1. The Hubcap
The beginning setting is an ordinary city street. The player takes the role of a hubcap that has just fallen off a car. The player can choose how to position the hubcap (it could stay in the road where an unsuspecting car may hit it, it could move to the sidewalk right where people are walking, it could be hung on a nearby storefront, or thrown through somebody’s window, etc.) Different types of people will be seen walking down the adjacent sidewalk, who might interact in different ways to the hubcap depending on where it places itself. Some people may even take possession of the hubcap (a curious child? an art student looking to get some use out of it?) and more (or less) options open up depending on where it gets taken. The end goal is for the player to experience the unexpected journey of an unusual object.
2. Alien
You are a top-rank intergalactic soldier from the planet Tujia. You are in the midst of an immense war spreading across several planets. Terrified, but unbeknownst to your commanding officer, you have fled to Earth to seek refuge. You believe there may be a person on the planet who has studied Tujia in-depth and possesses knowledge on how to end the war, but in order to find this person you must interact with many different people. Some may be frightened by you, others impressed or intrigued by you, and most people will not understand you (your language is unlike anything ever heard on Earth). You will have to learn from their reactions to figure out how best to communicate. As the player, you will only be able to control what the alien says or physically does; emotions may change depending on whom you interact with, which can influence your options. Your decisions might also prompt the creation of obstacles; for instance, government officials may start to chase you if you have caused too much of a disturbance, or your commander may notice your absence if you fool around for too long and send units to try and bring you back to your war-torn home.
I think I need to know what kind of “unexpected journey” this hubcap will take. It could either be really cool or really awful. The Alien idea seems a little trite, and more like an RPG with dialogue more than a narrative which the assignment says to avoid. I like the Hubcap idea better because of this, but the Hubcap needs something a little more interested or unexpected or maybe some visual element for me to want to play the game.
I like the idea of following a simple object, but it could be difficult to make a hubcap have meaningful interactions with a variety of people. I would maybe recommend using either a more mundane object that more people are likely to pick up, or a more exotic object that will draw immediate attention.
I think the format of the Hubcap is typical, but has my interest piqued. It’s an unusual object, and depending on the setting, the story may yield various entertaining results. The strength of this idea is the scope and breadth of what may happen.
The Alien game seems to have an exciting back story, but maybe not exciting gameplay. It seems like a conversation simulation with language barriers; it may not live up to the backstory until the government starts chasing you or until the player feels some sort of time/decision pressure
I find the second one more interesting and actually relatable since there are many miscommunications between languages and cultures that can result in some accidental problems. I think you could get something pretty funny out of it.
In the hub cap one I am not sure how you would do this well since I feel like this would be best with a randomized scenario of who passes.