Game Idea Research

Game Idea Research

For my last project blog I brainstormed some game ideas for my final game- an adventure game, a cooking game, a survival game and a jailbreak game. After heavy debating I have decided to further explore the survival game idea.

Initially I was going to do a classic deserted island survival game, but I have decided to spice things up a little bit by turning it into a fantasy based open world  survival game. The game would be in a fantasy setting full of unfamiliar, almost alien like plants and animals and surroundings. The surrounding area would be open and diverse to give the player opportunities to explore and decide where to set up camp; a dense forest, a mystical lake to fish and get water, a volcano area to gather things like stone and gemstones to make tools and weaponry.

A game I was inspired by and enjoy playing a lot that is of the survival genre is Don't Starve!

Dont Starve promotional image 

Source: Flickr

I was thinking of adding some hostile mobs to the game to add some challenge- but also allows the player to hunt and gather meat to cook. They would be further out in the land and not around the starting point so the player has time to prepare. A fun idea would be to have some tame able mobs to become pets that could fight for the player!

The fantasy element and unfamiliar flora and fauna could rise to add a hunger and poison mechanic- the player would have to cook things appropriately and keep in mind anything that could be potentially poisonous when eating food. Antidotes could be made using some flora to combat any poisoning.

Here are some game mechanics I feel could work for my game concept!

• Hunger and Poisoning mechanic- since my game is a survival game, there has to be survival elements and risk to add challenge and realism to the game. A mechanic where the player grows hungry over the course of the game would be beneficial. For example, when the player is at a certain hunger level they cant regen health, and their movement slows, and their attacks grow weaker. When hunger reaches 0, it triggers a game over since the player starves. Poison would occur when the player doesn’t cook meats or certain plants; this would cause the player to gradually take damage over a period of time until it wears off or an antidote is taken. The game Minecraft actually has a mechanic a lot like this, and it goes into detail about it here!

• A health system- Both player and mobs would have a certain amount of HP in their health pool which can lessen when attacked, when poisoned, or heat/cold damage is taken. Mobs die and drop meat when their health reaches 0, but when the players health reaches 0 it triggers a game over.

• A temperature mechanic- To add realism to the game, I think a temperature mechanic could work. One of my planned areas for the game is a volcano, which would be hot, especially near the lava. The player would take damage if they stepped in the lava. The same goes for the cold, if a player for example gets in icy water they will take damage. Making pieces of armor that are heat and cold resistant could be a fun idea. One of my favourite games, The Legend of Zelda Breath of The Wild has a temperature mechanic, which you can read more about at this link!