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GAME IDEA NO. 4

[Version 1.0] Monday, November 18th

Today, Rylan showed me what he worked on during the weekend. He came up with a new game idea that portrays 'vertical migration'. The story is about a time traveller who returned to Earth during our days to try to stop pollution. He started with the ocean, since the situation is critical. His objective is to build a city underwater, and make sure he only uses bio-degradable materials. The game starts above water, in a wooden house. The player starts diving from that point, but he must always return so that his mask doesn't run out of oxygen. He will, eventually, die, and his children will have to take on the task of building the city further. Each generation that dies, a mutation happens to the next generations' body and ability to survive under water.

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To me, this concept is pretty complicated, especially for an initial game idea. I talked to Rylan and I suggested that we keep the music as language element from the 3rd Game Idea.

Game Idea no. 4: Bio

[Version 1.1] Monday, November 18th

After further discussions, we came up with another version of the game idea, slightly different from the initial one.

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The objective of the game is to activate pre-planted stations in the ocean, that will attract underwater beings and help rebuild the ecosystem.

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The player will carry with them a diving suit, diving torch, an oxygen mask and a wire that connects to the generator above water. The player will have to dive in the water, find stations, connect the wire to the station, choose the animals they want the station to attract, collect the resources in the area, and then swim back up to put the resources in the generator.

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This seems pretty easy, but the the further the player goes in the ocean, the darker the environment will be. This is when the sound language comes into place. We decided to make the player have to rely on sound. Depending on the sounds they hear, they will know whether there is something in the passage they are diving in, like an obstacle, or if the way is clear and they can dive further.

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When finding a station and connecting it to the generator, sea creatures will gather around and make noises, or sounds, eventually composing a piece of music.


If the materials you chose were eco-friendly, the sounds the animal make will me in harmony. Otherwise, the sounds will be out of tune and will just not sound right.

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To be honest, the game to me sounds overly complicated, and I can't really wrap my head around everything we've discussed. The game idea seems forced to do what we, as game designers want it to do, and the in game design is far-fetched. I think we need to simplify the idea, because there is something there that would work, the essence of the game, but this is not it.

Game Idea no. 4: Bio

[Version 2.0] Tuesday, November 19th

Today, the guys told me about the adjustments they thought of yesterday, after we went home. They identified the key elements of the previous version of the game:

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  • vertical migration

  • sound generator - you create your own story by the choices you make

  • building mechanic

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And changed the setting and mechanic of it. Instead of doing a repetitive action, connecting wires to pre-planted stations that attract sea creatures, with eco or not eco friendly materials, now, your are abseiling and your equipment is the one that generates sound. You can customise your equipment and choose what rhythm you want to follow, and this will be the way sound is generated. The choices you make, in the cave, with your equipment, will determine the outcome of your journey, the music you create. Hence, every player will have their own experience.

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The reason for changing the setting from underwater to cave is because in the cave, you can hear everything, all sounds are amplified, which will allow us to design a better experience than under the water. Also, abseiling is a way of exploring places and going on adventures, much like the premise of migration: you explore the unknown and must learn to adapt to the situation.

Game Idea no. 4: Bio

After discussing the idea further, this is what we have:

A 2D exploration game, where you abseil down a cave to discover the story of the world.

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You start above the cave, in a camp, referred to as Main Camp. Here, you will receive letters about the world and what happened to it. When you abseil, you will be able to notice what the letter was talking about. Instead of reading the letters, we want to stick to the 'music as language' concept, and so the stories told in the letters will be either sung or hummed. This will help players everywhere understand the story, since there is no language barrier.

The player will abseil down, but will have to return to the main camp to take more equipment (the rope will end and they will need more in order to continue abseiling), and they will need materials for building provisional camps in the cave. The reason we want to have provisional camps is because the player will be able to have a check-point there, a safe place, while exploring.

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To abseil, the player has two options: either walk (move downwards slowly), or jump (move downwards in a certain rhythm). If you walk, you will lose a certain amount of stamina. If you jump within the rhythm, you will lose less stamina, which will help you travel more before having to return to the main camp. However, if you choose to jump, but can't stay within the rhythm, this will cost you more stamina than walking. Each of these styles will generate different sound: for example, footsteps. You will be able to hear your footsteps when you abseil.

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The equipment the player is using, and the materials they choose to carry with them when they are at the main camp will create a different sound for each player too. This equipment could be: static rope, dynamic rope, anchor, descender, battery, gloves, abseiling boots. The customisation of the character will allow for personal experiences and sounds for each player.

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To make the game more engaging, we decided to add threats that the player must avoid in order to succeed in his mission. This may include, for example, monsters of the cave. The player will be forced here to adopt a jumping abseiling style in order to quickly hide and create a provisional camp that keeps him safe. By adding threats, we make sure the game is not too repetitive and has this feeling of danger they you often encounter when going on an adventure.

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For the art style of the game, Rylan said he is thinking of pixel art. I'm not sure pizel art is the right way to portray this kind of sensory driven game, so we will have to test that.

Game Idea no. 4: Bio
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