Nothing to ship - but some enjoyable ideas.
mgrazebrook on 2017/02/25 23:38
of Romance of Ruins
Initially I was torn between two game concepts.
One was a tile-based RPG inspired by the biblical book of Job. It reverses the usual trope. In the Book of Job, Job is wealthy, powerful and virtuous. God allows the devil to heap one misfortune after another on him until he is destitute. In game terms, you play a series of levels involving Job, his assets and community in support and various misfortunes - some dialog-based, others more military. In each level, there are moral choices - most often involving a choice to suffer losses yourself (flocks, family members etc) or for the community to take the loss (e.g. losing unique skills). As the game progresses, you reduce in power and assets. Yet your moral choices affect the support you get from the community such that it's almost impossible to complete without being mostly selfless. I decided that a satisfying game would need too much content - but I'd love to see it written!
The game I went for was a puzzle game of wacky physics. You control one puck which you flick with the mouse. All objects exert gravity. Most tiles have friction but some have negative friction (so things accelerate). Objects gain or lose energy when they collide, depending on their natures. Each level has two exits - a hard one and an easy one. But if you win the easy way, you have a tougher time on the next level.
In the event, I spent too much time fascinated by the many tools and libraries out there and the clever things people have done with them. Too little writing the code. Time well spent none the less.