Edit: The window for submissions is closed.
Everyone has a videogame idea.
Everyone.
Not that they’re good ideas.
Whenever I dig into the couch for a night of gaming with friends, the conversation inevitably drifts toward some imaginary game that would be way better than whatever we’re playing.
“Why can’t they make THAT game?”
My friend Willis (who designed this site) and I have wasted hours fleshing out the specifics of a game called The Wizard of Telegraph. It’s a kind of Don Quixote story about an acid-damaged bearedo in Berkeley’s People Park who comes to believe that he is battling dragons and foul demons (when in fact, he’s battling the Berkeley PD. [Or is he?!!!]).
I want to hear your game idea. Good or bad, serious or not-so-serious. Record your game pitch (with a short introduction—just your name and hometown), and drop it in my SoundCloud inbox below. I’m going to use these recordings in episode 6 of A Life Well Wasted.
REQUIREMENTS:
1. Please keep your recording under two minutes.
2. If you can, send your response as a WAV file (though MP3’s will work too).
3. You don’t need a fancy microphone, but I need to be able to easily understand what you’re saying.
4. BE YOURSELF. If it sounds like you’re reading from cue cards or trying hard to sound funny or smart, I’m not going to be into it. I just want to hear you being you.
5. Avoid technical terms and elaborate, boring gameplay specifics. I try to keep the show accessible for people who aren’t neck-deep in gaming culture. Explain your idea in a way that your grandmother would understand.
6. Don’t edit yourself or add music, sound effects, etc. I do the producing around here.
Edit: I’ve extended the window for submissions to Monday, February the 22nd.
Just click on the SoundCloud box below to upload your file. Good luck!
Comments
I was talking to a friend about Blood Bowl recently, and the discussion turned to his dream game – a turn based football game that played kind of like Final Fantasy Tactics. We plotted down an idea of gameplay, and it quickly got so batshit insane…I’ll try to convince him to record a short discussion about it.
Posted by David February 4, 2010 at 2:55 PM
David:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Bowl_%282009_video_game%29
Posted by Ed February 4, 2010 at 3:44 PM
Can one person submit multiple game ideas?
Posted by George February 4, 2010 at 3:48 PM
@George. Sure.
Posted by Robert Ashley February 4, 2010 at 3:52 PM
I will do my best to record something for you tomorrow
Posted by Max February 4, 2010 at 5:29 PM
if my video-game pitch idea involves Teledildonic peripherals and a second life mod would it make the podcast?
Posted by @fonysw February 4, 2010 at 9:19 PM
This is pretty awesome, i’ll make sure to search for some time to do this.
Posted by John February 6, 2010 at 6:06 AM
Man, with two minutes I’d have to skip over the inspirations, which I think makes my game idea a whole lot easier to imagine (Knytt, System Shock, Morrowind, and that “Life After Man” Discovery channel special). Of course, none of that would make any sense at all to my grandmother, so I guess it’s for the best.
Posted by Gabe February 7, 2010 at 5:37 PM
The windows sound recording thing defaults to a wma file, and I can’t seem to find a way to switch it, should I find another program to get you a .wav file?
Posted by Rob February 8, 2010 at 8:21 AM
@Rob: If Soundcloud will take the file, just go ahead and upload it.
Posted by Robert Ashley February 8, 2010 at 9:34 AM
Ok it has been sent. Hope it is worthy!
Posted by Rob February 8, 2010 at 9:58 AM
@People: I find Audacity to be a good recording program.
That aside, I am excited. I’m sending my game idea today and hope it makes it onto the show. I think I’m actually most excited for how Robert (What do you prefer?) will cut together the various people and pace the show. I’ve always been intrigued by the way RA cuts the show with tracks from I Come To Shanghai. It’s refreshing.
Posted by Matty February 10, 2010 at 12:53 PM
“I do the producing around here.”
True. Just not very often.
Posted by ThatGuy February 15, 2010 at 9:52 AM
Ah man, I just remembered an awesome (and super dumb) idea I had for a game. Looks like I missed the deadline.
Posted by McP February 18, 2010 at 9:09 PM
@McP: I’ve extended the submissions window. I’ll take down the SoundCloud button when I don’t want anymore submissions.
Posted by Robert Ashley February 19, 2010 at 9:25 AM
I sent you mine. Forgot to say my name and hometown at the beginning. Big oops!
Posted by McP February 22, 2010 at 8:38 PM
Speak Up and Be Judged!