Game Prospectus by Nick, Nathan, and Alex
During lab we spent out time brainstorming a few ideas for what direction we’d like to take our game. We decided almost immediately that we’d like to focus on making some type of multiplayer game. The first idea that was suggested was to make a two-player tower climb game where players would cooperatively work with each other to evade monster, jumps over gaps, and defeat enemies. Players would also be physically pushed to climb the tower to avoid being engulfed by a raising tide of lava. Our second idea was a competitive overhead racer. In this game, one person would control a vehicle and attempt to evade a pursuing enemy player. The twist here is that the second player would not be able to interfere with racer directly, but instead work from a command center and deploy obstacles to stop the racer. Our final idea was a competitive artillery game where the opposing player would choose three weapons for you to pick from at the start of your turn. To prevent the opposing player from always picking the worse weapons, we wanted to implement an incentive system where choosing better weapons for your opponent would benefit you in some way.
In the end we chose to go with the overhead racer idea because we were intrigued by how to best balance the active abilities of the racer with the more passive but strategic options available to the command center player.
What is the experience that you wish your players to have?
| Tower climb | Overhead Racer | Arty Game |
| Should feel pressured because death is always in screen chasing you. Must be ready to always react quickly to the changing level. Feeling of teamwork in accomplishing team objectives. |
Racer should feel rewarded for skillfully dodging obstacles either placed by the other player or generated. They should have some sense of anxiety because they don’t know what is coming next. Command player should feel like they are “in control” of the game world. |
Should feel anticipation/excitement when your shot is fired to see if it will hit or not. Worried/excited about what weapon your enemy is going to pick next. |
What surprises will make your game feel alive? What parts will be fun?
| Tower climb | Overhead Racer | Arty Game |
| What enemies/what jumps are coming next?
Will I be able to survive? Will my teammate succeed? |
What obstacles are just off screen?
What will my teammate/opponent do for me next? How will the road curve up ahead? |
What weapon am I going to get next? What will they pick for me? Will my shot hit? How much damage will it do? |
What about my game will make my players curious?
| Tower climb | Overhead Racer | Arty Game |
| You don’t want to die, you want to climb to the top.
How can we work together to continue to climb the tower? |
You want to survive despite the other guy trying to stop you.
What combos of abilities work best to stop the racer? How do the racers abilities help him survive? |
You want to have the high score at the end.
You want to beat the other guy despite the terrible weapons he is picking for you. How do the weapons work? |
What is of value to the player in my game?
| Tower climb | Overhead Racer | Arty Game |
| Coming together with teamwork to solve problems. (Forge a stronger bond of friendship!) | Get satisfaction in outsmarting your opponent.
Feeling that you’re getting better over time. |
You get the opportunity to make your opponent suffer by picking bad weapons for them. |
What story does your game tell? What mechanics let the user advance that story? What aesthetics will I use to reinforce the story?
| Tower climb | Overhead Racer | Arty Game |
| You’re trying to get to the top of the tower to stop a cataclysmic event. Lava/sand shows the challenge while the continually falling tower shows the continuing destruction of the land. | Racer dude is in trouble with everyone! He starts by running from the mob, escalating to the law, then mil. then even God himself is being is holy wrath!
As the racer the player is allowed to control the fate of this unfortunate fellow, while as the controller, that player is also able to influence the success/failure of the racer. |
Enemy agents have replaced all of your forces ammo! Now you are forced to wage war in the most sub-optimal fashion! |
Concept Images
(Sorry for blurry image)