Ok, here goes.
iPhone+ARG+Freestyle Rap.
The game is distributed via an app on the iPhone. The app allows players to register as 1 of 2 categories, each with individual scoring methods and routes to "winning," as much as you can win an ARG.
The first category is your Rappers. Rappers gain rank in two ways. The first, and most important is by winning rap battles. Any rapper of a certain level can challenge another rapper of equivalent level to a rap battle. These take place over the iPhone, via the phone using the app. As the two rappers face off, they use a beat from a pre-made selection that is built into the app, which plays over each rappers phone as he lays down his rhymes, or with a third party beatbox player, which will be explained later. The battle is then recorded and uploaded to a server, where player in the third category, the fans, can listen to them and vote for who they think won the battle. After an amount of time, the winner is decided by the most votes. The winning rapper then gains cred (basically Rapper XP) until they rank up, allowing them to challenge higher level rappers, and continue to climb the ladder.
The other way that rappers can gain cred is to have a following. Followers act as a multiplier for the amount of cred that they gain each time they win a battle. That way, a rapper with a huge following (such as if Snoop Dog or Busta Rhymes joined the game) would not have to spend much time challenging the lower level rappers to climb towards the top where they belong.
Listeners are another type of user for the app. Listeners gan respect (Listener XP) when the rappers they follow do well, as well as gaining a little respect each time they vote on a battle they have listened to. Listeners can only follow 5 rappers at a time though, so they have to choose carefully who they want to follow. In addition, each time a rapper they are following ranks up, they respect they recieve from that rapper gets a multiplier. That multiplier is lost if they stop following and then return later, encouraging them to choose very carefully who they follow.
This needs a bit more thought, and someone who can program for the iPhone, but I like the basic idea a lot.
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I like the idea of the iphone being used as the rap device itself.
ReplyDeleteAnd one thing I really like about your design here is that it accounts for the player dynamic already usually found in ARGS, the hardcore and then the people who just sort of casually follow the progress and root for the hardcore players. You've designed mechanics that play with a naturally emergent process of ARGs so that's pretty cool.
Although again, like with my comment on Dan's entry, I'm skeptical of how good of an idea making a game that asks players to freestyle rap, unassisted. It's tough to do (i've been trying to learn for years), very intimidating, and very few people can pull it off.
However, at least with your design, the majority of people won't have to, electing to play as listener players instead.