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Here's Some Inspiration

• 11-24-2008 4:58 PM

  Zack Freedman Joined on 09-18-2008 Posts 67

  Here's Some Inspiration Reply Contact This year's games better be more inventive than last year's games. Here's some inspiration. Post-apocalyptic plot from perspective of whoever caused it Control or destroy politics Control or destroy a monopoly Game is a re-education tool for short-sighted people Game is a rehabilitation tool Game uses real-life data Use Big Button controller, microphone, dance pad, etc Mouse only. No clicking. Game is more fun to watch than play Break the fourth wall Suppress riots Start riots Create a violence-free warfare alternative Top-down platformer Use a perspective other than orthographic, isometric, or projected Imagine a world without borders Imagine a world with more borders Other planets If the Earth was destroyed and humanity fled to space, would we pollute space, too? Make a Zune game (XNA deploys to Zune) Zombies Change people's behavior Censor the Internet Teach the player a real-life skill Procedurally-generated music E-rated horror game Invent a new language Programmable attacks Collectible card game Board game Make it politically incorrect or annoyingly politically correct Third-world eating contest Make an RPG Combine two genres into one - Puzzle-RPG, FPS-RTS, etc Maternal Health: The Game Show what NOT to do Make a great game that also happens to be somewhat related to the topic Do something anti-altruistic or counter-idealistic Let the bad guys win Use a new art style Adapt the plot of a book Rule the world with an iron fist Control the world behind the scenes Is your dream country economically viable? Make a 1-dimensional game Make a 4-dimensional game Superheroes There's no harm in saying that the UN Millennium Goals won't happen How would you solve the problem instead? Distributed computing, a la FoldIt What is the root problem of what's wrong with the world? Make a politician angry Producer/Programmer, Team Righteous Games! Business/Technology Junior, Stevens Institute of Technology

• 01-08-2009 5:27 PM

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  kifcaliph Joined on 01-30-2007 Posts 128	Re: Here's Some Inspiration Reply Contact Zack Freedman: Make a politician angry I like this one thank you,

• 01-13-2009 11:56 AM

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  Zikas Joined on 12-01-2007 Posts 95	Re: Here's Some Inspiration Reply Contact Zack Freedman: Zombies  LOL, Thanks Zack for this stuff (K) Starting from the end you can better understand the reason for the beginning

• 01-13-2009 6:34 PM

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  Carlos Miguens Joined on 10-18-2007 Posts 10	Re: Here's Some Inspiration Reply Contact Zack Freedman: This year's games better be more inventive than last year's games. Here's some inspiration. Make a 1-dimensional game  I can't imagine one game with one only dimention without time =D or the time is all you have! ahaha Great post Zack!

• 01-13-2009 6:46 PM

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  Zack Freedman Joined on 09-18-2008 Posts 67	Re: Here's Some Inspiration Reply Contact Carlos Miguens:  I can't imagine one game with one only dimention without time. Assuming that time doesn't count as a dimension, there actually IS at least one one-dimensional game: http://www.kongregate.com/games/EvilDog/z-rox Producer/Programmer, Team Righteous Games! Business/Technology Junior, Stevens Institute of Technology

• 01-14-2009 6:42 AM

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  Leland Joined on 12-05-2008 Posts 2	Re: Here's Some Inspiration Reply Contact Zack Freedman: Maternal Health: The Game   Interesting.

• 01-17-2009 1:08 AM

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  Zack Freedman Joined on 09-18-2008 Posts 67	Re: Here's Some Inspiration Reply Contact Leland: Zack Freedman: Maternal Health: The Game   Interesting. Hey, it's the fifth Millennium Goal. It's just as viable as Gender Equality: The Game. Producer/Programmer, Team Righteous Games! Business/Technology Junior, Stevens Institute of Technology

• 05-02-2009 1:25 AM

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  purplemath Joined on 12-12-2007 Posts 59

  Re: Here's Some Inspiration Reply Contact   I always love playing computer games, but I just hope game maker should stop doing violent games. Games are good for children to learn strategy, managing and other, but violent games also make the kids violent. I just hope violent games should be limited to grown up gamers to play, and should not be promoted for teenager or younger players. I agree with you. ^_^ purplemath

• 05-02-2009 11:43 AM

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  Zack Freedman Joined on 09-18-2008 Posts 67

  Re: Here's Some Inspiration Reply Contact Your posts are well-intentioned, but they're unfortunately false. The majority of experimental [http://tr.im/kiLO] and anecdotal [http://tr.im/kiLC] research shows absolutely no causative relationship between video-game violence and real-life behavior. Violence is a way to tap into a natural desire of the human psyche, the lust to conquer and dominate, that is unfed in modern society. This makes it very attractive to game designers. As it happens, the last sentence of your argument is also entirely false - United States laws forbid the sale and marketing of games with mature content to underage players. This law is enforced surprisingly well - A study by the Federal Trade Commission found that only 20% of attempts to purchase overage games are successful [http://tr.im/kiN0], which is a tremendous improvement over the almost 100% rate of purchasing overage movies or music. Let's be frank here - a game manufacturer would never market a destructive game. They're bound by an unofficial good-taste agreement. It's like selling cigarettes to children. And, of course, let us not forget that violent video games are just more fun. Could you play Halo, WOW, or Starcraft without confrontation? Producer/Programmer, Team Righteous Games! Business/Technology Junior, Stevens Institute of Technology

• 05-02-2009 12:09 PM

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  EMcNeill Joined on 02-06-2009 Posts 11

  Re: Here's Some Inspiration Reply Contact Now hold on a second, Zack. It's true that there's little persuasive evidence that video games cause violence (see Killing Monsters by Gerard Jones), but there is no law against marketing and selling games that are rated Mature by the U.S.'s ESRB to young customers. The games industry has fought against such laws for years. Now, it's true that all major retailers have policies that forbid the sale of M-rated games to children, but that's very different from a law. Further, I think you put way too much trust in game manufacturers. Take a look at the Manhunt or Postal 2 series, or go back to Custer's Revenge. They're far from "good taste" in terms of content. Of course there's a market for that sort of thing (heck, look at the Saw movies), but you can't claim that game developers are holding back out of some sense of decency. Violence has a place in any medium, and art should not be censored. But contemporary games rely too much on violent mechanics. Anyone who intends to build a non-violent game ought to be applauded and encouraged. - E McNeill

• 05-03-2009 3:31 PM

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  Zack Freedman Joined on 09-18-2008 Posts 67

  Re: Here's Some Inspiration Reply Contact Manhunt and Postal were definitely over-the-top violent, but that's what it was... over-the-top violence. The dynamic in games is much different than that in movies. One has the player control the experience, and other forces the person to watch. I always find that ultraviolence in games, say sticking a chainsaw through someone's face, is morbidly funny, but the same event happening in a movie is grotesque. There's no accounting for taste, but I feel that video games definitely keep the bloodshed in a more comedic tone. Producer/Programmer, Team Righteous Games! Business/Technology Junior, Stevens Institute of Technology

• 06-04-2009 11:56 PM

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  Amlug Joined on 01-27-2009 Posts 25

  Re: Here's Some Inspiration Reply Contact  Heheh. They won't. Computer games don't exist without violence.They are being created mainly for people, who can take violence psychically . A simple example: How many parts of "Aqua Digger" or "Flock" can you name? - One for each. And how many parts of "Silent Hill", "Resident Evil", "Doom" do you know? - At least 3 for each. Doesn't it give you something to think about?  Check the Game Developers Choice Awards. All the games awarded and named best, where VIOLENT. The only exception could be "The Sims", but it's still a game with adult content. Talking about Sims... You know what kids liked to do most of the time in that game? - Check out just how many ways for killing their pet sim there where. I know that's hard to believe, but it's a common truth. Ask some pople who played that game during 2001. Ask kids, who play it now.  There already where multiple attempts of starting friendly trends in game development. Failed. And it's not because the pastel, sweet graphics. Check "Sven the sheep". It has such graphics and over 3 parts.  Remember Rayman? You got to HIT the ENEMIES with your FISTS. There were 3 parts of it. And something about LOONATIC rabbits.  The reason for all this is easy and we all know it. THEY SELL! A game is a product, which main purpose is to sell itself. You think anyone would want to play "Happy Mr Earth Saves the World" for more than an hour? Or even at all? No. They want some action - any kind of action.  You know what most kids play right now? "Super Smash Bros". And you know what? It's shere violence!  We can of course go on with making sugar-full education games with some happy cartoon badger showing us the basics of mathematics. But it still won't work as a game. If we don't want kids getting psychically skewed, we shouldn't allow them to play games. We don't allow kids to watch horror movies. We keep the noghty press away from their reach... It's the same thing with computer games.  "...not be promoted for teenager or younger players." They're not! Kids find them on the internet, get them from there older brother or friend. They get them from PARENTS! There seriously are parents who buy there kids adult games. I have a friend who got "Baldur's Gate", while being in his early teens. Things are not that simple.  The only REAL hope you may have is that they get more real. No chainsaw through the face thing. No excessive bloodshed. No killing and torturing people being the core thing in the game.  We may achieve the goal of kid-friendly educationall games some day, but for that purpose we have to be smart. Repeating ourselves by making "Pink Rabbit in Wonderland" is sensless. It's like a zombie trying to walk through a closed door. THUD--moooan--THUD--moooan--THUD... It's dumb.  I'm not for excessive violence, bad language and grammar in games. But if I we want to make a difference, we have to be more tricky and enclose the things, which we want the kids to see or learn, in an attractive (read "cool") form, with a catchy plot and some awesome graphics.  We simply - need - to try - harder. Why is the RUM gone?!?

• 06-05-2009 12:17 AM

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  EMcNeill Joined on 02-06-2009 Posts 11

  Re: Here's Some Inspiration Reply Contact At the Game Developer's Choice Awards of 2009, award winners included LittleBigPlanet and World of Goo, both nonviolent games. Blockbuster nonviolent games through the years include: Rock Band and Guitar Hero Katamari Damacy The Sims SimCity Portal Wii Sports Wii Fit Bejeweled And that's just what immediately comes to mind. All of these games made a ton of money for their creators. If you look only at the "hardcore" gaming market, then yes, most of it is violent. Look a little bit beyond that and you see a lot of nonviolent games as well. And even within that hardcore market, you find some awesome games that deemphasize violence. Violence is easy to design. It's inherently exciting and it lends itself to easily computable scenarios (people shoot, people die, people are removed from the game world). But it's clear that violence is not necessary for a game to be entertaining. Further, I still disagree that all violence is a bad thing. Look at the violence in cartoons or even in childrens' fantasy books. Violence has a place in all media, even kids' games. There is such a thing as age-appropriate media, but don't just say that "violence" is necessarily a negative.  - E McNeill

• 06-05-2009 2:47 AM

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  Amlug Joined on 01-27-2009 Posts 25

  Re: Here's Some Inspiration Reply Contact "...violence is not necessary." It's not, of cource it's not. But the fact remains that it sells better. No matter how popular Wii gets, violence is still a part of life.  And I don't think that violence in "Gears of War" or "Silent Hill" was easy to design. To me it looks more like an incredibly BIG and LONG amount of HARD WORK. You probably referred to the sole gameplay design and the fact that there is no kind of puzzled construction, but just spawning and removing. The fact that it is,  makes all the hard work put into animating, drawing, modelling and lighting shaders and phisics scripting, even more of a hard work. Imagine a team working whole monts just for that short moment of a enemy characters existance. Although I would find it a little sick to spend days on making the blood look more splattery and unbelievably "juicy". But hard work, is hard work, so they deserve my respect for it in the end.  Amongst other games, you pointed out, "Little Big Planet", "The Sims", "SimCity"... These games DO include violence. There's a mild moderate and cartoonie dose of it, but it's still there. Why didn't you mention it? Could it be that you didn't notice, now? And if so, then this may be because our minds in general are already accustomed to it. Though it's very probable for a five year old to feel his stomache twitch a little, when seeing a funny rag-doll knight getting burned alive by a princess rag-doll, who then loughs at the event. All in all it's a human-like character burning to death in a game, isn't it? Does it mean that "Little Big Planet" should be rated mature? You're right - of cource it shouldn't.  To you folks out there, who think that violence should be completely eliminated form games: the amount of violence in such a games like "LBP" or "Crock" or "Rayman" IS SAFE and even educational by the fact of its existance. The world the kids are supposed to learn how to live in INVOLVES iolence. There isn't a way to eradicate violence in games, cause you would have to start with eradicating it real life. And you would possibly come to a moment, when you start doing it VIOLENTLY. We would by baning WB and Disney cartoons for kids. Cause they HAVE violence. We wouldn't be reading "Little Red Riding Hood" to our kids, out of fear that they'll start beating dogs with sticks.  Though there still is something like sanity and abstract thinking in our heads, that makes it possible for us to tell fiction from reality. Kids are able to do it to, if they're not, then the problem is elswhere.  But again, the games that are excessively violent aren't made for kids. They are rated mature and if a single game like that wasn't, then there would be a world wide scandal about it, just like in case of sexual content in "The Sims 2". There are different games for different groups and ages... and even though a majority of them contain some dose of violence - it's all ok. Why is the RUM gone?!?

• 07-09-2009 1:44 AM

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  Przywara Joined on 12-17-2008 Posts 36	Re: Here's Some Inspiration Reply Contact Are you talking about the game design competition ? However, I'm quite surprised that the Game Design competition has already started. This lets us a lot more time to create a game design with an efficient and associated game. About violence in-game, no relevant argument against it. Unfortunately, it makes good money.