Game Idea Research

Endless Runner Games - Source

Hey!

So last week I researched game ideas that I wanted to work on for the rest of the semester, the ideas were:

• Platformer Game
• Arcade or “Endless” Runner Game
• Racing Game
• FPS - First Person Shooter Game

I really liked all of the ideas I stated, but after a long time thinking, I’ve come to the decision of making an Arcade game or aka “Endless Runner" game!

I decided to go with this concept as I figured that this was my first time making a game so I don’t really want to have high expectations. I kept my idea small and concise as I’m not confident in my ability to create a complex game just quite yet. Maybe I’ll try to create a more complex game in semester 2 depending on how this semester goes. Although “Endless Runner” games are simple, they can still be very entertaining. 

This week, I had to come up with some possible mechanics that could fit in well with my game idea. The mechanics I came up with are as follows:

The First Mechanic - Movement:

The player needs to move to interact with its environment. But, as you may know, “endless runner” games are restricted to flexible movement. The movement in these types of games are limited and therefore you can only move up and down (jump and duck) and left to right to avoid obstacles. The player is constantly moving forward therefore there’s no turning back. Although there is limited movement in these types of games, I kind of like it as it will enhance your hand-eye coordination skills. An example of this mechanic is in the game “Temple Run”.

Temple Run - SlashGear

From the Unity Tutorials this week and last week, I am fairly confident that I am able to make the player move right and left. Now I just need to figure out how to make the player jump and slide.

Here was a helpful tutorial I watched that teaches you how to jump, slide and switch lanes:

The Second Mechanic - Instant Kill:

If the player dies or fails, there is no way to revive the player. You simply have to start all over again from the beginning. This is what makes these types of games addicting. This idea came from successful “endless runner” games like “Flappy Bird” or “Subway Surfers”. Instant Kill makes the player irritated, making them want to play again and try to succeed. 

Flappy Bird - The New Worcester Spy

The Third Mechanic - Score Booster:

The third mechanic I want to add is the ability to collect points or power-ups. This will allow the player to boost their score at the end of the game. The amount of coins you collect, the higher your score will be. I would also like to add a distance recorder if that’s possible. The further the player runs, the higher the score will be.

The Fourth Mechanic - Obstacles:

These type of games are endless, hence “endless runner”, therefore there is no final destination the player has to arrive at, the goal is to simply try and beat your high score. But to make it challenging, I came up with the idea of decreasing your visibility the longer the game goes on. By doing this the player won’t be able to see as the lack of light will distort their view. I was also thinking of increasing the players speed the longer the game goes on, the faster the player runs, the quicker you would have to react to avoid challenges, these challenges could consist of obstacles such as a pit or a hole. These obstacles will make the game way more challenging and fun.

The Fifth Mechanic - Shooting (if possible)

If this is possible, I would also like to combine my Shooting game idea with my Endless runner game. This concept is also very cool as it definitely steps away from the traditional “endless runner” game concepts. 

Here is the video that inspired this potential mechanic:

However, this game (above) was made with Unreal Engine, therefore I don’t know if it would be possible to make it with Unity3D, I guess I have to do more research on that.

Here is an article that talks about the different types of "Endless Runner" games and the mechanics and features they consist of.

It’s interesting to think about all the different varieties of concepts for endless runner games. This comes to show that games can always be developed no matter what genre it's in. The beauty of game design and development is that no game is ever complete and games can keep being improved!