futurama where Fry got infected with worms.

Control Evolution: Generations of Nanomachine Therapy.

Electrokinesis: Billions of swirling nanomachines creating a static charge.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on March 09, 2010, 11:33:04 AM
combine any synonym for "small" and "robot" and you can get me practically jizzing all over the place

Even Mini-cons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers_Armada)?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on March 12, 2010, 06:10:21 PM
No. Shut up.

NEW IDEA: Steampunk/Magic Fantasy. Magical fantasy races: people cursed to wear Venetian Masks permanently, Steam-Powered Automatons, Green Fairies.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on March 12, 2010, 07:41:09 PM
Captain of Industry as a class.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Frocto on March 12, 2010, 09:41:29 PM
<Froctapus> this has to got be
<Froctapus> the single most generic and boring idea in the world
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on March 13, 2010, 11:50:12 AM
Magical fantasy races: people cursed to wear Venetian Masks permanently, Steam-Powered Automatons, Green Fairies.

What is this a Bioshock rpg
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on March 16, 2010, 02:42:53 PM
So I was thinking there really needs a Jonah Hex Versus Predator crossover.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on March 17, 2010, 10:57:38 AM
I was reading these old miniature wargaming rules while discussing anime, and it gave me an idea: Touhou: the Wargame. Armies led by flying shrine maidens!

Then I remembered that I actually devised rules for this a year ago, then played half a round with a Touhou cosplayer before she got bored and quit.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Royal☭ on March 24, 2010, 07:37:52 PM
So has anyone tried out various game creation software and have any recommendations?  I've been fooling around with Game Maker, but I can't seem to figure out how to zoom and it's really hurting my eyes to work with little 16 x 16 tiles.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on March 25, 2010, 03:56:21 PM
The popular one seems to be Construct (http://www.scirra.com/).
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Frocto on March 25, 2010, 07:04:06 PM
game maker is fucking garbage
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on March 25, 2010, 07:37:24 PM
So along one particularly long train of thought involving a browser-based dungeon crawler, I had the notion of inventing some kind of RPG combat where every encounter is resolved in a single round. No more mindlessly mashing on attack! This is, of course, predicated on the notion that you're in some kind of dungeon-crawling-balanced game where the point is to conserve resources.

Each encounter is nothing more than a power level and a list of attributes. These attributes include your standard elemental considerations and monster types, but they go far beyond that in various ways. Most importantly, when you're dealing with groups of monsters, it's still the encounter that has the attributes, only now they've got attributes like "heterogeneous" or "band." There's also a table of how much damage the encounter will deal, but I'll get to that later.

Every ability a character learns, apart from an optional MP cost (or whatever), is just a table of positive and negative modifiers against the various encounter types. The flavor should reflect why it's powerful against some enemies and weak against others. So each character in the party picks one of their abilities, and the relevant bonuses and penalties for that ability based on the encounter type are added to that character's level.

You compare the resultant number for each character against the encounter level, and you sort each one into one of five categories of effectiveness representing how near the two levels are and in which direction: ineffective, poor, ordinary, good, and great. Or something like that. Based on the number of characters who fall into each category, the encounter deals damage to the party, whose target(s) and amount are described in the table for that encounter.

If an enemy's level is so far below your own that using the basic attack for every character will automatically put the party in the highest entry in the effectiveness table, where typically no damage is dealt, the encounter can be skipped.

This, of course, makes it easy to make lots of different encounters... or, if you don't want to do that, it also makes it easy to let the player come up with a macro for every single encounter, further streamlining the process.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on March 28, 2010, 08:56:03 PM
A first-person shooter whose basic idea is mobility. The longer you've been moving (in any direction), the higher your movement speed, which has some ridiculously high cap. Standing still causes it to fall. Horizontal and vertical jump distance both increase with movement speed. There's also wall-jumps, and, as a map feature, tracks along the sides of walls that you can run along, I guess. Friction is low by default, though different surfaces might be slick or sticky.

There are no hitscan weapons. Weapons are scattered throughout the map; run over one to pick it up, replacing your current weapon with it. It will eventually run out of ammo, which cannot be restored, and when it does, you revert to the basic weapon, which is your fists. Reloading is automatic whenever you're not firing, a la the setting in TF2. It will have a primary and secondary fire. Some are melee weapons. Some are instagib - though that doesn't mean a lot, since there are no hitscan weapons. Some weapons are used primarily or entirely for mobility - a grappling hook, for instance, which could be used on the environment or on players, or bolas.

Even when standing still, the vertical jump distance is sufficient to get you standing on top of another player. When you're standing on a player, you are riding them. It does not inhibit them in any way, so they might not notice.

One of the game modes would be a race.

Edit: It seems that something like I'm describing already exists: Purity (http://vectorpoem.com/purity/).
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on March 29, 2010, 03:44:37 PM
A first-person shooter whose basic idea is mobility. The longer you've been moving (in any direction), the higher your movement speed, which has some ridiculously high cap. Standing still causes it to fall.

(http://i44.tinypic.com/30ab3p0.jpg)
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on March 29, 2010, 05:14:30 PM
"It" meaning your movement speed, not your avatar.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on March 29, 2010, 05:26:21 PM
old-style space shooter physics bugs the shit out of me

a cap on acceleration?  fine

but there is no maximum fucking speed in space.  i have no idea how that is justified.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on March 29, 2010, 05:47:48 PM
The zero-gravity environment is too far out for us players. The reality of space travel is slowing down long before your destination, like a train driver.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on March 31, 2010, 03:52:57 PM
So my idea came to me while thinking about what else but Toejam & Earl.  As I have famously mentioned in the past, TJ&E is a roguelike at its core, with randomly generated levels, and items that need identification or luck to use properly.  The difference between it and most other Roguelikes is that it requires you to avoid combat, not just with stronger enemies, but with everything.  Experience was instead earned through exploration.

I began to think how well that sort of system would work for a horror game.  A horror game with randomly generated levels, so you never knew where enemies were lurking.  There would be no default way to attack enemies, and any weapons you gained would be awkward, temporary, and ineffectual.  Items would help you survive through other means, and I would keep the same identification system so using an un-IDed item would be a huge gamble for desperate situations.

Really, the only thing that needs to be changed is the setting and atmosphere.

That's the gist of the idea, but I think I could spend all day thinking of neat details that could go into a survival-horror roguelike.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Spaco on March 31, 2010, 09:01:24 PM
Guys, guys, guys.

Best idea ever: Elbereth doormat!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on April 01, 2010, 11:17:28 AM
I had this idea like months ago. Someone pointed out that if it doesn't sell, and I'm left with a warehouse full of unsold Elbereth doormats, at least I'll have hundreds of safe places to stand.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Spaco on April 01, 2010, 01:08:03 PM
Yessssssss

Now some rich bastard needs to buy it for me!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on April 01, 2010, 03:34:32 PM
Comic Sans  ::(:
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Spaco on April 01, 2010, 06:00:52 PM
Ok, in my defense I did it because I felt it was the closest to writing it with your finger in the dirt.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on April 17, 2010, 08:56:48 PM
An MMO top-down shootery sort of game, set along the perimeter of the Mandelbrot fractal or some similar fractal shape. You can (slowly, to manage server load) increase or decrease your size at will when not engaged in combat, and can only interact with nearby players between half and double your current scale. There's no minimum, but the maximum is far too small to actually see the shape of the fractal. A significant portion of the strategy is based on building structures of varying permanence against the walls, everything from mines for use in combat to permanent player-run settlements.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Healy on April 27, 2010, 01:50:56 AM
I would like to see a zzt/knytt stories type thing for rpgs. You would be able to fiddle around with a lot of number crunchy bits like experience levels and enemy stats and so on, but stuff like the battle and menu system would remain constant. I dunno, maybe make it a roguelike to make it simpler?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: LaserBeing on April 27, 2010, 06:28:39 PM
You mean this? (http://tkool.jp/products/rpgxp/eng/)
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on April 27, 2010, 06:31:36 PM
Wow, they haven't made a new one since XP?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Frocto on April 27, 2010, 09:58:26 PM
http://www.instantrimshot.com/
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on April 28, 2010, 02:24:28 AM
Er, I was expressing honest surprise.  Except it turns out that they did make one after XP after all (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPG_Maker_VX), whoops.

It also seems to be following the trend of backpedaling furiously from any improvements made between the original and 2003.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Frocto on April 28, 2010, 05:25:38 AM
Okay, so, I was reading a smut story earlier and the author had left his e-mail in case anyone wanted to provide feedback. He's one of my favourite authors, so I jumped at the chance and sent him an e-mail right away. I got a response saying the e-mail was dead.

So here's my stray thought: A website where you can pop in the e-mail address of any person in the world and it searches all other e-mail addresses for similar contact lists, similar addresses being e-mailed, whatever, and it gives you a list of e-mails or msns or aims or yahoos or whatever, and likelihoods that they are the person you're looking for.

Now, I'm aware this is the sort of thing creepy stalkers would adore and cherish, but I think there'd be a way to structure it so people's privacy aren't being violated. For example, if you tapped in an aim account listed on a profile on a forum like this very one, it might turn up the same forum name with a different aim account on another forum. You could rig something up with Google pretty easily, right?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on April 28, 2010, 03:55:26 PM
Here's a dumb idea: Work Warrior.

It's an online RPG, only instead of killing mice and dragons to gain experience and levels, you work hard at your job so that your boss will give you experience on a day-to-day basis.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Joxam on April 29, 2010, 01:59:55 AM
Make it a browser (better yet, facebook) based game so that you can hate your job AND the bullshit you're doing when you should be working!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on April 29, 2010, 05:18:04 AM
Here's a dumb idea: Work Warrior.

It's an online RPG, only instead of killing mice and dragons to gain experience and levels, you work hard at your job so that your boss will give you experience on a day-to-day basis.

The Sims... Online?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Miss Cat Ears on April 29, 2010, 05:40:47 AM
I do that every day of my life
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on April 29, 2010, 10:28:49 AM
Basically the idea would be to incentivize day-to-day productivity in the work place without actually paying out more money. You know, "Ooh! If I impress my boss today, I might get just enough experience to be able to kill the Orc Captain!"

It could also be extrapolated to school work. "Yay! I got an A on that assignment! Now I can wear that Level 8 Paladin Armor!"

That about ends the amount of thought I've put into it.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on April 29, 2010, 11:04:26 AM
I had this idea like two years ago. In fact I think someone already did this, and then Penny Arcade did a comic where Gabe grinds on housework and laundry for XP.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on May 01, 2010, 10:19:52 PM
For some reason I've decided to come up with the longest possible single-syllable word. So far I've got sphroughenned (pronounced sfrooned), which comes in at thirteen letters. I'm determined to get a twenty-lettered word, though.

EDIT: Well, I took a page from the ancient Greeks, though I'm not sure if this should count: chthrourghenned. Still, got it up to fifteen.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on May 01, 2010, 10:25:34 PM
"Schpr" for a first consonant sound is one more letter than "Sphr," though it does change the pronunciation. You might also try bringing in some French dipthongs, like "oeu."
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on May 01, 2010, 10:34:50 PM
Mm, thanks for the insight. By the way the definition for this word will be "To have been made superfluously long".
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on May 01, 2010, 10:48:48 PM
"eau" is another good one.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on May 01, 2010, 11:37:59 PM
Osschtphreauhrrnnged.  Pronounced oSshtfrOOuhrrngd.  The o is unvoiced, like in opossum, and it basically sounds like a drunk Swedish person saying "Shit Froo Earned".
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on May 01, 2010, 11:42:08 PM
That's more than one syllable.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on May 01, 2010, 11:52:50 PM
No it isn't.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Esperath on May 01, 2010, 11:57:22 PM
the t/ph border is probably too hard to slur into a single syllable.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on May 02, 2010, 07:18:14 AM
Osschtphreauhrrnnged.  Pronounced oSshtfrOOuhrrngd.  The o is unvoiced, like in opossum, and it basically sounds like a drunk Swedish person saying "Shit Froo Earned".

I kind of want to stay away from double letters as much as possible, because that feels a little bit like cheating. I feel like can get away with the double-n in chthreaurghenned because -ned is a modifier for the past tense.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Frocto on May 03, 2010, 08:14:45 AM
It is your weakness that shall be your downfall, DN.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on May 03, 2010, 11:31:46 PM
A combination of a first-person shooter and werewolf/mafia, somehow. Obviously not all the rules will carry over. During the daytime, you get the accusation weapon, which is hitscan, and has the model of your hand, which extends the index finger in a pointing motion when fired. During the nighttime, everyone has to go out and conduct their activities in real-time with their identities obscured (except the mafia, who know each other). Each player gets a little house labeled with their own name, the doors of which unlock in a certain order based on their role (the mafia get to leave first, for instance, in order to have a shot at hiding their identity). Being action-based, nighttime activities would be balanced so that the normal outcome is likelier, but a heroic player can still cause things to happen differently. For example, there's a time limit on the night phase, so an innocent who evades the bad guys all night long might force them to kill somebody else, or even to fail to kill anyone.

Dead players turn into ghosts and get to play ghost deathmatch or something while the living players go about their business.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Detonator on May 04, 2010, 05:26:55 AM
A combination of a first-person shooter and werewolf/mafia, somehow.

There is a somewhat popular Garry's Mod map called Terrortown which is basically this.  Kazz plays it a lot so he could explain it better.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on May 29, 2010, 06:44:46 PM
Fear and Loathing in Veridian City: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the Kanto Dream
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on September 02, 2010, 11:05:28 AM
Novelty game idea: You: The Game.

The game would analyze the contents of your console-of-choice's hard drive, create a profile, and then use that profile to custom create a sidescrolling game world for you to play around in. Furthermore, the game would grow and change based on how the contents of your Hard Drive changed -- every unlocked Achievement, every new game, every download, the game would become slightly or greatly different.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Mongrel on September 02, 2010, 12:36:10 PM
Wasn't there an old game kinda like that called Innerspace or something? You flew around in a 2D space-pirate world, with enemy and allied ships based on the files on your hard drive?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: McDohl on September 03, 2010, 09:57:26 AM
Except I think if you shot the files it deleted them off the drive.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on September 03, 2010, 10:39:30 AM
Dominion style card game that has a Texas hold'em style "river".

Each round (every player gets a turn in a "round") a 4-5 card "river" is dealt onto the table from a separate terrain deck. This is the terrain that the round is played on and the terrain might benefit one player's hand over an others do to synergy with certain types of cards.

Alternately, player's turns could be divided into 4 phases where upon the start of each phase the next river card is turned over. Every players river ends up different every turn that way.

Or, it could still work like how I said earlier with all players operating from the same river, but the river isn't fully revealed every round and then replaced the next round with a new set of cards. Instead it is revealed one card at a time each round until you have a full 4-5 river cards in play, then the river is discarded and a new one begins being dealt out over the course of the next 4-5 rounds.

Theme ideas for what the "river" actually is:
-terrain
-it represents random uncontrollable elements like weather, acts of gods, etc
-the game is about ocean explorers and the "river" represents stuff or creatures you ran into with players decks being stuff like their equipment and crew, etc
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: LaserBeing on September 03, 2010, 04:49:39 PM
Except I think if you shot the files it deleted them off the drive.


It didn't. You're thinking of the similar in concept but much more recent indie game that nobody played because, well... because it deleted files off your drive.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on September 03, 2010, 06:32:10 PM
I played it a couple times on a drive I had marked for death anyway.  The only interesting thing is knowing that at any time you could suddenly fuck up your OS.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on October 24, 2010, 06:34:10 PM
Tell a story through DeviantArt. Not on, through. Create a page of a 14-year-old girl who draws herself as a lion playing with Kingdom Hearts Sora who is also a Lion. Slowly Chronicle her descent into madness as her mind is destroyed by Lovecraft-esque horrors.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on November 09, 2010, 05:32:44 PM
Explorers of the Postmortem Worlds

The Afterlife consists of hundreds upon thousands of unique worlds. A Spaniard from the 1400s who passed away before his dreams of exploration were realized has decided to set sail and and explore and chart out the various afterlifes.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: the asshole you hate on March 07, 2011, 10:42:10 AM
Plot device: A tiny planetoid's surface is divided into 237,912 identical rooms. 237,912 robotic "mothers" simultaneously give 237,912 genetically identical embryos an identical education over 16 years. The children all [but 1?] grow up to be super-genius psychotic murderers - using smarts they discover each other and escape en-masse. So there are copied villains all over.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on March 07, 2011, 11:01:19 AM
... Why 237,912?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Lottel on March 08, 2011, 04:13:48 AM
Because its Guild.


Because its lolsorandom and unique and won't conform to your preconceived notions, man.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on March 08, 2011, 06:56:07 AM
Sounds like the film where neo-nazis try to clone Hitler, then re-create his upbringing so he'll become like Hitler. It almost works, until clone Hitler stumbles upon a biography of Hitler, realizes he's a clone and defies destiny by killing himself and/or not becoming Hitler.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on March 08, 2011, 11:01:54 AM
Did Adolf Hitler ever receive a posthumous honor for taking out Adolf Hitler?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on March 08, 2011, 11:05:19 AM
No, because he actually faked his death and lives on to this very day with the power of NAZI SCIENCE.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: François on March 08, 2011, 11:33:14 AM
He got a tan and plastic surgery, moved to Iran, became President, and is in serious denial about his past.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: jsnlxndrlv on March 10, 2011, 11:34:29 AM
So I've had this game idea banging around in my head like a katamari, picking up more and more stuff over the past couple months, and it's kind of distracting me from some of my outstanding obligations and occupying valuable mental real estate that other projects should be using. You know who you are. Maybe if I put enough stuff about it here, I can move on without regrets... or at least, set it aside for now, and have notes to come back to when it's more appropriate.

You might call the core concept "competitive military recruiting and operational command". The game is simultaneous timed-turn-based for up to four players; single player games can or cannot use the timer, and they can be either normal competition mode or a more story-centric single-player campaign. You live in a heavily contested city-state in a fictitious dark age society, and several armies are converging in the area, so you decide to form your own militia to ensure your survival. In order for your organization to exist and be effective, you have to select 8 of 32 possible candidates to oversee the following projects.
1. Troop recruitment: figure out what kind of people make up your army and how many of them you can get.
2. Sponsorship: determine where your funding comes from, how often it comes, how big it is when it gets here, whether you have to pay it back, and whether it comes with any strings attached.
3. Provisioning: acquire food and gear and make sure it is where it needs to be; also affects your base.
4. Training: this determines what kinds of things your soldiers can do in the field and how effective they are at attempting to do them.
5. Field marshalry: governs the division of your army into units of different kinds, and the nature of those units' specialties.
6. Information gathering: learn what the enemy is up to and mislead him in his attempt to do the same to you.
7. Deployment: Set objectives for your units to achieve and put them to work achieving them.
8. Morale management: Find ways of keeping your soldiers happy, and keep tabs on when they're likely to stop, and what the consequences will be when they do.

The 32 characters who accomplish these functions have reputations for effectiveness: they each favor something at the expense of something else. They might favor power at the expense of cost, efficiency at the expense of speed, or flexibility at the expense of increased vulnerability. These reputations manifest in different ways depending on the position to which they're assigned. Using the "power at the expense of cost" guy as an example: if he's responsible for recruiting, you'll get mercenaries or other veterans as your troops, but they cost more to maintain. If he's responsible for training, trained troops' potential will be maximized, but training will be particularly expensive. If he's responsible for deployment, he'll devise particularly daring and dangerous attacks that will have a high rate of troop casualties.

The other major influence on the effectiveness of the eight arenas of development is the order in which you assign governors to them; each project has eight levels of effectiveness and one sub-level. (Each level of recruiting and sponsorship get you additional batches of recruits or funds; levels of field marshalry, training, provisioning, and deployment add both to the quality and to the kinds of squad, maneuvers, equipment, or missions you can use. Levels of information gathering and morale result in additional quality, kinds of information or morale boosting, and have other, more esoteric effects.) Every in-game day, you pick somebody to manage a project that hasn't got a manager yet, and every project with a manager will level up, until one of your projects is level 8, at which point leveling stops. Players reverse order of picks every day, so day 2 has player 4 make first choice of second recruit.

Players attack one another by committing units to missions available from their deployment projects, based on the information retrieved from information gathering. You commit the day before the attack, but you commit units to defense on the day of attacks; how much information you get about the attacking force is determined by the differential between your information gathering project and the enemy's. Actual combat is basically like pokemon, where your available moves are determined by training, the effectiveness of those moves is governed by morale, training, troop quality, the nature of your squad, etc.; the cost of attacks is determined by morale and provisioning, and your squads HP is the number of troops in it. A mission succeeds if the defending unit is destroyed or retreats, and fails in the opposite scenario; missions might vary from assassinating an enemy commander (reverting that player's relevant project to the sub-level) or raiding their provisions to seizing control of a base (which may be relevant to the demands of your sponsor, or theirs).

When players aren't doing anything because other people are making up their mind about recruitment or are indisposed in attacks, they can play something like Tetris in their base until the day ends; final Tetris ranks determine the ones digit of that player's final score, while completion of sponsorship objectives and overall survival/combat success determines the tens digit.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Mongrel on March 10, 2011, 11:41:08 AM
I think #5, #7 and maybe #7 could probably be rolled into one figure, labelled "field command" or the like.

It's more intuitive that way, more accurate to how this kind of thing works IRL, and would be a bit more fun to play. 5 and 7 are a bit clunky and arbitrary as it is.

Otherwise sounds like an interesting concept.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: jsnlxndrlv on March 10, 2011, 04:58:34 PM
Honestly, the whole thing sort of started out as a "competitive pokemon creation" where players draft for pokemon types, stat superiority, movesets, etc., and the concept drifted to where it seemed most appropriate. Number one is health and other stats, two is number of uses of moves, three is items, four is attacks, five is team makeup, six isn't really analogous but kind of plays into prediction of enemy attacks, and seven should play out to be similar to EV training, although that's probably not obvious from what I've described.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Koah on March 14, 2011, 12:58:58 PM
An FPS that gives you the option of playing with either regenerating or static/numeric health and alters the stage makeup and game mechanics accordingly, e.g. more cover for the former, faster movement speed, armor and health pickups for the latter.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on July 19, 2011, 07:49:21 AM
Prank Idea: Bleeding Horror Novel Covers.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: the asshole you hate on July 19, 2011, 05:19:35 PM
If this doesn't qualify, I dunno what might.

The idea is that you set up a server that people can visit which searches on major music stealer websites like Pirate Bay and plays them. If the song is the correct one requested, the listener is rewarded with a free copy of the song for life! By identifying the song fifty times you give away fifty copies which you pay for by having the server ALSO shut down said downloads for the artists! So the artists pay for this service because it increases sales actively.

It's probably not even feasible.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Büge on August 17, 2011, 06:03:32 AM
An adventure/sim where you use three orders of the Adepta Sororitas from Warhammer 40,000 for different missions. Certain missions will require a specific Order to complete, and success or failure leads to different forks in the story.

Combat Sweeps and Recovery Missions. This will be a conceit to the actual tabletop game, where you have a squad of Orders Militant Sisters that you control to complete your mission. In-between missions, you need to outfit each member of your squad with appropriate equipment and weaponry. Missions here are fairly simple. Killing xenos/heretics, and/or recovering artefacts or personnel.

Reconnaissance, Rescue and Forensics. Here, you control a single Sister Hospitaler outfitted with medical  and/or auspex   equipment in first-person mode. During Reconnaisance and Rescue missions, you may be accompanied by Servitors for various reasons. Gun and Combat Servitors for protection, Repair Servitors if you have to fix something, and so on. You may have to recover data or use your medical skills to save wounded soldiers. Forensics occur between missions, where you dissect Xeno and Human corpses to gather evidence, or use a lab to determine what the evidence means.

Diplomacy and Research. This is probably the most important section of the game. You control either a Sister Dialogous for Research or a Sister Famula for Diplomacy. Research missions require you to go over texts and collate evidence to make judgments on where to go next. Doing so correctly will open up a lot more options to complete a mission. Sisters Famula have to interact with Inquisitors, Tech-Priests, Rogue Traders, etc. in order to requisition materiel and manpower. Success means better equipment and access to more mission zones. They also may be called upon to root out heresy and broker alliances among noble houses and/or Inquisitorial groups.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Esperath on August 22, 2011, 11:34:02 PM
[00:15]   Esperath   I wonder if there's a good multistream service that lets you stream speed run competitions
[00:16]   Esperath   splitscreen
[00:16]   drethelin   that would be cool
[00:16]   Esperath   if that existed I would totally organize a mini-pyolympics for different games
[00:16]   Esperath   like, optimally it would have video of each competitor, a chat room, and voice chat
[00:16]   drethelin   I'd want frocto to do commentary
[00:16]   drethelin   on the runs

Is anyone aware of a service that could do this?  I think a Skype conference call could do *most* of this, but I'd want random spectators to be able to tune in as well.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Niku on August 23, 2011, 01:24:27 AM
I've definitely watched a friend do a Portal speed-run against one of his friends.  I think they just set up a page to display two livestream feeds.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on September 06, 2011, 07:10:45 AM
Documentary Idea:

Natural Selection: How Capitalism Works

It'd be about debunking Right-Wing Political Spin and Ayn Randian Bullshit such as Going Galt and Trickle-Down Economics by correlating Evolutionary Darwinism with Economic Darwinism.

Of course it would fail miserably because the people who would need to hear it the most wouldn't listen because Evolution is a myth.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: brave fencer mattsashi on November 04, 2011, 11:57:36 PM
i once thought about a pop tart cat running left, while singing a long and tedious song... IT LASTED FOR LIKE 3 LOVIN HOURS  :rage:
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Smiler on November 05, 2011, 07:14:14 AM
Esper: Yes. Speed Runs Live lets you do races of games, and if the competitors are streaming themselves play it gathers them together on the race website. Xsplit is still free, so it shouldn't be too hard to set up. Skype would work just fine for letting viewers hear what is going on. They would just have to mute all but one of the streams.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on November 06, 2011, 07:11:32 PM
So this has been bugging me for a while now.
The "male gaze" is ubiquitous in the visual media of today.
I'm wondering what if anything would or does typify a "female gaze".
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Niku on November 06, 2011, 08:05:22 PM
So this has been bugging me for a while now.
The "male gaze" is ubiquitous in the visual media of today.
I'm wondering what if anything would or does typify a "female gaze".

http://www.flickfilosopher.com/femalegaze.html (http://www.flickfilosopher.com/femalegaze.html)
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Friday on November 06, 2011, 08:09:17 PM
I don't often gaze

but when I do, my gaze is petrifying
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on November 19, 2011, 09:01:29 AM
Multiplayer FPS gameplay idea: using the corpses of dead players as shields.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on November 19, 2011, 09:11:27 AM
Using the corpses of dead players as blocks to construct bases in real time, Minecraft-style.

Using the corpses of dead players as ammunition for your physics guns.

Using the corpses of dead players to reach higher ground as a flood of electric radioactive acid lava gradually fills the map.

Using corpses of dead players as zombie minions that creep mindlessly toward their base.

Using corpses of dead players to change the AI behavior of police and civilian NPCs among whom you are encouraged to remain hidden.

Using corpses of dead players as special catapult ammunition that causes a disease-themed damage over time effect on anyone in the area where it lands.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Smiler on November 19, 2011, 09:30:31 AM
I am pretty sure all but one of those are actually in a game by now.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on November 19, 2011, 09:32:18 AM
@petermolydeux Using corpses of dead players in funerals. Whoever's funeral make the most NPCs experience catharsis wins.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Niku on November 19, 2011, 09:51:58 AM
using the corpses of dead players to score a tetris
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: fullmooninu on November 20, 2011, 04:16:10 AM
mold made ice dildos.

Not surprisingly, they existed on google. -_-
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: JDigital on November 23, 2011, 09:57:28 AM
Shipping on those would be tricky.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on November 25, 2011, 02:27:50 AM
When I'm bored I think of that town...
Silent Hill...

Anyway, Silent Hill game idea: a sort of sequel, sort of prequel to Silent Hill 3 in which [spoiler]you play as Claudia as a teenager shortly after the events of Silent Hill 1. Depending on how you would play the game, you'd get one of two endings: 1) she comes to the conclusion that she wants to herald Paradise on Earth, which thus leads to the events of Silent Hill 3 or, 2) she's dead after the events of Silent Hill 3, has been torturing herself for the horrible things she did to Heather, comes to realize that she needs to forgive herself, and finally moves on.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on November 25, 2011, 07:17:00 AM
It'd be nice to see an entry where the canonical ending is the one where despair completely overcomes and destroys the main character.  At the very least, it'd counter most of the "Ghosts don't scare me!  AMERICA!" stuff that's come over the series.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on December 03, 2011, 10:00:25 AM
Aliens are invading, and Earth doesn't stand a chance, and you of course are it's last hope. Fortunately, you're equipped with an ancient Alien weapon capable of manipulating one of the Universe's principle forces: the Gravity Accelerator Suit. Basically it's a First-Person Devil May Cry. I started thinking about this after reading Brentai's post about fighting in first-person. (http://brontoforum.us/index.php?topic=31.msg208987#msg208987)

The best way to describe it is through the imagined control scheme:

-R2/Right Trigger: Shoot
Like DMC, gunplay mostly exists as a mere accessory to melee combat. You'd have a rapid-fire gun that does minor damage per second that would be best used to keep your combos going, or a Grappling Hook Gun that brings enemies to you or you to them. Ammo is unlimited.

-L2/Left Trigger: Lock On
When you're not fighting, movement is Dual Analog-controlled, just like any FPS. When you encounter enemies, you press or hold the left shoulder button, and your movement more resembles Legend of Zelda or Metroid Prime in which you automatically circle-strafe around your target. The right analog stick would then be used to switch between available targets.

-L1/Left Bumper: Taunt
Every beat-'em-up needs one. Keeps your combos going, and probably something else.

-Triangle/Y: Punch
Slightly Faster than Kick

-Square/X: Kick
Slightly stronger than Punch.

-Cross/A: Jump
Also Double-Jump and later Triple-Jump with the proper upgrade purchased. Useful for Canceling out of an attack or other long animation.

-Square/B: Accelerate Gravity
For the most part acts as a quick-dash ability, allowing you to dodge attacks, quickly close-in gaps, cancel out of attack animations, and so on. There's a limit to how often you can use this in quick succession, initially at three but it can be later upgraded to five or six times in a row. Accelerate would also factor heavily into the counter-attack system. If an enemy is attempting to attack you from behind or other blind spot, a button prompt will appear. If you're quick enough in pressing it, you'll immediately dash behind the enemy, time will be temporarily slowed, giving you some free hits.

As mentioned, combos are important. High combo rankings grant more currency used to buy more moves, health and accelerate upgrades, new weapons and suit modifications.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Beat Bandit on January 22, 2012, 09:07:14 AM
Another beat 'em up / sandbox-esque game mechanic idea.

The main principle is building the game around action and reaction. Hand-to-hand combat and each martial weapon would control ostensibly the same. Left and right aimed high or low and thrusting or downward. All of the attacks as either heavy or light strikes. Defense would consist of shifting left, right or back, hopping or dodging, also either light or heavy. There would be no blocking, but colliding attacks would clash, causing staggering based off weapon types.

The idea that despite each weapon having the same attacks, they would all feel different. A character's reaction to being hit by a baseball bat to the gut shouldn't feel anything like getting run through with a sword. Still all weapons would be balanced so bare knuckle brawling could still stack up against a knife, chain, metal pipe, etc. Choice in equipment should be based solely off personal style or situation.

The controls:

Face buttons are for dodges

Triangle - duck (dodge high attacks) tap to do a quick dip, hold to crouch.

O / Square - shift (dodge attacks from left / right) tap to slide slightly, hold to move larger distances.

X - jump (dodge low attacks) tap for a quick hop, hold to jump.

Parries and counters would be situational. Holding a shift button while an enemy pulls back to thrust would put you far more than far enough away to avoid it, while waiting until the last second would parry, the counter based off weapon type (pinning the wielding arm and decking them in the face / a quick hit with the hilt of a bat / stabbing in the gut with a knife).

Shoulders for attacks

L1 / R1 - high attacks from left / right; both at once for downward attacks. Tap for light, hold for heavy.

L2 / R2 - low attacks from left / right; both at once for thrusting. Tap for light, hold for heavy.

Quick hits would be meant more to work the enemy into a primed positioning or off guard. Heavy hits of course sacrifice speed but for reliable damage. Combat should be more a dance of near hits and glancing blows, with counter hits being mainly one-hit kills.


The idea is for a series of realistic feeling one-on-one fights. Swinging and missing should not only feel different from contact, but each type of swing should have different impact and recoil based off what is hit. Put your back to a wooden pillar and let a swordsman swing into it to get his sword stuck. A metal pipe against a steel support for slight stun to being disarmed depending on the severity of the swing. A baseball bat to the gut would do some damage but stall your swing, where as it's much easier to follow-through on one to the head.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: LaserBeing on February 18, 2012, 07:41:52 PM
Thinking about player death led me down an odd rabbithole. Most people seem to agree that forcing someone to repeat a section they've mastered is a bad punishment for failure, but few have come up with a really viable alternative, and quicksaving makes for dull, sloppy, unchallenging play. But most arcade games let you revive immediately with no in-game setback, without sacrificing tension or encouraging sloppiness, because they offset the cost of death to the player's wallet rather than the player's attention span.

So the idea is this: an online service offering a variety of high-quality arcade-style games with online high score tables, achievements, multiplayer etc. No subscription fees, but you use microtransactions to buy credits, so just like the platonic arcade it's 25˘ a pop. Presumably you would need some kind of account that would bill you for each credit but you wouldn't be charged for more than you actually played.

I'm just wondering if this is an idea that would work. Would the smartphone crowd go for it? Or is that era of game design gone for good? Could this business model even function outside of a public space with physical machines?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on February 18, 2012, 07:45:19 PM
Pretty sure there are a couple services doing that already for classic arcade.  Also Dungeon Fighter had some sort of crazy setup kinda sorta maybe like that?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Friday on February 18, 2012, 08:19:36 PM
Quote
Thinking about player death led me down an odd rabbithole. Most people seem to agree that forcing someone to repeat a section they've mastered is a bad punishment for failure, but few have come up with a really viable alternative, and quicksaving makes for dull, sloppy, unchallenging play.

I think an interesting alternative would be to give the player a limited amount of quicksaves per section, with auto checkpoints at the end of the section. That way the player can plop one down in front of an area he's really having trouble with, and even right after that area if he really doesn't want to repeat it. You could even integrate an achievement/award/ranking system based on number of quicksaves used per section.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Niku on February 18, 2012, 09:58:20 PM
Thinking about player death led me down an odd rabbithole. Most people seem to agree that forcing someone to repeat a section they've mastered is a bad punishment for failure, but few have come up with a really viable alternative, and quicksaving makes for dull, sloppy, unchallenging play. But most arcade games let you revive immediately with no in-game setback, without sacrificing tension or encouraging sloppiness, because they offset the cost of death to the player's wallet rather than the player's attention span.

So the idea is this: an online service offering a variety of high-quality arcade-style games with online high score tables, achievements, multiplayer etc. No subscription fees, but you use microtransactions to buy credits, so just like the platonic arcade it's 25˘ a pop. Presumably you would need some kind of account that would bill you for each credit but you wouldn't be charged for more than you actually played.

I'm just wondering if this is an idea that would work. Would the smartphone crowd go for it? Or is that era of game design gone for good? Could this business model even function outside of a public space with physical machines?

The original plan for XBLA Street Fighter 2 was that you could download it for free and then pay a quarter to play online until you lost, or just buy the whole thing for whatever the flat fee was, but I think they backed off from that.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on February 27, 2012, 10:46:25 PM
Fractal genetic visualization of a program.

Any computer program basically can be drilled down into until you hit machine code.  Machine code is a finite and generally limited set of instruction values.  Consider each instruction a single nucleotide or base pair.  Give it a unique color.  Represent a function as a line of pixels or blocks with the color for each instruction in order.  Represent conditional jumps as a split into two lines.  If one jump moves back to an earlier point of execution, show the line circling back and one of the split lines merging back into the original.  If two split branches eventually run back into the same execution point, show them diverging then moving back, etc.

Represent each function as a unique gene.  Show a function calling other functions as a thicker line containing the gene line(s).  Show functions of functions of okay you get the idea.

Allow an entire module or program to be visualized in this manner, zooming and scaling as desired.  If you want to get super-fancy, represent the flow of data throughout the various loops and functions as glowing moving specks of light running across the lines.

I really have no idea what the hell the value of this would be.  It'd probably look pretty cool though.  And somebody's probably already done it.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on February 27, 2012, 11:24:49 PM
Machine code is a finite and generally limited set of instruction values.
So... OK...
Brentai, would you want a separate color for each of a 32 bit machine's possible single line instruction values? Just OpCodes?
Did you have any particular plans for variable length instructions? Do you care about architectures that support variable length instructions?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on February 27, 2012, 11:30:23 PM
Brentai, would you want a separate color for each of a 32 bit machine's possible single line instruction values? Just OpCodes?

Just opcodes.  Though if you wanted to get superfancy I suppose you could represent every possible instruction as a tint or lumenescent shade of said opcode, but at that point the colors start to blur and you don't have a visualization so much as modern art.

I don't give two shits about the length of the instruction since it's still essentially one opcode, unless your processor is fucking bananas.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on February 27, 2012, 11:32:08 PM
I've always thought of those control bits as "part" of the opcode. Kind of like how Magnitude is part of the core cast on Community.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on February 27, 2012, 11:40:15 PM
If I were to represent it at all I would extend the DNA metaphor and do it as a base-pair.  One element representing the opcode, one element representing the data bits.  The problem with doing that is that there are so many more possible data bit values that you'll end up with one colorful and distinct band paired up against one crazy-shit band of repetitive but unidentifiable random colors.  Which... might work out fine, now that I think about it.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on February 27, 2012, 11:52:41 PM
I think someone actually made a tool like this to visualize an out of order pipeline. Or maybe I just dreamed that one semester. Fff.

EDIT:
Now that I think about it, I'm sure that I was dreaming, because the pipeline also had branch prediction and there was a cool dream-effect where instructions got clobbered from the pipeline on a mis-predict.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on March 03, 2012, 02:54:22 PM
I watched the end of Ong-Bak 3 last night, and I immediately began thinking up an idea for a story: a war veteran from the West finds himself in a small, fictional Eastern country (Something similar to, say, Mongolia but with definite Muslim/Russian influences). Somehow, he finds himself traveling in the company of the country's deposed princess, a teenaged girl who is also some sort of reincarnated warrior Buddha.

Most of the story would include the two having civilized and intelligent conversations contrasting their own personal philosophies. Action sequences would often involve the War Veteran getting through scuffles by being a dashing rogue or the Princess being at total peace with the universe while she flips seven-foot-tall barbarians with a flick of her wrist or calmly walking through a volley of arrows and not being touched by a single one.

Of course, she'd also at one point lose her shit and just go on a violent murder spree like some sort of possessed demon, but that'll come later.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Lottel on March 20, 2012, 02:41:57 AM
It starts off as a normal  Super Mario clone but then you start traversing through different Mario games including 2D versions of Galaxy and whatnot. All the while you are getting buffer and buffer by collecting steaks and there's a different princess in every castle. Maybe you learn wrestling moves too.
SUPER MANLIO BROS.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Smiler on March 20, 2012, 11:49:54 AM
Sounds like a Suda 51 game.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: the asshole you hate on March 21, 2012, 01:02:46 PM
(http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/5407/einstein2.jpg)
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on March 29, 2012, 10:15:42 AM
I came up with a stat-based conversation system. You have six conversation-oriented statistics:

Intimidation: How easily you can scare an NPC into doing what you want.
Deduction: How you can gain power over an NPC's secrets
Seduction: How easily you can seduce and charm an NPC.
Intuition: How you can come to understand an NPC.
Persuasion: How you can convince an NPC to be your friend.
Deception: How you can convince an NPC that you ARE their friend.

These six stats influence an NPC's 4 attributes:

Fear, influenced by Intimidation and Deduction.
Attraction, influenced by Seduction and Intuition.
Trust, influenced by Persuasion and Deception.
And Impression, which is influenced by all six stats and other things. You won't get far in any conversation unless you have a high Impression.

Conversations themselves are divided up into three parts: Small Talk, Discussion and Skills. Discussions are your typical dialog tree you'll find in any story-based western RPG, with your success at the various options based on your Conversation Statistics and the NPC's own Attributes, and Small Talk is where you try to directly influence the NPC's four attributes with your stats.

Skills are one-off abilities you can use during conversations. For example, Psyche Up improves the chances of your next dialog choice succeeding, Poker Face boosts you Deception stat, and Bi-Curious Wink would invite the NPC you're talking to into a strange and erotic world they may never have known existed to them. Each Skill can only be used once per conversation, and there would be some kind of limit on the number of Skills you can use in each conversation.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on April 08, 2012, 05:31:16 PM
Stolen Characters: a webcomic starring other people's "original" characters.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on April 11, 2012, 03:04:26 PM
DLC for a game sold via Steam or otherwise linking into a social platform (Facebook?). If you buy it, anybody on your friend list may play it; if anybody on your friend list has purchased it, you have access to it. Possibly only allows a lesser version of it, which scales in proportion to the number of friends who've made the plunge, and purchasing it gives you the maximum amount.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Lottel on April 11, 2012, 05:52:22 PM
That really is the worst stray thought ever. I can see that being neat for the gaming side and maybe for steam,but the social networking side would be pretty awful.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Lottel on May 05, 2012, 07:54:06 PM
Question: Why don't Sony and Microsoft have some sort of game renting system in their shops? Pay per hour you play or something. They could limit it select titles such as the ones directly owned by the company. I know the PSN has a game trial that lasts an hour but you can only get it if you have PS+. Charge an extra few bucks for additional hours. You'd be taking money away from the game rental companies that they don't like, possibly take money and customers away from GameStop and the like.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Niku on May 06, 2012, 02:02:20 AM
Because modern games are two hours long.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Smiler on June 04, 2012, 11:00:09 AM
I hope to one day make a video edit that splices Brodyquest in the ending of Mass Effect 3. They are practically the same thing.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Beat Bandit on June 12, 2012, 04:03:16 PM
Cheap, simple facebook game with infinite revenue potential:

Run Forever
Customize a cute little creature and then guide it through randomly generated semi-platforming tracks. No enemies, but constant scrolling platform avoidance, like Battletoads jet / hover / space ski levels. The illusion of super speed means you don't need a ton of art resources since everything foreground or background will be moving stupidly fast or practically not at all.

You'll be able to see the names of the people closest to you in distance ran for all of facebook, local, friends. Meaning that if you're not constantly playing your friends are actively surpassing you, not just designing a slightly cooler farm / cafe / sex shop.

You can of course spend Facebux (or whatever less awesome name they have for it) on consumables to help you navigate certain types of obstacles, speed boosts, and of course tons and tons of shit to accessorize your character with.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: James Edward Smith on June 12, 2012, 05:32:06 PM
Could this be a game about parkouring primate couriers who deliver packages in little satchels while jumping around an overgrown jungle looking postapocalyptic world where the ruins of skyscrappers and malls often appear under the tall tress and dense mosses?

There's possibly three types of courier to be, a chimp, a Baboon or a spider monkey.

There's possibly three types of package to deliver, a satchel useful for swinging or throwing over obstacles, a crate that can float in rivers and is springy like a trampoline, and a bindle stick with bindle that is useful for pole vaulting.

Compete for quantity of successful deliveries or fastest times on certain routes.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on August 08, 2012, 06:46:25 PM
I've been marathonning episodes of Lost these past few days, and I saw a commercial for that Sigourney Weaver show, Political Animals, and I came up with an idea for a TV drama.

It's a political intrigue story revolving around the assassination of a fictional president being assassinated shortly into his first term. Like Lost, the story would bounce around various POV characters throughout various timeframes and eras. We would see the life of the President during his college years, his family dealing with his death, his VP's controversial political career, the hardships of the highly decorated former marine who pulled the trigger, etc.

That's all I've got.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Mongrel on August 08, 2012, 06:53:43 PM
There's actually a comic by Rick Geary called "The Fatal Bullet" that does that with the Garfield assassination. It's really good!
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Beat Bandit on August 11, 2012, 05:53:43 AM
Terminator: The Game (Except Good This Time)

Big open world sandbox game. You start naked in the middle of nowhere with one mission. Kill Sarah Connor. She (or a random NPC you start with a picture of) is a constant with a complex schedule randomly determined in each new game.

You need to get to and kill her without arousing suspicion from her or the community as a whole. If you take too long Kyle Reese may show up. Depending on your actions Sarah may or may not trust him, or you could just end up destroyed by the government before you ever find her if you're too open about being a robot / Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on August 15, 2012, 07:05:40 PM
So every once in a while I think about an RPG/Fighting Game hybrid. You create a character, customize their fighting style, and then when you're confident enough with their build you take him/her online and fight against other people's custom characters. And when I say Fighting Game, I mean straight-up tournament-level fighting game.

It's a four button-system: Light A, Strong A, Light B, and Strong B. You equip two fighting styles, one to Light and Strong A, one to Light and Strong B. Each style has a number of command input moves like Quarter-Circle Light, Charge-Back Strong, and so forth. You learn new moves when your Styles level up. In addition to your two styles, you equip a Stance, which determines how your character moves in battle, provide bonuses to certain types of attacks, and give you special direction moves like dashing, air-dashing, running, double jumping, etc.

You've also got a sliding scale battle alignment between Power and Speed. Power determines the strength of your attacks and duration of hitstuns and staggers, Speed determines how quickly you move and how quick your combos are. Each Stance and Style has an value on the battle alignment, and values of both Styles and the Stance equipped averaged together determine your character's alignment.

As for the story, I don't know, I kind of keep coming back to the idea about a massive prison that forces inmates to fight each other on national television.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Beat Bandit on August 16, 2012, 03:45:21 AM
Facebook Dating

There are a million websites that are the facebook of dating in the same way any xbox game was the Halo of *blank* in the early 2000s.

Actually make a website that is essentially just distilling all the information Facebook hands the internet about you anyway. Your profile would be half your generic dating site profile, and half your facebook page.

People are already telling the world absolutely everything about them on Facebook pages, and willing to friend any account that looks like it belongs to someone whose genital type is appealing to them.

This would just be a way of saying "yes, now that you know all my favorite everything, feel free to try and get in my pants".
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: François on August 25, 2012, 05:29:04 PM
A roguelike where the player character is an aging warrior looking to die to a worthy opponent. You're scored on how tough the monster who finally does you in is, with a multiplicative bonus for how close you came to defeating it so there are no "oh hey there's the most powerful opponent in the game whoops i dropped all my armor how'd that happen lol" shenanigans.

If you kill everything, the game ends and gives you a score of zero.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: McDohl on August 26, 2012, 11:35:44 AM
This is interesting.  I'd play it.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on September 10, 2012, 07:12:39 AM
Slendersnap

A cross between Slender and Pokemon Snap.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Beat Bandit on October 20, 2012, 09:47:33 AM
Just a random story idea.

Zombie Apocalypse ~10 years later.

Built out of the remains of what was a small downtown shopping center, the only known bastion of human civilization has found their salvation away from technology. The walls are a hand mortared cobblestone of sidewalk and foundation. Some patrols carry bows; most swords, axes and hammers but they all wear mail under their clothes to prevent bites.

Guns are kept locked away and never used against zombies, since they only ever attract more. Other than a few emergency gas generators the most advanced machines are steam powered, and those are just for smithing and farming.

The Survivors:

Inside the city walls it feels like before the uprising. Older citizens complain about missing the way the world was because not out of fear or denial but because they're comfortable enough to think of those things. Some have been able to keep similar lifestyles on the fields, cooking or metalworking. Most raised in this world have adapted best, and children born after the uprising already treat a human-run planet as legend.

Outside the city is almost unknown. Some citizens will leave, but of the slim number who try to return only those who can provide useful information or supplies are allowed to. Travelers had died out as communities started to build a few years after the uprising, but many ended as resources dwindled before they could learn to subsist. The result is smaller families living out their lives tucked away and larger ones being turned or forced back to the streets, and the human population is clearly still dwindling. There are rumors of a real society that has been pushing inland from the coast, but so little is known it's not considered anything more than false hope.

Zambies:

Even with years of testing on them, very little is known of what drives the zombies. All corpses rise up, regardless of how they were killed. Headless corpses and almost bare skeletons are common sights, and no amount of wear or time starved will stop them. Nothing stays dead unless completely mutilated or incinerated. Their blood and saliva doesn't seem to be dangerous on its own, but bites and scratches infect and fester quickly, almost assuredly taking the victim.


Focusing more on human interaction, zombies are the setting, not the story. The main theme is rebuilding and learning to last in that world. Split decisions on accepting outsiders and having children. The rift between those that are still living in a nightmare they're trying to escape and the realization of what's left and what needs to happen to get back on their feet.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on October 20, 2012, 10:40:54 AM
Even with years of testing on them, very little is known of what drives the zombies. All corpses rise up, regardless of how they were killed. Headless corpses and almost bare skeletons are common sights, and no amount of wear or time starved will stop them. Nothing stays dead unless completely mutilated or incinerated. Their blood and saliva doesn't seem to be dangerous on its own, but bites and scratches infect and fester quickly, almost assuredly taking the victim.

... that's actually kind of interesting. Like, the way that you described it, the cause of undeath is mystical in nature, and unconnected to that, the zombification of bitten people is caused by bacterial infection-induced death from being bitten by a decomposing corpse monster.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Beat Bandit on October 20, 2012, 11:26:09 AM
Definitely shooting for "mystical" for the zombies. The rules they follow should make sense, but border on fantasy so it feels like anything could be possible.

Getting infected through a zombie bite has felt overpowered since it first became a standard. It just makes them seem too organized, almost with a goal to bring zombification to others instead of just reanimated husks.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on October 31, 2012, 07:28:10 PM
God damn it, God DAMN it.

I just realized how much I want to play a Lovecraft-themed RPG in the style of Fallout/Arcanum/Torment. I want to play that game right now.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Beat Bandit on November 20, 2012, 05:13:23 AM
Online Shooter with no respawns and realistic bullet damage.

Like Red Orchestra there would be no real HUD or indication of enemies, and you'll be dead after  one or two bullets.

Unlike Red Orchestra each team would have a reinforcements count. When you die you go back to the lobby and can't join back into that game. A MOBA lobby would connect singles or squads depending on game type / need.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on December 02, 2012, 05:46:58 PM
A story about a Serial Killer whose Modus Operandi is framing other people for heinous murders and getting them thrown onto death row.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on December 06, 2012, 07:57:33 AM
Streaming media players like Netflix and Hulu need a shuffled marathon player that will just randomly run videos off of your queue, favorites and high rated videos, and suggested videos. Something to let you just veg out in front of the TV but with the added benefit of always having something worth watching on.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Caithness on December 13, 2012, 09:05:42 PM
But then what if something you actually want to pay attention to comes on?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on January 09, 2013, 03:02:09 PM
Story idea: catalog the fall of American civilization by the machinations of one man who achieves dictatorship by arming every American, setting neighbor against neighbor, and then rallying the winners around himself.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: R^2 on January 09, 2013, 05:09:14 PM
Kwame starts "Let our powers combine! Earth!"
"Fire!"
As "Wind!" and "Water!" are announced, you see a henchman who is far too used to this shit sneak over and punch the shit out of Ma-Ti, knocking him out.

"HE-aargh"

By the four powers combined, Captain Planet is still formed -- but without the empathy for humanity granted by the Heart ring, he's a pitiless gaia's avenger.

After several minutes of him setting those villains' plants and factories that don't actually do anything but pollute on fire, zapping said recurring villains with lightning, and generally stopping all the tedious bullshit they've had to deal with so far, the remaining conscious Planeteers agree they should have done this six seasons ago.

...sometimes it's not easy living in my head.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Niku on January 09, 2013, 06:22:02 PM
actually there was an episode of captain planet where three of the planeteers got stuck in outer space after summoning captain planet giving him only the powers of heart and earth
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on January 10, 2013, 12:46:34 PM
Don Cheadle had a similar idea. (http://www.funnyordie.com/captain_planet)
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on January 28, 2013, 01:40:37 AM
OKAY, SO THIS MIGHT BE THE WORST IDEA EVER:

War Whores: The Chronicles of Big Pimp Dee

I came up with this while... researching some MMO or another today (http://brontoforum.us/index.php?topic=126.msg251049#msg251049). And I'm very sorry for coming up with this.

It's your basic 16-bit JRPG set-up. In fact, the thought crossed my mind that I could make this with RPG Maker. Anyway, the basic plot as such is that someone done goofed and crossed Big Pimp Dee. Thus, Big Pimp Dee and his four best girls set out on an epic quest to kick the shit out of them.

So, obviously, pimping is a major part of this game. I feel awful just typing that. It's the only way you can earn cash, and sometimes in order to proceed through the plot you need to throw some poon at it. Of course, it isn't as simple as shoving a girl into a guy and hoping his dick falls in. You need to match the right girl to the right client:

-You've got the Pro, a gal who's willing to get her hands dirty because she has professional work ethic. She also gives the best blow jobs on the planet.
-Then you've got the Sweet Heart, the girl who knows that sex isn't easy for everybody. You set her up with virgins and nerds, and maybe occasionally a dude who likes to be in control.
-Of course there's an Asian Dominatrix. She's good with kinky shit, dominating men, lesbianism, and hatefucking.
-And then there's the Brazilian Ladyboy. Her quality is that she has a penis.
-And finally, though Big Pimp Dee don't whore himself out, you can bet that if there's a wet pussy in need of a deep dicking, Big Pimp Dee will be there.

Again, I'm very sorry for this.

EDIT: that was weird half hour last night.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on January 30, 2013, 10:10:45 AM
Less horrifying idea: a strategy RPG with perma-death like Fire Emblem, but with the New Game+ mechanisms of Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. If you fuck up and get a lot of characters killed, you can reset time itself while maintaining your character growth.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Beat Bandit on February 07, 2013, 11:14:47 AM
Someone is probably already doing this to some extent but:

Genderswap rewrites.

All your favorite books, movies, shows redone exactly except every character is the opposite sex.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on February 07, 2013, 01:15:36 PM
I think Japan has their Takarazuka (http://kageki.hankyu.co.jp/english/) people. Which is close enough for most things, no?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Beat Bandit on February 07, 2013, 01:46:28 PM
An all-female cast is almost completely missing the point.

Which I guess I didn't give anyway.

I specifically got the idea while rewatching Firefly and thinking about Joss Whedon's quote pertaining to why he always writes strong female characters ("because you're still asking me that question").

In a lot of cases I just think it would be interesting to see how well a lot of 'strong female' roles carry over, and the weaker male roles that they tend to get paired with. A well written couple or group of mixed genders should be seen as well written and non-offensive no matter what. Zoe and Wash are a good example of something that's fine because the female is overall stronger, but even though Wash is awesome a lot of his actions as Zoe's husband and not just the pilot would but put in a different light if he were a she.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: RoboticDinosaur on February 10, 2013, 09:28:21 AM
I'm starting to formulate a project story. I know I want to draw elements from JoJo, Persona, and Gundam. Not sure what else, but I was thinking I could name the protective spirits (Stands/Personas) after video games. The lead could be something like Earthbound, and his enemy could be like Guilty Gear or something. It's only a gimmick, but I think it'd be kinda cool.

I am wondering what the best way for me to do a action style project like this would be. I want to stay away from a video game (Ironic, maybe, because I'm naming them after Games), so that's out.

there's the pen and paper RPG route, which might be interesting.
Card game route, which could be fun.
Book, which would be my best bet, but I'm not THAT into writing.
Sprite Comic, cause I can't do art good enough to web comic, but I also can't/don't like spriting too much.

So, I'm hear looking for new and interesting ideas. What are your thoughts?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Büge on February 22, 2013, 04:36:53 PM
Speed Racer meets Roller Derby. Cyborg chicks in the far future of 199X compete in worldwide tournament racing. Standard array of maneuverability, acceleration, top speed, but there's also the issue of charisma. Stylish racers get more fan support, ratings and sponsorships, but you have to sacrifice defense in order to look good. Heavily armed and armored racers can take down others easily, but they're gonna be slower and uglier.

There's several levels you have to work up: regional, national, corporate and international. Tracks would have different types of obstacles, but there would also be different events, like relay racing (like Motorball from Battle Angel Alita), endurance trials (who lasts longest) and sprints (who is fastest).
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on March 03, 2013, 09:03:37 AM
I want to tell a story that elicits a specific reaction from the audience. That emotion: hate. For me. I want to tell a story that literally makes people miserable and angry and sad, but they're physically unable to stop reading.

After a few minutes of brain storming, here's a story arc I came up with: the protagonist is a guy who is in love with this super adorable girl. The girl has a shitbag boyfriend, who just happens to be protag's brother. Then the super adorable girl is killed literally because of the brother is such a shitbag (via drunk driving, or perhaps pissed off drug dealers), throwing the protagonist into emotional turmoil because if he wasn't such a gigantic coward and had pursued her, she might still be alive and they would be happy. Only then I'm going to shit all over him for being so conceited as to think like this.

Jesus Christ, I'm literally cackling with joy over this shit.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Niku on March 03, 2013, 09:28:32 AM
I want to tell a story that elicits a specific reaction from the audience. That emotion: hate. For me. I want to tell a story that literally makes people miserable and angry and sad, but they're physically unable to stop reading.

you are going to have your work cut out for you to make something more effective in this arena than Smash
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on March 03, 2013, 10:23:49 AM
It's a Terrible Life
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on May 21, 2013, 05:31:09 PM
In case you needed proof that exercise makes you stupid, I came up with this after a particularly intense workout: Speed draw some comics on my Asus Slate based on !bestofhaiku entries, Spamusement style.  Given my non-existent art skills and the fact that I've got about a total of ten minutes per day to devote to this kind of inanity, the results are, well...

(http://brentai.brontoforum.us/images/thefaceofchaos/1.png)
(http://brentai.brontoforum.us/images/thefaceofchaos/2.png)
(http://brentai.brontoforum.us/images/thefaceofchaos/3.png)
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on May 21, 2013, 06:25:19 PM
A Skyrim mod which adds a dungeon that resembles old Wizardry-era dungeon crawlers, all rectangular black corridors with evenly spaced white grid lines and perfect right angles.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on August 15, 2013, 09:21:03 AM
An MMO sort of like City of Heroes, only instead of Heroes, they're roving gangs of professional wrestlers out to clean up the streets

Piledrive everything
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Classic on August 15, 2013, 10:40:23 AM
By reputation, you have described City of Heroes without variation.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Mothra on August 15, 2013, 02:17:02 PM
By reputation, you have described City of Heroes without variation.

hahahaha
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on August 27, 2013, 09:00:30 AM
A scroll wheel on a controller, between R1/RB and R2/RT.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on August 27, 2013, 09:20:26 AM
Sony already put a touchpad there, and so kinda did Nintendo, so I think you're behind.

Oh, on the right side only... eh, nah.  Things are already getting crowded over there.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: R^2 on August 27, 2013, 09:34:49 AM
And as a left-handed person that's pretty unappealing in general.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on August 27, 2013, 09:50:55 AM
But as a left-handed person you should be pretty well used to it, by now.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Büge on August 27, 2013, 10:27:57 AM
Then as a left-handed person,

(http://theboxingtribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/middle-finger-kid-e1356930613672.jpg)
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: R^2 on August 27, 2013, 10:57:57 AM
Then as a left-handed person,

(http://theboxingtribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/middle-finger-kid-e1356930613672.jpg)
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Smiler on August 27, 2013, 11:03:35 AM
Whatever mutants.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on August 27, 2013, 01:07:41 PM
Man, left-handed people are real uppity about their condition, huh?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on August 27, 2013, 01:09:57 PM
While we're talking console hardware features, I've got a few:

* Trigger buttons that are more trigger-like (like the old X-Box controller with less fuckhuge everything else) with programmable tension settings.  I'm fairly sure this can be done with today's technology.  Ideally, the triggers can be programmed to have a specific stage points for guns (i.e. there's noticeably more resistance at the point where the gun actually fires) or to have a certain level of resistance for vehicles, or whatever other number of things you usually reserve the analog trigger buttons for.

* While we're at it, mandatory executions for anyone who makes non-trigger buttons analog.

* Remove all status lights, replace with programmable e-ink marquee.  Not only does it give you much more information about what the hell is going on with the device and gives developers something else to brand while you're playing the game, it doesn't passively require power and doesn't need to illuminate the room to tell you that the console is, in fact, off.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on August 28, 2013, 03:44:16 AM
Look Who's Back

Michael Ubriacco has just finished up with college and is about to score the job of a lifetime, but there's one problem: he's suffering from severe schizophrenia. Bruce Willis returns as the voice of "Mikey".
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on September 06, 2013, 05:00:39 AM
Ridiculous Weapon Idea: Grinder Club. It's like a roll of coins, only instead of coins, it's saw blades on a metal pole. And every saw blade runs in the opposite direction of the two blades it's sandwiched between (clockwise-counter clockwise-clockwise- counter clockwise, so on and so on). And the teeth on the saw blades are really more like dull stumps, so they more grind and crush than cut.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Niku on September 06, 2013, 06:10:02 AM
go back to bed cliffy b you're drunk
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Zaratustra on September 06, 2013, 06:33:42 AM
wonder if you can make the gears such that they turn slightly when they hit something
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on September 06, 2013, 06:42:01 AM
wonder if you can make the gears such that they turn slightly when they hit something

oh i guess i forgot to mention that the gears are mounted on a chainsaw-like motor thingy

yeah, those things are spinning at high speeds.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on September 16, 2013, 08:32:51 AM
It's the mid-1920's, and the world is on the precipice of the Armageddon. Humanity's fate hinges on one man: Babe Ruth. If the New York Yankees win a baseball game against Satan's forces, the End of Days will be pushed back another one thousand years.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Mongrel on September 16, 2013, 08:55:58 AM
That would actually be pretty awesome, if done right.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on September 16, 2013, 08:59:47 AM
You'd probably get instantly triple the play out of this if your protagonist was Mighty Casey.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: François on September 24, 2013, 01:03:59 PM
A platformer, with ten levels. Each level is ten branching paths, each path being a one-screen challenge. All screens look incredibly difficult and intimidating. Only one path from each level is in any way winnable, while the other nine look beatable but are literally impossible, in a way that makes it difficult for the player to tell if it's because they're not good enough or if it's because the room is an actual dead-end death trap.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Beat Bandit on September 24, 2013, 01:07:53 PM
Family Guy - Peter Griffin - Who hurt you? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiYdiUbghKs#)
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: François on September 24, 2013, 02:21:03 PM
i've had that thought while watching frocto lp ek3
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Büge on September 24, 2013, 10:21:02 PM
A platformer, with ten levels. Each level is ten branching paths, each path being a one-screen challenge. All screens look incredibly difficult and intimidating. Only one path from each level is in any way winnable, while the other nine look beatable but are literally impossible, in a way that makes it difficult for the player to tell if it's because they're not good enough or if it's because the room is an actual dead-end death trap.

So you want to build a Skinner Box without the reward?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: François on September 25, 2013, 08:08:54 AM
Well, more like 90 Skinner boxes with no reward, 9 boxes where the reward is access to more boxes, and one box where the reward is victory/freedom. And none of the buttons are labeled.

Alternatively, one might think of it as a game where giving up is an obligatory part of the winning strategy in the vast majority of blind playthroughs.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Büge on September 25, 2013, 09:10:13 AM
Actually, I believe you've just thought up A Dragon Eats You.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on September 25, 2013, 10:41:41 AM
Or an old Sierra game.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Büge on September 25, 2013, 12:00:17 PM
screaming_graham.avi
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on September 25, 2013, 03:03:06 PM
I'M SORRY DID SOMEBODY ASK FOR A SCREAMING GRAHAM

King's Quest 5 - Scream Glitch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrJp9QK8Qq4#)
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Kazz on September 29, 2013, 03:32:39 PM
that is simply the worst platformer i've ever seen
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: François on September 29, 2013, 07:20:16 PM
he said, taking notes furiously
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Mongrel on October 10, 2013, 02:02:04 PM
Some folks I know play tabletop pulp adventure games. There are some funny gangs and some conventional ones. The dame, the hero, the professor, pulp tropes like that. A lot of them feature "the token ethnic servant".

I want to do an entire hero team of brown guys just to annoy everyone. They fit the 30's pulp heroes stereotype in every other way, but they're all non-white. Big subcontinental moustaches and such.

The only problem is thinking of a suitable Indo-Pakistani organization/group/patron to fund/assemble them, their raison d'etre.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on October 10, 2013, 10:08:14 PM
The only problem is thinking of a suitable Indo-Pakistani organization/group/patron to fund/assemble them, their raison d'etre.
A trick that always helps me formulate a character is to first find a name, word or concept that meshes with what I need and extrapolate characterization from that. For an organization, I would suggest scanning lists of Middle Eastern/South Asian philosophies, culture and history on Wikipedia. If you feel a single, wealthy individual works better, you should look through, say, Behind The Name (http://www.behindthename.com/) or Wikipedia lists of famous Middle Eastern/South Asian individuals.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: peabody on October 12, 2013, 04:45:58 AM
Give it to the Tatas, have them start as enforcers or corporate investigators or a minimally-funded positive publicity grab or something
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Mongrel on October 13, 2013, 03:49:24 AM
I kind of like the idea of the Tatas bankrolling them, but seems like that's play better as the behind-the-scenes funders. That's certainly a workable idea if I can't think of anything more pulp-y.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on January 03, 2014, 12:16:01 AM
04:14:35 <BongoBill> A game design thought. May I rap it at you?
04:14:49 <brontozara> sure
04:15:50 <BongoBill> So the kinds of games that people like to stick with are the games with an element of mastery - mastery of a skill, a system, or a space - that's used for inducing flow.
04:16:14 <brontozara> before f2p introduced the concept of challengeless reward, yes
04:16:34 <BongoBill> That mastery can only really be developed through practice. Repetition.
04:17:15 <brontozara> go on
04:17:41 <BongoBill> The challenge of game narratives, meanwhile, is that most stories are not about repetition. They're composed of singular events and are characterized by constant change.
04:19:09 <BongoBill> A story where the same thing keeps happening is usually following the structure where the thing happens twice - the minimum number of repetitions possible - and then happens differently the third time. The story establishes the concept of repetitions and then glosses over it in the abstract, but the game needs real repetition.
04:19:40 <BongoBill> (This, I think, is the tension behind the Nathan Drake problem, where nobody could kill that many people and remain so affable.)
04:20:45 <BongoBill> So the traditional solutions have been things like - make the bulk of the game, most or all of its interactive parts, be about the things that happen in between the significant events of the story. The significant parts of Mario's story are what he finds in the castle, but the games are about him running towards it.
04:21:19 <brontozara> games are also repetitive because it takes a lot of resources to make various game engines and varying the types of skill challenges tends to irritate players
04:22:17 <brontozara> like, imagine uhh wizard of oz as a game
04:22:33 <brontozara> 9/10s is just walk down a road and dialogue scenes
04:22:36 <brontozara> suddenly MONKEY FIGHT
04:22:41 <brontozara> WHAT ARE THE FIGHT CONTROLS
04:22:42 <BongoBill> The former can be overcome - the technical cost of varied gameplay does not exceed the artistic cost of the kinds of things currently made - but the latter is just another way of restating the idea that games are about testing mastery, and the faster it can be taught the sooner it can be tested, and that testing is flow.
04:22:45 <brontozara> HOW DO YOU PUNCH MONKEY
04:22:58 <brontozara> then back
04:23:17 <brontozara> then emerald city, more dialogue stuff, blah, witch's castle
04:23:37 <BongoBill> One-offs are not conducive to mastery, yeah.
04:23:39 <brontozara> do you fight witch with punches? NO YOU USE AN ITEM THAT'S JUST LYING AROUND
04:23:39 <brontozara> SO
04:23:40 <brontozara> UN
04:23:42 <brontozara> FAIR
04:24:16 <brontozara> but anyway
04:24:19 <BongoBill> Another traditional solution is in things like making the story be told only during the parts where the player is still learning new concepts, to supplement interest in the parts when flow is impossible (flow requires mastery). The game is still changing during this time, so it's natural for there to be a story. Then for mastery it tapers off into a low-context endless mode.
04:24:27 <brontozara> i take you're building towards an alternative?
04:24:54 <BongoBill> I'm just freestyling. Organizing my thoughts.
04:26:45 <brontozara> ok. also keep in mind
04:27:02 <brontozara> 1) gameplay and story usually are written in parallel rather than one coming from the other
04:27:06 <BongoBill> Still a third technique, that you see in some other things, is to have different threads of the story developing in parallel through different channels. The character going from A to B is what occupies the player's hands, but meanwhile you've got some other characters reciting their life stories via audio log or codec, so there's narrative development. I think this is just separation again, though
04:27:26 <brontozara> one of the few exceptions is Star Control, where the story came -from- the gameplay
04:27:47 <BongoBill> And even then, most of the gameplay of Star Control was flying your planet lander around picking up Uranium.
04:28:03 <brontozara> i mean the race personalities were all derived from their spaceship designs
04:28:14 <BongoBill> Ah, I see.
04:28:28 <brontozara> also
04:28:48 <brontozara> 2) most story expounding techniques in games come from either comics or movies
04:28:59 <brontozara> and books, which is even worse
04:29:35 <brontozara> all of those are linear
04:30:10 <brontozara> 3) it is considered extremely correct for a game to spend 40+ hours of the player's time, further cementing its status as an activity rather than a story
04:30:36 <BongoBill> Well, this isn't about linearity or non per se. I'm not heading towards dynamically generated narrative - though it is interesting to think about how e.g. a multiplayer game might be constructed to produce remarkable occurrences that people want to share.
04:31:30 <brontozara> if you just want plot organically delivered, i guess half-life games are the gold standard
04:31:55 <BongoBill> Games are played with the eyes, the ears, and the fingers. Eyes have images and ears have speaking, so it's natural to draw on the elements of the precedents of illustration and oration (the ultimate ancestors of comics, films, novels, etc.) - but there's no precedent for a kind of story that's experienced through the fingers.
04:32:57 <brontozara> also very few ways to send information back through the fingers
04:33:13 <BongoBill> Well, by "fingers" I refer to manipulation and feedback, not texture and temperature.
04:33:21 <brontozara> mhm
04:33:37 <brontozara> i suppose you enjoyed gone home
04:33:59 <BongoBill> Haven't played it yet, but I know enough of it to know it was going to be highly relevant to what I was about to say.
04:35:17 <BongoBill> So the idea of manipulation and feedback creating a story - the story becomes the act of discovery. Try something, see how it responds, deduce or induce the properties thereof. Manipulation and feedback suggest a structure of a mystery.
04:36:12 <brontozara> mhm
04:36:18 <BongoBill> Mysteries, puzzles - already pretty toylike, so the connection is obvious. But they're structured around those instants of revelation, not the methodical application of mastered skills.
04:36:48 <brontozara> there's some semi-crazy dude that was pissed off most games reduced essentially to spatial manipulation puzzles
04:39:19 <BongoBill> You can't quantify a mystery the way you can a skill. You could count the number of clues revealed, and which clues those other clues lead to - you can take the facts of the case and render them as a beautiful web of formal syllogisms. If you try to make that your whole game, you end up with Doodle God.
04:40:48 <BongoBill> Now, Doodle God was interesting to me. If you take Doodle God and make its basically arbitrary logical maze thematically more coherent and specific, you could come up with something rather beautiful. But there's not a skill there. No mastery, no flow. Unless....
04:40:50 <brontozara> which wouldn't be bad if humans were primarily visual thinkers
04:41:01 <brontozara> which is a funny point
04:41:27 <brontozara> humans primarily use visual sensory information but are verbal thinkers
04:42:00 <BongoBill> Well, the skill you'd be developing is the skill at anticipating the thesis of the artifact. The classic, Metroid-esque "Guess what the designer is thinking" "puzzle." Which suggests some very powerful rhetorical possibilities to me, but that leads in the direction of game-as-essay.
04:42:08 <BongoBill> When I was originally interested in game-as-story.
04:42:52 <brontozara> what about emergent solutions
04:43:32 <BongoBill> The didactic power of that structure is well-known; educational and persuasive games simulate some part of what they're trying to teach, and the audience discovers it by interacting with the simulation.
04:44:02 <BongoBill> The trouble with designing for emergent elements is that you still generally want to rely on proof that a solution will emerge.
04:44:27 <BongoBill> Prove that a solution exists. Some pretty heady math, though game designers might not think of it that way.
04:45:29 <BongoBill> To reconcile the need for a space that is solvable with the need for the solution to have symbolic meaning transferable to an outside context ("art") makes that a much more difficult prospect than the sort of contrivance that most works of creativity rely on. Which is fine.
04:46:59 <BongoBill> I suppose I'm looking for imitable models, here.
04:47:57 <brontozara> i dunno when you talk like that i feel like i'm sittiny on the nozzle of a big metal cylinder that reads YALE.
04:48:41 <brontozara> does meaning really have to be put in there
04:48:47 <brontozara> i mean people will find meaning in anything
04:49:18 <BongoBill> True. I'm thinking this more about the perspective of expanding the designer's toolbox than making a specific product, though.
04:50:39 <BongoBill> Jackson Pollock interested his audience less because of the content of his paintings and more because of their knowledge of how to interact with paintings.
04:50:55 <BongoBill> But there can really only be one Jackson Pollock.
04:52:04 <BongoBill> Emergence and authorial intent are hard to mix. Which is important to know, but right now my mind is leading me towards wanting something easy.
04:52:08 <brontozara> you won't find an engine capable of generating infinite interesting games as long as games are about interaction with unique engines
04:54:09 <BongoBill> When you talk about emergence, I am thinking of something like a generator that makes puzzles whose (multiple) solutions will feel varied to the solvers. Something that exists.
04:56:13 <brontozara> there are very few procedural generators that actually cause surprises
04:56:43 <brontozara> nethack will never make a room with pillars where orcs worship a demon, unless it was instructed to do so
04:57:09 <brontozara> even the "surprises" in dwarf fort eventually get seen 10, 20, 50 times
04:57:12 <brontozara> brb shower
04:58:05 <BongoBill> Right. Everything is designed. I'm not talking about how to make things that seem undesigned. Improving the design is more my speed. So I'd like to get off this emergence tangent.
05:00:24 <BongoBill> Choice is also a red herring. If a player has five options, the same designer designed all five consequences (whether or not they delegated it to an algorithm, which they also designed).
05:02:59 <BongoBill> The feeling of freedom is not incompatible with this either; it's virtually impossible to miss the first mushroom in SMB1. A designer can make things that are virtually impossible to not happen in the course of normal play, or literally impossible to not happen no matter how much the player tries to break the engine, and with skilled design these can be a sufficiently convincing illusion.
05:03:40 <BongoBill> (Side note: are game designers taught how to construct such contrivances, the way filmmakers learn about props and miniatures and CGI and makeup?)
05:07:02 <BongoBill> So everything is design. I'll restate the dilemma I started with: the designer is creating repetition in the form of a skill, system, or space that must be mastered, but sometimes she also wishes the artifact expressing that repetition to also express singular notions. And she wants them to support each other.
05:12:58 <BongoBill> So if the designer contrives it so that a certain singular notion will always transpire in a given challenge, and has multiple such notions arising from sequential challenges, that's flow supporting story, right? (Story supporting flow is easy; just present the mechanics in the form of an easily-understood metaphor, like a man with a gun representing navigating a dynamic simulated 3D space.)
05:12:59 <BongoBill> Except....
05:16:19 <BongoBill> In order to strengthen the story you want the player to notice its elements. And some elements of stories are very difficult to notice for someone deep in a state of flow. Drawing attention to them so that the story is clear means altering the presentation, which disrupts flow.
05:18:28 <BongoBill> Now, clearly one thing here is that, in practice, most games' central metaphors for their core interaction involves violence. You don't have to disrupt flow in order to make the player notice things that you've trained them to notice, but the whole reason this monologue is happening is because of ambitions to make stories that don't consist mainly of violence.
05:19:45 <brontozara> i'm not sure how game design classes go
05:20:16 <BongoBill> The old "we need mechanics modeling nonviolent interactions" chestnut applies. You can make flowy games about patterns of nonviolent interaction, too, of course - a recent example is Fire Emblem, where making your units talk to each other is a game mechanic that repeats often enough that I think there's mastery involved.
05:20:18 <brontozara> also violence is the very definition of a cheap audience-attracting trick
05:20:48 <brontozara> it's easy to model, exciting, and at the end you have less entities to worry about than at the start
05:23:29 <BongoBill> Violence would be popular even if it weren't convenient, and there's nothing wrong with that. ... I'm going to talk about Candy Box. Or A Dark Room, or Cookie Clicker. Y'know what's interesting about those?
05:23:46 <brontozara> is that rhetorical
05:23:49 <BongoBill> Lots, but it was a rhetorical question anyway.
05:24:25 <brontozara> candy box and dark room have the appeal of a game that starts very simple and adds complexity in unpredictable ways
05:24:32 <brontozara> and the general feeling it could keep growing forever
05:24:45 <brontozara> cookie clicker is more basic, you just watch numbers going up with some help from yourself
05:26:02 <BongoBill> They have violence in them but the core metaphor for the mechanic is more along the lines of being economic. They do, or at least they have the potential to do, this thing where you reach a certain milestone and suddenly your strategy has to change. While still drawing on the same skill. (The watching-numbers-go-up bit is not the relevant point, but it adds a certain aesthetic appeal.)
05:28:51 <BongoBill> Make these milestones a bit less jokey, a bit less strictly utilitarian, a bit more, y'know, storylike, and there is potential. The milestones are the singular points of the narrative, and they can keep changing without breaking flow....
05:29:18 <brontozara> yeah, it could work indeed
05:31:09 <BongoBill> Why are RPGs the story genre? It's because their heterogeneous mechanics (and long outer feedback loops) make it possible to have a violence metaphor alongside a conversation metaphor. Press A to attack the goblin; press A to talk to the villager. Can you simply stick more mechanical hooks into the nonviolent metaphor...?
05:31:47 <BongoBill> Maybe that'd just give you Planescape: Torment.
05:32:46 <brontozara> hm
05:33:36 <BongoBill> Perhaps the relevant thing to discuss is not how to mix flow with stories. After all, people seem pretty content with the rhythm of gameplay-cutscene-gameplay-cutscene, right? If the two usually have nothing to do with each other, maybe that's fine. Maybe the thing to look into is more sophisticated ways of constructing the delivery of the story. Consider Final Fantasy 7.
05:34:46 <BongoBill> This is a game where you have to go digging for the story. The solution to the mystery is stuck at the bottom of an optional sidequest in a village you never even have to go to. Or something along those lines. That seems like a pretty modest use of interactivity, but think about it.
05:35:34 <brontozara> also, the stop-go rhythm of a rpg battle fits well with dialogue
05:36:15 <BongoBill> This is not adventure-choosing; you don't get a list of what pages you might turn to. You have to intentionally manipulate the flowy world-traveler gameplay, which was designed to feel open-ended, in a particular way, in order to dispense this nugget of exposition.
05:36:23 <brontozara> mhm
05:37:17 <BongoBill> The story gives you clues about what manipulations will have particular results, and following those clues rewards you with answers and maybe more clues.
05:37:32 <brontozara> isn't that mostly phoenix wright
05:38:31 <BongoBill> Yes, although in an RPG, the artifact you're manipulating is continuous, not discrete.
05:39:38 <BongoBill> (Of course, all game technology is based on discrete math, but the human mind is easily fooled into thinking something discrete feels continuous.)
05:40:10 <brontozara> some 3d physics stuff is done with variable length frames already
05:40:36 <BongoBill> Even floats have finite precision.
05:45:01 <BongoBill> The most elemental interaction in games is the collision. Two elements occupying an adjacent or identical point in space (the space in question need not always be the one represented in two or three dimensions on the screen, but it's easier to think of it that way).
05:45:53 <BongoBill> If one of the elements is a bullet and the other is a spaceship, that's violence. If one of the elements is the player character and the other is a non-player character, that's... social? If you abstract social interaction as far down as you can physical interaction....
05:46:14 <brontozara> hahaha
05:47:14 <BongoBill> Hit Points are an abstraction equivalent to Social Link rank.
05:48:06 <brontozara> indeed
05:49:01 <BongoBill> You're playing with dolls. You can have them fight or you can have them kiss. Either way you're mashing together two pieces of plastic face-first and having a grand old time.
05:49:09 <brontozara> whee
05:49:21 <brontozara> someone on twitter suggested an animal crossing like interaction system
05:49:30 <brontozara> where you give npcs items to demonstrate actions
05:50:16 <BongoBill> That has a nice illusion-of-continuity feeling to it. You're not picking things out from a list; you're going out and finding the tool you need and applying it in the one specific way that makes it work.
05:51:37 <BongoBill> Majora's Mask. It's not just a matter of talking to the person. It's where and when and what mask you're wearing when you do it. The masks in Majora's Mask are a strong metaphor. But for a game whose story is about society, you still spend half of it alone, slaying monsters and pushing blocks....
05:51:47 <brontozara> hm
05:51:50 <brontozara> the masks -are- a good idea
05:52:06 <brontozara> majora really had a lot of novel ideas that were never redone
05:52:09 <BongoBill> Problem is, the dungeons are where the flow lives. The mechanic is traversal and manipulation of the environment.
05:52:53 <BongoBill> Animal Crossing - and for that matter a lot of the fairer F2P games - achieve flow with really long cycles. Your daily interactions, not those you do on the order of seconds.
05:52:59 <brontozara> mhm
05:53:48 <BongoBill> Man, I could sperg about Majora's Mask's masks forever. But not at this precise moment. I may be running out of steam anyway.
05:54:04 <brontozara> it's cool
05:54:09 <brontozara> you should probably repost all this in the forums
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Büge on January 03, 2014, 02:05:34 AM
 :tldr:
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Mongrel on January 03, 2014, 04:35:20 AM
It's a smaller point rather than anything that addresses Bill's overall questions, but what might be interesting is a game where the non-player elements have far greater agency.

Perhaps this has been done in indie games but if you have NPCs who have their own agendas they will pursue, with a variety of options for their getting there you increase the chances of organic story development.

Dwarf Fortress comes to mind, but that's more of a management game, where you're an overlord dominating the durdling of NPCs whose behaviour is extremely basic and mainly based on random brownian motion (though that sometimes creates story moments of its own). RPGs have done this, with villagers who have economic/social/military goals who ask you for help which results in world changes (and player rewards), and newer RPGs have made an effort to make these quests somewhat independent of the player, in that they will sometimes trigger on their own eventually, or - more likely - the window for the player to affect things closes. But those are still linear scripted events - efforts in developing better AI are a big hurdle here though. A huge breakthrough would be for NPCs to have some capacity to develop their own dialogue, rather than relying on dialogue trees. But that might be a longer way off then we imagine, so it may be necessary to find ways of avoiding dialogue.

I guess what I'm talking about is a leap where you have bots that are nearly the equivalent of the PC, who are coded to have the tools to pursue stories of their own. What might be really crazy is a game that the player can in dominate with effort, but which also will play itself out entirely to a reasonable conclusion without the player doing anything at all. The player will effectively choose their difficulty level and level of involvement, as well as making their own moral decisions.

One interesting idea would be a player who crashes on an alien world, with aliens whose language he does not understand. The player needs to get off world. He can attack, steal from, or even kill the aliens, perhaps coming to rule them, or he can work with them and gain their cooperation. Or he can sit and watch the aliens go about their own business. Maybe the aliens are also marooned, but have been on the world longer and are in better shape so that eventually they too will leave if left alone, so the player could just stow away aboard their ship.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Büge on January 03, 2014, 06:02:49 AM
I'm sure there have been D&D style videogames where your party develops parallel with one or more NPC party, and they get procedurally generated weapon and spell upgrades as the game progresses which you can fight or trade for.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Mongrel on January 03, 2014, 07:59:15 AM
Well, the most obvious case are scripted villains who repeatedly oppose you, JRPG-style. But to have a game generate something like that incidentally through procedural creation would be sort of wild.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: François on January 03, 2014, 08:12:45 AM
That sort of happens in 100 World Story and Dokapon Kingdom. Those have more in common with Mario Party than with Baldur's Gate, but there are independant NPC players with basic AI who compete/cooperate at will with other players for the same objectives and by the exact same rules.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on January 03, 2014, 06:20:36 PM
A different train of thought got me to thinking about Space Station 13, but then I connected that with this conversation and figured I should... just point out Space Station 13, I guess.  It really is one of the most prime examples of... I want to say "emergent storytelling" in gaming, but that phrase makes me feel like punching myself in the mouth.  "Story as a goal" might be a bit better.

SS13 is one of the few games I can think of where telling the story is the player's true main objective.  There are other objectives to complete, of course, but all of these largely come secondary to the primary focus of storytelling*.  Completing your objectives at the cost of narrative will usually get you banned, in fact.

Those in-game objectives, though, are one of the big reasons why I think SS13 works as a true multiplayer role-playing game, as opposed to a lot of games that try for it but sort of grind down to a bunch of avatars describing actions to each other.  Conflict is pretty much the main source of interesting things happening in a story, and conflict is created by people or entities having, er, conflicting goals.  In most video games this is present, although the conflict is pretty basic: You are trying to accomplish a goal, and the other entities in the game are either trying to stop you, or do something which would prevent you from accomplishing your goal (e.g. kill you).  SS13 does pretty much the same thing in a less direct way: You're usually not being thwarted directly as such (unless you're a traitor or doing something patently illegal), but in almost every round you can be sure that someone, somewhere is going to make things tricky for you.

It's a rare, but not necessarily unique system in video games.  The Ship is based around the same concept, albeit in a much more simplified manner.  Most multiplayer games will put players in direct conflict, but then the stories become about as simple as the motivators that drive them: "And then I shot the other guy!"  Some games that aspire to be true role-playing games, like Neverwinter Nights, do a lot right but either don't provide the players with such a diverse set of operating parameters or simply don't provide as many things that can otherwise go wrong for the game to be interesting.  SS13 not only puts the burden of insanity on the players, it crams further insanity into every overly detailed game feature.

Computers generally do a poor job of imitating the creativity of humans but if you truly want to "create" stories out of the interaction of the player and the in-game entities, then creating entities with much more various goals and interactions is a good start.  At the very least, you'll get stories out of it that are more complex than "That NPC tried to kill me, so I shot him."

* Before you think I'm being high-falutin' about this, keep in mind that the "stories" in Space Station 13 usually involve people murdering each other with zambonies, shitting their own asses off and bleeding to death in access vents, and trying to make ground beef out of dead xenomorphs.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Healy on January 03, 2014, 07:17:07 PM
Have you played the Versu games yet? I dunno how it gets into the whole flow problem, but it seems like it'd be up your alley anyway.

EDIT: And now that I think of it, aren't a lot of dating sims also pretty "flow-y"?
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Mongrel on January 04, 2014, 01:42:14 AM
What games have significantly advanced game AI in the past 5 or even 10 years? I mean, as a casual observer, it feels like game AI development is much more stagnant when compared to other game components, like graphics. Current AI is of course better than it was 10 years ago, but it just feels like improvements in degree (RTS pathing getting better, units being a bit more responsive to more situations) rather than an expansion of new capabilities (true dynamic dialogue trees).
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Büge on January 04, 2014, 02:51:24 AM
But that's hard. New graphics just require more powerful rendering software. Programming AI requires a lot of investment in time and money. Usually that means that the AI is bound to the software and can't be packaged out the way graphical upgrades can.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on January 04, 2014, 06:54:01 AM
Lately I've been thinking about doing some sort of dark fantasy. Very dark. Crazy dark. So far all I've got is a creation myth based around incestual rape and violent patricide:

[spoiler]Earth Father rapes his Goddess Daughter, and the Goddess Daughter plots her revenge: she gets him inebriated and does the nasty with him again, and while he's drunkenly asleep she pulls out a magical dagger and just full-on mutilates him to death. She peels the skin from his flesh, carves the flesh from him bones, and breaks his bones with the pommel of the knife (thereby creating sand, soil and stone respectively), drains him of all of his blood (creating the oceans of the earth), cuts out his eyes and hurls them far away (creating the sun and the moon), and castrates him and hurls his genitals into the deepest, darkest crevice of the newly forming Earth.

The Goddess Daughter later gives birth to humanity, whereas the blood from the Earth Father's genitals spawn all the evil of the world.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Mongrel on January 04, 2014, 07:04:06 AM
That's actually kind of cool for a generic EVIL ORIGIN OF WORLD.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on January 04, 2014, 11:30:11 AM
What games have significantly advanced game AI in the past 5 or even 10 years? I mean, as a casual observer, it feels like game AI development is much more stagnant when compared to other game components, like graphics. Current AI is of course better than it was 10 years ago, but it just feels like improvements in degree (RTS pathing getting better, units being a bit more responsive to more situations) rather than an expansion of new capabilities (true dynamic dialogue trees).

Advancements in AI over the last decade have mostly been in the domain of machine learning, which is a lot of advanced statistics. "Big Data" is the buzzword. Its impact on gaming has been in things like matchmaking and ad delivery, where you're not likely to enjoy it. It turns out that simple behaviors are easier to design fun challenges around.

However, there's a few standouts. There's that one recent racing game whose title I forget which trains an AI to imitate your own driving habits, then lets your friends race against it. Valve has published papers (http://www.valvesoftware.com/publications.html) on this topic, the most visible practical result of which has been the Director in the Left 4 Dead series. Additionally, bots in general continue to improve; I'm sorry I don't have any links for you.

You may also be interested to read about Tom Murphy's work (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/04/this-ai-solves-super-mario-bros-and-other-classic-nes-games/) toward a general game-solving AI.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Mongrel on January 04, 2014, 12:54:19 PM
I'm sort of familiar with Valve's efforts both in L4D and TF2, to provide more dynamic combat bots. Certainly these are an improvement over say, Quake combat bots. I mean, we're at the point where combat bots will provide a reasonable challenge, and I guess that's the case for other genres, like RTS, though I haven't played RTS games in a while, so I can't say for sure.

I think that there are certain technologies where a moderate advancement will offer big leaps to gaming, and AI is one of those, especially better non-combat interactivity. Scripted dialogue trees are especially one of those really cumbersome relics that sticks out for how little the mechanic has changed, in spite of two decades of game development.

Improved/deeper communications and interactivity in general have suffered from lagged development. But while devs are finally starting to look at voxel games and really imagine 100% interactive physical game worlds, communications still lags. Hell, imagine even current-AI combat bots who can reliably receive basic verbal commands. That seems so simple, but even that's something that still seems moderately distant.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Bongo Bill on January 04, 2014, 01:23:52 PM
Forgot to mention: Kinect voice and gesture recognition is a major step forward, too.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on January 18, 2014, 10:27:48 PM
I was thinking about how to have a female main character in GTA without it feeling contrived. What kind of reprehensible woman could you imagine falling into the typical GTA line of work?

Former Child Star.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Disposable Ninja on January 19, 2014, 02:32:24 AM
Also, Sci-Fi idea: time travel exists. They use it in space ships to compensate for Faster Than Light travel-induced time dilation.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Mongrel on January 19, 2014, 03:26:19 AM
The first idea is worthy of the old Rock Star, back when their games were simply funny.

The second one seems kind of clunky. You'd have to have a really elaborate explanation as to why that only worked in that one narrow circumstance.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Brentai on January 19, 2014, 04:44:28 AM
You can probably fool 99% of the audience by making up some complete bullshit about relativity.
Title: Re: Worst Stray Thoughts Ever
Post by: Lottel on January 19, 2014, 05:45:16 AM
Time is directly tied to physical space. You can only bend time in one area once every so often. Too much causes tears. Going great distances is gives you plenty of space away from other little worn out time areas.