On Game Mechanics

On Game Mechanics: forward scrolling games; balloons and the magpie thing; airborne toxic events and other unconventional weapons.

Image 1: Our hero, pigeon Donald Sutherland

After some online discussions and the first group meeting after Christmas pause, we decided to base our game on 2D graphics, developing it after the model of classic side-scrolling games such as Super Mario Bros., Castlevania, and more recent hits like Braid and Dustforce. Obviously, differently from these examples, our hero can fly, the game mechanics might therefore be more properly associated with classic forward-scrolling flight games such as the cult Defender and R-Type [Image 2].

Image 2: Screenshot from R-Type (1987)

 

The choice of 2D graphics can be justified with the high popularity they still have, especially in mobile gaming, as well as with the retro vibe they generally convey to games, a fashion often considered as intriguing among gamers. While obviously we shouldn’t limit our target audience to the gaming public, and certainly not to the geeks anxious to recognize quotations and allusions in the game design, Sukriti has pointed out the importance of having a good reputation in the assiduous gamers community, in order to gain credibility in a very populated market. On the other hand, 2D graphics are obviously a choice towards simplicity, and arguably set a lower entrance level not only for developers and programmers, but also for players. Our pigeon (at the present moment we are focusing on a single heroic pigeon) will therefore occupy the centre of a horizontal screen, while the background and the other characters and gaming elements will scroll from right to left, thus giving the impression the pigeon is flying towards right [Image 3].

Image 3: Forward-scrolling games visual structure 

At a narrative level, we can say that the basic aim of our pigeon throughout the game is to prevent irresponsible attitudes to spread and entrench among tourists. In order to graphically represent tourists’ ideas (and, by association, individual attitudes and behaviours) in a 2d interface, we’ve decided to rely on classic comics balloons. Within balloons symbols will appear, representing good and bad behaviours. For instance, in a game level we’re working on these days, focused on the usage of public transport instead of private one, the bad behaviour will be represented with an image of car keys placed inside balloons, while an image of bus tickets will symbolize the good attitude of conscientious tourists using public transports.

 

Image 4: A tourist

Therefore, in its flight the pigeon will encounter tourists coming from the right of the screen, whose predisposition towards certain objectionable behaviours will be symbolized by images appearing in balloons connected to their heads. The fundamental game mechanic is that the player has to drive pigeon’s flight inside the balloons representing bad behaviours, so that, just like a magpie, it will steal the bad idea from tourists’ minds, making the balloon explode. Obviously the player must pay attention not to fly into balloons representing good behaviours, and this might be difficult since tourists’ usually travel in groups, and balloons representing good and bad behaviours might be very near.

Image 5: Daily job for pigeon Sutherland

 

Once the pigeon has stolen the symbol representing the negative behaviour (thus neutralizing that bad idea), and the tourist reaches the left half of the screen, we will see them develop a new balloon with a new symbol representing a proper behaviour.

As mentioned, classic comics balloons represent the ideas of individual tourists. This ideas are dangerous not only for the immediate effects of the individual behaviours, but also because negative examples spread and irresponsible behaviours entrench in other tourists. We have decided to represent this social dynamic through the evolution of balloons, connected to tourists and representing individual behaviours, in big toxic clouds, representing collective ideas and moving independently on the screen, obstructing pigeon's mission.

Image 6: Irresponsible behaviours spread

This game mechanic provides that if the player fails to steal a negative symbol from a balloon, in the left half of the screen (where, because of the one-side-scrolling games’ visual structure, the pigeon has no possibility of intervene) we will see this bad balloon growing, absorbing near good balloons, and eventually detaching from the irresponsible tourist to reach the pigeon and limit is flying ability. Evidently, when this dynamic is triggered, game becomes quite hard, since the player has to neutralize the bad balloons coming from the right end of the screen, while at the same time his movements are limited by the toxic cloud formed in the left half of the screen and flying around him [Image 6]. Every time the pigeon touches a toxic cloud the player will lose points.

Image 7: Toxic cloud formation

Image 8: Toxic clouds limiting our hero's flight abilities

A further resource provided to the pigeon is what in my previous blog post I’ve called an “unconventional weapon”, pigeons’ droppings. At the origin of the idea of adopting pigeons as heroes of our game, there was, as mentioned, the fact that pigeons inhabit many of the most famous cultural sites; at the same time, though, we have been aware from the beginning of the ironic potentialities of deploying as a gaming element one of the main points of contact between tourists and pigeons, i.e. the random, unlucky and actually dangerous contact with pigeons’ faeces. Although manifestly coarse, or just for that, this idea seemed able to trigger some sort of attention on the game, as well as to provide a supplementary element of fun.

As I hope it’s clear from the previous paragraphs, many variables are present in the game mechanics that will allow an increase of difficulty while the player progresses in the game. In addition to toxic clouds, nearness of good and bad balloons, and the acceleration of screen-scrolling (typical element of difficulty of side-scrolling games), occasional obstacles (some of which I’ve mentioned in my previous blog) will be introduced in next posts, and will constitute the peculiarities of the different levels. Progressing in the game, the pigeon will be chased by toxic clouds, hunted by watchmen, and will face moments of great tourists affluence. Sometimes it might be quite hard or impossible for the player to drive the pigeon into bad balloons without being intercepted by one of these antagonists, but, in order to prevent negative individual behaviours to become toxic collective practices, he still has one possibility. Droppings are a weapon the pigeon can use from a distance, in order to punish irresponsible tourists. This weapon has not the same level of effectiveness of the magpie flight inside the bad behaviour balloon, in fact the bad behaviour balloon will keep its route towards the left end of the screen, but the exemplary punishment will prevent those individual behaviours to spread as collective practices.

Image 9: Pigeon Sutherland releasing unconventional weapons on irresponsible tourists

In this post I’ve introduced the most structural game mechanics. All these elements are obviously connected to a point system that will be introduced in the next posts, and they are integrated in an overarching system of levels of which I think Ruta is going to write about.

Image 10: Our hero chilling out

Michele Bruzzi