Design Challenge: Spoken Word

[jillduffy]

Discuss your ideas, ask questions, and heckle others here for the Game Design Challenge: Spoken Word.

I almost forgot:
The first-place winner of this week's challenge will receive a copy of the book Video Game Careers, courtesy of Random House.

(To receive the prize, the winner will be contacted via email and will be asked for his or her postal address.)

[Protector one]

Oh my, and I thought the last challenge was challenging...
No video game... That's just cruel...

Ps., I like the new 200 word cap. Someone doesn't feel like reading this week, no?

[Mariol]

I only found out about these challenges yesterday and this one's extremely difficult!

[jillduffy]

Originally Posted by Protector one

I like the new 200 word cap. Someone doesn't feel like reading this week, no?

The word limit has to do with challenging the respondents to move away from storytelling. I swear!

How the submissions are written plays a large part in which ones win. It's just like writing a college entrance essay, grant application, or cover letter. The language needs to be tight, focused, and clear.

[TG1]

OK, so here the very first idea that came to mind when I read the challnge details, I will probably try to think of another one for my final submission, but just to kick start things:
The game will be called "translator" or "translate this!",
is will work best with a group of 4 to 8 people (less then that it won't be much of a challenge, more then that it will be too messy) and especially meant for multi-cultural groups, but can work with other groups.

the first player will say a word in english, the player after him will need to say the same word but in his own language, if he apeaks the same language he will need to invent s translation (for example changing the O's to A's so orange will be translated to aronge). each player after that will need to repeat all the translations and add his own translation.
when it's the first players turn again he will need to come up with a new word. a player is out when he forgets a word, the last player standing is the winner.

for example using 3 players:
first round:
player one: Hello
player two (hebrew): hello shalom
player three (invented language): hello shalom hella

second round:
player one: hello shalom hella dog
player two: hello shalom hella dog kelev
player three: hello shalom , oh wait I forgot!

[Mariol]

Ok here's a simple one.

You can play this with more than one player but for this example I'll just use two players. The players take it turns to count upwards, but as well as saying a number the player must name an object that they can see. They also have to be able to see around them a certain number of that same object at the time they have to say their number. Depending on what number they are upto in the sequence will depend on how many objects they need to find for their go. The higher the number gets the harder it will be to progress in the game. If any player can't proceed to name the correct amount of objects then they're out.

If you play with more than two players, when the first player's out the remaining players will start again from one. The last person remaining will win.

[ronnoc10]

This challenge is really good, but I'll be out of town (out of the country, actually), so I can't do it

[Kodiak]

Same here.

I'm all over the Great North over the next 6 days (Iqaluit, Resolute, Yellowknife...and Edmonton, though I guess that's not really the North for us Canucks), so I'll be missing out on most of this one.

I'm really looking forward to reading the ideas that are bounced around.

I'm a little concerned about the difficulty progression in the challenges, though. Given the current pace, it won't be long until we're asked to devise a game using nothing more than a piece of lint and having our eyes closed while doing a hand stand.

Of course...I guess that's why it's called a CHALLENGE!!!

[OSD]

Argh!!!! Just as I was focusing on getting the stupid C# code working the way I want and this appears! Now I'll have 4 things battling for attention in my head.

This will be tough as almost all idea (I said almost, so we better be the ones that proves the almost part correct xD) that anyone can think of have already been invented (I'm not kidding about this one). The requirement with major difference will be a tough nut to crack since we have....

Play on words
Continuation of words
Modification of words
Modification of sentence
Addition/Subtraction of words
Sight (I Spy)
Counting something
Translation of languages (sorry! It's a game widely used for ESL/Learning any other second/third/fourth language >.<)
Translation of number/symbol into words and vice versa.
Riddles (this counts too I think)

Without relying on any of these, it will be a tough challenge. I'll just take my mind off of this by getting frustrated with XNA

[Kodiak]

OSD's right. Word games have been a means of entertaining humans for a very long time. We might unwittingly come up with something already out there.

Oh well, nothing like reinventing the wheel!

before I head out, here's an idea for inspiration:

"Get Me?"

A game that tests players' communications and listening skills for 2-6 players.

Each player takes turns describing an object (live or inanimate).

They can only use shapes, colors and basic actions (more on that when I have the chance to figure out how to communicate it) to describe the object in such a way that it can be mentally pictured. They cannot refer to the object by name.

The aim is for the other players to guess the object.

The group of guessers is only allowed 3 chances to guess. If no correct guesses are made, the opportunity to describe an object goes to the next player.

The first to guess the object gets three points. If the object is correctly guessed, the describer gets one point.

Here's the catch: guessing wrong deducts 2 points from the guesser's total.

The game proceeds for as many rounds as the players have time for.

The player with the most points at the end winds.

Hope this generates some ideas!