With the bulk of similar games appearing on shelves these days, its no wonder that sometimes, you’ll feel like when you’ve played one, you’ve played them all.
Its true that if its tried and proven, don’t change it, but this formula only guarantees games that just follow a template and stick in the details later. FPSs start to differ only by the addition of guns, bows, or lasers, depending on the premise of the game.
There have been a couple of interesting new concepts for games recently, but nothing as ground-breaking as the idea for a ‘people simulator’ (The Sims) yet. Lets explore some of these ideas:

A recent interesting and relatively successful mash-up is ‘Borderlands’. A FPS with RPG elements, its combines fast-paced action with strategic (albeit simple) RPG elements. With a loot system similar to Diablo, generating randomly created loot with different stats each time, it appeals to those who like treasure hunting and provides the action-adrenaline rush only available in shoot-em ups.
The idea presented here is that not every game has to be of one particular genre. A combination of two different genres (with some careful thought) makes for a vastly interesting game with unique gameplay mechanics. In-fact, it doesn’t have to be genres. Any two gaming ideas can be ‘mashed’ together with interesting results. Of course, not all ideas will work so the necessary play-testing needs to be done. Anyone got any ideas for a FPS-Tower Defence game?
Another idea that I’d like to explore is the rules of a game. Most games tend to stick to realism as it is easily understood by gamers. For example, the rules of physics need not be explained to everyone as it is intiutively understood. However, its not a written in stone rule that games have to follow the rules of reality. There have been a couple of games that bend reality as a theme, such as the highly-rated Braid, in which time is used as tool. Another highly-rated game, Psychonauts,is a platformer that takes place in the minds of characters in the game, allowing for highly surreal environments. 
A more recent release, Dreamkiller also makes use of this idea to bring players into the minds of characters plagued with psychological problems, suffering from different kinds of fear. The levels are based off the fears of each patient and are themed as such. The protagonist is a psychologist who is able to enter her patients’ minds and shoot the psychological problems whom manifest themselves as different types of ‘monsters’. So you’d expect to see spiders in the mind of someone who’s suffering from arachnophobia.
Games like these have no limits on the designs of their levels. The levels can be made skewed as far from reality as they like and creativity can be utilised to its utmost when it comes to the design and look of the levels and eventually the overall feel of the game.
Games are a terrific outlet to express creativity, especially if you are given the creative freedom to design or mould the basis of a game. I’d like to encourage all GET students to think creatively and ‘think outside the box’. For more game ideas, or a discussion on gaming ideas, feel free to leave a comment here or speak to me in school. Im always open to discussions on gaming ideas. Lastly, keep those creative juices flowing!
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