I gotta say, I think that Chris Hecker makes some good points when he calls out the video game industry for a lack of variety. Too many games are the same old thing! We need new, fresh ideas! We need smart, creative thinking! In short, we need Peter Molydeux.
No, not respected developer and Fable creator Peter Molyneux. I mean, he's great and everything, so sure: We need him too. But what we really need are the crazy-like-a-fox ideas espoused by his mad twitter doppelgänger, Peter Molydeux.
And now, it looks like a group of game developers are going to get together to make some of those wild ideas into real games.
By now you've probably heard that respected game developer Molyneux has something of a brilliant evil twin. He's named "Peter Molydeux," and exists solely as a fake twitter account that shares harebrained (and entertaining) ideas in a loving send up of the real Molyneux. Ever since Molyneux shook things up by leaving Lionhead and Microsoft, both gentlemen have been getting a lot more attention.
Whoever writes these tweets may be having a laugh, but the creativity of the central ideas betrays a sharp mind at work. (Check here for an interview with Molydeux himself. (Assuming it is a him, that is.)) Not only do these game ideas engage in the same kind of off-kilter, outside-the-box thinking that the real Molyneux is famous for, they're smart and compelling in their own right.
Our own Jason Schreier pointed out how Molyneux and his doppelgänger should consider teaming up, seeing as how they're already chatting on twitter. Double Fine programmer Anna Kipnis took it one step further, half-jokingly suggesting the following idea today on twitter:
This is a fantastic idea. To those who haven't heard the term, a game jam is a gathering where a group of game developers get together for a set period of time (usually 48 hours or so), break into teams, and must complete a game or a prototype in that time. In other words, devs would have a set amount of time to turn Molydeux's ideas into reality.
After Kipnis' mention of the game jam got pushed around the tweet-o-sphere a bit, Molydeux himself piped up:
And with that, Kipnis and some other organizers set a date. The game jam will be happening in San Francisco over two days, from March 31st to April 1st. If you're a game dev/creative person based in or around the San Francisco Bay Area, you can sign up here.
I thought it might be fun to go through Molydeux's posts and find the best ones, the ones that could really be great games. I'll be up front here—this guy has way more than ten ideas that would make interesting games; these are just ten of my favorites. Hopefully some of them will get made!
Without further ado:
10 Amazing Peter Molydeux Ideas That Need to Become Games Like, Right Now:
Man. I want to play that Guitar Hero one so much.
One of Molydeux's games has already been made—the indie game Good Bye, My Love! was inspired by Molydeux's tweet "Game where an asteroid is about to hit earth, the aim is not to stop it but to say goodbye to every family member. You have 120 of them." That's also an awesome idea. But it's not on this list! Because it's already been made.
Given the folks who have already signed up for this thing, it's a safe bet we'll get some interesting (and probably hilarious) games out of this. And even if you're not a Bay Area developer, it's worth taking a trip down the rabbit hole and reading Molydeux's older tweets—his feed is chock-full of both hilarity and genuine insight.
I'll be interested to see which of these ideas becomes a reality. I hope someone makes the one with the teardrops and the naked body.
Peter Molydeux Game Jam Funtimez on MARCH 31 and APRIL 1 in the BAY AREA [Google Docs]
Peter Molydeux [Twitter]