This list started with this video in which I try to come up with a new game idea every minute. The goal isn't to create fully fleshed out plans for new games, but rather stumble across a few pretty interesting ideas in a relatively short amount of time. I decided to take most of the ideas that I came up with and make them freely available. Usually I'll add a few more of my thoughts to that idea before putting it in this list. I didn't put the ideas in any particular order, so quality may vary wildly.
I would like to use some of these ideas myself someday but feel free to use any listed in this repository to make games of your own. If you do make something, please let me know because I would love to play it and add it to some kind of showcase in this repository. I hope people enjoy this little ongoing project and I look forward to seeing what you make!
A player moves through a simple house looking for a list of items, similar to a scavenger hunt. The house's simplicity allows its state to be randomized (which doors are open, where movable items are placed, which rooms have their lights on). The player is racing against a timer to find the list of items but must also leave the house in its original state upon leaving.
An idea I really like, the idea is that each block of a tetrimino (made up of 4 blocks) is a room with some kind of purpose. Maybe a room is either residential, commercial, or industrial, similar to city builder games. As you play tetris, the placement and proximity of the individual blocks affect the overall score or funds. Essentially two games in one where you're playing Tetris and optimizing the buildings placement.
Each player can only see the other player's position. They have to constantly communicate in order to find each other and accomplish the goal of regaining their own sight. A lot of potential for procedural generation.
Each player will take turns moving through a simple platform level. The first player is essentially the "RUNNER" and the other player is the "GUNNER", or something along those lines. As the first player moves through the level, it's up to the second player to remember the path and especially the timing of the first, because when they go through, they will lay traps and attacks that will activate at specific times. Once both players have gone, their movements will play out together and see if the first player survived.
The order could be reversed as well and let the "GUNNER" lay down traps first and see if the other player can remember and properly traverse the level.
The Player is on a moving platform, like a raft, and must gather materials from the water like wood and metal to expand the raft, create buffers and add more room for defense. The raft is what is being defended against the enemy towers.
Multiple players work together on a multilevel building to deconstruct the building and literally move it forward. The idea would be to maintain proper balance and structure so that the building does not fall. It might be difficult not to make the gameplay super repetitive, but maybe the building must traverse over obstacles that make preserving resources difficult.
Given a randomized stack of dungeon "tiles", build out a simple dungeon based on certain optimization rules. Examples of some possibilities of maximizing score:
- Having a chest in a room with at least two traps
- Having at least one deadend path
- Make your dungeon perfectly symmetrical
Grid-like farm, the crops are almost always growing but at first you don't know when to harvest. Learn through experimentation and observation to harvest at the right times. Eventually gain items that will give you more information about individual crops, weather, and timing. Possibily include additional tooling upgrades as you make the grid of crops larger and large (Start with 2x2 and eventually work up to 32x32?)
Imagine a simple combination lock, the idea is that a random combination appears each time the player hits "ATTEMPT" or "UNLOCK", and each click essentially raises the chance of unlocking the lock. At first the game is almost impossible, but eventually the player will "UNLOCK" items that will make unlocking each lock easier. This is a weaker idea, but I think there might be something there.
The characters have differing abilities, but the primary use case is that when you switch from character to the other, the previous character freezes for several seconds and can be used as a block. Maybe with three characters you could create some kind of impossible challenge in which they must ascend a vertical shaft using only the freeze and switch ability.
Simply two isometric maps, one above the other, where the top plane is focused on agriculture while the bottom is focused on mining. Each level would need to share specific resources with the other (Food from the top into the mines and ore from the mines to the surface for tools?)
You start as a single rotating planet and use various methods to "hook" or attach other planets to you. You can pull them in or simply connect. The original idea was to build a tower and time it properly to connect another planet, but there might be potential for something more complex like combining different rocket abilities to tether the planets. Not exactly sure what the goal would be or what failure would look like.
You're managing the desk of an office worker and repeating the same mundane tasks. A note (or email) comes your way asking you to do something morally questionable. It could be something like purposefully messing up one of the files you're working with. This idea may be a little too close to Papers, Please, but it could be something interesting.
Simple platformer full of enemies but you cannot attack, you can only counter and redirect other enemies attacks.
Design the behavior of the enemis so that the automated player behavior in the level is able to defeat them.
Imagining a short, fast paced, high adrenaline frenzy. You're just running forward cutting through swarms of enemies. The idea is to make the player feel almost unstoppable as they progress, because sometimes that's just fun.
The player is invincible as long as they don't move. Light idea but maybe someone else can come up with something.
Some kind of paper or set of instructions that define the behavior of a small platformer. Only some of the instructions can be moved and edited, so maybe the solution to a level may not be as intuitive as they seem.
Something about a rocket with only a little fuel and it's falling constantly. The player has a series of tasks to complete in order to optimize the energy in the ship to soften the landing. I don't know.
Create a platformer that's incredibly easy almost impossible to fail. But, if the player falls off the "world", they'll discover a secret world that is essentially the actual game. The idea is to find some way to reward players that heavily experiment with the boundaries of a simple game.
Drop different types of bricks to form a rigid wall or bridge structure. A limited number of bricks are given before the structure is tested.
You're shown a 3D shape and given a flat piece piece of material with irregular sides. Draw the fold lines to draw the shape.
That's all I have. Sounds amazing.
Ships are traveling a long distance together and the player is managing the conversations and relationships between the various crews. Possibily controlled events, for example one ship is destroyed and another ship must decide if they will even rescue the crew.
Similar to a tycoon game, build out mobile applications and publish them in the game world. Follow trends and get lucky in order to experience extensive success.
Maybe a Guess Who kind of format where the player asks questions that the other players must answer honestly (although I don't know how that would be enforced)