At this point I am just trying to reinforce this kind of mindset into thinking about what my game will be about.
In my first workshop I was given a random selection of words and roughly 10 minutes to generate an idea for a game, base game mechanics and intended audience. I was then given roughly 30s to pitch the game that I had thought up.
This was essentially an idea generating exercise to demonstrate how easy it is to create new ideas for anything, let alone games, and that to some extent everything has been done and everything new is an evolution or an extension of something that has been done before.
My first random words were; The birth of a new day
I came up with the concept of Astronauts stranded on an asteroid in deep space and in order to survive you would have build and maintain rocket boosters and stabilizers on the asteroid in order to keep it facing the sun to avoid freezing to death.
This would essentially be a resource management and structure building game, similar to Kerbal Space Program in how it works and as such would be marketed towards the same audience.
To add more depth to the gameplay you would have to manage your resources, fuel and rocket placement to avoid and withstand meteor showers and upon running low on resources, mine the asteroid itself. This will however de-stabilize the asteroid and make it harder to control.
The second was The Smell Detective
In all honesty I took this one less seriously.
In a brand new 3D, Puzzle, Adventure game, Sherlock Holmes investigates the curious case of man nasually congested to death with the threat of more to come.
With your trusty companion John Watson and his faithful hound, track down and sniff out the odorous killer.
And it of course Nosulus Rift Compatible
Now using Random Word Generator
Bulletin Projection Battlefield
You play as a battlefield messenger in world war one. You deliver pertinent information, local and world news and soldiers mail. However you can only carry so much mail and documents and as you build up relationships with the troops on the front and the high command, you have to decide what letters to take and what to leave behind. Choose either to relay orders that will send men to their deaths or 'accidentally' lose the written confirmation to preserve their lives longer.
This would function similar to Papers Please in how a mundane job with mundane actions can often have the power of life and death over others.
Eliminate Expectation Lifestyle
You play as a jobs/career consultant who has to recommend and advise young adults transitioning from high school to either work or higher education. You will have to manage their expectations and dreams with how good (or bad) their grades and effort may be.
Again this would work similar to Papers Please and would offer a dialogue system giving you the option to either be blunt at risk of upsetting consulates or trying to break the bad news easily. However you only have so much time to see every individual in a play session so you will have to manage your time accordingly, often making quick judgments based on grades or the students attitude. Beware, some may be so upset or angry they may complain or become aggressive and you will have to find a way to de-escalate the situation.
I also had my first anatomy lecture and in it we covered the bones of the leg and how they move and work. Our lecturer Ron looks at the body in terms of how it is structured rather than how it appears and presents how the bones function as structures supporting and moving weight. Hopefully this will give me a better understanding of human forms as it is an area I currently struggle with.
