This has nothing to do with anything, other than that I can say literally anything right now and rest knowing that it wasn't the stupidest thing I've heard all day. So with that new-found freedom, why not write a blog post?!
Here are some half baked game ideas. Consider them souffles that haven't quite risen, and perhaps never will. I'm posting these because I figure nobody will steal them, because, I mean, everyone has their own half-baked ideas they already want to do. If you do steal them I will be mildly disappointed but I will probably understand.
The first game:
Dwarfhaus
Elevator Pitch:
The unhappy marriage of Dwarf Fortress, The Sims, and Facebook.
For those unaware, dwarf fortress is a very intricate and complex game where you build a giant fortress into a mountain for your dwarfs to live in. And then you have to defend it against the world. It's pretty cool. It also inspires rather epic stories. The part where it inspires stories is the most interesting aspect to me. It has the same quality as The Sims in this respect, ie, "I did such and such to my Sims, isn't that fucked up?!"
Now, most of the stories that come from The Sims generally involve intentionally doing terrible things them -- or, alternatively watching horrible misfortunes unfold. Dwarf Fortress has some of the same qualities, but unlike The Sims, the game is actively trying to kill you, resulting in a lot more terrible situations for your imaginary pets.
Another aspect of The Sims that could be fun was importing people you know into the game, and then watching what they'd do, and then telling said people about the awful things their virtual avatars did. (I'm not the only person that did this, right? ... right?)
So here's the game idea:
Imagine Dwarf Fortress on Facebook, with cuter graphics, except the dwarfs that immigrate into your camp are your facebook friends. And they get notifications when terrible things happen to them under your mismanagement.
This is the viral hook -- people want to know why they're getting notifications like "You were trampled by an elephant in Joe's Dwarfhaus", so they go to check out the game. And then they decide to play. For some reason. This somehow leads to PROFIT. For me.
Key features:
* Build fortresses next to friends for added benefits. Of course if a neighboring fort falters, this makes things more dangerous, so there's a social obligation to essentially not fuck up or you might screw over your friends. Or maybe you intentionally screw over your friends because you're "that guy". I hate you.
* Social leaderboard of long-surviving fortresses.
* Pay money to revive dead dwarfs, or for emergency defenses.
Open questions:
* How much can you simplify dwarf fortress without losing the core of what makes it neat?
* Stories are an important aspect of Dwarf Fortress -- how do you emphasize this?
* Does the notification system still let you do this? I'm not sure if it does or not...
* Will people hurt me for making another goddamn spammy facebok app?
Bro-Brah
This is basically the same idea as Dwarfhaus, but replace all the played out fantasy stuff with XBoxes and Madden and Bro-Ho's. I'm trying to think of a good title for this.
Also I still think you make the universe constantly trying to kill your bros, much like it's trying to kill your dwarfs. So the elephants stay.
Open questions:
* Are your friends offended when you import them into your bro house?
* Will Bro's realize they're being made fun of? Will this positively or negatively affect their desire to play the game?
* Will women be offended by being Bro-Ho's? Or can women be full on Bro's?
* How much is the bromance emphasized? Does this become uncomfortable when it's your actual friends in the game?
* Sup brah?
