Game Concept

I'm finding the challenge of coming up with a concept for this course a bit difficult. While the prototype we build doesn't necessarily have to be an RPG/Adventure game, it would be good if it were. But how does one create a compelling story based game in an engine like Second Life? I don't think we could pull off a good fantasy game that relied on melee combat to any degree. Perhaps some kind of wizard duel based game could be interesting, maybe even with the avatars rezzing objects temporarily (summoning) ala MTG.

However, the idea that gets me more excited is some kind of cyberpunk/dystopian themed game that doesn't feature combat in the direct traditional sense. Perhaps it wouldn't feature combat at all. Tension could either be achieved through use of techno-horror style elements, conspiracy style elements, or both. Perhaps the protagonist may be given some kind of defense, but no actual method of attack (You hold off your attackers until you can make your escape, but you lack the means to actually destroy them). Setting, story and such I honestly have no ideas about yet, but I believe that could come easily enough in a brainstorming session.

Edit: A brief concept is as follows:
The player is a hacker trying to gather information of X_____. Gameplay consists of reaching "nodes" and hacking into them through some manner of minigame to be rewarded with a piece of information. At the point in time the player hacks a node, several "antibodies" will be spawned that seek to attack the player. The player must evade the antibodies rather than destroy them, and possesses only token defenses against the antibodies (being slightly faster than them and having some manner of short lived shield for emergencies). When the player has avoided the antibodies for a long enough period of time, they deactivate, and the player is free to make his way to the next node. In between nodes, some form of environmental puzzle will exist to make the transit time interesting, perhaps with lesser hackable items needed to open pathways.

The twist is that the player will only have the opportunity to grab certain bits of the information available, and will not get all of the information available in the game. In addition, the antibodies will spawn as soon as the node is hacked, limiting the player's time to pick and choose which bit of information they want to take. Only at the end of the game will the player be able to peruse the information that they retrieved, in the order that they retrieved it in. The order in which the player accesses this information will affect the way they interpret it (as in Hopscotch). This way, each player in theory will have a unique play experience, and some replay value will be assured.

The actual levels take place in a virtual environment ala the Matrix of the Shadowrun setting (Not the movie) or Tron. Representation of the player would have to be appealing, if not necessarily humanoid. The environment itself will be somewhat evocative of Tron, etc, with a minimalistic glowing motif. Antibodies would be some sort of abstract shape, but if abstract and menacing can be combined in some way, it would be ideal.

Second Life

Our end product will be a game prototype built in Second Life. To that end, we need accounts and avatars with which to do our work.

This is my Avatar, Shae Mumfuzz. When I was
signing up for my account, the name Mumfuzz
popped out at me, and I decided that it was both
silly enough to work, and that it sounded like a
halfling sort of name, so I tried to take the halfling idea and run with it. Most of what I initially did was slider work, but when I started playing with prims, first the hat, and then the pipe emerged. The pipe I really like, because it has a simple script that produces particles, leaving a cloud of smoke around his head. It still needs to be tweaked before I'm really happy with it, but then again, my avatar does too. I'd really like to skin a better looking jacket and pair of pants for him, but I haven't had time to do that yet.

First Thing's First

First thing's first, I suppose. This blog is meant to be part of a course in the basics of game design and development, and will serve for me as both a means of keeping myself on track, and as a place for my random thoughts that somehow relate to game design.

Obviously, my interest in game design comes from being a gamer. For a long time, I was primarily a PC gamer, but I have since come to appreciate console titles as well.

It'd be a bit pretentious to try list every single game I've played, but I'll list some of my favorites.

Mechcommander:

This was the first title I got to play on my own computer, and remains one of my favorites to this day.

Warren Spector/Looking Glass/Irrational Titles titles:

The Thief titles, Deus Ex titles, System Shock 2, etc...

S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Games:

Fallout Series, Arcanum

Infinity Engine Games:

Baldur's Gate series, Icewind Dale Series, Planescape: Torment

Half-Life Series

Half-Life, Half Life 2, Gunman Chronicles, They Hunger

Unreal Gold/UT

Blizzard Games