P3: Kitteh Smash!
Description:
You are a cat hell bent on destruction. You have a house full of surfaces covered in objects waiting to be knocked over and destroyed, but look out, the pesky dog will stop at nothing to put an end to your reign of terror. A cat can only take so much harassment before she freaks out and runs away! Fortunately for you, however, the dog is not as nimble as you, so he can’t chase you as long as you’re not on the ground. Now, you have only a limited time to break things before the humans come in and ruin all your fun, so make sure not to waste it!
Mechanics:
- Jump—Jump upward with space
- Move—Move left and right using A and D
- Push—Push an object off the front of the shelf using E
- Get down—Jump to the floor/lower surface in front of the shelves using Shift+Space
The player exists in a 2D environment of shelves and other objects near or against the wall that he or she is climbing on as a cat. Some of these will have multiple “layers”, where some of the objects may be in between the player and the camera, others may only have objects standing directly in the player’s way. Knocking objects off of shelves gets the player points; some objects are worth more than others. Finding treats will also give a high number of points. Certain shelves may be unstable and fall when the player stands on them for a certain period of time. A warning indicator will be displayed while the player is in danger of such an occurrence. Falling off a shelf will increase the player’s fright meter. If the player is within a certain proximity of the dog, his or her fright meter will increase. If the fright meter fills, the dog chases the player off into the other room and the game is over. Knocking objects off of the shelf onto the dog will temporarily stun him. The game is also over when the timer runs out and a human walks into the room, or if all the objects are knocked off of the shelf (A point bonus will be provided for this).
Goals:
- Long Term
- Destroy as many objects as possible (acquire points)
- Find treats (specialty collectibles)
- Keep fright meter low
- Medium term
- Climb and explore shelves/other terrain objects
- Avoid dog
- Solve mini-puzzles to reach hard to reach objects
- little “contraptions” like rolling ball machines or domino effect like setups
- Short term
- Push objects off of shelves by running into them and pushing them forward or using the action to push them off in front of the shelf
- Stun dog (necessary if there is need to be on the ground)
The fun of this game comes from the challenge of the primary objective of knocking objects off of shelves as a cat, as well as the special objective of searching for treats. The game also has a funny atmosphere, providing enjoyment through the comedic value of being a destructive cat. The incentives provided by the timer and the constraint of the ever present dog give a feeling of meaning to each of the player’s second by second actions.
Prototype goals:
For the prototype, I am going to build a relatively small shelf environment for the avatar to move around in with one object type for the player to destroy; all objects would behave in similar ways and it would be superfluous to make more of them under the time constraints. The dog, being a key component of the game, will be present in the prototype, though may have simpler AI than the final game would. The HUD will consist of a timer in the corner and some visible measure of the player’s current fright level. The animation of the human entering the room or the dog chasing off the player are unnecessary for the prototype. The focus for the prototype will be on making a quick and fun to move around cat avatar and making the action of knocking objects off smooth and simple. These are all of the components necessary to get a feel for the idea of the game.
Comments are closed.