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//under construction!// | //under construction!// | ||
- | == Initial idea: Plant RPG == | + | === Initial idea: Plant RPG === |
The first idea that came to mind when thinking about making a game with plants, was an older one. This idea was documented in our personal wiki as "Plant Simulator RPG": | The first idea that came to mind when thinking about making a game with plants, was an older one. This idea was documented in our personal wiki as "Plant Simulator RPG": | ||
//You play a plant. Gameplay is a combination of level-up-RPGs and Sim City. You manage your resources (soil, air, sun, water) and decide to grow leaves or flowers, longer stems, larger leaves or more of them. If your flowers are attractive enough, the bees may help you multiply. Perhaps players can influence or even design the look of their petals and flowers. | //You play a plant. Gameplay is a combination of level-up-RPGs and Sim City. You manage your resources (soil, air, sun, water) and decide to grow leaves or flowers, longer stems, larger leaves or more of them. If your flowers are attractive enough, the bees may help you multiply. Perhaps players can influence or even design the look of their petals and flowers. | ||
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- | == Early sketch: growing a plant (July 2008) == | + | === Early sketch: growing a plant (July 2008) === |
A first prototype was built based on this idea. | A first prototype was built based on this idea. | ||
http:// | http:// | ||
+ | http:// | ||
- | In this prototype rain and sun provide nutrients. | + | // |
- | Growth is initiated by the player clicking on buds. | + | Rain energy can be used for stems and leaves. Sun energy can be used for flowers. |
+ | Stems, leaves and flowers have different types of buds. Click on them to make them grow. | ||
+ | Buds only appear when sufficient energy has been gathered. | ||
+ | Leaves speed up the accumulation of sun energy.// | ||
- | additional concepts: | + | The simplification of the natural context (sun and rain for energy) in this propotype is quite appealing, even if it is far from realistic. |
+ | Disadvantages of this prototype are the random shape of the plant and the all too direct control by the player over growth, creating an emotional distance between player and plant, where the player feels more like a gardener than a plant. | ||
+ | |||
+ | === The vegetal mind === | ||
+ | being a plant, vegetal mind, being inside a plant, inside the seed, guilds | ||
+ | A brainstorm discussion of the project lead to several ideas and inspirations. | ||
+ | One of the strongest ideas was the desire to create a game in which you feel like a plant, experience life as a plant and perhaps learn from the plant' | ||
http:// | http:// | ||
- | roots, | + | === Going underground === |
+ | To solve the problem of feeling like a gardener when directly manipulating plant growth, we came up with the idea of focusing on the roots as the " | ||
http:// | http:// | ||
- | casual | + | === Casual |
+ | |||
+ | We realized that there is already one type of game that is capable of " | ||
+ | Perhaps we could come up with a match-three class mechanic, the outcome of which would produce a plant. | ||
http:// | http:// | ||
- | hex | + | === The hex game === |
+ | When thinking of simple software systems to grow roots in 2D, we stumbled on the hexagonal grid. Hexagons have been a staple for a certain type of strategy games, so it sort of felt right. | ||
+ | We started prototyping a root growing game with hexagons. | ||
+ | The abstract nature of the hexagon shape also connected well to our desire to make a hi-tech underground factory. | ||
+ | |||
+ | http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Hex dressed up === | ||
+ | The mindlessness of the early hex prototypes was extremely satisfying. But the lack of aesthetic connection to plants (apart from a vague abstract representation of root growth) felt uncomfortable. | ||
+ | When Dave introduced us to a way in which textures on a hexagonal grid could be used to represent roots more naturalistically, | ||
+ | |||
+ | http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Dave inside the roots in 3D === | ||
+ | At some point, Dave started working on a 3D version of the root growing game. | ||
+ | This became the most detailed gameplay prototype in this phase of the project | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Tales above ground === | ||
+ | While Dave was creating the gameplay underground, | ||
+ | We felt that one of the important motivators in the social experience of the game, would be the plant avatars that each players would be growing. So we came up with a system to represent how these plants might look. And how a garden would look comprised of such plants. | ||
+ | |||
+ | http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | The basic shapes of these plants were based on drawings by Lina and Theun. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The concept of our garden was that each player was represent as a basic shape that grew out of the ground surface and was made from the same material (we were imagining white ceramic for the prototype). So plants and world are one. This basic shape would grow according to algorithm that were specific to its species. This growth would happen very slowly. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Next to the basic element that is specific to the species, every plant would be able to grow attachments based on nutrients found by the roots in the soils. This are like leaves and flowers, except that every plant is capable of growing every type of attachment. So the attachments are not species-specific (but they could be location or time specific). | ||
+ | |||
+ | When below ground, the player would be playing from his plant' | ||
+ | Above ground, the player gets full control over the camera to roam the garden. | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Ideas for future development === | ||
+ | |||
+ | At the end of this phase, we were a bit disappointed that we didn't really have a clear idea of the kind of game that we might want to make. | ||
+ | To help get to that point, we would suggest the following. | ||
+ | |||
+ | == It's about the player == | ||
+ | The user's experience is more important than the artist' | ||
+ | All of our ideas should serve only as inspiration. Our focus should always be on how the player feels when interacting with our game. Not on whether or not we are expressing our ideas well. If the game ends up being about something else, that is fine too. We're not making edutainment. | ||
+ | We should take the interesting elements from our prototypes and optimize them. | ||
+ | |||
+ | == Not the kitchen sink == | ||
+ | When producing games, trying to implement all ideas is a recipe for failure. | ||
+ | It's important to make choices and to have a reductionist approach to game design and features. Choose one idea and make a game with it. Not necessarily because the others are bad but because you need focus in order to finish something. and our philosophy is " | ||
+ | |||
+ | == What we would keep and throw out == | ||
+ | To our mind, the best idea for a game that came out of this phase is a dual game of being in a plantlike mindset when playing (underground), | ||
- | hex dressed | + | We would remove the concept of plant guilds and the first person perspective. |
+ | As per above, we don't need any reasons to remove things. Reductionism is the reason. | ||
+ | But the plant guilds feel a bit too anthropomorphic to us. It feels too conscious and may lead to too deliberate strategic gameplay as in a World of Warcraft-like leveling MMO or a sort of "Sim City for plants" | ||
- | dave continues inside | + | One thing that we feel is missing from the game idea is a feeling of accomplishment for the player, a reason/ |
+ | Satisfying this desire is somewhat at odds with the vegetal mindset that we're aiming for. Which is why we want to represent this aspect above ground (the human part of the game). | ||
+ | the motivation to play would thus be human and consist of showing off your plant, trying to make something pretty and care for the organism that you're creating. | ||
- | no game | + | == Passive |
- | our priorities: user experience is more important than artist's message | + | We're still very fond of an idea we shared on the groWorld mailing in November 2009. |
- | let's make a game already | + | |
- | make choices: trying to make everything is a recipe for failure | + | |
- | our preferences: | + | |
- | dismiss: plant guilds as anthropomorphic (too conscious, leads to too deliberate strategic gameplay: "Sim City for plants" | + | |
- | dismiss: first person view (plant is not a person, Dave's prototypes are confusing, | + | |
- | add: a feeling of accomplishment for the player, a reason to play (showing off, making something pretty, care) | + | |
- | passive game idea | + | //There is no interaction. There' |
- | make a game for people? | + | You can be " |
- | adding missing elements: avatars, garden | + | In this mode, you only ever deal with your own plant. The multiplayer aspects happens exclusively above ground, in the garden. There' |
==== Context ==== | ==== Context ==== |