My fellow game studies students and I received feedback on our design documents this week (see previous post for my first draft of Island God). And so I’ve started to tweak my doc based on some of the comments left by my professor. I’ve also begun work on the paper prototype for Island God. It’s not an easy thing to take a game you’ve envisioned as a digital experience and “convert” it into an analog one. But I suppose these things aren’t meant to be easy.
Here are a couple of photos of the game environment, such as it is at the moment.
In case you are wondering, yes, that is a volcano.
Glass beads have proven to be versatile damage counters, individual HP units, and so forth.
I’ve also added some new headings/descriptions to my second draft of the game design document:
“Resistance is Futile”
Failure is a part of every game. On a long enough timeline, players will fail in whatever game they choose to play, whether it be Mario, Call of Duty, Metal Gear Solid, or Destiny. Failure is frustrating, but it is often also instructive. Going left when you should have gone right, learning a boss’ movement and attack patterns, crafting new strategies—these things come from failure. As a game “mechanic,” failure is inextricable from the very idea of gaming. In Island God, failure is not only inevitable, it is necessary. Failure is actually the point. The game is impossible to “beat.” It can only be played again…and better.
Emergent/Evolving Gameplay
Gameplay changes from match to match based on several factors:
Exploration—in addition to a player’s central tasks, there are also secrets strewn about the island that may unlock new abilities, provide new challenges, or reveal lore.
God Powers & Abilities—the player carries these with them as the move from match to match (during the same run).
Consequences—the player’s actions have consequences. For example, using a fire-based action against an enemy may destroy that enemy, but it can also set fire to the dry brush in the area, causing a cascade of damage that the player needs to address in as soon as possible.
Enemy advancement—each time a match is lost, the Elder Gods who preside over the wider world (your bosses, essentially) enact a “Genesis” on the island, razing the land, its inhabitants, and its enemies. The island and you are then reformed with the purpose of “getting it right this time.” BUT! The world around has not stopped moving. This means that advancement in human tactics and technology have advanced. Therefore, the human enemies you engage in subsequent playthroughs are more advanced and more dangerous.
Paper Prototype
At the moment, Island God exists as a tabletop experience in which many of the proposed mechanics have been converted into analog metaphors, for lack of a better term. For example, since I cannot adequately translate attack power/advantage as it may exist in the proposed final game, I have incorporated dice rolling mechanics into various gameplay encounters/scenarios.