Soulmate
Abstract
There is a various way to make a game engages class concepts. For example, we can just substitute characters on an already existing game to a dear. However, I and Donghyun (project mate) thought that it is too boring, and we wanted to create a novel and original game. To find inspiration for the game, we watched Ludum Dare, which is an indie game development competition that participants make their own game from scratch within 72 hours. We could find various indie games with brilliant ideas. When we find a game that is adding poker with Pac man (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMmS8l3pGes#t=3s), we realized that adding a small feature on already existing games makes it much more brilliant and enjoyable. Therefore, we came up with an idea that ‘What about playing two platform game simultaneously?’, and make our game. The name of our game is ‘You’ve got a friend in me’. The reason why we chose this name is that it’s about soul mate kiwi birds. To implement the concept of ‘playing two platform games simultaneously’, we came up with a couple of kiwi birds who behave the same way. Because they are soul mate, they always act the same. If the player presses the right arrow key, both of them will move to the right. If the player presses up arrow key, both of them will jump. However, the map that each kiwi bird needs to get through is different, the player needs to think about both Kiwi birds at the same time. Therefore, we succeed in making a game that the user plays two normal platform games simultaneously while engaging one of the class concepts(soul mate).However, we wanted more functionality that shows two kiwi birds are a soul mate. Therefore, we came up with another apparatus, which is a string between them.Initially, the string between them is green. It means they are in a stable situation. However, the color changes to red as their distance gets further. And finally, the string is snapped, game overs. By adding this string apparatus, the player needs to keep them close. This function not only gives another enjoyable rule but also emphasizes that they are a soul mate. The two apparatus, which are ‘two kiwi birds act same’ and ‘they need to get close to each other ‘ is the most innovative part of our game. By controlling two characters that moving simultaneously, it already has its uniqueness from the existing game. In the normal platform game, what users do is just controlling one character, dodge obstacles, and collect coins. However, by adding just one more character gives fresh player experience compare to the normal game. After we implemented all the basic functions, we wanted to add a variation to the game. We wanted to add different types of obstacles, and a different atmosphere. Therefore, we made a total of three stages. Whenever users enter the next stage, new kind of obstacles is added. For example, in stage 2, users need to dodge flying shuriken which does not exist in stage 1 and needs to be careful when walking on a fragile block on stage 3, which does not exist in stage 2.Also, we wanted to make our game more aesthetic. Therefore, we changed the background image and block color so that users do not get bored with the same atmosphere of the game. And we discussed how to end the game. We decided to end the game if the two soul mate finally meets with each other. Therefore, we make the last part of the platform opened so that two characters can meet. If they meet each other, the player can see the ending scene. This is the ending part of our game. We wanted to draw two soul mates who were happy to meet.Therefore, we depicted two soul mate playing, walking, and seeing together. When we conducted playtesting, we got several feedbacks, which are (1) The difficulty of each stage was too high(2) There is no music, so the game is bland.(3) It will be better if you add checkpoints. We strongly agreed with the first feedback. Because even Donghyun was not able to clear the first stage. When we make a map for each stage, we did not care about the difficulty. We just added obstacles as many as we wanted. Therefore, lots of users complained about they even cannot complete the first stage. After we got this feedback, we reduced the number of obstacles on every stage.We also added different background music for each stage. We also noticed that the game needs appropriate background music for each stage. Therefore, we chose some background music that goes with each stage and added it.And in the case of the last feedback, we thought that adding a checkpoint does not match with our game concept. The concept of the game is ‘Getting through lots of obstacles with the soul mate, and finally, meet each other again.’ Therefore, we wanted the player to overcome every obstacle at one go. Therefore, we did not add a checkpoint on this game. Rather than adding checkpoints, we decreased the difficulty of the game so that the player does not feel annoyed by hundred times of retry.