Game Court 2006
For anyone who's interested, the concept I'm using for this year's game design competition is a sort of economy simulator. The general idea is that you play as a high school graduate and try to become as rich as you can by retirement. You are interacting indirectly with other players; that is, the corporations that exist in your game are those created by other players. If you get a job, you are working for a business created by another player. (This is similar to the indirect player interactions in Spore, where all of the content is created by yourself or other players.)
Of special interest to me is what I call "government mode," wherein the player, in addition to controlling his little in-game avatar, also has complete control over government policy. In a normal game, you would begin by selecting the country in which you want to live. It might be a true democracy, allowing you and other players to vote on such issues as whether to raise the minimum wage. It might be very socialistic, making it easy on new players but hard to score high. In government mode, though, you control all of this. It allows players to see the pros and cons of things like income tax, minimum wage, and government medical assistance.
Note that as in last year's contest, I am not making this game, merely pitching the concept. Comments and suggestions in this regard are welcome.
Of special interest to me is what I call "government mode," wherein the player, in addition to controlling his little in-game avatar, also has complete control over government policy. In a normal game, you would begin by selecting the country in which you want to live. It might be a true democracy, allowing you and other players to vote on such issues as whether to raise the minimum wage. It might be very socialistic, making it easy on new players but hard to score high. In government mode, though, you control all of this. It allows players to see the pros and cons of things like income tax, minimum wage, and government medical assistance.
Note that as in last year's contest, I am not making this game, merely pitching the concept. Comments and suggestions in this regard are welcome.