Center for Computational Experience

The idea for my game was inspired by the part-time job I have working on a zip line course in Felton. I made a “Zip Line Adventure” game where the mechanics are similar to a platformer game, but the environment is also moving around the player. Similar to infinitely scrolling games like Flappy Bird or Super Mario, the player is always moving to the right (meanwhile the environment and objects move left). My goal was to use my experience in graphic design to make a simple, clean appearance that is easy on the eyes but feels natural while playing. I wanted the gameplay to be simple, so that you don’t have to worry about special moves or test your memory with additional factors – it’s quite simple, don’t fall. On the zip line course where I work, we do all of the clipping and hard work to get the guests connected to the zip line. Although it is extremely unlikely, our guests biggest fear is falling. People tend to overthink “what do I do next?” on the zip line course, like they have to hold themselves up or apply the brakes themselves or do a complicated routine to zip… I often tell guests, “all you have to do is sit back and look good.” I aimed to mirror two concepts we offer to the guests at my work: simple to operate and aesthetically pleasing. This game, like many of the games I played for homework, needs little explanation of what to do and what’s the point. As soon as the player moves, the course (including platforms and ziplines) starts moving, pushing the player in the direction they must go. A stopwatch in the top left corner indicates that the player must be attempting to get somewhere based on time. You can jump solely on platforms for the first twenty seconds of the game but will soon find out that you cannot make it across the map without using the zip lines. Once a player makes contact with the zip line (no buttons or actions required) the player zips across at high speed and lands on the other side. It becomes obvious to the player: I need to move right and the zip lines will help. If the player falls, a message appears that the player fell and can restart by pressing ‘Z’. This way of easing into to the game reminds me of playing “Florence” on my iPad, where as soon as I asked the question “what do I do next?” it became very obvious what the mini game or puzzle that was next was. Most people get “the point” of this game quickly because the environment moves and forces you right, therefore the person thinks “I must be trying to go to the right.” The difference between this game and other platformer games is the simple mechanics and the inevitable fear of falling. For example, the game Super Mario makes the player avoid certain enemies and gather certain objects. This game doesn’t make the player cautious of avoiding enemies, the only thing to avoid is falling! There is a similar feeling to Super Mario where the player is constantly moving to the right, but there is still the possibility to move backwards and go back to a platform or zip cable that you have passed. One game mechanic to note is the fact that if the player jumps, he doesn’t go straight up, but rather is “pushed” slightly to the right. I did not intend for this mechanic, but rather it is a result of the movement of the environment combined with the platform mechanics implemented by Construct 3. I embraced this unexpected mechanic and think of it as another force pushing the player in the right direction. Overall, the feel of the game is similar to games like Flappy Bird, where the player is anticipating the upcoming obstacles by choosing to ascend or descend to safely keep moving rightwards. The feedback I received during playtesting was overwhelmingly positive, mainly about how the game looks. I know that I went above and beyond how the game should look to the user but was still thankful that it went appreciated. The TA likened the smooth mechanics to the new Spiderman game where you can swing around from buildings with your spiderwebs, which provides a “freeing” experience, where it’s simply fun to move. Watching people playtest my game, I realized the mechanics work fine, but the level creation begged more creativity. I saw one person make it halfway across the level without even using a zip line! Therefore, I adjusted the levels so that the player had to ride zip lines because the tree gaps were too large. This turned out to be a “psychological mechanic” that I used, which is the fact that the player is not sure what platforms and zip cables are coming next. So, I pressed farther into that dynamic by creating a second level which is set at nighttime. I was inspired by the student created game “Yami” where the game was pitch black except if you turned the light on you could see, but enemies would charge towards you. I made the appearance of a light, by having a black image cover the whole screen except for a gradient circle around where the player is. This makes the game much more difficult (and spooky) causing the player to feel a bit more anxious jumping into the unknown. I became happy with the easy mechanics of the game, but playtesting is how I learned to set desirable difficulties during the level creation, so that it was just challenging enough to keep the player coming back.