harvest (ludum dare theme brainstorm)
raw brainstorm
> flow
A ludum dare jam began today, and the theme is 'Harvest'
It's funny how strongly I react to these themes. My initial reaction is always to make excuses and try to weasel out of it: "I don't want to do this jam. Maybe I'll fake sick. Maybe I'm too busy."
Then I try to take a step back and figure out what I can get out of this jam.
That's kind of like harvesting, right?
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6 pm. Jam has run for 3 hours. I've added ~10 commits to Clawe. Todo app sucking me in. Good to know that history does indeed repeat itself.
Thinking out a game called 'Shirt' as a more basic 'Tunic' - i.e. the zelda reference and simplicity, but somehow tied into 'Harvest' somehow.
Perhaps it's just time to design a zelda-y dungeon crawler and juice it up.
SHIRT. I actually love it. and it fits straight into dino.
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A game jam outline approach: capture a few different game ideas, then try to project an outline of each game.
- what work is needed, what nodes, what algorithms?
- what problems need to be solved?
- how are the games compared
- which idea am i motivated to tackle?
- which one seems like fun?
- which one seems hard/lots of good learning?
> bland 'Harvest' angles
>> Bountiful Harvest - Thanksgiving
Corn for days
Sweet potatoes
regular potatoes
>> Pumpkins, Halloween, scary, fall - Harvest-y holidays
> game 'Harvest' angles
>> Zombies - 'harvesting' organs
I predict 20% zombie games
>> Stardew Valley - ('Harvest Moon')
Farming sims
>> Farmville - Freemium Gaming
'Evil' freemium isn't free South Park plot
If we go this direction, we'll have infinite money and make an insane farming sim
like the American Dream game on ouya
>> Overcooked-like might work with Harvest
> my existing content/games/ideas + angles
>> leaf runner - maybe Harvest works great for fall time
>> beatemup
beat em up in a 'harvest' context
thinking something like my Beatemup City or Super Elevator Level idea, but tied into a harvest game?
>> review game assets for existing art ideas
>> pluggs mcgee - human harvester
maybe pluggs is already a direct harvest tie in?
>> triage angle - 'Triage' in relation to organ 'harvesting'
Might be just the tweak Algo's health care system needed
>> beatemup angle - towards the health insurance game mechanic idea from the other day
beatemup health insurance style
might tie into the recovery mechanics
bringing yourself and your parts back to health
beat em up villains are always 'the Man' somehow. they're boring and evil. let's harvest their organs!
> Non-game, Going meta
clawe or godot addon or some other non-game
>> add a 'harvest' namespace to clawe as a companion to writing in the garden
It's all about harvesting something out of the notes file
how could I harvest a godot game out of an org garden file?
reminds me of that dino file idea - what does the supporting manual/plan for a game look like?
what could i write out in org that makes conversion to a game easy-peasy?
a guide for implementing a game jam concept
feels like i'm reaching for a sprint-planning session, then it'll be all todos. I'm trying to get ahead of the decision fatigue, the ambiguity of what-is-the-thing.
> Game mechanics
>> SSB villager onion pickup - Pulling up onions out of thin air
The Villager ( super smash ) plucking onions to throw at people
>> grid-based farming meets fire emblem?
Could we be doing some tower-defense or some other natural-terrain growing thing?
>> beatemup where people want to harvest your organs for the insurance money
>> chess board where you can plant a seed
it blooms in a few turns?
>> grid-based seed-planting
some kill when sprouting.
like the villager 's tree growth KOs
> Game ideas
>> 'SHIRT'
A Juicier Zelda-ish Dungeon Crawler. A play on Duaa's 'Tunic' joke.
>>> goal: a JUICIER Dungeon Crawler in Dino
>>>> juice: wide sword slashes.
like a classic top-down zelda game
cut those onions!
>>>> juice: zelda-like inventory and control assignment
pick up sword, bow
pause to change weapon
>>> angle: design a small village with stardew/moon-y NPCs
>>> kink integration to support dialogue-y puzzles
negotiate a key with a few pieces of info
>>> rough v1 script!
We want a key to get into a locked barn. Or safe. Or something.
The man working the bar across the street has it, but won't give it up.
Other people in the bar point us toward the bar-keep's brother who runs the shop across the street.
The guy at the shop knows what the problem is, but only respects people who
bring him 10 onions. (if you do, he'll tell hint-you a solution for whatever is
brother's issue is, at which point you'll be a step closer to the key.)
The onions have to be harvested from the field next to the house. Only a few are available - the rest have been pilfered. Fortunately, they left a trail...
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ugh this went a weird direction. OR what's behind the door? what's the twist?
>>> outline
- what godot nodes/dino pieces support this?
- what sounds do i need?
- what art do i need?
>>>> veggie enemies
>> Super Grain Silo
>> Squash Bowling
Just a bowling game, with different vegetables/fruit as the balls. Maybe corn as the pins?
Why go crazy? Just build Milo's Astro Lanes.
>> Overcooked-like
- collect ingredients (via dungeon crawler, via runner)
- visit the kitchen to cook (make burgers, i guess?)
Backlinks
A hackathon of sorts!
A deadline!
A reason to start (and finish!) a new project!
A game jam is a time-frame for making a game with other people, usually accompanied by a theme and some constraints (like time, game-engine other arbitrary rules).
A Dino game.
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A beatemup game idea I've been kicking around.
Elevator levels are one of my favorite things in games.