I think an RPG / Platformer that's either done with a top-down or third person camera angle would be great, but that's just mia opinio, you know?

In terms of story ideas, I got nothing... Setting could perhaps be something kind of futuristic and noir like Blade Runner.

Leke:

kaŝperanto:I always thought it would be excellent to use Esperanto like Elvish is used in the Lord of the Rings fiction. So in an RPG-style game you could have some ancient civilization (long gone) who used this constructed language (maybe even reverse the actual history and say that modern languages descend from Esperanto ). Maybe there would be Esperantic riddles in ancient ruins, and you have to solve the riddle in Esperanto to get some good treasure. This approach could have an educational use if you slowly introduce more of the language.

Or if you want more of the game to be in Esperanto you could flip the roles and use English (or whatever) as the ancient language and it could be about our far-future descendents who speak Esperanto and are discovering our ruins.

I don't know just how much 3D you are talking about (or what engine you will be using), but a top-down rpg could still make use of some 3D effects without requiring a huge team of programmers and artists to get it done in a reasonable amount of time.

I like this idea. I could even loosely connect it to the Blade vampire series where the whole Zamenhof story was a fabrication, invented when the humans found the existence of the language -- so a coverup of the secret society was required. I could give the user a kind of rosetta stone and have them figure out how the language works -- in order to complete certain tasks.

Oh, and I'm using the Unity3D environment/Engine. I've just completed my first project (actually paired with someone), a simple 3D game where the user shoots balls at a wall. I've also done a simple faux 2D pair matching game from some of the gui elements that come with Unity. This could help drop the game from 3D roaming around, to puzzle solving. The game programming is just one module of a very varied curriculum that has pretty much nothing to do with game programming. I have a general interest in programming, but have always thought game programming was out of my reach because of the tough math/physics involved. Unity has showed me you can get by quite well with a somewhat reduced physics knowledge set.

Well Superman's Kryptonian is just Esperanto and gibberish, so that could have some potential if you were to go down that road.

Hi, so I finished the game just after the new year. I worked with a partner and was responsible for the first level (the pyramid). It's not an Esperanto themed game, but I've thrown some Esperanto things in there (including a word puzzle). In the plot, the language is used by an alien race to communicate in their human form, and pre-dates human language. Note, the game might be a little scary for kids.
Linky: https://mega.co.nz/#!gokiECAA!3dphJ7n5rZpzrrGqVvj7...
Remember, this is just a student project and is not meant for public release.

Note:
It's a 3D game and requires a fairly modern computer to run.
You might also want to figure out how to solve the Huarong Pass puzzle before playing http://chinesepuzzles.org/huarong-pass-sliding-blo...

I really think the new SteamOS and SteamBox aŭ steammachine, is really going to change the gamer's landscape.

How do you say "Jump Ship" in EO? Valve one of the 2 biggest gamming companies stopped "Depending" on Microsoft. before(and continuing) PC Gammer's really need Microsoft Windows to play their Rich Graphics games.

But with Steam that is over. More Games and if not all games coming thru Valve will be able to work on Linux Computers the SteamOS is going to be a Linux Distribution. And will be a console that any company(hardware) can make as long as it ships with SteamOS and a Valve Controller.

Don't get me wrong if the game from Steam is a PC game it will probably work on Windows (even the mac) it just depends on the creators of the game and how they programmed it.

Please check out my post pri the SteamBox
[url=http://regxo.blogspot.com/2014/01/la-plej-pimpan-s...
]http://regxo.blogspot.com/2014/01/la-plej-pimpan-s...
[/url]
And I would really like to help in creating a "open source" Game. I even think some kind of Meetup and company or label creation should be a good idea.

I think Creating a Game that teaches EO that is fun and rich in graphics and action should be the primary goal of the Esperanto Movement.

Talisman:I think Creating a Game that teaches EO that is fun and rich in graphics and action should be the primary goal of the Esperanto Movement.

A popular game would certainly help, as the gaming culture is rapidly taking over the world's youth (especially the males). The challenge is creating an enjoyable game based on language learning. Language learning is a bit of a niche market, so to sell the concept of a language learning game (especially an Esperanto one,) to the masses might be difficult. Perhaps it is better to make a hit game that teaches Esperanto as a side effect -- or at least increases its awareness.
Anyway, I could also be on-board with some kind of group initiative if the game's concept is appealing enough.

Leke:

Talisman:I think Creating a Game that teaches EO that is fun and rich in graphics and action should be the primary goal of the Esperanto Movement.

A popular game would certainly help, as the gaming culture is rapidly taking over the world's youth (especially the males). The challenge is creating an enjoyable game based on language learning. Language learning is a bit of a niche market, so to sell the concept of a language learning game (especially an Esperanto one,) to the masses might be difficult. Perhaps it is better to make a hit game that teaches Esperanto as a side effect -- or at least increases its awareness.
Anyway, I could also be on-board with some kind of group initiative if the game's concept is appealing enough.

No, no, NO!!!!

Can't you see the obvious? Can't you see what's already happened in relation to English? Games have taught massive amounts of English, without being in any way related to language learning niche market.

You CAN teach languages to the masses through video games, but not in that way, that you make a fucking language teaching game! The method is to make normal games that are only available in Esperanto. That's the reason why English competence among young (and not so young anymore) males in Finland have skyrocketed since video games era. The games simply were not available in an already understandable language, so you had to learn some words to be able to use the game. Later some progressed to a level, where they can understand the story. But most won't.

So you need a hit game, which is not available in any other language than Esperanto. Some Japanese games are never released outside Japan, but players worldwide want to play them. So they import them and need to learn at least a bit Japanese.

Of course I know that this isn't gonna happen, but it's the only way.

Idea 1:
A story in which the protagonist is an esperantist that has to complete missions in a fantasy world (some of the missions might involve making the non-esperanto speakers learn some of the language)
Idea 2:
You are Zamenhoff in 19th century Poland and you want to unite the different peoples of your town by using your language. Again, you would have to complete quests (searching for dictionaries, going to see the mayor, etc.) ALthough Zamenhoff wanted peace, you could add some violence to the game (I'm laughing at the thought of Zamenhoff jumping and killing ninjas Prince of Persia/Assassin's creed style)
Idea 3:
Make a Counter-strike kind of game, in which the phrases the members of the team say are in esperanto. Those phrases are very simple and might have similar words to other languages, so that many users can understand them.

It would also be a good idea to have a tutorial so that you can learn the basics of Esperanto quickly before playing.

Whatever theme you choose, please let us know when you finish it!

Edit: sorry, wrote this before reading all the comments hehe

Yes as a side effect you learn a languange, It's not a "Language Learning Game",

I was thinking of a character that speaks EVERY langauge, and this is the players assistant. the game can be programmed to include all translations,

Yes it'l be like elvish, where the language is just a tool of the story, except that it is EO.

I like the idea of "going back" to today where we spoke English, and the main character speaks EO

Quake Live Google Hangout,

Ni Ludu Kun

Looks like you can play with us and speak EO with us while playing Quake.

Please check it out and join

https://plus.google.com/u/1/events/cdfmdb32tf1tfan...

Leke:Hi, so I finished the game just after the new year. I worked with a partner and was responsible for the first level (the pyramid). It's not an Esperanto themed game, but I've thrown some Esperanto things in there (including a word puzzle). In the plot, the language is used by an alien race to communicate in their human form, and pre-dates human language. Note, the game might be a little scary for kids.
Linky: https://mega.co.nz/#!gokiECAA!3dphJ7n5rZpzrrGqVvj7...
Remember, this is just a student project and is not meant for public release.

Maybe I'm just stupid, but can you give me some type of hint on what to do in the beginning? I've walked all the way around the pyramid and found nothing. The controls say that the right and left mouse buttons are for "fire1" and "fire2," but nothing happens when you click them. You can't walk up the pyramid and all around the pyramid seems to be an endless, flat plane. I'm at a loss.