Now that 24 hours have passed we have our winner!

A huge thanks to @frezik@midwest.social for suggesting this awesome idea!

A survival crafting game where the tech tree goes backwards. You start in a prepper hole with working water filtration, food sources, etc, and everything is nice. Then something breaks and maybe you fix it. Something else breaks and maybe you fix that. Three things break at once, and at least one of them is going to stay broken. Have to do something more primitive and time consuming.

Eventually, enough things break that it’s no longer sustainable and you die. Game ranks you based on how long you last.

I would also like to thank every person in the comments for making their wonderful suggestions! I’ve read through every single one of them and all of them are really good!

You can view the game’s code at https://github.com/SamLeeway/project-196, which is currently empty at the time of writing this, but every day from now I will contribute code there.

The game currently does not have any name other than “Project 196”, so I will probably host a poll when we have at least something playable.

When the game would be playable? Making games ain’t easy so it’s pretty hard to estimate. I would say in around a week or so I should have a rough prototype if things go right.

Update

Didn’t really have much time to work on this this week, so my week estimate is going out of the window. I will not estimate anymore. But I am still working on things, so game will happen. :)

  • frezik@midwest.social
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    10 months ago

    A survival crafting game where the tech tree goes backwards. You start in a prepper hole with working water filtration, food sources, etc, and everything is nice. Then something breaks and maybe you fix it. Something else breaks and maybe you fix that. Three things break at once, and at least one of them is going to stay broken. Have to do something more primative and time consuming.

    Eventually, enough things break that it’s no longer sustainable and you die. Game ranks you based on how long you last.

    • Deme@sopuli.xyz
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      10 months ago

      I had some very similar ideas. This could be tied into some sort of a base management survival game like Rimworld. Start off with some educated people and nice survival tech like solar panels etc., friendly neighbours and ample access to information and so on. Then try to keep things going as time takes its toll on equipment and people and the climate gets shittier and shittier. First all fancy tech starts to get scarce when global supply chains start to fail and foreign imports stop. The internet starts to go down and you have to get your news via radio, then by mail and then as hearsay. At some point the local government goes fash and starts sending raids to you, or maybe it’s a nearby declining military power that rolls in with some rusty tanks. Neighbours start to get desperate as crops fail and savagery spreads. Or maybe it’s you who will be doing the rading and the cannibalism?

      If you get far enough in the game that your original population starts to be replaced, you’d better hope that you managed to preserve at least some of their skills and knowledge by writing books and teaching the kids, because rediscovering shit is a whole lot harder.

      • frezik@midwest.social
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        10 months ago

        Awesome! Look forward to seeing the results.

        Just for the record (because this can be an issue), I freely give this idea away with no expectation of compensation.

    • UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      Almost like an anti survival game. I love that. I think the gameplay should start out fairly boring, but get more and more exciting as you have to manage more things yourself.

      On reruns could see myself purposefully breaking équipement for parts, just to get to the “good part”

    • LordAmplifier@pawb.social
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      10 months ago

      OwO What’s this? notices your illicium hehe someone is excited :3 pounces on y-- gets eaten oh noes D:

  • VelvetStorm@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    A game where you are a mosquito and you have to bite people and fly around or a game like untitled goose game but you are a crab at the beach ruining peoples day

    • I like this.

      Your goal is to harm humans. You start with only itchy bites, but as you level up, you get diseases: malaria, dengue, West Nile, zika.

      Difficulty starts with avoiding swatting, but increases as humans fight back with bug trappers, spray, and pesticides.

      Great idea!

      • skulblaka@startrek.website
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        10 months ago

        It’s like some unholy combination of Plague Inc and Effing Worms, I love it. But of course I would, “villain protagonist” is my favorite steam tag. I would play and probably enjoy this game.

  • imPastaSyndrome@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    Ah ADHD: the only way I can hold myself accountable and do something is if random people on the Internet holds me accountable

  • megopie@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    10 months ago

    One thing I think is severely underutilized is acquisition of limited information as a game mechanic.

    Like, having the information available to the player change depending on how they build a character or interact with the world. So like, rather than just having the player know what the health of enemies is, or know exactly where things are with a compass, or being able to pinpoint their location on the map.

    I play a lot of strategy games and particularly in those I think having to manage how orders get to units and information on what they see getting from them to me would be really interesting as more of a focus.

    Or like in management games the player often has perfect information on the state of the market or organization they’re running, what if like, you had to get that through Jerry from accounting? What if Jerry lied? What if having to figure out Jerry from accounting is under reporting something to skim off the top was a game mechanic?

    • Custoslibera@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      This game would frustrate the fuck out of me and I suspect others.

      The challenge of the game shifts from the management of resources with complete information to I’m gambling about what information is coming in is reliable.

      I don’t think this would be a fun gameplay experience.

      • megopie@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        10 months ago

        The game play is as much about managing your information and access to it. Information becomes a resource that needs infrastructure and investment in. I’ve played some games that have elements of this, notably radio commander, and I found it very engaging but that’s because the game was designed around the concept rather than tacking it on to something without forethought.

        An example of this in a management type game would be in CK3/2 where vassals and court members often have their own plans and motives that need to be accounted for, manipulated and planned around. Without this the game might be rather dull TBH.

  • rtxn@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Hitman-style game in an anime high school setting. I hear there’s a vacancy.

  • 2deck@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I’m thinking an interface like papers please with some more expression and color.

    You start as a hermit. Farmers and peasants come to you with problems and you craft spells, hexes and curses to cast on them. Sometimes you give them what they want, sometimes what they need and sometimes you throw a fireball. Maybe some rapid responses are required.

    You gain a reputation and move from your shack into a town, and then into a castle where you become a court magician. Higher stakes, more options, more magic!

    Get creative with how elements combine and have long lasting or delayed effects!

  • sexual_tomato@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    10 months ago

    A simulator for callping customer support. The goal is to eventually talk to God, or the simulation creator, or whatever supreme being is responsible for this mess.

    The game takes place entirely in your apartment. You’re equipped with a phone book and a corded phone with a long cord. it’s the 80s or 90s. You have to carry out various troubleshooting tasks that get more insane as you punch through layers of bureaucracy. You also have to manage your anger meter otherwise you risk cursing and the cs agent hangs up on you.

    Days should progress kinda like persona 5, and there should be a time limit. The stakes should be comically low.

    Save points involve getting callback numbers after you’ve got to a higher level of management.

    • trigonated@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I have a very similar concept: with gameplay somewhat inspired by job simulator or keep talking and nobody explodes.

      The general aesthetic is focused on silly and cartoon aliens, not serious at all.

      You’re in your alien apartment dealing with some machine that kinda reminds you of a printer (but silly and strange due to the silly alien theme), but you have no idea what the hell it does, just that it’s broken beyond belief. (If made interesting enough, finding out what the hell it does could be a good hook for the player to keep playing)

      The general loop consists of calling support and having the support people troubleshoot you into getting the thing working (you have to mess with it manually, opening flaps and moving pieces like the games mentioned above), except since it’s a silly alien machine, some of the parts have silly names and are silly looking (think of the Plumbus from Rick and Morty), making figuring out what the hell the operator’s talking about a challenge.

      For added funny, you could see the portrait of the various operator’s (silly aliens), and even better: you could animate them getting more and more exasperated or bored with you as you try to figure out the machine.

      For even more funny, you could maybe give some funny references to common irl printer problems like complaining about no ink when you just replaced the carts. And maybe at the end the machine could do something really silly and stupid, fitting with the comedic tone of the game

  • inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Pokémon Snap + Gravity Falls

    Go take pictures of big foot, aliens, ghosts and loch ness. Each area will be swarming with those creatures but to pass to a new zone the pic has to be blurry, out of focus and foggy.