Gamer Stress - Week 1 Of 2
- Alejandro L. Ruata
- Mar 27, 2018
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 17, 2020
Date: 03/26/18
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Entity for Project 5
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Idea 1 - “Rock ‘em & Sock ‘em”
Genre(s):
● Fighting Game (Heavy on Flash Game Elements in the interest of time)
Core Mechanic(s):
● The game is essentially only broken down into 2 core features (again, in the interest of the short development time) ...
● Main Game - First core feature. A simple click game on PC, this will play very similar to “Winnie the Pooh’s Home Run Derby”. You play a robot… fighting other robots, no more to it than that really. The trick here… is your input doesn’t make your character attack, it makes them defend. Your goal is to anticipate telegraphed attacks from enemy robots and block them, successful blocks lead to powerful counters. Perform these counters enough times and you’ll win the fight (fights are one on one, wrestling arena style, see more on that below). Fights get progressively tougher with trickier telegraphing from enemies.
● Stats - Stats increase with every victory and every successful mini-game completed.
● Mini-Games - Second core feature. You will have the option of playing these separately as you unlock them. With every 2 victories (or 3 defeats) in a row, players will have to take a break from the stress inducing conditions of the main game with a mini game that will emulate cues designed to facilitate de-escalation in players. This will renew focus (something that can get warped when combined with stress) and prepare players to try again. Successful mini-games (because they can be failed or skipped) will slightly increase player stats (allowing for more health, counter power increase, etc.) yet ensure the game doesn’t become “easy” suddenly. It’ll still be a timing game, and still come down to player awareness and skill if victory is to be achieved. The minor boosts in stats are merely incentive playing the stress de-escalation mini games.
Game(s) with similar mechanic(s):
● We want the game to essentially be a mode of this. Simple, quick, and effective to what this entity is looking for.
● If you want to play [https://www.gamesloon.com/free-sports-12/baseball-games-16/winnie-the-pooh-home-run-derby-54790.html] *You’ll need flash on your internet browser*.
Game with similar look and or style:
● We’ll be emulating “Winnie the Pooh: Home Run Derby” in every way, including its look and style.
Serious Game Objective/Explanation:
● To induce stress in players through one form of gameplay and to then facilitate de-escalation through a secondary form of gameplay. This will (ideally) improve player performance (or at least prevent stress from building again) in the original form of gameplay that induced stress in the first place.
● It’s no secret that “Winnie the Pooh: Home Run Derby” is stressful. We hope that by breaking up the gameplay with special mini-games that break the stress inducing flow and are specifically designed to de-escalate tension in your mind and body, we can make the game of nightmares into a real teaching moment in regard to video games and their influence on our state of mind (and how it can be both a good and bad thing).
(Unique) Attributes List:
● Specially designed mini-games that will facilitate de-escalation from the stress inducing main game.;
● 10 Enemy Robots, all unique in design and attack style. You got to be on your toes to block and counter these mean machines!
● (optional) Customization of Playable Robot for players (preset designs will be available) to put themselves and who they are in the game.
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Idea 2 - Icy Paws
Genre(s):
● Platformer
Core Mechanic(s):
● Main Game - You and 3 other players play as arctic foxes trying to get back to their home after being taken away by Vikings for their fur. As you play the game you learn more about the foxes as characters, their reasons for being caught and unlock more mini games to play with your friends.
● Gameplay - This game is a 2D platformer with New Super Luigi U physics; for those who don’t know Luigi plays by having a lot of speed and high jumps, but he has low traction meaning it takes him a bit longer to stop. That is how the arctic foxes are going to control and the game is required to be played with four players. The game is meant to be challenging and it will frustrate the players. However, the game will reward you with mini-games and other extras for collecting all the Fox Amulets in the level and encourage you to get focused and finish the game. Also, for fair gameplay, since there is minimal power ups in this game there will be no pausing or unresponsive jump buttons. Power ups are handled in a similar vein to the Donkey Kong Country series where you use the in-game currency to buy items that can help you in the levels such as an extra heart or a helper that can tell you if a Fox Amulet is nearby. The game will have 7 different levels all based on the Norse realms in Mythology.
Game(s) with similar mechanic(s):
● Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umkD9OfmIgQ&list=PLQ-nEMx5LgUmdZ3Qzzh_wE7NQio2bzCSe&index=23
● The game will have the Physics of the New Super Luigi U and is meant to be frustrating, but there is a test room for players for them to see how the physics work. It’s not going to make them better at the game, but it is a nice frustration reliever. Players can also interact with other players by jumping off each other to add a little bit more co-op or frustration against the players. If all players die, there will be a faux Miiverse called Einverse to help relieve some stress, by NCPs giving you encouraging support or funny dialogue that can give the player a laugh or two.
● The Mini-games that you unlock in the game will be similar to the mini-games that you play in a Kirby game they are not very in-depth, but they are very fun to play with your friends or other players due to it being a nice breather from the actual main game.
Game with similar look and or style:
● We are planning to emulate the style of Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo, I feel like that style will be the most inviting to our game and would be the most possible for a Becker team to do.
Link/Image: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FnPe6tinVs
Serious Game Objective/Explanation:
● The game is meant to hard and meant to stir frustration in players, but because of its great presentation, vivid characters, fun mini games and rewarding the player for each world they clear; I want to turn that frustration into motivation for the four players that are playing the game to finish it.
● By finishing Icy Paws players will have their frustration managed and will be able to control their emotions with ease.
(Unique) Attributes List:
● Bubble Button - Like in New Super Mario Bros Wii and beyond this game will have a Bubble Button if a player is about to die, the could press a button to save themselves by trapping themselves in a bubble, but they can’t play until another player pops the bubble or if the bubble touches the other player. If all players use the bubble button it will act as all players have died and will boot players to the last checkpoint. There are also no lives in this game and players won’t be booted out to the level select like in 2D Mario.
● Checkpoints - This won’t be like Mario 3 or Luigi U the game will have checkpoints at the halfway mark. While the game will be hard and frustrating, we don’t want the player to be angry that they must play the whole level again. If all the players die the will start at the last checkpoint if they reached it. Also, checkpoints will heal one heart of damage to all players if they have taken damage.
● Test Room - This room is made for players that are not used to the physics of the game, there is no bottomless pits, but there are platforms and dummy enemies to play around with. There are also multiple test rooms to play in. It would make you a little better at the game, but not a pro; it is there to help people test out the physics of the game, review controls and practice certain actions.
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Idea 3 - “Wire Loop”
Genre(s):
● Platformer, Puzzle
Core Mechanics:
● Main Game - The core mechanic consists of wires. The player must guide his or her object through a course without touching any untouchable wire. Like the game “Flappy Bird”, you must guide your object through a course with random placement of wires. However instead of using mouse click, the object will follow the mouse cursor.
Game(s) with similar mechanic(s):
● Irritating Stick is a game where the player tries to maneuver metal rod through a metal maze without touching the border. Otherwise, it will make an irritating sound of buzzer.
Game with similar look and or style:
● We want to emulate the game, “Wire”, because we want a simple game style.
Serious Game Objective/Explanation:
● This game will start off its levels simpler and progress gradually, focusing heavily on player control through their mouse movements to get through levels. However, at certain points, the levels will escalate in difficulty leading to players to mess up, get frustrated, and screw up more.
● Once the player screws up more due to the sensitivity of their aggravated mouse movements, the game will then be able to kick in with calming techniques to allow the player to relax. This is critical to the objective of the game, as once the player calms down, they will feel the benefit of remaining calm after getting aggravated with the levels of the game.
(Unique) Attributes List:
● Difficulty level: There are three difficulty level: easy, medium, and hard. The higher of the difficulty level, The faster of the screen movement.
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