Table of Contents
Theme generator
The theme for the list are generated by this generator
Take one, leave the rest
This idea is somehow based on the first game I tried by myself in Unity. It is about heaven being almost at its capacity when it is only able to take one last soul into heaven. But the souls keep coming to the heaven stairs, so you have to keep them away until the right soul reaches the stairs.
Progress will make you weaker
During this theme, I figured out that I am able to dream about something, but as it is with dreams, I am not able to give it a proper shape. This is something that has always hindered me during game jams.
To combat this, I will try to come up with a sort of template that I can use to guide me during this challenge.
Anyway, I was thinking about a game where you have 100 points to move. If you move forward by your own will, you will lose a point. If you move backward, you will gain a point, and moving left to right will not cost you any points.
There would be 8 possible directions to choose from by moving left or right, and each direction presents different choices that can either hinder your progress or push you forward faster. Sometimes, there could be locked doors that require a key to open. To acquire the key, you would need to go backwards and try different directions. Once you have the key, you would need to go backwards again to reach the locked door. Or something like that!
You are the final boss
Oh my, the theme generator reminds me of the themes from the Ludum Dare game jam.
Anyway, I believe this idea came to my mind because we were playing "Sleeping Gods" by Ryan Laukat. There was a fighting system in the game that took place on a 4x4 grid. Some tiles on the grid represented the health of the monster, some represented its additional attack, and so on.
The game I came up with also happens on the grid, not sure how big the grid would be, but it can vary probably based on the difficulty of the game. The game is repeating in cycle of 4 steps:
While tiles are hidden
- Select where to attack (mostly AOE spells)
Show tiles
- Units which are hit by selected attacks from first step receive dmg
- What survived returns damage to the boss (therefore you)
Hide tiles
- Move units by some predictable movement, so player can anticipated where the units will be
Repeat
I can already envision a pre-event screen where the player chooses which attacks they would like to use in the next session, as well as a post-event screen where they can use the points they have acquired to buy or upgrade spells.
World in the skies
When I was playing "It takes two" with my all knowing partner, I found the most amusing part to be the fight against the toolbox boss. The fight involved a lot of nails falling from the sky, and the game displayed the area of impact with a shadow. If the player was standing in the shadow for too long, they would get hit by the nail.
Inspired by this boss fight, I thought about creating a simple game, but instead of nails, there would be trash coming from a city in the skies.
Goal of the session would be to survive as long as possible. You could also collect the trash and build something which would help you in another rounds. :)
Everything falls apart
I still haven't come up with a template to help me quickly generate ideas for a base layer of a game. This is partly because I haven't tried, but also because I'm not sure if it's even possible, as the only thing these games seem to have in common is the decision about how the world will be represented.
Anyway, the idea I came up with for "Everything Falls Apart" is about a spaceship whose goal is to expand its religion to as many planets as possible, as far away as possible. As a player, you arrive on the ship after a few decades, so the ship is not what it used to be. Each trip takes its toll on the ship in the form of damage that you have to distribute throughout the ship. Each type of damage has its own consequences - damage to the shields will lower your defense, damage to the engines will lower your speed, so each trip will take longer and cause more harm to your ship during the journey. There would be other types of damage, such as to the life support systems, food stocks, modules, etc.
Some planets or space stations would allow you to repair something, some would be there to convert to your religion, and others might give you a quest that would strengthen your belief in your own religion, or maybe even try to convert you to a different one if you fail.
Dead is good
This idea came to me while I was working out at the gym in the morning.
I was pondering the superstition that people die if a cat lies on their bed in the hospital. To turn this concept into a game, I envisioned a maze-like structure inspired by gamebooks, where players always have choices on which path to take. The objective of the game would be to memorize the shortest route from one room to another, navigating through the maze efficiently.
You are of course not a normal cat. You can walk between different realms by walking through the doors hence the possibility for infinite maze full of suprises and secrets.
And thats it, simple game. :)
One room
Notes from implementation
This theme slowed me down for two days straight! I couldn't find that spark in my mind no matter how hard I tried. I even resorted to chatgpt for ideas, but as usual he only churned out some generic rubbish. But then my all-knowing partner went out with friends, and I had a little more time to think about it properly. Because I was chatting with a colleague on chat at the same time, who happens to be a music creator, I think it somehow ignited a spark and I was able to come up with something.
The game is about a player being in a dark room created by hexagonal floor tiles. There is only light on the floor tile the player is currently standing on. In the dark, monsters are hidden. They only move when the player moves. If a monster moves to the same position as the player, it's game over. Now, what was the earlier mentioned spark all about? Well, I needed a way to indicate to the player where the monsters are. That's when I came up with the idea of assigning a unique tone to each tile, which will be played when a monster or player steps onto it.
To familiarize the player with the sounds and provide them with some moments of respite, I came up with the idea of implementing a day and night cycle in the game. The game will begin during the day cycle, allowing the player to freely explore the room and learn the different tones associated with each tile. However, when night falls, the player will have to face the monsters. As the nights progress, more monsters will be introduced, each with their own unique movement patterns reminiscent of chess pieces.
The way you can kill the monster will be something generic like a light gun which you can fire in front of you or something like that. :)
Trapped in another world
I wanted to do something with a snowball, but I couldn't come up with a concrete idea. However, during my train ride home, I started sketching hexes on a notepad and came up with a mechanic involving rotating, flipping, and switching.
Imagine a hexagon in the middle surrounded by six hexagons in a ring. Each hexagon has a top and bottom side. The idea is that you can flip a hexagon with the one opposite to it, meaning the top side will end up at the bottom on the opposite side. Switching involves adjacent hexagons, and rotating is well, rotating the hexagons.
I found the concept intriguing and started brainstorming some gameplay ideas. I was certain that the middle hexagon would represent another world where someone is trapped. That much was clear. I played around with two main ideas.
The first idea involved placing a guardian on each hexagon. These guardians would protect the trapped being from escaping. There would be a total of 12 guardians, each with their own unique power. The path to the middle hexagon would be in direction from the center hexagon to the hexagons in the ring and futher. So there would be something like a bridge to each ring. The guardians would only attack if they were flipped, and they would receive bonuses from adjacency with other guardians. Or something along those lines. :)
The second idea was more of a "I give up" solution since the idea with guardians seemed to be lacking something. There would be no path or guardians. Instead, each hexagon would be assigned a color, and the game would generate tasks such as "rotate the yellow hexagon from the top left corner to the right hexagon" and "flip the green hexagon from the right hexagon to the left hexagon." There would be a time limit to complete these tasks, and the difficulty would increase over time. This concept aimed to represent the act of conjuring a spell to sustain the prison that was trapping the being in another world.
Random ideas
Dodge ball
I've been thinking a lot about a fighting arena game lately, as the next "Boring game" should belong to this genre.
The idea I have is about a small arena enclosed by walls. Inside, there's a ball bouncing off the walls, and your role as a player is to avoid getting hit by it. You can move out of the way, dash, jump, and use various maneuvers to avoid the ball. Just before the ball hits you, it will briefly slow down, giving you a chance to catch it. Once caught, you can throw it in any direction you choose.
The camera setup for this game should be straightforward, with a fixed view of the entire arena. The camera doesn't need to move. The most interesting gameplay mechanic would be the brief slowdown of the ball. I would like to introduce this technique to boring game where player need to anticipate direction of enemy attack to react properly. So the dodge ball game variant could also involve some kind of directional input in order to catch or or random button press to keep players engaged.
Ants
This idea emerged from a dream where I was playing a game involving ants that transported various resources to a 'nest.' In the dream, players assisted the ants by providing food, enabling them to multiply, and engaging in other activities. However, upon waking up, I thought about adapting this concept into a mobile game in which the primary resource was the number of steps players took throughout the day.
In this game, players would use their real-world steps to motivate the ants to gather resources and bring them to the nest. Players could identify resources in the real world, mark them for collection, and the game would calculate the number of steps required to bring the resource home. Once collected, these resources could be used to develop the nest, grow the economy, and more.
LudumDare themes
LD 54 Limited space
The concept revolves around a small circular arena with an entrance and an exit, and they need to be connected by energy from a totem in the center. If connected, something (let's call it souls) can traverse from one side to the other, earning the player points. The challenge is that the "aura" from the central totem gradually decreases, and to replenish it, the player must channel energy to the totem. This energy is used for player attacks and dashing, so the player must make strategic decisions about when and how much energy to sacrifice. Alternatively, the player can acquire energy from enemies spawning at the entrance if the entrance and exit are not connected.