S

• Split - Lots of mechanical opportunities, as well as thematic opportunities
• Leave something behind - Mechanical opportunities
• Layers - Mechanical opportunities

A

• Paths - Mechanical opportunities
• Signal - Mechanical opportunities
• Cartography - Mechanical opportunities, built in aesthetics
• Flow - Complex to implement, but multiple interpretations
• Reflection - A few interpretations, but might produce a lot of similar games
• Deja vu - Time loops are fun, but it feels like they've been done so well that it's hard to do something new in a jam
• Side effects - Could be interesting mechanically and thematically

B

• Merge - Match 3 and puzzle games are likely to overwhelm
• Fragments - Interesting, but doesn't quite provide enough of a hook

C

• Shelter - Thematically interesting, but might have limited mechanical opportunities
• Transformation - Interesting, but can lead to difficult implementations
• Waves - Too many wave-based games already, literal waves could be interesting but difficult
• Falling apart - Difficult to implement, few mechanical interpretations
• Strange machines - Generic, could apply to most any game
• Out of bounds - Not sure how to interpret it, tbh
• Unusual communication - Actually interesting, but very explored by the board game space. Too focused on multiplayer.
• Orbit - Lots of orbit-physics based games have been done, somewhat limiting
• Trapped - Feels generic and story/setting focused
• Chains - Chain physics can be difficult, and many games about connected characters or objects have been done semi-recently
• Protect - Not really awful, but overdone and generic
• Voyage - Thematic/aesthetic focused, but not the worst of those
• Limited movement - This feels like more an extra challenge than a theme, even though it could theoretically speak to mechanics.
• Illusion - This doesn't quite click for me. It doesn't really inspire mechanics or aesthetics
• Vessel - This is... Odd. There's some ideas here, but it feels like a small and hard to pin down design space.

F

• The wrong tool for the job - We had a theme like this on a previous LD and it wasn't great
• Hidden spaces - Feels generic? Lots of games have hidden spaces. Not inspiring
• Parasite - What do you even do with this one? It's purely thematic
• No text in the entire game - Annoying limitation. Too many options, not enough inspirations
• Dungeon - The most generic
• Horde - Too generic
• You are not supposed to be here - Generic, thematic focused, similar to past LD themes
• Wrong character for this game - Limiting, similar to past LD themes
• You are the environment - There's SO few ways to actually implement this