In Haymaker (or PESTilence) the player takes control of a living scarecrow, with the primary goal of guarding a farm and its crops. This is done by selecting a designated area, bordered by fences and as the scarecrow you must fight off crows and other pests, protecting the crops – losing produce however will affect your final score.

In regards to difficulty levels, larger crops will be harder than the smaller alternative as it's harder to control the area and fend of pests, therefore harsher repercussions to their final score. The scarecrow will have a few abilities to help with movement speed, shielding crops and shooing vermin. In regards to mechanical balance, the abilities will have cooldowns depending on the power of the ability.

Abilities:

• Dash: a directional jump/dash moving however many units in a chosen direction
• Birdbrain: control the mind of a crow to turn on the murder (group of crows) and reduce the amount of crows for the round
• Bubble: protect a selected group of crops to be protected from vermin for a certain amount of time
• Transform: the scarecrow grows more menacing for a certain amount of time, increasing the surrounding area of effect in which crows will flee

Mechanics:

• Each round will have a time limit, amount of enemies/waves and a bunch of crops to protect
  • As each round passes the amount of enemies increases and recovery time in between waves decreases
• Boss types could also be taken into account for certain waves, these bosses will have special abilities so as to not be shooed so easily
• If all crops get destroyed then it's game over

Features:

• Replayability
• Waves of enemies
• Set of abilities
• Vibrant art direction

Intended for PC, Xbox One and Play Station 4 or larger mobile devices (tablets) for iOS and Android.

Reference image (Turnip Head from Studio Ghibli's "Howl's Moving Castle"): http://33.media.tumblr.com/ce1c6b8540f7e59513ca5e9791082622/tumblr_n8h3xqmyT01sapfv0o1_500.gif

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

Barista Bonanza (or BariSTAR) is a fast-paced, arcade style game in which you take on the role of a barista in a popular coffee joint called "Storbicks". As customers roll up to the counter they will provide you with a certain amount of information in regards to coffee preference, and of course their name.

Mechanics:

• The first stage is hearing their order: milk, foam, coffee, chocolate, sugar
  • Requests will increase in difficulty as the game persists
• The second stage is remembering their order and getting the percentage of ingredients correct.
  • This may also include mini-games for some ingredients, such as grinding coffee beans, frothing milk or sprinkling a chocolate powder pattern on top.
• The final stage is remembering the person's name, as long as most letters match then you complete the round successfully. However if only a few letters match, then the person won't receive their order and you will get fired. But if you get their name completely correct, letter by letter, then you will earn bonus points.
• Game is over when you get fired
• Potential for slight character customisation, as you'll get paid for how many days you work

Features:

• Mini-games
• Time pressure
• Point system
• Increasing difficulty
• Test the boundaries of your memory

Intended for mobile devices (iOS/Android) and potentially PC (Steam)

Reference Image: http://www.physiciansweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/coffee-beans-1.png

This game idea seeks inspiration from the fairy tale "Die Wichtelmänner" (Brothers Grimm), commonly known as "The Elves and the Shoemaker" in which a poor shoemaker receives much-needed help from elves.

In Cobbler Collaboration (Cobbler Collab) you take on the role of the helpful elf (fairy/pixie), aiding a fragile, old man whose ability to make and repair footwear is deteriorating with age. Your only objective in this game is to fix the shoes whilst the old man is sleeping, so that his customers will remain happy with the quality and restore the confidence in the old man. However if you fail to fix a shoe to a certain standard, he will either choose to retire by closing the shop for good – or he will be shut down by a third party.

Game Mechanics:

• Your only job is to fix shoes, but the Cobbler should not know of your existence. Therefore when it hits 10:00pm the old man will depart to go sleep, this gives you eight hours (eight real life minutes) until 6:00am, to fix his shoes for the day, failure to do so will result in a game over
• As days pass, the old man's ability to make/repair shoes worsens, which in turn makes it harder for you to fix. When his skill falls below a certain threshold, he'll start suffering from insomnia and get up to check on the shoes. This is when stealth is involved or simply putting a pause on fixing, because if you're spotted, then the old man will realise he lacks talent, therefore personally shutting down his shop
• In regards to shoes, there will be a range of different types and materials, resulting in varying difficulties. Shoe types may include/but are not restricted to: shoes, boots, sandal, clogs and moccasins.

Features:

• Time pressure (eight minutes per night)
• Stealth after a certain amount of days
• Increasing difficulty with each day
• Scoring based off consecutive days completed

I am currently undecided on which platforms it would be available for, because with third-person, 3-dimensional manoeuvrability and stealth mechanics it would be best for PC, Xbox One and Play Station 4. However this idea could also be well executed in a 2-dimensional fashion for mobile devices (iOS/Android) with more ease in regards to interaction with repairing.

Reference Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/4931317900/in/set-72157621991259423/

Inspired by the premise of the movie Inception and dreamscapes, Inception: Cat and Mouse is a two-player game in which the "cat" chases the "mouse", however players are not represented as these animals and are instead playing people who can blend easily into a crowd or shapeshift to match an NPC.

As the "mouse", your goal is to hide and jump in or out of people's dreamscapes whilst the "cat" is in pursuit. The mouse can only enter another dreamscape when successfully spotted by the cat and fleeing, however the mouse can leave a dreamscape whenever, as long as the last dream-jump wasn't too recent. As the "cat" your main purpose is to catch the "mouse" before time runs out. For balancing reasons the "cat" will know when the "mouse" has changed dreams and can follow easily.

This idea leads to a large variety of level design that doesn't necessarily abide by the rules of standard physics, much like the movie in which this seeks inspiration from. However, the dreamscapes are vaster in differences and can even have childish tones like the pyro-vision from Team Fortress 2, with rainbows and sparkles.

Game Features:

• -Basic premise of 'cat and mouse'
• -Jump in and out of NPC's dreamscapes
• -Large variety of level design
• -Time Pressure
• -Two-player versus

Inception: Cat and Mouse is only a placeholder name, as it blatantly explains both concepts used.

Reference Image: http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/chrisnolan3.jpeg

also quick mockup I made

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

You're alone on a desert planet, and you play as a cactus humanoid alien character thing called 'Cactus Evergreen', your only means of survival is to locate water. Armed with a divining rod and a straw, you hunt the dunes following the twitches of your rod to what you hope to be water. Time is precious as you have a thirst meter, which is constantly draining, and your goal is to find water to fill it back up. If the divining rod seems highly responsive in a certain area, you can jump into the sand (temporarily planting yourself) refilling the thirst-meter significantly, however if you missed the water spring/damp area, you take a harsh increase in thirst. If you don't quite trust your instincts you can in turn, stab your straw into the sand and drink what little water you assume to be in the sand. Failing this process only slightly increases your thirst, but if you do locate water (and sip it through your straw), you will refill the thirst-meter a certain amount, but not as much as the planting yourself strategy.

Why the divining rod? Damp patches and underground springs spawn randomly and cannot be seen from above, think of it like the item-finder from the pokemon games, except without the 100% certainty that you're on the right spot.

What reason is there for the player to keep attempting to complete longer runs?

Leaderboards, duh. You'll be timed for each run, and the longer the time the higher the score and the juicier the bragging rights. Also, reaching certain time goals will unlock new skins for the player, and who doesn't like cosmetics? (also can be used as a non pay-to-win microtransaction)

This game is intended for mobile devices (iOS, Android) and potentially PC (Windows/Steam)

Main Features:

• -Pixel Art Style
• -Time Pressure
• -Replayability
• -Super straw sipping action!
• -Sand. A lot of sand.