Embodiment – Touch – MacKenzie Bates

The game is split up into waves. A wave of input circles of different colors enter the track and head towards the center of the screen in a swirl. If the circles reach the center, the wave restarts. Color exit circles appear at the corners of the screen. The user must drag all at one time the correct colored circles to the exits to make the circles disappear.

Embodiment – Face – MacKenzie Bates

 

An vertical scrolling puzzle game where the user must make different faces to force there blob to change to different states.

Smile = Blob rises

Frown = Blob falls

Angry = Breaks through platforms

Tongue-Out = Blob separates into tiny blobs

Straight-Face = Blob comes back together & Hovers

50 Game Ideas – MacKenzie Bates

My 50 game ideas! Let me know which ones are you favorite! 🙂

  1. It is pre-Hurricane Katrina. The storm is approaching. You must use politicians to create a human wall to help seal the levy and save New Orleans from reality.
  2. A mobile app where you blow into a breathalyzer and you can only send texts if you are drunk. The game part of it is trivia based where you have to correctly remember when and to who you sent the text.
  3. A permadeath MMO RPG which is a game of musical chairs. Players must find chairs hidden in-game and sit in them.
  4. A game about self restraint and obesity. The input device is a slice of pizza.
  5. A puzzle game where color is over-used to the point that a player has an extreme advantage if they are color-blind.
  6. A game about dreams and nightmares. It only allows the user to play between 3-6AM.
  7. A mobile resource gathering game. Where the amount of resources you gather determines how long you get to use your phone the next day.
  8. Phone Olympics. Compete against your friends in high jump (throwing your phone the highest), sprinting (sliding your phone the fastest) & gymnastics (making your phone flip and spin the most)
  9. An online multiplayer gambling game where you bet your passwords to social networks, email services & banking accounts.
  10. At the start of the game you must give your cell phone number. The game is about being a horrible. The worse you are the more your phone number is posted online.
  11. A game set in a war zone after the battle. You must clean up and repair the destroyed city. As you are doing so you see ghosts and see what the dead soldiers and civilians lives use to be.
  12. An artsy adventure game which is largely based on light and shadows. The game is connected to a complex light system that adjusts depending on what is happening in game.
  13. A game about “the walk of shame”. After you complete the walk, a tweet from your account is sent that says how ashamed you are of what you did last night. Thus making it seem real to others.
  14. A GTA V mod where every time the player kills someone in game a small donation is made to community charities in the LA area.
  15. It is a music game where the top players’ music is streamed live online.
  16. It is a word arrangement game. You get more points for making sentences that sound uneducated and purposely offensive. After the time runs out the sentences you are made are rapped to you by the computer.
  17. A game about peeing. Control the speed, aim and either you put up the seat as you attempt to pee as quickly as possible. Misaim or hit the seat and you will lose points for angering your girlfriend.
  18. A heartbeat sensor is attached to you. You must keep your heartbeat high enough, but you must also move your character around a dangerous cliff side which requires precision.
  19. You are a college student who is working to pay for school. Manage your schedule and bank account to avoid being kicked out of school for late payments.
  20. A game where your character is super far from a bathroom and must run to it in time. If you fail, your crotch is squirted with water.
  21. A COD mod where every time you die in-game a small donation is made to an American Veterans charity.
  22. A bar simulator game where you must make your bar as “hip” as possible to stay open. Do things like remove your sign or serve only gin in mason jars.
  23. As a wannabe fratstar you must prove your worthiness in this rush/hazing simulator
  24. It is London in WWII. You must run around the city as a courier while avoiding air raids. If you are killed your phone is text bombed.
  25. A game about ponzi schemes & deception. The game harvests bit coins on users’ computers as they play the game. I keep the bit coins.
  26. You are city’s traffic control system. Correctly time street lights to cause the biggest car crashes possible.
  27. You are a US military drone. You must drop bombs to kill terrorists. For each person killed in-game, you are texted a name of an innocent person killed by a drone attack.
  28. A Facebook game where you are an assassin. You are given objectives to eliminate friends. After you complete the task in-game you are unfriended in Facebook.
  29. A mobile game that monitors what other games you play and questions why you are playing them and if you like them more. It will complain that you don’t spend enough time playing it.
  30. You are given an objective and to accomplish it you must hurt and wrong innocent people in game. Once you have completed the objective, everyone you wronged finds, tortures and sets you on fire. The end screen reads “You Lose.”
  31. You are a sprinter. You move your character by making a Barbie doll look like it is running. Think QWOP.
  32. A game where you are an insomniac sheep herder because one of your sheep refuses to be counted. Go around punching sheep.
  33. NPCs in-game insult the user the longer they play the game in a single day. The user can pay a small amount each day for the NPCs to be nicer to them.
  34. A mobile pedometer game where your in-game character levels up and earns more rewards when you walk less.
  35. Call of Duty mod where every time the player is shot in-game they are shot by an air-soft gun in real life.
  36. A fighter game where to attack an enemy you must punch a cute stuffed animal.
  37. A simple one button runner game where if you fall the chair you are sitting in falls backwards as do you.
  38. As the big bad wolf, you run around building down buildings by blowing them down. Input device is user blowing.
  39. A horse racing game where you make your horse run by clapping coconut halves together.
  40. You are a starving photographer. You earn more money for taking more artsy and abstract photos.
  41. A game about making decisions. For each decision made a pill is dispensed. The pills range from sugar to pain killers to cyanide. You have to take the pill.
  42. The user opens the game. The top reads “Loading” and there is the spinning beach ball. This is actually the game. It is a maze/puzzle game.
  43. You are a buildings control system. The building is under-attack. You have limited backup resources. Reactivate select systems & lights to help security.
  44. It is after a major war battle that your side lost. You can selectively bring your dead soldiers back alive to fight and retake the territory.
  45. You are a club bouncer. You must manage the line of people trying to enter the club to keep correct male/female and hot/ugly ratios in the club. At the end of the game you try to get into the club but the manager says you are too ugly.
  46. As a college’s sole admission board member you must decided to accept or reject students based over their applications.
  47. You are dance beat. You must flow through people in a club and make them move as you want.
  48. Invaders are trying to attack your country. You are the plant bamboo. You must grow strategically to attack as a wall to protect your home land.
  49. As a computers firewall you must protect the computer from viruses and from hacking attempts from Anonymous.
  50. You are a banana. You must avoid hungry monkeys. The input device is a banana.

The Guide – MacKenzie Bates & Heather Cowie

Tilt, shake and coax the accelerometer into guiding a soul towards the light of salvation as the soul tries to deviate course as do humans’.

Prevent the soul from crossing the bold white lines that define morality and entering in to the red lines of sin.

Download Processing & Arduino Code: HERE

Download MMA-7361 Accelerometer Library (Required to run Arduino code): HERE

Alternative Idea:

Same gameplay mechanics, but instead the art is switched so that you are an altar boy/girl attempting to carry an oversized and hard to manage pitcher of wine down the aisle to the altar without spilling the wine by running into the pews.

Undercover

Premise:

Win the game, but don’t get caught trying.

Necessities:

  • A stack of game cards (easily printed out)
  • Paper balls (easily crumpled)
  • The Number Garden
  • 10+ Players

Setup:

  • Give each player a game card
  • Players are to keep their cards secret!
  • The game card will give the player’s role

Player Roles:

  • For Race: either Robot or Human
  • For Stealth: either Robot, Assassin or Officer

Example Game Cards:

Game Variations:

Race:

The Rules:

All players are given a game card and a paper ball (if enough players then two paper balls).

Players are to keep their cards secret!

All players start at one side of the tile platform.

Robots:

Move number of tiles as instructed on their cards. Robots NEVER move backwards. If a robots card produces a negative or 0 number of tiles to move the robot is to stay still on this turn (move 0 tiles) and then as there next turn move forward 1 tile.

Once Robot has moved, they should wait the number of seconds specified on their cards before taking their next move.

While robots do carry paper balls, they are NOT allowed to throw them. It is best for robots to act as if they are thinking about throwing their paper ball though, so it is not obvious they are a robot.

If a robot is struck with a paper ball, they should walk backwards slowly to the start line.

Humans:

Must move forward in straight line; (can stay still on tiles).

If a human suspects another player to be a human, they throw a paper ball at them.

If a human is struck with a paper ball, they should walk backwards slowly to the start line.

End Game:

The first player to the other side of the number tile platform wins.

 

Stealth (Cooperative):

The Rules:

All players are given a game card.

Players are to keep their cards secret!

All robots & assassins start random positions on number tile platform.

Robots:

Move number of tiles as instructed on their cards. Robots NEVER move backwards. If a robots card produces a negative or 0 number of tiles to move the robot is to stay still on this turn (move 0 tiles) and then as there next turn move forward 1 tile. Robots should turn as their cards instruct. Robots should never move off of the number tile platform. If an edge is reached the robot should look at the tile they are currently on and turn in correct direction depending on the [current tile #]’s parity (odd or even).

Once Robot has moved, they should begin their next move (there is no waiting in this mode).

If a Robot comes within a three tile proximity to another player they should shake hands with the player. If the Robot is killed during the handshake, they should NOT react in any way and should continue moving as before. The Robot is now “Dead”.

If a Robot is asked by an Officer, “Are you alive?”. The Robot should say “Yes” if they have never be killed via a handshake during this game, and should say “No” if they have been killed via a handshake during this game. If the Robot says “No” they should walk backwards slowly to an edge of the number tile platform and then carefully exit.

If a Robot is struck with a paper ball, they should walk backwards slowly to an edge of the number tile platform and then carefully exit. The player should announce their role.

Assassins:

Assassins cans move as they wish. Their goal is to kill as many robots as possible before being killed or before the Officers use up all of their paper balls.

If an Assassin comes within a three tile proximity to another player they should shake hands with the player. If they wish to kill the player, the should tap the players wrist with a finger mid-handshake. If the Assassin is attacked by another Assassin during the handshake, they should NOT react in any way and should continue moving as before. Assassins can NOT be killed by other Assassins.

In this game mode, Assassins are acting as a giant team and are trying to kill as many robots as they can collectively.

If an Assassin is asked by an Officer, “Are you alive?”. The Assassin should say “Yes”.

If an Assassin is struck with a paper ball, they should walk backwards slowly to an edge of the number tile platform and then carefully exit. The player should announce their role.

Officers:

Officers cans move as they wish. Their goal is to kill the Assassins as quick as possible, which will in turn protect the robots.

Officers start the game with (2-4) paper balls depending on the number of Officers & Assassins in game at the moment.

If an Officer suspects a player of being an Assassin, they can throw a paper ball at them.

End Game:

Officers win if at least 50% of the Robots are alive. (Percentage alive can be changed to balance game)

Otherwise the Assassins win.

 

Stealth (Competitive):

The Rules:

All players are given a game card.

Players are to keep their cards secret!

All robots & assassins start random positions on number tile platform.

Robots:

Move number of tiles as instructed on their cards. Robots NEVER move backwards. If a robots card produces a negative or 0 number of tiles to move the robot is to stay still on this turn (move 0 tiles) and then as there next turn move forward 1 tile. Robots should turn as their cards instruct. Robots should never move off of the number tile platform. If an edge is reached the robot should look at the tile they are currently on and turn in correct direction depending on the [current tile #]’s parity (odd or even).

Once Robot has moved, they should begin their next move (there is no waiting in this mode).

If a Robot comes within a three tile proximity to another player they should shake hands with the player. If the Robot is killed during the handshake, they should NOT react in any way and should continue moving as before. The Robot is now “Dead”.

If a Robot is asked by an Officer, “Are you alive?”. The Robot should say “Yes” if they have never be killed via a handshake during this game, and should say “No” if they have been killed via a handshake during this game. If the Robot says “No” they should walk backwards slowly to an edge of the number tile platform and then carefully exit.

If a Robot is struck with a paper ball, they should walk backwards slowly to an edge of the number tile platform and then carefully exit. The player should announce their role.

Assassins:

Assassins cans move as they wish. Their goal is to kill as many robots as possible before being killed or before the Officers use up all of their paper balls.

If an Assassin comes within a three tile proximity to another player they should shake hands with the player. If they wish to kill the player, the should tap the players wrist with a finger mid-handshake. If the Assassin is attacked by another Assassin during the handshake, they should NOT react in any way and should continue moving as before. Assassins can NOT be killed by other Assassins.

In this game mode, Assassins are part of the team specified on their game card. Their team is trying to kill more robots collectively, than the other Assassin team.

If an Assassin is asked by an Officer, “Are you alive?”. The Assassin should say “Yes”.

If an Assassin is struck with a paper ball, they should walk backwards slowly to an edge of the number tile platform and then carefully exit. The player should announce their role.

Officers:

Officers cans move as they wish. Their goal is to kill the Assassins as quick as possible, which will in turn protect the robots.

Officers start the game with (2-4) paper balls depending on the number of Officers & Assassins in game at the moment.

If an Officer suspects a player of being an Assassin, they can throw a paper ball at them.

 

End Game:

Officers win if at least 50% of the Robots are alive. (Percentage alive can be changed to balance game)

Otherwise the Assassin team with the most kills win.

City of Play

Playscaping Challenge (a.k.a. Play Your City)

“Use elements of play to design, implement, and document a project that makes the city a  better place”

This was an interesting experience! It proceed as following:

  1. Meet people in room by “blind” drawing portraits of them
  2. Putting on race bib numbers (“to look officially part of something”)
  3. Splitting up into teams
  4. Given theme, “Change Direction”
  5. Each team give special prompt item (mine was a rubber-duck)
  6. Mind-Hurricaning (a.k.a. Brainstorming) for 15 mins
  7. Consolidating down to 1 idea in 10 mins
  8. Implementing the idea in the city in less than 1.5 hrs
  9. Watching people in downtown Pittsburgh stare at your project with a “What the f*ck is this?” face and then walk away
  10. Documenting of project

The best part of this would probably be the Brainstorming phase where we came up with a lot of great ideas that would truly make the city a better place.

Then in the next phase we through out all of the best ideas because they weren’t feasible with our time & money constraints and came up with an okay idea (Giant color-by-numbers posters at bus stops that were pieces of a larger photo that could only be put together by visiting multiple bus stops, thus encouraging people to go other stops than their normal).

Next we went about implementing our idea. I was in charge of creating the color-by-number poster, which involved drawing long straight lines (wooooo art degree being put to use!). While I was creating the poster, the rest of the team was debating about what picture should the color-by-numbers be of. During this debate the decided that “we weren’t letting people be creative enough” so it turned into a color-by-number picture where certain squares had random pictures drawn or made-up stories written.

The simple-ish idea we had come up with became a confusing uncentered mess and mostly ended in sadness that made me question if people in downtown Pittsburgh actually want their day brightened or if they would prefer to stand there dispirited & undisturbed.

That said I think the Playscaping Challenge was an overall good idea, but could have used a judge panel to make sure ideas were kept simple and centered.

Roaming Gnomes

Welcome to the intersection of Gmane Street and Gninth Avenue, the most trafficked area of Gnometopolis… during the lunchtime rush… on the busiest Gnome holiday of the year, Gnu Years Eve. Your team’s job is to get the Gnomes and their things to exactly where they need to be as quickly as possible – unfortunately, everything is written in Gnomish. Can your team make all the right moves before time runs out?”

The game worked in the following way:

  1. 30 gnomes are placed at 30 different locations and some are holding one of 8 cups
  2. Each player is given 1-2 cards. A card has two things on it: a player objective – what the player must do, which involved moving a gnome or cup to a location (written in Gnomish a.k.a. gibberish) & a translation of 2-3 Gnomish words (most of which weren’t in your objective)
  3. Either with or without a time limit the players must rush around to translate their objective to english so that they can complete it
  4. The game master would check the end result against their insane spreadsheet to determine if the players moved everything to where it needed to go

This was a great game! A much needed pick-me-up after the Playscaping Challenge! It required communication between a large group of people, but it avoided most of the shouting problems of Bottleneck due to the fact that everything was in Gnomish which is so difficult to speak that few could shout it. Roaming Gnomes would be a delightful party game! The gnomes were beautifully made and added to the cheery & goofy ambience the game created as you said gibberish to each other.

 

Breakout: Trapped in My Mind

You are surrounded by blocks. You can only destroy blocks of the same color as your ball, change the ball color by hitting it with a different side of the paddle. Protect your “health blocks” that are in the center of the screen. Lose them all and you fall back a level.

Cheats:

L” – Go forward a level
“K” – Go back a level
[UP] – Create a ball
[DOWN] – Delete a ball
“F” – Toggle fire mode

Play Game

Download Game

Download Code