I'm just going through old stacks of paper. Yesterday I found around 10 pages of precise game planning I planned (and never made) when I was 12. Use it :D (it's totally possible without a huge game studio and team).
196
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I love survival games. And often think about how unrealistic they are, zombies, apocalyptically, etc. But there are people in actual realistic survival situations everywhere. Someone remember "This war of mine"? Playing civilians in a Battlefield and just trying to not starve or get killed or freeze to death.
Something like this in a new manner, or why not a game with a homeless main character? The char can be in different mood, hungry, cold, ill, drug addicted, whatever.
"red riding hood's grandma"
A hack and slash game, playing as the grandma beating up wolves with an umbrella or a cane.
A game where to play as a squirrel trying to cache food, and the whole time you have to avoid cars, hawks, and cats. Collect food, bury it, hide from rival who try to dig up your food and bury it elsewhere.
Another one.
You're a soul reaper. You travel between bubbles that fall through Purgatory. These bubbles are the possible final moments of people's lives, and you can either help them or ignore them. In the end, you need a soul to get to the next Bubble, otherwise you have to brave Purgatory, an infinite black void full of gargantuan, terrifying spirits that consume the bubbles once someone dies.
It's an interesting concept that allows you to spin a lot of beautiful, small stories. Stories of hope, dreams, loss, terror, love.... Lots of freedom. But there needs to be a reason that you eventually start to explore Purgatory ....
In a time which measurement makes even the biggest of brains strain, humans have finally become an advanced civilization. With wave after wave of new and exciting diseases wiping out the once controlling older generation and lowering the population to sustainable levels.
Earth was back, BABY!
The whole is not perfect, to truly achieve world peace, and to be taken seriously by aliens if they're out there ignoring us, a secret sect of specialized time jumpers has begun the task of correcting historic follies and stopping specific threats that at one point in time created insurmountable damage to humanity.
Now the technology is fickle. Still in beta and the procedures can only be completed by specific humans. We've sent out best and worst. There was an 87.00047 rate of time redacted melting.
Imagine how long it takes to melt if you have your time redacted by the machine. So it requires a very unique person who is quite likely a product of inbreeding. Scientists have been trying to figure out the melting matrix, and so far successful "Librarians" have had abnormalities that are most commonly found in branchless family trees.
The job, is to go back and chronicle everything outlined in your directive packet. You'll have to find ways to stop some of histories worst people without killing them. Prevent catastrophic events, without alarming the public. Be light on your toes, good with your fists, and focused in the mind.
We know medically, this might be incredibly difficult. You can't get distracted by attractive cousins. No time for darts with the boys. The season finally of Pappas pig, forget about it. You're there to stop the worst of the worst and the world's largest disasters.
Or in rare cases, ensure that the disaster goes through. It's a tough job and the whole time, you and your fellow Librarians must constantly be recording and creating a record of your travels.
Ultimately, your information with create the Human Chronicle, and complete a book that will ultimately teach the world how to grow, and avoid the monsters that exist to create chaos and destroy humanity, one bit at a time.
TL;DR: Sweet, but stupid time traveller's going through time to secure a prosperous future for humanity. Use hilarious and out of the box thinking to stop bad guys, and ensure you're taking notes of the time and place you are sent to.
TL;DR pt2: if you didn't read it, you dodged a bullet.
You are a cute ghost who has to protect the family you're haunting
Game about watching grass grow in real time. Scoring would be how long you kept the game running. The Menu will show high scores of players who watched the longest.
Other game devs on 196: me too, brother
potato
A game about a murderous pet rock that takes place in a quarry
A game where you kill mobs of people and your power is demonstrated by transitioning into a girl and you start glowing. Think 2003 muave Gears of War but then as you spill blood, transition into a kind of Sailor Moon/Bayonetta kind of girl.
tetris around a cube where you need to keep up with 4 separate tetris games at once and create a line along the entire circumstance for it to disappear
maybe a multi-player strategy/management game. i really enjoyed playing frostpunk, but getting your friends into it proves difficult when there's no peer pressure :)
also being able to jump in and experience the various scout missions in 1st person would be insanely immersive.
maybe have one player managing the city or whatever it ends up being, and the other players are at different points in the city reporting progress, managing small teams and helping out.
"Pantheon"
Age of Empires, but you have no direct control. You're a god that different factions can pray to and you have to use your influence to gain more followers over your rival gods. You can do that through demanding conquest, sacrifices, hedonism, or many other ways!
I think it'd be fun!
I have a better idea but I won't tell you, so, a racing game that has the Minecraft ice boating mechanics
Boneraiser kinda did that already. But reverse a vampire surivor. You are the enemies. You create hordes of monsters (amount of kinda, maybe even some individual changes you can make per monstertype or just frankenstein them together). You can change their strategy in attacking and formation. And most importantly you the money you gather you can use to support and upgrade the heroes making them stronger and dropping more experience as a result. Oh, and then simply make it an MMORPG, thankies.
Quiz race
Everytime you reach a checkpoint you get a mutiple choice question, if you answer it right till the next checkpoint you get a short boost and your car improves (higher max speed,better handling etc.)