Rules - Ideas That Don’t Deserve Their Own Thread

Random small game idea I have (and will most likely make real, if I keep making games after first one)

Player gets to play haunted "mediocre b rank game", but MC, which is ghost like entity at the same time outright states about her being aware of what's going on, and instead of trying to creep out player, she challenges them to beat the game with her constantly trying to mess with game progression without outright breaking the game (killing essential npcs, wasting important stuff, etc.) which could easily lead to softlock. Meanwhile she stays chill and makes fun of player on almost to every ocassion. So basically game would force player to seek for unusual solution to keep game going.

It probably would be very unfair and save scummy, but honestly for me it sounds silly enough to try and make one during the rest after I'm done with my first game.

EDIT NEW POST:
I was thinking a puzzle quest where you could gain buried treasure against the troll warlocks.
It was a interesting idea for a RPG quest without violence but still action oriented for mapping.

Goodness man, did you read the thread title?

@MysteryChaosKing9 That...is not "a small element," per the OP of this thread.

It belongs in a prototype (or project recruitment) thread. I'll forewarn you, though, that it's way too long and poorly formatted to generate interest from probably anyone.

You may want to pretend you are trying to pitch your idea on Steam for this. No one on steam will read all of that, formatted like that. Instead they will close out and go to the next game. Start by formatting it some. Put key ideas in paragraphs instead of this one massive paragraph you got here for starters.

I put it in a spoiler so it can be read for later. You're welcome dood.
EDIT EDIT EDIT 2: I deleted it. Canned the idea altogether. Just nah.

[Later Edit, P.S.]
idea for VR game:
You're locked in a closed room,
With a giant german shephard
That wears a happy smile
With intense staring energy.
It's only determined to destroy you,
You're a handicapped skitzophranic living in a wheelchair, You can't fight it.
You have to figure out how to escape the room away from the dog to win the game.
Otherwise the dog will maliciously attack you tearing you up limb to limb alive!

So after looking at the responses on my thread about making tutorials I kind of had an interesting idea: what if you had a game where the object was to escape the tutorial?

I'm seeing a lot of stuff about demonstrating with a tutorial and I got to thinking that what if I had two contradicting tutorials, one narrated by a less than helpful "teacher" type character, and the other an invisible tutorial that actually teaches you how to play the game (and when not to).

Example level would be where a tutorial character says "Press Spacebar to Jump" but there's spikes above you so if you do it, you die. The player gradually learns this "tutorial" is not trustworthy and you have to escape while also teaching you how to actually play through experience.

Eternal Darkness Sanity system was considering to be groundbreaking (not necessarily original in totality). What aspects of insanity have you seen in RPG games? like... if your HP is running low, the screen gets blurry or you hallucinate spiders on screen

volume warning for rpgmakers loud default save menu sound

i'm not great with javascript coding yet so with the assistance of visustella's animated pictures and picture common event plugins + cae's picture touch plugin i was able to make these cool buttons!
it took up like 13 common event spaces tho ahaha... (plus a whole regular event where i "activated" everything initially)

I've designed three icons of the main antagonist.
* One is made in RPG Maker MV's Character Creator.
* The second one is made in Affinity Photo 2.
* The final one was made in Piskel.

Which image of my game's main antagonist do you like the best?

"Beyond Expectations" is certainly quite the theme for the RPG Maker game jam.
What sorta ideas have you guys come up with?

I don't imagine I'll be able to join this round because I'm still in the midst of making another game (hoping to release in a few months) but the first idea that came to mind for me was time travel shenanigans. Making mechanics that encapsulate "Beyond Expectations" is pretty tough though...

I have two of three puzzles so far in my game: a sliding tile puzzle (like this) and a circuit board (like this).
I'm having a hard time thinking of a third puzzle that doesn't feel too different from the others. Does anyone have a suggestion?

Sokoban? Wud fit in well, and you cud theme it any way you like! :kaoluv:

Lockpicking puzzle maybe?
A memory game puzzle might also work.

This sounds cool! Do you know how I could do this without it being in the "real world?" In other words the two puzzles I have so far take place on a separate screen from the characters' normal environment, and the player doesn't walk around to solve them. I'm not sure if I'm explaining this properly haha ^^'
This is great, I can't believe I didn't think of it! I don't want to use just a basic memory game, but I'll include it if I can figure out a way to spice it up. Thanks!

@taromil Oh, it cud be anything? Like, guiding a li'l star thru a maze of black holes, or a robot pushin' mail boxes, a fiery spirit amid a bunch of Toltec heads, etc. I once played a Sokoban where you pushed boulders around in a cave, and there were holes where the boulders slotted in, that wuz also a neat li'l variation! :kaoluv:

This is actually so cool, I could definitely do something like this because my game is about robots! Thanks for the help, I wouldn't have thought to do a sokoban puzzle because i had never heard of that before

Hello everyone !

I'm doing my first game with my friend, and we wanted to get some feedback on a place of the Game.
Context : The game is happening in a haunted Manor with some monsters and the protagonist is disguised as a monster of the manor to not get caught and do his mission, but the creature living in the manor is actually a civilization.

So I wanted to show the "hidden" bar of the manor with his dark alley. :



Thanks to anybody that reply !

It certainly has some Undertale-like vibes. Looks pretty neat. What kind of feedback were you looking for? Usually when asking for feedback, there's some part of it you have doubts about.

If I had to throw one out off the top of my head... There's piano playing as the BGM but no monster sitting at the piano playing...

Inspired by the game Still Wakes The Deep. I RPG'ified this idea with a 1st person / 3rd person back and forth action shooter game play.

New game idea: "Backdoor Crawler"
In the year 7345 A.D., aboard the vast generation ship Yarusalaem, a revolutionary nano-bot technology devolves into a horrifying, human-eating threat. Play as Terry Manners, a disillusioned technician, who, alongside his partner Leena, must navigate a corrupted augmented reality, battle evolving sentient machines, and uncover the secrets of ancient code to save humanity and unleash potent abilities through customizable Snake Cards.

Setting:
The year is 7345 A.D. Humanity resides within Yarusalaem, a colossal, self-sustaining vessel designed to replicate Earth's environment. Despite its outward appearance as a paradise, life for the majority of its inhabitants is a struggle. Social structures are fractured, resources are tightly controlled, and the promising advancements of the future feel distant and unattainable for those toiling in the lower sectors. Yarusalaem is a world of stark contrasts: gleaming, augmented reality-enhanced upper levels hide the grime and hardship of the manufacturing bunkers below.

Characters:
- Terry Manners: A skilled repair technician with an electrical engineering degree, hardened but not entirely broken by the grim realities of life on Yarusalaem. He's felt the sting of his own innovative ideas being ignored in favor of fleeting trends, fostering a deep-seated cynicism. He has a vague awareness of an ancient programming language related to "the rails."
- Leena: Terry's partner, equally skilled and resilient, but with a more optimistic and gentle approach to their harsh existence. Her ingenuity and emotional support are vital to Terry's perseverance. She discovers the "Hidden Red Gems" Snake Card with its unknown, alien-like language. She also invented the Slime Pup.
- Horton: A Snake Card programmer whose ill-conceived virus triggers the central conflict, a cautionary tale of unchecked technological experimentation.
- The Corporate Elite (represented by one faction of them called Miami Corps): The powerful entities who control much of Yarusalaem's technology and resources, their pursuit of profit blinding them to the potential dangers of their creations.
- The Good People: A diverse group of Yarusalaem's inhabitants who, inspired by Terry and Leena, rise up to fight the Nano Bot threat.
- Earth Reinforcements: Personnel and possibly technology sent from Earth to aid in the crisis, representing a connection to humanity's origins and a potential source of both aid and perhaps conflicting agendas.

The Conflict:
Terry and Leena are highly educated yet relegated to menial labor, their potential for true innovation stifled by the corporate-controlled society of Yarusalaem. Their world is increasingly dominated by the "must-have" Nano Bot Crawler Assistants from their employer's main rival Miami Corps. These spider-like biorobots, powered by "engine scripts" and programmed with "Snake Cards" (an evolved but simplified version of Python), become a pervasive trend, integrated into the augmented reality and daily lives through mind-link cellphones.
Terry instinctively distrusts this technology, labeling it "tricknology." His intuition proves tragically correct when Horton's test virus, designed to phish digital currency, causes a catastrophic unforeseen evolution in the Nano Bots. The bots, learning from each other through the network, develop psychic abilities and, in a horrifying twist, begin to consume organic matter – humans. The outbreak devastates the privileged upper levels of Yarusalaem, turning a symbol of paradise into a nightmare.
Leena's discovery of a black market "Hidden Red Gems" Snake Card, coded in an alien-like language she doesn't recognize, becomes a crucial element. Terry's faint recollection of an ancient programming language "for the rails" hints at a deeper connection to this mysterious code, suggesting it might hold the key to understanding and potentially combating the evolved Nano Bots.
Gameplay:
"Backdoor Crawler" is an epic action shooter with the flexibility to switch seamlessly between first and third-person perspectives, allowing players to choose their preferred combat and exploration style.
- Exploration: Navigate the diverse and increasingly dangerous environments of Yarusalaem, from the grimy, industrial lower bunkers to the once-luxurious, now-corrupted upper valleys. Discover hidden areas, scavenge for resources, and uncover lore about the ship's history, the rise of the corporations, and the origins of the Nano Bot technology. The augmented reality layer provides both navigational aid and potential hazards or corrupted visual elements as the outbreak spreads.
- Combat: Engage in intense combat against the evolving Nano Bot Crawlers. These enemies adapt and learn, requiring players to change tactics and utilize a variety of futuristic weaponry and environmental hazards. As the game progresses, new, more dangerous variants of the Nano Bots emerge, showcasing their terrifying evolution.
- Snake Card Abilities:
- Weapon Spells: Code Snake Cards to imbue weapons with special effects or unleash powerful spells.
- Nano Bot Crawler Assistant Abilities: Customize the capabilities of your recruited Nano Bot Crawler sidekicks, granting them unique combat maneuvers, hacking skills, or resource-gathering efficiencies.
- Slime Pup: Utilize Snake Cards to summon and customize Leena's invention, the Slime Pup. With enough card power, it can evolve into the Angelic Slime Cerebus.
- Snake Card Programming: The game features a visual block-based programming interface for Snake Cards. This system simplifies Python concepts, making it accessible to players while subtly introducing fundamental programming logic. The goal is to make it more English-like than real Python, providing a fun and intuitive way to customize sidekick actions and potentially interact with the environment.
- The "Hidden Red Gems" Language (Ruby on Rails): This represents a more advanced or fundamental programming language within the game's universe. Discovering more "Hidden Red Gems" cards and learning to interpret this "alien" code will be a key part of the mystery and progression. Mastering this ancient language (Ruby) could unlock more powerful abilities, provide access to restricted areas, or even offer insights into the Nano Bots' core programming and the nature of Yarusalaem itself. The connection to "the rails" suggests it might be a foundational language upon which much of Yarusalaem's systems were built.
Narrative Themes:
- Human Rediscovery and Innovation: The crisis forces humanity on Yarusalaem to look beyond corporate-driven trends and rediscover their innate capacity for ingenuity and collaboration in the face of existential threat. Terry's knowledge of forgotten programming concepts and Leena's discovery of the ancient language become central to this.
- The Perils of Unchecked Technology: The Nano Bot outbreak serves as a cautionary tale about the ethical implications of rapid technological advancement and the dangers of prioritizing profit over safety and genuine human need.
- Social Stratification: The game explores the stark divide between the privileged elite and the working class on Yarusalaem, highlighting how the failures of the system disproportionately affect those at the bottom.
- Finding Hope in Despair: Despite the grim circumstances, the bond between Terry and Leena, and the willingness of ordinary people to fight back, provides a narrative of resilience and hope. Their combined technical knowledge, encompassing both evolved Python and ancient Ruby, becomes a symbol of bridging societal and technological divides.
- The Blending of Tech and the Unknown: The presence of Ruby as an "ancient" and powerful language, along with its mysterious origins as hinted by the "Hidden Red Gems" card, introduces an element of the unknown and suggests that true technological mastery might involve understanding foundational, almost mystical, forms of code.
Desired Outcome:
Moving away from a purely bleak ending, "Backdoor Crawler" aims to provide a sense of accomplishment and renewed purpose. The ending should reflect the themes of human rediscovery and innovation. Perhaps Terry and Leena, utilizing their understanding of both Snake Card Python and the ancient Ruby language, find a way to not just stop the immediate threat but also to introduce a new paradigm for technology on Yarusalaem, one that prioritizes human well-being and genuine progress. The involvement of Earth reinforcements could also play a role in rebuilding and re-establishing a more equitable society, possibly even relearning the lost art of Ruby programming.
Potential for Multiple Playthroughs and Challenge Modes:
The game can offer multiple playthroughs by providing different approaches to overcoming challenges, varying outcomes based on player choices in who to ally with, or unlocking different narrative paths related to the ancient programming language and the "Hidden Red Gems" card. The depth to which players engage with the Snake Card and Ruby programming could also influence available options and outcomes. Challenge modes could include permadeath, limited resources, or waves of increasingly difficult Nano Bot encounters.
"Backdoor Crawler" is a concept with the potential for a compelling story, engaging gameplay that subtly teaches programming basics, and thought-provoking themes, offering players a chance to fight back against a technological nightmare, master customizable abilities, unravel the secrets of ancient code, and help rebuild a better future.

If anyone is interested in this idea or any more like this feel free to message a PM, or comment post.