The game you would really want to make

[ManuelFLara]

I've seen many times in this forum words like "you have to enjoy the game you're making but looking at its sales potential" and stuff like that, so..

Here's the situation: the indies have taken over the world, there are no big developers nor publishers. EA now makes food for dogs. Everything is distributed on-line as shareware. Any game has the same probability of being a hit regardless its genre, considering its fun and polished.

Here's the question: What kind of game would you make?

--

My answer: a massive multiplayer on-line turn-based political strategy game. Something like Paradox's Victoria with a real player per country (and several worlds/servers), I'd pay $50/month to play that! ;)

[Hamumu]

I don't like your situation. It still requires that you make a small game, so that you can get it done reasonably fast and cheap and have a chance to polish it all. I think your situation needs all the former coders and artists from EA to be so desperate for work that they'll be your slaves for free (for some reason, it's work they're desperate for, not money), implementing exactly whatever you wish exactly as you describe it.

In that case, I'd make something I could easily make anyway, and really should get around to: A zelda-like rogue-like (roguelike game with action gameplay, graphics obviously, and lots of weapons and items etc... kind of cartoon diablo with direct control instead of mouse, and random worlds). But I guess with all the help, I'd throw in making it MMO because then everyone would get addicted and I could rake in monthly fees.

[MrPhil]

Make the single-player version first then go MMO.

[Applewood]

I'd want to make an online poker room.

Go to www.pokerroom.com and have a look at the hand numbers - they're currently playing through the 700 millions range at the moment. Given the average rake is probably a buck per hand......

[svero]

Maybe it's a curse but nothing stands out. All the ideas I've had over the last few years I want to make. And I want them all done yesterday. That includes the arkanoid clones. They're all kind of fun.

[Raptisoft]

Diablo 2 without a storyline that seems written by a couple of 18-year old Motley Crue fans.

[Hiro_Antagonist]

Two projects we've considered, and that I've designed on paper pretty heavily, but probably won't get to make:
-Dungeon of Legends (a 1-player, casual-friendly diablo/nethack/WoW-influenced dungeon crawl, with classes based on LOL units -- the Dwarf Smith, Elf Druid, Undead Necromancer, Arcatta Sorceress, Gnome Legendmaker. Each has their own paradigm of play. Probably too ambitious for me to ever realistically get to make... =)
-"City Game" (project name -- a casual CCG with... a city theme. Lots of bidding and secretive spending elements. Analagous to Astral Tournament/Masters, but more mass-market friendly and entirely different theme and gameplay)

[Sirrus]

Two projects we've considered, and that I've designed on paper pretty heavily, but probably won't get to make:
-Dungeon of Legends (a 1-player, casual-friendly diablo/nethack/WoW-influenced dungeon crawl, with classes based on LOL units -- the Dwarf Smith, Elf Druid, Undead Necromancer, Arcatta Sorceress, Gnome Legendmaker. Each has their own paradigm of play. Probably too ambitious for me to ever realistically get to make... =)

Most likely PopQuest.

[Coyote]

I would have made... umm.... Void War (http://www.voidwar.com).

That was one of the games I really wanted to make. Can't see that there was tens of thousands of players who felt just like I did... but ah, well. It was feeding my personal creative demons.

I have the luxury of a full-time day job to pay the bills --- so I generally do get to make the game I want to make. Though I do have a bit more of an eye towards what I think I can find & reach the audience for instead of JUST meeting my own geeky ambitions.

[Chris Evans]

I like platformer's a lot, but Pow Pow wasn't the original game I wanted to make when I became an Indie. I wanted to get more experience before I tackled one of my dream projects. So I came up with a new project that interested me and that was a little ambitious. In the end, I completed the game and it provided me with some invaluable experience (and made some money too. :) ).

So two games later (one big, one small), I'm currently working on one of my dream projects. For me, it wasn't just about getting enough resources to make my dream game. It was about getting the experience and knowledge to accurately fulfill the vision I have for it. Just throwing money at it wouldn't necessarily accomplish this.

[PoV]

Hrm... Much of 'my' stuff I'm doing or plannig to do fits into a catagory of what I'd like to do (physics! hooray!). As for stuff I'd need a team for, there's a crazy hybrid game I'll call a strategy game I'd like to do one day, which I'll purposly be vague about so people ignore me until I do something cool to warrant attention. :D. Plus a custom controller arcade game, and there's always been a few cyberpunk themed games in the back of my mind.

[Ricardo C]

Here's the situation: the indies have taken over the world, there are no big developers nor publishers. EA now makes food for dogs. Everything is distributed on-line as shareware. Any game has the same probability of being a hit regardless its genre, considering its fun and polished.

Here's the question: What kind of game would you make?


None. If the market's so good to indies, then I will have already made a fortune and retired ;)

[Hiro_Antagonist]

Most likely PopQuest.

Heh. I've played PopQuest quite a bit. It would be very, very different. Closer to Diablo/WoW-style play, really. (which aren't as different from each other as you'd first assume...)

-Hiro_Antagonist

[Martoon]

Here's the situation: ... EA now makes food for dogs.

You're correct. That is the situation.

[ManuelFLara]

You're correct. That is the situation.
Ha ha, that one was fun :)

None. If the market's so good to indies, then I will have already made a fortune and retired
Well I make games because I enjoy doing that. Even if I was as rich as Bill Gates I'd make games and I'd probably release them for free if that was the case :)

[Alex]

I'd make a game called Sim Universe, where you can do anything you like. You could sit on a computer talking about stuff, or you could walk outside, step into your newly purchased (on eBay) intergalactic cruiser and fight pirates in the Orion nebula, or you could get elected mayor of new york, grab a baseball bat and start busting kneecaps, before grabbing your double barreled shotgun and teleporting to mars to battle demons from an experiment gone horrible wrong.

Yeh, thats what I would make.

[Hiro_Antagonist]

If Will Wright where here, here's how he'd answer this question:

(From http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3138787&did=1)

Spore could end up being quite literally the biggest and most ambitious game ever attempted. Although it begins at the microscopic level, with players taking control of a monocellular organism in a tidal pool, the scale changes as the creature evolves and grows. The end result: A massive adventure spanning an entire galaxy with player-driven gameplay and design shared seamlessly online among the entire Spore community.

Spore seems to be a concise summary of Wright's virtuosic approach to game design. In tackling the most significant issues and trends facing developers moving into the next generation of games, he appears to have designed a project that gracefully encompasses a wide array of genres while giving players an unprecedented level of control over their game experience.

[cliffski]

probably a game where you were some kind of animal. a cat or maybe a tiger. or perhaps a game where you had a kind of pet tiger. something like 'Sim tiger cubs'. I'd love to code cat AI all day :D

[tolik]

"Mice Crossing"

Mac-only oriented game which requires to click a button.


This game will be playable only after mouse calibration:
"Please click mouse button"

After a click you instantly get big random score and hear "EXCELLENT". Now, time for an instant warp to level 2. After another single click game announces "AWESOME", you get warped to level 3 where you need to click TWICE (OH MY!!!) and get promotion with new cool "AMAZING" effect. Quick preview of bonus level and...

Game expires and you see nag screen:
"The more you click it, the bigger combo is!"


Graphic set: Default MacOS X assets.




(all your copyrights and trademarks are belong to me)

[Kai Backman]

I'm in the happy position to be already making the game I really want to make. A space settlement simulation is something I have been working on most of my life. My first basic programs in the eighties were space colony simulations, so I haven't really progressed that far .. It's easy to be simple .. :D

[impossible]

"Mice Crossing"

Mac-only oriented game which requires to click a button.


This game will be playable only after mouse calibration:
"Please click mouse button"

After a click you instantly get big random score and hear "EXCELLENT". Now, time for an instant warp to level 2. After another single click game announces "AWESOME", you get warped to level 3 where you need to click TWICE (OH MY!!!) and get promotion with new cool "AMAZING" effect. Quick preview of bonus level and...

Game expires and you see nag screen:
"The more you click it, the bigger combo is!"


Graphic set: Default MacOS X assets.




(all your copyrights and trademarks are belong to me)
I think this game could actually be pretty popular :).

[Vectrex]

"Mice Crossing"

Mac-only oriented game which requires to click a button.

....

don't forget the highscore table where it's IMPOSSIBLE to get any less than the top spot

[tolik]

Yeah, quitting the game would give you random score which will be higher than your previous one.

[stanchat]

My Game would be called "Tortured Souls"
Game Style: Sims Like

The basic premise of the game is that you are a low level Demon and you are trying to move up the Demon Food Chain.

In "Apprentice" like fashion Satan/Devil will give you tasks that you must complete in a given time frame. The tasks will range from simple sins like petty car theft, all the way to sins like murder. The only real powers that you will have is the power of suggestion and the ability to anaylyze someone mental state to detect if they are at a vunerable state. At the end of the task, you will be pulled into the board room al la "Apprentice" where Satan/Devil will critique your work and if you didn't succeed, he will do some pretty nasty things to you.


The AI is what would drive this game and you would have to build a very good Human Pyschology Simulator to act as a Free Will Model.

[Ricardo C]

My Game would be called "Tortured Souls"
Game Style: Sims Like

The basic premise of the game is that you are a low level Demon and you are trying to move up the Demon Food Chain.

In "Apprentice" like fashion Satan/Devil will give you tasks that you must complete in a given time frame. The tasks will range from simple sins like petty car theft, all the way to sins like murder. The only real powers that you will have is the power of suggestion and the ability to anaylyze someone mental state to detect if they are at a vunerable state. At the end of the task, you will be pulled into the board room al la "Apprentice" where Satan/Devil will critique your work and if you didn't succeed, he will do some pretty nasty things to you.


The AI is what would drive this game and you would have to build a very good Human Pyschology Simulator to act as a Free Will Model.

Hold on a sec, I need to set up my tape recorder...

*click*

ok, as you were ;)

Polterguy meets The Sims meets The Apprentice? I'd buy it, that's for damn sure.

[Vorax]

My Game would be called "Tortured Souls"
Game Style: Sims Like

The basic premise of the game is that you are a low level Demon and you are trying to move up the Demon Food Chain.

In "Apprentice" like fashion Satan/Devil will give you tasks that you must complete in a given time frame. The tasks will range from simple sins like petty car theft, all the way to sins like murder. The only real powers that you will have is the power of suggestion and the ability to anaylyze someone mental state to detect if they are at a vunerable state. At the end of the task, you will be pulled into the board room al la "Apprentice" where Satan/Devil will critique your work and if you didn't succeed, he will do some pretty nasty things to you.


The AI is what would drive this game and you would have to build a very good Human Pyschology Simulator to act as a Free Will Model.

Some might be offended, but that is a great idea for a game :)

[stanchat]

Some might be offended, but that is a great idea for a game :)


To appease that crowd I would make an angelic plugin where you could play an angel who's mission is to prevent humans from committing all these dastardly sins and spread peace, love and blah.. blah.. blah (BORING !!!!)

I like the original premise much better.........

But I know where you are coming from it would be a hard sell.

[Fabio]

Here's the situation: [..] EA now makes food for dogs.What a new.. :rolleyes:

Here's the question: What kind of game would you make?I'd finally say yes to drugs, take a trip, and make it into a colorful game. :eek:

[turbo]

Lol.

We'd make exactly what we are making.. since we're making the game we want to make and play anyway.

...multiplayer/adventure/rpg/hack n' slash/3d immersive/lively combat/diablosummonersoulcalibur-inspired/original krabbity IP/... blahblahblah etc..


:cool:

...

[Bouncer]

I'm already making the game I always wanted to. Don't know if it will sell, but I hope even a few people might be interrested...

[Bouncer]

[edit, double post removed]

[electronicStar]

My dream projects (if I was some sort of immortal being with unlimited time/ressources :) )

-Something like Morrowind or Oblivion, but , of course, much more complete

-An open-ended game set in space ,with fractal design (unlimited planets, random aliens,ships). Of course you could make trade, space combat or just land on a planet for exploration (with fractally generated huge forests or desert or gaseous planets). Some worlds would have civilization with varying levels of technology, and you could become stranded on a planet for a while. There would need to be some sort of political aspect, so that megalomoaniac players could take control of cities, factions or whole planets and play the game in a sort of conquest style (although not obliged to ). Of course, in order to accomplish this project, I would have to learn something, anything, about spaceology and spaceshipeology.

-Games like the japanese arcade games of the golden era (80's-90's): simple straightforward gameplay, easy to take on, well calculated learning curve, lots of artistic assets, whacky storylines, enough artistic rewards that you always want to see the next level.(could be 2D or 3D, that's not the most important)
Well, that is actually my current project, so I can count myself among the people working on one of their dream projects :) (don't worry, the gameplay is sort of "casual")

-some sort of fantasy themed game, but not first person (like morrowind), probably like rogue or sthg like that. With a content almost entirely randomly generated. I had started a project like that in the past, the program started by creating a planet ,biotypes, etc...I would need to devise an algorythm to create interesting random quests and plot points( I think that's not an impossible task, that's something I've been thinking about a lot)

-a game that would play like MAGIC the gathering, but you wouldn't see the cards, it would be interpretated as a story.

[soniCron]

Neat thread!

I hope that someday I can be running the same kind of operation that Erik is over at www.caravelgames.com. I love the idea of a thoughtful, close-knit community of puzzle lovers!

[fog4711]

My dream project is a non-linear, non-3D, haunted-house-adventure where you have to find out what's going on while outsmarting/killing demon-style :eek: opponents without any magic or spells. Fighting/interaction will be turn-based.

:cool:

[chanon]

My dream game:

Imagine a very human like AI (NPC) character with it's own personality that you can talk with using text chat and it can understand (almost) everything you say (if it makes sense in the game world). It has it's own life history that you can learn about by talking to it. It can remember what you do/say to it, so you can build a relationship with it.

Imagine a world full of characters like this, each with it's own unique personality and life history.

Now put whatever game/setting you want on top of that .. GTA, Morrowind or even Democracy.

[Grey Alien]

I'd finish Iron fist, a kung fu platformer and also Jewel of Orion a vertical shoot 'em up. I'd also like to make a 3D role playing game like Ultima Underworld.

[Anlino]

I am allready working on my dream game. I am very excited about it - but i don't want to tell you what it is yet:) Will hopefully be finished to the middle of 2007 - but i think i will work on something else as well, to finanse the project.

[Chris Evans]

Heh, I'm quoting myself from a year ago...



So two games later (one big, one small), I'm currently working on one of my dream projects. For me, it wasn't just about getting enough resources to make my dream game. It was about getting the experience and knowledge to accurately fulfill the vision I have for it. Just throwing money at it wouldn't necessarily accomplish this.

This game is still in development actually, but I've put it on a lower priority list. I'm hesitant to really start working on it in earnest because I want to make sure I'm truly ready for it. It's been a pet project for so long that I don't want to screw it up.

Anyway, I've also always wanted to make a time travel game. The game would be an Action borderline Sim game. You can go to and fro through time and any action you make in the past would affect the timeline and alter the future. I've been working on the design for close to two years but there's still some things that need to be fleshed out before I consider realistically making it.

[GBGames]

Anyway, I've also always wanted to make a time travel game. The game would be an Action borderline Sim game. You can go to and fro through time and any action you make in the past would affect the timeline and alter the future. I've been working on the design for close to two years but there's still some things that need to be fleshed out before I consider realistically making it.

That sounds cool. I miss playing Bill and Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure, but I can see your game being done in a cooler way. Like, you can go back in time, and if you happen to have already traveled to that point in time, you would meet yourself doing exactly as your old self did. And if you keep going back to that time period, you'd eventually meet each instance of yourself.

What a trip, eh?

[Chris Evans]

And if you keep going back to that time period, you'd eventually meet each instance of yourself.


Exactly.

The tricky thing is how to handle the situation when you bump into your other instance. I'm probably going to use the Back to the Future solution where you cause an instant paradox if run into your other self. Then I'll flash the "Game Over" text... :p

[Anlino]

I had an similar idea myself - but i have never thought of trying to start on it. The many possibilities in the game would choke me - i would be writing variables all day :)

[Anthony Flack]

That has vicious possibilities. So every time you return, it gets harder... and you need to act in such a way as you don't trap yourself or make trouble for later. Could be interesting.

[electronicStar]

Exactly.

The tricky thing is how to handle the situation when you bump into your other instance. I'm probably going to use the Back to the Future solution where you cause an instant paradox if run into your other self. Then I'll flash the "Game Over" text... :p You know what would be really cool?
If you could meet instances of yourself appearing and doing things that you haven't done yet. Could you program that, lol :p
BTW there was a great text adventure dealing with time travel in the 2004 IF competition, don't remember the name right now, I'll try to track it down...

[Anthony Flack]

The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy text adventure game had you playing the same scene from the point of view of more than one character. The limitation was that it was set up so that if you strayed from the original sequence of events it would cause a death situation. Not exactly ripe with possibilities, but it was a pretty clever trick at the time. You also got to understand what the other person's motivations were, and all the things he was going to say when he started to say something and then stopped.

[Sysiphus]

Any game, of any genre, which I could decide every single bit of it,specially in graphic terms.

We're counting on unlimited time...Well, even so. I end stuff which I start, so doing a huge game, would not be enjoyable. I enjoy making graphics for games for which I can calculate the work mentally well before starting... ;)

About genre , or type, of the "casual" level or similar, have done of most of the genres I wanted to do (So I hate 'em all equally now.. /Joke/ )

Funnily, a pair of genres I allways wanted to do...after doing them in my job, I am not so eager to do another... Speaking of what one'd like to do, as for work one does whatever ;)

Maybe a remake (moret han a remake, a game inspired on that one, with some improves one logically can think of , besides the technical improves after these years) of Realms, if you played that oldie...In 3d or in 2d, would be fun graphics to make either way...

[Uhfgood]

I'm sort of working on my dream games already - A wacky platform scroller in the spirit of earthworm jim, and an epic point'n'click graphic adventure. Only my adventure is comedy-fantasy, and will either be done with cartoon or clay (thanks to reading Anthony's site i'm inspired to do something with clay). My dream game beyond that would be an epic adventure game only with real actors and real sets, like a real interactive movie. But that's just beyond my means at the moment.

Keith

[electronicStar]

BTW there was a great text adventure dealing with time travel in the 2004 IF competition, don't remember the name right now, I'll try to track it down...
Yes, try All things devour (http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=5197), it makes a great use of the time travel gameplay.
You'll need a zcode interpreter (http://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXinfocomXinterpretersXfrotz.html) to play this text adventure

[Fry Crayola]

Exactly.

The tricky thing is how to handle the situation when you bump into your other instance. I'm probably going to use the Back to the Future solution where you cause an instant paradox if run into your other self. Then I'll flash the "Game Over" text... :p

This reminds me of Time Slip, an ace puzzle-platformer Yaroze game for the PS.

You controlled a snail (as you do), who had to escape a level. However, every 60 seconds you were hurtled back in time one minute. So the longer you played the level, the more copies of yourself existed in that time. The puzzle aspect was basically a set of switches - you had to position yourself on a switch to open a door so that your future self can progress. However any contact with yourself created a paradox which resulted in a Game Over, so you also had to think carefully about your positioning, making jumps so your future self can pass under you and stuff. Great fun.

I wonder if there's a PC version?


Anyway, my ideal games would be the game I'm working on - fully realised to the point where I could barely improve on it, and that space sim electronicStar mentioned. I'd expand that to include full scale wars on planets that you can enlist in as a mercenary soldier, a pilot, a medic or anything and help fight the battle.