R&D: Hopscotch [2] Brainstorming Session

Technology

1. Nerf guns to defend territory Boxes or desks to block the sight of whoever’s “it”
2. Blankets
1. capes to duck under
2. curtains to hide behind
3. Sticks to reach things outside of the designated squares
4. Light switch; dark room vs light room mean different things in gameplay
5. Oculus Rift: immersive? (interesting thought, beyond scope of this project)
6. Dance pad
7. Pressure sensors: tell if player falls outside
8. Multiple choice clickers: everyone anonymously chooses where to go using clickers, person who is ‘it’ reveals majority. Majority rules. Last person to hop there is it.
9. Dice: roll to determine where to go next
10. Hanging metal course: monkey bars

Mechanics

11. Dodgeball: working against other people on a similar court on one foot
12. Tag squares: larger court, some squares for two feet, some for one
13. Face-off cowboy style: First to center wins
14. Race: go in parallel against other players
15. Whack a mole; other players throw things onto the court, timer to how many you can hit
16. Larger court, get as many flags as you can in the time given
17. Sneaking: red light green light (tip-toeing)
18. Squares disappear; flood?
19. Hop back and forth over a border
1. River?
2. Country borders?
20. Try to reach objects just outside of your reach in the squares
21. Squares have two meanings; change on timed intervals
22. Larger gaps between squares; jump onto islands
23. “Golden snitch”: one person “it”, everyone else tries to catch them
24. Throw cloth “glyphs” at other players’ squares; touching them when hopping incurs a penalty
25. Teleport squares: appear at other parts of the board
26. Large course with many secret boxes; secret boxes randomly contain different points, weapons, powerups, etc.
27. Play in a cornfield; duck down in corn to hide from person who is “it”

Aesthetics

28. Piano keys
29. 12 pubs from World’s End
30. World’s countries
31. Leaves on a tree: don’t fall out of the tree
32. Pirate ships: swing to different ships
33. Moon walking
34. Diving suit; walking underwater
35. Islands in an archipelago
36. Perspective shift: tops of very high buildings
37. Wizard’s magic circles
38. Different planets in solar system

Story

39. Giants stomping around a town without hitting people
40. Floor is lava
41. Cops and robbers
42. Superheroes vs supervillains
43. Prison escape
44. Holiday shoppers
45. Chefs collecting ingredients for a dish
46. Paparazzi trying to get the best shot
47. River hopping; hop back and forth over a river
48. Between solar systems, delivering things, battling: “warp drive”
49. Ghosts: hop back from the grave to haunt the living
50. Running from the kraken

[Excerpt from discussion log]

[Dev] It's such a simple game–we should probably start by changing the mechanic. Let's ignore aesthetics and story until the fun part's solid.
[Red] I guess that makes sense... as long as we get wizard battles in there. Wizards are fun. On that note we should avoid anything too complicated technologically.
[Dev] Oh come on, you were all for the Oculus Rift/dance pad combo. It was such a cool idea!
[Red] Well I'm not building it. We're on a deadline.
[Dev] It can't take that long. You're supposed to be an engineer, right?
[Red] Why did they hire you again?
[Dev] Someone's got to be diplomatic.