We’re getting deep into the semester, and the assignments are starting to reflect this. This week, we needed to create at least three different sprites for our game, figure out what the game is going to be and start ordering parts for our controller.

Throughout the week, my friend KC posted the ted talk below on wearables and its possibilities, but what struck me about it was the part about how her interactions with children change when adults scare them, tell them no, and basically reprimand any sort of curiosity towards her situation (or disability as some would call it).

The idea:
The premise of the game revolves around life and creativity–and keeping it alive. The dragon will (maybe) have three life stages: baby, adult, and elder, and will have to fly through the sky avoiding dark clouds and collecting power-ups. The power-ups will be a book, a ball and a bucket of paint. All tools that usually fuel play and creativity.

The idea is that the dragon will reflect people’s imagination through life. When he’s young, he’s more agile and his imagination bar (life bar basically) depletes slower. As he grows, he slows down a bit, and his imagination bar drains faster. This adds a dual meaning to the mechanics of the game. It will get harder the longer you play, and it will also represent the extra effort people have to put in their lives to fuel creativity and keep it going.

I decided against having power-downs, as they felt a bit preachy. I feel with the dark clouds the obstacles of the game should be enough.
For the controller, I think I’m just gonna do something with a joystick. I was toying around with the idea of having three different ones, in three sizes and have each stage of the dragon tied to a specific joystick. We’ll see if that’s possible.

Aside from this, I already started importing all of these assets into Unity to start animating them. The three objects don’t have much animation, but I want to make sure I get the dragon right so that I can focus on scripting the game later on, which I know will take a me a bit.

I’m excited about this game, and the fact that it’s fun with an underlying message to it. Hopefully it comes out the way I’m envisioning it!!