Random_Expansion.001

So I've decided to start a new series here on Sequential Degenerate, entitled Random_Expansion. It's not that complicated - essentially, I take the output from a bunch of random 'whatever' generators (names, titles, etcetera) and then I expand upon them here. It's an exercise more than anything, and the rambling could always lead somewhere interesting. So, if you have any links to interesting random generators, then post them in the comments and I'll use them for upcoming Random_Expansion posts.
Without further ado, here are three:

Occult Tank Crusade
The Video Game Name Generator
I just want it known from the start that out of all of the ideas here, I love this one the most. The idea of a column of tanks tearing across the open plains, loudspeakers blaring fanatical devotions, devotional banners flying in the wind - to me that's a very cool image.

Now, the first idea I had about this game was to make it a retelling of the Crusades, albeit in more modern settings. As if in some point in history, the Crusades suddenly started again and continued to the modern day, and thus fought with modern weapons. I wouldn't want to make it too modern - circa World War 2, perhaps earlier, would suffice for the feel of the game. But anyway, instead of the time-honoured Knights Templar upon their noble steeds, they'd instead be in tanks - great smoking columns of them.

You would play a character conscripted into the armoured legions of the Church, and the game would progress in a path ultimately leading you to Jerusalem. Along the way, you'd commander various armoured vehicles in various roles - you might start off as a gunner in a small reconnaissance tank, move your way up to the driver of a infantry-support tank, perhaps even take the wheel (levers?) of an artillery or flame tank at some point. You'd have different factions and reputations to appease, and certainly you wouldn't be forced to play the game only from a Christian perspective. I'm a bit weary to use real-world religions, of course, but certainly I would base the three main factions on the world's big three religions (well, those relevant to the geography, at least)

Of course I'd love to play this as an RPG instead of just another mindless shoot-em-up. Look for my ideas on a vehicle-based RPG system soon, as that's beyond the scope of this article.

Monster Horse Races in the Desert
The Video Game Name Generator
Obviously, the name itself needs to be shortened into something that's a bit more digestible. But the concept is strong enough. As always, there are ten thousand ways for a game like this to go, and I'll just list a few of the ones that pop into my head.

Now, the first idea I imagine involves making the game into a simulation. There aren't many horse-racing simulator games on the market (a quick and very lazy Wiki search reveals none, but I know they're out there) so you can always claim the game to be something new and exciting, and for the vast majority of players out there, it will be. But what exactly to simulate? Given my own gaming background, the first thing that leaps out at me would to make a Harvest Moon clone, only instead of crops, you have giant mutant horses. A wealthy sheik would hire you, for some (possibly nefarious) reason, to establish a stable in the sands of his desert home.

Obviously, it would be a darker game than Harvest Moon would ever be. Instead of worrying about cutting enough wood to build an expansion on your house, you'd instead have to ensure that the horses don't eat your jockeys or burn down your training rooms with their flame-breath. You would have to carefully manage a breeding program to ensure that your foals inherit the most beneficial daemonic (or angelic) traits from their parents, and provide an ample and well-balanced food source for each of their special dietary requirements (holy water, blood, sulphur - whatever takes their fancy) And all this set against the backdrop of a sand-blasted inferno. It would be an interesting game - one part Pokemon, one part Harvest Moon, and two parts Silent Hill. It'd be a mix of the macabre and the practical, with plenty of dark humour thrown in. And because the horses are, well, unnatural, this leads to all sorts of twists on the traditional horse race (on which you could place bets and influence odds with strategic jockey-sacrifice) - an underwater horse race, a flying horse race, an obstacle race with pools of flaming oil, etcetera.

Corporate Sniper Fortress
The Video Game Name Generator
Now, we've all played a game where we play one of the mindless servants of a mysterious and all-powerful corporation, and usually one whose primary product is assassination. If I listed them all we'd be here all day. At some point, usually the sequel, the character we play turns on the company that raised him from birth / created him in a lab / paid him (usually after meeting a Hooker with a Heart of Gold, or the Small Cute Child) and thus much carnage in your former home ensues.

Now - what if this was the point of the game from the start? You don't turn on the company, but the only way to climb to the top is using the bullet-riddled corpses of the typing pool? You'd start as a low-level worker, perhaps in the archives. Over time you would learn the routines and habits of your co-workers, and that's when you'd strike - killing or otherwise incapacitating them, and then claiming their place in the company when they call in sick / dead the next morning. Of course, other workers would be trying to do the same as you, which brings a whole new level to the concept of tension in the workplace. Everyone would be eyeing the others off, just waiting for someone to slip up or make a mistake. The higher up you go, the more challenging it gets, not only because the people higher up in the chain are more skilled, ruthless and talented, but because everyone becomes more ambitious. At the drop of a pin, the cubicles could erupt into a massive gun fight, limbs and grenades flying in painfully slow arcs through the air.

Another twist on the theme would to flip the action around, and start at the top. This game would play more like a simulation - you would play the head of a small, start-up assassination company. You'd start by sending of your goons to deal with gang members and other such low-priority targets, but as you grew in size, sophistication and resources, so too would your targets - world leaders and other rival companies. So it'd be like Evil Genius, only with a more precise business plan.

Anyway, that concludes the first Random_Expansion. Feel free interpret the ideas yourself and post comments on what you come up with. Look for more whenever I get bored or run out of ideas for posts.