Well the game he's got in mind is a Harry Potter game so I wouldn't be able to create it without getting copyright. But he is talking about maybe somebody who made the other iPhone Harry Potter game will see his video and make his game :)
If that doesn't happen (seems fairly unlikely), could maybe find a non-copyright idea that would interest him as much and work towards making an actual game?
Choose from three spells. Call them Expelliarmus, Immobulus, Stupefy (or whatever). But really it’s rock, paper, scissors.
Swipe left to right on your phone to add a jolt of whatever spell is selected. This moves the “center” 10 pixels towards your enemy if you’re using the same spell, 5 pixels if you’re using the weaker spell, 15 pixels if you’re using the stronger spell. Of course, your opponent is moving the “center” the opposite direction at the same time, following the same rules.
You can switch between the spells at any time, but time spent switching is time not spent swiping.
The idea is to push the “center” of the beam all the way to your opponent, where he takes damage and the center is reset. Take damage three times and you lose.
It definitely would work much better with Harry Potter characters and spells, possibly a marketing tie-in to Deathly Hallows part 2.
Add sparks and glows and all manner of cool sound effects and special effects. Include sound bytes from the characters battling.
I just read this outloud to Anim and he says he wants to be able to "pick all the spells in Harry Potter". I think the rock-paper-scissors gameplay would be pretty smart. I'll see if I can convince him :) Oh, he just said that you could have the game for free because of your good ideas.
Thanks for your really detailed reply — and everybody else's too! Now I'm thinking I'll have to build this for him. My wife's going to shake her head if I tell her that I just added another sideproject to my list of sideprojects.
I was especially impressed that he represented the characters as dots instead of trying to draw them, because it was obvious what they do. The "squares," he drew out more completely because he didn't know what to call them and drawing it was the best way to explain it (dad understood).
Update: Some people have asked if I've done any apps with Anim yet and yes we have! I should have linked it in the original post but anyways, the app is called "DJ Baby", we created it last year. It's an iPhone app (http://bit.ly/djbabyitunes) but we also have a free flash version here: http://www.cometcoast.com/djbaby.
"Win or not-win" is a great attitude towards multi-player gaming. 'Not-winning' not only sounds better than 'losing', it goes to the core of what imho matters most in gameplay: social interaction, not competition.
I'm really impressed with the way he imagined the UI, and his way of using dots and the life gauges. You must be a really proud dad, as you definitely seem to be.
My favorite lines: "I get all the money cause it was my idea" and "It has an apple on the back and that makes me hungry"