I was reading the game design forum lately and felt like I saw some sort of pattern there which I now see almost everywhere where people pitch their game ideas. So I made a program to have ideas for me (see source). It's written in c++ for performance reasons. The command line takes a single argument which can be any integer number. The program will then display the game idea associated with that number but you can also skip the argument and just get a random idea. It produces post-ready text. You only have to append your plans/experiences (i.e. "I have three weeks of VB experience and programmed html before that. I am writing the engine myself from scratch and am now searching for skilled texture artists."). Also I hope this becomes some sort of industry standard, so instead of always writing all that text you can pitch your game simply with: "hey, I want to make game 763, who's with me?".
#include <iostream>#include <string>#include <vector>#include <cstdlib>#include <ctime>std::string& getRandom(std::vector<std::string> &v){ return v[std::rand()%v.size()];}int main(int argc, char *argv[]){ int idea; if(argc>1) { idea = std::atoi(argv[1]); } else { idea = std::time(0); } std::srand(idea); std::vector<std::string> mmo; mmo.push_back("MMO"); mmo.push_back(""); std::vector<std::string> genre; genre.push_back("role playing"); genre.push_back("real time strategy"); genre.push_back("turn based strategy"); genre.push_back("adventure"); genre.push_back("first person shooter"); genre.push_back("third person shooter"); genre.push_back("simulation"); std::vector<std::string> theme; theme.push_back("fantasy"); theme.push_back("sci fi"); theme.push_back("WW1"); theme.push_back("WW2"); theme.push_back("mafia"); theme.push_back("medival"); theme.push_back("antique"); std::vector<std::string> gameplay_feature; gameplay_feature.push_back("open world gameplay"); gameplay_feature.push_back("realistic physics"); gameplay_feature.push_back("customizable characters"); gameplay_feature.push_back("customizable gear"); gameplay_feature.push_back("destructible environments"); gameplay_feature.push_back("something unique I will reveal later"); std::vector<std::string> amount; amount.push_back("large"); amount.push_back("huge"); amount.push_back("overwhelming"); std::vector<std::string> aspect; aspect.push_back("races"); aspect.push_back("professions"); aspect.push_back("classes"); aspect.push_back("weapons"); aspect.push_back("activities"); std::vector<std::string> story1; story1.push_back("waking up in"); story1.push_back("arriving at"); std::vector<std::string> location; location.push_back("village"); location.push_back("bar"); location.push_back("generic dark creepy place"); std::vector<std::string> state; state.push_back("amnesia"); state.push_back("nothing to lose"); state.push_back("a terrible hangover"); std::vector<std::string> important_person; important_person.push_back("his brother"); important_person.push_back("his sister"); important_person.push_back("his girlfriend"); important_person.push_back("his loyal sidekick"); std::vector<std::string> story2; story2.push_back("been abducted"); story2.push_back("been murdered"); story2.push_back("gone missing"); story2.push_back("eaten to much candy"); std::cout << "Game idea " << idea << ":\n\n"; std::cout << "Hi,\nI had this idea for a " << getRandom(mmo) << ' ' << getRandom(genre) << " game with " << getRandom(genre) << " elements. It will be " << getRandom(theme) << " themed and feature " << getRandom(gameplay_feature) << " together with " << getRandom(gameplay_feature) << ". There will be a " << getRandom(amount) << " amount of " << getRandom(aspect) << " to choose from. The game will start with the main character " << getRandom(story1) << " a " << getRandom(location) << " with " << getRandom(state) << " where he will soon learn that " << getRandom(important_person) << " has " << getRandom(story2) << ". The story then progresses from there."; std::cout << "\n\n"; return 0;}Sample ideas:
Quote:
Game idea 47:
Hi,
I had this idea for a MMO turn based strategy game with first person shooter elements. It will be WW1 themed and feature realistic physics together with open world gameplay. There will be a huge amount of activities to choose from. The game will start with the main character waking up in a generic dark creepy place with a terrible hangover where he will soon learn that his loyal sidekick has gone missing. The story then progresses from there.
Game idea 7557:
Hi,
I had this idea for a MMO role playing game with real time strategy elements. It will be mafia themed and feature realistic physics together with realistic physics. There will be a large amount of activities to choose from. The game will start with the main character arriving at a bar with nothing to lose where he will soon learn that his sister has gone missing. The story then progresses from there.
