Bored at Work... anyone need free Game Ideas?

What I'm Offering

I'm not suggesting I'm God's gift to Game Design, but I do overflow with ideas, and I have a vast memory of games that I have played/heard of/know the development stories of. I can help you work out an idea that's both simple to deploy and fun to play. Give me a starting point, and I'll give you a quick and dirty idea for game design that we can build up from.

A example would be: "I want to make a Survival Horror game with... ZOMBIES!"

First of all, "how creative". But, if you do a forum search, you'll find more posts containing the word Zombies than you will "free help". <img src="smileys/smiley36.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

My response would be along the lines of - "Everyone talks about how we'll deal with zombies TODAY... but nobody goes into how, say, King Arthur would have dealt with zombies. They had no guns, no bombs, no vehicles, only the armor on their back and the blade in their hand. I propose a title where the "safehouse" is King Arthur's Round Table. You could have a simple, explorable area... that is... King Arthur's Kingdom, and a series of magical objects that'll rid the "curse of the undead"... as guided by Merlin. Each knight has their known abilities/weapons, but you can tweak them to be more resistant to damage, jump higher, run faster, attack faster, and so on. When a knight dies, that's it... he never comes back. Play until all knights are dead, then start over. Acquire all magical objects, and Merlin will be able to summon... eh... the white dragon which eradicates the undead, winning the game."

See? I did one already. Nobody even asked me billy-jack.

What do I want?

Credit. Game Design/Story/Scenario (Based on what all you're asking of me) by Adrian Santiago. I don't want your money, you're the one MAKING the game. I would appreciate a copy of the game too, and if you need my help during your development (this idea isn't really working out) I'll be happy to assist ongoing, but you'd better not take three years to make your damn 2D game.

About Me/What Makes me Qualified for this Crap?

First, I work Monday - Friday, 7:00am - 1:00pm. I'm a little "over qualified" for my job, and thus, end up finishing the day's workload pretty quickly and start screwing around on the internet (on the clock of course).

I am an award-nominated independent filmmaker, who is also (while at work) typing up the treatment for my new screenplay. If you care, you can check some of my stuff out on IMDB - imdb.com/name/nm2831087 (If you pick a movie to buy, pick GRIM. Watch it with the whole family!)

In between all of this, I'm learning how to use Construct Classic and collaborating with my local team of artists, audio engineers, musicians and the like... and we'll be creating our own game title in the future. You'll read all about it "when it's time".

I've been playing videogames since before I started Kindergarten. The Legend of Zelda was the first one I saw one fateful Christmas when my older brother got an NES. I'll never forget the sights, the sounds, and if I didn't end up being a filmmaker, I'd definitely be a game designer... I just turned 29, and now, I don't see a reason why I can't do both.

I have written, directed, shot, produced, and edited entire feature-length films coordinating hundreds of extras that all required makeup, costuming, and "stuff to do" while on camera. I'm an extremely creative person that thinks outside the box, and I have a certain fondness in my heart for "the games of my childhood". They didn't overthink themselves, they weren't overly complex, and yet, they live on as enduring classics of video game history.

For God's sake, at one point the hottest game on the planet was a yellow dot eating white dots in a maze... to the point that the Japanese Government had to rush to issue more coins because all of them were trapped inside the arcade machines!

As long as you know your limits, and are serious about creating your title, I will help you out. Ask away.

Getting close to 100 views here, not a single bite? Hell, I've even got ideas for sports games. (Anyone here old enough to remember EA's Mutant League series?)

Sorry buddy, while you do seem to know what you're talking about and all, ideas themselves are just ideas, they're kinda worthless... plus no one wants to create another guy's game. I don't think there are too many people here who are aching for ideas of what to do next. Your Zombie Knights thing sounds cool though, I hope you make something of it.

ideas themselves are just ideas, they're kinda worthless... plus no one wants to create another guy's game.

I'd like to disagree on a simple basis: You get a dev team with more than "one person" working on a game, then guess what? There's "people wanting to work on another guy's game". It's the essence of collaboration. There are plenty of people out there who are stuck working on a game too ambitious for their reach, or unrealistic considering the development platform. A plan is just a plan, but a GOOD plan is worth having no matter what the source.

Give me an idea, I'm interested how this will turn out.

You get a dev team with more than "one person" working on a game, then guess what? There's "people wanting to work on another guy's game".

hey, you could be right, but I don't think we have the same idea of what collaborating is. Right now, I'm collaborating on a game project, and it's "our" game. Where I see it getting away from "collaboration" is where one guy just wants to hand down an idea from on high and see it come to fruition. If there's people who want to work like that, that's totally fine, but I'd be surprised. I've worked as a designer for a few projects, and so little of the actual design work is the initial idea. You do seem to have a pretty good bit of creative experience, have you shipped a game before?

Give me an idea, I'm interested how this will turn out.

Give me a starting point! lol. Genre/Subject.

You do seem to have a pretty good bit of creative experience, have you shipped a game before?

Let's not get into a d--- measuring contest here. "Have you signed a feature length film into distribution before? How about three?" I urge you to participate or exit, but don't muddy this down. Supposed to be fun.

Sorry you took it that way, man. Best of luck in your endeavors!

TDS or whatever, surprise me lol

Those "little things" and hard work make game legendary, not general idea. But still curious how it works out <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

TDS or whatever, surprise me lol

Die Hard 5 opens this weekend... I've been thinking on it all day. Guess I'll combine that thought train with the Top Down Shooter. Ever get a chance to play 1996's "Apocalypse" starring Bruce Willis? It was for all purposes a "top down shooter", but with a slightly more angled camera (to exploit the environment models/likeness of the star Bruce Willis a bit more than a straight up and down view)

Here's some screenshots:

mobygames.com/game/playstation/apocalypse/screenshots

Here's a gameplay video:

youtube.com/watch

In order to keep in pacing with the demands of the Playstation One, the game was basically a series of "action hallways". You always moved forward killing stuff, and along the way, you perpetually picked up powerups that enhanced the way you killed stuff. Very fast-paced, very arcade-y. As you can imagine, the "Twin Stick" style gameplay (one stick to move in directions, the other to shoot in directions) left you fairly limited with regard to camera control, but the game was designed in such a way that finding an appropriate angle wasn't a concern during gameplay.

Let's assume you want a strict top-down perspective, as is illustrated in Construct's most commonly viewed tutorial. This is... well, good for learning but as far as end-game result, you'll end up with many more top down shooters looking/feeling like carbon copies of themselves just for lack of innovation outside of the guide.

• Kids love science fiction. Let's follow a cyberpunk/dystopian future example as shown in the screenshots/videos above.
• We need to have some type of light platforming elements for "walking" variety. I suggest an "Ocarina of Time" jumping mechanism where simply walking towards an edge on the floor causes you to hop a set distance in that direction. Whatever looks right in relation to your player's movement speed. This will give you an opportunity to have environmental hazards in place of simply setting up waves and waves of enemies to attack you. Things that jump to mind are acid pits, broken highway segments that fall many miles below to the floor, exposed electrical wiring, deadly laser grids, etc.
• Most players will be using hard UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT controls while playing the game... diagonals only really when attempting to strafe around the inevitable hordes of enemies. I would suggest that all platformer elements be aligned to the hard U/D/L/R directions so that they are passable.
• For the sake of system requirements, I'd recommend a slightly different approach to enemy waves. Rather than try to push the engine with hundreds of generic baddies, think about the movies "Alien", "Predator", "Terminator". When you encounter an enemy, they should be nearly overpowering of the player, forcing that player to rely on preserving weapon/ammo pick ups rather than spitting out rounds constantly for the sake of "ooh look at the special effects!".

Ever play Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road on the NES? They had a weapons system I was in love with. As you destroy enemies/world objects, you pick up currency. You could also win currency by "prize fighting" tougher key enemies also hidden throughout the world. The weapons you can buy are all "extras" over a simple basic weapon... the special weapons are best suited for boss fights.

Here's screenshots:

mobygames.com/game/nes/ikari-warriors-ii-victory-road/screenshots

Here's Video:

youtube.com/watch

Note the little red pulsing things the enemy drops? Currency.

You can note similarities between Apocalypse and Ikari Warriors in that they're both effectively "Action Hallways" with obstacles in the way. Ikari Warriors required no jumping, but you can see ample opportunity for there to be such a thing.

I propose that we borrow from Ikari Warriors II:

• Hidden shops that require some form of explosive to open up. Perhaps there could be a (left click) shoot function and (right click) grenade function... as both are considered "primary" weapons, the resupply ammo can be dropped from common enemies at random or discovered in ammo crates littering the landscape. Think "The store owners barricaded themselves in their shops" and to get to their wares, you have to blow the door open. These stores exclusively contain the higher-end weapons that you can't find among ordinary enemies.
• Your mind can run wild coming up with many weapons, but in general, you want the 1) "average damage click-dependent rate of fire weapon" as default. 2) "low damage high rate of fire click + hold fire weapon" 3) "high damage, slow rate of fire, slow traveling rocket-type projectile" 4) "Wildcard weapon. High damage, up-to-you rate of fire, but strange trajectory weapon". In Ikari Warriors II it's the boomerang, in Contra it's the spread fire/spirally doo-dad weapon.

More later... eh... a fight seems to be breaking out in the living room :0

EDIT/RESUMING/SUMMARIZING: (Jeez. Why am -I- the one that has to settle things?)

Ideally, what you are doing is confining the play area to a vertically or horizontally scrolling play field. Backtracking would be okay if there are, say, objectives to be met, but you run the risk of allowing players to "exploit" the stores by going back to them whenever they like as opposed to making players think wisely as they pass by one.

While your player never alters his overall elevation, he CAN hop over minor obstacles that he doesn't wish to come into contact with. This allows you to plan stages around:

1. Wide areas to be filled in with dense hordes.

2. Areas that require strategic "Star Tropics" style hopping/puzzle solving (Player has to hop across stones to reach a control lever that extends a drawbridge across an unhoppable gap)

3. Confined areas that forces players to rely on weapons purchased from stores to attack fewer, immensely powerful enemies. (placing them after stores is a good idea.) Think about a guard tower with one guy firing an ungodly stream of bullets at the player, from which they must seek shelter until he's done firing (reloading). If they stood out in the open and tried to just outgun him, the player would die each and every time. By placing ONE enemy you are then free to place dozens of projectiles.

4. Some kind of end boss battle or (the cheap way out) extended survival wave finale. A way to ensure that all of your player's acquired resources are used up in a more dramatic fashion that gunning down common enemies. Think combat against a slow moving tank, helicopter, or mecha (if we're keeping with the sci-fi theme).

With a few frills along the way for immersion's sake:

1. Exploding barrels.

2. Weapons crates.

3. Destructible objects (Storefronts, abandoned vehicles, you name it... stuff that takes 10 precious shots to destroy that may ultimately yield nothing but visual pleasure).

4. Voice acting. This is a great storytelling attribute you can afford to implement because of the "vertical or horizontal" scrolling stage design. "Oh great, more lasers." etc. Be a writer! Think of Bruce Willis over here... they can be one-liners or actual story-driven narrative (Player comes across half-eaten human bodies strewn about) "What the hell... these are teeth marks. What could have- OH S***!" (Flash spawn boss character) and so on.

5. Since you know the "direction" of the stage flow, you can design trackside detail with a fixed perspective to fake a 3D overhead view. Think like Ikari Warriors... you can see the wall facing the player, the roof, but nothing behind it. Mind your collision boxes.

6. Rather than keep a traditional high score, keep a "Body Count" instead. Every 100 enemies slain, an extra life... a blood-soaked nod to Super Mario Brothers and its coins.

I want to make an action RPG but am embarrassed that I don't really have a storyline. The game will be all about puzzles and finding secrets with some action. The protagonist will be an 18 year old, light blue haired male. Every once in awhile, a pretty goddess will come around the town for some reason. I would also like to implement God in the game somehow and have the character have to make a tough moral choice because of that. But implementing God and the tough moral choice is entirely optional. I haven't decided yet whether the protagonist is a warrior or a magician.

I want to make an action RPG but am embarrassed that I don't really have a storyline. The game will be all about puzzles and finding secrets with some action. The protagonist will be an 18 year old, light blue haired male. Every once in awhile, a pretty goddess will come around the town for some reason. I would also like to implement God in the game somehow and have the character have to make a tough moral choice because of that. But implementing God and the tough moral choice is entirely optional. I haven't decided yet whether the protagonist is a warrior or a magician.

It appears you're asking for a story here. Very well.

First of all, between the roles of Warrior and Magician, a Warrior has classically exhibited reverence for God/The Gods, whereas Magicians tend to favor straight knowledge... the -known- world, and the mastery of it. I'm going to write out two synopses for ya. Don't like the names? Change them... better yet, have an "Input Name" screen.

1) BIRK THE WARRIOR - Once a year at the annual Moonika Festival (Fictional Christmas? Halloween?), The War Goddess Killsea descends from the night sky to give her blessing (A kiss from the stars) to a warrior who exhibits the most important quality a warrior can have: Kindness. A warrior should be strong, heroic, and savage in combat... but in times of piece, he must be as the river flows, never swimming against the current. Such struggles go against the natural order of the world, and lead to war. It is said that Killsea's Kiss opens up a combat potential in her most peaceful devotees that can make one warrior single-handedly able to defeat and entire troop with nothing but the blade and shield in his hands.

The Moonika Festival looms on the horizon, a month away, and while peacefully meditating in the wilds, BIRK THE WARRIOR is beset by tragedy. He comes home to learn that his entire town/tribe has been wiped out by a warring nation to the south. They do not believe in Moonika, or The War Goddess Killsea, but are compelled to squash the "occult" by divine right of their own God, "The One God". Standing among the ash of his home, his family, BIRK THE WARRIOR feels a hand brush through his hair. He jumps up to draw his blade, and there before him is KILLSEA. He sheathes his weapon and falls to her feet, crying in apology. BIRK asks her why this has happened, asks why he was left alone... sensing his rage, KILLSEA refuses to give BIRK her kiss, but instead offers her tear. In this tear, all of his doubts, confusions, pains and agonies are contained. He is clear-headed and knows what he must do - Deliver this tear to "The One God" and, in effect, break his heart. By causing doubt in "The One God", BIRK will kill "The One God".

Yadda yadda (the actual game goes here).

After single-handedly proving his might as the last surviving member of his people, on the night of MOONIKA, with the help of KILLSEA, BIRK is delivered before "The One God" in his throne room of heaven. BIRK cannot stand to hear the voice of The One God, nor can look at his brilliance. He clutches KILLSEA's tear too tightly and some of his doubt and pain come returns to him. He fears that The One God is indeed mightier than KILLSEA, and that destroying such a thing may be a great evil... something he has not considered himself to be.

Does he proceed? Or does he turn his back on she, whom he and his fathers and grandfathers before him, fought and believed in?

Stay tuned for "BIRK THE WIZARD". Almost time for me to leave work.

Hey Lovelocke I think I will bite and ask for some creativity/advice here.

I hesitated posting my idea here because I have had others take my ideas and run with them a few times before but I could be just totally paranoid and this idea not even be that good to begin with so whatever.

I have been building the framework to a Tower Defense Game but I wanted to incorporate a very "music" like theme to it. As a long time Dj/Wannabe producer I wanted to incorporate my two loves (music and games) into something a bit unique. I have yet to see many TD games that have any sort of music functionality to them so I said "Let's do this".

Without giving too much of what I have made so far I was sort of "stuck" on a few things that I need some creativity for. The game will basically have towers that are based on the instruments that are used in the songs I make for each level (Kick drum is a tower, clap is a tower, so on), and they will shoot when that instrument plays in the song. I have some other stuff but heres where I need some creativity:

1) The towers are based on the instruments in the song, what could you picture as the "projectiles" from said turrets? (Soundwaves? Shapes?)

2) Enemies have been my biggest hurdle. What could be a possible enemy in a music TD game? What kind of backstory or meaning could you put into it? Enemy is some sort of "thing" that is trying to get to the end of the song to "censor" creativity, music..something?

3) Other functionality to make the game fun. Placing a kick and a clap near each other and when both shoot at the same time a special effect happens?

Any kind of cool ideas would definitely help ;)

To my dear DJ Fuzion,

Tower defense... I love the genre very much. Perfect mix of old school arcade gameplay with modern obsessions like upgrades/skill trees. As such I've played a wide range of the type and have noticed things that I distinctly love/hate about the genre.

Let's see what we can do here.

--Theory/Reference Section--

Are you aware of "Symphonic TD"? - kongregate.com/games/Fr0z3nf1r3/symphonic-td

It's the game that most closely resembles what you're going after, and in my opinion, a study on "what not to do". Personally, I find this game to be... eh, ugly. The interface requires you to click more buttons than is probably necessary (what's with all the sub menus here?) and requires you to dash from hard right edge of the screen to the center for object placement to the top to start a wave. Without the forced tutorial at the beginning, this "game" more closely represents "software"...

It uses music NOTES as enemies, and as the enemies appear, they "play" a note for the user to hear. I think music notes as enemies are rather drab... people would probably prefer a more CREATIVE VISUALIZATION of their music as opposed to blasting away unidentifiable (for most people in the world) runes. The towers themselves are (basically) color bricks... again, not much there that's very inspired.

It would appear, at this point, that "music" and "tower defense" don't go so well together.

POINT OF REFERENCE TWO: "REZ" or "REZ HD" (Sega Dreamcast original, found on Xbox Live Arcade and PS3 Network these days.) - youtube.com/watch

Rez is a complete musical visualization of a hacker forcing his way onto various secure networks around the world. You see how he has a reticle that raises in number? Players press and hold the shoot button, and drag the reticle over numerous enemies (up to 9) and then RELEASES the button to unleash a wave of attack. The background music is a basic loop... and all of the player ATTACKS create musical cues. Even if all you do is tap tap tap the button, you hear a slight high hat/cymbal sound.

As each wave advances, the music pumps up in intensity. The number of enemies increase, and the amount of musical contribution by the PLAYER is increased. With the simple looping tunes going on, players can create just about any hodge podge of notes and have it come out sounding pretty trippy.

More on this later in a moment.

Another Rez Example - youtube.com/watch

--TOWER TYPES--

What's most important here is what kind of sounds the (towers, in your game's case) create in relation to the music. I'll tell you what's a nice convention in a few tower defense titles, that you can start with a basic "type" of tower and then upgrade it out for, say, elemental damage. A fairly basic example of this is "Arrow Tower" can, after three normal base upgrades, be designated as a "Fire Arrow" tower or a "Piercing Arrow Tower". Fire Arrow will strike an enemy and deal burning damage for a few seconds thereafter, increasing the basic shot's potency... although you get just base damage from the shot if your enemy happens to have fire resistance. The "Piercing Arrow Tower" will deal no elemental damage, and ignores enemy armor (physical damage resistance) and has a chance at delivering a critical hit which would be 2x base damage. Two different types of effects from the same tower.

Therefore: I propose a similar system for you. As you are creating a musical game, it might be nice to have a smaller set of basic towers with a wider range of effects, player driven. That way a player has the opportunity to be more involved in the "music creation" part of gameplay, and you (overall) have less work to do outside of sampling different instruments.

These towers are listed in order of ascending value (cheapest to most expensive) based on effect.

Guitar Tower

LVL01-03: Acoustic Guitar. Deals basic physical damage.

LVL04: Electric Guitar or Bass Guitar tree selection.

LVL04-06 (ELECTRIC TREE): Faster rate of fire, electrical damage, chance of shocking enemies (Freezing them in place for a second or longer).

LVL04-06 (BASS TREE): Rate of fire proportionate to level (though never reaching the speed of Electric Tree), stronger physical damage (referred to as reverberating damage?), critical hit chance.

Drum Kit Tower

LVL01-03: Snare Drum. Fast rate of fire, though proportionately weaker than the Guitar Tower. Better suited to handling clusters of weak enemies.

LVL04: Cymbals or Tom Tom tree selection.

LVL04-06 (CYMBALS TREE): Ignores physical resistance to deliver fast, consistent damage. Has a chance to chain attacks across multiple enemies (again, probably the equalizer for clustered groups of attackers.)

LVL04-06 (TOM TOM TREE): Somewhat slower rate of fire, deals reverberating damage, chance to cause headaches (which effectively makes this your Ice/Slow Tower).

Piano Tower

LVL01-03: Standard Piano. Rate of fire lays between Drums and Guitar. Because of the number of keys involved, I imagine this one would be best suited as a "spread fire" tower, and thus is able to target multiple enemies/should be more expensive to produce than the other two basic types. Let's say for now it can target three enemies per shot in it's range.

LVL04: Grand Piano or MIDI tree selection.

LVL04-06 (GRAND PIANO TREE): Allows piano to target four, five, and six enemies per shot in its range (based on level). No critical hit chance, the level upgrade comes from the fact that it spreads out it's attack so deep whereas others have a small chance of chaining or otherwise single-target attacking.

LVL04-06 (MIDI TREE): Will only ever attack three enemies at a time, but as level increases so does the chance to inflict "Confusion" with it's futuristic sound. "Confusion" will make enemies reverse their direction momentarily, sending them back distances increasing per level to walk through towers all over again. Since it doesn't get a target multiplier bonus, qualifies for somewhat higher rate of fire than the Grand Piano tree.

Artist Tower

LVL01-03: Clapping hands, mixed male/female humming? Slow rate of fire, because multiple people voices sound like a mess compared to multiple guitar chords, drum hits, etc. View this as a "rocket launcher" type of tower. Small splash damage impact radius.

LVL04: MALE or FEMALE voice selection.

LVL04-06 (MALE VOICE TREE): Random selection of "Yeah!" or "Woo!" "Uh-Huh" or what have you. Slow rate of fire, but upon impact, has a wide damage radius (Splash damage). Has a chance to "Rock" (Critical hit) enemies for 3x damage in the blast radius... signified by a 1980's glam rock wail.

LVL04-06 (FEMALE VOICE TREE): Random female vocals, as above. Somewhat faster rate of fire, somewhat larger splash damage radius, but has a chance to "Harmonize" all other towers in it's range, allowing ALL tower types involved a brief window where ALL attacks dealt do 2x damage. (People will be inclined to build lots of female voice towers in proximity to their guitar, drum, piano towers etc.)

---And now... a look at some "Accessory Towers". They have no branching trees, are the most expensive to build, but have other benefits for players that can't be ignored. They are listed according to what I feel should be the cheapest to buy up to the most expensive, based on their benefits.---

Amplifier Tower

LVL01-03: Damage amplification for all towers within it's radius. 2x, 3x, and 4x boost to damage, based on level. Effects DO carry over to critical hits, but DO NOT carry over to status-based attacks (Slow, Reverse, Shock-Lock, etc.) Does zero damage to enemies.

Mixer Tower

LVL01-03: Rate of fire increase for all towers within it's radius. 33.3%, 66.6%, 100% boost based on level. Provides NO boost to damage for towers, however, as the rate of fire increases so does the overall chance of status effects. Does zero damage to enemies.

Fan Club Tower

LVL01-03: Reduces upgrade costs for towers placed within it's (wide) radius. 15%, 30%, 45% reduction in upgrade prices. Also boosts the resale value of towers by 15%, 30%, 45%, based on level.

Record Executive Tower

LVL01-03: The Record Executive's job is to double, triple, and quadruple the money earned by surrounding towers. With each level up, the radius is increased slightly. Deals zero damage to enemies.

--PROJECTILES! How do I visualize these weapons?!--

Why, with COLORS silly! Don't have freakin' music notes flying out, or crazy, hard-to-animate waveforms, etc. I would imagine THIN lines that appear vibrantly and then fade out gradually is the best way to go, with the lines getting THICKER as the towers level up. This provides a visual feedback for players to tell where their strongest towers are, and where (if any) there are towers needing upgrades. In later waves, with more towers, you'll be creating quite the light show...

Have a look at an example of what colored lines can do for your visualization: youtube.com/watch

Trust me on the "colors in straight lines" thing. CERTAIN GAMES MADE QUITE A KILLING FOLLOWING THIS FORMULA! You may have heard of this ONE little indie game production from a fledgling production studio that nobody remembers... youtube.com/watch

Take some time to read up and study on "Color Harmonies", that is, what colors go together, and what colors stand out AGAINST each other very well. - tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-harmonies.htm

Think in terms of:

Guitar Tower should have three colors that are Analogous to each other, but Guitar Tower, Drum Tower, Piano Tower, Artist Tower should be placed Square to each other, each respective tower following the Analogous color scheme.

--Enemies: Keeping your Friends Close--

Why they gotta be enemies? Why can't they just be fans of varying genres? I imagine a ball, painted up to look like a member of the KISS army to be called a "Metal Head"... and they have immunity to the ELECTRIC GUITAR tree, but are susceptible to the PIANO tree (as it's not considered Metal). For reference - 3.bp.blogspot.com/-M6fIsY5XaB0/UQZ9pPTyT5I/AAAAAAABrRw/cG1jVjxq1Ww/s1600/kiss-tour_loch1.jpg

You can introduce "Ravers" that are immune to the MIDI tree, "Headbangers" that are immune to Drums, etc etc. Hell if you design these little "angry birds-esque" balls of fandom just right, you might even accidentally stumble on a line of merchandising for yourself.

...read this over, let me know what you think. We can put more stuff out there for you if there's still questions.