Game ideas

So, we have had a good chat, and my son and I have whittled it down to these ideas:

1) Mario type game - this is something that excites him. He described it as Mario, but I think it'll be more like a Jet Set Willy/Manic Miner type game with Mario elements. He wants the character to be able to jump through platforms. For there to be a time limit. To collect coins and for there to be hazards and "monsters". I think we can borrow ideas from Mario (monsters can be killed by jumping on them as in SMB) and I think they should respawn (a bit like the turtles in the original "Mario Brothers".) It's a nice simple engine to write, the physics are pretty simple and it's a good starter project.

2) Zelda/Gauntlet type game. This one will have zombies in it and will involve the character traversing some kind of "world". More Zelda 1. The details are a bit sketchy past that, except that the played must have a "big sword" and the zombies must splat.

3) Stronny's day out. This game is based around our cat Astra aka "Stronny" (which came about over years of word play by my wife and I and various children misinterpreting her name Astra -> Astron -> Stron -> Stronny -> Jonny). She goes out every morning and returns at around 7pm. No one knows what she does, but the kids are convinced she plays in a stream just out back of our house. The game is basically a one screener where you control the cat. She can climb into the stream (it's a trickle most of the time) and up on the bank. You'll score by catching mice, rats and fish. Every now and again the stream will flood with a tidal wave, which she must dodge and our dog Zara (who loves the cat, would happily chase her all day long) will escape and chase her about the setting. It's a simple one screener.

4) I have an idea for a parody game, which will be a big ongoing project. It involves actual properties, so will never be formally released (past being sent to the author of whose work it will parody.) It'll be a little tongue in cheek and I hope it will be pretty cool. This one will involve actual worlds, scrolling levels and more complex effects and music. I'll design an engine I'll then re-use in other games of a similar type.

I'm planning to use Flash to write most of this. It's simple to start, there are some good free tools and basic engines too.