shy_magpie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shy_magpie) wrote2024-12-13 09:31 am
shy_magpie) wrote2024-12-13 09:31 am
Entry tags:
Game idea that bluesky liked
I made a thread on Bluesky about a game idea a thread on Bluesky about a game idea that seems to be reasonably well liked and I want to play with it a bit more even if it's just an idea that would take a whole studio to actually pull off. I don't have the time or brain power to do this in a sensible manner so let's see how well dreamwidth handles me making a thread I edit throughout the day.
Original thread
Tutorial is at home: you learn basic mechanics by using condiments, making sandwiches & chocolate milk. When your parents see you've gotten to the point of adding things to canned soup they get you in the cooking class I described in the first post.
There's a whole cooking for friends & family line where you pick the recipes but have to fit a theme and get approval for matching their likes & dislikes. As they go from "humoring the kid" to trusting your ability actual requirements start showing up like vegetarian, celiac, allergies.
Possibly even a social dynamic in who you choose to invite together but its getting complex enough. Your vegetarian friend goes from insisting its fine just have some no meat sides to the sides to inviting you to his house to learn the art of substituting vegan ingredients for his stricter friends.
Maybe get taught about the theory behind flavor pairings under the guidance of Aunt Lynda if you serve her 3 good wine & cheese pairings. Various friends of the family ask you to help them prepare for various events from religious holidays to a tailgate where you learn about avoiding food poisoning.
Not sure how to bring it to a close, maybe close the loop with a training the next generation arc. You start getting assistants of your own, then you get asked to coach your cousin through spaghetti & garlic bread, finally you get 6 kids through making cookies without setting the rec center on fire.
A place that could add some interesting but probably hard to program (esp w/out forums breaking into knife fights) bit could be a precision element. Monsieur Orange will have hysterics over the slightest error or variance in pastry making. Others will praise you for trying out new things if edible
Replies with fun ideas
The Gardening game
A suggestion it be paired with a realistic gardening game including zones and realistic threats like droughts & blights
https://bsky.app/profile/cat-attack.bsky.social/post/3ld77ikwsxk22
A description of the range of ease including advice & how you live: full time garden vs little time, number of kids & pets, mental/physical disability
My reply is in another post because I am trying to separate out the ideas
The family of games
My reply:
Very nice! Could have a whole family of games, maybe one of those cleaning games but it actually teaches you what not to mix? One where you go from dog walker to owning a pet hotel? Some the levels are the flip side of other games' levels like helping the mom with the dogs?
Their reply:
https://bsky.app/profile/cat-attack.bsky.social/post/3ld7b4pllas22
"Yes and"s me to suggest career simulators including education based like teaching in an underfunded school
Me: Probably impossible to program but part of me is going "but they were all fooled for a final game was made: a city builder where you can unlock buildings based on how you did in other games". A community garden w/ heirlooms is unlocked w/ a code from the garden game, etc. Playable w/out but more fun
https://bsky.app/profile/cat-attack.bsky.social/post/3ld7bycze2s22
They encourage me giving examples of well known games where decisions impact sequels
Nice, I don't want the "you can bring your gun from COD into Mario world" thing they tried to sell us with NFTs but it would be cute to have a green pet hotel with a doggie pool in my city bc that's what I made in the other game. Maybe a bonus to restaurant revenue if they can get heirloom tomatoes.
Two player mode & controls
Quote tweet of encouragement that mentions playing with children and controls
Me: Oh my god, reasonably priced cute controls sized for little hands! It would build in most of the things you'd need for adaptive tech and I bet you'd get a modder community cheerfully figuring out how to make movements more realistic.
I didn't want to spam their replies but this actually set off a bunch of thoughts in me about making the game accessible. Settings on time based vs turn based, controls that could be keyboard or wii like movement sensors or maybe something like a drawing tablet. The abilty to skip repetitive movement and turn off anything quick time
Playing with the idea some more
You need several kitchens where you can easily recognize the key bits from one to another.
Inventory
Could add fun elements like "if you flub the eggs 12 times in a row without resetting to the check point then you need to ask a neighbor or go to the store. Remember to turn off the oven!"
Or more usefully, before cooking it takes you through gathering and checking ingredients. Some in fridge, some in freezer, spice rack, counter etc.
Use real guidelines for "its covered in mold throw it out" vs "Mom says she can cut the squishy bit out and make soup with the rest".
How to handle the same recipe with canned, fresh, vs frozen corn?
How to handle subbing ingredients? If using vegan egg substitutes do you pretend its 1 to 1 or include the differences in color, texture, etc? Could you have a check box for "treat as original ingredients" vs "scope creep mode"? Seems pointless to the conceit if you duck showing how it would effect actual cooking.
Equipment
At any rate:
oven: needs preheating; set temperature; timer, maybe even built in cook time vs timer with risk it will burn if left in oven with heat off if the door isn't opened;
Range: flame, electric, or glass tops, with a "don't blow up the house using gas" psa
Microwave
Air fryer?
Blender/food processor
Knives & cutting boards
Pots & pans; can fudge a lot with cabinets of holding
Sink: cleaning, source of water, straining
Measuring cups, have a rinse between use bit
Various other cooking implements, fudge with drawer of doom (of course we have a potato masher, it's in the drawer next to the arc of the lost covenant)
Accessibility
Controls must be remappable and work with controllers. Minimum: touch only, mouse only, keyboard only, and open to mods so if anyone comes up with anything else we can let them. On that note:
I'm thinking one player game so quite frankly as long as they keep the nsfw stuff off our official site then we want to encourage any customization they can think of. I'm thinking an official policy of "we do not see it" with a way to submit mods to be adopted officially if they meet certain requirements. A few "why yes we are woke af" posts and a few "we can't undownload the game from your computer or prevent you from altering your own copy but the only fanworks we go after are those that introduce bigotry, violence including sexual assult, or violate the 0th mod law 'fuck you, I said stop'"
All time based bits must be skipable, ideally several options: everything time based gets an auto "C" and is skipped, turn based alternative, spend points to skip 5 minutes etc, mode where you click a button to get to the end of any waiting time without it burning etc
Everything has both words and an icon to mark it. Yes that will take more translation, find a good one and pay them well. The sensitivity consult we need for the disability, religious, and racial representation may have ideas on who to hire. At minimum they can help point out idioms esl kids wouldn't get.
There is no punishment for not logging in every day, ideally we have an in game calender so it can hit seasonal holidays etc without ever knowing how many days it took you to get past an in game day or tell logging in after 5 minutes or 5 months.