What's a really cool game that no one has made yet?



  • You know what kind of game I mean. Let's keep this on topic for at least 1 posts.


  • :belt_onion:

    Zebraltauregious


    Filed Under: Now go make.


  • @darkmatter said:

    Zebra altar religious

    How is that a game? What does it do?


  • :belt_onion:

    @ben_lubar said:

    Zebra altar religious

    I don't think I said any of that.



  • Frankly, I'm not sure what you said.



  • Somebody should make a tycoon game for natural resources management. Environmental Economics Tycoon.


  • :belt_onion:

    It's like minesweeper except in first person and the mines are bombs and they're not underground but in the sky so you shoot the bombs before they can explode, with a bow and arrow, while riding a mount.


  • :belt_onion:

    According to this guy no one has ever heard of, linked by a google "feeling lucky" search, Asphalt Annihilation is a "really cool game" that "doesn't exist" anymore.

    It appears to fit all of your question's criteria.


  • :belt_onion:

    The 2nd link from el goog is pretty good too...

    I'm itching to play this one really cool game where you build a robot and try to... well, do whatever you want, from collecting misty stuff to becoming king of the world.

    Unfortunately, this game doesn't exist, which is a great hindrance to playing it.



  • A narrative game where you play as a kaiju, starting as a small normal-sized animal (salamander or something) and increasing size and gaining intelligence level by level. Along the way, you discover the dangerous secret around the phenomenon of what happened to you, and revenge yourself on those responsible. You end the game with a selfless sacrifice.

    Think: Godzilla vs. Destroyah, but with the growth mechanic.



  • Either that or a Justin Beiber beard growing sim--

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-GiwdXyObc

    Oh.



  • Well, if by cool you mean ‘nerdy’, have I got the game for you:

    Ok, you know how SimEarth is really awesome, but gameplay mostly consists of staring at a few charts and trying to figure out how they relate to any of the input options that you have available (or just dumbly following a simple strategy to win every scenario) via some overly complex and unknown set of hidden rules.

    And you know how Conway's Game of Life isn't even a game at all, but, you know how the b3s23 rule was supposed to simulate population growth in a very simple way.

    And you know that the Monod esolang is just straight bizarre, right, but basically the way it works is that the program is a sequence of codons (‘DNA strand’) that operate on a global array (‘chemical memory’).

    Well what if there were an mmo that combined these things?

    Basically, what I'm thinking is that the game world consists of a grid, each cell containing a certain number of chemicals. Each player would control a single species, with the ability to make changes to the chemical content of inhabited and neighbor cells. At the start, your species would only have three genes, each encoding one ability:

    -create DNA in own cell and neighbors
    -create some waste product in all neighboring cells (this gene is tied to the ability to resist said chemical)
    -≥four units of DNA in a cell to live

    and every species would have some level of resistance to each type of chemical, initially four units' worth, such that the starting ruleset behaves like b3s23. Early on, you get a steady income of cells to place, but as your species spreads abiogenesis becomes harder but the chance to find useful new genes increases.

    I've also had some thoughts about horizontal gene transfer: it would be cool to have some mechanic where you could steal genes from other organisms, and prevent them from stealing yours, etc. But no solid mechanics for that yet.



  • This wasn't a competition, but I think you just won.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    beard growing sim

    On the next Humble Bundle, together with Grass Growing Simulator and Paint Drying Simulator.

    I had a cool idea for a game, where you'd design an electrical circuit (with all the gates, multiplexers, all that stuff) in order to make a robot get from point A to point B or do whatever else I'd think of.

    It turned out it already exists, which made me give up my hopes and dreams.


  • BINNED

    @Maciejasjmj said:

    I had a cool idea for a game, where you'd design an electrical circuit (with all the gates, multiplexers, all that stuff) in order to make a robot get from point A to point B or do whatever else I'd think of.

    So it's either a case of great minds or stupid minds, 'cause I wanted to do that too.

    And a game already existing in some form is not a reason not to create something else in the "genre". Heck, today you could do so much more. I actually wanted to make it multiplayer, where you could submit your robots into an arena and let them battle other people's designs. You could also make some kind of a marketplace where people could by and sell robot parts they designed. Or have a team/guild mechanic where one person could focus on electronics, another person on programming, and so on.

    All this, of course, depends on the engine being flexible enough, but damn would it be cool.



  • Circuit-robots plus DNA-bacteria equals ❓❔⁉‼



  • @Onyx said:

    programming

    So, more like Colobot meets Robocode. I was rather thinking of it more as a puzzle game, with simple "follow that line, then avoid that obstacle" logic - I think actual programming / designing would make the game a little bit too complicated for non-programmers.

    Then again, your idea has an insane coolness factor to it.



  • How about a faction-based game where one faction is a swarm of nanobots with a programmable circuit board and the other faction is a bunch of viruses with programmable DNA?

    • Randomly generated arena, different for each match.
    • Arena is fully visible to both players, but only after the match starts, and neither player can interact with their robots/viruses while the game is running.
    • Having more code/DNA means the robots/viruses act more slowly.
    • Objective could be something like destroying the enemy base using resources found in the arena to create more robots/viruses.


  • I always wanted to do a game called God Wars. Think Worms, but each team is the collection of primary mythology figures from each mythology.

    Greek Gods vs Norse Gods for example. Then again I'd want to put Jesus in there and everyone would spit fire and brimstone and get thoroughly butthurt.




  • BINNED

    @Maciejasjmj said:

    I think actual programming / designing would make the game a little bit too complicated for non-programmers.

    At this point in time, I don't have illusions of making money from games. I just have ideas that I think might be fun. And if I'm doing it for fun, and most likely releasing it for free (or to cover server expenses if such thing is needed), then damn it, I'm going to make something I'd want to play! So if the entire audience is 50 people, as long as I can have fun with those 50 people I'm good.



  • Did any of you guys play SpaceChem? That game ticked all the right boxes for my brain, so might be fun for programmers in general. Also, it might offer some ideas for non non-existent game.



  • @Keith said:

    Did any of you guys play SpaceChem? That game ticked all the right boxes for my brain, so might be fun for programmers in general. Also, it might offer some ideas for non non-existent game.

    I tried it but I found it confused me very quickly.



  • Might be worth giving it some more time when you're at a loose end.



  • I think you should make a game where you control the world's only miniature giant space hamster, and adventure with your slightly simple human sidekick and his merry band of fellows accross a medieval/middle earth/dungeons and dragons style landscape.

    Edit: Discourse has so many reply buttons - this was meant to be just a reply to the thread, not the last post in it. I apologise if you got notified for no reason.



  • @algorythmics said:

    miniature giant space hamster

    Sooo, just a space hamster then?

    @algorythmics said:

    Edit: Discourse has so many reply buttons - this was meant to be just a reply to the thread, not the last post in it. I apologise if you got notified for no reason.

    I thought someone like me for a minute. :(



  • @Keith said:

    algorythmics said:
    miniature giant space hamster

    Sooo, just a space hamster then?

    Giant is part of the common name of the species. Normally they are of exceptional size, but as a miniature space hamster, you are roughly the size of a normal hamster.

    There is an M Night Shyamalan plot-twist for this game.



  • @algorythmics said:

    Giant is part of the common name of the species. Normally they are of exceptional size, but as a miniature space hamster, you are roughly the size of a normal hamster.

    There is an M Night Shyamalan plot-twist for this game.

    I'm liking where this is going.



  • Have I led everyone on long enough? have I built up the plot twist enough?

    "When you read what happened next, you wont believe your eyes!"

    "When you find out what really happened, you will be amazed!"

    "I couldn't believe it when I found out the truth about this miniature giant space hamster game"

    have I posted enough clickbait? do we think we are ready for the big M Night Shyamalangadingdong reveal?



  • @algorythmics said:

    do we think we are ready for the big dong reveal?

    I'm not.



  • @algorythmics said:

    Have I led everyone on long enough? have I built up the plot twist enough?

    "When you read what happened next, you wont believe your eyes!"

    "When you find out what really happened, you will be amazed!"

    "I couldn't believe it when I found out the truth about this miniature giant space hamster game"

    have I posted enough clickbait? do we think we are ready for the big M Night Shyamalangadingdong reveal?

    Ah so in other words, you're Peter Molyneux pimping out Godus. I'll pass thanks.

    Then again you might not be. There's not enough deliciousness or zen-like experience there.



  • @Keith said:

    I'm not.

    EXCELLENT! this is exactly when M Night Shlong face prefers to strike!

    IT TURNS OUT!

    .
    ..
    ...
    ....
    .....
    ......
    .......
    ........
    .........
    ..........
    ...........
    ............
    .............
    ..............
    ...............
    ................

    YOU WERE PLAYING BALDURS GATE 1 ALL ALONG!



  • Well, an interesting one might be a knowledge game including live web searches and results.
    The engine could load some webpages and generate/update questions by itself (e.g. from news), which the user has to answer correctly, or at least narrow down the search queries.
    Something fun and educational, where you might even improve your $searchengine skills.

    From a programmers view it might involve intelligent parsing capabilities to generate Q&A and check correctness of given results.

    Whatever, KISS might be a good start ;)



  • I would probably like all of these programming-like games, but I still wouldn't play any of them.

    The job has ruined complex RPG/strategies for me. They tickle the same part of my brain as coding. Except, with coding, I have something to show at the end, while games are mostly just an enjoyable waste of time. So, as soon as I start getting into a complex game, the guilt of a dozen half-completed projects starts weighting on me and I must stop.

    My ideal game: a mindless roguelite I can play with half my brain, while listening to a good podcast or audiobook. Sad but true.


  • Winner of the 2016 Presidential Election

    Okay, so here is my entry:

    You are playing as Hanzo, a German Ninja/Samurai (choosable class) who is equipped with the Book of the five rings.
    You are to solve puzzles of the IT-variety. Most of these puzzles are incredibly stupid / curious perversions in IT technology. There will be daily updates / challenges!
    As Inspiration you can take http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/ . I heard the guys over there have a lot of these puzzles.

    You have 5 days to program this, @ben_lubar. You are allowed to use terrible coding practices and very crude hacks, too. It's a game, nobody cares for coding quality in games (is what I remember a frontpage-article from long ago saying).

    Filed Under: I'd probably play a puzzle-game based on TDWTF-stories





  • I had the same idea about programming robots in advance and letting them fight in an arena. I think it's a pretty common idea in programmer's head in fact.

    When I was kid, I used to think about what sort of Tycoon games were missing. The best I came up with were building your own gas station company (yeah I was that fun as a kid) and building your swimming pool company (think about it, it can bring more creativity than Railroad Tycoon or Zoo Tycoon).



  • @ben_lubar said:

    Hold an arrow key until you hit a wall and then hold a different arrow key and repeat.

    Last week, I downloaded Dwarf Fortress.

    I carefully chose a tiled version, so I don't have to learn ASCII symbols. I started the game. Read through the tooltips. Generated a new world. Figure out I need to stop the history simulation at some point. Got a nice map. Then I spent a good 20 minutes going over it, trying to find an all-green square without aquifers (because that's apparently bad). I found a decent place and started.

    It was a dull gray landscape. Little dwarves were running around on their own. I couldn't select them. There were building materials and supplies. There was a huge control menu on the right, with like 20 options.

    I asked myself WTF was I doing. I exited and deleted the game. I went back to TDWTF, reddit and my projects.

    It was like the third time I did that. There will probably be fourth.



  • @agbeladem said:

    I had the same idea about programming robots in advance and letting them fight in an arena. I think it's a pretty common idea in programmer's head in fact.

    When I was kid, I used to think about what sort of Tycoon games were missing. The best I came up with were building your own gas station company (yeah I was that fun as a kid) and building your swimming pool company (think about it, it can bring more creativity than Railroad Tycoon or Zoo Tycoon).

    It's even been done. Look up Core Wars, or redcode. Heck, there's also Omega from years ago where you upgrade tanks and give them battle programs.



  • @cartman82 said:

    I asked myself WTF was I doing. I exited and deleted the game. I went back to TDWTF, reddit and my projects.

    It was like the third time I did that. There will probably be fourth.

    This is pretty much my experience with trying to play DF.


  • BINNED

    @cartman82 said:

    The job has ruined complex RPG/strategies for me. They tickle the same part of my brain as coding. Except, with coding, I have something to show at the end, while games are mostly just an enjoyable waste of time. So, as soon as I start getting into a complex game, the guilt of a dozen half-completed projects starts weighting on me and I must stop.


    Filed under: Why I quit EVE Online



  • @Onyx said:

    ---
    Filed under: Why I quit EVE Online

    Excel Vehicular-starships Edition is boring? Say it ain't so.



  • Even online is literally just log in once a month whilst paying your subscription to requeue your skills. You can fly a ship around in about 3 years and have a hope of surviving.


  • BINNED

    @Arantor said:

    Excel Vehicular-starships Edition is boring? Say it ain't so.

    I had fun. Shot stuff. Got shot at even more. Most of the community is really nice people. And when they are not, there is no game better at providing trolling possibilities than EVE. I like the complexity, the freedom, and, mostly the people.

    But it's not a game you can play for 20 minutes daily and accomplish much. And it requires an amount of concentration I usually don't have available after a full day of work.

    Unless you mindlessly run missions, that is. You can do that in an almost drone-like way. But that's boring and I only ever done it to make cash so I can fund my PvP.



  • @Onyx said:

    But it's not a game you can play for 20 minutes daily and accomplish much. And it requires an amount of concentration I usually don't have available after a full day of work.

    Yep. At one point I think I was actually drawing an in-game salary from someone working shifts as, essentially, a border guard. Then I realised what I was doing with my life.

    On-topic (hah!), I find the whole thing of 'think up a game, realise you've just independently designed existing game X' is my biggest issue. Because I don't generally feel that I could do any better than the existing option.



  • @trithne said:

    On-topic (hah!), I find the whole thing of 'think up a game, realise you've just independently designed existing game X' is my biggest issue. Because I don't generally feel that I could do any better than the existing option.

    Hasn't happened yet. The game idea I pitched is nothing like the one @ben_lubar suggested; similar context, but different game entirely.



  • My Baldurs Gate 1 plot twist went down like a lead balloon.

    Maybe I should try something else, maybe a plot twist where it turns out you were actually providing the outsourcing for my job all along? like those crowdsourcing protein folding/find aliens things that have been popping up? but I get to sit in my pants at home while you do my job?

    You'll get "Space Programmer Credits" to spend on Hats and Badges. It'll be like a proper game.

    Note, the hats will be digital.



  • Valve trolled us all before with that already. Be creative and inventive.



  • @Arantor said:

    Valve trolled us all before with that already. Be creative and inventive.

    As a player of "Euro Programmer Sim", those things are actually YOUR job now.

    It will even offer In App Purchases, which will be licenses for software productivity tools (at a healthy markup ofc, I need to make an extra profit)



  • @algorythmics said:

    As a player of "Euro Programmer Sim", those things are actually YOUR job now.

    It will even offer In App Purchases, which will be licenses for software productivity tools (at a healthy markup ofc, I need to make an extra profit)

    Oddly enough I don't recall DLC being an option in Game Dev Tycoon however it has been a while since I played, so maybe I forgot. I know I made a mint out of expansions to an MMORPG though.


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