Game Idea A Week: Style Rules for You

Week Thirteen (29/12/2009)

The Idea for this week is a fashion game where you learn about what clothes suit your body. For each game level you are taught a new style technique about which clothes will highlight your good points and draw attention away from your bad areas. Then you practice what you've learnt in several mini games.

I investigated creating a commercial version of this game for Facebook. Please go to the Style Rules for You Project Page for more details on the game, mini-games and marketing potential. The Fashion Police mini-game has been implemented and is available for download (including source code), see the Fashion Police Home Page for more details.

Platform:

PC, XBox Arcade or Nintendo DS

Genre:

Fashion

Why it needs to be made:

Although there have been many fashion and style games available, most of them have terrible gameplay, do not offer the player any information about how good their design or outfit is, do not help the player determine suitable clothes in the real world and use manequins/models that have unrealistic body proportions. This game will teach people what clothes suit them in an entertaining way, will improve the player's personal body image and will help people feel better about themselves.

Description:

Every human body is different to all others. However, there are 5 key ways that one body can be different from another: body shape, height, weight, skin colouring, and age. At the start of the game the player inputs information about their body into the system. From now on all information about whether an outfit is "good" or "bad" depends on this player input. Each level you learn more rules and are given harder challenges. The levels are composed of mini-games that teach you how to spot bad dressing and how to finish outfits.

Why it will be a compelling game:

The player is being shown how their body can look good by being able to see an actual representation of themselves on the screen. They are constantly learning rules that apply to them specificially, and not general fashion rules that might apply to skinny models. Players will want to find out all of the style rules that apply to them and will therefore want to play all levels. At each level they receive feedback on how well they are learning the lessons, so it is not simply about putting clothes on a mannequin and moving directly to the next level.

Other thoughts:

This game is highly expandable and franchisable. Versions of the game could be made according to a specific fashion designer's stylistic vision, e.g. "Name's Style Rules for you" or "insert brand name here Style Rules for You". Or the game could concentrate on a particular fashion style, e.g. "Punk Style Rules for You", "Casual Style Rules for You", "Beachwear Style Rules for You", "Japanese Style Rules for You" and so on.