So I have grand plans, but I figure I need to fully release a game before moving on to my bigger ideas, both for the experience and hopefully to get at least the teensiest bit of a reputation. I’m terrible at coming up with ideas, but I’d like a game based around a simulation that I’ve built. Please take a look at the following GIFs and images.
cleverimpeccablecopperbutterfly
flusteredvariablechinchilla
enviousyellowafricanbushviper
neatfaithfulbluejay
femalereasonablealpinegoat
The first three feature moving objects (#3 is just an image because it takes hours to run), but the rest are simply the squares changing states/colors. And of course the two can be combined - moving squares can change their state based on various criteria, which would then affect their movement.
So. Do any of those spark any ideas for actual games? If so, I’d love any suggestions.
Edit: used to be links here, I uploaded the GIFs and embedded them.
Yeah my initial idea was to use GIFs so I could upload them directly to the site here, but I probably should have used a regular mp4 or something. I just tried to open that one in GIMP and it silently crashes every time…
That example looks like it has the same problem most of my stuff does: it’s interesting to look at, but it’s not really a game, there’s not really interaction or a “loop.”
A couple years ago I had an idea based on cellular automata, that I never did anything with. It was inspired by the concept of ant swarms using scents to communicate. It would be an RTS where you play as the alien/mutant swarm that attacks a city and has to defeat the military. You’d control your units by placing scent markers that either attract or repel your units. Your goals would be to guide them towards enemies that are weak enough to be eaten and make your swarm grow in size and strength, and overwhelm military forces that try to contain you. Each level could have a goal square to reach as a victory condition and depending on how you want to frame it and what other mechanics and gameplay you want to have, you could tell a story over the course of several levels where for example you were created in a lab and must make your way past various guarded exit points to eventually leave the lab and spread yourself further and further. Depending on how well it goes and how scope-creepy you want to get, you could zoom out and change up gameplay as you progress. E.g. starting on microscopic scale for tutorial levels, then your level is a desk with lab equipment to navigate around, then it’s a room where you eat labrats, then it’s a section of the facility, bigger section, compound of a couple buildings, large city block, whole city, whole country, whole world. Or cut it down to whatever selection of those make sense to you. Probably best to just stick to one scale to keep the scope in check.
I like it. There was an old half-RTS-half-RPG type game I remember that did something similar (but with humanoid creatures, and you put a bounty on enemy characters or buildings).
