I was rather excited when Developer for a Day was announced. I'd had an idea for a game (or more specifically, a set of game mechanics) for a while, and I thought this was a great opportunity to present it. I got several pages in, and then it was hard going. Game systems can play out well in your head, but sometimes getting the idea across on paper is a lot harder. What was more difficult is that the game systems had to exist in an actual game, with characters, a story, and a reason to use said game mechanics. I got a bit stuck, had another idea, worked on a bit, but didn't finish it. I could have, but just didn't apply myself. So I thought I would share those ideas, and a few others.

Action RPG mechanic
Yes, that's a pretty generic title, but the game never had a name. My mechanic was a different take on magic systems, and types of spells. While traditional attack spells and melee attacks would exist in the game, I wanted the focus to be on summoning monsters to attack alongside you. The catch was that the monsters would cost a little mana to cast, but also drain mana for as long as they remain by your side. Do you summon 4 lesser monsters, or 1 large monster? Do you summon monsters that drain your mana at the same pace as it regenerates, or summon more powerful monsters and hope the battle finishes before you run out of mana?

The role-playing element would come into play with your standard level up, which increases the amount your mana regenerates, thus allowing you to summon more monsters or larger monsters that you would learn throughout the game. The spells themselves would also have a level-up system similar to what was in Baldur's Gate 2 : Dark Alliance. When you levelled up, you would earn points that could be used to improve your monster spells, such as making them stronger, drain less mana, and learn new attacks.

Which brings me to the third part of the equation. Monsters can be set to have different behaviours. Monsters can guard you and not leave your side, can be aggressive and hunt down enemies, or other monster-specific abilities. For example, an Imp that had a 'run and gun' tactic, where it would whiz past enemies with a light attack, but would also be hard for enemies to hit or chase, and a Phoenix that had an 'explosion' attack, where it would, well, explode. Those were the core elements that I was excited about, but once I started writing the document, I had a hard time actually putting it into a game, and making a story and mission progress mesh was the hard part. I could do it, but I would need more time than I had.

Dual-Stick Unreal Tournament
Not actual Unreal Tournament made into a top-down dual stick shooter, but that was certainly my inspiration. We've seen plenty of Dual-Stick shooters. Most of them are of the more arcade variety, where enemies appear, and you take a billion of them down, whether in an enclosed space like Geometry Wars, or a scrolling shooter like Assault Heroes. Undertow is the only dual-stick shooter I can think of that adopted one of the standard modes of Unreal Tournament (Domination).

My game applied most of the team modes of Unreal Tournament (team deathmatch, Capture the Flag), in a league setting. But you also had to manage your team. AI players that you hire would have different attributes, such as speed, accuracy and health; the match type might affect your choices. For example, you may choose the fastest player to be a flag runner for CTF matches. You would also be sponsored by different companies. The level of sponsorship dictates how much money you have to spend before each match. At the beginning of each round, you get to buy weapons and equipment for your team. As well as traditional weapons and armour, you can also buy placements, which are placed before a round begins; turrets, health pods, ammo dispensers, and the like. Of course, these can be destroyed by the enemy.

While you control the team captain on the battlefield, you can also control your AI teammates, and assign them behaviours (my theory for controls was having a corresponding face button for each teammate and using a radial menu). For example, the aforementioned fast player could be assigned CTF duty, a couple of other players can be set to follow him to protect him, while the rest stick to defending the flag.

All the rest of the ideas are fairly standard. Plenty of multiplayer modes, drop in/drop out co-op, and boss-type fights to advance to the next grade in the league are a couple of other features. I think this could make for a great XBLA or PSN game.

Resident Evil 4 Multiplayer
Yeah, this is a mode rather than a game, but I knew I wouldn't have it in me to design something that wasn't an exact rip-off. All I want is Resident Evil 4 controls, enemies, and atmosphere, and give it co-op multiplayer. A few additional tweaks could keep the same tension. Players would need to be able to share weapons and ammo, and weapon placement would have to be designed in such a way that throwing them to other players becomes a must. Level design would of course be tantamount to the success of such a endeavour.

Vampires Take Over The World!
I have no idea what genre this game would be. I think it would be interesting storywise to be the head of the vampires, bent on building up an army and taking back the Earth. Real-time strategy? I don't know. Not sure what you would do for vampire units, I guess you would have to introduce your own mythology so that you have more options for units. Turn-based strategy RPG? Maybe. Perhaps it could take place in the near future where vampires have already ravaged many cities, and now the resistance is fighting back. You can take control of a particular pack of vampires that go from city to city to 'clean up'. This would allow for character development, which would be lacking in an RTS. Not sure what other genres would really fit.

Hoverboard Racing/Combat
I've had this in mind ever since the Wii's Balance Board was announced. I want to be on a hoverboard in F-Zero sty1e going around a futuristic race track. I want to collect weapons, use my nuchuck to free-look, and my remote to aim those weapons at other racers. Some sort of grapple system that lets you swing faster around corners would also be awesome. Developers, please make this game happen.

So, do you have any ideas for games? Soph obviously does; congrats on the Developer 4 a Day finals, I guess we will hear about your game soon! And raven has shared an idea or two. I've got a couple of other ideas in mind, but maybe if I actually work on them, I might have one of them finished for next years Developer For a Day!