January 15th, 2006
Game Idea #3: Mountain Bike Mike
Here’s week three’s new game idea! This one just came to me. Lucky too, as the couple other ideas I was incubating this week could all use some more time in the over.
High Concept:
Mountain Bike Mike is an extreme-sport + racing + adventure game. You play as Mike, an avid mountain biker that gets wrapped up in a big life-changing adventure one summer in the Rocky Mountains. You could think of it as “Cliffhanger but with mountain bikes.” But it’s a game. And Sly isn’t in it. And it’s good…
Platform:
Home Console
Why it needs to be made:
Mountain biking is just really, really fun. It combines speed, danger, exercise, and fresh-air. I don’t think any game has approached the subject matter in an honest, respectful way, and it’s a sport/hobby that deserves to be done right in a game. Mountain Bike Mike would be the game for mountain bikers.
Description:
The idea for Mountain Bike Mike actually started with an idea for the controls. I love control schemes that evoke the real-life activity, and I think you could do some cool stuff with mountain-bike controls. The first part of the idea is that you control your steering separately from your body weight, as controlling your weight on a bicycle is important, but especially important when you’re barreling down a mountain. The second part of the idea is that you control your front-brake independently from your rear-brake. While this might sound cumbersome, anyone who’s ever flipped a bike will tell you that there’s an important distinction here. 
Besides hauling arse down a mountain you can also sling your bike over your shoulder to cross ravines, climb cliffs, and use rope-bridges. Remember, I said the game had an adventure component, and I imagine the entire game taking place in an open world with explorable nooks and crannies. And besides, if you can’t strut your stuff how else are you going to mack on the bikerinas?
Why it will be fun:
Sometimes giving the player more control over fewer things can make for more fun gameplay. Mountain Bike Mike might require a little bit more skill than your average extreme-sports game, but I think the difficulty could be kept reasonable by leaving out combat and explicit tricks. But from a really high level, any game that lets your go really really fast is fun, and catching air is really fun. Just imagine that intensity combined with the risk of hitting a rock and getting tossed off your bike. (Don’t worry, I won’t make you walk back uphill to get your bike, or change a flat. Yuck!)
Final thoughts:
Extreme sports games haven’t been doing so hot lately. Maybe Mountain Bike Mike will be the game that turns it all around.