Game Concept

[strutcode]

Let's compile suggestions on rough gameplay concepts here. Concepts that are overly difficult to implement may get vetoed, this likely includes ones that have:

• Networking
• Extravagant stories
• An expectation of large amounts of content (e.g. open world rpg)

Otherwise go wild!

[shapirojas]

"Twitch extensions" are technology that lets viewers interact with a stream, either by putting an overlay over the stream and allowing clicks, or by making an interactive widget in a panel under the stream.

I have some ideas about using twitch extensions to enable games that streamers can play with viewers.

A word about networking - a working twitch extension needs a server to communicate with the twitch API. The good news is that the game can easily stand the server up, and it only needs to communicate to the twitch API, using the broadcaster's connection, and nothing else.

So here are the ideas:

I mentioned a discord chat a tower defense game where the broadcaster can view an overworld. And monsters are running around. There are farms that need to be protected, but the monsters run past defense points where viewers can jump in and build towers to try to stop the monsters or weaken them before another defense point. The streamer has a supply of resources they can allocate to defense points so viewers can build towers there.

Alternately, this could be an exploration game instead of tower defense. The broadcaster moves around an overworld and finds points of interest and obstacles. A point of interest is a place that a viewer can jump into to take an action or solve a puzzle to remove an obstacle. Example: build a dam to prevent the flow of water so the broadcaster can explore the next area.

I have a somewhat more developed idea that involves using viewers to work together to create live background music for streamers. Here is a doc I wrote for it: twitch collaborative music creation. I added a new "one month version" at the end.

[KMCeasyas123]

You are the Master AI in charge of the systems, sub-AI's and personnel in WhiteCliff, the largest self sustained private Lunar Colony. WhiteCliff has been contracted by the US government to construct and launch a new experimental spacecraft, and its launch window is in one Lunar Day. Your goal is to make sure the final components are installed onto the space ship and that it is launched on time. An easy enough task for an AI of your caliber, but complications will soon arise once a peculiar sample from the lunar surface is discovered...

• As the Master AI, your job is to oversee (and if needed, repair) the critical systems keeping WhiteCliff operational, assign directives to the various AI's and the machines and personnel under their command, and take manual control of systems like Doors to either lock individuals in or direct others elsewhere.
• WhiteCliff is home to just under 900 personnel, divided between Scientists, Security, Service teams, Miners, Medics, Botanists, Roboticists, and Nonessentials (administrators, cooks, etc).
• The Sample retrieved by the Mining Team will begin to mutate unprotected personnel near it after an Earth day, turning them into either vicious monsters, mindless zombies, or disguise themselves to appear unaffected (basically they're The Thing). These monsters will attempt to terraform the base into a hellish environment using the bodies of slain personnel. Even if you think you've killed them all, you can't know if you've killed all their nests.
• With the uncertainty that will soon plague WhiteCliff, perhaps the mental health of the personnel will make them worse than any monster.
• WhiteCliff is close to the USSF Camp Collins, a military base holding a battalion of bored "Space Marines." They'll be happy to come help WhiteCliff if needed, but you might not like what they do when they arrive...
• Come the Lunar Night, the Solar Arrays that have been providing backup power will not work, leaving you reliant on your fusion reactor for power. If that breaks in the night, your emergency power batteries will only last so long before the facility is thrown into darkness.

[collectivenectar]

I didn't realize until kmc posted his idea that I put mine in its own thread, so I closed it and here it is:

Underwater Game:

I think the whole concept can be pretty flexible as to whether it’s 2d or 3d, and also flexible as to whether it’s an Action style game or Adventure, but I’m personally more partial to either a combo adventure/action or just action. I’m just going to throw out a few different ideas here but I’m sticking with the underwater theme as an umbrella.

Gameplay - Action, Action/Adventure, or Adventure?

If action only, I think a scrolling 2d would be more fun, and if people want 3d instead, maybe a ‘river’ style design to cut down on the visual design load. Fight enemy fish or octopi or sharks, whathaveyou, save the girl fish from the evil kraken, and at the end build your dream conch house on the beach, etc. I don’t know what the team is able to invest effort wise, so combat doesn’t necessarily have to be complex, it could be just a simple detection style gameplay - avoid the bad guys or you get killed - or more complex, with buffs, multiple attack types, AI, etc. On the small scale, gameplay would be driven towards maybe a scoring system of awards for enemies killed, items collected, damage taken, or instead the usual bosses and evil overlord endgame. I was also thinking this idea of maybe ‘escape from a dangerous enemy land’ sort of thing so it gets harder and when you win you get to go home or something.



If Adventure/Action, action could be literally separated by ‘barriers’ from exploration scenes, but I know that drives some people crazy when it’s separated and doesn't drive storyline. Exploration would be open, could be procedural, but I’d personally enjoy more open exploration type with somewhat larger maps. Maps could have collectible items, semi interactive environments(not puzzles though), and passive AI, whereas action scenes would be more linear and focused on exiting the scene safely, grabbing a protected item, or beating a boss, etc.



If more more adventure style, not really keyed towards bosses and conflict but towards new experiences, so just simple interactables, collectible items, eye candy scenery, passive AI, heavy storyline. Could use the same, ’escape from the dangerous land into the utopian land.' Drives overall would be more like : resource collection, collectible items/trophies, maybe even work towards establishing/unlocking a ‘home base’ after stage completion with premade add-ons(no open building), meeting new NPCs in fish villages, taking on mini-quests(but no RPG elements), etc.

I was actually thinking a fun add-on for action OR adventure style would be a ‘home’ scene where you can relax and look at your home base with little wild fishies and coral or something, like the old school windows screensavers, i.e. your own aquarium tank.

Player character ideas (what is the player character?): A fish - eats fish food, seaweed, guppies, etc in combat scenes can bites enemies, sonar attack, water push attack, displays aggression buffs, conch powerups, seashells currency. Could be a pufferfish? Lion fish? Flower horn?(flower horn could have psychic powers, just look at the guy lol) or maybe amphibious creatures like salamander, axolotl — In that case it’d be more land-style combat.

Scenes/backgrounds : underwater caves, lagoons, coral reefs, fish cities, etc

[shapirojas]

You are the Master AI in charge of the systems...................

@KMCeasyas123 What genre are you thinking of? I think this would be really fun as a text adventure, for example. What were you thinking your view of the world would look like?

[KMCeasyas123]

@shapirojas I was thinking a simulation game with a birds eye view of the site, similar to FTL or Prison Architect. My main inspiration is this video https://youtu.be/bnguhiJpTJw. Stylewise I was thinking a Hard Science Fiction vibe, as in its mostly grounded in reality without fantastical elements (beyond the mutants)

[kyleajenkins]

Tank Shooter/Plaformer with RPG / Metroidvania elements:

I have had a simple idea in my head, where you control a tank character in a 2D (or 3D with 2D platforming) environment, that basically rolls around using WASD or joystick, and aims with the mouse or other joystick, almost like a Contra shooter with more aiming freedom. This particular tank can jump and eventually get a jet pack to glide across large gaps or avoid enemy attacks. different tank weapons can be found and equipped, such as a weapon that has an arc line-of-fire with explosion on impact, a simple straight-firing machine gun, rockets with homing, or others, and depending on the enemy or environment you are in will determine what is the best weapon to use. Enemies could also have arcing projectiles, so even if there is a wall between you and the foe, they can fire a cannonball over the wall and potentially hit you, all in a metroidvania style, exploring deeper in a mechanical dungeon with different weapons and health and movement upgrades. I think it would also be cool to be able to attach to the wall for a short duration to avoid special attacks while continuing shooting, and this could also be an upgrade. Using the gravity and movement of the tank to dodge attacks and position yourself, while using weapons that require firing weapons that arc, could provide interesting gameplay dynamics. Story and the rest has not really been established, but I just imagine a little tank character with big eyes, blowing up the baddies. Kind of cute, kind of badass?

[collectivenectar]

I redid my proposal after feedback, narrowed it down to action/adventure, and came up with a different background and a few changes to gameplay. So, scratch my last post.

2d side scrolling action/adventure

Background: Toxic surface, endangered ocean. Everyone lives underwater or underground. The setting is a research facility in the deep ocean that works to understand how to improve marine ecosystem, as it has many problems including rapid overpopulation of certain species. The remaining species are small, but aggressive and/or toxic to humanoids, like:
 Mutated Algae Mutated Seaweed, lamprey anglerfish jellyfish eel Sea urchin worm goby

Intro : You work for a marine research facility. The complex has experienced major failure due to mutated deep sea algae infestation in power system(attracted to high intensity lights). Power system failure, shorted out multiple systems, and everyone else has died(you were the only one outside the complex when it happened). There are systems in place to sustain you until your expected shift change in 6 months, but they need to be repaired in order for you to survive, as you are far from any opportunity for rescue. Sea floor is full of hostile creatures, survive them, and you can get your facility back up and running.

Player: Humanoid character Wears a pressurized suit? Or just has a compact breathing device or gills as if player is some kind of evolved human, I don't like the idea of the big yellow air tanks or anything like that, I think it makes the player look bulky and movement would look cleaner and quicker if it's done without that.

Gameplay is in canyons and submarine caves, scenes that connect multiple underwater buildings/stations making up a large submarine complex deep in the ocean. Restore functions to the base complex by fighting through enemies to specific stations, fixing airlocks, retrieving mechanical devices from ocean floor to restore broken functions, etc., salvaging destroyed equipment, removing all sea life from machine areas, and finally repairing actual components and turning on critical systems to restore power or production of things like food, oxygen, power, pressure, security. Once inside, most stations would be non-combat scenes, so there may be some opportunity for storyline development, but in general it doesn’t have to have much writing except at the beginning and maybe at the end, too.

Melee weapons like spear, harpoon, knife, other attack types can be projectile or wave, like sonic shock burst, light bursts, electric shock mini torpedo, and then distraction effects like decoy/fake prey or predator species, aposematism.

I actually found an almost perfect reference material, funny enough, in ‘The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human’

I like the visual style, and the way it does the underwater action adventure with bosses. I think there will be more action, however, a little bit more problem solving(the broken down station missions), and a little less exploring. And the player is not inside a submarine.

edit: a few descriptions, word choice.