At the start of phase three Ayse and I decided to team up and work together moving forwards on this project. We were both interested in each other’s presentation topics and struggled to decide between the two, so we decided to explore both topics and allow the ideas to evolve naturally without focusing on simply one topic.For phase three we are researching and generating game ideas based on true crime and animal connection, using these themes to generate our potential game ideas. We are also exploring how these two themes could intersect, with the aim to create at least one game idea that combines elements of both themes.
Initial Idea Generation
True crime
The first theme we decided to explore for our game idea generation was true crime. We worked collaboratively on this to develop concepts that we felt would be unique and engaging. Whilst some of the ideas we came up with were not strictly based on the typical definition of true crime, these ideas are still based on and grounded in the theme of crime as a whole. We didn’t want to limit ourselves to a narrow definition of the genre, instead we allowed ideas to develop naturally and were more flexible in our interpretation. Ayse took the lead on the idea generation for this topic, as it was her initial presentation theme.
Animal Connection
The second theme we chose for idea generation was animal connection. Many of the ideas we came up with for this theme were emotionally quite heavy, given the nature of the theme we wanted to explore different game ideas that would instill an emotional response in the player. Whilst most of the potential game ideas we came up with for animal connection were quite serious we also included a couple more humorous ones, trying to give ourselves variety if we chose to move forward with this theme. I lead the idea generation on this topic as it was my previous research topic and I was more informed on animal connection as a whole, with ayse helping me in making the ideas better suited for a game concept.
Animal connection and True crime
Lastly we explored ideas that combined together both true crime and animal connection. At first we honestly didn’t think these topics would link up particularly well, let alone generate strong game concepts from the combination. Surprisingly this process led to some very unique concepts. I really enjoyed coming up with concepts for this, combining the two themes worked to push us and think outside of what we would normally do. Finding good ways to connect the two topics proved to be challenging. This stage of idea generation was very collaborative which I think helped our growing excitement for our game concepts.
Choosing Ideas
Moving onto the next stage of our idea generation we each decided to pick our two favourite concepts from each category that we had previously explored. Doing this allowed us both to better understand where the other person was in terms of which ideas they were the most interested in and wanted to develop further. I think we both struggled quite a bit when it came to choosing our favourite concepts, as we had a lot of cool and interesting ideas. Narrowing these down to six overall proved to be quite a challenge, for me atleast !
Camilla
True crime : Camilla’s favs
- Puzzle Game.
You must deem people’s crimes as punishable or not, based on smaller crimes like Jaywalking and if they should be sentenced.
I like this concept because of how it makes the player potentially consider why smaller crimes are still considered crimes, somewhat of a commentary on how society is set up.
The gameplay loop I’m imagining would be a series of smaller puzzles to discover the crime and then either some dialogue or character interactions with the perpetrator to understand their reasoning and why they did it. From there you would either have the decision to let them off with a warning or prosecute them with either a fine or jail time. The crimes would be silly things such as a person going to a convention as a police officer ( which would be illegal as you can’t impersonate government authorities ), bumping the fair on the train, graffiti. Small petty crimes such as this.
- Incel Culture
Web browser setting. You’re a female streamer being targeted by an incel group.
This is my personal favourite concept from the true crime portion of the themes. It could be a really good way to criticise and potentially bring light to these situations that would obviously be dramatised but also not uncommon.
The gameplay would probably start with the player ( the streamer ) interacting with their fans and then realising something is off. The player would then have to navigate these concerning threats and also manage their stream. There’s a potential for a more choice based game here which would make the whole thing more replayable, with potentially different endings based on what the player decides to do.
Animal Connection And Crime : Camilla’s favs
- Play as a catnip dealer. Avoid police and include gambling.
I love this idea because it’s the perfect combination of silly and serious, yes the player would be playing as a cat in a silly and fun setting but it also is a direct parallel of how drugs can be moved and the culture behind them packaged in a fun game.
The gameplay loop would probably involve the player arranging the catnip deals and going out and fulfilling those deals whilst also having to avoid police. Another obstacle in this game could either be competing cats or unsatisfied customers. Overall it’s a very simple concept for a very silly game.
- After a crash in a snowy area, you get awoken by a local deer, it leads you to your corpse and you must work out how you died to move on.
I love the concept of this one; it feels very thought provoking but also provides a good potential gameplay experience. Mystery and investigating make for great game concepts and I feel as though this would be a good idea to expand upon.
The gameplay would probably involve the player following this deer spirit and interacting with it to unlock puzzles. By doing the puzzles the player would be able to backtrack and unlock parts of their memory prior to death.
Animal Connections : Camilla’s fav
- Meat Trade Story of an animal stuck in the meat trade.
This idea once again would be something more serious and thought provoking for the player. I think it can be good and immersing to create a game that makes players think and feel emotions hence why it’s the kind of game I keep gravitating towards within our initial ideas.
I imagine the gameplay of this one to start off very cutesy and unaware. Potentially starting with the player running around and having fun as their animal brutally unaware of the environment that they’re in. Throughout the course of the game more and more information about where they are would be revealed to the player, either through puzzles or interactions with the other animals or observations that the player has simply made.
- Death of an Owner Experiencing animal grief, stuff around the house reminds you of your person, painterly style.
This one is again a more serious game topic surrounding the idea of animal grief. The player would have to navigate the house and explore the areas that remind their character of their owner, learning that acceptance is sometimes the better option to be able toi move on. This would be an interesting concept as we could portray the different ways in which the animals are able to experience grief. The gameplay would probably involve a lot of puzzles of somesort and maybe if the animal is a cat parkour in trees or around furniture to get to their once favourite places.
HONOURABLE MENTION
- Hamsters Dumb ways to die-esque gameplay. You are a hamster, you need to try not to die in the stereotypical way.
Too silly not to bring up.
Ayse
Idea feedback
As i mentioned before, choosing between ideas can be difficult. Especially when you have your own personal favourites within your own work. Considering we needed to narrow down the number of concepts to three final ideas, we decided to ask for feedback. We sent out a form to people who regularly play video games, both some of our peers and friends. Everyone who answered the form had some degree of interest in video games, we purposefully did this so that we could gain insight into which ideas could potentially work for the games market. We chose three concepts from each category, mostly being the ideas that both me and Ayse shared a mutual interest in and included a short summary for each game concept. After that we waited for the results.
Results
True Crime
For true crime half of the people who filled out our form chose the incel culture topic; a game about a female streamer being stalked and targeted online. This was actually my personal favourite concept from this category, so i was pleasantly surprised that this idea was also well received from the public. Moral judgment came in relatively close second, having 33% of the votes whilst public the public perception concept came dead last. Honestly behind the scenes this outcome wasn’t surprising, as both me and ayse had listed incel culture as one of the concepts we were most interested in moving forwards in.
The written feedback for this section tended to highlight the real reason why people were so fond of incel culture, the message behind it. People were invested in how we could portray this story and bring light to the misogyny and danger that people in similar situations face, although some people have some concerns. Due to the nature of the game it obviously would cover some sensitive topics that we would have to tackle with care and responsibly in the future.
Animal Culture
Considering that the game favoured the most in the previous category was more serious in its tone, the feedback results from the animal connections section was quite surprising. The more jokey and lighthearted concept dumb ways to die hamsters won this round with half of the votes. This game was my honourable mention earlier, so I wasn’t particularly disappointed to see it win the public vote. I simply find it amusing how people’s preferences for game concepts can vary so much depending on the overall theme.
Animal grief came second, a more serious game concept that revolve around animal mental health and how they experience grief. Truthfully this idea was on the one i more personally favoured at this stage, due to its potential for a great emotional narrative that highlights topics in quite passionate about.
Animal Grief and True Crime
Catnip crimes won the public vote for the combined concepts section. I was honestly thrilled to see this, as it is my personal favourite concept at this stage, so I might be just a little biased. I love how playful and silly the concept is as a whole, so i’m glad to see that others share an interest in seeing the concept develop further. Crow detective came in second for this round, showing that people are still interested in a concept that leans toward a more serious tone.
Tutor Feedback
My teammate Ayse had a discussion with our tutor Adam about the current direction we are headed in and the stage we are at for the game concept. During this conversion one of the things Adam recommended is that we created a GAP analysis for each concept to better identify what we may need going forwards. He also mentioned the importance of considering more of the social and ethical impacts of out game concepts, as some of our game concepts revolve around more sensitive subject matter. Going forwards a GAP analysis would be a great way to identify what we may be missing for the game.
Click HERE for our GAP analysis