Surplus ideas – March 2021

It’s a common refrain in books that I’ve read about creativity that there’s no shortage of good ideas, and that the ideas are nothing without the execution. Another thing that I’ve read is that the more creative ideas that you come up with, the more you start to have. So I’ve decided that it might be useful, both to myself and the readers of this blog, if I try to regularly share the ideas that I’ve had that I expect I’ll never get around to using. Without further ado, here’s the first list!

Now and forever – the album

A double album of music, with one disc (or whatever given CDs have been on their way out for a while) consisting of songs about very specific recent events, and another disc full of songs that deliberately avoid any references that might date them, looking at timeless experiences or questions.

Completely different games that interact somehow 

I’d love it of there was some way that friends that liked different genres of came could play those games in the same world, so their game both affected and was affected by their friends’ play. This sounds like a tricky thing to get to work

Help the hero

A video game where you play a character who has been destined not to be the hero, but to meet the hero at a certain place and time, to provide something crucial to help the hero save the world. In this game you’d win if you got to the designated place on time, but how you help the hero and hence how the hero’s story progresses depends on what you do along the way. There’d be a few specific things that would lead to specific endings, but mostly the end that you got would depend on who you helped out along the way (which of course depends on how you got there) and specifically how you did so. Will the villain be defeated through commerce, violence or the power of friendship? Your actions decide!

Boat game

It seems like I’ve had lots of video game inspired ideas this month. I half expect something like this one to exist though: a game where you run a ship and have to go between port to port, experiencing adventures along the way. I’m imagining something like XCOM where you manage your crew and your ship, but then go to a turn-based thing where you have to keep your ship going in whatever dire circumstances you encounter. It may need to end up having a “mythology” feel to it (particular Ancient Greek – think the Odyssey but with more focus on the boats, or Jason & the Argonauts) to make it not just feel like a trading game.

This one was inspired by the boat that got stuck blocking the Suez Canal. The idea started off as a game about navigating a boat through a channel but then sprung away from there – which is probably a good thing as several games about the Suez Canal situation have already been made.

Give and take

Feel free to take any of these ideas, just let me know if you do! I’m also keen to hear about how you try to develop and share your creativity – tell me in the comments section!