Wk 1 Day 5: ''Flushed''

Mindmap of ideas to do with the game idea (Note: 'Flush' is working title at this point in time)



Very basic layout



I have decided to follow up on the idea I discussed in an earlier post of a racing game built around the accelerometer feature of the IPod.  Thinking about it, here is the rough description of the game concept:

Choosing a character/ Item, the player must reach the end of the track avoiding all obstacles. There is a time that is shown at the top of the screen and at the end of the race this is posted onto a scoreboard.

As you can see goal for the players is to reach point B from point A – so it is a conventional racer game. However the game needs to be innovative and fun for the player. Well that is where the combination of the accelerometer based manoeuvring and the time trial system comes into play. Players will have to have interact with the ‘’console’’ itself while focusing on the screen which will mean that they will be completely focused on the game. Furthermore the inclusion of timed runs and leader boards means that players will want to master the game and get the best time – at least out of other friends who own the game.

But just having accelerate and turning would make time trials a little simple with one set time so I was thinking up other ways I could innovatively have faster times, while raising the risk / reward element of the game. One Idea is to have a player be able to ‘Shed’. By this I mean that players can shed excess parts to make their bike quicker. But that doesn’t really add much ‘risk’ so the bike parts could double up as ‘Lives’ or the number that a player can get hit by obstacles on the track. This would mean that the faster a player wants to go, the fewer margins for error they have. It would also comply with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of ‘Flow’ - meaning that players regulate just how much of a challenge the game to maximise fun. If it gets too hard, they can choose to not shed until they are too comfortable at that level. Conversely if it is too easy they can shed early to maximise speed and difficulty.

Other things that could be included could be a ‘Hard’ mode, that forces the player onto only half of the track (thus giving them less freedom) and forcing them to shed throughout the race. Another element could be a ‘versus mode’ where up to 4 players race on the same screen over Wireless communication.

This would add a few more dimensions to the game, whilst keeping the premise simple. I would expect each track to last between one or Two minutes to keep the game time low enough for ‘Pick up and play’ appeal.

Since it is going to be a racing game and use the accelerometer, I’d best look into both categories. Also, while I cannot play any applications at the moment, I am tempted to look at some trailers to see the graphical capabilities of the console.