These notes are based partially on my own notes, but a lot on Lazy Devs' video:
Stand Out Ideas
The two ideas that stand out most to me in terms of wanting to work on:
Traveling RPG / roguelike with retiring and family raising.. NO. I haven't even written down all of my ideas for this yet and it's already scope-creeped well beyond my ability.
Spaceship Mechanic: (some details below) I think I can successfully start this one simply enough to actually make. (Note: Take inspiration from Hardspace Shipbreaker.)
I also really want to make some kind of farming automation game..
And I fairly strongly want to make Pokemon-like game(s)..
That idea about running an ISP and trying to make sure everyone is connected. I really want to do that, it should be pretty simple.
Pizza Quest (details below)
"Original" Ideas Inspired By / Reminded Of
Someone pointed out that there are trucking games, but not puzzle truck games about parking in difficult spots. My previous work towards making a truck game may be better spent making a truck parking game instead of just a shitty 2D version of ATS.
Likewise, perhaps start with a Space Trader clone before trying to make any other form of space game. That is already a difficult thing to make, so it would be a good experience just to get something done. (Bonus points if I make it for PICO-8 / Love and port a version to Android?)
A super simplified Barotrauma-like game. This could both be useful as its own study/experiment/fun little game, and help me design and develop systems for the grand unified future space game.
Begin, but simpler. Maybe can be combined with the Space Trader clone.
I kinda really want to revive Pirate Airlines as a concept.
Racing manager? This could take place on so many different scales.. are you organizing a league or a team or a single driver? Are you a track manager trying to get different sports to your venue?
Building rails infinitely.
That old warehouse management idea I had?
First Aid training game
Planet builder. No, solar system builder. Your only controls are to throw materials of various kind in various directions, everything else happens through a physics sim. Learn how to make various conditions, types of planets, etc. After some amount of time simulating, it can tell you how long the system will last, how it will change over time, whether or not it's good for habitation.
What about that game where you travel around the inside of "planets" to operate equipment to survive? Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime?
I want to make something that takes place in the Lands of Dream.
Something like Digital A Love Story or Analogue A Hate Story.
Chess RPG. You're always going up from the bottom, starting with a King. You can rescue pieces, convert them, if you get a pawn to the top of a level before your King, they can be promoted.. nah, promotion squares?
Shamelessly Stolen/Adapted From Lazy Devs
Camping Valley.. Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley? A cross between them?
Camp Adventure! It's a Star Trader clone except you're driving your campervan across the USA trading and exploring. You gotta manage your food, water, fuel, and cash. And then ... it's super camp somehow. How the hell do I make a camp game?
X-COM but you're the invader.
Open world hacking game. As in, hack open the world.
What if there's this complex network of things like OTTD's trade network on steroids, and it's this complex living system you can fuck with? Or like Democracy's network stuff? Fuck, it'd just be fun to simulate any kind of network of things..
Traveling RPG where you found towns and help them grow? Cities, forests, farmland, grassland, monsters, mountains, rivers.. you modify things to improve areas or whatever.
Maybe it starts like a regular roguelike but then you can do more than you expected, and more stays behind than you expected? Maybe copy some of the generational ideas used in other roguelikes? You don't die, you retire and raise a family, which decides who your next character is.
Hunting roguelike.
Subway roguelike. It's all automated. You don't know anything about it. Explore it. "A Sci-Fi RPG adventure taking place is a mysterious, sprawling Subway system. You are a group of explorers who spend their whole life living in an exploring the Subway. You purchase and trade tickets. You take trains. The trains are mini-dungeons where each car is a room. Push on trough your current train or get off at the next station? Where are all the trains going?"
Exploring abandoned nuclear facilities, cleaning up radioactive waste. Health is based on radiation exposure. Maybe you also need to collect materials to build/fix reactors. Could be useful to experiment with ideas related to nuclear power.
My own version of Trillek? (That's kinda what Opcode-Powered Shuttle was. This is also related to my ultimate goal.)
My own version of DEFCON?
Running your own cafe. Like any of the multitude of running a food business ideas.
The Infinite Sandwich: You are making a sandwich, but it never stops. If you move too slowly, the parts in the toaster will burn. If you move too fast, they will be undercooked. You have to scramble to add ingredients to the bread as it is conveyed along. You control how fast it moves and where incoming ingredients go. Some combinations give bonuses, others are hated. Don't place sweets too close together, and have a balanced diet by combining enough veggies with your meats. It never stops. Good luck. (Maybe it gets faster as you go?)
Puzzle game where you are slotting parts together to make a console as fast as possible.
Pit-Crew: Like the racing management ideas I had, except you're the pit crew, trying to upgrade and repair during the race. You have to make sure everything is in the correct place at the correct time while trying to improve things, and sometimes things don't go according to plan.
This reminds me of wanting to make an engine builder inspired by Automation and learning more about real-life engine innovations.. as well as the previous idea of making a spaceship design/sales game.. What if Automation but you're trying to make and sell spaceships??
Mecha Workshop: It's a repair sim, ridiculously detailed, for repairing mechs. Honestly, I don't want this idea so much as I want my spaceship repair idea.
Honestly, the idea I had before was just way too complicated, and trying to combine way too many things into one project. It was like opcode+wiring+4X+something else.. I really should copy the idea of Car Mechanic Simulator but with fantasy spaceships. Start with one basic design with its own parts and methods of repair, build that out with some variation, then make another ship that is similar but has some parts be new.. repeat. The base game comes with x ships, make more ships as DLC. Spaceship Mechanic
Haha, he's had the same chess roguelike idea I've had before. xD
Marble Racer (cause we need more of these, let's be real)
Gravity slingshot puzzler.
Car Wash Manager: Buy equipment, repair, replace, upgrade, change prices, direct traffic, employees? Idk. There's a lot of options and ideas possible here.
Pizza Quest! Probably the most doable idea from the video. You are an empty pizza, trying to get toppings in a dungeon before you get into the oven, and a rat is chasing you. Lose a slice if a rat catches you, or over a trap. You have to get specific toppings for an order, you lose score if you don't get them right.
Subterran 4X
Chemistry Sim. Tools and equipment and chemicals to make shit.
Tamagotchi-like games. What if they're just fish? What if there's a genetic element with breeding? What if there's a whole little town of creatures?
Remember that Battlestar Galactica game idea I had? 33 seconds to protect yourself between each jump.. he had an idea Carrier vs WWII, a bit similar. I like the more grounded aesthetic a little bit.
A game entirely about writing that just tries to give you ideas to write around.
Novel writing sim! :D As in, combine the sim idea but you actually have to write something. Maybe include Markov chain stuff and short stories to make it a little more wild / interesting. Hints/ideas/suggestions. Some sort of analyser that tells you whether or not your story is "good". Ridiculous requirements (this one, you're not allowed to use "and"; this one must include 12 instances of the word "cowboys").
Twine Quest: You are walking around the storyboard, manipulating or expanding the narrative. Your actions can be as simple as writing literal story, or complex as .. stealing nodes? Writing changes in that cause duplicate nodes? Extra shit? Idk.
"Likvidator:N. A roguelike where you need to clean up the roof of the exploded Chenobyl reactor from radioactive debris. Like the historic clean-up crew you only have a couple of seconds per attempt. When the time is up you re-start the level with the next volunteer. Clean up the roof using as few volunteers as you can."