This was (more or less) the discussion topic at the last Toronto meetup. Here’s what we discussed (NOTE: these are minutes of a LW meetup so don’t expect it to be 100% on-topic). Also see the wiki page with previous discussion threads
No definitive game idea yet, but lots of interesting suggestions came up.
Harry Potter & the Methods of Rationality: The Game.
Suggestion was not to play Harry, as he already knows everything (or a lot, anyway). Instead you have to deal with Harry.
Realtime stategy game where you recruit units rather than building them
either bully or befriend units or just make your team the most fun (Draco/Hermione/Harry strategies)
can also just pay units but that obviously means you need to acquire more resources
units are aligned to different factions, and you can signal loyalty to one faction to gain their support at the expense of the other
Epistemic rationality: the game
discover how the game mechanics work as you go along
Is it possible to procedurally generate the laws of physics? (e.g. number of dimensions, gravitational constant etc. randomly generated)
I was worried that most combinations of physical laws would be unplayable for one reason or the other, and unlike real life we don’t have the anthropic principle to help us out
game of science, e.g. building atoms into molecules with different laws of physics
Extreme cooperation
Both players controlling same character
(Alien hand syndrome)
The Elephant and its Rider: The Game. One player assigned the role of rationalising the other’s behaviour.
The opposite of this is a single player controlling two characters but with the same controls (e.g. you can’t move one character right without making the other character fall off a cliff). Not really LWish but might be fun.
Bayes Theorem game
Murder mystery/court case
Base on real life court cases?
Game where you have to program your own rewards
The way gameplay is set up, you are motivated to achieve far goals but not near ones
Gameplay is too frustrating unless you can calibrate visual rewards so that you get rewarded for doing vaguely the right thing
This was my idea but I don’t know whether the concept even makes sense
Game teaches you real world stuff incidentally.
NPC’s prone to different biases
First use your Bayesianness to work out who has which bias
Then work out how to use characters’ biases to defeat them or persuade them to join your side
Can we simulate biased player also?
Close off elements of the dialogue tree depending on what your biases are supposed to be.
(My idea for a reprogramming your own brain game. More precisely, reprogramming interface between input devices and what your character does. Not really LW)
Time Portal
Like Portal except jumping through the portal displaces you in time (one way is forwards, the other backwards)
Again not really LWish.
Fix moral system
Existing games tend to be kick puppy vs. feed puppy
Sometimes you should get good results from bad actions
Trolley problem: the game
Game that starts off like the Sims and ends up like Civilization
Weaponising apparently innocent game mechanics, e.g. stealing all the fire alarms from someone’s house and then cooking something
Existing games which we like and/or which came up in the discussion:
This was (more or less) the discussion topic at the last Toronto meetup. Here’s what we discussed (NOTE: these are minutes of a LW meetup so don’t expect it to be 100% on-topic). Also see the wiki page with previous discussion threads
No definitive game idea yet, but lots of interesting suggestions came up.
Harry Potter & the Methods of Rationality: The Game.
Suggestion was not to play Harry, as he already knows everything (or a lot, anyway). Instead you have to deal with Harry.
Realtime stategy game where you recruit units rather than building them
either bully or befriend units or just make your team the most fun (Draco/Hermione/Harry strategies)
can also just pay units but that obviously means you need to acquire more resources
units are aligned to different factions, and you can signal loyalty to one faction to gain their support at the expense of the other
Epistemic rationality: the game
discover how the game mechanics work as you go along
Is it possible to procedurally generate the laws of physics? (e.g. number of dimensions, gravitational constant etc. randomly generated)
I was worried that most combinations of physical laws would be unplayable for one reason or the other, and unlike real life we don’t have the anthropic principle to help us out
game of science, e.g. building atoms into molecules with different laws of physics
Extreme cooperation
Both players controlling same character
(Alien hand syndrome)
The Elephant and its Rider: The Game. One player assigned the role of rationalising the other’s behaviour.
The opposite of this is a single player controlling two characters but with the same controls (e.g. you can’t move one character right without making the other character fall off a cliff). Not really LWish but might be fun.
Bayes Theorem game
Murder mystery/court case
Base on real life court cases?
Game where you have to program your own rewards
The way gameplay is set up, you are motivated to achieve far goals but not near ones
Gameplay is too frustrating unless you can calibrate visual rewards so that you get rewarded for doing vaguely the right thing
This was my idea but I don’t know whether the concept even makes sense
Game teaches you real world stuff incidentally.
NPC’s prone to different biases
First use your Bayesianness to work out who has which bias
Then work out how to use characters’ biases to defeat them or persuade them to join your side
Can we simulate biased player also?
Close off elements of the dialogue tree depending on what your biases are supposed to be.
(My idea for a reprogramming your own brain game. More precisely, reprogramming interface between input devices and what your character does. Not really LW)
Time Portal
Like Portal except jumping through the portal displaces you in time (one way is forwards, the other backwards)
Again not really LWish.
Fix moral system
Existing games tend to be kick puppy vs. feed puppy
Sometimes you should get good results from bad actions
Trolley problem: the game
Game that starts off like the Sims and ends up like Civilization
Weaponising apparently innocent game mechanics, e.g. stealing all the fire alarms from someone’s house and then cooking something
Existing games which we like and/or which came up in the discussion:
Braid
Portal
Limbo
Fez
Phoenix Wright
Psychonauts
A flash game called Chronotron
Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri
Some game which was like Ikaruga but cooperative?
Mass Effect