Somewhere along the line, everyone who's really into games starts thinking they can make 'em. If you're a professional game designer of any stripe at all, I've got ten bucks that says at least one person has most definitely come up to you in the past and said something to the effect of, "Hey, know what you should make? Why don't you make a game with..."
I'm a game journalist, not a game designer, and sometimes people even relay all their ideas to me, as if there were anything I could do about it. More often though, what people tell me are all the things they think I should say to Sony or Nintendo or Microsoft next time I talk to someone from there -- pieces of priceless advice from the consumer for which they'd like me to be the lucky conduit. Sure, dude, next time I'm on the phone to my best friend the Console Boss, I'll tell him what you think he ought to do with his business. He'll listen.
Anyway, everyone's got ideas, and you can't blame people for having tons of enthusiasm. Most of the time, though, people's enthusiastic ideas are personal to them, but not really viable as a game. Have you ever sat through someone's rambling, disjointed idea while nodding patiently and waiting for them to finish? Yeah, those people are annoying.
So, I've totally got an idea. They need to make this game.
Seriously, though, listen to this: A fighting game where the characters are all personalities from famous literature, and the stages are all epic scenes from the same books. Come on, picture this: Winston Smith versus Hank Rearden in Room 101 while the camera eyes follow the fight. Jean Valjean fighting Anna Karenina using prison chains on the train tracks. Lolita (yes, she should have skirt physics) brawling with Madame Defarge on the French Revolution barricades? I know my geek is showing, but how awesome would that be? Don Quixote versus Frankenstein in front of the windmills at sunset! There could be a Le Petit Prince level on a tiny Galaxy-style planet!! If you beat the whole suite of fighters with Pip, you can unlock Miss Havisham, whose fighting style resembles ballroom dancing!!! Yes!!!!
This is just like my other really crazy idea that I think is awesome despite no one else's agreement -- a workplace sitcom that takes place on the international space station. Listen, if anyone ever makes a workplace sitcom that takes place in space, they totally stole it from me.
Okay. I'm calm. So, as annoying as it is, go wild, guys -- what are your totally crazy game ideas that you fantasize about, and that you're too well-mannered to chew designers' ears about? We haven't had a Best of SVGL in a long, long time, so do your worst.
[Comic is the fab Toothpaste For Dinner.]
