1. Verdant Chantilly
Verdant– An elegant word for the color green – recalls to the game’s nature environment color palette + elegant aesthetic.
Chantilly– A type of French lace, for bridal gowns and evening wear.
It is a bobbin lace game that highly inspired by early browser games in Asia, about the characteristics of them
- Short time limit (usually less than a minute)
- Simple gameplay method
- Exciting gameplay experience
Using this “spot the difference” game as example,
The game mechanic are the red circles, once players click onto the false part, it triggers the red circles appear. It is a simple game but for it’s time limit and the limited chances to make mistakes (5 life), these make the game exciting
The pros of this game type:
- Popularity of nostalgia (there are still website for people to access these games after flash disappear)
- Easy programming (always rely on only one or few mechanics)
Back to my game, here’s a rough prototype of it
Mechanic: 6 Bobbins
Time Limit: 30 sec for each stage
Bgm: Exciting major overture
Gameplay: players have 6 bobbins to access with, they follows numbers provided and cross the bobbins towards each other to create a spider web lace. The lace will slowly generate from the bottom part base on player’s correct movement.
Web site for people to access with tons for early flash games: https://www.7k7k.com
Common (popular) examples of early flash game +
Screenshot of the flash game example from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guONB0xWkhI
2. Artisan’s memory
It is a RPG/ visual novel about a little girl in forest.
This game idea was highly inspired by Week 7’s game poem. About the characteristics of visual novel
- Usually do not include any words or talking
- Make good use of effects (environment/ sound), especially for transition between different situations
- Protagonist can only move forward, no turning back
- Meaningful story
Using one of the game poems as an example of a visual novel
| In game | Representing | |
| Black square | Protagonist | North Korean/ Victims under state violence |
| Black curls | Enemy | Razor wire / Concertina wire |
| Situation | the black square got red ink behind it after crossing the black curls (harmed and starts bleeding), it moving speed gets slower but keep moving forward | North Korean/ Victims under state violence trying to escape from controls, even injures does not stop them to chase after freedom, as they are fearless to risk their lives for human rights. |
| Message | When human rights is denied, the desire for freedom becomes stronger than fear, pain, even death |
Screenshot of the gameplay
Research photo from the game poem explanation ppt (North Korea)
Back to my game, here a rough sketch of it
Story : Vivian returned to her childhood village, however it was half reclaimed by an alive forest with familiar handcraft element. As she explore, she found out every object carried a fragment memory.
Mechanic: A short body ratio character, Vivian
Bgm: Slow harp/ classical music
Duration: 15 mins
Gameplay: Players control Vivian to start off the journey, no way back until reaching the goal/ the story ends. Players are going to explore this living forest with 3 scenes, including
- Glass bead flower
- Lace spider web
- Weaved tree bark
Color palette will change between weathers and daytimes. The forest is somehow aggressive, Vivian may get injured during the journey
| In game | Representing | |
| Vivian | Protagonist | Our future generation |
| The living forest / hollowed lace spider webs/ hand-shaped waving pattern tree | Enemy | Our future living environment/ The planet is rising it’s temperature due to human’s pollution |
| Situation | The living forest is haunting Vivian | The planet is changing itself to prevent from ecological extinction, not considering it’s impact on humanity |
| Message | The consequences of how humans treat Mother Earth |
3.Living forest Artisanry
Living forest– players’ wholeheartedly handcrafts makes the forest alive, all handcrafts works have small movements
Artisanry– Players are artisants themselves
This game is highly inspired by sandbox game minecraft, in my game, I would like players to explore their creativity, building their own world and can access to other players’ world, aiming to let players connect with each other between our game community. To be specific, sandbox game’s pros are
- Free play aspects
- Strong modding community (connection between players and players)
- Unique game adventures based on different interests
- High replay value> less chance to get bored > long time engagement of players
Cozy game world vs Ultimate survival world
These shows the potential of sandbox game with it’s personalized gameplay experience and player-driven creativity
After these research, I came up with a self craft world idea
Mechanic: Self customized protagonist, handcraft raw material, and more
Duration: /
Bgm: Slow classical music
Gameplay: players collect raw material and craft bridges, decorations or traps of their forest. What makes the worlds special, is the mechanics that players craft would be in handcraft x nature element! They can also customize their own protagonist
Players are highly encouraged to explore others forest, there will be ranking and competition between players, so that players are welcomed to leave likes and comments whenever they find a forest good.
There are two rough sketch to demonstrate the gameplay,
1. Part of the building process of a world. The player collected raw materials, and is making a handcraft as an element for their world
2. Accessing to world
Research on sandbox game’s about their creative gameplay method