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[Zack Bell]

Hi guys, I'm new to the forums. I'm a Computer Science Major and I want to be an indie programmer. Well, I've wanted to be a programmer up until recently. The designer that I have been working with has been slacking (seems to happen a lot in two-man teams). This has inspired me to want to attempt a few solo projects. To do this, I needed my own ideas (I didn't want to finish a game that was inspired by him and end up having to give him credit).

I have a few ideas that I feel are decent and am planning on prototyping them in Game Maker and then releasing the full version(s) as freeware. I'd like opinions on my ideas. Which is better. Why one or all will or won't work. Etc.

The two games came from the basic gameplay mechanic of powerups, represented by colors, that can only be equipped one at a time.

1) A platformer that encourages exploration. The playable character would be a neutral color (probably just black). He would be able to run and jump. Later, he would find a red powerup. This lets him double jump and the character is red while it is equipped. The game would have a map similar to mario games, but the levels would branch out into more of a tree instead of a linear path.

For example, level one may have one door that you can run and jump to that takes you to level 1-2. It may also have another door that requires you to equip a blue powerup that lets you swim. This underwater door may lead you to level 1-3.

Basically, you would explore all the branching levels looking for these powerups. You can only equip one at a time. I figure you can cycle through the ones you have collected with the shoulder buttons on a controller. I thought that these powerups that are collected/permanent would encourage the player to look for previously inaccessible areas.

2) A basic puzzle-platformer where you push blocks around so that you can reach a goal. The catch is that you can only push the most basic blocks. The majority of the blocks will be colored. The player character can control the colored blocks with his mind when he is of the matching color. Basically, you would run, jump, and push blocks. Then when you grab a green orb you would be able to hold a key. While the key is held, the arrow keys would then control the nearest green block. I thought it would add to the puzzle element that the ability would ALWAYS target the nearest block.

Obviously, the powerups aren't permanent like in the first game example. Part of the difficulty would be thinking ahead about how to stack the green blocks so that you can climb them to the blue orb, then get back to the blue blocks you need to move without leaving the green ones in the way. I hope that makes sense. This one is a bit harder to explain/visualize.

I have other ideas, but I wanted to stick to a platformer for now. Thanks for reading and I hope I can get some input guys.

[rivon]

I kind of miss a story there. At least some reason for why the guy would be doing all that. What's waiting for him in the end?

[Zack Bell]

Good point. I feel like I spent too much time and effort on the gameplay mechanics and no time on story. I feel like gameplay is more important, but a story holds everything together in the end.

I have three or four great stories for ideas that I would say are closer to "art games." Maybe I should make one of those first. I feel like art games are all about story. The programming portion for each of these ideas would be fairly easy for me and wouldn't take longer than a week or two of full time work.

I guess my question now is what looks better within the indie community? Will I get more credit and recognition for an art game that gets people thinking or for a game with original game mechanics? Obviously both may be the answer. Maybe this should be discussed within a new topic.

[rivon]

I think, if you have some ideas for art games, do them first. It's easy, it's fast and you'll learn a lot of things just by creating "stupid" things like these. Also, you might stumble upon some awesome idea or a way how to make those 2 ideas in your earlier post better during the creation

[Zack Bell]

Ok, thanks! I know I'm capable of the programming aspects and the art if it isn't too extensive. I'll pump out an art game over the next few weeks and see if I get further inspired along the way. Thanks.

[eiyukabe]

The colored block pushing puzzle game sounds more interesting to me.

[Zack Bell]

Thanks for the input. I actually prototyped that one in GM today. Just because I'm on vacation and bored. I like it, but level design seems insanely hard and I'm having an issue with balancing platforming and puzzle.