Time to start thinking about ideas for the game on the XMAS cart.  Anyone who gives me what I think is great idea (even if it isn't used) will get a free cart.  There are some requirements:

elf bowling?

can there be a hidden Hanukkah game on there?

Bubble bobble type game with little elves running around collecting shit.
Maybe after you beat it, there's a picture of a sexy Mrs. Claus in some Christmas lingerie.

Snowman building game.

Screen is a snowy maze with 4 people racing to collect parts to build a snowman.

Each time a snowman is completed, the parts reapear in random places. Winner gets a point, Players must start over (maybe the losers could keep 1 peice each to give them an advantage for next round)

Could have:
Bonus parts that are not required, but you get extra point if you have them in your snowman
Ability to close doors / move some walls / alter the maze somehow to screw up other players

Special items that appear randomly to make you go faster, give you a donkey kong hammer, let you move a maze wall, whatever

????

Profit!

Edit: fixed er up a bit

Edit2:  you could also have the parts not all be on the screen at once, so say you only start with 2 carrot noses, 4 ass parts, 3 hats, 10 coal buttons (you need 3 each or something) and say the carrot noses get snatched up quickly by the other players, they don't come back for X number of seconds but you don't need to get them in order.  You can't pick up parts you already have enough of.  heh

Santa/Elf Sleigh racing ala Battletoads speeder pig intestines level. Trees/fallen trees can be the barriers you crash into/jump over and you jump over snow filled ravines. End of the level is delivering the presents.

Do you want us to PM the idea to you, or post it here?

EDIT:
Never mind

I think there should be a game like Paper Boy, only the player is Santa cruising down the streets.  You have to throw presents into white or blue houses (A button), and in houses that are black, you have to throw Molotov cock-tales (B button).  I think the game should be licensed through (LJN), therefor the villains can be as crazy as Santa blowing people up.  Villains you have to avoid would be other fairy tale creatures, Easter Bunny throws eggs at you, Tooth Faery throws teeth, Jesus throws nails (I'm highly religious, this joke kinda hurts my soul), Unicorns kill your reindeer, Uncle Sam could be an end boss.  The ideas are almost limitless.  When one of the deer get hit they crap a little.  As the levels progress so will the amount of villains.  There should be a foggy level where Rudolph has to get food to power up throughout the level, as he eats more food his nose gets brighter.  When he gets hit the nose-light diminishes.  At the end of each level Santa lands on a house and eats cookies.  The end of the game could be a dream, like SMBII, only someone from Doki Doki Panic wakes up. 

damn.  you beat me to it.  (the basic idea, not exact)

have santa working on some toys in his workshop in the center of the screen. then have a bunch of kids trying to bumrush the workshop to get the toys. Then use elves and even reindeer defend santa's workshop (maybe by throwing candy or something at the kids to fend them off).

or, since i think the elves actually make toys, the elves can be making toys while 2 (or 4) players are defending and you can choose from Santa, Mr. Claus, Rudolph and Frosty.  

Santa Maze:

Where santa has lost his presents and you have to guide him through mazes to get the gifts. Should be a quick easy homebrew type game. You could even add the element of reindeer being lost, dogs and children trying to find Santa, etc. I picture an overhead shot of the maze and you controlling Santa. It could be simple mazes, randomly generated mazes, etc. You could also make some enemies like the kids and dogs and give santa powers. I would say this should be an easy one to set up and you can add more too it depending on how much time you have.

Santa's Gift Delivery:

You see Santa jump into a chimney and then you play as Santa with his bag walking slowly through a house to drop off presents at a tree. There could be obstacles like sleeping children, sleeping dogs, marbles or other stuff on floor. Basically it's you guiding Santa to the tree and possibly back. It could be the same type of layout with randomly generated obstacled to guide through. This would make it fun to pop in and play a few basic levels. You could also make it progressively more difficult for every delivery made and keep track of deliveries and all time high scores. I'm not sure if that would be too much effort to get done in time for XMAS though...

I hope those help and possibly get me a cart!

"Rudolph's Reindeer Games"

You could have a small selection of 3 or 4 mini games: (or just any one of these ideas)

1. Flight School: You have to make rudolph fly as far as he can (sort of like the Mate Toss in caveman games, or one of those angle/power cannon style games) (can be played 2 player, but not simultaneously)

2. Accuracy Training: Rudolph and Santa fly over a series of houses at the bottom of the screen, Pressing a button makes Santa drop presents which you try to aim into chimneys. Some chimneys are large, some are small... you get more points for hitting the small ones. (2 player simultaneous - compete for best score)

3. Reindeer Race: 2 Players race through the sky avoiding lightning, snow storms and other hazards by some sort of button spamming movement. (alternating A & B buttons to move quickly) First to cross finish line wins. Players can pick up snowballs during the race to use to slow down their opponent, however the snowballs should be sparse so getting them makes a real difference.

I'm sure I'll think of some more, but these are some quick and easy ideas that shouldn't be too terrible complicated to program...

I take it you did not play last years game? Or read his first post which listed games already done?
#2 and 2010 sound similar...

Think "Timber" the arcade game. It's pretty fun. Chopping down trees, and such. You could make it Christmas trees.

Or, maybe a sim treefarm or something. That could be complicated, but it could just be as simple as planting trees and having them grow. When they are big enough, cut them down and sell them. If you don't cut them down they get too big and you can't use them. If you cut them down too early they will be too small and you won't make money on them.

A Christmas themed co-op Blasterball style game would be sweet. You could use teamwork to finish the levels or try to get a better score than your partner. Only a few levels would be necessary since the game would have fun power ups to make things dynamic.



Ideas:
1. Two platforms on the screen at once for multiplayer (one for each player). Platforms could be able to butt up against/push each other
2. Bricks are made of ice that crack and shatter accordingly. Some bricks would take 2 or more hits (shaded/detailed differently).
3. Power ups that drop out of random bricks like...
-Snowball (when this ball hits a brick it has a short-radius splat effect that can take out adjacent bricks)
-Santa's Cookies (ball turns into 3 cookies (multi-ball))
-Egg Nog (When obtained your controls become reversed and/or the platform moves slower. This represents being drunk. Players could push each other's platforms in the path of bad power ups like this for competitive fun. This bad power up could fall a little faster to make it harder to dodge).
-Slush Ball (when the ball hits your platform it sticks to it, allowing you to release the ball when you want for an accurate shot).
-Ice Platform (Your platform turns into ice, making it continue to slide in the last direction you pressed. Your platform is in constant movement, it can't stop in place after letting go of left/right. This would be one of those bad power ups that falls a bit faster).

This is what I have so far.

Snowmobile race RC Pro AM style.

How about some of those slide puzzles? Like the hidden on in FF1 (where you press A+B 55 times), except with Christmasy graphics.

when i was a kid i remember always sneaking out of my room in the middle of the night christmas eve so i could try and see santa setting up the presents. what about something like that? maybe you walk around a top-down view of a house trying to make it to the living room without getting caught or stepping on some kinda hazard tiles of some sort. or maybe a little more action like zombies ate my neighbors or like a zelda dungeon. maybe 3-5 levels of decent size maps. you could get a different present at the end of the level depending on how fast you complete each maze. like if you do it fast you could get a bike, but if you suck you get socks or an ugly sweater.

What about a contra like game, but for 1, 2, 3, or 4 players, where two children have been kidnapped by an evil santa, and you have to fight your way through evil elves and rabid reindeers. The elves could have guns and the reindeers can bite you or shoot you with lazer beems from their eyes. Or something like this.

I LIKE IT!

Dude I literally just typed this up and saw your post!  Contra and XMAS would be awesome!

I was thinking a game where the main enemy is the Grinch and he's taken Rudolph hostage. You have to battle through 4 or 5 different levels collecting cookies/milk for power ups and coal for ammo. Santa's weapon is his present sack! The levels are a side scroller like Kung Fu or Contra. As you go through the levels you battle elves with level bosses being famous characters like Frosty or Abominal Snowman. Enemy possibilities: Elves, Grinch, Abominal Snowman (from the old claymation), Frosty

I don't have any ideas as of now, but whatever game y'all choose to make, I'll be happy to make the cover/box/label art for it! 8D

i let the pros handle the great ideas, but can't wait to get the 4th in the series.

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