My random game ideas

[Tarnish]

NOTE: First of all, I'd like to note I'm posting this in the Lounge because this is not a game announcement, nor am I looking for help to make a game, this is just meant to share something I do as a 'hobby' for my own entertainment and hopefully be a fun/interesting read for at least some people here.

So as the topic title suggests, I decided to post some ideas for video games I had over the years. Been contemplating for a while now whether to post this or not, but since I have nothing to lose nor gain, I figured maybe at least some people will find it a fun read or get a laugh from it.

I'm sure most people who play video games regularly have toyed with the idea of making their own video game at least for a split second, and maybe even had a few ideas for it in their head. I know I have, and recently it kinda became a hobby of mine to plan games in my head, write down my ideas as 'design documents' (if you can call my messy notes that) and just see where my imagination leads me. These ideas range from characters to gameplay elements, control layouts, stage designs. Over time I came up with about 12 'games' that I feel are more or less full thought out games rather than just 1 random idea here and there.

Now I don't consider myself a hardcore gamer, so I haven't played hundreds of games in my life (in reality it's probably have been only a few dozens), so there might be ideas in my notes/documents I thought were new and never been done before, while in reality they were done to death in games I just never heard of. (Just thought I'd note that so you know..)

Since this is a Dreamcast site, I thought I'll post my Dreamcast related game ideas first, then if anybody is interested in my other game ideas, I'll post those later. (Tho these games don't have as much written in their 'Design documents' as my non-Dreamcast game ideas, the concept of them should be understandable.)
Also maybe others had these ideas already just never posted them before, so there's also the chance I wrote absolutely nothing new here.

1.Title: Burning Inferno
Genre: lightgun game
Players: 1-2
Similar to/inspired by: House of the Dead, Virtua Cop
Description: an onrail lightgun game with a firefighter theme and an arcade feel (since I don't think that's been done before and I see potential in it). The player(s) takes the role(s) of firefighters who are assigned to various rescue/firefighting missions in various locations (mine/office building/factory/cruiser ship etc). Similar in gameplay to HOTD2, but instead of killing zombies with guns, player(s) put out fires with a fire hose or fire extinguishers, save civilians, break down doors or cut their own way with a fire axe, make quick decisions, fight their way through the smoke and heat and deal with suddenly occured emergencies. Trying to take advantage of the DCs' unique peripherals, besides using a lightgun to use/aim the fire hose/extinguiser in one hand, players also use a fishing rod in the other hand to operate the fire axe ingame - swinging the fishing rod makes the axe swing ingame. In some sections of the game the players are seperated and go on their seperate ways - in these sections the screen is split in two and the players can only use their own part of the screen with the lightgun.

2.Title: Target Escort
Genre: lightgun game
Players: 1
Similar to/inspired by: Take the bullet
Description: a bit similar to Burning Inferno in that is uses the lightgun/fishing rod combo. Inspired by the unreleased Take the bullet Dreamcast game, the player plays as a 'freelance' body guard, protecting various important/influental persons as they go to meetings, during travels etc. Of course these persons are potential targets for liquidation, and it's up to the player to try and protect them from assassins and headhunters. Using the lightgun to aim and fire weapons, the player can also use the fishing rod controller to move around with its analog stick, and also to quickly roll/leap out of harms' way by swinging the controller in the desired direction. The player can tell the protected person to stay behind in cover while the player clears out an enemy filled section, then tell the protected person to join him again.

3.Title: Invasion Nation
Genre: lightgun game
Players: 1-2
Similar to/inspired by: House of the Dead
Description: from what I seen, in lightgun games you often play as humans versus aliens/monsters, or humans versus humans. But rarely as aliens versus humans. So in this game, you get to play as invading aliens defeating humans, let them be simple police officers, SWAT teams or straight from the army. Each player can use 2 lightguns, making it set for some blazing lightgun action. (I wanted the player to feel a bit like the Terminator in Terminator 1 when it raids the police station: holding a different weapon in each hand, free to unleash the one he wants to when he wants to, mowing down enemies with them with ease, feeling like an unstopable badass while doing so.) Equipped with lasers and more powerful explosives than the earthlings could dream of, it's up to the player to defeat the humans and show they ain't on Earth just for a quick visit..

4.Title: Troop Trappers
Genre: party game/arena battle
Players: 2-4
Similar to/inspired by: ?
Description: the main idea was to find a way to utilize the VMU in a way it hasn't been before. Each player controls a soldier on a small map (whole map is visible on the screen). At the start of each game, each player has to plant x number of mines over the map. The 'trick' is that each player has to do this on their VMU screen so the other players can't see where they are placing their mines. Once every player has placed their mines, they must try to lure/push the other players into their mines, while obviously not knowing where the other players' mines are. The player whose soldier detonates the least number of mines wins. (Sounded like a cool concept, but might be too chaotic in practice.)

Whether you think these are dumb ideas or actually sounds fun, you are free to let me know, tho to be honest I'm not really looking for feedback as this is just something I did for my own amusement and the chance of them becoming real games are pretty, pretty slim.

[lastcallgames]

They sound pretty interesting. Troop Trappers almost sounds like a more interactive version of Battleship (the closest thing I could think of).

Have there been any homebrew lightgun games for the DC?

[Tarnish]

Have there been any homebrew lightgun games for the DC?

I recall watching a video of pcwzrd13 playing one called Revolver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXGUIGd9BUQ . So apparently it would be possible to make one.

[androiddreamcast]

Nice IMO troop trappers sounds like the best of the bunch. Have you though about turning those ideas into homebrew games at some point ? I think you should

[androiddreamcast]

Just like you I have also though about my own game ideas for the Dreamcast but my game ideas aren't as fleshed out and well though as yours are tbh.

What were your non Dreamcast game ideas ?

[Tarnish]

Nice IMO troop trappers sounds like the best of the bunch. Have you though about turning those ideas into homebrew games at some point ? I think you should

Kinda funny that's your fave, since even if someone would be able to make a game like this, how many of us would actually have 3 other Dreamcast fans/friends locally to play a 4 player game with?

And I'm definitely not gonna be the one making any homebrew stuff, simply because of the fact that I never really got past the 'printf("Hello world");' level at programming. It's just not for me, I'm too dumb for it, lol.

What were your non Dreamcast game ideas ?

I have quite a few other ideas, and those are "non-Dreamcast" simply because I designed those to use every button and dual analog sticks on a Xbox 360 style controller, so there would be no way to make it work input-wise on a Dreamcast (unless it's actually possible to utilize every button on a PS2 controller using a DC/PS2 adapter).

I have ideas for various shoot 'em ups, a beat 'em up, a run 'n gun, arcade style racing games, kart racing games, a puzzle/strategy game, a 'Free roaming Action/Platforming/Pet simulation' game..instead of posting a wall of text about stuff noone might be interested in, tell me which one would you be interested in?

[androiddreamcast]

Tell me about your ideas for a beat em game and free roaming action game .

[Tarnish]

Tell me about your ideas for a beat em game and free roaming action game .

Well I used the "free roaming action game" term loosely because I didn't really know how else to call the genre the game was supposed to be.

Title: P.E.T.S. - Pesky, Evermoving, Troublemaking Stinkers (don't ask where that came from, lol)
Genre: Free roaming Action/Platforming/Pet simulation
Players: 1 (2 player competitive mode?)
Similar to/inspired by: Catlateral damage, Goat simulator
Description: ever had a pet that looked like the cutest thing in the world but just made your house and life a living hell? No? Well, lucky you. Yes? Well, now here's your chance to find out what's it like to be that little bastard. In this "pet simulation" (for a lack of a better term) you control an adorable looking stinker who is a family pet, and as such, you can roam around the place as you will, and do whatever the hell you want. You can play the cute little angel and make your owners proud, or annoy the hell out of them every way possible. With tons of ways to frustrate your owners, there's a lot to explore and experiment..and laugh at the result that is the chaos and mayhem you just caused for those poor bastards..
Dropbox link

So yeah, the game is you controlling a house pet (cat, dog or parrot) in a normal, quiet city outskirts/downtown neighborhood where humans live thier everyday life (kinda like they do in Shenmue). Being a pet, you can do whatever you want: be a good little pet, or cause havoc and annoy the hell out of your owners and neighbors. The "point" of the game is to just laugh at the various ways you can annoy people and their reactions.

Title: Raging Streets
Genre: 2D side-scrolling Beat 'em up
Players: 1-4
Similar to/inspired by: Streets of Rage 1/2/3
Description: A Streets or Rage/Bare Knuckle inspired beat 'em up, trying to take what was good in the series to the next level while also fixing its flaws (invisible walls, enemies out of reach when offscreen), plus incorporating a new approach with the controls and new elements/features. The game is less linear as the player(s) has a whole city to explore, choosing any route to the goal through the city (under the time limit), resulting in a big replay value. With a combat system to ensure this game isn't simply mashing the same 1 button over over and over. Lots of moves, weapons, enemies+bosses and places to explore.
Dropbox link

If there's a game I wish could become reality out of my ideas, this would definitely be the one. You control characters in the old school 2D side view, but while in the classic beat 'em ups you could only attack forward and maybe backward, in Raging Streets you can attack in pretty much any direction in a full 360° circle (or at least in an 8-way direction). You can do this by holding down either the 'Punch attack mode' or 'Kick attack mode' (or both for punch + kick combo) button and tap the direction on the D-pad (or analog stick) you want to attack in. Naturally, enemies could attack from any direction as well, so you could end up being surrounded by enemies.
Also, there would be no invisible walls and enemies going out of screen, annoying the hell out of the players (I know it always annoys me as hell). You can decide to just try and run across the stage, but the enemies will follow you, so in the end you'll just end up surrounded by an army of enemies kicking your ass.

[WeirdoSheep]

If I had any programming experience I'd totally make a 4-player Smash Bros-type game. I do have a lot of ideas for a Halloween-themed fighting game with a small-ish roster of characters, and I do know how to model/texture/animate low-poly stuff, and dabble in sound and music (I don't know anything about DC homebrew though, most of it goes over my head). If any programmers want to make a game for me... I would be ha[[y to supply the rest

[WingMantis]

NOTE:

1.Title: Burning Inferno
Genre: lightgun game
Players: 1-2
Similar to/inspired by: House of the Dead, Virtua Cop
Description: an onrail lightgun game with a firefighter theme and an arcade feel (since I don't think that's been done before and I see potential in it).

There was a SEGA arcade game called Brave Firefighters that had light guns disguised as fire hoses. It was one of the few games that ran on the Hikaru system, which was somewhat different than naomi/naomi 2.

I like your idea of having more than just a gun for the game, and more scenarios. Brave Firefighters was very short from what I've read (never seen one in person).