Game Brainstorm

For this project I have been thinking of and taking note of games I came up with that are all original, not realising it would be a task to show these games off so soon, here are the games I have come up with.

Project 1:

For my very first idea I actually came up with it earlier this week while making a blog post about ideation and listening to music. It is a 2D Platformer in which the character is a slime/sludge Alien. The mechanics are you can jump, move left and right, upon jumping onto a flat surface you can stick to said surface and continue to move left or right or jump to a new surface, gravity is present, the main camera follows the player as is with platformers such as Sonic and Mario. The main draw point of the game is there is a momentum meter at the top, you are tasked with continuedly moving to reaching maximum velocity throughout the level. The level design compliments this, most enemies are easily dodged, obstacles are jumped over, platforms in the air can be used as running paths when the path ahead is obstructed. The style of game is a obstacle course style platformer, the goal is to reach the end of the level with the maximum velocity which continuously builds throughout the level so long as a life isn't lost, an obstacle isn't stopping the player or the player slows down via moving left after building momentum moving right and vice versa. Each level is a traditional setting, plains, dessert, water, lava worlds, etc. Each world there is a contextual high ground to race to, for the plains its the top of a tree, for dessert top of a pyramid, water top of an iceberg, lava top of a volcano. All worlds hold similar mechanics with maybe one or two exceptions to make them unique (E.G. you can skim over water in water world at the cost of some momentum, entering a dessert land pyramid makes you enter an interor etc.) The rules are a player can only move on flat surfaces, standing on spikes or hitting a wall that is perpendicular to the ground will result in a reset. Walls and ceiling parallel to the surface the player is on can be jumped onto and run along. Jumping in the air will slightly slow down the player in order to jump accurately, player will not lose momentum for doing so and will continue at the same speed upon making contact with a platform. All worlds are long slopes, imagine instead of running on a flat surface your running on the inside of a small planet or the inside of a very large U. Upon reaching the end of a level with the necessary momentum the player will slingshot themselves right into the next level or main menu in which then can select the next level, without enough momentum Game Over, without reaching the goal Game Over. Below is some very very rough sketches of the character, the worlds and a screenshot of what i believe the player would see in-game.

My sketchbook

https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-design-breathtaking-2d-platformer-levels-e8a261cdac93

Project 2

Okay, here's a real kicker.

A horror game, BUT WAIT.

A horror game... where the antagonist...

is a chicken.

Just a normal chicken. No unnecessarily complex background lore, think your typical budget horror game made by college students in their spare time on unity, except instead of some makeshift monster that jump scares "Let's Play"-ers in their thumbnails, a normal chicken is your unnerving adversary. The concept is as deep as that, the rules are a little more complex, players spawn in a house of which will be my design, I imagine a very simple style and design. They can walk around, interact with certain objects, pick up and hold in front of them small props like oranges or a bowl, they will walk from room to room with scripted sequences to take place such as upon moving upstairs the front door will swing wide open, clucking can be heard in the cellar, eggs will pelt and break against the kitchen window, the lights will turn off after the player picks up a feather in the dining room, etc. The mechanics will see players in a first person perspective, they will be able to hold E to toggle interacting with props or objects, the player can use their flashlight by pressing F, move with W,A,S and D. The overall experience expected from this game is humourful clichés and a funny chicken to try and avoid. The objective of the game is to be given tasks to complete making players venture from one scripted event to the next, E.G. the power will go out so the player will have to go down into the dark cellar only to find the power generator egged, then proceed to go to the kitchen to find a spatula to remove the eggs, then return to the power generator to clean it and turn it on, then go see what the noise upstairs is, finding a note saying "Behind You" on the kitchen table the player is tasked with turning around and upon doing so gets an egg to the face with a chicken laughing track laugh at them from somewhere, etc, etc. The end goal has multiple endings to be reached, one where the chicken is caught in a trap, one where the chicken wins (?), one where the player and the chicken team up against the raccoon in the bin, one where the chicken jump scares the player, etc, etc. Here are some rough rough sketches of the idea:

My sketchbook

https://spookys-jump-scare-mansion.fandom.com/wiki/Spooky%27s_Jump_Scare_Mansion

Project 3:

This is my attempt at a more traditional platformer, fit with its own character and style, here is Wick the Candlestick:

An excerpt from my Art Portfolio

He is an original character I created concept art for the express purpose of being a video game character, now I might actually get to do said thing. The rules of this game are that of a traditional side scroller platformer in which the character will have the camera follow them and need to jump, run and attack their way through levels to reach the Goal, all the while collecting a form of token along the way. Wick has a move set which allows him to run and jump, while also being able to attack using the flame at the top of his head, allowing him to shoot flames directly up, tackle enemies he dashes into and even shield himself. The rules are if Wick is hit three times he receives a Game Over, if he hits an enemy they take one damage or perish, he can jump a certain height standing still, he can walk and jump, and when he is running he can jump slightly higher, obstacles and mechanics are around every corner stopping Wick from simply running to the end of the level, he can also solve puzzles. The main mechanic of this game is since he is a candle, he gives off light which is the only way the player is able to see, this light can also be used to scare away monsters, find secrets, be a way to find other forms of light and also can be used to destroy certain flammable objects such as spider webs, leaves, wood and paper in the background of levels. This can be useful for finding secrets, paths or saving fireflies, which are the tokens in this game that determine what grade you receive at the end of the level (4/10 fireflies is D, 6/10 C, 8/10 B etc,.) It is not as deep as maybe some of these other ideas but I believe it to be a very good starting ground due to it's down to earth traditional game design architecture. Below is a rough, rough sketch to demonstrate certain walking animations for Wick, world art and a look at the first level:

My sketchbook

https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-design-breathtaking-2d-platformer-levels-e8a261cdac93

Project 4

The final project idea is a game in which the player controls a very simplistic car, as they barrage down an obstacle course in a third person view to complete levels as fast as possible. In this game the car is capable of jumping and driving on surfaces for extended periods of time so long as gravity allows it. The car will jump from platform to platform until it reaches a goal sign. The car is indestructible however if the car slips or falls off the platforms into the void it will respawn at the beginning of the level. Not all platforms are the same, some are at an angle, some are twisty and curvy, some are in shambles, some have pot holes and some have obstructions or boost pads and ramps. There is also a timer at the top of the screen recording time it takes to either reach the goal or game over. The complexity of this project results in the way in which the car moves in a 3D space as jumping from one platform to the next must be smooth in order to keep the speed going, it will also require a fluid control scheme and a lot of trial and error. While the car and surrounding platforms I plan to keep simplistic in design as well, I plan to make the skybox very colourful/ flashy/ High-spec, not to interupt with gameplay however. The controls I believe will be W, A, S and D to move around and steer and Space to jump or I might incorporate the mouse for steering purposes and have the car in a constant state of forward movement, with the R button resetting the car at the beginning of the level should the player require. The upsides I see to this game is a genuinely fun experience and creative game, the downsides being this would by default be a lot of work, the higher the speed of a player in game the more needs to be put in to make a space for said player to run through. I also plan to use some effects to my advantage such as lines dashing around on the outskirts of the screen to appear like the car is moving extremely fast. See below some rough, rough sketches of my idea:

My sketchbook

https://www.polygon.com/2020/8/20/21375212/fall-guys-game-design-randomness-esports-success-sales