So, for our first assignment we had to come up with 10 quick game ideas. Each one needed to be an Art Game in some way or another. The focus was to create change in the normal flow a traditional game would follow.
Generally we would stay within a smaller threshold of the traditional flow, increasing difficulty at some spots or bringing it back down to let the player relax for a moment. The blue line shows the basic flow path that you stick around while the red is what we are trying to accomplish with our “Art Games”. With each game idea, we want to push away from the traditional flow in some way or another and make some crazy flow pattern. It doesn’t even have to be a connected line if we don’t want, it could be completely broken up, jumping from extremely difficult to no difficulty at all.
In any case, I needed to come up with 10 ideas that would change how the player looks at a game, break up the flow and do things we don’t normally think of. I still want my games to be fun in some way so I didn’t go too crazy yet. So here they are:
10 Art Game Ideas
Continuation: A survival game in which players have no real movement themselves as they have no body. Instead they play as a strange entity that can latch onto near by AI and hang on for the ride as that person goes about his or her daily routine. But, players can’t hang onto a single AI for too long, doing so will kill the host and with it, the player.
Momentum: Player’s can’t stop moving, if they do they die… This is very problematic, not only because of the player’s inevitable death but because players don’t have complete control over which way they move, they pick a single direction and run. When they hit walls they bounce off and slow down, the only way to turn or influence their movement is to use a grappling hook. This allows players to grab onto objects in the level and turn or run in circles. Timing the physics of letting go or grabbing onto objects will either help or hinder the player.
Socially Awkward Duel: This idea is based off of my friend pointing out whenever one of us broke a social norm or how some of these rules are strange but are followed anyway. This takes the idea of breaking social norms and makes it into a contest. Players have a minute in each area, such as an EL Train or an Elevator to break as many of these norms as possible without breaking the law or having an innocent bystander AI get angry at them. The Subtle choices will allow players to maximize their score while avoiding any trouble.
Real Life Awkward Duel: Same idea as above, players are trying to break social norms without pissing people off or doing anything illegal, but this time its for real. Players use a mobile device to log into a single game with their friends. The mobile device and game aspect are used for basic rule keeping, score keeping, and suggestions or random things players must accomplish. For example, friends playing on the train have one player try and sit on a strangers lap. After the objective is completed the player logs in as done on their phone while all the other friends get to give points based on how well they feel the friend did. Its similar to an apples to apples game in which the other players are the ones watching and judging, knowing what to do to get the most points out of your friends is the way to win.
Connection: Players embody a figure in a metaphysical world in charge of making connections between a small group of people in our “real” world. These connections shape how these people interact with one another. A connection can lead to a numbers of emotions and outcomes for a character or characters. During the game, players learn about how they are effecting each AI through voice over, objects found in their world and how the environment changes around them. Each character the player can effect is shown physically as the terrain and area in the metaphysical world. As the player influences one character the environment can change slightly for better or worse. For example, if the player creates a connection that some how leads to that character dying, the terrain and area of that character dies out and crumbles away.
Dinner Party: Players are invited to a dinner party but are really there hired as an assassin. Kinda based off of games like Hitman or The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Dinner party level, but in a very different way. Players cannot outright kill anyone, they have to make everything look like an accident and no one can see them do anything to influence it. Making this harder is the idea that the game offers no help, there is no stealth system, no HUD or rules, players have to figure out everything by trial and error. The idea is to create a lot of painful jumps in flow. In public areas, players are safe, but in other areas they can be caught by security or other guests and the game is immediately over. Its jumps quickly from extremely easy to hard, back to easy to boring to fast paced; during which we don’t tell the player anything about how they are doing or what they do helps or hinders, they must figure it all out on their own.
Price on Your Head: Players have a hit out on them, they testified against a mob boss and now are in hiding. However, assassins have tracked them down and are now about to try and take them out. This game is all about changing the idea of stealth. Players still have to go about their daily lives, but being alone makes it easy for the assassins to take a shot at them. As players go about their daily lives they must go get hair cuts, go to work, grab groceries, etc. but must try and never be out of anyone’s sight. As soon as the player is away from others they are in danger of being killed. Thus, players do what they normally do in stealth but the opposite. They always stay in the light, they memorize AI paths, but only so they know when they can stay within their sight, etc. Staying out of anyone’s sight means that the hit could randomly be completed and the player loses.
Revolution: Players take on the role of creating change in their city, but starting up a peaceful protest is difficult. Players have 4 people they control and spread around, all of which influence civilians around them, bringing large groups to protest in key areas of the city, but keeping them under control is difficult. Players can easily lose control or even help invoke riots in which the civilians openly attack government figures and force change. Players can win either peacefully or by rioting, but winning by using riots destroys the city. Difficulty for this game is huge, as you build up the necessary amount of people to make change peacefully you find that its almost impossible to control them. As the player “wins” and the city turns into a riot they should feel bad as they caused the destruction.
ARG Duel: An ARG about putting together weapons faster than your opponent. 2 Players start where ever they want in the room and place down the sheets of paper that will represent pieces of a weapon. Players are also tape another piece of paper to their chests that will represent where to shoot. When the game starts, the paper in front of the player will become pieces of a gun that need to be assembled. Players rearrange the pieces to complete their weapon and then take a shot at the opposing player. First one to kill the other wins.
Not a normal Game: Players start out as a top down game in which players are moving left to right. They begin by dodging walls and moving through the space to the end. However, each room challenges how we think games should work or how the previous rooms worked. Some rooms, walls wont kill you, some rooms enemies are friends and friends enemies. Controls are switched randomly, movement is changed, power-ups make things more difficult instead of easier or any number of things that you wouldn’t normally expect from traditional games. The game is all about re learning how each room challenges you and what you need to do to progress.
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