indie development

[lemonzap]

I have been interested in making my own game for a long time. I want some motivation somewhere though, I'm still working on ideas for a game, and I have a few already. I might make one, I might make them all, or I might not make any of the ideas I already have and I'll come up with something new. I'm mainly here for your opinions on game ideas and some motivation to get me started. When I actually get working on it I'll set up a website and post progress photos and other info there. At the moment I'm planning on making my game in java. also if anyone is interested I would need some graphic artists to help out with game art. so these are the ideas i have so far, I don't know if any of them sound good so give me your opinions, feedback, and ideas. and by the way, names are definitely not permanent, just descriptions.

1.bionic penguin- somewhat similar in style to the early megaman games. you play as a half robot half penguin character. yo would have abilities like in megaman.

2.(for mobile devices such as touch screen phones)- this game would have a slider on every edge of the screen. the slider your supposed to slide across the screen would be indicted somehow. there would be 3 game modes.
a. speed- you have a limited time to slide each slider across and that time decreases as you play
b.memory- kind of like bop it, or something like that. it shows you what to slide and you have to remember what order to slide it in
c.erasing- if you dont slide the slider all the way across the screen it slices of the sliders wherever you didnt reach so as you play the sliders get smaller and smaller.

3.reflections- you can travel through reflections into the reflected world(which has a purpose i have not decided on) water on the ground, mirrors, any reflections you can just walk through as smoothly as in portal

4.mystery civ dungeon- if youve ever played civilization and pokemon mystery dungeon, It would be mixture of those. you start a civilization in a dungeon. your civs are on separate floors of the dungeon.

5.war game 1st and 3rd person- if youve ever played advance wars and a first person shooter it would be a mixture. every battle you start as the general in third person is controlled by you in a 1st person team deathmatch sort of thing. rather than battles being decided by an algorithm you can go down and decide it for yourself (just a note, your first person character is a random soldier, entirely separate from your general character.

so tell me what you think, and redirect me if theres a more appropriate place to post this. I would probably make most of these games for computers rather than a console but it depends on the game. thanks

 

[Taleweaver]

When you say "indie"...does that mean you're looking for a way to sell the game to the general public? Because if so, I'll have to warn you that it's a harsh world with long hours, tough competition and uncertain income (I'm not talking from personal experience...but I've known people who were in the industry).

Either way, I can tip the book "A theory of fun for game design" by Raph Koster. Entertaining to read, and it gives a deeper understanding of why some games are considered "fun" and others aren't.

As for your five ideas...I have to stress that even the worst game ever created still beats even the briliantly thought out game idea that was never made. I don't know how much you've coded, but to program an entire game takes a lot of work. Just how much may depend on what you already have (like a 3D engine, libraries, coding experience, programming environment,...) and how complex of a game you want to make. So rather tan spread the ideas thin, I'd consider what you can actually MAKE. I remember a mapper once said to the community that the first five or six maps you make suck, no matter which way you turn it (these were multiplayer FPS-style maps for UT2004...standards have risen since then). I think that goes even more for games, so it'll be best not to start off with something that requires a huge budget.

Let's see...
1. so basically a platforming shooter? Well...it's relatively easy in concept and megaman was fun, so it could be good. Just make sure that you know (and use) the actual elements that made megaman fun in the first place.
2. erm...I don't get the point. I already have sliders on the sides of my browser if I don't set it fullscreen. What makes this game set it apart? And why would I like restrictions on it?
3. I like this idea, but I wonder what you can do with it. Reflections would obviously be mirrored and/or inversed, so if you can somehow make a game that heavily empathizes on this, it'd be very nice (I'm actually a bit amazed that portal is pretty much alone in its kind). Downsides are that this isn't a cheap budget game. If your game revolves around it, you better make it look nice. Also...designing puzzles that involve mirrors and reflections can be hard (puzzle games are of course harder to design than other games).
4. sorry...haven't played either, so no comment.
5. fun in theory, but I can almost guarantee it won't work in practice. FPS players want their games fast and hectic, and that won't cope well with the turn based parts of the battlefield thing. It can't be a RTS either, as you can't control both your lone marine as the general at the same time.
I'd also like to note that this would be pretty tough to create. You'll need a decent AI for both the strategy aspect as the FPS aspect. And on foot as well as in vehicles. And while a turn based battlefield a la advance wars isn't too hard to program, a FPS cannot be made without a decent engine.

So...I hope the above helps you in any way. I'd say "good luck"...but it'll take more than a bit of well-wishing to make this sort of dream a reality.

 

[lemonzap]

thanks for the suggestions and ideas. I don't think I was really planning on selling whatever i make. also for the slider idea, the slider i was thinking of is this http://youtu.be/1ZHqsKY44So?t=4m4s there would be one of those on every edge of the screen. also the memory mode would be like this in a way http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Iimy7zD0b0&feature=related. I understand what you mean for the tbs/fps game so I might just scratch that one. I was thinking i might start with the slider one if people think it would be fun. It would be relatively simple to make compared to my other ideas.