Spring 09 48 Hour Competition - To Pull a World

Introduction

Our attempt was to make a game that offered blank state the player then alters to their needs and fulfil a series of achievements within the game.

The player, a small black and white … blob or sorts … is able to run around the environment, jumping and walljumping. However, at the start of the game there IS no environment to speak of. Just ground. So, the player is also given the ability to extend parts of the environment by pulling then from the ground and from walls they pull from the ground. Shaping the environment freely only goes so far without guidance or feedback, so we also aimed to introduce Achievements that the player can work towards.

Unlike games that introduce achievements in a world THEY define, they player must define the world so they can fulfil the achievements. Interpreting the hints given by the achievements, the player would then need to alter the environment in ways such as creating a certain number of blocks, falling for a long enough time (which requires a tall enough structure to leap from), or leaping across gaps (which requires a gap to be made in the first place).

Blocks that the player pulls out can also be destroyed: by transforming the player changes colour, and the build action instead destroys blocks above and below the player.

The simple, nonpunishable controls revolve around direction keys and a single action button, through which everything can be done.

Team

Screenshots

pull-small.jpg Instructions.jpg

Download

You need Java to run this game. To start the game run the jar file included in the zip. One way to do this is from the command line with java -jar ToPullAWorld.jar.

Postmortem

Our idea hinged about utter simplicity and the perfection of execution: instead of complicated graphics and a fixed amount of gameplay, we wished to create a platform that the player could enjoy exploring and playing at their own pace. However, because we offered so little as the basis, it needed to be finely tuned and flawless in order to work.

Basic movement including walking, running, jumping, climbing and walljumping were planned so that the player could quickly traverse the game world and overcome any obstacle that they were faced with. Of course, these would be obstacles that the player had created in the first place.

Next, we wished to offer the player a simple and intuitive ability to alter the game's landscape to create and destroy structures to move over, all done with but a single input button (aside from direction controls for movement).

Complex to program in 48 hours, but simple from the player's point of few. How tuned these mechanics are determine just how simple the game will appear to the player.

Next, the Achievements would act as a 'suggested' guide for the player. If they wished they could simply play at their leisure, but should they choose they can also tackle the Achievements challenge and try to figure out the riddles we present. The player can view them at any time, unobtrusively, and they will reveal themselves similarly when one is completed.

Finally, the graphically style of the game was intended to reflect the game's simplicity and minimalism through black and white, pixelated graphics. Everything was rendered in 8-bit style, in stark contrasting black and white environments, text and animations.

What went right

Pending.

What went wrong

Pending.

Concluding remarks

Kyle:

Alex:

Cody:

Adrian:

Kelvin:

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License