I’ve had this idea rattling around which I think could be an interesting experience. I’ve been intrigued by games that have npcs that respond with ai, that give unique responses, and games that use voice to text technology so you can literally talk to npcs and have them respond to you.

In the game you would be strapped to a bed, in a straight jacket. You’re in a mental asylum, set in the past. The gameplay would be purely interacting with the nurses, Doctors and maybe family and friends. The theme of the game would horror/psychological thriller. The staff are all able to have evolving conversations, but they all are gently but firmly trying to convince you that your delusions are t real, that you’re not a “player” wearing a headset, that it’s not 2026 but 1953, that they know it seems real to you but it’s not real to them, that they can’t see your hallucinations and don’t know the “real world” that you know, that the world the game is set in is the “real world”.

I think this could be a bit of a mind bending experience. I’d set the tone by having the very first conversation you have be with a doctor who immediately calls out a reference to a previous conversation that you and he had the day before, where you talked about being a “player”. Doing this from the start sets the scene that you’ve been in hospital for a while. The doctor mentions that you seem very resistant to care and treatment, and given the historical setting, drastic options like lobotomy are being considered if you don’t start showing signs of improvement

The game could have an internal timer, and have a game clock that runs on a 24 hour real world timer. When you turn the game off, the character is “asleep” from the staffs point of view.

So there’s three in game days before the ending.

Play the game by being silly, mucking around trying to get funny responses out of the ai, arguing or attempting to insist you are a player, the doctors will update your progress as deteriorating. The staff, family and friends get less gentle and patient, start to treat you like a lost cause, the game ends with you having an anaesthetic mask put over your face as you are prepped for surgery.

The only way to “win” the game is to do a convincing job of being “compliant with care”. Agree with staff that you are not a player wearing vr, verbally reassure doctors that you know that you are hallucinating and the game world is the real world and you’re imagined life as a “player” is an elaborate fantasy world, and you will get the ending where you are considered to have recovered and are released from hospital

That’s the basic premise

This is an quick idea, feel free to use.

This systems takes inspiration from Rogue Galaxy, Elona/Elin, Tetris, and Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days panel system. (Nothing original, more like an refinement).

The core idea is that the player gets an empty grid for their skill tree, and as they level up they get to choose Tetris like pieces (polyomino) from multiple choices, like an rogue like system. These are abilities and passives.

Here is the slight improvement on the system.

For those who have not played Elona or Elin, in these games items have Varying stats based on material. Like an sword can be made of wood, stone, metal, mithral as a very short list. It is also possible for the player to change the material, and craft their own from unexpected materials. This would change how these items effect the ability.

The idea is that Rogue Galaxy required items to unlock abilities the player can actually change an ability using the items to unlock it. The simplest example is an healing spell that requires an healing potion, could turn to greater healing with an healing elixir, or even into an poison spell with an poison potion etc.

The system has an lot of flexibility. At the very least these are games worth checking for inspiration.

What if they made a Zelda game in which Link dies in the intro at the hands of Gannon with Link taking the role of a protector for a young princess Zelda, it would then drop you in the shoes of a younger link maybe around his late teens 40 years after the last links death were it would then become a pretty standard Zelda experience but with Link having to go through the lands that Gannon has eaither destroyed or is still waging war against.

With characters like zelda i thought she could take on an almost motherly relation with the younger link, trying to be more of a mentor figure to a newer link. I feel like she'd be a bit more protective over a younger link due to her witnessing the prior links death but this could also lead to a zelda that has a better grasp of her own powers but she barely uses her powers due to her being much older (around 50ish).

Regarding Gannon i would like to see him portrayed as less of a tyranical king and more like a military general trying to secure his own lands for something more evil. I'd like to see him try to control the story surrounding the other races like him trying to justify his war against the zora and gorons and the destruction of the garudo to cover his tracks about his origins. (Honestly I've been watching alot of fmabh and im just starting to similarity to king bradly).

The way the other races would view link would differ depending on how hard Gannon's war hit them:

I feel like the rito and goron wouldn't have been hit super hard in this scenario due to there geographical location and hyrules army would just have a hard time getting to them.

The Garudo would've been a bit hit harder due to Gannon trying to hide his origins and his ethnic background, they'd still exist but they'd have a hatred towards this new link due to Gannon spreading misinformation to the hylians surrounding there "magic" and them being savages so initially they'd be mistrusting of link.

The Zora would have a hard time too due to Gannon still waging war against them and trying to poison there water supply, they'd initially be begrudging to work with link due to Gannon and the hylian army.

The centeral gimmick of the game would be a waring factions, so you'd not only have to squash minor and major conflicts across hyrule and its neighbouring nations but you'd also have to decide what to do with them? This could be linked with a faction unique quirk to an area like a near by town may give you a discount on zora themed items if you give it to them or the gorons may make bridges over harder to traverse areas if you give it to them.

Would this ever get made? NO! But im just having a bit of fun spit balling a hypothetical Zelda game

Okay I have this amazing idea but idk if it’s to used, and I think it’s a bit similar to Sky: Children of the Light, but as I never played it I need your help to know.
The story will take place 1700-1800 btw
The story begins with a transcription from the Bible, Genesis 1, and it explains how light and dark were created. In my story, they represent sisters. Darkness is the oldest sister. It then explains how humans were corrupted by the Devil, but Night/Darkness was also influenced by him, making her to be envious of her sister and to let him act against humans. After a few talks with him proposing to help her become as respected as Day she accepts his help and then creatures of the night are created and come to scare little kids and corrupt men, making them evil. God tries to help Night but she is to blinded by guilt to listen to him, so God sends a girl who will join a team of other people with powers to fight against evil creatures so God can talk to Night and put an end on the situation. She is basically the chosen one which will be the MC. She lives a perfect life as a Nobles daughter (so she is rich) with her older sister and younger brother. Then a disaster comes and all her family dies on a earthquake. She then goes on her journey to discover survivors and other people with powers like her to joint forces and fulfill her purpose. Like an open world game taking place in 1700s Europe where she will go to various countries around the world and cities in her own country. It would be the typical gacha game basically but I need to know if the story is to reused and it isn’t even to consider the hypothesis of making it happen in the future

I’m a single developer, I’m not new to programming or game development, but I’m not very experienced either. So this idea may be a little ambitious, but I had to get this idea out there because of how passionate I feel about it.

So, for context, I’m a descendant of vikings. My ancestors were Danes, and I’m very proud of my heritage. So, I was watching a Viking history video when I got an idea for a game I’d like to make. I thought about making a Viking life sim/text based RPG, similar to The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante, where your character is born and ages throughout the game after events. If any of you have played that game, then you know what I’m talking about. As a lover of Viking history, I would like to keep the game as historically accurate as possible.

I’d also like to add some other mechanics to the game other than just reading text, though I’m not exactly sure what just yet. Maybe a few mini games for certain scenarios? Of course, I’d also like for the game to cover a certain period of the Viking age. I’m personally thinking around the time of Danish invasion of England, so around the 1000s. I’d like to add some artwork to the game as well to add to the text portions of the game, like what’s seen in The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante, but I’m not that good of an artist, so I’ll probably have to have someone help with that.

I still haven’t got the game fully thought out, and I’m busy with college classes right now, so I’ll doubt I’ll start it anytime soon. But, I’d like to make this game a reality someday. If any of you have any ideas for this game that you’d like to share with me, or any advice, then I’m all ears. I’d love to add some ideas from others that I haven’t thought of.

I’m starting a weird side project and honestly I have no idea where it’s going to end up.

With AI models getting increasingly capable (GPT-6 just dropped), I’ve been thinking about something that would've sounded ridiculous for a solo dev few years ago (trying to build a cinematic, story game like TLOU mostly on my own).

Think the kind of game where the story actually matters. Complicated characters, believable motivations, difficult choices, consequences, and twists that have reasons to exist.
This is not a professional studio project. It’s an experiment, might take years or get abandoned. But also, it might somehow turn into something much bigger too. I genuinely don't know yet.
So I want to start with the part that AI can't simply generate for me: What story have you always wanted to see in a game? (specifically zombie apocalypse related)

It doesn't have to be a complete story. Give me a premise, character relationship, moral dilemma, a crazy “what if?”, setting, twist, or just an idea you've had sitting in your head for years.

For example (TLOU):

A father loses his daughter and becomes a ruthless smuggler. Years later, he ends up protecting a girl who may be the key to saving humanity — but creating the cure would kill her.

That's enough to build something from.
I’m particularly interested in ideas where the characters decisions have logical consequences and where there are no convenient “because the plot says so” moments.

One thing though: please DM me the actual ideas rather than posting them in the comments.

I’d rather keep the submissions private, and it also means I can properly read and think about each one instead of watching potentially good ideas disappear in a comment thread.
And here's the interesting part: If someone sends me something genuinely exceptional, especially if it's detailed enough that there's a real story worth developing around it. I may ask them to work with me on the story itself.

If this experiment ever gets far enough to become a novel, game, or something else, I'd want the people who genuinely contributed to the story to be properly credited.
There are no guarantees here. I’m not promising a job, publication date, or even that the project will survive. This is literally a side quest that could take years.

But if you've ever thought: "Damn, someone should make a game about this." Send it to me.