#prototpye

This is a game about combining core aspects from two distinct genres: Action Adventure/Parkour, and Haiku. The player will be placed in a minimal boxy space and be tasked with finding pieces of a haiku by picking up japanese/chinese characters. There will only be one haiku to assemble at a time, and players will reach the characters with a moveset similar to in Mirror’s Edge.

The haiku being assembled will dictate the ways in which the player can move across the map and control the ambience of the world. For instance, a haiku that evokes an air of levity will cause gravity to weaken, making the player more floaty, while bubble particles rise from the ground. Contrastingly a haiku about a flash of lightning in a storm may cause the surfaces of the world to become slippery as they are drenched in a downpour of rain from the dark skies above.

I’ve chosen to have only one haiku at a time to limit the potential complexity of the game. If i were to allow players to piece together any haiku they wanted, i’d have to ensure that all the piece they make lined up well, or punish players for creating bad haiku, and that’s not the kind of experience i want to make. Instead i wish to focus on capturing the ambience of the moment evoked by a single haiku at a time.

This project is intended to be showcased at a meetup, where people will drift from display to display. I intend to design for this space initially, so i will aim to create a ‘zen’-style game loop. The game loop will be infinite, the player(s) being tasked with finding haiku after haiku. This way people can walk up, and easily pick up and play, then leave without commitment after they’ve played enough.

If time allows, I aim to supplement this mode with a couple other. First will be a tutorial mode that explains the games mechanics, which players will be able to access from the pause menu at any time. Second will be a time-trial mode in which players race through a preset course, providing a more competitive experience and extending the game’s potential audience.

Descent has to be my favorite prototype to date. Inspired by 2014’s smash hit and this weeks theme, alternate control schemes, I've created a  endless style game where you rotate obstacles out of your path to survive. The twist is there’s no button pushing and/or timing. The only way to control the obstacles rushing at you is through rotating the left and right analog sticks on a gamepad, which rotates them out of the way. Obstacles to the left get highlighted orange, and to the right; blue.

It’s simple, elegant and easily extendible to a fully fledged game on my part.

ninja tune “zendelay”