KEY DESIGN DECISIONS
Local Competitive Decision
We chose to have a local multiplayer game because our research showed that more people enjoy local games than online games (see Target Audience Research). We do agree that playing with your friends on the sofa is much more fun than each being separated by the internet, which more often than not, may lag. These kind of issues would bring down the overall experience of the player, especially in our case, having a fast-paced game.
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Also, the nature of our game, improvisation, doesn't really bring with being separated. Composing and creating separately will not create a piece of music, but two put together. We don't want this. We want the players to be there, together, in the moment.
2-Player Decision
The reason we have made the game multiplayer is because we want to create a feeling of competitiveness, and we want the players to communicate, or fight together in order to create something beautiful. We have considered making every game idea multiplayer, because we want the players to be more connected, in the age when we are all separated by technology.
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As of now, we want the game to be for 2 players. We believe it is easier to think about 2 players and what their actions and outcomes might be, than to think of 4 others. We have considered making it a 4 player game, and we are not against it, but what keeps us from doing it is the nature of the game. We are not sure yet if the second player is generating sounds as well, we need to test it so we see how it works, and if it works. If it does work, and the second player generates sounds as well, then having 4 players + the first one generate sounds would be too much? Would you be able to understand anything at all from sounds being generated from 5 sources? In my research, The Somethin' Else studio was saying that they could not incorporate more than 3 sources of sound in their game, because it was getting too confusing (see Games For The Visually Impaired Research). This is why we need to test first, before committing and promising a 4-player game.
Target Audience Decision
Our Target Audience is Everyone, old and young, male and female, musicians and music anti talents, gamers and non-gamers. The only requirement is to be willing to play a game.
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For helping us in showing the others who we want to play our game, but as well in helping us remember these people and make sure the product we are designing is always tailored towards them, I created some psychographic audience profiles. I believe these will help us keep in mind what we want from the game, and what these people would want to see and feel.
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I have been able to find very useful information about local competitive games (see Target Audience Research), and it was very interesting, but we don't want to make a game that blends in with the others, we want something unique that hasn't been seen before, so we won't stick to the research 100%. We will trust ourselves and our instincts in what we believe will make a great game.
Platform Decision
While I was doing my research for Competitive Analysis, I noticed that many of the local competitive games were developed for the Nintendo Switch. This means the platform is strong for this genre. This means people who are interested in playing this type of games are already on the platform.
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In addition, the Switch allows for accessibility. The players can each have a controller and share the screen. The Switch being portable, it will be possible for them to play wherever and whenever they wish.