Voracious Gardener

Trying to think about 2D games that would be possible with the Game Maker engine and that would have some unique gameplay. Something about trying that and playing the Legacy of Kain games made me feel like game mechanics are such a small selection of the possibilities.

Voracious Gardener is an attempt to turn platformer style gaming on its head. First, there would be few if any enemies to encounter. Second, levels would be designed for both horizontal and vertical progress. Third, you would return to each part of the level many times over. Finally, there would be a number of puzzles to solve in different ways. The mechanics would essentially be finding and collecting seeds, watering your plants, digging up roots, collecting more seeds when plants bloom, and using their special properties to move your way through the level. There might also be animals that could help you, or have secrets etc. Much of this would be based on level designs.

Never Forget: Elephant Simulator

Thinking about games with emotional mechanics, this came to me as an interesting way of distancing the player from the personal interaction and dialogue that might be particularly difficult. An elephant simulator!

Never Forget is a game designed to highlight some aspects of time, memory, and memorialization. It is a slow-paced game where the player controls and interacts with a herd of elephants as they live their lives. Four elements make up the crux of the thematic and design elements: 1) The basic life-cycle of the elephants which includes: feeding, drinking, traveling, excretion, sex, birth, nurturing, predation and death. 2) The emotional interactions between the elephants and with their environment. 3) A puzzle solving engine reminiscent of old item based adventure games. 4) A post-apocalyptic world. The core goal of the game is the creation of meaning by the player through acts of memorialization of the dead. These acts have a game-play value as well as an emotional one – serving as some kind of beacon.