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[Sir Raptor]

A roguelike platformer where everything is randomly generated, including the player character. Each new character you roll has a random ability and a random disability, such as the ability to double jump but not move left, or the ability to flip gravity but a time limit to complete a level before you automatically die. The object is to collect the treasure chest at the end of the level, but the prize is also randomly generated, so there's a chance of getting blown to pieces just as much as winning a bunch of money. Every character who gets a treasure chest has their stats posted onto an online leaderboard.

Sounds as much an exercise in frustration as it is an example of randomness ruining a game to the point that you're just waiting for the right dice rolls to come your way.

All levels are designed in order to be completable with your current ability set. And waiting for the right dice rolls to come my way sounds like my general roguelike experience.

[Udderdude]

And waiting for the right dice rolls to come my way sounds like my general roguelike experience.

Apparently in a "Good roguelike" this never happens, and you can plan to avoid all randomness ruining your shit.  Although I'd never get to that point, because I don't like or play roguelikes.

In case you're wondering, yes, waiting for the dice to roll your way is a bad thing .. you aren't playing the game, the random number generator is playing you >_>

[st33d]

Roguelikes are about loading the dice in your favour. You win because you could plan your way around the randomness.

The concept could work if you had that loaded die element in there somewhere.

[Mr.Migoo]

  Hello There, im new here, Just as a side not but my proposal is;
Your waist parting the trash from the filthy sewer waters stings your nostrinls, as your eyes dart side to side in the confides of this pipe, you grip your grime covered AK. sweat rolling from your brow. spent shells flow past you the sound of sloshing  filling your ears, you crouch down as low as you can the filthy water spilling into your eyes, you jolt backwards and hear a scream, an otherworldly, terrifing heart rendering backwards warble.
It would be cantered around a man hiding from total nuclear fallout in a sewer- there would be villages- and it wouldn't necessarily have to be centered around combat as ammo would be extremely scares- and moving from safe places would require you to move through sloshy swamp filth- it would be pretty dark all the time- and the "Monsters would be horrifing hopefully" I have more ideas but i can go on for hours
This was a more.., Intresting idea rather than an easly excicutible one 
EVENING!

[Mr.Migoo]

-It wouldent have to be just an AK.

[keo]

all the dialogue and scenarios are stolen from craigslist

[Player Ʒ]

Zombie survival turn-based tactics game with the occasional micropayments.

[Mr.Migoo]

all the dialogue and scenarios are stolen from craigslist

Stopen from craigslist? is my thing already idea- i made that up i as i wnt along XD and i love the turn based idea- almost a mud- but a graphical one!    I imagine it would almost HAVE to ba an rpg- at least how i described it 

[gunswordfist]

I know there are games fairly similar to this, but none of them match my concept completely and I think there are fundamental differences. This is a bit beyond my current abilities, but it's something I'd like to do in the future.

Basically, it's a tower defense game.

Less basically, it's a game where you oppose a "hero" that is going through an "RPG" via dungeon design.

Here are the key facts:

• You build a dungeon and place enemies in it (interface would likely be similar to an RTS).
• Hero/party shows up.
• You see if the dungeon you created kills them.

You would collect loot from killed heroes and use it to purchase more stuff for your dungeon. I was thinking it might also be cool to have bosses and mid-bosses that you have to hire and they could be prima donnas. Stuff like refusing to fight if you don't give them 10 goats to eat before each hero shows up, or wanting books to read so they aren't bored while they wait for heroes, or even requesting a certain type of lighting for their lair.

Combat would all be automatic and handled by background stats. It would be turn based most likely, but it would occur within the main map and would all happen very quickly. There would have to be some measures in place to prevent players from just creating unbeatable kill rooms at the start of the dungeon. I was also thinking about having heroes place checkpoints that they can respawn from, and that other heroes can respawn from if they make it far enough to "save" their game there. I guess the number of respawns would have to be limited.

You would start out as the dungeon manager for some sort of inconsequential cave, and if you do well you get promoted to more important dungeons. You would have cooler stuff to use and the heroes would be stronger. I was thinking it would be great if you finally get to the point where you're managing the final dungeon in the game, but the end boss (the villain that has been employing you) is a weakling and you have to find a creative way to make his boss battle difficult. Options could be training him somehow, hiring minions to fight with him, placing lots of traps or turrets in the room, etc.

Shut up and take my money!

[Udderdude]

I know there are games fairly similar to this, but none of them match my concept completely and I think there are fundamental differences. This is a bit beyond my current abilities, but it's something I'd like to do in the future.

Basically, it's a tower defense game.

Less basically, it's a game where you oppose a "hero" that is going through an "RPG" via dungeon design.

Here are the key facts:

• You build a dungeon and place enemies in it (interface would likely be similar to an RTS).
• Hero/party shows up.
• You see if the dungeon you created kills them.

You would collect loot from killed heroes and use it to purchase more stuff for your dungeon. I was thinking it might also be cool to have bosses and mid-bosses that you have to hire and they could be prima donnas. Stuff like refusing to fight if you don't give them 10 goats to eat before each hero shows up, or wanting books to read so they aren't bored while they wait for heroes, or even requesting a certain type of lighting for their lair.

Combat would all be automatic and handled by background stats. It would be turn based most likely, but it would occur within the main map and would all happen very quickly. There would have to be some measures in place to prevent players from just creating unbeatable kill rooms at the start of the dungeon. I was also thinking about having heroes place checkpoints that they can respawn from, and that other heroes can respawn from if they make it far enough to "save" their game there. I guess the number of respawns would have to be limited.

You would start out as the dungeon manager for some sort of inconsequential cave, and if you do well you get promoted to more important dungeons. You would have cooler stuff to use and the heroes would be stronger. I was thinking it would be great if you finally get to the point where you're managing the final dungeon in the game, but the end boss (the villain that has been employing you) is a weakling and you have to find a creative way to make his boss battle difficult. Options could be training him somehow, hiring minions to fight with him, placing lots of traps or turrets in the room, etc.

Shut up and take my money!

Similar games: Dungeon Keeper, Yūsha no Kuse ni Namaiki da (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Did_I_Do_to_Deserve_This,_My_Lord%3F)

Except that making them Tower Defense games would make them 200% worse.  Tower Defense games are crap.

[Chromanoid]

Also similar games: Dungeon Overlord (http://www.dungeonoverlord.com/) (has automatic combat) and My life as a Dark Lord (http://www.mylifeasadarklord.com/). A nice thread about this kind of ideas http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=20222.0 But anyway the world definitely needs more games of this kind!  

[Sean A.]

So I've had this idea for a while. It's a heist game about stealing stuff but the actual gameplay mechanics and details aren't really important in this concept. So there is a single player training mode but that is mostly just practice for the multiplayer portion of the game. This part acts as a kinda job board. When you start the game the first time you choose a class (or job for example lockpick, demolitions, arms, hacker etc). When you go online you have no experience or reputation. You can either look at the current job postings or make your own. When you create a job posting you will get a randomly generated heist to perform and then as team leader, you can evaluate the job and decide who you will need to hire to get the job done. Then you post the job and people who have picked that class will be able to see relevant job postings to them. Then they can apply to job postings and the team leader can accept or deny them based on their reputation and experience (I will get to this later). Once a team is signed on to a job they can plan out to heist and execute it and whatever happens happens. Now after the heist any earnings are split among the remaining team members at a predetermined percentage (in the contract for the job). Team members can be arrested or killed during a heist and death or capture is permanent (ie if you are killed you will create a new persona from scratch with no experience, if captured you can kill off that persona or serve your sentence without doing any jobs and keep your rep and experience). So after each job the prize is split and each team member gains some experience. As a group they also rate and write reviews of the other team members. So one person writes a review for another member and if the others think that is fair then they vote on it, if the majority think it is a fair review then it goes through, if not the next person writes one until they can all agree on an appropriate description of that players performance. Now back to hiring. When someone applies for a job you post, you can see their most recent reviews and their experience level. This is where the strategy comes in. People with less experience wont ask for a big cut of the prize but they could be unreliable. Experienced players cost more but are more likely to complete the job so its up to you. Another aspect is during the actual heists you will have opportunities to kill off other team members. If their use is done and you think you can finish the heist you can cut them loose and get more prize for yourself. But if any other team member sees you kill him they might off you or wait till the end and write a bad review, putting a dent in future jobs. This ties in to the experience system as well because inexperienced player will be easier to scam than seasoned players who may bring protection.

Sorry for the wall of text but I think it is an interesting idea that could create a cool community of backstabbing and lying. People could pay someone off after a job to give them a good review and nobody would know. It's all part of the deception.

Edit: When I have some time I may go back and organize this better so that it is more readable

[Udderdude]

The backstabbing aspect reminds me a lot of EVE Online.  Lots of crazy stuff happening in that game. 

You never really explained what the experience gained does.  Allows you to request bigger cuts?  Just for status sake?

[Sean A.]

Well the experience aspect never directly affects things, it is more just a measure of how many successful jobs that player has completed. When players create or apply for jobs they can request a certain cut, this can be any percentage they choose but if they have a higher experience then higher cuts are more acceptable. People with no experience are unknown and therefore their skill/reliability is unknown therefore nobody will pay as much. So really the experience doesn't do anything aside from potentially give you higher cuts and be considered for higher profile jobs.

Edit: Or another thing experience could do is unlock abilities such as for a lockpick he starts out only being able to pick simply key locks. As you gain more experience you gain the ability to break combination locks, safes, retina scanners, fingerprint readers etc. This make it required to hire someone of a certain caliber for a specific job. I dont like this approach because it limits the players strategic options by forcing him to pay more for someone capable rather than going cheaply and taking risks. Also it provides an endgame, once you have obtained all the abilities there is nothing left to gain. I would rather have no ability progression I think. Maybe I could have real progression where lockpicking is a minigame and each type of lock has a different minigame/puzzle thing to practice and master.

Edit 2: I think I may actually try and develop this idea, its been kicking around in my head forever

[rivon]

I think that writing reviews would be boring. Most players would IMO just don't do it, leave the textfield empty or just write dsfgsdfgh there if they had to just write something. A radio button menu with three choices - good/normal/bad or something like that would be better.

By the way, you should play Payday: The Heist. It was on Steam for 10EUR last weekend and it's really great fun heist game. Though it isn't really that serious and it's more about the cooperation as you get the most money/exp etc. when all the team members survive/are not arrested.