(The first paragraph describes what would probably be a child’s game, meanwhile the second would more likely be a teen/adult game. Both could be used either way, though)

I think it would be interesting to have a game which starts out extremely “buggy”, and the goal is to fix the bugs, so that you can play the “real” game. This can involve quests to do something like “Plug-in so and so’s computer” or “Battle the villain until he gives you the code you need to fix the bug”.  Another possibility would be to have the bugs be real monsters, like ants or beetle, which you have to fight. Then, when you destroy the boss bug, you’ll stop glitching.

Or, perhaps you can have the reverse: you start with a bug free game, and through ‘hacking” (real or fake) you make the game more buggy, in ways that allow you to continue the game. For instance, you might create a “bug” which makes you to glitch through walls, enabling you to be able to get through a locked door and continue the quest. Maybe you need two coins to bribe a guard with, but you’ve only got one. So you create a “bug” which if you use it right lets you duplicate the coins. A possible concept is that you could have a room with a bunch of buttons which turn on and off “bugs”, and the player has to figure out how to use the bugs.

~ George