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[J. R. Hill]

So I was on a different forum and someone had those things in their signature that you click on and they level up with a certain number of unique clicks.  You know, they start off as eggs or something, then turn into cats.

So basically I wanted to take a thread to take these kinds of terribad games and think of ways to spin them into something that would be interesting.

Personally I can't think of any way to make this fun, it's more of a collecting game than anything else.  I've seen some developers do the "follow my link to fight my guy" games, but those don't seem very interesting to me either, since they also are more of a hit-counter than anything requiring strategy or skill or even luck.

[rek]

Those aren't really games as much as they are pyramid schemes of spam.

I've been thinking a lot lately about pure exploration and documentation games – like Pokémon Snap for the N64 (I only played the demo at the store once, so this may not be a perfect example). How do you make sight-seeing in a game more interesting?

[JMickle]

go the knytt approach and have beautiful artwork (remember that nifflas isn't the greatest artist, but is a master of design in his art)

there are a few genres i'd like to see tackled more by indies, including diablo-style hack and slash, and pokemon snap style, as you mentioned.

[C.A. Sinner]

I've been thinking a lot lately about pure exploration and documentation games – like Pokémon Snap for the N64 (I only played the demo at the store once, so this may not be a perfect example). How do you make sight-seeing in a game more interesting?

Mechanically Pokemon Snap is a rail shooter

[thatshelby]

I've always wanted to make an exploring game like Pokemon Snap, but I just suck at art so it's not worth it.

[JMickle]

ugh dont say you suck at something. just go ahead and make shit. maybe you'll come across something completely by accident that is super cool.

[Zest]

Animal Crossing pretty much stands on its own as a village simulator- unlike The Sims, your single character doesn't have to worry about pooping, so you can spend more time catching butterflies or writing letters to other people. An expansion of this concept could be fantastic, even if it's as simple as changing the location to something more exotic/specific.

I'd like to see more explorations into multiplayer stealth games; so far, all we've seen is Spies Vs. Mercenaries and The Ship, and that's about it.

[rek]

I've been thinking a lot lately about pure exploration and documentation games – like Pokémon Snap for the N64 (I only played the demo at the store once, so this may not be a perfect example). How do you make sight-seeing in a game more interesting?

Mechanically Pokemon Snap is a rail shooter

I forgot about that aspect of it, but that doesn't really change the nature of the game.

The direction my thoughts have gone is more towards the meta/community angle. Rather than have an in-game scoring system (other than, perhaps, something akin to Pokemon Snap's is-it-in-frame-or-not check), the point of the game is to, as a community, construct theories and stories to explain the ruins and artifacts you uncover, classify the alien life into taxa, document your discoveries, create maps and diagrams, and even assign players to expeditions to see what's beyond those mountains, in this cave system, or on the island you can just barely see on the horizon.

Obviously not something as straightforward as a first person shooter or platformer, with tangible goals, binary scoring (you're either successful or not), or a definable end point. Almost an ARG.

[C.A. Sinner]

Animal Crossing pretty much stands on its own as a village simulator- unlike The Sims, your single character doesn't have to worry about pooping, so you can spend more time catching butterflies or writing letters to other people. An expansion of this concept could be fantastic, even if it's as simple as changing the location to something more exotic/specific.

harvest moon? back when i was a dum kid and assumed HM was developed by nintendo i thought animal crossing was a HM spinoff or "spiritual successor" or w/e. not saying this particular subgenre isn't underexplored, just pointing out another example.

The direction my thoughts have gone is more towards the meta/community angle. Rather than have an in-game scoring system (other than, perhaps, something akin to Pokemon Snap's is-it-in-frame-or-not check), the point of the game is to, as a community, construct theories and stories to explain the ruins and artifacts you uncover, classify the alien life into taxa, document your discoveries, create maps and diagrams, and even assign players to expeditions to see what's beyond those mountains, in this cave system, or on the island you can just barely see on the horizon.

reminds me a bit of noctis, obscure freeware space exploration game for DOS. that was before web 2.0 though so you had to send the author your discoveries (planets, solar systems etc) and he would semi-regularly update the database with user submissions which you could in turn download and integrate into the game. it was pretty cool.

[stevesan]

Those aren't really games as much as they are pyramid schemes of spam.

I've been thinking a lot lately about pure exploration and documentation games – like Pokémon Snap for the N64 (I only played the demo at the store once, so this may not be a perfect example). How do you make sight-seeing in a game more interesting?

"Extreme Photographer" is an idea I've been kicking around a bit. Tornado chasing is pretty exciting - make a game about that! Get as close as you can to the tornado, take a photo, and the closer you get the more money you get. You can also do dangerous animals, volcanos, geysirs, hurricanes, etc. etc. So you'd roll around in various vehicles trying to get that perfect angle. Not sure about the details, like what kinda graphics you'd use, but that'd be the basic premise.

[AMAZON]

definitely the 2d beat-em up. despite it dominating arcades for a while, it never really innovated much outside of changing up the amount of planes (with a few notable exceptions)
considering how versatile it could be, it would be cool if more people tried giving the genre some depth beyond button mashing

[Ashkin]

definitely the 2d beat-em up. despite it dominating arcades for a while, it never really innovated much outside of changing up the amount of planes (with a few notable exceptions)
considering how versatile it could be, it would be cool if more people tried giving the genre some depth beyond button mashing

A 2D beat-em-up with the combat mechanics of Lugaru/Overgrowth would be pretty cool.

[Gimym TILBERT]

social mechanics in game 

[DavidCaruso]

idk why beat-em-ups have this stigma of "button masher" more than any other type of 2d game, if you just button mash in any old 2D brawler without taking enemy behavior/environment design/positioning/your complete moveset into account then you like...die. Usually within a few seconds, even if it's an easier one (relative to other good games in the genre) like Golden Axe. It'd be cool to see modern developers make one with a combat system as involved as a good fighting game or something anyway (it might not mesh with the psuedo-3D plane control-wise, though; maybe something like Altered Beast style might work out better.)

"Extreme Photographer" is an idea I've been kicking around a bit. Tornado chasing is pretty exciting - make a game about that! Get as close as you can to the tornado, take a photo, and the closer you get the more money you get. You can also do dangerous animals, volcanos, geysirs, hurricanes, etc. etc. So you'd roll around in various vehicles trying to get that perfect angle. Not sure about the details, like what kinda graphics you'd use, but that'd be the basic premise.

This sounds badass. Could even make it war photography or something (with investigative stuff too e.g. finding out about an Abu Ghraib type thing) but that would need top notch AI for the actual soldiers.

[baconman]

Beat'em'ups didn't get that stigma because players kept it there; it did so because developers kept it there. It was the magic formula for early 90s arcades, and very little needed to be changed from one title to another.

You never see ones focused on something like mobility, it's all about smashing things, picking objects up, and repeatedly bashing the AI's heads with it, as you shimmy North and South on the screen in an attempt to keep from being hit yourself (especially from behind). Levels were pretty much straightforward, with the rare exception where you'd choose between a couple of paths in later-developed titles.

In that vein I must agree.
__________

I'm gonna be the daring shot-in-the-dark and say: THE RPG.

Yes, I'm entirely serious.

I'm not gonna say there hasn't been a bajillion of them produced, and each do a little twist on the turn-based or brain-meter, menu-driven battle system and the fairytaley plot which ALWAYS involves a destiny-driven hero, the destiny-driven princess (or remains thereof), somebody who dies and may-or-may-not return, the maniacal Conquer/Destroy-the-Worlder with the little side cast of doofusy bonehead sidekicks, and That One Guy That Betrays Him To Take It For Himself (cue climax).

But that's EXACTLY THE POINT. It's all been so retardedly formulaic and story-centric, that it seems like any real "game" exploration potential is tossed to the void, or at best relegated to bypassable minigames.

What COULD an RPG BECOME, if it didn't have experience grinding and leveling, brain meters, light-dark-elemental magic, or equipment whoring completely dominating it's gameplay by definition?