Ideation

Game Pitch

Presentation Pitch
– I focused on making sure my game was easy to make for the students
– Since i knew my audience was mostly 2D artists, i wanted to make a game that is more accessible for them
– I want the games charm to emphasize the styles of whoever will develop the game, because everyone has a different way of drawing things

The game i wanted to present for people is one that is accessible to make for most. I see that a lot of the students are great at art but may need to get into programming more. The aim of my pitch was to have a game which looked good, but had simple mechanics that will be a nice entry point for anybody who feels to overwhelmed to program (like myself).
I wanted my presentation to be a friendly blueprint to look back on, so I laid out a simple list of what will need to be learnt to make the game. The main things would be state machines, an inventory and a way to make a journal.

(Above) Early iteration of the game.

Here i have the poster that captures the essence of the game with the amount of things happening at once.

References

I like itch.io because of how much hope it gives me to creating small scaled games. It’s the center of a lot of creative ideas which are really easy to get inspired by. Because of the scale, you feel like you could do the same thing / making a similar game with the same awe is a realistic prospect.

PHPb (Phasing Puller Continuation)

Proof that a huge limitation provides more room 
for a quality output. In PHPb there are only three colors, which 
lets the designer make a bigger game. 

Another limitation is the pixel art. The girl is probably less than 50 pixels, yet the devs made her look alive with her expressive jump, her ability to look up and down and even closing an eye to simulate a better aim for her grapple.

Its easy to think that emotion stems from color and extravagant design, but it’s more the case that a limitation and focus on a single element (like all the small animations) that provides a more enduring charm, with less effort.

Mice and Dice 

This was much more engaging than i thought it would be. The game was easy to understand and the style of it was engaging to look at. The concept was simple enough – You’re supposed to peak into other peoples cards to win the game of poker, using your rat as a little intel cretin.

It was the approach to the idea that i liked the most. Creative visual indicators of relevant information kept me engaged. Showing the line of sight of the players gave a clear sense of where im not supposed to go, and the small gaps i had to be in to avoid being spotted gave an exciting sense of pressure. The timer at the top indicated when it was the next move which meant the line of sight would change to create a sense of risk.

The key thing i want to take out of this game is both the animations and design as well as capturing a sense that a lot of things are happening.

ClothesLines

ClothesLines is another great example that a smaller scale game has a profound impact of the quality you can add to it. The scale made things incredibly manageable so there was room to add intricacies and charm. Though the gameplay is simple, i find myself getting lost looking at the artwork and imagining the daily lives of each animal.

Six cats under
Inspired by the small scale which clearly gave an advantage to making the art a lot more refined. The smaller scale also let the developer make almost everything interactable, such as every cat, the pictures, the TV, the window and clock. All in one place. This game was packed with content for its size.

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