Comments on: Game Idea #13: Oceanopolis http://www.patrickcurry.com/thoughts/game-idea-13-oceanopolis/ A new game idea every week and other ramblings on game design from an upstart game designer. Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:46:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.2 Comment on Game Idea #13: Oceanopolis by: Bunni http://www.patrickcurry.com/thoughts/game-idea-13-oceanopolis/#comment-13225 Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:56:41 +0000 http://www.patrickcurry.com/thoughts/game-idea-13-oceanopolis/#comment-13225 LOVE the idea! ^_^ My little sister, when the game is finished, will be VERY exited to play it when she's older! She is mermaid obsessed. Maybe the game will keep her quiet! ^_^ LOVE the idea! ^_^ My little sister, when the game is finished, will be VERY exited to play it when she’s older! She is mermaid obsessed. Maybe the game will keep her quiet! ^_^

]]> Comment on Game Idea #13: Oceanopolis by: Patrick http://www.patrickcurry.com/thoughts/game-idea-13-oceanopolis/#comment-9595 Sat, 28 Apr 2007 06:32:16 +0000 http://www.patrickcurry.com/thoughts/game-idea-13-oceanopolis/#comment-9595 It's just an idea right now. Maybe some day it will be a real game. :-) It’s just an idea right now. Maybe some day it will be a real game. :-)

]]> Comment on Game Idea #13: Oceanopolis by: joanne http://www.patrickcurry.com/thoughts/game-idea-13-oceanopolis/#comment-9404 Fri, 27 Apr 2007 20:27:33 +0000 http://www.patrickcurry.com/thoughts/game-idea-13-oceanopolis/#comment-9404 hi. i'm 11 years old and i'm interested to find out when people can start playing Oceanopolis and if it's free. it sounds like fun! please e-mail me back! joanne hi. i’m 11 years old and i’m interested to find out when people can start playing Oceanopolis and if it’s free. it sounds like fun! please e-mail me back!

joanne

]]> Comment on Game Idea #13: Oceanopolis by: Patrick http://www.patrickcurry.com/thoughts/game-idea-13-oceanopolis/#comment-88 Wed, 12 Apr 2006 01:35:23 +0000 http://www.patrickcurry.com/thoughts/game-idea-13-oceanopolis/#comment-88 I agree, building a city together with my friends would be really cool. Do any of the SimCity games allow for that already? As for the conflict in the game, I think natural disasters are a good way to go for the city-building parts. But I don't see there being an antagonistic force in the game, like deep-sea fishermen out to get the mermaids. Instead I see the challenges coming from the environment. Some building materials could be so heavy that multiple players have to work together to move them. Or some doors can only be opened when one player holds down a lever, while the other swims inside. Another challenge could be a big mystery, where all the players are working together (in a relatively low-threat environment) to try to solve a big puzzle. The conflict is the puzzle itself, and the challenge is to get everyone to cooperate to try to solve it. Clues could be gathered from all over the city, and perhaps the solution is actually the blue-prints for a very specific type of building… which you then get to (have to) build! Switching gears, I think that using color as an indicator of mood is a fantastic idea. Besides just “I’m happy” or “I’m sad,” you could use them as ways to indicate what kind of interactions you’re looking for. Green could be “I’m looking to race” while pink is “I’m looking for love.” A player off in the distance could immediately communicate to you what kind of “play” they’re looking for, which would make “grouping” much easier. I agree, building a city together with my friends would be really cool. Do any of the SimCity games allow for that already?

As for the conflict in the game, I think natural disasters are a good way to go for the city-building parts. But I don’t see there being an antagonistic force in the game, like deep-sea fishermen out to get the mermaids. Instead I see the challenges coming from the environment. Some building materials could be so heavy that multiple players have to work together to move them. Or some doors can only be opened when one player holds down a lever, while the other swims inside.

Another challenge could be a big mystery, where all the players are working together (in a relatively low-threat environment) to try to solve a big puzzle. The conflict is the puzzle itself, and the challenge is to get everyone to cooperate to try to solve it. Clues could be gathered from all over the city, and perhaps the solution is actually the blue-prints for a very specific type of building… which you then get to (have to) build!

Switching gears, I think that using color as an indicator of mood is a fantastic idea. Besides just “I’m happy” or “I’m sad,” you could use them as ways to indicate what kind of interactions you’re looking for. Green could be “I’m looking to race” while pink is “I’m looking for love.” A player off in the distance could immediately communicate to you what kind of “play” they’re looking for, which would make “grouping” much easier.

]]> Comment on Game Idea #13: Oceanopolis by: Colleen http://www.patrickcurry.com/thoughts/game-idea-13-oceanopolis/#comment-84 Thu, 06 Apr 2006 13:57:04 +0000 http://www.patrickcurry.com/thoughts/game-idea-13-oceanopolis/#comment-84 I just had an idea, just an add on. What if the emotions of the character affect the environment or the textures applied to the character over time. So for example: say player 1 customizes their mermaid gold fish character, now most of the time when the palyer is playing the character, the player choses the character to be sad. In their options they have different emotions to chose from. Now perhaps everytime they log in they are 75% sad in game. Maybe on the 50th time they log in the mermaids scales start turning a different color, or there is a dark mist around them. Similar to in "black and white" where your creature starts to change appearance. Your mood changes your character and how they are viewed to everyone else. ^^ I just had an idea, just an add on. What if the emotions of the character affect the environment or the textures applied to the character over time. So for example: say player 1 customizes their mermaid gold fish character, now most of the time when the palyer is playing the character, the player choses the character to be sad. In their options they have different emotions to chose from. Now perhaps everytime they log in they are 75% sad in game. Maybe on the 50th time they log in the mermaids scales start turning a different color, or there is a dark mist around them.
Similar to in “black and white” where your creature starts to change appearance. Your mood changes your character and how they are viewed to everyone else.
^^

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