Every once in a while, an idea really pans out well.

For Woogi World some co-workers and I were sitting around brainstorming ideas for our 1st "MMO within an MMO" game. The idea we came up with is called "Sharks in the Water."

You may have played this game as a kid on the playground, the rules go as follows. The game starts with 1 shark, and all the other players are fish. The shark can "tag" any of the other players to convert them to his side and be a shark also...so the game starts with one, and eventually ends up with a herd of sharks chasing a small group of spry fish.

We decided to merge this idea with "freeze tag" where tagged players can be "un-tagged" by people who are not "it."

We then transferred this idea into flash, so the game mechanics go like this:

1. Click with your mouse to move.
2. Press space bar to release a "radius" attack.
3. If you're a shark, any fish within the radius begin a long animated metamorphosis into a shark.
4. During the metamorphosis, any other fish can "save" a fish in transition.
5. If the fish goes through the whole anim without being saved, he turns into the shark and goes on the offensive.
6. Sharks and fish have a bar that has to recharge between radius attacks before they can strike again.
7. Points for sharks are awarded for successfully "tagging" a fish, more points for converting a fish to a shark.
8. Points for fish are awarded for saving other fish, and also based on how long you survive the game without being transformed to a shark. The last surviving fish "wins" and receives a bonus.

We then added in the RPG element with different "levels" of both fish and sharks, each with a corresponding accrued point value. The way these levels are displayed is through "hats" that the woogies wear during the game. Basically, it looks like a fish or a shark is eating the woogi's head. You have to see it to appreciate it.

So the woogies in Woogi World can hop into a SITW game (up to 50 kids in 1 game), or host a SITW game as they're doing the other activities in the main Woogi World game and have this whole new MMO within the main MMO.

The cool part, for me, is to actually play the game and have FUN. Lots of times, ideas like these don't end up as fun in reality as they seemed on paper, but this one lived up to my expectations and even surprised me with how engaging it turned out.