playcentric

Update: Woo! One of my crates was listed (among with many others) as one of the best in the bunch, check it out (I’m the first one on the page, Jenna Hoffstein)

http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/576/results_from_game_design_.php?page=3

I recently discovered that Game Career Guide has weekly game design contests and promptly put in my response to the one they had last week. Here is a link to the challenge:

http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/565/gamecareerguidecoms_game_design_.php

Long story short, the challenge is to come up with 10 sci-fi alternatives for a crate (ie something that can be use for “storing, blocking, building, climbing, throwing, smashing, and more” and is “versatile, movable, stackable, and stable when situated on the floor.”

Here’s what I came up with:

1. Hover Platforms – Would take up the same cubic volume as a crate
2. Mood Cubes – Left over from early experiments in AI, can be coerced into helping you or into exploding in anger
3. Large Batteries/Power Source – Could be used in puzzles where the player needs to power something on
4. Giant Robot Pieces
5. Compacted Trash Cubes – Inspiration goes to Pixar for this one
6. Cages around Tears in the Space/Time Fabric – Created by messing around with time travel, can be busted apart and used on enemies.
7. Kryptonite – A natural substance mined into blocks that’s harmful to an enemy alien species, placed strategically to protect the city/colony/whatever
8. Interstellar Storage Container – Specially designed to protect objects in the jump to hyperspace!
9. Mined Meteorite Blocks
10. Clean Air & Water Storage Cubes – Weight would vary accordingly (and the ones containing air should float in water) and could be used in puzzles