If You Could Make A Video Game About Inflation…

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CobaltSnake
CobaltSnake's picture
If You Could Make A Video Game About Inflation…

   Now, I know a handful of you guys know about video games. Most of you know that some games have inflation. I'm not here to ask about those. My question is: If you could make a video game that has inflation as a gameplay mecanic or something like that, what would it be about? What's the goal? Do you inflate your enemies, or is inflation an action your character does?

I think I've had too much...

Lopni

Good question, CS! Without pretending I'm ever going to make it, my ideal video game with inflation as a gameplay mechanic is an RPG

Basically I would have taken a typical inflation event ("encounter"), and wrap it into a quest so that a player has a valuable goal, for example
- make a friendly prank,
- entertain your girl to win her heart,
- run an inflation lab study in the class,
- earn your way into the championship,
- successfully test a new pump,
- find the antidote,
- save the hostages,
- thwart a bursting raid and (ideally) stay alive,
- or just pop your opponent in inflating ring if nothing else ^_^
and so on

I would bundle quests together in plot lines with bigger goals, for example:
- hang out with fun characters and inflate them anyway you like, even start a family with one of them,
- become a world champion in inflatics or lead your inflatics club to victory,
- equip inflatists worldwide and sponsor those championships - be the ruler of inflatics,
- become one of the heads of a criminal clam,
- or just get popped

I had a two year window for this opportunity and kinda blew it, so instead you'll see little bits of it used in tiny projects for one, like VSG or currently IF

Just one option of a videogame with inflation as a gameplay mechanics, in a "Could Would" fashion ^_^

Drybonesx

Something where inflation is used as a means to solve puzzles. Maybe the character has potions that cause different inflation effects. One for making her like a balloon that can float, one to make her heavy or fat to push switches, and so on. Kinda like the game a boy and his blob but all inflation themed.

I'm mean. 

Berry-DukeAlt

I would implement inflation as a core mechanic. NPCs, enemies, yourself, and other teammates would all be affected, but once inflated, they can be used as platforms to jump on, or depending on the enemy you inflate, they can be powerful weapons to launch at other enemies. 

 

Inflation would also be used as a stealth tactic to avoid notoriety, or certain enemies. Say, there is a convention going on, about to unveil a new expansionary device, but it was a stolen prototype of yours, so you hijack the event and inflate others to distract the public, and in some cases hide as well.

clovis

To add upon what Drybonesx has said- what if also different body parts could be expanded for different tasks or puzzles.  Belly, breasts, ass etc along with full body.

 

MixMaster (not verified)

After seeing these games like Octodad and I Am Bread, I'm convinced that one could make a game similar in nature and be able to market it on a mainstream level. If you haven't played either one of those games, the basic challenge on the game is do rudimentary tasks, but the controls of your character are so unweildy, it takes some practice to get to where you're going. I'm also reminded of an old DOS game called Helious, which was basically a puzzle/maze game where you would steer a balloon around a maze, using the propulsion of letting air out of the balloon to move yourself around, having to avoid pointy obstacles and occasionally reinflate to keep going. One of my favorite youtubers, Ross from Accursed Farms did a video on it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPygM9cBGY0&list=PL6PNZBb6b9Ltgl6WM5rn2pjrXd_qdit2S&index=32) in the event you were interested. The inflation mechanic though, I feel has a lot of potential for gameplay in puzzle, platformers, even FPS'. I think the difficult part of making a game such as this would to be figuring out the rules of the gameplay to where is presents a challenge and requires a little bit of thought to get from point A to point B.

Really though, just on a side note, I love the game I Am Bread and highly recommend it for what it is. You basically play as what the title suggests, a piece of bread, and the object of the game is while the person's home you're in is at work, you gain sentience and are able to move around the room, avoiding hazards like ants, dirty walls, and toe nail clippings that decrease your "edibility" while trying to make contact with things like jam and butter to increase your "deliciousness" and eventually find a means in which to toast yourself inside the room. On top of the challenging gameplay, you also get a story at the beginning of every level in which the person whose house you're in is seeing a pyschiatrist, starts to suspect at first that someone is breaking into his home, tearing up the place and leaving a calling card of a piece of toasted bread when after a while, starts to suspect the bread itself as the culprit. Of course, the pyschiatrist just thinks the guy is slowly slipping into madness and it's all really funny in the grand scheme of things. Highly recommend it if you own a console or a PC that can run simple 3D games.

 

Phobos001
Phobos001's picture

I've made video games before, and I've been toying with the idea of a free inflation game for the community, but I would probably make use of a soft-body system (As annoying as they are to setup >< ) My idea was that if you are totally deflated you have the highest durability but you cant move very fast (Simple walking etc), whereas if you're partially inflated you could roll around and bounce off stuff. Being inflated past 75% would have you float at variable speeds, but you're incredibly fragile in that state. Late stages of the game would have you very rapidly switching between states in order to bypass obstacles and not get killed by enumerable traps :L  The soft body system could let you squeeze through otherwise impassible areas. 

I think the best style of game this would suit is stealth; Being able to hide in the rafters as some security passes by, or quickly deflating and ducking down under a box to hide from a camera as it whirs along. Maybe even grabbing onto guards to hide them in inaccessible areas at the cost of being much slower to lift from the weight and easily being killed within seconds if you were to be caught. Would be fun ^^

Another Canadian Guy
Another Canadian Guy's picture

There are a few games made (though simple by random people on the internet) that use inflation as a gimmick or core gameplay feature. I remember playing a game called "Ambers Journey" where a kangaroo has the ability to inflate her belly via a number of means to get past specific obstacles. For instance, you would inflate with air/helium to jump really high and bounce on your belly to gain height momentum, or fill with water to crush enemies and break through platforms.

Our own user on here Lopni has also been working on an inflation game, full of physics and scenes as well. Look for "VSG" (very simple game) to check it out.

(Not on here too often, replies might be slow.)

Pumped-Up

Personally, I'd like to see a game about inflating enemies, like in Dig-Dug, except the game is a platformer, instead of an arcade game. The enemies could just be generic monster enemies, like wolves, dragons, dinosaurs, etc. The player could have a variety of different gases and substances to bloat up enemies with, like air, helium, and water, each with a different effect.

As for story? I don't know, let's just say that it's some inflation fetishist's wet dream, for now.

If I had any amount of programming/art skill whatsoever, I'd make a very simple version of this game.

 

toolazy

I've been poking around in game maker, still learning the ropes and making very slow progress because of how little free time/energy I have at the end of the day/week.

I think a JRPG, you've got the standard JRPG combat system attack moves and items but I'd like to throw in a few extra menus including but not limited to negotiation, sexy and of course inflation. Not everything would work on every enemy but for example:

ACME Bandits: Could fight them, could negotiate, could pay them, could sexy them, could inflate them once they're "pacified".
Wolves: Could fight them, could throw food, can't sexy them they're dogs and they wouldn't let you inflate them.
Tentacles: Fight, no talking, possible item, sexy and inflatable
Nymph: Can't fight an ethereal fly, don't talk, catch it in a magic jar, sexy and easy inflation (they're only little)
Dragon: Most likely can't fight a dragon, can talk, likes gold, maybe sexy I dunno, can inflate if tricked.

And of course PC inflation so if you're dealing with a pirate who likes big boobs, pump em up, Nymphs are all about fertility, might be able to trick them with a big water belly, running from giant bees, might want to lay off the doughnuts.

Margeret Moonlught
Margeret Moonlught's picture

I personally feel like the only kind of game where this would actually work would be like a really weird Huniepop sort of thing. Like, A strange 'dating' game that people would only really play for the porn/sexy shit, And there'd be puzzle sequences for the sexy shit. In this case, A Bejeweled clone type thing that for every thing you match, the girl gets bigger until she reaches her absolute capacity, Or you can keep playing to pop her.

Like, There would be two ways to play the game, One where you just play it like a normal Huniepop clone. Meet girls, Build relationships with them, Inflate 'em and Fuck 'em, The works!
Or you could do the 'Popper' route, In which you do the exact same thing but blow the girls up wayyy past their limit and burst them. The game would get progessively harder as you progessed in this route but the girls would get bigger with each burst. Like, lets say there are seven girls in a Megaman style selection thing..

Girl 1: The deciding point. Burst her and the Popper route starts, Don't burst her and the game goes on as normal. (can you tell im using undertale for inspiration lmao)
Girl 2: At this point there's been a rumor that girl 1 was popped by someone, So whoever you picked as girl 2 would be a little wary to inflate with you/for you. The puzzle is a little harder, But the payoff is the girl getting a fair bit bigger.
Girl 3: Now things are getting uneasy. The other girls are aware that someone is out there popping people, And won't really inflate with/for anyone they don't know. The game would go into forced inflation territory from this point on. Girl 3's puzzle is a bit harder than the last one, But the payoff is a much bigger size.

from there on it just kinda repeats a bit. The situation gets more tense for the girls, They inflate bigger, And the puzzles get harder with a probable difficulty spike around girl 5. 

Girl 7 would be a scripted event, Essentially when you start the Popper route one of the girls would be unselectable until this point. She knew it was you from the start but she really, Really didn't like the others. So after thanking you for getting rid of them, She makes an attempt to kill you or whatever. This fails, She winds up somehow getting a hose in her ass/mouth/navel/orafice, And thus begins the final inflation. She gets the biggest, Rivaling a five story building or something idk, And goes out in a spectacular explosion. And then the game is over and you win yay.

This was supposed to be a single paragraph. 

fuck.

or y'know just some sort of RPG where the enemies inflate when taking damage and burst when killed, same for your party members.

BI.org’s very own metamorphic incomprehensible memetic fractal entity 

darth_clone19
darth_clone19's picture

Ever since I played Jet Force Gemini on N64 I imagined an action, 3D Dig Dug game for some reason. Youd have different inflation weapons for individual takedowns or crowd control. Not surprisingly, all the enemies were women.

 -   Read my stories: darth-clone19.deviantart.com 

doubleintegral
doubleintegral's picture

For years now I've had the idea for a turn-based, text-based, massively multiplayer strategy/adventure game.  I got the idea from a web game called Earth:2025 (now called Earth Empires) that was pseudo-popular in the late 90s/early 2000s.

The way E2025 worked was that turns were generated for all players at a fixed time interval (e.g. 1 turn per 30 minutes or something like that).  You spent your turns generating cash, building up your army, researching technology, exploring, attacking other players, etc.  The game lasted for a set number of days (45-60 days or so), then the scores reset and everyone started over.  Players also had to choose a certain type of government for their country, and each one had advantages and disadvantages in certain areas (kind of like the balance between races in Warcraft/Starcraft and the character classes in Diablo).

My idea for the game was to make the players work through some sort of narrative to achieve a goal, kind of like working through an interactive story except they would be competing against other players.  Then when the game was over, the reset would occur and a new game with a new narrative would begin.  The mechanics would largely stay the same from one game to the next, with maybe a handful of special mechanics that change from game to game.  Inflation could be a good thing (you want it to happen to you), a bad thing (you want it to happen to someone else), or just something that happens to players or NPCs in the game that triggers certain events and furthers the story along.  Instead of government types, players would choose a certain character class that would make them/others easier/harder to inflate.  

It's kind of an ambitious idea, but I think I have the technical expertise to build it.  As far as how to effectively incorporate inflation into it, I have never really been able to connect the dots on that.  It would be hard to make the game interesting: the narrative would have to be fairly lengthy so players don't blow through it too fast, but the inflation also can't be too repetitive or it will quickly get boring.  And I don't want to start busting my ass coding this thing if it's not going to be fun or interesting to play.

If any of that sounds interesting to anyone and you want to help me figure this out, I'm all ears.

JSK00
JSK00's picture

I was thinking about making an interactive fiction based on inflation. The reason being that while I do have some skill as an artist, at the moment I'd rather write things and leave them to the player's imagination. Lately, I've been getting into the Twine and Quest engines and I found that while Twine was a good starting point for some basic IFs, Quest was more robust once you got to know it better.

Anyway, my idea for an inflation IF would be a pirate story where the protagonists are a female captain and first mate of a pirate ship that was wrecked at sea. They eventually find a treasure chest containing a genie (because why not) who gives them control over wind and transforms them into balloon women. Now, not only do they have to use their powers to find the rest of the crew but they also have to deal with the machinations of a governor that is cracking down hard on piracy.

I might get on that as soon as I finish learning the Quest engine.

Sergy92
Sergy92's picture

The best idea I could think of is a space shooter where the "ships" are actually people (Both male and female) wearing weaponized inflatable suits to take down the enemies. They can also rebound some bullets with their suits, but some will overinflate the suits for a short time, and by this, making your hitbox bigger; and other outright pop the suits, losing a life.

InflationFan666

A concept I believe would be interesting is centered around being a criminal who utilizes inflation. Inflation acting as a core mechanic to incapacitate individuals. The game would be in a 1st and/or 3rd person perspective shooter. Essentially you could perform a bank robbery and incapacitate guards and bystanders by inflating them or a mission were you're just run around a city block inflating and mugging as many people as possible before the police show up. To expand on the idea there would be physics so you could say roll or move inflated individuals say to block a door or entrance. Then you could introduce new forms of inflation via buying new inflation based weapons. Lets say those inflated by a butt inflation gun are more difficult to move than a spherical person. Just an idea that came to mind.

Lopni

a 1st/3rd person 3D action game about inflation would be totally awesome if someone would do it

 

in the dancing game there is agility which is reduced by inflation, and passion which grows - this allows certain tricks, like inflating and becoming increasingly aroused and then releasing all your reserved passion on poor opponent overfilling her instantly. While a tabletop game mechanics has just one constant skill rank for swelldance and you can only choose whether to dance or not to dance

in the breathing game you deflate fast by relaxing while letting the air out, and air will be stuck in you if you push it out too hard. In a tabletop you just say that you deflate or keep yourself inflated

the same with all other things. We might argue which aspect of inflation loses most in a tabletop (my bet it's swelldance), but details are always victims of the round system. You say "I attack the orc" rather than "I rise a sword and make a step forward"

 

Okay, a good Game Master might compensate that by describing details, but it's so cool to control things yourself! I think the 3D action game will be wanted no matter what for a very long time! ^_^

flationable
flationable's picture

Something along the lines of Overwatch/SMITE/MOBA-style games, with each character having their own unique way of playing and inflating others. It makes it really easy to include all forms of inflation and expansion, and turns the frustration of losing in PvP into (less agrivating) sexual frustration. Instead of dying, your character could pop in a cartoonish manner or just fall over stuffed/bloated (and groaning).

Just as an example, a Willie Wonka-esque character whose abilities are themed after the Wonka tour from the movie: A chocolate splash that slows, a 'Wonkavision' ray that lowers the enemy's defences (tiny things fill faster), a fizzy drink that bloats the target and makes them helpless for a few moments (as they burp themselves back on the ground) and the Ultimate Attack: The Experimental Three-Course Gum, which fills up the target a LOT (slowing and immobilising them) and makes them look like an adorable helpless blueberry!

Lopni

yeah, exactly! That's what i mean

(i'd mean that if i'd know all these names and games ^_^ )

Margeret Moonlught
Margeret Moonlught's picture

i like this idea. a lot. an inflation themed MOBA would be so fucking quality.

BI.org’s very own metamorphic incomprehensible memetic fractal entity 

sugarhigh
sugarhigh's picture

well, there's many things i'd do, but i think one i would really like would be a action platformer. you'd play as a lass who has many ways to inlfate herself to solve puzzles and what not. sure it's been done before, but here's the old, sugarhigh twist! She'd only be able to hold her size for a bit before deflating, so you'd have to plan things out! (what this means for me is a meter that would be be her face, getting puffier and darker the longer she holds.) my own messed up kinks aside, it'd be fun to no you only have a small amount of time to get what you need done, and adds some puresse! i'd be awful at the game, myself, lol!

your friendly nighberhood Puffy Cheek Lover!

Lopni

Video games require art – so they cost at least as much as that art

When the cost of art for a video game is divided among us, it becomes a price of a cookie.

Save on one cookie and prove that we can dream of inflation video games ^_^

IronHead

I once tried to get a fighting game started but Pballooned didn't want to to continue working on it, which I guess I can understand, took him about six months just to have four fighters in it. This is what so far got done. https://www.dropbox.com/s/pn3w9a5wfimi7qm/IInflatable%20Sumo%20Girl%20League.zip?dl=0

Lopni

It's a very nice indie game!

Yes, indie takes years.

My issue with Game Maker is that it still requires analytic approach and algorithmic thinking. And once you have those - nothing stops you from programming ^_^ It's the same with traffic code - rules for pedestrians are written by drivers who think differently. The way of thinking stops people from creating games, not Java or C# ^_^ That's why I wanted to make VSG. Just change pictures if you draw. And I'll try to make IF the same way, so that artists are not excluded again

IronHead

That's very kind of you to say about my game. I would love to continue but sadly I lack both drawing AND programming skills and I know hiring people to do both would be costly. So unless I win that "Win for Life" thing, I don't see a finished product anytime soon... unless, I get the guts to take Catguy Paladin's advice and do a Kickstarter for it.

Lopni

I see you have a heart in your Sumo idea. If you'd like to see it to completion in Game Maker and are looking for a hire - you can always hire me for both drawing and programming. Prices here are around 4 times lower than in USA so it will be a good deal for you - much better deal than my attempts to earn to pay Americans ^_^

On your Kickstarter idea - go for it! ^_^ Start campaigning a couple of months before launch (ideally 3 months beforehand), invest into nice imagery and present everything yourself

However, may I also respectfully point out, Inflation Formation will cover a small part of your Sumo idea while offering much more freedom. It won't cost you anything - my games are free. Maybe the best approach is to redo your game in IF when I'll finish it? For that I'll need to understand what you expect to see and reach an agreement which parts of your ideas I can sacrifice and which parts are crucial. PM'ed you on that

Tai Lin
Tai Lin's picture

I, personally, would suggest a go fund me instead. You get to keep the money that you make even if you don't meet the goal, IIRC.

Lopni

i might be wrong, but partial funding is best for some long ongoing activity.

Imagine you make a game. You have art budget - some number you agree upon with your artist. If you get the funding - you can make a game. If you don't get funding - you can't make a game. Backers, artist and you know what happens in both outcomes.

Now imagine you are allowed to gather half of art budget. If you give it to an artist - he'll draw half of the sprites you need, the money will be spent but the game won't appear. Backers, artist and you don't know what happens.

If I'd be stuck with partial funding I'd have to refund all these micro-payments back to people because I can't use them in a meaningful way. Kickstarter saved me from this trouble. Planeta.ru was an option, it's also all or nothing, but Russian is far less spoken than English. Maybe Chinese could be an option if I find someone to help with the language? ^_^

bigboy86

Some platformer adventure/puzzle game where you can inflate baddies/willing allies and in some cases yourself to move along. Let's say you can incapacitate someone by inflating them into a sphere with one pump. If you inflate yourself, you roll along until the inflation wears off, virtually invulnerable.

Inflating twice makes them float, inflating three times makes them float higher, but also makes them more fragile, also they only stay that inflated for a short time before deflating to a smaller size. (I guess they could pop or rapidly deflate with a "pop!" sound effect if you stand on them for too long.) While they're inflated, you can use them as platforms.

In your case, limited time inflation is the same as flight, with two pumps letting you fly a little distance, and three going higher, but harder to control and also you're very vulnerable to spikes on the ceiling.

TayvaRP
TayvaRP's picture

I had something that was more roleplay based, though I'm not sure if it's in the same idea you have in mind (since it's not really an air-based inflation), but the idea would revolve around magic, specifically the player's 'mana pool'. Since mana usually exists as a resource for spells, it could potentially fill the player in a methaphorical and literal sense. The larger the mana pool, the bigger they would swell up. Stats could be spent into increasing capacity, and it sort of 'rounds things out' by making more powerful characters more vulnerable at the same time, in terms of being slower and easier to hit.

InflateUnite

The game I'd make would be about a 16 year old girl named Trinity, who volunteered for a science experiment which went wrong. The failed experiment gave Trinity the ability to stretch and inflate. Now with her new powers, she has to find her kidnapped friends by solving puzzles. Trinity must use the ability to inflate for flight or bouncing enemies away from her. 

Trinity's stretch ability is used for throwing heavy objects at enemies or just moving them out of the way. She can also use them for attacks.

Her special ability is the ability to inflate with propane gas. She inflates with propane and pops herself, creating an explosion and mysteriously turning back to normal after the pop. 

When the enemies discover the girl's new powers, Trinity has to avoid sharp objects while inflated or else she will pop. Enemies will try to inflate her past her limits and cause her to explode.

Anyway a game using inflatopn as a as a core mechanic would be cool. But I don't see it happening anytime soon.

Fatt
Fatt's picture

I'm thinking of inflating them with MAGIC!! *Sparkles appear from nowhere*

(I'm serious. That may be pretty whimsical.)

 


Fatt
Fatt's picture

I'm thinking of inflating them with MAGIC!! *Sparkles appear from nowhere*

(I'm serious. That may be pretty whimsical.)