Future Summer Projects
- Rhianon Tyer
- Apr 28, 2022
- 3 min read
Looking ahead past my university days I will have free choice to work on whatever projects I choose in whatever way I like. My goal over summer and probably the remainder of the year while looking for work will be to expand upon my portfolio and get some finished games published onto Itch or even one onto Steam hopefully so that I have some finished projects I can show to future employers. I have a fair amount of ideas brewing in my head for games I want to make and I've got notes of potential ideas or mechanics written down from over the past few years. I also aim to continue to work on some projects in a team with some friends as a primary 2D artist for things like 2D assets, user interface, menus, etc which is a strong passion of mine so I'm fine with not being a primary programmer on said projects.
Idea #1
An idea I've had for a long time is a game that mixes elements and mechanics from games like the State of Decay franchise by Undead Labs and This War of Mine by 11-Bit Studios in terms of resource management and managing a community of people keeping them fed with food, healed with medicine, building structures to craft or improve a base and defending it while also going out into a large open world map or smaller levels to scavenge for these supplies. The difference with the idea I had was that instead of a war or a zombie apocalypse it would be set in a dystopian future where electricity is scarce and the world is like a barren waste as the future it's set in relied heavily upon electricity for everything to function and therefore the loss of it was devastating. The world took on a wasteland steampunk type aesthetic after the collapse for any clothing, weapons, structures, etc, similar to Mad Max and some areas of Maze Runner for example.
Possible genres:
Third Person Survival Game
Resource Management Simulator
Idea #2
Another project idea is a visual novel dating simulator game, which happen to be some of my favourite games to idly play, based around hell, demons, and monsters. It would feature puzzles and minigames which the success of would either increase or decrease friendship with the character its for, impacting potential date-ability, initial character customisation to make it feel more personalised, choice dialogue and trivia questions to see if the player was paying attention to things characters previously said which can be viewed in a tracker of sorts and potentially more. Like many other dating sim games, it would have a branching narrative and multiple routes leading to different endings with different characters. The tracker previously mentioned would be like a pause menu of sorts where the player can view their current friendship and love stats, items in their inventory which could be gifts, key choices they've made, character customisation with potential to gain more options throughout the game on top of the initial choices, mini games they've already played and succeeded in, and more. A big inspiration for this game is that of Dream Daddy by Game Grumps.
Idea #3
A smaller scale game idea I also had is that of a 2D side scroller with simple puzzles and some basic combat, in a similar gameplay style to Pinstripe by Atmos Games. It would be set in a world where magic exists and therefore the player has access to things like staffs, spells, potions, etc. The story would be simple and linear to keep it fairly basic and the combat would revolve around the staff that player uses and can upgrade with new spells learned along the way. The spells act as the ranged attacks and can also be used to help solve puzzles while the staff itself can be used as a close range melee weapon to hit enemies. The potions would act as helper items for healing, mana regeneration and additional offensive weapons in the form of throwable potions. There is consideration for the potions to be part of a crafting system alongside the staff upgrade system or instead just being collected throughout the world from enemies or loot chests.
Inspiration Games Mentioned
State of Decay: https://store.steampowered.com/app/241540/State_of_Decay/ and https://store.steampowered.com/app/495420/State_of_Decay_2_Juggernaut_Edition/
This War of Mine: https://store.steampowered.com/app/282070/This_War_of_Mine/
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