Slaughtering my way through the theme suggestions, I got to wonder how some of those ended up in the list. In my opinion, a good theme has the following characteristics:
1. Immediately inspire
Good example: “Castle”. Building a castle, attacking/defending a castle, exploring a castle are all possibilities in terms of gameplay. It encourages medieval artwork, but leaves room for deviation.
2. Leave room for creativity, don’t be too specific.
Good example: “Futuristic”. Spacefaring, Post-Apocalyptic, Utopian are all possibilities.
3. Narrow down the endless possibilities. This is why having a theme for the contest is good, and it makes each contest unique.
Good example: “Power in numbers”. Although this leaves the setting completely free, it more-or-less forces us to create a game with lots of agents/particles/entities that somehow influence the game. A game that follows the theme will probably be recognized as belonging to this contest.
Do you agree/disagree with this? How do you rate themes?
Below are 50 particularly annoying peculiar suggestions in random order. If you suggested one of these, please let us know what went through your head when you made the suggestion. Did you honestly believe the theme had a chance of winning? (Some of the themes are bad in a funny way, I almost good-voted “Funny Hats” and “Maximum Yak Attack”)
- Quack!
- Suddenly Weather
- Christmas Trees
- Zenith
- Anorexia
- News
- Looking For Missing Head
- Pompeya
- Indigestion
- Game Development
- Remember The Fallen
- New Way
- Hydrocarbon
- Meow
- Voxel (for most participants, 3D is not feasible)
- Nanomaterials
- Martha Lost
- Counter-clockwise
- Internet behind The Scene
- Big Dick Problems
- Home Automation
- No Mouse Or Arrow Keys
- Candy
- Hungry Angry
- Unconventional Resolutions
- Funny Hats
- Miscommunication
- Contents On A Found USB Drive
- Make The Player Miserable
- Balanced Diet
- Underrepresented Crimes
- Achievement
- Soap
- Fast Lane
- Bread
- Maximum Yak Attack
- Frogs
- Smelly
- Third Party
- Music And Me
- Grunt Work
- Different Time Period
- Ultra Low Resolution
- Privacy
- Rhyming
- Cookies
- Flaws
- Quotes
- Short Wired
- Potatoes
People enjoy suggesting silly/joke themes, and then seeing them come up in the slaughter. It’s a bit of fun for everyone. As long as we’re not overrun with them I don’t see any harm in it.
But having said that, pretty much everything outside of the top third of the list would make a poor theme, for one reason or another. They’re not all jokes. Only about 5% of the themes suggested will make it through to the next stage.
PS… The ‘good examples’ you’ve listed are the kinds of themes which dominate the top third of the list.
Good sir, Potato is actually an outstanding theme.
Hmm, I’m not sure about your themes either. They seem more like a setting or element. I would rather have a theme that promotes creativity and that are actual themes. No videogames themes are “Castle” or “Futuristic”. Maybe my problem is I’m thinking more in literary themes. but one word nouns or settings are not really themes to me, but just elements of game. I would not necessarily consider the game Flower’s theme to be ‘wind’ or ‘grass’, they are elements that make up a theme about the fragility of nature or the beauty of nature or something. Im obviously not an english major, but the vast majority of these “Themes” are just restrictive elements. I don’t think ‘futuristic’ is the theme of ftl or halo or any other future type game.