Wait a second: Doesn't the Bitmob Writing Challenge usually show up on the Mobfeed first, then gets promoted to the front page? That's because the Bitmob staff has two new moderators: Alex R. Cronk-Young and myself. We'll be tidying up articles with abnormal fonts or 400-word paragraphs, watching comments, and suggesting pieces for front-page or Spotlight consideration. In short, we're here to make Bitmob a better place for our community.

And if one of your articles had links magically embedded into it over the weekend...I got a little overzealous on my first week. I apologize for any problems. To make up for it, this month’s challenge lets you call the shots on the sequel to any game you want....

Let's begin with someone close to gaming’s heart: Sonic the Hedgehog. Over the past decade, as bland Sonic game after bland Sonic game came out, both fans and critics proclaimed they knew what had to be done to save the series -- eliminate anything unrelated to Sonic running, all the furry sidekicks, and the out-of-place stories. Just have Sonic run through colorful environments and everything will be peachy.

So Sega took the fans at their word. Despite what you may have against Sonic the Hedgehog 4 it was exactly what those players “wanted.” But it still wasn’t good enough. They didn’t like the homing attack. They didn’t like the worlds that were copied and pasted from earlier Sonic games. They didn’t like Sonic’s running animation.

Metroid: Other M has the opposite problem. Nintendo gets heat for regurgitating the same storylines for its franchises, so Other M was going to flesh out Samus’ character. Turns out a lot of people prefer Samus Aran as a fearless but mostly mute avatar. And the newest Devil May Cry has destroyed the franchise simply by showing a trailer.

Creators have the problem of choosing how much they want to stay true to a series' roots and how much they want to change the formula. Maybe instead of making blanket statements about what developers should do, we can try doing it ourselves.

The Prompt

I want to hear about what you would do if you have the keys to any video-game franchise. I, however, don’t want platitudes, like “It will have an epic plot with 100 hours of gameplay” or “I’m going to include every Street Fighter character ever, each with his or her own stage, and it will be perfectly balanced.”  

1. Write an article where you describe your idea for a sequel in any video-game series. The article should cover these aspects of game design:

- A brief “elevator pitch” that shows what the overall concept will be, such as "Kratos in space" or "Mario meets Tron," along with some elaboration. Why is Kratos in space? Will Mario ride lightcycles, or will the game's world mirror that of the MCP's mainframe?

- The game’s overall theme and mood. For example, The King of Fighters 13's stages have a lot more crowds and background animations than earlier titles, making it feel more like a huge event. BioShock Infinite has you running through a dystopian society like the first two games, but takes place in the sky rather than the sea.

- State a specific game you want to base the game off of, either within the series or from another franchise.

- What is your new mechanic for the franchise? Every game adds at least one new feature.

- Give a few examples of stages, enemies, and character types you would include.

- How do you want people to play the game? Will it be puzzle-based or action-oriented? For multiplayer games, will it be single-player or team-based? Will it encourage cautious or aggressive play?

Again don’t use a blanket term, like “It will be a balance of X, Y, and Z”: Every game wants to provide a balance but few actually do. If your game had to lean toward a certain element, what would it be?    

2. The article should be between 400-900 words.

3. Write it in a narrative format. Don’t divide the article into sections for “Graphics,” “Gameplay,” Story,” etc. You’re still writing an article for Bitmob’s general audience.

4. Post the article by November 30, 2010. Include “Armchair Gamemaker” in the tags so that it will be easy to find in a search.

A special thanks goes out to Richard Moss for giving me suggestions for the prompt. Good luck.

Still doing Jeremy Signor’s Editor’s Choice writing challenge? So am I! He’s extended the due date to November 5, so we all have to get our peer-reviewed articles posted soon.