In Language Barrier you take on the role of a translator, translating from a random language into English. For that reason, this game is targeted towards the English-speaking audience, as English (British or American) will be used as the base language for puzzle solving.

At the start of each challenge/puzzle the player will be presented with a foreign message, followed by particular words lighting up and the unlit words translating into English, it is your goal as the player to input the English equivalent of the highlighted words.

To avoid cheating, a countdown clock will be added as a form of time pressure, to prevent the player from translating through google.

Mechanics:

• Different languages = different difficulties
  • If the language uses the Latin/Roman alphabet (with the addition of a couple similar letters, for example Español) then it would be listed under easy
  • However if the language fully adopts its own set of characters, such as Chinese or Japanese then it will be listed as a harder difficulty
• Another source of varying difficulty will depend on the word being translated
  • If the word is something commonly learnt by young children (numbers, days, months) then it will also appear under the easier difficulties
  • However if the word is simple, but not necessarily what a child would learn, then it would be classified as moderate/medium difficulty
  • And lastly, more uncommon/complex words would be regarded as harder difficulty
• Possibly add an additional mode including slang terms from English (Maybe even urban dictionary if I were to be so bold)

Features:

• Similar art direction to the flat textures/shapes of the WarioWare franchise, to add charm to the game, keeping the player interested – but keep the primary focus on words
• Solving multi-lingual word puzzles whilst under the pressure of time
• Increasing difficulty as the game persists, involving foreign characters and uncommon words
• Potentially learn another language, or at least some important terms

Intended for handheld devices such as: iOS/Android and Nintendo 3DS.

Reference Image: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7256/6971332358_e2d1c0726b_o.jpg

In this game you play the owner of a shop, known for its capacity to contain anything and everything the customer might need – or so they think. MacGyver Merchant is a timed, memory, puzzle game in which a customer requests an object from the player, and the player must quickly duck behind the counter and assemble the requested item from whatever merchandise he has. To assemble the specified item the player may remember what each item has in regards to parts, but must find the exact parts and assemble a product before the timer runs out.

If the time is to run out the customer will run out of patience and exit your shop, leaving a poor review. Each time you run out of time you lose a star-rating, at the start of every run you get 5-stars, falling to 0-stars will result in a game over. The longer you last in a run, the harder the objects are to assemble, and the customers are more impatient – therefore increasing time pressure.

The scoring system is based off the time left over from each assembly, and how many items you complete in a single run.

Main Features:

• Time pressure
• Remember parts and items upon replaying
• Random scenarios (items, customers)
• Leaderboards

Intended for PC (Steam) and potentially handheld devices (iOS, Android)

Disclaimer: MacGyver Merchant is only a working title, and will not include MacGyver at all – just the idea he represents, making something out of almost nothing.

Reference Image: http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/dead-rising/images/6/6d/Dead_rising_2_case_0_maintence_bench_combine_second.png/revision/latest?cb=20100827051313

Tamagotchi meets the birth of a star.

In this game you take care of a new-born star – and your main goal is to nurture it and keep it alive for as long as possible. Every real life second, in the virtual space one-thousand earth years (a millennium) pass, and if the star is still alive after 115.741 real life days, then it will die of old age. Upon death either by neglecting the star's needs or reaching the end of its lifetime the end screen will show a supernova or a black hole. Once you reach the game over screen, you are then presented with a highscore based on days (in-game years), that the star lived and whether the star was well kept as opposed to barely staying alive.

How do I take care of the star?

• Feeding: The age of the star limits what it can eat, for example an infant star can eat small asteroids and other debris, but nothing too substantial – whereas a 'red giant' can consume planets
• Temper: Stars can get very hot-headed and upset, this is presented as aggressive solar flares. To take care of this issue, the 'parent' can play with the star, put it to sleep or give it a few millennia in a time out.
• Growth: If the star is content when a growth cycle comes around, then it will increase in size and strive towards becoming a 'Blue Super Giant', however if there are issues with its happiness, then its growth may get stunted and forever remain a dwarf star, only increasing in heat with age, but not so much in size.

Intended either as its own handheld device, reminiscent of the Tamagotchi or made for mobile devices (iOS and Android).

Main Features:

• Astronomy facts and terminology
  • You can feed it planets, moons and asteroids from the solar system
  • Presented with names of real stars
• Interactivity with raising a new-born star
• Diverse range of sizes and colours depending on star's well-being, ranging from brown dwarf to blue super giant
• A series of mini-games can be played with the star, to boost happiness

Reference Image: http://www.bt-images.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Black-Hole-Outburst-in-Spiral-Galaxy.jpg