Designing a game about a road trip: Gameplay Elements:1) Road hazards - Bumpy road - Muddy road - Pot holes - Winding road - Rain, snow, rocks - Cows, deers - Taking wrong paths - Foggy road 2) Characters status - Drunk - Drowsy - Hungry - Distracted - Broken head lights - Out of fuel 3) Preparations - Extra fuels - Spare tire - Sleeping bags - Food - Road map - Car repair tools - Wallet Suppose one game run is less than 5 minutes do you see any fun things to add to the list ? [Edited by - Wai on March 4, 2007 7:02:09 PM]

Roadkill ???

and The Hitch Hiker .....

more realistic:
breaks go out
stop to see world's 4th largest ball of twine
lost
screaming, annoying children
traffic stop
flat tire
You could make it a real trip and list the real sites along the way, ala oregon trail.

less realistic:
oh no, aliens! (every game is better with aliens)
oh no, a cliff!
oh no, samantha has dysentary! (ala oregon trail)

I want to keep it bloodless. The girl in the concept picture is a raccoon girl. She can be the roadkill. If any harm is done in the game, it would be the two player controlled characters (the gameover conditions).


A) Adversaries :

1) Road and Weather
- Bumpy road
- Muddy road
- Pot holes
- Winding road
- Rain, snow, rocks
- Cows, deers
- Taking wrong paths
- Foggy road
- Traffic stops
- Weighing scales
- Bridges
- Cliffs
- Tornado
- Other cars

2) Character Status
- Drowsy
- Drunk
- Hungry
- Distracted

3) Breakable car parts
- Tires
- Head lights
- Brake

4) Payloads
- Souvenirs
+ Hitchhikers

Hitchhikers:
- Alien
- Monster
- Kid
- Farmer with animals
- Musician
- Runaway bride
- Escaped prisoner

5) Other events
- Getting lost
- Getting pulled over by cop



B) Resources
- Fuel
- Money
- Spare tire
- Sleeping bags
- Food
- Road map
- Car repair tools
- Camera
- Sun glasses
- Flashlight

C) Stops
- Re-fueling
- Repairing
- Resting
- Eatting
- Sightseeing
- Shopping
- Helping someone
- Clearing the road

D) Sightseeing landmarks/locations
- Location X
- Beach
- Mountains
- City
- Savana
- Desert
- Jungle
- Cave
- Under the sea
- Pyramids
- Venice
- Theater
- Car wash
- Museum
- Location Y

(Screw the road map, they are always lost)

E) Objective
- Drive from X to Y.

Don't forget

Running out of gas

Engine failure - over heating would be a classic example - busted radiator


1) Road and Weather
- Weighing scales

A passenger vehicle wouldn't have to deal with these, at least not in the US. If anything they would offer a respite for a passenger car as it would mean a decreased number of big rigs. Don't forget having to share the road with other vehicles - like big rigs. For small cars there's the fear that big rigs will push them off the road.


D) Sightseeing landmarks/locations

In the United States you'd want to include the Grand Canyon at least.

A3) Car Problems
- Flat tires
- Broken head lights
- Broken brakes
- Overheat
- Out of fuel

The car runs on ethanol. The girl can drink and make industrial grade ethanol.


D) Sightseeing Locations/Stages
[...]
Grand Canyon
Waterfalls
Caverns
Volcano

Quote:

Original post by Wai The girl can drink and make industrial grade ethanol.

How does it make ethanol? It's got to have fuel of some sort.

She makes ethanol from food.

About the weighing scale. I was imagining that they would drive a car across a rope bridge (the type you see in Indiana Jones). The weighing scale is at some distance before the bridge. If you want to weigh the car, you must stop the car at the scale or you will miss it.

Another adversary is the low branches that can knock out the luggage.

[Edited by - Wai on March 1, 2007 6:22:23 PM]

If your car is going to be making ethanol from food (which is unusual, to say the least) then you've got to have some way of egesting waste materials. Food contains all sorts of stuff, not just the substances (sugar, essentially) needed to make ethanol. Where does the rest go? There's going to be a lot of it if you're making that much ethanol.

Lets say you lose your luggage, whats the consequence?