Need Ideas For A Game

[chris_r]

Ok this isn't really relevant to the gp2x but it's partially related and I figured it'll get the most attention in the gp2x section.

Basically I have a uni project which was of our own choosing. So i chose to learn SDL and program a small game in it. I've now worked through all the lazyfoo tutorials and a few others but now I need some ideas for what game I can make.

The project has to be submitted the first week of january, so that gives me about 7 weeks maybe which I plan to work about 3-5 hours a week maybe, possibly more depending on how it goes, but that includes documentation and presentation.

When I'm finished the game I'll probably port it to the gp2x which is why it's partially relevant to this section.

So has anyone got any ideas for a game I can make, or possibly a game idea that they would like see.
It shouldn't be too big because of the time I have and the fact that this will be my first large scale programming project. But it shouldn't be too simple so that i have something good to present.

Thanks in advance

 

[OMars]

Here's one idea I had a couple months back:
LINK

 

[Megatog615]

We need a good addictive scrolling shooter.

 

[norm]

could do a rodents revenge style game

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodent's_Revenge

http://www.acid-play.com/download/rodents-revenge/

would be awesome

 

[senquack]

A SkiFree clone (did a search, couldn't find a pre-existing one) would be excellent:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkiFree

And remember to release your sourcecode so others can improve it later!!!!

 

[Sphinxter]

Idea most difficult part. I've been following the formula;
situation or role to play, ex. vampire
problem to solve; ex. need to eat
unfamiliar tools to solve it with ex. turn into a bat
induce stress by opposition or constraint; ex. cross wind, skittish prey and growing weaker as a clock spins and farmers shoot at it.
add equal parts difficulty and luck. Got to have a story., most important part to me, does not have to be believable, funny a big plus. Has not been working that well so far but I'm refining it, next up's almost in the chute and could be the one, finding personal experience is best to draw from. Good luck with yours.

 

[badwolf]

I have an idea based on 2 different games. Both are not exactly hugely popular titles but great nun the less.

In the game Clonk ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonk ) you control the characters directly to dig up earth and build buildings all in the name of creating a city or destroying your opponent. All in a dynamically generated environment. It is a great game even if it is a bit hard to control. There is a port in the archives if you want to try it.

The second game is Evil Genius ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_Genius_%28game%29 ). This game has some similar idea but you are building a base for your character. You can assign tasks for your henchmen to perform such as building a freezer to store the bodies of members of various world police forces.

The combination of these 2 ideas of directly controlling characters and being about to asign them tasks would make for a great strategy game. A level editor and the ability to add buildings and weapons would make it a truly awesome game.

 

[javaJake]

I'd love a game like rRootage - something of a mix between Geometry Wars, Galaxia, and Asteroids.

Detailed
It would be an arcade game in which you face bad guys who come from different directions, act differently, and fire different projectiles at you. Different projectiles do different things. One could be a narrow diamond, and once shot, fires short-lived projectiles in the directions its two ends were facing. Another could be more like an orbiting ship, which is attracted to you much like a ship is to a planet or star. Different "baddies" that shoot these projectiles could have different tactics for avoiding you. One could be to have itself constantly surrounded by these projectiles to avoid you. Another could dart around in a predefined pattern. The idea behind each one of these bad guys is that, in order to finish off the level, you have to finish the bad guy off, just like in rRootage. It doesn't matter how many projectiles you shoot - the bad guy is what counts. Power-ups like the force-field bomb in rRootage are more than welcome, of course.

Summary - For Speed-Readers
An Asteroids/rRootage/Geometry Wars mix, in which you control a ship and face off against a different bad guy each level, whom you must destroy to complete the level. The bad guy would fire varied projectiles that have as much unique attacks as the "baddie" has defenses.


What do you think?

 

[b._.o._.b]

I think a game like this would be fantastic on the gp2x http://www.windowsgames.co.uk/slay.html
It is a turn-based game. You need to conquer and defeat your AI or human opponent.
The rules: http://www.windowsgames.co.uk/slayRules.html

Maybe a game like this is doable without AI or a very limited AI in 7 weeks. You can download a windows version from the site. I've also played it with wine on LInux.

 

[javaJake]

Here's one idea I had a couple months back:
LINK



This would be my second vote (if my above idea was rejected). Sounds like a neat twist to the original Frozen Bubbles game. It would be cool, too, if there was a mode in which you had to control your ship while firing, much like KDE's space-fighting game... it's not complicated to control, just takes a bit of practice.

 

[zacaj]

Id reccomend a puzzle game. They re easy to make...

 

[chris_r]

Thanks for all your ideas guys, I'm quite the basic idea of OMars' game, albeit if I made I'd probably change quite a bit of it gameplay wise to a couple ideas that I have.

Otherwise I probably will make a puzzle game, it's probably a good test of my abilities so far without being too difficult. So a rodent's revenge style puzzle game doesn't seem to difficult to code, just the level design will probably be the difficult bit.

Javajake's idea would probably be my next choosing. By the sounds of it he means a vektar style game, except with a single enemy per level like rrootage instead of the multiple enemies in vektar.

A game like skifree might be a good idea, I haven't played skifree in years though so I'm just basing this off what I remember.

Apart from that I think the rest of the games seem a bit too difficult for my first project, but I would like to make a platformer in the future some time. Especially a metal slug style shooter, which I'm assuming is what Megatog615 meant.

Thanks for your ideas guys. And of course if anyone has any more ideas then I'd be happy to hear them still.

 

[fusion_power]

Shooters, Puzzles....there is to much of it on the GP2X I think.

We could need a Bugfree Poker Game for GP2X. Poker2X is very good but discontinued so it has still some big bugs inside. And it only can play limit Hold 'em and not unlimited.
I also could need something like the "Advance Wars" series for our GP2X If someone can do such a game in such a Quality...I would be glad. ^_^

 

[chris_r]

And remember to release your sourcecode so others can improve it later!!!!

I missed this post first time round, of course I will release my source code. I may not release it straight away with the release of my game as I may want to continue to improve the code on my own before letting other people change it.
But otherwise I'm a great believer in share and share alike, so yes I will release the code eventually. Just need to make a game first

 

[CoMiKe]

I suggest a top-down racing simulation game.

It could use real tracks, based on Google Maps, perhaps.
And it could also use real performance for cars (that's even more important).

And, as you will have problems seeing the next corner (most top-down racing games suffer that problem), add a counter that shows the distance to the next corner and the corner direction.

And, use an open format for tracks and cars, so people can customize it.

 

[coldfish]

Something like ElevatorAction-II.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_Action_II

 

[Unfathomable Depths]

I suggest a top-down racing simulation game.

It could use real tracks, based on Google Maps, perhaps.
And it could also use real performance for cars (that's even more important).

And, as you will have problems seeing the next corner (most top-down racing games suffer that problem), add a counter that shows the distance to the next corner and the corner direction.

And, use an open format for tracks and cars, so people can customize it.

Thats an excellent idea. Take the real tracks from Google maps and build a game around them.

Its a *lot* of really boring work masking the track for collisions, the overlay to give an impression of depth, the infinite variations of gear ratios, power trains and, most importantly, simulating grip.

Seems a massive project - you any good at graphics?

If so you're on.

 

[CoMiKe]

Well, I'm probably the worst graphics designed ever conceived.

Anyway, I'm very glad you like the idea.

It should be something like this F1 game from the Renault F1 Team:

http://games.ing-renaultf1.com/

But it should be vastly improved, as acceleration, braking and cornering is not even near to real cars behaviour.

And, as I said in previous post, there should be some kind of counter to the next corner and direction, as using the top-down view you probably get to see the corner when you've already lost it. :blink:

So you can brake in the correct moment (150 meters for very closed corners, for example, you know, as in real races).

Sorry for not being able to help you with graphics, but perhaps other members are interested and can help you to develop it.

And although I have basic coding knowledge (C/C++), I'm no good at large projects...

Hope you find support to develop it, and write me if you need some other ideas for the game.

Good luck!