[Games Poorly/Insultingly Aimed At Supposedly Untapped Demographics]

Y'know how gamers all groan when you mention the phrase "Games for Girls"? Pink-packaged "games" centred around shopping, cooking, kitties, etc.

I'm not saying that should be the theme, but "Games Poorly/Insultingly Aimed At Supposedly Untapped Demographics" could be fun.

Examples: "Games for grandparents" that are slow, repetitive, and prominently feature bran.
"Games for the family dog", which could be about chasing cats, drooling, etc.
"Games for *INSERT ETHNICITY HERE*" with condescending stereotyping similar to "Games for Girls".

They don't all have to be dull, though. "Games for aliens" about killing the puny Earthlings exist and have been successful. You could also take the opposite path and go for escapism aimed at demographics. Like a "Game for Grandparents" in which you (an old person) skateboard around the place killing teenagers and blowing up malls.

Mmm... the character progression idea is interesting.

*excited*

*eyes light up*

...

"After being sent on an embarrassing quest (see cover), you must try to keep it a secret from your warrior pals down at the pub lest they laugh at you."

Where can one find an affordable copy of this Commonplace Book by H. P. Lovecraft? :3

I will finish DamN and dedicate it to the 6 people who voted for it (I didn't!), whoever they are. 

"Games that make you crumble as a human being" made me giggle out loud, so it was one of the 9 options for which I voted.

So much for that novel I was going to write.

D'y'think, someday, we might be able to get a "National Game Making Month" (NaGaMaMo) happening? Except that it would be international, of course. (And we'd still have the other compos happening periodically, too.) Nagamamo. Nagamamo! It just sounds fun to say. Nagamamo. Like the name of a Samurai warrior. Or maybe an ancient lost city in a jungle somewhere!

I probably haven't been here long enough to comment on the trends of the competition themes, but... I will anyway.
The VGNG gave rise to many funny and sometimes silly kinds of games, then the procedurally generating compo was a bit more technically focused rather than artistically focused (but there was still a lot of artistic flair happening) and finally the Demakes compo, which, like the VGNG, resulted in lots of mockery and other hilarity, once more focused on the final look of the games rather than their programming etc. Maybe now it's time for another "technical aspect of games" compo? Such themes aren't always apparent to layfolk who might only look as far as the style and genre but they're still challenging and interesting to us. :]

That's my 2 cents... Or perhaps 4 cents now that the American dollar is so weak...?   :D

Ah, I don't know. Provocation for its own sake always feels pretty shallow to me.

Yeah, provocative stuff is just taking the obvious "lowest common denominator" path. There are many more tasteful ways to get attention...

[HAY EVERYONE!!!! HAY!!! HAY OVER HERE! LOOK! IT'S THE.....]

HAY EVERYONE!!!! HAY!!! HAY OVER HERE! LOOK! IT'S THE.....
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:D "ATTENTION WHORE COMPO!!! WOOOOOO YEAH"      
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Goal: Make a game that gets (or is intended to get) major attention on the internet or other media. You could...

* Make it topical, like a US Presidential Elections Street Fighter

* Make it about some controversial issue like school shootings or 9/11

* Get it endorsed by a celebrity (Maybe get a Youtube celebrity to blog about it. "Tay Zonday's Pro Golf Tournament 2008" or "Leave Britney Alone Chess" should do the trick!)

* Make it blatantly plagiarise so many copyrights that it gets C&D letters from Disney, Nickelodeon, etc. (This competition has no monetary prizes, so they would have better things to do than sue you. But you can still try to get C&D'd! Actually they might end up offering you a job...)

* Make it shockingly offensive to a major religion and/or ethnic group

* Make a drive-by shooter simulation that's so realistic and fun that it inspires people to actually go out and kill people. Then they will blame their actions on your game, in court, thereby attracting major media attention to this latest event in the ongoing "videogames cause violence" war 

* boobs


I know this is more about your ability to promote & market your games than the actual creation side of things, but it's still a very important part of being an indy game maker. So why not make a fun compo out of it, for practise? (It'd bring more fame to TIGSource, too... whether we want it or not.)

When we have the Lovecraft compo, might I suggest a No Cthulhu clause?  I mean, he's super cool and whatever but I foresee about fifty Cthulhu games.

Oh, and if any of you who are unfamiliar with Lovecraft have ever played Eternal Darkness then you've played a Lovecraft inspired game without knowing it.  Though it is kinda over-the-top Lovecraft style.  He's not exactly the master of subtlety, but the game took it like, way far.  Usually in his stories the hapless schleps who stumble behind the veil of human perception to discover the lurking horrors therein go completely batshit insane or die of fright or something instead of, you know, taking down an eldritch god and saving the world.

 :D   

I like it too, Medieval. (I like nearly all the ones suggested, haha.)
Methinks that theme would result in some amazing concepts.

Gross-Out Game Compo!

* Platformer in which the main character is made of poop
* Scorched Earth but with projectile vomit
* Strip Poker in which the naked ladies are octogenarians
* Super Mario explores the sewer pipes of the Mushroom Kingdom after everyone ate curry

I wasn't sure what the decided theme was so I made mine "Cthulhu's Erotic Dolphin Encounter (in the Salad Kingdom)"...   

^ lol.


"Cthulhu's Pro Golf 2007"

Might be good for a Halloween compo if we do one. It would be funny if used unexpectedly, such as gory Tetris, or some kind of Happy Tree Friends game where cute sprites die gruesomely accompanied by happy music. Gory first person shooters and platformers are somewhat less inspiring.

"Meaningless games" is intriguing...

After reading that, and then the WW2 sim about having to avoid conflict in a FPS game... it gave me an idea.

"Anti-games" - where the idea is to do the opposite of what you normally expect to do in games. For example...

* A platformer where the object is to kill yourself.

* Tetris, but where the object is to see how high you can stack the pieces (and instead of hitting the top of the screen, it just scrolls up, and you get points every time you scroll). Removing a line of blocks would cause your tower to fall over and end the game.

* Pong, wherein the object is to avoid the ball and make it hit the other paddle.

* Lemmings that are nasty, flea-ridden pests and you must lead them to their deaths. (No "Nuke" option in this one, sorry.)

* "Paperboy" in which you have to commit mail theft.

* A game in which you are one of many "enemies", and you must seek out the heroes (parodies of Duke Nukem, Mario, etc) and kill them before the other AI enemies do. And before the heroes kill you, of course!

* An RPG in which the object is to "Avoid Adventure"! (Like Rincewind <3) Stay the hell away from wizards offering fame and glory in exchange for recovering magic artifacts. If you see a helpless princess being dragged away by thugs and being locked in a castle, you damn well shrug those shoulders and find something else to do. A questing party knocks on your door, recruiting adventurers? "Sorry, I'm washing my hair today" should suffice.

* Games in which all the unrealistic game stuff that we accept as convention is made realistic and mundane. So if you use a pogo stick, you jump about half a foot off the ground. If you touch water, you don't explode. Machine guns are too freaking heavy to pick up and use effectively. Running into food just squishes it beneath your feet. 

Games based on passages from the Bible, the Qur'an, the Necronomicon...

Any holy texts, basically.

In this competition, there is only one rule: NOTHING IS SACRED.

Not that we need more suggestions for the next round I'm sure, but here's another:

Vanity Project Games!

Games that involve their creator(s) as central characters/themes. Can be autobiographical or just plain fantasy (or both).

Examples:

* A game based around an adventure that you embarked on once ("Carl's Camping Catastrophe")

* A kick-ass-and-chew-gum platformer in which you are the hero ("The Sexy Adventures of Superawesome Megahero Actionman Dwayne")

* A simulation or RPG based on your day job ("Forum Moderator Tycoon")

* A Super Smash Bros clone whose characters are made from photographs of yourself & your friends

* Pair up and each of you makes a game about the other person

* Point-n-click graphical adventure game based on a crazyass dream you had the other night


The games probably wouldn't be as popular outside of the TIGS community, but hey!...
Um, no, that's all I've got, "hey". 

Aw. Since Hiddy's abandoned this project, anyone who wants to use my Krime Spree box-art for their game is welcome to take it. First in first served.
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