Brainstorming game ideas is quite tough, but here are two interesting ideas that incorporate the theme of “unexpected opposites”. I’m quite proud of my ideas, and am eager to see how they would hold up if they were developed.

Cute Crusader

Go on a rampage, destroying evil robot AIs in the future as the Cute Crusader!

• Destroy robot enemies with varying looks and attacks!
• Wield a large arsenal of weapons of mass destruction!
• Navigate a variety of platforming obstacles to reach the goal!

Concept Overview

Cute Crusader is a third-person shooter, action platformer game set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland future full of evil robots. The player’s goal is to fight the robots with an arsenal of weapons they gather along the way (maybe the robots drop a “currency”, or maybe weapons can be found in the levels). The levels would incorporate platforming challenges in addition to fighting enemies, providing varied gameplay. The game has an unusual protagonist: instead of a gruff ‘n’ tough badass wasteland survivor, the player controls a cute pet animal (like a fluffy dog or cat), that happens to be a bipedal cyborg and wields weapons of mass destruction. This dopey, yet cute, animal avatar juxtaposed against the dystopian wasteland provides many opportunities for comedic value.

Target Audience

The target audience for this game are players who enjoy mascot platformers, cartoon violence, and surreal humour sourced from the wacky premise juxtaposition. This game would be suitable for a young teenage audience.

Success Justification

This idea would make for a successful game because people enjoy annihilating video game foes with unique and varied weapons – it’s a basis of many successful games. The comedic premise – harkening of Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot combinations – will intrigue people into playing the game to discover what it’s actually about.

Prototype Focus

The focus of an early prototype would be to build a single, linear, outdoor level, with a goal at the end. The level should have a few platforming challenges and a minimum of one enemy type. There should be at least two weapons for the player to use with differing use cases (so not just two blaster guns with different fire-rates and damage values), and the player should be able to do standard platforming actions (run and jump).

Tie-In to Theme

Cute Crusader incorporates “unexpected opposites” through its interesting and unexpected choice of protagonist. As previously mentioned, a typical protagonist for a game set in the post-apocalypse would be your gruff ‘n’ tough badass wasteland survivor, but instead we get much the opposite with the Cute Crusader!

It was I?!

Arrested for a murder he didn’t commit, detective Sid Knott must investigate the crime to find the real culprit and clear his name!

• Investigate crime scenes to discover clues!
• Interrogate witnesses to discover what secrets they’re hiding!
• Deduce facts from the information presented!

Concept Overview

It was I?! is a comedy, adventure, murder mystery game following the story of Sid Knott, a detective arrested under suspicion of murder, that must now investigate the murder in order to deduce what actually happened. The gameplay will be very similar to that of the Ace Attorney Investigations series, where the player walks around crime scenes, discovering evidence, and later using the evidence to make logical deductions, or presenting it to witnesses where it contradicts their statements. Along the way the player will meet quirky characters with comedic dialogue. The final deduction in the mystery comes when Sid Knott figures out that he actually was the murderer (with explanations for why he couldn’t remember the murder and why we should still feel sympathetic for his character).

Target Audience

The target audience for this game are players who enjoy murder mysteries with twists, solving mysteries, and character comedy. Naturally as it borrows a lot of elements from Ace Attorney Investigations, there would be a large overlap in the audiences. This game would be suitable for young adult and older teenage audience.

Success Justification

This idea would make for a successful game because a lot of people enjoy the mystery genre and solving mysteries, and giving players the ability to interact with the story and solve the mystery themselves will make them feel intelligent and proud.

Prototype Focus

The focus of the prototype would to build an engine for character dialogue, investigating scenes for evidence, and presenting evidence to characters. As a part of a proof-of-concept, a short investigation level should be created where the player can easily find evidence and make easy conclusions from the evidence. The prototype level developed might not tie into the full story of the game, as it might be difficult to write a beginning of the story so early, or write what should be a long story to be short enough for a prototype.

Tie-In to Theme

It was I?! incorporates “unexpected opposites” through its story, which involves unravelling a mystery with many unexpected twists as the player discovers new information that recontextualises earlier events. The ultimate unexpected twist in the story is the one where the player character, Sid Knott, discovers he was the murderer all along, the opposite of what the player would naturally assume in a game where the pretence is to clear the protagonist of guilt.