(Phase 4 Development)

Today was our presentation, where we showed what ideas we came up with. Here were my 3 ideas. I’ve also linked the development processes:

1. Untitled Salon Simulator – Narrative Point-and-Click Exploration Game about getting your hair done
2. Childhood Doll Braiding – Narrative puzzle game about a little girl braiding her doll’s hair
3. Doll Escape – 3D Puzzle Platformer about escaping

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I was definitely leaning towards the first idea at first, since it is a game I wanted to make for a long while now. Taking inspiration from some of the previous presentations I looked at last week, I included a moodboard as a background, synopsis and gameplay for the second slide and a prototype for the third. I felt like this made it a particular format that was easy to digest yet interesting enough for people to make comments on.

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You can view the full presentation here, with all the transitions, so you can see how I presented it to the class.

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nodenogg.in Feedback for my Presentation

I received a lot of useful and interesting feedback on my presentation. Here are a few picked out that I like:

1. Untitled Salon Simulator (Most liked from the list)
   • “this sounds very sweet, maybe your hair also ends up reflecting the hair the doll has? Or you end up braiding the doll’s hair like your own? Or the doll has the same hair as your Auntie? And it ties into the history you had with your Auntie?”
     • Answer: I think this is a cool idea I didn’t think about! The doll reflecting the auntie, which is a reason why you stopped playing with it would be a bittersweet touch.
   • “I like the non-linear story exploration element of this.  Can you go back if you want to learn more about the story?”
     • Answer: Ideally, it’s a game that can be replayed over and over again so the player can see the different endings or aspects of the story they missed.
   • “This idea seems promising, but I’m still not very clear about how the gameplay works in practice? Is it limited to listening, and passing some things to the hairdresser? Or are there other interactions the player can engage in?”
     • Answer: The prototype was limited to listening and passing, but there are other interactions the player could engage in. For example, they could talk to people, possibly get up and move around if the auntie is distracted.
       
       
2. Childhood Doll Braiding (Least liked from the list)
   • “You could also give the player a range of what style of braids you could give the doll, giving it good customisation as well as narrative, people would be more invested if they had a lot of customisation over the doll”
     • Answer: If I make this game, the doll would definitely be customisable! There would be a select screen to choose which one you will braid.
   • “I like this concept a lot gameplay wise but seems difficult to implement, I also think stretching this out to a 10 minute game could be difficult”
     • Answer: That is true. I was looking at the scope of the game and the run-time could be less than 15 minutes if I don’t find an interesting way to change it up every now and then.
   • “Puzzle could be braiding on rhythm, you have to press the buttons on time but risk missing opportunities to ask questions, or maybe pressing a button to ask questions means you mess up the braid.”
     • Answer: I was also thinking of this! I love the idea of rhythm in games and how it links to rituals like braiding. There maybe could be a balance of doing a “rhythm game” with braiding and asking questions.
       
       
3. Doll Escape (Second most liked from the list)
   • “Promising idea – looks like a lot of potential, but further to go to get the concept pinned down and perhaps a challenging project to realize in the time given?”
     • Answer: True, I think I need to give the player a motivation to even do this quest. There’s a lot I haven’t thought about.
   • “For a puzzle platformer, you will want to think about what sets the game apart from others. The aesthetic? Themes? Modes of interaction?”
     • Answer: I think the aesthetic would be very fancy and artsy. Since this is a doll maker studio, it’s a very unique place for a game. Also, the theme would centre around Aestheticism and the idea of looking beautiful only for others, which can touch on dark subjects in the real world.
   • “could explore your owners workshop and free dolls that are in the process of being made. maybe some dolls have been completely distorted, like sids work from toy story. could eventually reach a factory or shop and free all the dolls in their packaging.”
     • Answer: I like this idea a lot. It could lean a bit into horror, which I think would be a bit too scary for me, but I like some aspects of that for this game.

These are all great suggestions, and I would love to make these games in the future. But I’m not going to make my own game. I’m…

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Finally Teaming Up!!™️

2 weeks ago, my classmate, Hayley, took an interest in my idea since her theme was Nature x Handicrafts. She liked the idea of BJDs as well as hair-braiding, so we decided to join forces! Our first few brainstorming sessions are here.

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Reflection thus far

I’m glad I got to make a game combining my ideas, but since I am paired up now, I want to evaluate the risks and rewards of making this game and what that could mean for us as a team.

Rewards	Risks / Fears
– Getting to work on a game that combines my and a classmate’s ideas! – A game that I think has a lot of potential, interesting and novel – The artstyle will be unique and beautiful if we pull it off!	– How do we make the plot not too convoluted? – Our coding skills aren’t the best right now – even with practice, could the scope be too high? – Should the game be a platformer with a linear path? We aren’t sure whether to expand the angles or if that might be too much going on

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