Qualifications:
These notes are streams of consciousness and are presented with little evaluation. Admittedly, some of the concepts suck, have been done before, or just won’t work. All of them lack any scrutiny with regard to the question: “Would this actually be fun to play?” However, I find these notes useful when I start getting excited about something. Plus, some of the ideas are cool to think about.
Pretty please send me mail about what YOU think. Say stuff like: that suck, that be cool, Paul you crazy
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Faith:
In a world not so different from our own, faith in religion allows for supernatural abilities/actions/ESP. Spiritual people invoke the assistance of God to temporally aim weapons with super accuracy, gain super strength, any other supernatural, but not "magical" skills. Story centers on hero development similar to the Matrix and Deus Ex. Young initiate into the ranks of a religious order not unlike the Franciscan Monks. Looks within himself and at organization and finds that it is all a lie. Joins resistance movement. Discovers the real power is derived from oneself and not the God. In the end finds that God exists because people believe/have faith. Typical hero story.
Team Cycle:
Action, RPG, Strategy, Spots title involving team bicycle racing management from humble beginnings to the Tour De France. Manage the bike team's athletes, training schedule, equipment, sponsors and race schedule. And when the actual racing gets started, the player can take control of individuals on the team. During the race, decisions will have to be made regarding "attacks," when to take it easy, and who on your team to sacrifice to give your leader the yellow jersy. The subject matter writes the game itself!
Asteroid Colony:
Fair future, where energy is hard to come by. Think Mad Max, post apocalyptic universe in intergalactic space. You are the leader of small tribe/family which controls a small asteroid. Free form, non-linear story where you do what you want, like Fallout, in a bleak, what is left, universe.
Witch Fun:
Ride around on your broom, mix components, do a bunch of crazy shizill. I imagine this as very casual, maybe even Flash based web game. It could turn into a "seasonal favorite," brought out with the candy corn and Halloween movie specials.
Mage Land:
Another massively multiplayer role playing game. I kind of see the world feel as a darker MMP Zelda: Link to the Past. However, the game would probably not use the top down, isometric view. Game objective is to live in a fun way as player sees fit. A fundamental differences in this MMP idea is the lack of "leveling up" and the way each character class plays the game.
In Mage Land, character makeup and basic stats are decided upon on character creation. These stats affect how the character is physically, so they consist of things such as height, width, strength, and speed. There are no mental stats, such as intelligence or wisdom, because Mage Land will try and minimize the obvious dice-rolling/hand-waving which is so closely associated with standard RPGs. Hopefully, these un-modifiable stats will play a small roll and be as unobtrusive as possible. There are no "upgradeable" stats which may be changed either though "leveling up" or repeatedly practicing a "skill." Besides the limitations of material possessions, a character which is just created can do everything a character who has been playing for hours can do.
Character classes could center on obtaining regents, going spiritual, going druid, going martial, prospecting, etcetera. Mage Land character classes are abstract concepts which do not provide any special skills or stats. Because of this, classes are not mutually exclusive so players can practice two professions at once. However, specialization is still encouraged through the increasing non-character-stat returns to be had for practicing a career. Each career is more than just a different combination of spells and abilities but a whole different way to play the game.
For instance, if you are interested in regents, you may explore all around the map prospecting for these ingredients. You may also have a laboratory or sell your regents to someone who has a laboratory. In this lab, the creation of potions, pets, monsters, mechanical robots, etcetera is a game in and of itself. Something like the old Sierra game, The Incredible Machine, where you arrange equipment, such as candles, string, balls, dominos and hamster wheels, then trigger something so the whole contraption does its thing. All of the objects in this mini-game would fit in the game world, and there would be a smooth transition, if any, into this mode. In conjunction or replacement of this mini-game, the player could mix regents up with a fantastic chemistry set. Every action the player makes with this chemistry set produces beautiful, magical, visualizations providing the “fun factor.”
Druids will spend most of their time tending and protecting their nature “gardens” which provide them with items, materials, and magical power. These gardens are not rows of crops but small ecosystems which the druid must micromanage, such as the simulations in SimCity, SimAnt, SimLife. However, this management will be seamlessly integrating into the overall game and not consist of dropping elements/buildings on a grid. Rather, the Druid will manipulate things similarly to Half-Life 2 gravity gun.
Spiritual characters derive their power from the influence of their church. All churches are in the same religion, but each one takes a difference approach, from good to evil, violent to peaceful. Each church is in competition with others for congregation members. Most players in the game, no mater what the primary role they play, will belong to a church because they provide useful benefits to their members. Churches could provide healing services, sell items, provide quests, other standard RPG stuff. They could also provide minor magical skills to their members, depending on the players involvement in the religion. Spiritual characters have very social roles in the society. Spiritual characters spend most of their time involved in the religion. The power they derive depends on the influence of their church. This influence could depend on the size of is parish and how many and involved the churches followers are, but is weakened somewhat by the services they provide to their followers. Man, you could make a fatty game just out of this spiritual shit.
3D Joust:
A three dimension implementation of classic Atari game Joust.
Sim Fish / Coral Reef:
Kind of like Odel Down Under, just The Remake.
Blue Abyss:
Alternate world where human/alien culture live entirely beneath the ocean surface. Hero goes to the forbidden top of the water column and discovers air, land centric culture and himself.
Culture Life:
Over the shoulder view. Character lives in exotic culture such as Egyptian, Eskimos, whatever. Buys stuff. Does cool stuff. Cleans house. Harvest Moon, but realistic and possible magical/spiritual/shaman thing.
Space Whales:
Whales bring good luck. Bizarre setting in outer space. Game has oriental aesthetic and spiritual feel/message. Involves roaming whales which live in space. Could live an alternative ocean in space.
Fighter:
A side-scrolling fighter game translated into 3D with an over the shoulder view. Basic moves could center around low, middle high strike/block/grapple. A “Die by the Sword” implementation of hand attacks would also be cool. Oni like gameplay.
Balloon Adventures.
Could be RPG, strategy. Build your own airship sim, pilot your airship, customize the inside of a Zeppelin. Involve pirates and pirating. Swashbuckling in alternate universe where there is no defined land mass but just floating inlands, perhaps no land at all. Just air, like Water World, the movie. Could have fighter planes with bases on airships. It could be first person, with you as an avatar inside/aboard your ship. You would control the ship by manning stations. Perhaps it would be like Enigma sea sim, but would have more space to walk around the ship. Could get off ship and explore on islands/other ships/ floating city platforms or landscapes.
Gameplay is like freelancer. Rather tired old horde stuff with your individual ship type gameplay. Universe is semi-original, and potentially really cool.
Zelda MMPOG:
Emphasis on magic. Players decide which spells to use. Perhaps have different schools of magic but make it interesting like wave instead of water, grass instead of life, witchcraft instead of necromancy. Other schools/types of magic: vampires, trollish, food based, ESP, beast master. Include weapons as well but magic it the real way to get things done.
Include lots of fun little items which have a real affect on game play. Drugs, powder, regents, toads, newt skins, caldrons, pets.
Create cool player economy, with set up shops, like in Ragnarock, except more organized, with types of wares more easily shown. Market should have a market like look.
Super Nintendo style Zelda: Link to the Past graphics. Easy to use map editor so people can make own games like Never Winter Nights. Create a sudo-massively multiplayer environment by linking individual game servers. Strong central servers with at least 100 people capacity can be a gateway to user created worlds. This would bypass the need for an out of game server selection screen and would be necessary to provide a sense of community and an immersive feel.
Dog Verse Cat Underground War:
Under the hood war being waged between dogs and cats. Sounds like a kids game you say... Just wait till I get a hold of it: there'll be rabies, red meat and lots of scary shit.