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[MrWiggles]

I'm making a Navitas game.

[Sergius]

Hm, a sandbox Diablo-ish clone... like Lantern Forge, but with more awesome map tiles and combat moves, like Revenant.

In fact, I think I've found what my first Unity project is gonna be. Expect a Kickstarter announcement somewhere within the next 25 years or so.

[silverskull39]

A game where you start as an apprentice/inexperienced mage and must first learn and then apply the laws behind magic to create new spells. Once a spell was created, every time you wanted to use it you could then use it as created, or make small modifications to the spell on the fly. As you get more advanced understanding of the laws you could unlock more powerful or more precise spell components.

[KingofstarrySkies]

Take Prison Architect...And then combine that...With the Escapists.

Instawin.

[Graknorke]

A game where you start as an apprentice/inexperienced mage and must first learn and then apply the laws behind magic to create new spells. Once a spell was created, every time you wanted to use it you could then use it as created, or make small modifications to the spell on the fly. As you get more advanced understanding of the laws you could unlock more powerful or more precise spell components.

While I do think that idea sounds nice, I am far more enthusiastic about the idea of magic being treated as an actual part of the world. Generally it's just "Oh yeah there's magic it uses magic energy to do magic by FORCE OF WILL" instead of anything believable as a part of a system of universal laws.

[Sergarr]

A system of universal laws is called physics. The physics are so vast you would need a lot of work to even approach something like a believable additions to it.

Also trying to systematize magic tends to suck out all the fun. A fun system of magic should run mostly on narrative/philosophical powers, not physical.

[Graknorke]

A system of universal laws is called physics. The physics are so vast you would need a lot of work to even approach something like a believable additions to it.

Also trying to systematize magic tends to suck out all the fun. A fun system of magic should run mostly on narrative/philosophical powers, not physical.

Because who wants to manipulate a complex system of interactions into getting a certain result, right? What a ridiculous idea.

[RAM]

If magic is consistent and sensible and 'just one of the guys' then it isn't special anymore and you are basically just doing science and engineering with a few quirks to make things more interesting. This feels like something that would work much better as a steampunk inventor game which would probably have more removed(unstable flight, loads of structural integrity issues) from physics than added(a boost to energy concentration and conservation.)... Not that such a thing wouldn't be awesome. You could overpressurise your brass claw then release it to shoot at your enemies then pull it back with a chain. Or build rocket-skis with little tea-candle burners. Or use steam valves venting pressure in specific directions to rotate a turret that shoots ice from a steam-powered refrigeration unit. The idea would be to get the smallest possible number of basic components and to have the greatest possible number of things that can be built from them...

You would need to be able to save larger units. like the refrigeration unit would be built by concentrating a lot of components that produced a heat transference effect. These could be used for more efficient boilers, or heat-swords, or heat-sinks, or refrigerators. But you could save a big thing like that and use it over and over again...

But magic's biggest feature is that it is unfamiliar. Bringing rhyme or reason to it can add an interesting element of discovery to it, but usually end up with a line similar to "so it wasn't really magic at all?"...

[lemon10]

That Which Sleeps. But instead of being released months from now, it being out now.

[itisnotlogical]

The perfect VR Avatar: The Last Airbender game. Razer Hydra, Oculus, whatever the hell would simulate that level of acrobatics besides being an actual real-life ninja, just any technology it takes, I want to see it.

[Kaje]

A Star Trek game where you can work on a ship, and work your way up to captain over the course of many hours (a proper bloody RPG/Sim length). You're able to walk around the entire ship, be selected for away missions, take shore leave, have relationships etc.

And no, definitely NOT the combat heavy, PvP focused, RP neglecting, STO...

[LordBaal]

A Star Trek game where you can work on a ship, and work your way up to captain over the course of many hours (a proper bloody RPG/Sim length). You're able to walk around the entire ship, be selected for away missions, take shore leave, have relationships etc.

And no, definitely NOT the combat heavy, PvP focused, RP neglecting, STO...

Yeah, you get to be one of those dudes on red t-shirts. What could posibly go wrong?

[silverskull39]

If magic is consistent and sensible and 'just one of the guys' then it isn't special anymore and you are basically just doing science and engineering with a few quirks to make things more interesting.

...

But magic's biggest feature is that it is unfamiliar. Bringing rhyme or reason to it can add an interesting element of discovery to it, but usually end up with a line similar to "so it wasn't really magic at all?"...

I respectfully disagree. There are in general, two broad types of magic. There is faerie tale magic, like in lord of the rings, where there doesn't seem to be any rules to follow. Done well, this can add wonderful flavor and mystique to the game or story. Done badly, it's just deus ex machina. This is the type you seem to favor.  The other type is rule based magic, which yes, is a lot like physics, but it doesn't have to be hard and fast; there can be exceptions to every rule, and just because there are rules, doesn't mean they have to make any sort of sense. And personally, for games I think faerie tale magic tends to end up being pretty bland: You learned how to do this! Right click to cast the spell! Press button, receive magic. Obviously there are exceptions, but by and large... Whereas with rule based magic in the game I described, you get to understand the basic principles, and build each spell from there. Then, to make more interesting there are the exceptions to the rules. You go to cast a spell and it explodes in your face, not because you did something wrong, but because it was tuesday, or something else (silly example. Deal with it). Then, you can modify it appropriately, and then find a way to take advantage of the exception or whatever else. I mentioned in my original comment that the spells would be saved, but I think I want to retract that. Instead you'd have to get good not only at making good spells, but also at making simple spells that are quick, for tight situations, which would bring skill into the equation. 

[Sergius]

A Star Trek game where you can work on a ship, and work your way up to captain over the course of many hours (a proper bloody RPG/Sim length). You're able to walk around the entire ship, be selected for away missions, take shore leave, have relationships etc.

And no, definitely NOT the combat heavy, PvP focused, RP neglecting, STO...

Redshirt is like a crappier version of what you propose. (you don't get to be captain tho and the whole game seems to be about getting a better job that pays better, and using a Facebook analogue to befriend enough people).

[Sergius]

Any game where magic has no rules will only have arbitrary spells or completely random effects.

If there are rules, there can be proper research.

EDIT: To expand a bit.

Take Quest for Glory. Magic has no rule other than "it costs MP" or "has % of success depending on skill". There's a spell to levitate up or down, and a spell that shoots fire darts. There's no reason why either those spells work, or who came up with them.

Even a game like Morrowind, you have a couple dozen spell effects, and you can only use sliders to affect the magnitude or duration of them (and MP cost).

A "physics" rule system for making spells would be something like, being able to "heat things up", or "make a coccoon to throw spells at a distance", so you can start experimenting, somehow make a spell that creates cooked food out of thin air (or dirt?), what would be the steps to do that. A combination of transmogrification, heating, and even some sort of artistic skill to make things actually look like chicken or bananas or whatever. Magic in the real world means "stuff I don't understand". Magic in fiction is pretty much stuff that shouldn't work but does.