Concept Check - Game Idea, would you like it?

[hian]

 And even then, only one failure state (hunger) resulted in death and if a Sim died of starvation it was probably something the player did intentionally.

Wrong - they could also be burned to death MWAHAHAHAHAHAH...ehm, sorry about that. Just remembered some good moments from my childhood playing the first sims at a friends house.

 

[Yui]

Yep, I think all of this will work well in a gameplay sense, and will allow you to keep the "overall" (main) narrative similar enough between different paths to be coherent while offering different experiences along the way, if you want to.  The only drawback is that it's a lot of work (though still a lot less than the amount of work that would be required by your original ideas ).

One of my most-played series of all-time, for sure!  But The Sims is not an alternate-life game, it's a simulation game focused on its mechanics, with no pre-defined narrative to tell and (at least in the earlier games) few bigger goals than meeting your characters' immediate needs.  And even then, only one failure state (hunger) resulted in death and if a Sim died of starvation it was probably something the player did intentionally.

-Yep!!! but nothing worthwhile comes without true effort!!! I'm really enjoying how its shaping up!

You have been getting a lot of good feed back so far from people who know much more about these kind of games than I do. However no one seems to have brought up something that has been bothering me since I read your original post.

As creators, we make our creations not randomly, but according to a meaningful vision of the final object we have in mind.

So when I read about a game that flatly concerns itself wholly with- self important solipsistic teens, I cant help but ask: what of it? What aim is this expedient to? What is it trying to convey to me?

Since it is a game you are making consciously, you must know, what good and true, concrete thing you are trying to convey with the entirety of your work. If you do not know this from the outset you are in big trouble, because you are bound to create a directionless mess (in any meaningful sense), and any worth it might have will be merely accidental.

Were you to know what the thesis behind your game is, everything can be designed to fit and convey it. It is as an axis that all things are arranged about, so lets say a silly mini game is made in a way to reinforce the main idea and in turn the mini game is given meaning by participating in said central idea.

Now it should not be said that a game with teenagers in it can not be a good game. But teen-life can not be an end in it self, because most people are teenagers at some point, you don't need to replicate that, unless you have some truth to reveal by using it.

Well I'm not the first person to do this sorta thing by any means, and I know the game will be niche, and I will aim to be niche. As for story and overall themes? "Accept who you are, and be true to yourself" will be the driving plot point, the story will be "Man vs Self" with all the events being symbolic to the character's state of self denial/acceptance.

Ofc the player will have to dig deep to find this, they will be too busy trying to defeat Leon_Lover7716 (random name xD) than trying to analyze the story. But when they take the time too I hope it will connect with their own life, and will help them acknowledge who they really are and grow from it.

Unconventional game has unconventional story

 

[Cinnamon]

Heh, funny enough i had a similar story idea just a few days ago ^^ Though, i actually got inspired by Unraveled (the game) and Sucker Punch (the movie). I didn't figure out anything gameplay-related to far, but a game like this would probably be mainly story-driven, with more or less set paths, each level having a different setting and being a small game on its own. Since it all plays in your imagination, there is a lot of freedom for the game creator.

But since i'm bad a world building and basically anything that requires creativity, it stopped there ^^

Dude, half of my work is inspired by Sucker Punch. That movie is beautiful!!

 

[Kes]

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