{"id":749,"date":"2012-04-21T11:44:08","date_gmt":"2012-04-21T10:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shadowcovenant.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/21\/the-theme-is-what\/"},"modified":"2012-04-21T11:44:08","modified_gmt":"2012-04-21T10:44:08","slug":"the-theme-is-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/shadowcovenant.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/21\/the-theme-is-what\/","title":{"rendered":"The theme is what?!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Damn, woke about one hour ago and saw the theme\u2026 \u201cTiny World\u201d\u2026 <\/p>\n

Been thinking about an idea for one hour now, and I still have nothing concrete\u2026<\/p>\n

Until now, only two things come to mind:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n
    Generate a procedural world for a side-scroller kind of game, with a very small character\u2026 This is what I feel like programming, but I have no game for this\u2026 Just a guy moving about in a procedurally generated world, in a Metroidvania style\u2026 Doesn\u2019t have anything to do with the theme and it might push my resources a bit too far\u2026<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  2. \n
    A tower defense kind of game: generate a procedural small planet and the player can build stuff on top of it (mines, cannons, power-plants, farms, cities, etc). He has to sustain and evolve the planet, defending it from stuff that comes from space (aliens, meteors, etc).
    The ideia is to do this in 3d, but that has the big problem of spatial perception: the player would be hard pressed to prepare against incoming threats, since they could come from everywhere.
    Going 2d on this idea might be more feasible from a gameplay perspective. Still, I think on this idea and there\u2019s not actually much the player can achieve: he places some stuff around and then waits for an outcome, which sounds pretty boring.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Was hoping that writing this blog post would help come up with something else, but no success there\u2026<\/p>\n

    Hum\u2026 Now for some web-searches on \u201cTiny World\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n

    Bah, no help there too\u2026<\/p>\n

    Ok, let me try a different approach\u2026 just throwing some random ideas and see if any of them can be combined into something cool:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \n
      The world is tiny<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    2. \n
      The character is tiny (breaks the theme, I think)<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    3. \n
      We build the world, having to manage its growth so that it becomes viable for something\u2026<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    4. \n
      We defend a tiny world<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    5. \n
      We fight to conquer a tiny world<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    6. \n
      The world grows\/transforms from your actions<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    7. \n
      Our tiny world is dying, need to find a new one (breaks the theme, I think)<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    8. \n
      Our tiny world is dying, need to fix it (breaks the theme, I think)<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Not many ideas\u2026 Most of my ideas are usually of bigger scope, so tending to \u201chuge world\u201d, more than \u201ctiny\u201d.<\/p>\n

      Can\u2019t shake the feeling that there\u2019s some grid-based small idea of a game that could be built, using the fact that the playing field is small and lending itself to fast playing sessions, but for the life of me, I can\u2019t come up with anything\u2026<\/p>\n

      \u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

      Been brainstorming with my wife for a bit, and an idea came up\u2026 It\u2019s not a \u201cgame idea\u201d, but it gives me a starting point, and maybe a game will evolve from there\u2026<\/p>\n

      I\u2019m going to do a \u201cvoxel\u201d-based construction kit, in which the player can put different color blocks in the world and then there will be some creatures that react in some way to the blocks\u2026<\/p>\n

      But just making the construction kit will take some time, so I\u2019ll start by that\u2026<\/p>\n

      Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Damn, woke about one hour ago and saw the theme\u2026 \u201cTiny World\u201d\u2026 Been thinking about an idea for one hour now, and I still have nothing concrete\u2026 Until now, only two things come to mind: Generate a procedural world for a side-scroller kind of game, with a very small character\u2026 This is what I feel […]<\/p>\n