Production

Workshop One

Increasing the innovation of games is a constant and difficult struggle. As games become more and more advanced, the range of possibilities also increases, but with that advancement comes the sheer volume of previous creations. Developing games that are unique and innovative, yet fun, can be very difficult.

In the case of our game, it isn't the gameplay that is particularly innovative, but the method of play. Using mobile phones as a default input method is an uncommon scheme. While games on mobile devices are taking the industry by storm, ours isn't quite a game ON a mobile device, but just uses it as a controller. There exist apps for achieving such a goal, most commonly used for emulating retro game pads and arcade style inputs for use in single player games on computers. Our design, on the other hand, is to use such input in public spaces, allowing anyone to download an app and jump into the game, quickly and easily.

While games in public spaces exist, many require special hardware or non-digital input to participate in, such as Renga.

Renga requires players to use a laser pointer, something not many people carry with them in day-to-day life, as well as a specialized projector to detect the points on the screen. None the less, the player interactions are something we wish to emulate. A larger number of people working together to achieve a shared goal through the successful execution of related tasks.

By using a mobile device, we will break down the divide between those who can and cannot play, because of the hardware requirement. These days, nearly everyone carries a mobile device of some kind with them in their day to day activities. Using this fact, we can reach a larger audience and allow our game to truly be pick-up-and-play.

Production

Stage 3: Proving Your Core Experience

As our game concept has developed into a large scale cooperative experience in public spaces, we have considered in what direction to take the visuals. As our game is intended to be open for anyone to play, we must strike a delicate balance between drawing in current gamers through recognizable influences and presenting a game that any non-gamer who sees would be interested in participating in.

We are focusing on two directions to take it, in terms of theme. The first is that of ghosts pushing around a coffin or skull, think Casper the Friendly Ghost. The second is wizards with the object being a dragon egg. We also want to make sure that whichever theme we pursue, we maintain a comical and friendly aspect, which would not be difficult to do with their theme.

Production

Stage 2: Building the Conceptual Foundation

As we proceed with the idea of a "massively multiplayer local game", we now begin to explore what games are already present in this space. Our game, when complete, will be able to be played on nearly any screen in a public or private space. With its wide range of potential players, we are not limited in our audience, but work to open up the medium to anyone who has a smart phone and desires to play.

As of this writing, we have not found any other examples of large scale cooperative games in public spaces that use a similar interface as our game. We did find Renga, which is a similar target, but played with laser pointers on a projected screen, which detects the points of light and converts it to input for the game. This game, however, requires players to have a specific interface, the laser pointer, and specialized equipment that detects the pointers on the screen.

One of the interesting problems we may face with a concept such as this, which requires mass coordination and cooperation, is that inevitably, some small number of players will want to "troll" other players by doing what they can to prevent or slow progress in the game.

I feel really good about where we are now and where our concept is heading. We have a lot of potential in our sights and are all excited about where we can take this game.