Striking at the Heart of Ball Rolling

Our group decided last week to continue building on the ball rolling idea foundation from the post-it note exercise.

The proposed game would be contructed around simple and intuitive controls. For one iteration, the mechanics would revolve around using a touch screen device. Another would use gyroscope physics to move the ball around a maze-like arena. At its simplest, the game is about rolling a ball from a starting point to an ending point. How it gets there, and for what story-based purpose is where the focus is.

Idea #1 Touch-Based Tactical Espionage

In this idea, the game revolves around a turn-based sneaking theme. Your character is inside a large ball-shaped vehicle, attempting to escape incarceration while saving his or her comrades. You have broken out of your cell, obtained the vehicle and now must make it from cell to cell, rescuing your comrades before escaping. All without being caught. If a guard is encountered, the mission is bust, as they have vehicles that prevent sphere-based trampling, and weapons to boot.  A game level is laid out as a grid, to give specific movement spaces per turn. Only a few tiles from your position will be visible, and guards are everywhere. Each turn, you will be able to move a few spaces, enter a touch-screen mini-game to pick the cell locks. A successful rescue will result in an extra move turn. The guards also move, by random computer calculation within the space limit established by pre-level explanation. Many allies will be placed in very risky parts of the board, making their rescue optional. If you choose to brave the toughest parts of the level, you are rewarded by adding to the level's completion rank, and offering individual perks.

Ally Perks:

2x Move: Double extra move turn which makes the move towards the goal much shorter, though also a little riskier
Nightvision: Converts stage to black and green for a few seconds, revealing current guard locations. Note, best used before moving during a turn
Cloak: Renders you temporarily invisible, allowing you to bypass one guard
Invisibility: Renders you temporarily invisible, allowing you to bypass three guards
Assassin: Allows you to remove one guard from the stage, only usable after encountering a guard. Plays a comical scream for sensory satisfaction.
Second Chance: Allows you to survive one encounter with each guard. Sets you back a few spaces and returns guard to his or her starting point.

Idea #2 The Pen is Mightier Idea

In this Idea, you are responsible for herding a serious of orb-shaped objects into an enclosure. The idea has not been fully fleshed out for theming, so the nature of in game objects is still TBD. At any rate, the game will utilize a touch screen to move the character around in a small arena.

Gameplay (As proposed so far)

Touch screen controls to move the spheres into an enclosure
Enemies Launch spheres at player constantly during a level
Level objective revolves around hording spheres to achieve some them-based objective

Idea #3 Post Zombie Apocolypse Bowling!

You are the only survivor of the Zombie Apocolypse. Unfortunately, you have no one else to share your remaining life with. You have grown very bored with life lately. Suddenly, you discover an area where thousands of zombies have gotten trapped in craters from explosives. Being that you harbor ill-will for zombies killing everyone you ever cared about, you decide to kill them all. Normally, this would be through various accepted weapons. You have decided to have fun with it, by bowling. You will use the gyroscope in your tablet or smart phone to make small adjustments to the trajectory. You get points and rewards depending on how many of the present zombies you crush.

Gameplay and Rewards:

Normal bowling rewards will exist, strikes spares etc
Not all zombies are created (or mutated) equal - special zombies yield medals
The game will allow for competitive multiplayer
If you get a strike, you get a powerup from the following list:
Instant Kill: Level current zombie counter for 5 points
Quick Ball: Momentum has doubled resulting in the ball hitting more precisely (double points for round)
Slow Ball: Momentum is halved allowing for greater control (normal points)
Gutter Bumper: No scratches
Straight Shot Bomb Ball: Explodes on impact, remaining zombies gather around debris, eating the remains of their fallen comrade
Visuals will be cartoony and surrealistic