The thread about a game that doesn't exist... yet

[enderlord99]

I'm eventually going to make a video-game. The game, Not-so-ancient Swords, will start out with the main character questing for a "powerful," ancient, magic sword. When he finally finds it... it turns out to have decayed and rusted to the point of uselessness. So, as the main plot, he must forge a new sword, and make it greater than any other the world has ever seen.

Most existing games classify gold as either a really strong material or a really weak one. In Not-so-ancient Swords, it's a bit more complicated than that...

Mundane Metals

Titanium <-> Iron <-> Copper <-> Silver <-> Gold

strong, but less effectively enchanted <-> weak, but can hold powerful magic

Mystic Metals(better in all ways than the mundane ones, but much rarer)

Adamantite <-> Mithril <-> Orichalc


Alloys are also possible.



Tl;dr: I'm going to eventually make a game about a legendary blacksmith.



What do you guys think of the concept?

[Prime32]

What do you guys think of the concept?You've made the common mistake of starting with a gimmick rather than the foundation.

There are any number of types of game which could include the ability to craft items. It could be a Final Fantasy style topdown turn-based RPG, a Mario-like sidescroller, or an interactive slideshow (among many others). What kind of game you're making is a far more important decision than the storyline or sub-mechanics.

The concept itself doesn't have a lot of details either. Do you have all the metals from the start, with the ability to combine them any way you like? Do you unlock new metals as the storyline progresses? Do you have to mine and refine ore, or does that happen offscreen? If the former, how quickly do you gather it and is it dangerous?
Plus, the degree of customisation you've implied rewards carrying around multiple weapons, despite the plot calling for you to use a single weapon.

Basically for a solid game concept you need some use cases (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_case) or flowcharts. Take an example playthrough of your game; state every action the player (not the player character) takes and how the game responds to them.