Does my game idea 'Shaft!' need a little 'je nais se quois' ?

StormyStudio

Originally I was going to make this game in 2 days, now I'm allowing 2 months, as I've got carried away with the whole idea and graphic creation.

I want to get it made before my Express membership expires.

What can I add to make the game a little more involved. Just a tad more interactivity...

Basic concept:
Character falling in an elevator.
You have to press jump just before it crashes to defy the laws of physics and survive the crash.

Visually I think it can look great, sparks, cool rusty elevator, interesting character design. Elevator buttons style menu. Bullet time slow mo for the crash...(?)...

What extras can I add so your not only interacting with the game once to make the character jump and survive?

Only possible I can think is, you have to jump during the free fall to collect bonuses, e.g. a crash helmet which increase your chance of survival.

..any input much appreciated...it just nice being able to think out loud (he says typing quietly)...

(Just checked a game called shaft already exists....thinking caps back on for a new name).

quantumsheep

How about 'Schindler's Lift'?

You could tap on the other people in the lift and they could say something in a speech bubble. You then select one of them to jump with you at the end

There is a company called 'Schindler' and they do make lifts (or elevators if you're American. But the joke doesn't really work then...) so there may be some legal issues...

QS

Rattlehead

stormystudio said:
What extras can I add so your not only interacting with the game once to make the character jump and survive?

How about other items in the elevator with you that your character has to either dodge via some sort of pre-defined key sequence (thinking either Simon Says or Dragons Lair)?

How about a power up that if tapped allows the player to attach another brake to the elevator?

Mechanics:
- Power up goes speeding by the elevator (maybe all power-ups are whizzing past in a dedicated column alongside the elevator?)
- Player clicks on the power-up
- Power-up is now activated for 5 or 6 seconds (displayed via a countdown on the screen)
- Player has to taps either a sequence or as many times as possible in the time allowed
- If you go the tap-crazy route, you could then check the number of times tapped against a chart and slow down the elevator 'x' amount - hopefully making it a slower decent/softer crash at the bottom

Kind of like a mini-game.

SingleSparq

There was a movie based around an evil elevator (the lift) had the best tag line ever- "Take the stairs, take the stairs. For God's sake, take the Stairs!!!"

Maybe not so much as jumping before it crashes but trying to stop it from crashing- kind of like a time bomb where you have to disable it before it goes off.

OR trying to save several characters before it crashes. Points awarded for those you save. As the elevator drops the countdown is the floors wizzing by. Question is how do you rescue individuals from a moving elevator. Possibly by completing a memory puzzle or something to slow down the elevator (like circuit bored on the side) then pick a person to jump and when to jump.

Name: elevator frenzy, elevator panic

StormyStudio

Nice ideas. Do like the idea of trying to save other passengers. Hmm . Bit like a saw horror movie puzzle. Solve some puzzles before you die.

StormyStudio

Oh and qs. Schindlers lift is a genius idea. It can all be black and White except for the characters red tie. ;-)

StusApps

we have a Schindler's lift at work, makes me smile everytime I get into it.

quantumsheep

stormystudio said:
Oh and qs. Schindlers lift is a genius idea. It can all be black and White except for the characters red tie. ;-)

I like it!

StusApps said:
we have a Schindler's lift at work, makes me smile everytime I get into it.

Heh - I used to have one in a place I used to live in.

They do make exceedingly nice lifts - and yes, you can't help but raise a smile when you see the name

QS

StormyStudio

Right, Ive haggled with the wife an got the afternoon free to work on the lift game.

Now thinking of making it a puzzle game in the under successful style of Grisly manor. But all based in a lift. For example there can be a lock on the hatch in the roof, a locked cabinet under the lift controls, grafiti on the Walls. Different people in the lift have dofferent skills and items.

Quite excited about this one.

Cheers for all the ideas

Sunny_1etha1

quantumsheep said:
How about 'Schindler's Lift'?

This pun makes me laugh (or titter inside, at least) every darn time I get in a Schindler lift.