idea updates etc

Haven't been posting much as much research has been needed before i could really advance. Have also been busy tying my ideas to theory work that's been looked at mainly in class.

The fully formed idea at the moment is a game for kids that allows them to update levels and design it as they play. I decided to design it for kids (again) after talking to Rona Innes about my concerns of pigeon holing myself. She said if that's what i want to specialise in then its fine to revolve most of my projects around that.

Anyway, the game will be an online flash game where players draw on the screen to solve problems and pass on to the next level.

The narrative has the theme of children's nightmares. Playing a lot of 'escape from the room' gave me this idea, as well as talking to Sarah Strickett who advised me to look into old stories for children by the likes of the brothers grimm who wrote very creepy stories.

Using this theme players can design their own characters, perhaps things they've had nightmares of witches, vampires etc and upload them to the website where they can then be designed into a character the player can battle.

I like the idea of having players draw on the screen mainly using a wacom tablet as this incorporates the idea of having a replica of an old media (pen and paper) to interact with something contemporary.

Many of the theories in "the myth of interactivity" (manovich) relate back to my idea for the game. "New media is interactive. In contrast to old media where the order of presentation is fixed, the user can choose which elements to display or which paths to follow, thus generating a unique work. In this way the user becomes the co-author of the work"

The above quote links back to the idea of designing the game as its played, therefore making it completely unique when it is updated and also allowing the user to become the co-creator of the work rather than just a consumer, combining the idea of wikinomics

The whole idea needs some fine tuning, like how exactly it will work and the limitations of it, rather than going too far and having too many elements. Also need to look at more examples of games (preferably online) that allow users to design and upload levels for others to play.

Will now start the design process for the aesthetics of the game and upload some images of this soon.