The Game I Want to Play

I have 2 games on my mobile - Puzzle and Dragons and Terra Battle.
As a gamer I tend to give a lot of love to single games, especially when they are endless (although I'm fairly close to finishing the story mode of Terra Battle as it stands right now.)

I've been looking for another game to add, specifically one linked with Google Play Games, but nothing has made a significant impact quite yet. Maybe I'll learn of something at GDC Eu / Gamescom (Signed up to CA this year as well just recently) that will entice me.

While I have been looking, I've been looking through the data of popular games in various countries. South Korea has it's Kakao platform which doesn't work for me. Americans are generally more into the casual experience, while the Japanese have more hardcore games which is one of the reason they appeal to me more. I also appreciate the artwork and stories.

Looking at mechanics and genres, I came up with a mash up I might have fun exploring - Mixing collectible cards (with lots of sexy anime ladies of course ;) ) with city building and a dating sim?
It just seems that most, if not all, of these collectible card games end up in a turn based battle system, which made sense for physical games like Magic or even war, the card game, and I still enjoy it and think there's room for more, but maybe we can do more in digital media.
Some of my inspiration comes from the Suikoden series, where some of the characters you recruited during your quest build up shops and add mini-games to an ever expanding castle.
Another source of inspiration is what I consider my favorite JRPG - Thousand Arms, where improving your relationships with your female team members allowed to forge weapons with special abilities.

Maybe my game could have a sci-fi theme, where you build a space station, visited by various alien types, each must be persuaded to diplomatic relations in various ways in order to collect their cards and unlock new facilities of the station.

Spiritual Successors

Played XCOM: The Board Game a couple of weeks ago. Fairly entertaining experience, especially when we barely eked out a victory.
This got me thinking about the game, which made me start a list of games I'll need to pay once I feel I've progressed enough in my career choice that I can relax at home... Might take awhile longer :/

It also made me think of the spiritual successors and clones for the original game, and whether this remake will spawn new ones. Maybe it will, or maybe it just isn't as innovative as the original and mobile games are where such things pop up now.

I've played quite a few number of these games, and rate them much higher than most reviews.
While analyzing what made these games appealing I started coming up with my own ideas.

The aerial combat of sending interceptors against UFOs always seemed on the slim side compared with the squad level combat - what if it had more depth to it?
What if there was ground combat element of using armored vehicles against a massive alien invasion, while still having squad based combat for terror missions or clandestine operations?
What if I used elements from the "chariots of the gods" theories and give an ancient Egyptian or Mesoamerican theme to such a game, shrinking down the geoscape but expanding base management into more of civilization building game?

An Alien Defense Board Game

Been inspired to recreate the XCom: UFO Defense base building and financial engine aspects in a board game. If I ever take one of these games out of the idea phase, it would probably be something simpler, this is a good thought exercise and elements from it might pop up in other places.

The basic premise is for each player (2-4) to have start with a basic base, a few personnel - soldiers to fight, workers to build projects and scientists for research project. Each would start with an income as well as immediate finances.

UFO will pop up, players would need to intercept and shoot them down with fighter jets, then send in soldiers to grab artifacts.

Taking these artifacts back to their base, players would research them to gain money and special abilities that would make certain things easier, and give access to new buildings.

Eventually a game end event will occur, such as a mother ship showing up and players would have to work together to defeat it before checking who has made the most points, or something similar.

One of the interesting ideas that came from this exercise is the building / research mechanic: each project would start with a certain number, higher for bigger complexity. Each turn a worker/scientist on the project would place a counter, once the number is reached, the project it done.

Placing more workers would shorten build time, but increase cost, making it an important choice. 

Blast From the Past

One of the first X-Com clones I thought of year ago was one based in a fantasy setting, in which you play as the leader of a guild of thieves.

Been thinking about this concept again, and I think it has more meat than the usual spiritual and recent successors to the classic from the 90's.

Instead of intercepting aliens, you would send your band of thieves underground through sewers and tunnels to sack various locations, whether they be residential, commercial or industrial.
Other missions will provide the opportunity to recruit new people to your cause, stop rivals from taking over your territory or defeat monsters threatening your base.

Unlike X-Com where you hired people for the exclusive position which they filled (soldier, scientist, or worker,) in my game people would fill different roles - if you take your blacksmith out to a mission, your ability to forge new weapons or armor will be limited, especially if he is wounded or killed. If you allow your wizard to research spells, she won't be able to come on a mission with you, and you may miss an opportunity to learn new magic.
Recruits will start with stats that will lend them towards particular roles, and they may become more specialized or diversified as they gain experience.

Finally, I thought of a variation on the color based magic system similar to D&D, Magic The Gathering and Tolkien's novels, changing primary colors to such things as brown or grey magic, enabling control of such elements as mud and mildew.

I think this game is a pipe dream, but wanted to write it down anyways, in case I or someone else finds a use for it.
My High Tech recruitment / Silicone Valley board game is a more attainable goal, and sill on slow burn in the back of my head. I need to try to come up with a flow chart of how things could work.

Time For Myself

It seems as though the stress of work has been impeding my thinking, and I haven't been dreaming up game mechanics while I was working everyday.
With the new guy coming in I've finally had some time away from the office, and as I let off some steam the game ideas came back to me.

The first direction I went was to my hi-tech recruiting / Silicone valley game. I came up with some ideas to streamline gameplay and come up with a clearer goal.

At the start of the game, players will take turns placing a CEO to give them their first special ability, place a worker at the lowest rank at a tower of their choice, and start with a worker in the pool/
Each player will have a set number of cards they may turn per round (with one of the bonuses possibly being an extra card,) with the final goal being to be the first to have a control a certain amount of CEOs.

After thinking about this game, I started thinking about XCom and how the base building aspect of the game wasn't as strategically deep as the combat, and how I might that could be amended.
This lead to thinking of a different theme, and I came up with harvesting souls in hell, not that that hasn't been done before such as in Disgaea or Dungeon Keeper, but I might continue exploring that.