Two old 'sim' games from back in the day that I'd like to see redone:

SimLife: basically an artificial life simulation (models evolution, ecology, environment, etc.). Maybe something more game-like than SimLife, but more science-like (realistic) than Spore.

Some old C64 game I can't remember the name of: however, it entailed building up a space exploration program (a la NASA), and to 'win' you had to discover signs of life somewhere in the solar system. It took careful balancing of budget to accomplish this.

Ok, ok, I realize these are super nerdy, and probably not much fun for your average gamer. But hey, I can't help but dream...

Guantanamo Bay Sim? You play the role of Col. Nathan R. Jessep, the commanding officer of the marine ground forces. You have to schedule waterboardings, human pyramids, and enhanced interrogation sessions....all while avoiding meddling attempts from liberal politicians to shut down the fun-times.

This is my idea, nobody steal it -_-

srsly.

Has anyone ever played 'Mule'? Your comment about the C64 reminded me of it. We loaded the game on tape at one point, then we got a 5.25" drive. It was actually a very fun turn-based strategy/sim where you were mining for the alien crystals.

You pick a square to mine in, or take some ore to the assayer, build other stuff. As simple as it was, it was actually a lot of fun and could be a great sim to remake. You could have up to four players with 2 or 3 computer players. Make it a little bit more interesting, add some more fluff, more experimental things to do...but you gotta find as much of the alien crystal as you can, that's where the money was. If someone else remembers the game more than I do, fill in some blanks... :)

Thank you so much for you help, I've decided to go with the last post, and base a game on M.U.L.E which I found online, here http://atarimule.neotechgaming.com/, was a little difficult to play at first but I got the idea.

My idea is instead of the little robots doing all the work that I will do it so you must connect everything via sci-fi train networks. You must build to resources then capture those resources, you can use your railway line to block others and of course there will be other things like upgrades for resource builders and train lines, etc.

You must outfit your train with the appropriate carriages to make sure your workers get to where they have to be and so do your resources.

A feature I'm quite sure on is stealing other players resource buildings via armed conflict (pack a train with soldiers and connect your train line to the other player’s resource hub.

I feel this game should be real time though instead of turn-based, what do you all think, from the very brief idea I've given??

(I also liked the plant sim idea but thought I wouldn't be able to do it justice graphically, plus I use to do 3.0!)

"I think Sim Plant could be a cool idea. Start off as a single seed and spend cells on either growing roots, thorns, leaves, flowers, fruit, or support. Manage yourself carefully so that you have enough nutrients from your roots and food from your leaves to produce fruit, as well as enough thorns to protect yourself. Produce enough fruit and spread yourself to other parts of the world that contain other challenges (flash floods, different predators, etc.)."




This has actually been done!


By me!


Here: http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=145154&b=5 and http://www.filefactory.com/file/af0hadh/n/LAST_LIFE_zip?e=WW91ciBkb3dubG9hZCBzbG90IGhhcyBleHBpcmVkLiAgUGxlYXNlIHRyeSBhZ2Fpbg%3D%3D&l=&c=57645f1e0acc33cc7085f61f874f996e




Honestly I'd like to see someone else give the plant sim idea a go. If ever you find a 'carnivorous plant' stall at a market, it always attracts some interest from almost everyone. People like plants that behave kind of like animals - it's like having a really low maintenance pet. A video game is a perfect environment for this.

Sim School

That could be fun. Adding courses, employing teachers, attracting students, managing timetables, organizing the restaurant... A school is a small world after all...

Honestly, since it is your first major project, I don't see why you have to shy away from sim games that have already been made. How many times have we made Tetris or Pong? How many times has the game industry made the "one guy with lots of guns fighting off aliens/demons on a spaceship" game? Ideas cannot be copyrighted, only story specifics (like names and places) and proper nouns (i.e., you can't have a spell called "Ieldor's Grasping Vines" if it was in Everquest). Try making whatever you want to make, but just change up the specific details, and maybe try adding a different focus or theme to it to spice it up :)

Quote:

Original post by dgreen02 Guantanamo Bay Sim? You play the role of Col. Nathan R. Jessep, the commanding officer of the marine ground forces. You have to schedule waterboardings, human pyramids, and enhanced interrogation sessions....all while avoiding meddling attempts from liberal politicians to shut down the fun-times. This is my idea, nobody steal it -_- srsly.

That sounds fun in the same way Evil Genius was, I have what I think is a more solid idea. How about running a prison?

I'm sure this has been done before, but I think it would be really great to try to rehabilitate prisoners, using different methods for different prisoners, ranging from mild to extreme, effective and controversial, tailored to the individual or mass-produced solutions. Depending on how effective or controversial your methods are you may get more or less funding and may upgrade to hold higher classes of criminal (is it worthwhile to accept death-row inmates?)

Quote:

Original post by Portugal Stew Quote: Original post by dgreen02 Guantanamo Bay Sim? You play the role of Col. Nathan R. Jessep, the commanding officer of the marine ground forces. You have to schedule waterboardings, human pyramids, and enhanced interrogation sessions....all while avoiding meddling attempts from liberal politicians to shut down the fun-times. This is my idea, nobody steal it -_- srsly. That sounds fun in the same way Evil Genius was

Just pointing out Evil Genius is heavily inspired by the old and excellent Dungeon Keeper series. Some of the ideas here sound a lot like Dungeon Keeper too. There's no end to innovating upon older ideas, is there? :)

Well sure, but after a couple iterations there's only so many clever and silly animations you can go through, aren't there?