Inspiration
"Worker Placement" When looking up the mechanic of worker placement, I came upon these phrases that really stuck with me. “fill in this empty space” “action ‘blocking’ occurs” And that idea of filling empty space was something I couldn’t walk away from. Women are often looked down on for taking up space in ways that men are not. Sometimes this grievance is figurative, but sometimes it’s quite literal, as is the case with “manspreading”. A phenomenon we see on trains and public transit, where men spread themselves out and women cross their legs and try to take up less space. Purpose Convey one of the micro, everyday ways sexism presents itself. Conclusion I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out actually. I think the gameplay is fairly compelling and the message comes across. Even in discussing the game with people I’ve learned that people had no idea this was a problem, and through the game they understood it better. And that’s pretty encouraging. |
|
|
Idle MatchInspiration
"Match 3 with a twist" It's no secret the gaming community despises match 3 games. So I decided to pair it up with the other most hated genre: Idle Clickers. Purpose To make a match three idle game. Conclusion Surprisingly successful. I honestly made this as a joke, but it gets a really positive response from everyone who plays it. The gems swapping themselves gets to be pretty mesmerizing. |
YonderlyInspiration
"Sloth", Lazy, calm, serene, Kentucky Route Zero, Comfort, an escape. Purpose A game that evokes lethargic feelings, similar to what Kentucky Route Zero does. A sensory experience, more than a traditional game. Conclusion Pretty successful overall. It’s not a super dense experience, I’d like to be a little less superficial. But I think I captured the core of the experience: simple exploration with the ability to toggle the atmospheric effects to the user’s liking. |
|
|
Punch PartyInspiration
When building games for the Vive as a team, getting punched in the face with a Vive controller is a given. The meta game of development is the rapid reaction dodging that occurs when a blind swing comes your way. Purpose Make a VR game that’s a reaction to the VR development process. (so meta) Conclusion Surprisingly effective, depends a lot on the people playing and how enthusiastic they are. Could be improved by adding moving balls, or having paths they need to trace to make the game more Twister-like. |
Untitled 1Purpose
Create a game that's both disturbing and comforting. Inspiration Each stage has a philosophical moment, referencing a significant view on the meaning of life or truth. The overall point is that life doesn’t have a purpose,it’s meaning is whatever the player gets out of it. *Spoiler* Each stage seems like it might have a goal, but really just ends after a certain time. Conclusion OK. It requires a lot of interpretation from the player. It's fairly easy for them to brush it off as uninteresting. |
|
|
SquishInspiration
"Squishy" I set out thinking of objects I consider squishy, things like balloons and balls, bubble wrap, and marshmallows. I started playing around trying to mimic some of the physics of those objects in Unity. Purpose Make a game out of Unity Cloth physics that has a lose state, rather than just being a sandbox. Secondary purpose Create a sense of discovery and deliberate exploration within a silly environment. Conclusion Mechanically the game was rather satisfying, deforming the shapes and detecting what your body is was interesting. I didn’t get the player to randomly spawn shapes though, so it was hard to judge the success when I already knew the invisible shapes. |
FracturedInspiration
"Cubism" Fragmented, Multiple perspectives, Abstractions, A little chaos, Repetition. Purpose Can I use multiple disjointed perspectives to create compelling gameplay? Essentially, testing a mechanic to see if I can evoke a positive emotional response. Conclusion Mechanically: Success! Created what I envisioned in my mind. Emotionally: Meh The gameplay didn’t have the effect I hoped. It’s moderately interesting, but players can just roam around randomly and win. They don’t actually think about their positioning or the layout of the space. |
|
Discovery
A couple of games where I explored different concepts of what it means to explore. Each game made in about 1 day.
|
A game that focuses the core mechanic around managing a diablo2-style inventory.
Surprisingly satisfying, with potential to be the foundation for a more complete game. |