I’ve been live-streaming every weekday morning for 5-6 weeks. The purpose of going live is to get comfortable in front of the camera and create accountability. I scripted the live streams in a way that allows me to get content for three Youtube videos every stream. One segment at the end of the stream is to develop a design in 5 minutes or less. An example of a prompt can be seen here.

Game Idea Generator

With so much of my design efforts going into balancing and smoothing the gameplay of Everstone, I sometimes get exhausted with the monotony of the tedious clean-up of small details in the game. The 5-minute challenges have allowed me to continue to flex the creative brainstorming muscle, which has been quite therapeutic. This has been a fun way to force design creativity.

Throwing down the gauntlet

Today I wanted to share some of my favorite game ideas in hopes it might inspire someone to take the concept further. Here are my five favorite game prompts with a quick summary of the game concept we developed. I’ve linked each prompt with the live stream in case you want to watch the entire 5-minute challenge.

Puzzle Platformer | Build The Level You Play | Medieval | Individual Vs. Society

Players take on the role of a knight, trying to earn the princess's hand in marriage. Each round, you will reveal a new map of the kingdom. Draft polyomino shapes each round to make it to the princess's tower. The spaces you cover with the drafted shapes will give you resources to buy gifts and fight off angry mobs. Can you win the princess's hand?

Sandbox | No Enemies | Space Opera | Tech Gone Nuts

The core idea is to have a black hole at the center of the game board. As players get further up the victory track, the black hole gets more prominent, making it more challenging to move around the board and survive.

(The following three videos were before I upgraded my mic…. Viewers, be warned the sound quality is not fantastic)

Multiplayer | Entire Game On One Screen | Dark Fantasy | Power Fantasy

Enter the arena to prove you can control the darkness. Take on the role of a fantasy fighter and power up your mana. This is a “hand management” game where you gain cards through an open draft. Combo card actions and build a hand of four cards to score at the end of each round.

Sandbox | Inconvenient Superpowers | Science Fiction | Natural Disaster

Disaster has struck, and the A-list superheroes are on a team-building retreat. It’s up to you and others blessed with strange powers to save those stranded in the city! Can you protect more people than you injure this time? Search for citizens and manage your superpowers in hopes of being the day's hero.

Open World | 1 Hp | Mythology | Tech Gone Nuts

Explore the terrain of a mystical land in search of powerful mech suit upgrades. Complete objectives and defeat monsters as you try to keep your one health point. Be the last to survive or build the most powerful mech suit.

Which of the five-game concepts would you want to try? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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