next »

[MeshGearFox]

A 4X game where initiating a war for any purpose other than defending an ally and taking territory by force were immediate loss conditions.

[Geoff Moore]

My dream game would be if they made Mario but it was 3d. That would be awesome.

[desdemian]

My dream game is the one i'm working on right now!

My dreams tend to be very small. 

[quantumpotato]

Hey everyone!

Lately I've been thinking more and more about my "dream game". I've always been very secretive about it, mostly because I don't want anyone to make something like it before I do. I think that I'm to the point where I'm tired of thinking about it, and I want to get to the "making" it part. My biggest problem is that I don't believe in myself enough to actually start.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Spend a weekend on it, see what you come up with Game Jam style.

[RJAG]

TLDR: My dreams are more defined by what they are not, than by what they are.

My dreams tend to be unique/weird/different, or less original but inspired by ignored classics which IMO are the best games ever. (ex. Starflight, Fallout 2, etc.) I also sometimes have the arrogant perspective "I could definitely do better. Way better." or if needing an easier asignment, taking the approach "Remake Classic, Keep it 2015 polished, remove archaic components, and don't go full on retard like the people who think they're remaking a classic but don't understand what made it so great and then remove those parts, killing the magic.")

One of the biggest reasons I became a gamedev was because of how disappointed I was with the majority of developers and what I thought were their idiotic design decisions or refusal to correct an obvious flaw that prevented an otherwise epic experience. Call me arrogant, but I dare to dream...different. And (unfortunately at times) really big. To this day, there are very few developers I respect. There are too many people with uninspired, uninnovative, boring ideas. The biggest reason no one will steal your dream game idea is that most likely, your dream is just like everyone else's. It's some lame game with nothing all that interesting in practice (It just sounds good on paper, with no real way of practical application to create that awesome experience you imagined, inevitably resulting in you settling for a mediocre experience which fails to convey that grand masterpiece you originally had in mind). I have no idea if I myself can achieve my dream idea, but I try really really hard to quantify it in practical ways I can actually develop. It's hard though, just like any video game (even simple ones) are hard.

A great example is: How many games are NOT about combat?
While this is beginning to change as indies breakout like a swarm of locusts, it used to be far worse. Still...it's pretty bad IMO.

I saw StarTrek-like game after game (mostly retro pixel art, tons on kickstarter all at the same time too) and all say the same thing over and over again. "All other StarTrek-like games do it wrong. We're going to do it right." and then they proceed to be about Combat, Combat, and more Combat. Star Trek is the opposite of combat. Literally. Star Trek Captains would do everything they could to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence. Then you talk with developers, and they argue with you, holding the perspective that a game cannot be made without combat. "You HAVE to have combat!" This resulted in me thinking to myself, "These developers are total idiots. I need to do what these kickstarter guys are claiming but lying about. I need to at least try to anyway." Thus birthed my game, Away Mission, which from what I gather is the only game similar to Star Trek: TNG all the way back to Starflight. I mean, there are so few games like Starflight, let alone games that are SIM-like + Star Trek. Although I've heard of a few other (forgotten/unknown) titles similar to my idea. Those developers inspire me greatly and have a lot of my respect.

It just amazes me. IMHO, some of the best games of 2015 were created more than 15 years ago. Starflight is one of the best space adventure games in 2015. Its sega release was in 1991. Its MS-DOS in 1986. "How the F*** does a game created 29 years ago beat all other games in 2015?! WTF GAMEDEVS?!?!"

Fallout 1 & 2 are still two of the best RPG's in 2015. Fallout 2 is, IMO, superior to Fallout 3. That is pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. "You're telling me that in 18 years, no one has been able to exceed this game? "At best they could only equal it via tradeoffs in features (better graphics, counter-balanced by worse decisions)!?"


Although I severely dislike Dwarf Fortress for a plethora of reasons (the primary one being that I am bitter about it, hypothesizing that it is actually holding back innovation rather than pushing it along)- it is still a great example of my type of dream game. A game that dares to be innovative, unique, different. Look!!! A break from combat-centric FPS bloodbaths. Depth above Worthless EyeCandy. If only we had more developers who dared to make their own Dwarf Fortress. Not the game itself, but the total breaking free of keeping video games in closed boxes "This should be a platformer just like all others, but with [dur feature! stolen from GameB]." The fact Tarn's dream is actually original and a cool idea is what I love. He didn't dream to make a metroidvania clone. He dreamed to write the history of civilizations across a procedurally generated timeline. The idea itself is epic, the implementation & commitment is heroic.


Everyone else makes "Platformer with A feature that changes nothing!" or "A different style on the same mechanics as always."

Going along the lines of "Why haven't they invented the Back to the Future Hoverboard yet? It's 2015!! Where are our flying cars?!"

Where are the Procedurally Generated Storylines?
Where is the shallow but overwhelming focus on insignificant details like in Dwarf Fortress, which create the illusion of depth that is so enjoyable to so many?
Where is the difficulty option that does more than just increase mob damage and decrease the player's?
Where is the procedural text encounters which result in the abandonment of voice acting?
Where is the emotional impact of Papers Please?

WHY do so many developers say "We are going to do things differently!" and then produce something identical to everything that came before it?!

Ugh, rant over. I'm just wall of texting now for no reason. Not all developers fail. In fact, we are beginning to see so many great ones release innovative titles or at least iterative clones that are worthy of awards. However, those are a minority.

[Hint: GameDev being so gosh darn difficult, CS being so poorly taught/learned, and our pathetic slow advancement in the field of computer software is a huge (hypothetical) reason why we see so little innovation. Not every holds a PHd in mathematics.]

[JWK5]

My dream game is the game I'll never make because nothing I create ever ends up even remotely close to how I envision it in my head. That's alright, though. What I do create tends to be interesting to me in ways I wasn't expecting.

[J-Snake]

- my version of Super Metroid, involving terminator-level AI

- an action rpg with the combat depth of a good fighter, involving human-level AI

[beetleking22]

My dream game would kill me..

[J-Snake]

unless you terminate the terminator.

Btw. A terminator game which plays to the strengths of its concept would probably be the most intrigue and terrific
cat and mouse game one could possibly imagine.

[beetleking22]

unless you terminate the terminator.

I would be 60 years old at the time when I terminate the terminator.. 

[J-Snake]

I regret you have to change your turtle.

[beetleking22]

I regret you have to change your turtle.

Im weak.. I have weak soul...

[J-Snake]

I regret you have to be terminated.

[beetleking22]

I regret you have to be terminated.

Thats is only solution..

Seriously I don't wanna make clones,, or even inspired buy other games.. I want make my pure game with my own imagination.. It is very hard but that would be my dream game..

[J-Snake]

Seriously I don't wanna make clones,, or even inspired buy other games.. I want make my pure game with my own imagination..

If you have own imagination you would be inspired by a lot of things. Isolating yourself for its own sake is stagnation.

[RJAG]

My dream game would kill me..

How come? Do you have any dreams currently? I'd love to hear what your dream game is.

[oahda]

Maybe their dream game is one of supreme artificial intelligence that would grow to hate them. And kill them.

[s0]

my dream game is what i thought spore was going to be when they showed the first previews of it

[J-Snake]

Man, you are easily satisfied.

[beetleking22]

Seriously I don't wanna make clones,, or even inspired buy other games.. I want make my pure game with my own imagination..

If you have own imagination you would be inspired by a lot of things. Isolating yourself for its own sake is stagnation.

Thats true and Im inspired buy other things.. like a movies, Tv series  and childhood.. If I inspired buy games.. They may become too similar with my game.. Super metroid is my favorite game and I bought it when I was like 5 years olds... I dont wanna make Super metroid clones just because it was my  favorite game..