#super shield

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I’ve had a recent breakthrough of ideas thanks to a mindblowing chat with a good developer friend of mine.

I quickly made some concepts for some of the ideas we discussed. These were all mocked up in photoshop.

Seed of Life was previously known as Super Shield. For those familiar with what the name Seed of Life represents, you’ll find it strongly fitting for the game, which encompasses many of the same mathematical and thematic concepts. 

The material in this post is an ongoing work in progress which I’m attempting to finalise - any feedback is appreciated.

Seed of Life

Elevator pitch

Seed of Life is a meditative game in which you deflect colourful elements to create sacred patterns.

Description

Protect the Seed of Life in the center from incoming elements by rotating a paddle on a circular canvas. Deflecting elements will fill the sky with a dance of colors that form sacred geometrical patterns, but stay vigilant; as elements move and behave in ways that will surprise and challenge you.

With hundreds of unique and dazzling compositions, Seed of Life offers a meditative experience of joy and comprehension through its real-time puzzle gameplay, and atmospheric visual and aural feedback designed to deeply immerse you in a variety of themes and ideas.

Key Features

A beautiful and immersive experience designed to stimulate your visual and aural senses.

Hundreds of unique visual compositions that reward continuous and skillful play.

A dynamic, evocative soundtrack that responds to your input and heightens alongside the game.

Test your skill and dexterity by getting a high score in Endless mode, or try to beat all 100 levels in Challenge mode.

Zen mode lets you play continuously - dynamically adjusting the waves you face to maintain an immersive sense of flow.

Platforms + Release Date

The game has been greenlit on Steam. I am currently targeting PC, Mac, & Linux for a Late 2016 release, with additional platforms being considered for the future.

Additional Links

I wrote an auto Time Tracker tool in Unity to help me keep track of my dev time. I actually put it up on the Unity Asset Store, so it's available to anybody who might be interested.

I wrote a Level Generator to help me make hundreds of different levels, layouts, projectiles, and compositions.

I wrote a Screenshot Tool that can automatically take screenshots of each level that's completed. This helps me keep track of various levels - to see which ones were completed and which might've been too difficult.

I also wrote an auto Twitter Poster. This lets me automatically tweet any screenshots taken while I play the game.

I also wrote an AI that can play the game automatically. This lets me stream the game without having to play it. Together with the other tools I wrote, the game can also take screenshots and tweet them (with a link to the stream) which really makes it easy to stream and chat and tweet all simultaneously.

With this AI, I did a 3+ hour long stream that's been archived to YouTube. Here is a playlist of that stream split up into smaller videos.

About me

I'm Adam Thompson and Emotion Theory is my indie game studio based in Auckland, New Zealand which I run independently.

I am interested in the creation of beautiful, emotive, meaningful, fun, and accessible interactive experiences.

You can read more about me and my studio as well as contact me on my website here.

Channels / Contact

Email: [email protected]

Facebook

Twitter: @EmotionTheory

Super Shield was originally named as a tribute to Super Hexagon, which served as a major inspiration for the game’s controls - with Bit Trip Beat serving as the main inspiration for the content and gameplay. Since you would use a paddle (or shield) to deflect incoming projectiles, I aptly named it Super Shield.

I’ve since taken on further inspiration from other games, namely Duet and Entwined. The inspiration from these games are mainly with game modes and specific elements of them.

The game has since morphed into something much stranger and different. As much as gameplay has been inspired by several games, the visuals and “soul” of the game has taken a life of its own and feels wholly unique and original. I’m looking to rename and rebrand the game, since the game’s main mode as well as its overall theme now fits a more meditative, zen-like mold. But that’s for another post!

The game’s overall meditative feel and the aural and visual sensation is inherent to the game’s core gameplay and is experienced through each game mode. However, each game mode provides a different flavour of that core experience, made to cater to different demographics and player expectations.

Game Modes

Endless mode fits the Super Hexagon inspired leaderboard-driven score chaser. The goal is to play and last as long as you can. Taking cues from Duet and Entwined - you have 3 “lives” before it’s game over and your final score is recorded. As with Duet, these lives regenerate slowly over time. Missing a projectile will lose you a life, and either rewind to the beginning of the wave for you to start again, or destroy all current projectiles and begin a new wave. There are 5 difficulty modes with a unique leaderboard for each. You will first have to score a certain amount for each difficulty before you unlock the next difficulty. In this mode, completed waves persist by being blurred and blended into the background - meaning progress can be witnessed by the state of the canvas.

Challenge mode fits the Duet inspired levels where even a single mistake will rewind the level. The goal here is to simply master the level in order to beat it - with the optional goal of beating it with perfect hits (from the center of the paddle) and in the least number of moves. These 3 criteria of “beat it”, “beat with the least number of moves”, and “beat it with perfect deflections” lends the game a 3-star completion system. This can add longevity to hardcore players who wish to complete everything 100%.

Zen mode fits Bit Trip Beat’s and Entwined’s main modes. This will be the default game mode and main attraction. The purpose of this mode is to simply play the game and experience what it has to offer. There is no fail state, and the game adjusts its difficulty based on player performance. The objective is to slowly increase the game’s difficulty to get to a chapter’s climax, after which you unlock the next chapter. In this mode, completed waves persist by being blurred and blended into the background - meaning progress can be witnessed by the state of the canvas.

What now?

I feel like I’ve finally nailed the game’s different modes and offerings. I could keep going with different game modes, but feel this is where I need to draw the line. Anything further could be in a future update - a definitive edition, perhaps. 

Right now I need to

Construct a fully working User Interface for these game modes

Get a basic playable version for each of these game modes through the UI

Playtest

From there, I’ll go on to

Refactor and experiment further with projectiles

Construct set pieces for Zen and Endless mode

Narrow down the final levels for Challenge mode.

Narrow down the final waves for Endless and Zen mode.

Implement analytics

Push a beta build and playtest

And once the game goes into its final stages

Work on music and audio implementation

Polish the User Interface and User Experience

Polish and finalise the various waves and levels

Ship

I’ve always had this idea in the back of my mind - a single-screen arcade game where particles and objects bleed into the background and remain for the rest of your playthrough.

You kind of see this sort of thing in a game like Hotline Miami, where corpses and their blood remain on screen.

A wonderful by-product of you playing the game is the creation of these "paintings”. It’s a very low-key form of user-generated content. Even if it is only for the eyes of the player, it is something that they themselves created. It’s the type of thing that might compel somebody to take a screenshot and share, even if the resulting screenshot would be more or less identical to everybody else’s experience.

I want to kind of do the same thing, but in a more conventionally artful kind of way. One that gets players to feel joy and serenity, while inviting onlookers to take a dive into this joyful experience.

The best example I’ve seen of something like this is the game Collision Effect.

It’s a true thing of beauty when your continued play is evident in the look of the game itself.

When a typical game level is cleared of all enemies and collectibles, you’re usually left with a barren environment void of any interesting visuals or interactions.

My own game Super Shield is exploring this feature, since it’s a continuous experience that captures the sensation of painting as a result of playing the game.

After a few levels that look like the screenshot above, the screen will begin to saturate and look something like this.