So, I might begin talking about what I’m actually doing at the moment.
I’m trying not to play Dwarf fortress too much, so I can actually get lots of things done.
As above, for Team Fortress 2.
And for that matter, Audiosurf and Eve Online.
Then there’s 2 subjects at uni that aren’t entirely game related but have a pretty decent levels of work. Trying to do them easily in advance.
And then there’s the cool things. I’m working on a game that’s involves piloting a shark or turtle around eating fish for one subject, in a group of 6 students. It’s moving along slowly, but it should turn out pretty nicely… more details on that some other time.
The other project I’m working on is a much larger version of Flatworld. Now it’s a game about what happens when 2D universes and the creatures residing in them are suddenly brought into a 3D universe. This may draw interesting parallels to what might happen if we tried exploring a 4th spatial dimension, as well as being an entertaining project to develop.
The situation arises when a group of forward thinking scientists of the player’s home world attempt to break out of their 2D plane and create a 3D world to inhabit. The player is one of the test subjects for 3D navigation, using a unique (in the game world) tripod style walker that has been folded into a 3D object. Using this, the protagonist can sense and navigate the new 3D universe or if they like, they can leave the walker and go back to being a 2D creature in one of the various 2D worlds that have collided to start this piece of insanity.
I’m thinking the walker would be most convincing if actually physically simulated… my preference for gameplay would probably be Mirror’s Edge/Canabalt/N/Unicorn Power Extreme Whatever That Game Is Called type mechanics that are more about moving efficiently and such. But having some paper robo-tripod that moves like Faith seems quite absurd in some ways, even if an easy way around that is just tweak both the mechanics and the character design.
Combat could quite simply be awesome fun in this environment, with all the options it presents, so I’ll have to consider it. Mono-filament weaponry, gravity or explosions confined to a single dimension, attacking totally helpless 2D creatures that can’t possibly touch you, anything that comes with technology only practical in three dimensions. That last point probably includes electricity – if you know anything about it, consider a typical generator in 2D. As far as I can tell, it requires the third dimension to generate any electricity and almost every power station we have works on that principle. Leaving solar power and battery power. There are other things to think about too, like how to make a 2D house that actually stays up.
It will clearly be in third person… the 2D sections of the game in first person are an amusing idea, and switching between the two options isn’t great either.
Oh, by the way, anyone have ideas for names? 
I have some myself, but they seem mostly… bad.
Flatworld
