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Current Game Ideas
Updated Jan 7, 2011 by hyundra...@gmail.com

Game Ideas

This is where we should brainstorm / pitch our game ideas. Let's all write up at least one idea by the time we meet this week. (When do we meet this week??)

Guidelines

Please be nice when critique-ing other people's ideas. We should all think of three good things about each idea here before we talk about what we don't like about it.

I'm pretty sure we all have a consensus that our game will teach high school students minority American history. We also talked about basing the game off of Oregon Trail, but I'm not sure we have a consensus on this.

Where we go from there is pretty wide open.

In our ideas we should talk about the style of game we should make (top down shooter, platformer, rpg), which minority to focus on and why, and most importantly why it would be fun to play. What about it will draw people in?

Fire away ...

Runaway

Here's a semi fleshed-out idea I discussed with Leilani the other day.

Let's make a RPG adventure game in the spirit of "Oregon Trail" except that our main character's objective is to escape slavery by traveling north through the Underground Railroad.

Your character has health and energy, as well as strength and intelligence. In your initial escape to the woods, watch out for your owner. Use your inventory of ground pepper to distract the chase dogs and hide in the bushes. Thereafter, your map shows a variety of choices for where to go next.

Maybe you should risk going into a town at night, to get to a safe house for sleep and much-needed provisions -- and risk being caught if someone tips you off. Or sleep out in the woods to be safe -- and use your provisions. Maybe you heard rumors of where Harriet Tubman is, and might want to head there.

Wherever you go, don't go to the same place as your wandering owner - or any of his search parties. You might have to play a dangerous game of hide and seek if you do. But you can't distrust every white person either -- some are abolitionists working for your freedom and can give you valuable information and provisions.

Choose who to escape with--your entire family or by yourself or anywhere in between.

Cross the Canadian border to finally to get to freedom.

Idea 2

Chris here. Looks like we've agreed to run the chemistry game instead? Here's what I came up with.

Chemistry Game

Objective: Teach high school students the basics of atomic bonding

How: Provide a distribution of ions and encourage students to link them up a la Word Challenge

The basics ---

Menu Screen:

  • Start Game
  • Practice
    • Player can assemble any molecule in the game without time or ion constraints
  • Difficulty
    • Novice: Display ions with valence electrons, indicate valid ion combinations
    • Normal: Display ions with valence electrons
    • Advanced: Display ions only
  • How to Play
    • Click/drag two ions together to bond them
    • Player assembles molecule, then "confirms" it
      • score registered, molecule name displays (if applicable) and molecule breaks apart
      • prevents spamming random combinations

Game Screen:

  • Flow
    • Seed the play area with a random assortment of ions
      • The higher the level, the more kinds of ions appear (Start with hydrocarbons and oxygen, then add metal ions and other nonmetals)
    • Play begins with a one-minute countdown
      • Every successful combination adds 2-3 seconds to countdown
    • On assembling enough molecules, player advances to next level with new ions
    • Bonus round
      • Every level contains the elements of a polyatomic ion: constructing it pauses the game clock
      • and a mini-game begins (ideas?)
        • Player is asked to choose the name of the polyatomic ion. On failure, correct answer is displayed, and game
        • continues. On success, 10 seconds are added to the countdown, points are added to the player's score, and game continues.
    • Play ends when the countdown reaches zero
      • Player has the option to continue indefinitely as long as time is left, but there will also be an "end game"
      • button for those who wish to bow out early
      • Or should we limit game length? After "final" level, valid ions and bonus rounds do not restore time to the countdown
        • Player continues to receive new ion sets
    • Player submits score to database — possible broadcasts to friends who also play the game

Game Over Screen:

  • Play Again?
  • Your Score
  • Your Friends' Scores
    • "Rival" mechanic? "Jane Doe scored X! Can you beat her?"
  • Credits

Music:

  • We can has? Sound makes a world of difference with games.

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