Category: Game Ideas

1. “Hey, look who it is” – can be played while walking around campus, Pittsburgh, or anywhere you are that may have other people walking around that you know/recognize. The goal is to say “Hey, look who it is,” and the others around would have to guess who you’re referring to. A deck of game-specific cards reveal whether a point is gained, lost, or stolen from another player to add a little bit of randomness into the game.
2. A card has a portion of a guitar, bass, drum, etc tab-style note layout on it with no lyrics, only a tempo and you have to play it and guess what song it is for the point.
3. Cards have silhouettes of different poses. A group of people flip a community card and everyone has to strike the pose as quickly as possible. The last person to strike the pose is out. (Optional life counts to extend game time)
4. Cards have Netflix TV show and movie descriptions on them. Teams compete to match another set of cards with the movie titles on them, with the descriptions. The team to have the most correct after a certain amount of time win.
5. Whoever can dig the deepest hole with a playing card in x-amount of minutes wins

Francis Hartle

1.Cards as Game Pieces/ Creatures: This game would be a trading card game similar to magic the gathering or yugioh, but the caveat would be that the summoner of these creatures, represented by cards, has short term memory loss. Every card has a usual strength and defense, but also has a memorability, and after that many turns have passed, it is forgotten. It disappears! The game ends when one player reduces the other to 0 health.

2. Cards as a fitness aid: This game would be played with a standard deck of cards, each card corresponding to a regular body weight exercise, such as 2: push ups, 5: planks, etc. The player or players would draw two cards, one for the exercise, and one for the amount. In this system, jack, queen, king, and ace correspond to 11, 12, 15, and 20, respectively. This can be a simple way to supplement workouts or even just get a little bit of extra physical activity.

3. Cards as Power: Not necessarily power, but commanding power would be more apt. In this game, each card represents a number of certain types of troops under a king’s army. Each amount of a starting unit would be determined by the draw of a card, and then the next unit would be selected. At the end, two or more players battle for control of card land, also consisting of cards worth their corresponding amount of points. At the end of the game, the king with the most points wins.

4. Cards as Currency: In this game, cards represent money. The goal of the game is to come out the other side with the most money, and it can even feature real betting, if you’re the gambling type. A deck is shuffled and split in two, and each player is dealt 3 cards from the top of their deck. This is the amount of money they start with. Then, each player bets a card. Each player then flips the top card from their deck, and the player with the higher card wins the bet and collects not only the cards that were bet, but also the ones flipped over, and these are all put into their wallet. Then, they shuffle their hands into their deck and draw a new hand. The game ends when the decks are gone, and the player with the largest wallet wins.

5. War with golf scoring: Played like traditional war, but the twist is that the lower card wins. Admittedly at this point I ran out of ideas.

1. You get a normal deck of cards and take the number of players playing cards out of the deck, so if there are 4 players 4 random cards get taken out and put in the middle spread out. Every player gets 4 cards and has to keep 4 cards in their hand at all times. There is one dealer, the dealer picks up a card from their deck to see if they want to keep it or toss it to the player on their left. The goal is to get a straight the fastest, if you get a straight you pick one of the cards in the middle and so does everyone else, whoever has the lowest card losses. 
2. A group of 4+ players all sit in a circle and have a deck of cards in the middle with dice. The first person to start will pick a card and the card has different statements on them, the person will read the card and show the card to the person to their left and then that person will choose who fits that card the best. They will then roll the dice and if it’s an odd number they have to read the card out loud if it’s even they keep the card to themselves and the rest of the group won’t know what it said. 
3. This game is a twist on truth or dare. There are two decks of cards: one truth, one dare, and a dice. The dice have three colors on them, blue for truth, black for dare and pink means you can ask another player to do a truth or dare that’s up to you. If you refuse a dare or truth, the group gets to choose a dare for you and you don’t get the card. A player with the first 10 cards wins. 
4. This game is a 4-8 player game, One deck of cards has 1 card with a skull and 7 cards with a check mark, depending on how many players you will have the same amount of cards as how many players and there will always be a skull in the mix. The cards will be spread out in a line in the middle of the group and then each player will pick a card at random and if they get the skull they will have to do a dare and lose a life. Each player has five lives. Whoever lasts the longest wins. 
5. This is a two-player card game, each player starts with 4 cards, and then the rest of the deck is placed between them. Each player will take turns picking from the deck and trying to make as many runs as they can before the deck runs out. 

1. A race around RMU’s campus to find Tucci could be played where players are required to stay in any paved surface to navigate campus. Doing this would reward those who know the campus more than others.
2. The challenge of the second game would be to see who can make the most expensive ROMO’s item. The one rule though, is that the player cannot go back and use trial-and-error to complete the task.

Along the Watchtower

This game was actually something I came up with last year in one of Jones’ classes. The class was about surveillance, and the original idea utilized the security cameras across campus. The players have to make it from Wheatley to the front entrance of campus without being detected. In a class-friendly version, seekers could be stationed in advantageous points of campus.

Blast Off

The original version of this game was formulated by my friend Ethan (not Romito, sadly) and I in fourth grade. The field of play is 50 yards, with two end zones. Two players are designated as throwers, the rest are runners. Runners wait in an end zone, while a thrower makes their way to the midpoint of the two zones, where a ball is waiting. Runners want to make it from one end to the other in any given round. You can try to sneak across while the thrower is getting to the ball, but if you leave before they reach it they can pick you off. It’s a gamble. If you choose to stay in the zone, you are allowed to start running when the thrower touches the ball. The thrower must make it back to his zone and throw the ball to the opposite thrower. If you, as a runner, don’t make it to the other zone before the ball, you’re out.

1.) GameDay is modeled after the stereotypical college traditions and superstitions that occur on Game Day, the game is designed to be played at tailgates or pre-game parties. The goal is to see who the number #1 fan is, and the game utilizes cards and a point system to accomplish this. Players take turns pulling cards, which can either have rules, superstitions, or dares that the players must follow, check, or accomplish. Each card is worth a different amount of points depending on what it says, and at the end, the player with the most points wins. 

2.) In Case of Emergency is a game that revolves around the potential threat of an emergency occurring, it relies heavily on hypothetical elements as well as the players own awareness of their surroundings. The game starts out as a card with an emergency card, which lays out the emergency that is hypothetically occurring. Then players have to use the resources/supplies that they have on them and in their surrounding area to find a way they to survive the emergency. As the hypothetical situation unfolds, more cards can be added to change the situation and level of threat. Players can work against one another or together, the only goal is to find a way to survive.

3.) Lost & Found is a simple scavenger game, that works best with a large number of players. Each player is meant to take an object of theirs and then “lose” it in the games selected environment (a dorm building, classroom, or quad). No other players are meant to know where these objects are. From there lost objects are assigned to each of the players, and it’s their goal to find them. Players may use whatever means they have available in their search, but are not allowed to simply tell one another where lost objects are. 

4.) Fork in the Road is a game that consists of at least two teams racing their way across a campus by following the walking paths. At the beginning of the game each game will be giving tasks, which could consist of a. collect something, b. “tag” out another team, or c. lay out a specific path the team must follow. Each time players come to a fork in the road, they’re allowed to head either direction. The main goal is for each team to accomplish their task, and then beat the opposing teams to the end point. 

5.) Last Man Standing is competition based game, where players are pitted directly against one another. Much like truth or dare style games, each round has a sole task or dare that players need to complete in order to advance. These tasks/dares vary depending on the group of players and how they decide to play the game, the only goal is to be the last man standing. 

1. A group of players is blindfolded and scattered across a field and they are infected. Another group of players has to make it across the same field to grab objects and bring them back while avoiding the infected.
2. In a field playing tick tac toe but you have to throw frisbees to mark the x’s and o’s
3. Two teams are at separate ends of a field with a rock between them that marks the middle. Each team is in a single line, the person in the front has to run to meet the other team in the middle and play rock, paper, scissors. If you win, you continue to run toward the opposite team to win, if you lose, the person has to run and cut the opposing team off from reaching them.
4. Pieces of a puzzle are scattered in zones across campus. There can be multiple groups but group 1 has to look in zone 1 for their piece of the puzzle and have to find all the pieces to complete the puzzle before the other teams.
5. A group of people agrees on a word and whenever that word is said you have to avoid the floor like its lava for 2 min. If you don’t make it off the floor your out and if anyone catches you not following the rules, your out.

5 Game Ideas that can be played on campus:

1. Large-Scale Hide and Seek: A massive game of hide and seek that covers the entire campus or a certain section of campus. There would be an even amount of hiders and seekers to keep things fair and a time limit of one hour.
2. Race/Marathon: The goal of the game would be to start on one end of campus and race others to the other side of campus, any path can be taken. Those that understand campus best will have the advantage.
3. Extreme Eye-Spy: The game involves two players who take turns ‘spying’ something for the other player to find. To win the player guessing must not only guess the object on campus but run to it and touch it. The guesser can guess once a minute and there is a 10 minute limit.
4. Relay Race: There would be two teams, both have players stationed at different parts of campus and in order to win, the first player on each team will bring a play to the second who will bring it to the third and so on.
5. Freeze Tag: A large game of freeze tag involving multiple ‘It’ players and then everyone else will try to evade the ‘It’ players. The game has a one-hour timer and ‘It’ players win by tagging everyone, but regular players win by evading the ‘It’ players.

Kobold Guide to Game Design: Part 1 Questions

1. I believe that every game should have a few key things in order to be fun:

• A clear goal: Games should have a clear goal to give the player something to strive for, even a very simple goal is enough.
• Every game should have rules/conditions: In order for a game to be a game, it should have rules/conditions in place that tell the players how the game should be played and enjoyed.
• Interactivity: Games should also have clear and fun ways for the player to interact with the game or the other players.

2. List of Games I am Playing/Have Played:

Currently Playing:

• League of Legends
• Genshin Impact

Have Played:

• Among Us
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• The Binding of Isaac
• BioShock
• BioShock 2
• BioShock Infinite
• Bloons TD 6
• Call of Duty: Black Ops II
• Castle Crashers
• Sims City
• Roblox
• Minecraft
• Jackbox
• Cube World
• Danganronpa
• Danganronpa II
• Danganronpa V3
• DEVOUR
• Don’t Starve
• Elden Ring
• Fall Guys
• Fallout 3
• Fallout 4
• Fallout: New Vegas
• Fallout 76
• The Forest
• Half-Life
• Half-Life 2
• Hunt: Showdown
• Kingdoms and Castles
• Lego Star Wars
• Life is Strange
• Lost Ark
• Metro 2033
• The Mortuary Assistant
• Mountain
• Neverwinter
• NieR:Automata
• One Piece Burning Blood
• One Piece Pirate Warriors 4
• One Piece World Seeker
• Persona 4 Golden
• Portal
• Portal 2
• Prison Architect
• Phasmophobia
• PUBG
• Resident Evil 2 Remake
• Resident Evil 3 Remake
• Resident Evil 7
• Resident Evil 8
• Ruined King
• Sid Meier’s Civilization V
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
• Smite
• Spore
• Starbound
• Stardew Valley
• Stonehearth
• Tabletop Simulator
• Terraria
• Town of Salem
• Trove
• Unturned
• Uno
• Monopoly
• Sorry
• VA-11 Hall-A
• Valheim
• The Walking Dead

3. I do believe I can apply the Three Act Structure to my favorite game, League of Legends.

• Act I: League of Legends starts with all players on each team going to their specific position on the map, this is the start of Act I, or ‘Laning Phase’ in terms of the game. This Act takes about about half the game and involves each player fighting their respective opponent on the enemy team.
• Act II: After Act I or ‘Laning Phase’ ends, Act II or the mid-game begins. This phase of the game takes most of the rest of the game and mostly involves both teams fighting all together to gain objectives on the map.
• Act II: After Act II concludes, we enter Act III of the game. By this point of the their will usually be one team with a clear advantage and all that is left is for one team to break through enemy’s base and destroy, winning the game and concluding the ‘story’ of the game.

4. When I find myself thinking of a new idea I feel I typically start with the metaphor rather than the mechanics. Most of the time as I brainstorm an idea will pop into my head that I think is interesting, then as I continue to explore and expand on this idea more I will then begin making the mechanics of the idea and how it will actually work. I usually only start working on mechanics once I have a clear idea on what my idea is going to be about.

5. I am taking this class as a part of my minor, so I am unfamiliar with most people in our class, only knowing a few from previous classes. I am always looking to meet new people so I don’t have any preferences on who I end up working with.

Rhythm Tsunami [Rhythm (music)] — Climax Resonates Your Emotions

The Impression(s) of the Game (why is it fun): Expressing your face towards the shaking musical beats to resolve uneasiness.

Brief Info: The floating animated blocks on the choppy tides where the player crosses through by various postures like a running man. The Player will use their hand to control the character’s movement to get the blocks in the right location and not drop underseas or be blown by the block.

Compass 2 Survivalist (Survival Challenge) — The Signal to the Survival Shortcut

The Impression(s) of the Game (why is it fun): Get Guidance from hazardous undersea from the compass to seek survivalists to get rescued.

Brief Info: The character will be diving below the ocean surrounded by harsh tides, whirlpools, cyclones, volcanos, and sharks; players will need to be aware of the cautionary phenomena by using jumping/spin/slide (left & right, etc.)/ liquid spray [prevent the animal attack, not harmful for both human and animal] to get through; once the character receives the compass icon, they will be direct to where the survivalist is (be sure to follow the direction and take precaution about surrounding circumstances); once he/she reach to the survivalist, then it will be successfully rescued.

Rush 4 Ambassador (Strategy) — Banner Structured By Runner

The Impression(s) of the Game (why is it fun): Running to be not only a brand influencer but also creating the poster by collecting design elements like alphabets and graphics to sculpt the poster.

Brief Info: The story character will be taken initiative to make an impact on the brands he/she is up to like radio podcasts, nonprofits, and other events that lack banners and/or posters; the player will guide his/her to collect the items based on the instructions from the ad material. The character must be aware of the obstacle that can damage the banner and its item like rain and crowds of visitors respectively; the player needs to slide left and right and use an umbrella. It will be a game over if the character’s banner touches the rain or the items of the banner become empty.

Obstacles Rhythm [Story & Shooting (musical beats)] — Elevation by Overcoming Barriers

The Impression(s) of the Game (why is it fun): Beating the limitations is the motivating stimulus to reach the new altitude.

Brief Info: The character in a hot balloon is a DJ who can shoot a laser(s) through his/her beat control panel and wants to get on the aircraft (for ongoing musical acts) but is surprised that he needs to pass the exam of rhythm theory. When the musical blocks come, the player must touch the destination, if the player touches the destination too late, the block(s) will blow the balloon, you have 5 hearts (which indicates the damage to your balloon, you get lost if it is empty), if you hit too early, you may get lower height as it used to be. The final score depends on the height of the balloon and the quantity of the hearts.

Wisdom Painkillers [Story with Challenge Tasks (objects collection and hitting musical beats)] — Side effects Free Relievers

The Impression(s) of the Game (why is it fun): Eliminating aches whether it is physiologically and/or psychologically by keeping entertainment beats (music and interesting tasks) resonate with your body.

Brief Info: The character loves any entertainment that can become the best numb shot for preventing anxiety for the next big event that could trigger pain in his/her body and mental breakdown; the character will be undergoing wisdom teeth surgery (extract bottom third molars) under IV Sedation; before he reaches to the dental office by his car, he would like to talk to the radio station to play the emotions of the upbeat songs that can help him to relieve tension and post-op pain(but not sure which song). Now the player must find the song through his treasure room that could match his description of the emotion of the song. During his surgery, the player will play rhythm beats (make sure to hit musical block correct to ensure he is comfortable otherwise the game will be lost); after the dental operation, the character will be sent to the car by his nurse (he cannot drive), he turns up the radio volume to the 50%, the player will play a rhythm beats. After back home, he feels some soreness on his gum, he will need to find some supplements to fuel him up (the player will take responsibility to help him to get the object).