My Fetish: Fake Videogame Development

[SweetShark]

Strange isn't.
You know this specific "Making of" you are reading about or seeing some concept arts, are all but dream projects of games which don't exist. But with that said this is why I am VERY excited every time I read something new about these kind of "Dream Games".

One of my favoutite developers are Arne Niklas Jansson and you can see his Dream Games right here:

http://androidarts.com/

He is noticable for the high quality of his writing and ideas he have for the games he want to create. Even if most of the times are remakes of existing games [like Quake, X-Com, Diablo, etc], he always manage to make every single detail he put enjoyable for us, the readers.

So please, go to his site and read some of his Dream Games. You will surprised.

With that said, Do you know other awesome people who have also shared their own Dreams Games with us?

I would love to see more creators like that, even if they don't manage make them a reality.

 

[SweetShark]

Of course, Silent Hills.

Is there a "Making of" like file which explain how the game was at first created or something similar?

EDIT:
Also Silent Hills isn't a fake game. It had a demo at least.

 

[SweetShark]

I do that. This is my dream game that I've been writing off and on for two years:

https://bn43.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/my-game/

But knowing nothing is gonna come of it sometimes demotivates me from working on it for long periods of time.

AH! Thank you for showing me your work!
I will read it and comment for your work or I will ask for some question [if I have any].
Cheers!

 

[Aerosteam]

You remember Super Smash Escapists, right, SweetShark?

 

[SweetShark]

You remember Super Smash Escapists, right, SweetShark?

Heh, yeah, I remember. That was fun as long it last.
Sadly I didn't had a lot of time back then to dedicate more time to this dream project.

BUT

Maybe I should create a mock-up Making-of readable file for Escapist just for the good old times.

 

[CaitSeith]

Now that's a pretty weird concept. Maybe I should share Dream Game myself. I have several ideas I'd love to put in a game, but I can't draw good concepts to save my life.

 

[maninahat]

I do have plenty of ideas I wanted turning in to a game (as a kid I used to draw entire arsenals for none existent FPSs), so maybe I should give this a go.

 

[Gray-Philosophy]

Interesting!

Like Ezekiel, I also do this myself. Although I don't have it saved as a blog for easy sharing unfortunately. I took a peek at Ezekiel's stuff and it looks really awesome so far

Other than that, I only know of a few friends who're making their own dream game ideas. I love the idea of coming up with your own universe and working out interesting mechanics to go with it. It's glorious!

 

[SweetShark]

Snip again, cause memory

Also I complete forgot you also created a similar Thread like mine:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.844328-SUPER-SMASH-ESCAPISTS-Choose-your-Character?page=1

Good times, good times.

 

[SweetShark]

Btw, for the people whoa re interested, Here is a Fake "Making of" for a videogame Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw wanted to make and maybe other developers are interested on it. someday:

http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/noexpne.htm

 

[Mikejames]

I do that. This is my dream game that I've been writing off and on for two years:

https://bn43.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/my-game/

But knowing nothing is gonna come of it sometimes demotivates me from working on it for long periods of time.

Very interesting ideas. I'm picturing Dark Souls done by people at Team Ico.

 

[s_h_a_d_o]

One of the foremost examples I feel, and one that has gone on to inspire actual game development...

@PeterMolydeux [https://twitter.com/PeterMolydeux] -> What would Molydeux? -> MolyJam [http://www.molyjam.com]

 

[Jerast]

When I read the title I thought it was about Star Citizen.

OT: Mine is actually coming out, battlefront 3. I was super psyched about it too. Hopefully will be good!

 

[ommadawnyawn]

Strange isn't.
http://androidarts.com/

He is noticable for the high quality of his writing and ideas he have for the games he want to create. Even if most of the times are remakes of existing games [like Quake, X-Com, Diablo, etc], he always manage to make every single detail he put enjoyable for us, the readers.

I've stumbled upon this site a couple of times before and I like his art and some ideas too, but has anything he's worked on been turned into a game? I don't get why he doesn't just make it happen since it's easier to do than ever nowadays.

Interesting thread idea. I've nothing to contribute right now though.

 

[Trivun]

My favourite dream game is actually my own. It started out as a game idea, that I pitched (and attempted to make) a demo for as part of the Indie Game Jam a couple of years ago - it was, needless to say, a complete disaster and had almost zero resemblance to my vision. Anyhow, the synopsis is in spoilers below. It ended up warping over time into multiple ideas, including a TV pilot, and script, and now I'm hoping to turn it into a series of novels, although I keep on stopping and restarting again with the book (considering I have written a novel-length project before it shouldn't be too difficult, but I keep on altering things in my mind and having to change major elements...). Synopsis of that is also below, if anyone's interested.

Spoiler: Game idea

A group of four friends go to a forest to camp, and one of them is a slightly Gothic girl interested in witchcraft and the supernatural. During the camping trip she discovers her boyfriend has had a one night stand with her best friend, the other girl in the group, and so the goth girl decides to get revenge by having some fun with them - pretending to enact a supernatural ritual that brings harm to her enemies, and then playing a series of tricks on her boyfriend and best friend to make them think it's all real. Instead, she wakes up the morning after in the forest, alone, with the campsite abandoned and the others (and her other male friend) missing. As the goth girl explores the forest, she finds various clues that tell the story of the missing 12 hours, and also suggest that the supernatural may actually be real. A large part of the game revolves around the idea of Dreamscapes - each alternate ending takes place inside a different Dreamscape, which are implied to be mental constructions that help the main character repair the mental damage caused by whatever led to her amnesia and the multiple branches of the story.

The game would have had elements of Dear Esther, and The Path, as something of a walking simulator with items to find that reveal the story in flashbacks. However, there would have also been puzzles in the style of the Myst series that would lead to different endings and different story branches, where each puzzle would have multiple solutions and the solutions would each lead to a different branch of the story. The idea was that alternate stories occurred in alternate realities, and a sequel would have tied together the different stories to show them as all being canon despite being contradictory. The player would be encouraged to play the game through several times, and completing all endings would have unlocked a final chapter as the 'true' ending and tying into the sequel. Otherwise, look to Heavy Rain and the like as some inspiration too .

The book idea is very different, but evolved from the game idea. I challenge anyone to see if they can work out how the evolution came about, particularly as the book idea is a lot more detailed (and pretty much ready to write)...

Spoiler: Book idea

The backstory essentially focuses on an energy field that permeates all of reality, that allows those who are mentally connected to it to use a variety of psychic abilities. The Aether is a pinch of this energy field that became self-aware and broke off as an independent entity, but exists outside the universe and feeds on knowledge itself. When life started to appear in our universe, the Aether sent fragments of its own intelligence to gather knowledge from the universe to feed from. Eventually it decided to grant self-awareness as a gift to one particularly intelligent species, that didn't actually have sentience, as sentience and self-awareness are only possible by having a mental connection to the psychic energy field. As each human is born, Fragments of the Aether attach themselves to a baby's mind in a symbiotic relationship that the human is never aware of, and when the human dies the Fragment returns to the Aether with the knowledge gained. Some Fragments that don't want this and want their own life instead will abandon the Aether, on occasion, and become known as Revenants - in human mythology the Aether and the Revenants become the basis for the ideas of God and angels/demons, though humans aren't aware of the truth. In the past hundred years or so, some humans have been evolving to the point where they don't need a Fragment to gain sentience, as their minds are already connected to the psychic field, thus also giving them psychic abilities that regular humans don't possess - at the same time, a cult of Revenants devoted to the Aether has arisen, although this is split into multiple factions each with their own goals.

The story focuses on Niamh Flannigan, an Irish freelance journalist and photographer living in London, who discovers through various strange events that she is one of these psychics - she comes into contact with a number of Revenants (led by two - Charles Hawthorne, and Faith) who attempt to protect her from a mysterious assassin, Selene, also known as the Harlequin. Niamh also suffers the breakup of her relationship with her boyfriend Robert, when she finds (inadvertently, through her psychic ability) that he's cheated on her with her best friend. Niamh ends up seeking solace with another friend, Claire, who has had a crush on Niamh for as long as she's known her. Working with a Scottish psychologist who has theorised the scientific existence of the psychic field, Niamh and her allies try to combat a direct threat from the Aether's cult and find out why the Harlequin has targeted her. The main action in the story takes place in Dreamscapes, which are essentially the mental conjuration of an individual's mind, and that act as the battlegrounds for psychic combat (imagine Inception for an idea of how the Dreamscapes operate).

 

[ommadawnyawn]

I played around in Unreal Engine 4 a little bit and found it quite daunting. Sure, it's easier than ever before, but unless you're a technical person it's NOT easy. It can be pretty boring, actually. It could take many years and a lot of money to get to the point where you can make the kinds of games you really want to make and you might have to rely on publishers who will make damaging demands and press you for time. Will it be worth it for a game you'll likely play a few times and then grow bored of? I don't know. I don't really like the video game industry.

I haven't but many of the ideas the guy has can be done in 2D via game maker studio or unity, and at least the sooner is relatively easy to work with, with a lot of tutorials and even solid, ready-made engines for some genres like platformers that can be built on.

"Will it be worth it for a game you'll likely play a few times and then grow bored of?"
Having made one game you have a basis and most of the knowledge to make another, hopefully better one in less time, or you can not see the one you made as a static work and just keep adding to it based on feedback, with patches or new episodes. Don't give up so easily, man

 

[SweetShark]

I do that. This is my dream game that I've been writing off and on for two years:

https://bn43.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/my-game/

But knowing nothing is gonna come of it sometimes demotivates me from working on it for long periods of time.

AH! Thank you for showing me your work!
I will read it and comment for your work or I will ask for some question [if I have any].
Cheers!

I'd appreciate that, although it's really quite specific to my tastes, so I'm not sure how you'll feel about it.

I just read your Post about your game and it is interesting.
Like another user said already, it seems like you took heavily from Demon/Dark Souls game merchanics.
I love also the realistic approach when someone receive damage to different body areas.
But I will admit I am a little sceptical about the sleep part of the game. It sound indeed the need to make your character to rest so it can health and repear her armor, but I am very sure many players would want to play more hours than the game suggest.
Also what kind of variety of enemies you dream to have? From what I read it seems they will be only the possessed humans and demons.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Do you know other awesome people who have also shared their own Dreams Games with us?

That sounds like a very niche thing to specifically dedicate creative energy to. We all do it in our heads sometimes, but I'll be hard pressed to find people who actually create anything about it.

On that note, when I was in New Zealand in 2008, I came up with a game concept inspired by the Maori painting style and wood carvings. It was a first-person survival horror/lite RPG (think Condemned) where you shipwreck on an island and try to discover its mysteries. The wreck of the ship would serve as the hub, where you'd gather resources and build shelter with the other survivors, while the other areas of the island would offer exploration and the meat of the game. Kind of a mix between Condemned, Far Cry and Elder Scrolls. I thought it was kinda cool, at the time at least. The Polynesian aesthetic and setting are criminally underused, and would lend itself excellently to various bizarre scenarios.