Blocky is an arcade game based on block-breaking games, though in a 3D world. The game is much more dynamic than these typical ones however, firstly the 'blocks' that need to be broken come in many different shapes, and will often move and attack the player by firing balls similar to that of the player.

These 'enemy blocks' also have a health value, which is shown by portions of the block breaking off. This allows some blocks to have a regenerative effect which activates after a period of time, creating a need for the player to hit the same brick in quick succession.

The 3D world would create great difficulty in aiming for the player, so the ball may be controlled through a magnet style effect. The player in fact has access to another ball of a different type. This ball attracts the other ball, and is attracted to the player, thus it may be fired to 'curve' the first ball.

Different levels in the game introduce different enemies, and upgrades for the player.


Image retrieved 14/08/2016 from http://www.caiman.us/scripts/fw/f285.html

More submissions by jackwilson for MDS GDV110 - 'One Game a Day' Assignment

Cat Breeder' is a puzzle game in which the player is a animal enthusiast who particularly likes cats. The player runs a cat breeding store that customers will go to to 'order' a particular cat which combines traits from various cat breeds. This is over a long term period, so the optimal strategy for the game will involve creating intermediate cat breeds that can be used to satisfy more than one customer.

The player starts with a few cats of various simple breeds, and is able to breed particular pairs of cats to produce offspring. Charts showing the various qualities of individual cats are shown, so that the player can breed with knowledge.

The game does not have levels, but is procedurally generated, and an unlimited number of customer orders can be placed. Similar to Schedule, these are shown in a list to the left hand side of the screen. Each order has a chart with the desired qualities, and the player may specify a price which an AI will accept/reject. Orders do not have a time frame, but satisfying them particularly early can yield a bonus in income.

A shop is also available, from which the player may buy various cats which may have qualities that the player does not currently have access to.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IngfMIlyi8A/Ub7WQlCEtlI/AAAAAAAAAGg/Y5EqiEMeDd8/s1600/color_graphic-06.jpg

Image retrieved 5/09/2016 from http://catscutes.blogspot.co.nz/2016/03/cat-breed-poster.html

'Schedule' is a puzzle game in which you play a secretary in a large technology company. The secretary's job is to manage meetings for the executives.

The gameplay is to schedule meetings proposed by various executives so that every relevant person is able to attend. The player is presented with a screen showing a list of daily calendars for each executive in the company, and to the left a stack which proposed meetings are added to. When the player clicks on a proposed meeting, all of the included people are sorted to the top of the list, and the player may click and drag to set up a day for the meeting. If the player is unable to schedule a meeting to include all parties, then they lose one of three maximum failures.

Upon reaching the maximum failure count, the player loses. As the level progresses, more meetings are added, once all are finished the level ends. Each level increases the number of meetings, people involved, and reduces the maximum failure number.

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/images/i/000/002/125/original/busy-secretary.jpg?1334860445

Image retrieved 4/09/2016 from http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2387-secretary-office-role.html

'Shady' is a (I don't know the genre!) game, in which the player is a grown man who is walking on various streets in a medium-sized town. This man has somewhat of a paranoia however, and any person he sees appears extremely dodgy. This may be a person who looks like they're brandishing a knife, someone with a hood approaching behind them, or even a group of drunk teenagers.

The objective of the player is to reach their destination without being seen or approached by any of these strangers. The player may hide behind trees in their path, act like a mate/friend/bro, simply run away or even hide in a bush! A certain coloured light is emitted from the strangers, which is put in shadow by any objects that can stop the player from being seen - this is how the player knows where they can hide.

If the player loses the level, in that they are approached or 'detected' by a stranger, their paranoia and various '-isms' are revealed as what they thought was a shady-looking person is revealed to be something completely harmless and normal.


Image retrieved 3/09/2016 from http://natalialefay.deviantart.com/art/Stranger-in-dark-alley-201255967

'Pizza Tycoon' is a tycoon/strategy game in which the player is the son of an italian pizza enthusiast, and decides to start his own pizza business. There as two aspects to the game: The creation of the pizzas, and their delivery.

Played in the first person, the game opens to the first level in the restaurant. The player is in the kitchen waiting for orders, which will randomly appear in short intervals. These pizza orders have a timer on them, and if the customer does not receive their order in that time, the player loses points. If points reach zero, the player loses. If the player completes all the orders in the level without losing all of their points, the win.

Some of the orders are delivery orders, which in addition to being cooked, must be of course delivered to the customer. The player has a motorbike which they can drive to the customer's house to complete this.

The player must juggle cooking the pizzas, and delivering them to be successful. As levels progress, the player is able to buy delivery workers who can be assigned to deliver individual pizzas - though they are not able to do all of them until very high levels.


Image retrieved 2/09/2016 from http://www.arabianbusiness.com/ronda-locatelli-named-top-italian-restaurant-in-mideast-410811.html#.V8ksSIZ94uU

'Rat Keeper' is an action/arcade game in which the player is a crazed old man who keeps hundreds of rats in his house as pets. This house however is very large and full of hundreds of delicate artifacts, china and books.

Rat Keeper is a game about both preventing these rats from destroying the house and its contents, and also about growing fond of some of the rats. The primary mechanic is walking around the house and gently whacking rats doing mischievous things with a broom. Sometimes the player will need to do this multiple times to fully deter the rats.

The secondary mechanic is in fact playing with the rats (after all they are the player's pets!). They will sometimes fetch objects the player throws, like small bouncy balls. Other things they may do is dance to music, or eat cheese. The player can also dress up and name rats, which can then be seen around the house.


Image retrieved 1/09/2016 from http://kgov.com/gallery/religions/hinduism/hinduism.html

'Game where you stay up all night' is a first-person arcade game in which you play a ultra-hardcore gamer who will even stay up all night playing (not really that hardcore!). The player must attempt to last the full 12 hours of night from 6pm to 6am.

The main game is in fact various simple versions of Pong, PacMan or Breakout games, though with a 'meta' element. Each level is comprised of multiple of these simple games over the course of the night.

When the player begins each game, the controls and rules will be explained to the player, and the player must simply survive in the game, as they cannot pause it. The catch to these simple games is that the virtual gamer may begin to fall asleep and this may affect their ability to play the 'sub-games'. Specifically, sometimes the screen may dim and become difficult to see, sometimes a random key may become pressed for a certain period. The player must work around these in order to succeed at the 'sub-games.


Image retrieved 31/08/2016 from http://www.hipforums.com/forum/topic/461509-lets-post-funny-things-that-white-people-do/

'Extraterrestrial' is a mobile puzzle game inspired by the search for extraterrestrial beings. In the game the player plays as a scientist who monitors radio and other types of signals from outer space.

When the game begins, the user is presented with various 'normal' signals, that they must interpret and recognise as normal. These may be in the form of mathematical patterns/sequences, colours, or even sounds. These are all displayed in the game on a virtual screen within a scientific lab.

An example may be the sequence: ..1 2 3 2 1 2 3 2 1 >> 3 2 3 << 1 2 3 2 1…, which has a marked discrepancy in the centre.

Occasionally during the game, this pattern will change subtly however, and this is an opportunity for the player to try to detect extraterrestrials. The player presses a button titled "DETECT", and the monitor will pause. The player can then verify their suspicions, and if an intended alien transmission, a cutscene will show with interesting graphics about the aliens, to reward the player.


Image retrieved 30/08/2016 from http://www.universetoday.com/105532/novel-strategy-may-help-target-extraterrestrial-intelligent-life/

'Routine' is a puzzle game about optimisation. In the game, players are presented with a variety of different scenarios representing aspects of the life of many different people. These scenarios may include: a lawyer just arriving at work until they are at their desk working or a teenager waking up and getting ready for school.

The game opens straight into the first scenario, and the player takes control in a first person style using the mouse and WASD keys. An initial two tasks are presented in a list to the right hand side of the screen, for instance 'brush teeth' or 'comb hair' - these are not in any order however. As the player completes these tasks, random new ones are added. The player's goal is to complete all tasks before a timer runs out.

This timer is very strict for each level, and the player should not be able to complete it first try, unless they have previously played. Once the timer runs out the level restarts after a short period. The player should remember tasks from their last attempt, and optimise a route in order to reach the timer.


Image retrieved 29/08/2016 from http://www.123rf.com/clipart-vector/morning_routine.html?mediapopup=39549259

Social simulator is a puzzle/role playing game in which the player is a social engineering criminal who tries to manipulate people to their advantage.

Social simulator is open world and similarly to The Sims games, the player has various wants and long term desires. The players goal is to fulfil these.

In order to accomplish this, the player must go around the world to places relevant to their desires, and essentially convince people to say, let them into restricted areas, or give them free plane tickets. This is mostly done through RPG-style dialogue options, whether in person or over a phone.

Each dialogue option represents a persuasion level, some negative, some neutral, and some positive. The person being talked to has an internal bar, which once reaching its maximum will allow the player to subtly make requests which will be accepted.

Over time the players wants become more complex, and achieving them more difficult. If at any point the player fails drastically and is caught by the police, they can revert to an save point.

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTdqX6guVTrZNzk1xDneA7LdWIx3iXkREXMOhXQJhaRSu0woWVxgrqNy6Ws

Image retrieved 28/08/2016 from https://blog.malwarebytes.com/101/2013/06/patching...


'Diagnosis' is a puzzle game played on the PC, in which the player is a medical doctor in a popular hospital clinic. They must correctly diagnose patients and prescribe treatments. The catch is that the player only 5 minutes of in-game time, corresponding to 1 minute of real life time to do so. Each day at the clinic represents a level of the game, the player is given approximately 10 patients per level.

When diagnosing, the player has access to reported symptoms by the player, medical history, and a simplified 'dictionary' of illnesses. When prescribing treatments the player must ensure that it will not trigger any allergies or have a negative effect due to an aspect of the patient's history.

Each level increases the difficulty of each illness, and the number of possible complexities when prescribing treatments. At the end of each level, the player is given points corresponding to how many patients were treated well. These points can be invested in a skill-tree-like progression of new medicines and other treatments, which can be advantageous in future levels.


Image retrieved 27/08/2016 from http://mygenesismedical.com/

'Wine music' is a music/puzzle game played on PC or mobile in which the player must match a melody of a song in their music library or otherwise using only filled wine glasses.

Similar to Serenaders, the player can first select their music library or an online playlist so that the game can access a random song that they player will know, otherwise the game will choose a song randomly.

Secondly, the game will show the player a number of wine glasses equal to the number of notes in a melody selected from the song. The player's goal is to fill the wine glasses so that, in order, each glass when tapped with a small metal rod produces the notes of the melody.

To fill the glasses the player can click or tap above each one and hold. To test the note of a glass the player can simply click or tap on it. The player may press a button on the screen to play each wine glass in order, if it matches the melody then the player has won the level.


Image retrieved 26/08/2016 from http://incrediblethings.com/home/turn-wine-into-music/

'Bumper paddleboarding' is a multiplayer arcade/action game played in VR in which the player is inside an amusement park grounds including a shallow wavy pool about the size of a traditional bumper car 'arena'. The player controls a paddleboard on the water, a surfboard-sized board that is stood on and propelled by a single-ended paddle.

An additional Wii-fit style board is required, which tracks the player's balance within the game. The player's goal is to bump as many other players as possible within a time period, each bump yielding 10 points. If the player hits them hard enough, it is near impossible for them to keep their balance, and may fall off their board, yielding 50 points.

While the player is trying to bump other players, there are waves which can cause the player to lose balance - occasionally particular big ones which are preceded by a siren sound.

Each round lasts 2-3 minutes, and upon completion players are shown a scoreboard which shows a total of each player's score earned.


Image retrieved 25/08/2016 from http://www.supradioshow.com/2012/11/st/

'Don't step in the light' is a first person shooter inspired by Superhot, in which the player controls a person with a special device which uses energy captured from light to control time in an area around it. The effect of this device is that time moves slowly in the dark, and quickly in the light - of course interpolated in-between. Unlike superhot, this is not dependant on where the player is, but simply on the light level in each location - as such, enemies in the light will move quickly regardless of where the player is.

The player's weapon is a laser that travels well below the speed of light. Their objective is to reach the end door of the level. In their path however, are both dark and light areas. When crossing dark areas, the player needs to be especially careful if there are any enemies in the light, as they are far less able to react quickly to them. On the other hand, the player has an advantage over enemies in the dark.


Image retrieved 24/08/2016 from https://www.cryengine.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=309&t=99981

'Serenaders' is a music/puzzle game in which the player must identify a song from their music library. Once the game loads, the player is prompted to select a folder containing their music library or some form of online playlist. The game will select a random song, and it will play a snippet of around 20-30s to the player, with no lyrics. The catch is that the song is being played by a terrible acoustic band with members from various countries foreign to the player.

During or after the snippet of the song, the player is given the ability to search their music library to attempt to find the matching song. Once clicking on one, if correct the player gains a point, if incorrect they are shown the correct match, and do not gain a point. This then simply loops until the player decides to quit.

Leaderboards for various online playlists are available, to encourage competition. This game both promotes musical ability, and knowledge of the names of songs in one's own library.


Image retrieved 23/08/2016 from http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-365426201/stock-photo-stylish-acoustic-band-of-young-men-playing-and-singing-on-a-stage.html

'How to eat a four course meal' is a puzzle game, in which the player is at a restaurant that is trying too hard to be classy. The restaurant only serves four course dinners, though every course can be as big as the size of a main meal! The player must try to eat such that after the conclusion of the fourth course, their 'hunger meter' is almost perfectly full - not too far over or under. Additionally, the player needs to be careful to appease the server by eating enough of each part of the meal - so that the server does not think you disliked any part.

The gameplay flow is course by course. During each, the player can point-and-click on the meal to eat parts, though this is not section by section. For instance, if the player clicks on a brocolli, only some of it would be eaten - not all. Each click would fill up the player's hunger meter by an amount depending on the type of food (meat > fruit for example). After each course, the server will return to collect the dishes - if they are dissatisfied, they will comically break down and question the player on why they did not like it - and the player has lost.


Image retrieved 22/08/2016 from http://www.countryliving.com/food-drinks/g637/thanksgiving-menus/

'Find the Internet' is a puzzle/action game played on the PC, in which the player is a tourist stuck on a tropical island who is in desperate need of WiFi to catch up on their emails and twitter feed!

Of course, the island lacks an effective WiFi system, and only in a few certain areas of the island will it actually work. The goal of the player is to find and get to these areas by walking around the island with a laptop using simple WASD and mouse controls.

The UI is diegetic, where the player's character is holding a laptop with a WiFi signal meter - like the cellular signal level on a mobile phone.


While the player is navigating the island however, they are constantly being interfered with by staff and other visitors on the island. Sometimes staff will ask questions to the player, such as, "Hello! Will you be coming on the snorkeling trip this afternoon?" or, "Jack! I am here to take your dinner order!" Other times the player will need to dodge a flying volleyball or protect their laptop from a splash caused by an inconsiderate tourist jumping into the swimming pool by sprinting with the shift key.


Image retrieved 21/8/2016 from http://www.mikealbano.com/2014/08/optimized-roaming-rssi-low-check-rx-sop.html

'Luggage Simulator' is a PC virtual reality game in which the player must find their luggage on the conveyor belts after going on an overseas vacation with their family and friends. The primary game mechanic is lifting suitcases or other luggage items using touch controllers such as those of the Vive. These items can then be placed on a trolley after moving a distance in the game world.

As the player is trying to do this however, other passengers will get in their way. The player can move around them, or push through them. However, they should be careful as if pushing too violently through a passenger, they may attack, and the player cannot retaliate.

The win condition of the game is to retrieve all the items taken on vacation within a time period (before the bus home leaves)! As such the player cannot simply take their time and wait for the conveyor belt to rotate more than once before picking up an item.

Levels simply increase the difficulty by placing items on different belts a certain distance apart, decreasing the accessible area of the belt, adding more people in the player's way, or just increasing the amount of luggage.Image retrieved 14/08/2016 from http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/passengers-at-airport-carousel.html

'Don't drop the phone!' is a mobile game where the player must protect their face from the wrath of the falling smartphone. This game is set in a bedroom where the player's virtual character is lying on the bed holding their smartphone above their face. The player must balance the virtual phone to ensure that it does not fall onto their face. However, while the player is balancing the phone, funny videos and 'memes' will be shown to attempt to distract them.

The current balance of the phone is shown to the player via the skew of the virtual screen, and a small tint to red of one side. The player should tap different sides of the screen as the phone becomes unbalanced to 'push' it back into balance. This must be done quite quickly, or else the phone may lose balance to an unrecoverable extent!

'Don't drop the phone!' also is an attempt to cause people to drop their actual phones on their face, as the act of tapping the screen with either thumb may cause people to lose grip!

Image retrieved 10/08/2016 from http://cuntuh-kentay.tumblr.com/post/21201505852/every-day-almost

Action minigolf is an action/sports game played on PC or console. Essentially, action mini golf is a large-scale extreme version of regular mini golf, this is done in various ways. Firstly, the literal scale of the course is increased. The ball becomes around a quarter of the size of a person, and the course is scaled as such. Secondly, the player must drive around the course in a car that gets progressively crazier over the course of the game, starting as a regular golf car.

In contrast to regular mini golf, hitting balls into the air to avoid track is encouraged, though each hole is farther away to compensate for this. To fit with the arcade nature of these mechanics, a guide which shows where the ball would travel if the player hit it at a certain instant is shown, this allows the player to make a drive-by, and time exactly when they should hit the ball.

Normal mini golf scoring is found, so players cannot go too crazy as they play (hitting the ball with the car counts as a hit)! Controls are standard: WASD to move, left mouse to swing the bat.

Image retrieved 8/08/2016 from http://www.vitense.com/

Polar Bear Jump is a mobile arcade game, set in the Arctic circle in the near future. The player controls a polar bear whose habitat is melting due to climate change. The player is left in a large area of tiny floating ice sheets, that he must jump between to get to safety on the 'mainland'.

The player's jumping is the core mechanic of the game: the player must aim by touching the screen in a certain direction from the player, and then hold down to choose a jumping velocity. Using this they can jump to other nearby ice sheets.

As the player jumps between sheets, those that the player stands on start to melt rapidly, representing the development of climate change. Thus the player must make decisions quickly, or the time taken to choose a high jump velocity may be so long that the platform melts before they can reach another!

If the player at any point touches the sea, they incur a penalty up to three and automatically swim to the nearest platform. If three penalties are reached, the game ends.

Image source Arturo de Frias Marques, retrieved 5/08/2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear#/media/File:Polar_Bear_AdF.jpg

MDS GDV110 - 'One Game a Day' Assignment

Media Design School's GDV110 students come up with a game idea a day.

daily from 2016-07-19 to 2016-09-09