Alrighty. It's summer and I've had the idea of doing a "game in a summer" challenge for myself. To make it a bit more challenging, I'm leaning towards making an Android game (since I've never worked on a mobile device... it'd be a good experience). Anyway, I need a game idea! The only idea I have is one in which I actually haven't figured out the gameplay, and I think it would take a lot of sandboxing to figure out proper gameplay for it...

Anyway, here are some of the ideas I've come across:

• Race Condition: The only racing game that casts you as an operating system thread. Try to beat the other thread to the data without entering spinlock and destroying your user's computer.
  
• A Tetris clone pack, including variants of:
  
  
  
  • Hell
    
  • Heaven
    
  • Not Tetris 2
    
  • Staring Contest: Kinda like Draw Something, where you can challenge your friends, but this time you have to stare longer than them.
    
  • Boat Gnomes: Gnomes live in your 72-foot yacht. As a rich, powerful oil tycoon you can't possibly be insane. Toss your medication overboard and take them out with your harpoon gun! Regis Philbin voices Gnomy McGnomerton, the head gnome of your little psychotic gunfight.
    
    
    As you can hopefully see, I'm not exactly aiming towards making a super-serious game. I'm more aiming for a silly game that can potentially end up being really fun if implemented well with the proper humor.
    
    This is where I need your help though! Which idea do you particularly like? Do you have any other ideas to add? Right now I'm kind of leaning towards the Tetris clone pack...

Not sure if you are trying to accomplish this in a design perspective, or a development perspective. If the latter, this might be something to look at: http://inventwithpython.com/blog/2012/02/20/i-need-practice-programming-49-ideas-for-game-clones-to-code/

Not sure if you are trying to accomplish this in a design perspective, or a development perspective. If the latter, this might be something to look at: http://inventwithpyt...clones-to-code/

Oh cool, thanks, I've bookmarked that site. I'm probably aiming for more of a development perspective, as I'm focusing more on just finishing something for Android and not so much on the actual design of the game.

Figure out what technologies you want to learn, and you'll narrow down designs.

- Graphics tech: simple 2D, animated 2D sprites, simple 3D, rich 3D? Static scenes, or performance intensive graphics with fluid framerates?
- Sound tech? Mixing, surround, etc.
- Networking: leaderboards, social media integration, realtime client/server multiplayer, realtime ad hoc multiplayer?
- Input: acceleration / tilt sensors? Multitouch?

Be wary of going for any classic action game like Tetris. The available input methods are bad for that. Making an action game work well on mobile requires "different" designs which hinge on timing and decisionmaking instead of continuous input. Racing games where you can use sensor input are about the only classic genre that should work.

Incidentally: what's the state of the art in mobile racing games using sensor input? I'd like recommendations of specific titles.

A game where you need to move the phone around a lot to make sure the player will seem like a total idiot if playing in public.

A game where you need to move the phone around a lot to make sure the player will seem like a total idiot if playing in public.

Holey Hanna is a possible name for a game that I thought of awhile back. Holey Hanna is a planet full of holes like swiss cheese. The interesting part is interacting with the gravity of such a world. For instance many people probably don't realize that there would be zero gravity at the center of a density consistent spherical planet. Tilting the phone could be your flight controls, but much of your acceleration is achieved by how well you navigate the gravitational field. A small solar system like ours where the planets are shot full of holes would really make for an interesting yet educational game. Anyone familiar with an existing game like this?

A deposit of Plutonium, Gold or Lead would produce a large gravitational effect. Gravity is how real astronauts slingshot their spaceships to the moon and back. Tunnels through a planet would cause a natural oscillation like swinging on a swingset, so timing your rocket bursts (or gun fire = laws of momentum) would be key to saving fuel, etc. Lazers could cut holes with less impact on ones momentum. My programming experience is limited to scripting languages. Is there a good game engine that models gravity?

Anyone familiar with an existing game like this?

Not that I've come across, but I like the idea!

Is there a good game engine that models gravity?

Depends on the language. But if it's just a single space ship, it's so incredibly easy to handle gravity it's not even worth looking for a game engine that'll do it for you. Just set up a simple equation to attract the ship's center of mass to the planet's center of mass, and it's all done. The real equation for gravitational acceleration could be used, with some fudged numbers to make the game fun.