Followup Post: Game Designs

Ok, time to put some meat on this blog - can't in good conscience just post youtube videos and say they're neat. Let's make games out of these.

First off: VR Window

The guy asked for them, so here's the game designs.

#1) 3D Pong
I think we've all played 3D Pong, and can agree that it is way too dang hard. I'm going to say that's because of a strange disassociation between the cursor and your face, and if the camera were moving along with how you faced the hither plane, it'd be a lot easier to play. Maybe even more fun.

Basically make this exact same game except for two changes. One, use the VR camera so that lining up the shot is essentially just standing in a position that makes the ball look like it's coming straight at you. Two, you've got both hands free, so manage the curving of the ball not by how fast your face is moving, but by how you're orienting a second controller in your hands. Bonus changes 3 and 4: it's 3D now, not flash, so throw in some particles to make it prettier, and make it multiplayer. Seriously.

Aaaandd everyone in this world is a clone. Just to spice things up a bit. Make it a bit less formulaic. A bit more... unreal.

#2) Ikaruga Clone (snicker)
I'm laughing because Ikaruga is a clone of R-Type maybe, which is a clone of 1942 I guess, which is a clone of something else which itself was based on centipede, probably. They're all the same game just with different color palettes and sprites. Anyway, with this head-tracking thing, I can't think of a good reason not to make it 3-D and have them coming down a big rectangular tube at you. Maybe because it's just too weird, and would probably give you vertigo. (But if we're worried about vertigo, we're probably not going to let you stare into a bottomless TV screen that follows you around.)

You can only shoot forwards, and you move on the x,y plane by moving your face around in a manner that is probably bad for your meninges. Different powerups change your attacks, making theme wider, conical, laser/long-range, explosive, slightly seeking, whatever. There. Easiest game design ever.

Also, you play a fighter-pilot who happens to be a racoon. Wait, no, that's been done, make him a skunk. A skunk who's really a good guy, but fell in with the wrong crowd.

#3) Operation
Can I get sued for this? I want to put the operation guy in the tv, put the TV on the ground, and play operation with little virtual tweezers that are controlled by... my face? No. Too vaguely cannibalistic. Maybe by a second wiimote that I point at the screen. Sure, why not. The face thing is

Just though of a way to make it more copyrightably-correct. Make it a rubber-looking doll with big black eyes and call it Alien Autopsy. Hmm, that's taken? Damn. I guess we'll have to go with Trying to Fix the Family Dog and call it a day. Too scary? Hey, it's not my fault all the wholesome ideas are copyrighted.

#4) Yoga Game
This one's a little off-topic, but you basically put flashlights on your head and hands, and you have to move the two that are turned on into the right place, 3-dimensionally speaking. The trick is that your eyes are closed, and you have to navigate by ear.

So the Wii lights up two of the lights, and then plays two discordant chords, based on how far away from the ideal positions you are. You figure out which lights are lit and then move the lights into the right spots until the chords are right, and then hold it as long as you can.

Awesome, right? Well the music builds as you get into position, and then holding it causes it to build even more, so even as you're getting completely tired and want to die, the sound is more beautiful and complex, to take your mind off of it.
Two weeks later, you have mastered yoga.

Next up: dolphin bubble games.