Not a big fan of the theme.
I’m gonna be honest I’m not really a fan of the alone theme. The biggest problem is that it’s kind of shallow, and while it’s open to interpretation there isn’t much to interpret. Looking over some of the games, I’ve come across quite a few that are extremely similar to one another. In a lot of cases the theme turned out to be more Survival then alone. Because if you’re alone what do you have left to do but survive? Maybe I’m just a bit frustrated because I can’t come up with any unique gameplay mechanics that would fit in with this theme. Or maybe I’m barking a bit of truth. What do the rest of you think?
Comments
Alex Gilday
17. Dec 2011 · 17:35 UTC
I agree. I would have liked something more free. A graphical/story theme which doesn’t restrict gameplay. Like electronics, you can make any game in the world have electronics as a theme. The Alone theme just brings about all these dark/sad games which otherwise might play out the same but at least have an up-beat tempo and nice sparkly graphics.
Patacorow
17. Dec 2011 · 18:20 UTC
Yeah, this theme completely restricts the gameplay’s mechanics in certain situations.
17. Dec 2011 · 18:42 UTC
Just because the theme is ‘Alone’, doesn’t mean the game has to have a single character. The character could be currently alone but looking for someone, or a loner, shunning other people. The game could be about how it’s difficult to do things on your own until you team up with someone near the end (be it a scripted AI thing or a second player). Going with a comedy adventure game, the story could be about trying to prevent being alone, only for enemies that are in the same situation getting in your way. You could even go the opposite way and have a character that wishes they were alone, but aren’t. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about a character being alone either. It could be about there being a unique mcguffin or something.