I like to play with ideas while browsing through GameRefinery’s data and the games we’ve analyzed, and what I’ve noticed is that the database can give you pretty “interesting ideas.”
So, I thought it would be fun to share some of these ideas as in the end, they are just ideas manifested from GameRefinery’s database – but maybe they’ll find their way into one of your games.
Team match3?
While playing 4X Strategy, I was thinking about social elements such as guilds and how engaging the guild and co-op elements in these types of games are compared to others. For example, generally in RPGs (and I’m talking generally here, not that this is always the case), guilds often offer little ACTUAL engagement and co-op between players. They mostly offer rewards or other kinds of stuff, but you are quite ” alone” in the game.
From this example, I wondered why a match3 game couldn’t implement a non-competitive co-op where you could solve individual puzzles with a team or something similar. As a team, you would then decide during which phase; for example, somebody should use bombs for the team to gain the most significant benefit.
This” idea” could be tied to an event, much like in this example from Rise of Kingdoms.
To make things more interactive between players, could these players not solve puzzles together in real-time?
Players creating events in Mid-core?
Wilhelm, our Senior Analyst, recently wrote a deconstruction of Roblox, and it got me thinking of something that would allow people to be creative in Mid-Core games, within certain limits, of course.
Would it be possible to allow guilds to create events that could be accessible for the whole game audience by:
- Providing players with a set number of ways to adjust the event’s creative aspects – such as bosses, enemies, buildings, etc.
- The opportunity to design the event would be provided to top guilds – could be a monthly event designed by the guild that topped the previous month’s event score leaderboard.
- Earning the right to design the event would be based on guilds achieving a points threshold. Guilds would earn points through in-game activities. The guild that then designs the event would also get extra benefits.
Likely this event would be a sort of “recurring” event, but with a different designer each time that would add its own twist. Participating players could gain event currency in small amounts. The main idea would be to bring more content for players that is created by the players.
“Tinder” for creative designs?
Another interesting notion we discussed with Kalle, our Chief analyst for China, was that wouldn’t it be a fun idea to let players create custom skins in, e.g., mid-core games, which players could vote for with rewards for the best designs. This could be tied to a non-recurring event to spice up the content a bit with the top voted skins added to the games as limited time purchases, for example. Now we’re not saying we haven’t seen anything like this before, but features like this are quite rare yet nevertheless interesting.
Beautiful Genshin Impact style gameplay to 4X Strategy games that have an RPG layer?
Suppose there’s already an RPG layer in the 4X game, and you just love your champions. Wouldn’t it be fun to have something special like Action RPG gameplay with your champion during some events such as battles? Where you could still utilize 4x elements and command your army to attack certain points, but still be able to participate in the battle with your commander and strike the final blow against the enemy commander!
Hopefully, this blog post sparked your own ideas, and maybe you even took a peek into our database for some creative inspiration. In any case, feel free to reach out to me via LinkedIn, and we can chat more about ideas that GameRefinery can help you find.
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