Thematic similarities [The Island]

As I think about my game idea The Island I keep coming across similarities in other media. First the game idea was spawned from the show Lost but I keep coming across instances of other stories following the same themes.

First After thinking of Lost was a short leap to Gilligan's Island and then it was on to The Island of Dr. Moreau. Those were simple jumps. In each case some travelers end up on an island that is host to some strange mystery, more in some and less in others. ... Why, exactly, could the castaways never leave the island. After all, it was only a three hour tour and a tiny, little bout of bad weather.

The next just hit me the other day. I was listening to The Dead Robots' Society and in a recent episode Justin announces his pick for the next book they will read and discuss. At first Under the Dome by Stephen King didn't click but once I downloaded a copy and started reading it dawned on me. The characters are stranded under a dome that won't let them out for whatever reason. The are trapped there with all their foibles and cruel secrets.

Then, today I was catching up on episodes of Pulp Gamer and one of the episode is on Frank Baum's OZ stories. There it is again. A character gets swept away to a place that has it's only mysteries and to get away she has to travel through strange lands with odd people in order to get home. There have been so many adaptations of Baum's tales but each one has had some mystery the characters have had to deal with.

There you go. The theme I am going for in The Island is something that shows up again and again.

Games du jour

Here are the semi-thought out game ideas I've had recently that have held up to the 24 hour test. I figure if an idea sticks with me for more than a day it might have something of use in it.

White Collar Robots - The game of robots standing in for their white collar, office counterparts.

Planet Crash - A Game Chef attempt using the keywords city, edge and desert. After crashing in a deserted city floating at the edge of known space the character experience what happened to the original citizens.

The Island - (Yeah, I know. It's not an original title once you read the theme.) The characters get stranded on an island. They can't get off until they solve the mystery of the island in spite of the secrets they keep from another. The idea was inspired by Lost but after thinking about mechanics I think it could be played zany like Gilligan's Island.

Those are the biggest three game ideas I've had that seem to keep haunting me.

A tiny spark of lighning

New... revamped (somewhat)... and back for another go round.

With a new look and a bit of inspiration this blog's going to start moving again. The goal is to do a post a day.

Maybe shorter posts with a targeted theme would work. I think maybe I'll focus on specific game design ideas and not hop around from topic to topic all the time.

We'll see what happens.