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[Starflier]

I was reading a book about game design (Called Inside Game Design ftw) and one guy, (the creator of Small Arms ftw) was talking about a talk annother guy was giving at a design conference about things nobody's ever done in a videogame. He didn't mention any except the one HE used (viral upgrades, the blighter) but does anyone have any ideas?

[increpare]

things nobody's ever done in a videogame.

what does this mean?

[brog]

Nobody's interested in things that have never been done before.  You'll have much more success with slight variations on what people already are used to.

[Ivan]

I approve of this thread. It may birth games.

[William Broom]

Go straight from starting the game to playing, without a title screen/menu/etc in between. Sirlin said someone should do this but to my knowledge nobody ever has.

[Radnom]

Go straight from starting the game to playing, without a title screen/menu/etc in between. Sirlin said someone should do this but to my knowledge nobody ever has.

you know, I don't like that. I started up Psychonauts for the first time and it was ages before I could control the game enough to open the options menu and change the graphics options... I LIKE main menus. It's like a sort of "are you ready?" type thing. I like options. Perhaps if the options were integrated into the game, but even then if you can't control your character to get to the configure controls options...

[Ivan]

Yeah I don't like that either. It's like when you put a DVD in and it starts to autoplay before you could check if it had a subtitle option.

How about adventure games with voice recognition.

[Fifth]

X-Men 2 on the Genesis is the game that I always remember for doing that.  You turn it on, and it's the game, with 1 or 2 players, depending on how many controllers you've plugged in.   You don't even get the Sega logo until you beat the weird intro stage.

[Glaiel-Gamer]

Go straight from starting the game to playing, without a title screen/menu/etc in between. Sirlin said someone should do this but to my knowledge nobody ever has.

I'm doing this right now actually, well the title and tutorial are sorta integrated into the first 3 levels of the game.

[The-Imp]

The title puts stupid/perverted thoughts into my head.

A game where every color for every thing is different.

EVERYTHING.
Not pixel by pixel of course.

[increpare]

Go straight from starting the game to playing, without a title screen/menu/etc in between. Sirlin said someone should do this but to my knowledge nobody ever has.

I've done a game like that (a small game, but a game nonetheless)

[Xion]

Games that go backwards in time through their duration.

Games where your lives are your emotional connections - when you die you take control of the individual who was (emotionally) closest to you, and if you die alone (relationship-wise) it's game over.

Bird-flight sims (as realistic as possible).

[Loren Schmidt]

Bird flight- that has all kinds of potential. I'm sold.

Starting without a menu is definitely something I'd like to see done more. This isn't quite the same thing, but there are adventure games that automatically start a new game on launch. Most 2d LucasArts games work this way. The thing is the game begins with a credit sequence, rather than dumping the player right into the action. I think their goal was to be cinematic, rather than reducing dead time.

You know what else I'd like to see? Games that use brain machine interfaces. I know the technology isn't where it needs to be yet, but I have fantasies about playing Ikaruga without using my hands. Or programming or modelling environments aided by such a system.

[Willows]

Voice-recognition-controlled command simulator, such as "Drill seargent" "Squadron Commander" or "Olympic rowing person that shouts to keep rhythm".


Voice-recognition-controlled real time strategy game. No hands, just shouting.


A game where you're a psychotic who recently escaped from asylum and have to run through towns/cities of increasing size and population in order to reach some obscure goal. While running through towns one would have to evade concerned citizens, the police, and the creatures of your own imagination.


A game in which you, a mindless caveman, are in a competition with another mindless caveman to see who can make the tallest stack of dead things. Enjoy bashing helpless creatures and piling their maimed carcasses in an open field.

[lowpoly]

"Olympic rowing person that shouts to keep rhythm".

a coxswain sim would be awesome

[Willows]

Also tennis game that controls the power of your swing by how loud you grunt.

I'm also in for the bird flight sim, though. That sounds rad :D

[Xion]

Also tennis game that controls the power of your swing by how loud you grunt.

:D

A racing game, open-ended, huge world, like an entire country maybe, and not one of those pansy, small ones. Online, moderately massively multiplayer. You'd all start out on foot from one place and, by any means possible, reach point B, which would invariably be very very far away. Steal, borrow, buy, cars, bikes, skateboards, boats, planes, horses. Or take a bus. But be prepared to be hijacked or sabotaged by another player. Big race. Epic race.

uh.

A game where you play as one person's organ/limb, doing its job.

[increpare]

A game where you play as one person's organ/limb, doing its job.

if you count on-rail shooters (where you control an arm or two), that's bee done.

[jakten]

Also tennis game that controls the power of your swing by how loud you grunt.

:D

A racing game, open-ended, huge world, like an entire country maybe, and not one of those pansy, small ones. Online, moderately massively multiplayer. You'd all start out on foot from one place and, by any means possible, reach point B, which would invariably be very very far away. Steal, borrow, buy, cars, bikes, skateboards, boats, planes, horses. Or take a bus. But be prepared to be hijacked or sabotaged by another player. Big race. Epic race.

I had a bunch of friends design a huge preproduction package for a game almost the same as this concept for our games class. Some of the areas he designed were incredible looking. To bad we didn't learn to create the games XD.

[Willows]

Player controls one character in a mall, has to direct/lead/repulse people into appropriate stores via choice of music and volume playing from a backpack-mounted soundsystem. Play pop music to lure ditzy girls into stores with unfathomable amount of pink, play the sounds of rainfall in an otherwise silent forest to lure the treehuggers and nature lovers into the nearest hemp store. Play the sounds of a chainsaw to make them cry. Use the money you make in-game to purchase bigger sound systems, new songs and pandas.

A game in which you use whatever you've got at your disposal (Chainsaws, blenders, hammers, three story buildings + 20 pound candles, etc) to see who can flush the biggest object down the toilet. Online high score table a must!