Game Idea: Groundhog Day crossed with TIM
Here's a video game I'd like to see made:
It's like the movie Groundhog Day (kinda) crossed with the classic puzzle game, The Incredible Machine. Groundhog Day is all about a guy that relives the same day over and over again, fixing his mistakes until he gets it right. TIM was all about making Rube Goldberg devices to solve puzzles.
I envision a game in which the main character has the ability to move freely through time. Forward, backward, or even to stop time still. While time is stopped, the character can manipulate objects, but only within the normal limits of a human being. (No super-human strength. No flying.) So, the character can stop time, take an apple off the table, and place it in the air. It will stay there as long as time is stopped. When time is restarted, the apple will fall. The character can also rewind time, which would make the apple fall upward to the position where it was placed. This way, the character can orchestrate a series of events, where certain things happen at certain times.
The goal of the game would be to solve certain puzzles. For example, maybe the character is in a restaurant full of clumsy servers, and he has to make sure that no food is dropped over a period of five or ten minutes. Or maybe he's standing outside a bank, and he has to foil a robbery.
Another facet of the game is other people. The character cannot physically move or alter other people. Instead, each person will have a simple goal, communicated by a thought bubble above their head. By changing the environment, you can change the focus of another person, and they will alter their actions accordingly. Consider a truck driver driving down the street. He's driving, so he's thinking about his truck. You know a little girl is about to run in front of his truck, but he can't see her. Perhaps you pause time and drop a ball into the street ahead of him. His thought bubble changes from his truck to the ball, and he slows down when time is restarted.
I'd like to play this game, at any rate. What do you think?
It's like the movie Groundhog Day (kinda) crossed with the classic puzzle game, The Incredible Machine. Groundhog Day is all about a guy that relives the same day over and over again, fixing his mistakes until he gets it right. TIM was all about making Rube Goldberg devices to solve puzzles.
I envision a game in which the main character has the ability to move freely through time. Forward, backward, or even to stop time still. While time is stopped, the character can manipulate objects, but only within the normal limits of a human being. (No super-human strength. No flying.) So, the character can stop time, take an apple off the table, and place it in the air. It will stay there as long as time is stopped. When time is restarted, the apple will fall. The character can also rewind time, which would make the apple fall upward to the position where it was placed. This way, the character can orchestrate a series of events, where certain things happen at certain times.
The goal of the game would be to solve certain puzzles. For example, maybe the character is in a restaurant full of clumsy servers, and he has to make sure that no food is dropped over a period of five or ten minutes. Or maybe he's standing outside a bank, and he has to foil a robbery.
Another facet of the game is other people. The character cannot physically move or alter other people. Instead, each person will have a simple goal, communicated by a thought bubble above their head. By changing the environment, you can change the focus of another person, and they will alter their actions accordingly. Consider a truck driver driving down the street. He's driving, so he's thinking about his truck. You know a little girl is about to run in front of his truck, but he can't see her. Perhaps you pause time and drop a ball into the street ahead of him. His thought bubble changes from his truck to the ball, and he slows down when time is restarted.
I'd like to play this game, at any rate. What do you think?