Pinging @Wulf, who’s often interested in game dev. Would be nice to work together again na?
I am happy to go JS again.
It is fairly easy.
I would like to go with either the Puzzle or Management genre or possibly some combination there of, purely because those are the kinds of games I usually find myself returning to.
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Puzzle is interesting because you have to make X levels to get a complete game. And if you change mechanics, you gotta redo them.
Someone suggested procedurally-generating levels for this exact reason.
Food for thought. I don’t want to overly bias the direction 
I love puzzle games that have a scoring mechanic so that you are encouraged to return to previous levels to score higher.
For example the Zachtronic programming games like Spacechem and TIS-100, your solution to the puzzles is graded in terms of execution speed, number of parts used, etc.
Your stats are tracked on the completion of each level and you are shown where your skills as an engineer sit compared to the other players.
In my view, puzzle games should allow the player to quickly jump in and out in short sessions, should be open to experimentation and refinement. The player experiments and starts to learn the mechanics of the puzzle system and works out how to use elements to their advantage.
Design based games could be a way to go here, or something simple and abstract like your stiching idea.
We could adapt a board game into a single player puzzle game.
We could do a deck-building style game where players are posed with scenarios and cards represent limited choices and resources they can use to get though it.
Your idea of puzzle score refinement is interesting, I never realized people do that.
I will definitely wear my project manager hat, and point out risks: things we need to figure out because they could bite us.
Anyway, please read this, it may help: https://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/1gam-how-to-succeed-at-making-one-game-a-month--gamedev-3695
A good example of puzzles that encourage the users to refine their solutions is SpaceChem.
Infact pretty much every game from this developer has a similar mechanic.
In this game, the player has a grid with a pair of circles.
The player plots out a program for the circles to follow as they pick up and move molecules around.
Molecules can have their bonds broken to make ions and atoms which can be joined together to make new molecules.
The aim of the game is to program a reactor to accept molecules to be broken up and formed into the target molecule for exporting.
On completion of the puzzle the user is show measurements of how fast their solution operates, how many parts were used all up and how many reactor stages were needed for the complete process.
Their score is then compared to the other players so they can see where they rank on the bell curve.
A fairly simple game overall, but according to Steam I have over 50 hours logged on it.
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I’m not a fan of JS. I’m almost tempted to suggest something crazier, but that just adds more risk that we fail (because of tech); my options would have included:
- HaxeFlixel (Haxe – Javascript-like syntax, compiles to Flash, JS, desktop, Android)
- Brython or Skulpt (Python in JS, but you write a lot of Python => JS wrappers)
Are you down for HaxeFlixel? The setup is a bit more elaborate.
If not, we can go JS.
Definitely! I think I can join in as a user experience / play tester.
I’ll play whatever is ready and make notes of what goes on through my head whilst I play it. I’ll make note of as many bugs as I find along the way.
It’s always fun to play what you guys make!
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Would love to contribute in making a game with you guys, if at all possible. I can code, so do let me know when there are things to be done. Do note, however, that I haven’t made a game before, so I might be a bit slow at first. 
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Ok so far the roster is:
- Me (planning, training, support etc.)
- Severok (codez)
- Recrimm (codez?)
- Ala (codez)
- Wulf (QA)
@ala and @srecrimm are you guys cool with JS? @severok do you think that CraftyJS framework we used last time for prototyping is easy enough to pick up?
Main thing: we need game ideas! We start the day after tomorrow (well … not really, it’ll be Eid.) So please brainstorm and comment on whatever you like, inshaAllah we’ll try to get a consensus/majority by Eid and we can start the day after that (in a new thread).
Cool? Yes? No?
I’ve no real issue with CraftyJS as we arn’t doing anything too intensive.
I would like to have a quick look at HaxeFlixel as you suggested earlier as I have not tried using it yet.
Getting more experience with JS is a plus for me though as it has ended up being a language I have started using at work.
Though that being said, I am being moved off that project at the end of the month and put onto hardware dev. So not a major deal maker/breaker.
@ala welcome aboard.
I’m not a game programmer either and my language of choice is functional C (Mostly uControllers for hardware projects)
So Insha Allah we don’t drive eachother too insane with our different code styles as I know I have with Ashes in our previous projects 
I wouldn’t say that. I finally understand the dogma of object-oriented classes with small functions now that I’ve been forced to see how functional programming works. And I finally understand why game development as an industry is moving towards data-driven games with functional programming; it just fits better.
If we have Ala and Rec as coders, I’d rather avoid HaxeFlixel. JS is a great choice.
By the way, inshaAllah at the end of this, we’ll upload our game to Kongregate and see what people think.
So, pressure
I would also like to see if I can include our games in my little hand held console project.
I am almost geared up to start producing some prototype PCB at home which should enable me to start designing a USB gamepad around my LCD panel and a battery charge circuit for a small LiPO battery.
If you are still interested in tinkering with that Odroid of yours maybe you can one day help me set up the software and I might send you a few prototype boards to attach to it?
Trying to do that within the scope of 30 days is a bad idea; it’s enough work just to get a small web game done in 30 days. Doing it afterward is cool though.
I think the ODroid was a misfire for me; I don’t make or play console games. You’re welcome to it (for free) if you like. Otherwise, I’ll donate it to citizen science and run it into the ground.
I do know a bit of java, so the syntax won’t be a problem. However, I’ve never actually coded anything in JS, but it shouldn’t be too hard to pick up.
I also have no problem with functional programming, but I would definitely miss OOP. But that’s the cool thing about this: trying new things out, gaining experience.
Looking forward to working with you guys!
We really need a game idea.
Anyone?
That was not meant in the scope of this project.
As I said ‘one day’.
I have had 3 ideas for games so far, but I am not sold on the ideas yet.
The first:
Deck/tile based sim game.
Like Pipedream Vs Sim City.
Player has a 20x20 grid in the center of the screen and a column of tiles that drop down on the left.
Tiles have a randomly selected colours (Green, Blue, Yellow and some special tiles), each tile except for the special have a set of lines indicating road placement (Vertical line, horizontal, T-junctions, corners and intersections).
Game starts with a set of 10 randomly placed tiles on the board that the player can build upon by clicking and dragging tiles from the left, as each tile is placed new tiles are dropped in to the column. Player can only place tiles so that the road markings on the placed tile link up to existing roads on the grid.
Game is part puzzle, part city building sim. Allowing the project to be broken into 3 major parts (UI, Puzzle, simulation) to allow better team cohesion. As the player drops down tiles onto the grid, the city recives additional zone designations allowing the simulation aspect to develop.
Green = residential, blue = commercial, yellow = industrial. Points are awarded on a per zone basis, each due to the criteria of that zone type. Matching colors together expand zones.
Residential benefits from close proximity to commercial, but is decremented by close proximity to industrial.
Commercial benefits from proximity to both residential and industrial. Commercial development is limited by availability of industrial.
Industrial benefits from proximity to commercial but is limited by availability of residential.
Player has to decide which tiles to place where to not only expand their network of roads and potential build space, but also pay attention to the colors they are placing in proximity to each other to maximize the available points.
Round ends when player has no more build-able space or willingly ends the stage (IE any remaining avaliable placements will lower the player score).
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The 2nd:
Grid/physics based design game. (I belive I may have pitched this one once before).
Player has a grid and a limited selection of part types. Has to design contraptions that fill a specific function criteria.
Player area consists of a 20x20 grid bordered by walls with Inputs on the left side, Outputs on the right side.
Player has a tool kit of a few part types that can be placed on the grid to build their design.
Parts include angles mirrors. sensors/switches and gates.
Once the design is made, a simulation is run where the inputs will spawn a series of charged energy balls over time, the specifics will vary level from level and be displayed to the player before hand on a chart.
The input to be delivered is displayed on the left side of the screen near the inputs, the desired output is displayed on the right side of the screen near the outputs.
The ball objects have the properties of charge (Ie +2, +8, -3, etc), and vector. (8-directional + speed).
Balls in play interact with eachother on the basis of Charge difference and proximity (Like repel, opposite attract).
Balls colliding fast enough merge, adding their charges.
Player must build their design playing off the mechanics of these balls so guide the machine provides the desired output.
IE a stage to create an adder: Input: 1x +2, 1x +5, Output: 1x +7.
As players complete stages, a part with the functionality of the level they just completed becomes available.
IE on the completion of a level where the player must create an OR logic gate, the player recives a new part: OR switch.
Players can select and complete stages in any order allowing them to strategically progress by building collections of useful parts to help them complete other levels.
Possibly: the players solution to any given puzzle (Number of parts used, how long the solution takes) determines the quality of the resulting part (IE complicated solutions cost more points to play, Slow solutions make a part with a larger delay, ect) encouraging players to go back and redesign their previous puzzle solutions when they have access to better materials.
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3rd:
Not so much of a puzzle game;
Tile/Deck Space sim.
In a similar vein to idea #1, a tile based strategy game underlying a higher level sim.
Deck based FTL vs Minecraft
Player has a ship that must survive getting from point A to point B.
Main panel takes most of the screen, the lower 80% displaying the ship outline with a series of boxes representing subsections of the ship (Weapons mountings, engine, shields, ect).
The top section of the screen has 2 rows of tiles, the top indicating approaching events, the lower being the cargo bay.
As the game progresses, materials enter into the cargo bay depending on what event is occuring, while older materials are pushed out.
Each box on the ship contains a 3x3 grids acting as crafting windows in which these materials are placed. Placement of these materials into these grids will result in the formation of different objects.
IE traveling though a debris field, the player can pick up scrap metal, batteries, ect.
Placing them in the right combination on a weapon mount grid forms a basic cannon, the properties of the cannon (Fire rate, damage, accuracy) depends on the type of cannon formed by the grid placements and the quality of the materials placed.
The player has to decide how best to use the gathered resouces in producing which solutions to their grids, the performance of their ship determines how the can handle different events they come across.
IE the quality of the shield reduces the penalty experienced during damage events.
the quality of the engine gives the option to skip undesireable events.
the quality of weapons gives higher chance of having a positive outcomes from dangerous events, etc.
Win condition: reach the destination
Lose condition: dont reach the destinattion.
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Javascript is a seperate language from Java.
It is pretty easy to pick up though so no worries, I was brand new to the language myself at the start of the last project.
I have never learned Java but was able to put together a simple game in less than a week using JS and the library we are using for this project.
Outside of making games I have also briefly used it for some client scripting for a website. It comes in pretty handy alongside HTML or ASP for when you want some functional scripting like a client side callback for an object event.