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[Geeze]

I have been thinking about a game in which the protagonist is a healer and not a fighter. Most games have protagonists that solve problems violently or through acrobatics/athletics. I imagine something like how a healer works in games like MMOs, where they can be completely designed around protection and healing without having to worry about combat skills to complete game objectives because the other classes deal with them.

I don't know quite how it would work, though. Or, rather, how it would ever be fun. Ho hum.

Seeing as most people find pure healing classes to be boring/stressful/frustrating, you'd be doubly compounded as to how to make it appealing.

Best to just make a healer/damage hybrid, that way the player can do some damage as well as try and keep allies up (without making it too stressful, of course).

Or perhaps it could be a commander/healer, being able to give simple orders to the group you protect?

[Udderdude]

I have been thinking about a game in which the protagonist is a healer and not a fighter. Most games have protagonists that solve problems violently or through acrobatics/athletics. I imagine something like how a healer works in games like MMOs, where they can be completely designed around protection and healing without having to worry about combat skills to complete game objectives because the other classes deal with them.

I don't know quite how it would work, though. Or, rather, how it would ever be fun. Ho hum.

Seeing as most people find pure healing classes to be boring/stressful/frustrating, you'd be doubly compounded as to how to make it appealing.

Best to just make a healer/damage hybrid, that way the player can do some damage as well as try and keep allies up (without making it too stressful, of course).

Or perhaps it could be a commander/healer, being able to give simple orders to the group you protect?

At that point you've basically got Warcraft 3's humans with a Paladin hero. >_>

[Sir Raptor]

An RPG/Racing game.


I haven't really figured out where to go from here beyond RPG/Racing. Something like Crash Team Racing, where you never technically leave your cart even in the overworld, but with RPG elements like potions and spells? Or maybe you can leave you cart? I dunno, my brain kinda shut off after the idea of an RPG with racing gameplay.

[baconman]

An RPG/Racing game.


I haven't really figured out where to go from here beyond RPG/Racing. Something like Crash Team Racing, where you never technically leave your cart even in the overworld, but with RPG elements like potions and spells? Or maybe you can leave you cart? I dunno, my brain kinda shut off after the idea of an RPG with racing gameplay.

You should play some Need For Speed titles. It'll hit you.
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An exploration game where you collect complimentary assets of game creation like sprites and objects, tilesets/backgrounds, BGMs and SFX, and code snippets (like abilities, predesigned "screen layouts," or single-screen minigames), then use them to recraft your gaming experience on the fly.

Themes to mishmash include High Fantasy, Sci-Fi/Space Aliens, Zombie Town, Ninja/Samurai, Macho Soldier/Jungle/Fortress, Ancient Ruins, Lo-Def Acid Trip Arcade, and Hop'n'Bop Classic Worlds (grass, water, fire, ice, sky, pipeland, etc.); and even the weird, off-the-wall ability to switch between 4-directional adventure, sidescrolling, and vertical scrolling/navigation.

Only posting this because it's so absurdly absurd, and not ever truly likely to happen.

[Danmark]

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An exploration game where you collect complimentary assets of game creation like sprites and objects, tilesets/backgrounds, BGMs and SFX, and code snippets (like abilities, predesigned "screen layouts," or single-screen minigames), then use them to recraft your gaming experience on the fly.

Themes to mishmash include High Fantasy, Sci-Fi/Space Aliens, Zombie Town, Ninja/Samurai, Macho Soldier/Jungle/Fortress, Ancient Ruins, Lo-Def Acid Trip Arcade, and Hop'n'Bop Classic Worlds (grass, water, fire, ice, sky, pipeland, etc.); and even the weird, off-the-wall ability to switch between 4-directional adventure, sidescrolling, and vertical scrolling/navigation.

Only posting this because it's so absurdly absurd, and not ever truly likely to happen.

Sounds almost like a Total Distortion of video games. Might work really well.

[Blink]

What about a Risk-like territory conquer/conflict game, where your armies are Scrabble-like words?

You're thinking of Quarrel! Really fun actually.

"Quarrel: Risk meets Scrabble on Xbox Live Arcade, and it works"

[Tenderfoot]

I was thinking of doing something with Necromancers - I'm currently building a little gameworld thats got a pokemon / link to the past style perspective / feel to it. Anybody have design ideas? Story ideas? I'd love to hear them!

[sublinimal]

I want to create a therapeutic game. One that's not as much about completing missions as it is about immersing yourself in the in-game world. A game that offers you a safe haven after a stressful day.

You're just a humble merchant trying to make a living. Your days are spent trading, exploring for valuables, and fulfilling requests for specific items. I'm imagining some sort of simulation that feels alive, with its economy and events and NPCs living their lives. Think Sims, Harvest Moon, Minecraft, Pokemon.

Speaking of Pokemon (maybe more like Tamagotchi), commerce could even be about creatures rather than items. You'd sell a fluffy little creature to a kid, who'd then walk around the town with it, or a goblin to some lady and see it doing her dishes later. You'd also have pets of your own that you could send to do non-taming chores (keeping the shop busy while you're gone, and such). All that would help create attachment to the game world.

Well, just brainstorming.

[rek]

 

I have been thinking about a game in which the protagonist is a healer and not a fighter. Most games have protagonists that solve problems violently or through acrobatics/athletics. I imagine something like how a healer works in games like MMOs, where they can be completely designed around protection and healing without having to worry about combat skills to complete game objectives because the other classes deal with them.

I don't know quite how it would work, though. Or, rather, how it would ever be fun. Ho hum.

Combine the Healer archetype with the Tank – you can take a whole lot of damage but have little in the way of offensive power. Rather than relying on attacking the enemy, the key to beating a level is using the right strategy and managing your attack-based team mates; you play as a mobile shield/rally point/hospital, conducting NPC fighters toward their target, healing/reviving them as they are injured, and repairing/retreating as needed.

And there's no reason your healer can't take a page from Mario and do acrobatics to get to a key position. Healers don't have to be airy, dainty weaklings.

[baconman]

"Healer" has time-based, limited-but-renewable healing and buffing resources, and acts as a leader to the rest of the crew. The positive feedback loop involves freeing and recruiting additional team members making for a stronger, more potent team, but that also kinda thins out how he must use his resources (including the human kind).

So long as you stay alive, you can continue to attempt scenarios; so sometimes it's better to take a small party you can buff a lot, and sometimes there's strength in numbers to keep up with large nests of enemies that too few members will not be able to fend off. You'll also want to have forward/offensives and guards, including rear coverage; kind of like being a quarterback of "battle football" but with dungeons, and enemies that can approach from behind or around the bends, too.

There's also something of a "super bomb" you can use two or three times for a reasonable margin of error, in case enemies manage to penetrate your organized defenses, but those do NOT renew, and they don't auto-activate either. It's your call when to depend on them.

[sublinimal]

I want to create a therapeutic game. One that's not as much about completing missions as it is about immersing yourself in the in-game world. A game that offers you a safe haven after a stressful day.

I think I'm going to do a GBA prototype of this. I've been wanting to work on something low-level for a change, so it's two flies in one. My design doc is realistic and aims for something quite stripped-down (on par with arcade games), at least for now.

There'd be two connected mini-games, Trek and Shop Mode. Trek Mode generates a tiled 2D landscape for spelunking. (Each location is impermanent and disappears once you leave.) You can only dig down or left/right and climb up one-tile ledges. It's an environmental puzzle where you try to dig up the most loot in the least uses of your disposable shovel, taking notice of unbreakable/special blocks. There's no threat of dying, but you can get stuck (by falling into a pit, for example), forcing you to reboot and lose your items from that trek.

Shop Mode is just management on top of a picture. You get an endless supply of customers and try to get the most out of your Trek Mode loot by trading items. Depending on the customer, you can buy tools (more durable shovels, rope), services (have them craft items from materials and return later), shop upgrades (more storage space, decorations for attracting wealthier customers), trekking tips (locations with better loot), and hire assistants (who can auto-trade items while you're trekking, or be sent to fetch specific items). The catch is, all customers have to buy something, so there's a bit of strategy involved when waiting for those nitpicky bourgeoisie types that are ready to trade a small fortune for a specific item.

There really isn't a goal, you just grind forever and try to get good at it.

[Friend]

league of legends... but a REAL mmo this time...

[Sir Raptor]

Fighting game based on comic book characters, but with the big two, Marvel and DC, taken out of the equation. They've got enough of their own games already. No, I'm thinking a crossover between the four biggest of the little guys: Valiant, Image, Dark Horse, and Oni. Sales pitch: Shadowman, Dr. Mirage, and Turok. Fighting Spawn, Scud the Disposable Assassin, and Groo the Wanderer. Fighting Hellboy, The Mask, and Marv from Sin City. Fighting Scott Pilgrim, Sharknife, and Courtney Crumrin.



Alternatively, and way less license messy, an open world sandbox game based on Scud.

[Retrogames]

I have been thinking about a game in which the protagonist is a healer and not a fighter. Most games have protagonists that solve problems violently or through acrobatics/athletics. I imagine something like how a healer works in games like MMOs, where they can be completely designed around protection and healing without having to worry about combat skills to complete game objectives because the other classes deal with them.

I don't know quite how it would work, though. Or, rather, how it would ever be fun. Ho hum.

Had a concept somewhat like this a few years ago; the player assumed the role of an "Adventurer Insurance Agent", the invisible force who drags the RPG heroes back to town after they are defeated. You were extremely powerful and decked out in the best gear, but the gameplay revolved not around slaying dragons (after all, without dungeons filled with dragons, there would be no adventures, and no adventurers to sell adventure insurance to) but rescuing the adventurers from all sorts of odd situations.

One example was, the heroes are turned into zombies and you need to lure them out of the dungeon by acting as bait. Another had them under the control of a powerful spell; you had to get them out of the dungeon without harming them (because that violates their policy, of course). The last example was tracking down a Handsom Prince to wake a headstrong female heroine from a sleep spell (who would awaken and promptly kick the princes' behind for being chauvinistic and reinforcing negative gender stereotypes) .

All very tongue in cheek and really played up RPG and fantasy tropes. The zombie mission featured a quest to construct a suit of armor shaped like a hot dog, your rivals are THACO (Geico) and GoldFarm (StateFarm)... But it was very low on combat (you were decked out so it was more often than not the setup for a joke than actually intense) and very high on solving puzzles that generally involve saving clumsy RPG heroes from themselves.

Full pitch for a design contest is here: http://www.gamecareerguide.com/forums/showpost.php?p=21987&postcount=25
A small write-up with more explanation is here; http://level-1-design.blogspot.com/2010/10/challenge-be-npc.html

Ignore the Business Mini-games, while very cute I devote entirely too much time on explaining them when they would have been a very small part of the game.

[rob]

you play as a hitman. you are assigned hits and dropped off at the target's base/headquarter/workplace/whatever, where they are protected by guards. the locations themselves are linear levels, and if you follow the path laid out you will be playing a linear action/stealth game. but all the locations take place in an open world and at any point you can just leave, do side missions, and find your targets in places where they aren't protected as they go about their daily routines (ie buying their morning coffee, driving to/from work, sleeping in their homes).

my pipe dream of this makes it an icebergvania where whole other storylines bigger than the main one emerge as you carry out side missions for other employers + which missions you choose effect the world/storylines

[st33d]

Puzzle Platformer meets Monster Truck game

You and another player control hamsters. You must jump into the wheels of the monster truck and run inside them to power the wheels. But if the wheels move too fast (there will be lots of downhill on hard levels) you get thrown out of the wheel and have to get back in to be safe from the hazzards on the terrain.

I am too busy to make this.

[Udderdude]

Beer drinker : Platformer where you're in a large multi-floored bar/brewery.  You have to drink (collect) beers.  Each beer you drink causes the screen to get blurrier and your controls become more difficult to handle; more inertia, less speed, wobbling while standing, etc.

After collecting all beers you must stumble to the exit of the bar. :p

Challenge comes from collecting the harder-to-reach beers first while avoiding the collection of easier-to-reach beers, so you can collect them last.

Disclaimer: This idea has probably already been done before. D:

[Sergi]

You could try to add some variation on the kinds of drinks: some of them have more alcohol, some don't mix well one after the other, etc., so you have to plan ahead on which you drink first and in what order.

Also, maybe at some points you gain the ability to puke and can start over with a clean mind but without the effects of alcohol. Or alternatively, you have to pace yourself with the drinking because drinking too fast makes you puke, and puking is game over. Or you have to reach the bathroom if you want to puke, otherwise you get kicked out and game over.

Maybe that would comlpicate things too much... sounds like fun either way

[Udderdude]

I didn't like the idea of having to stand around and wait for the effects to wear off, in my version, the effects don't wear off until the next level.

Involving puking/stomach pump/etc. takes it from a light-hearted, wacky idea to kind of grim "Don't drink too much, kids" territory for me.

Thanks for your feedback anyway.

[rivon]

Sounds like a fun idea anyway