Hi there. First comment about the board game developer course.
My idea is mashing up two great games. Stone Age is a light worker placement (with a bit of a push-your-luck) game. The players may place their workers to either gain different resources, or different in-game bonuses or spend the resources to buy cards or houses. The latter two are worth points. For most of the placement options (such as houses) there is one spot, so the player to place first can take the spot.
Dragon’s Gold is a negotiation game, players need to negotiate over treasures of different values using a timer. If they cannot come up with an agreement in time, then all the treasure is lost.
Now what if, we do Stone Age in a Dragon’s Gold style. First, we do not limit the spots on houses and cards, more players may put their workers on them. And then, instead of getting the resources one by one, we pile the whole resource pile earned this round. So players have to negotiate such like “if I can get that gold and this house, you may have the wood and that card”.
I don’t know whether it would work, but sure it would be unique. 