Game mechanic idea

Game mechanic idea

This weeks task involved us to think up a new type of game mechanic. This game mechanic is to be used with a game that will be published on the Playstation network, therefore it needs to be cheap (or free), fun to play and very addictive. If all of these elements are achieved and good advertising is put in place the game should become a success.

Many games that brought new game mechanics to the market have become an instant success. Examples include the massively popular angry birds franchise and Pop caps Plants vs Zombies. Angry birds was released in 2009 on the IOS platform, this was only about a year and a half after the app store was initially launched so game developers were only just begging to explore this new platform. Aside from the concept (which was brilliant) another element that made angry birds such a huge success was the physics engine and the way the player interacted with the in game characters and world. Speed and velocity of your projected bird determined where it was going to land. The structure that it then hit would move/fall over depending on the force and direction that bird hit it from. It was the first game to properly integrate these type of physics on the IOS platform.

My game mechanic idea mainly comes from 2 existing games which I have combined and adapted. The first game mechanic idea comes from an old 2D flash game called avalanche by TheGameHomepage.com. This game involved a simple game mechanic where blocks would randomly fall from the sky and stack up upon each other. The players objective was to make the little white marshmallow cube jump up onto these blocks to avoid the rising water/lava level from touching you. If you get squashed by the falling blocks or come into contact with the lava you will die and have to start from the begging  The higher you climbed the better score you achieved.

My game mechanic will be built in 3D and use the basic mechanic in avalanche. The falling squares will be replaced with different shapes which will be generated randomly with the next mechanic...

Instead of just having falling cubes the next mechanic will allow the player to physically create the shape they want to drop next. They will do this by collecting different shape icons that will appear within the game. The shape you collect will match up to 10 different corresponding pieces which will then fall depending on which one you choose. This system was adapted from the shape swapping element in Tetris but instead of shapes being randomly generated you have a choice of 3 shapes at any 1 given time and will pick the one that will help you most in the given situation. Once the blocks start falling your character will be able to climb up the set blocks. The character will be fairly agile, moving and jumping like a much similar version of Etzio from assassins creed.

The image to the right is a basic 3D blockout I created showing how I want my level to look and work. As you can see blocks will fall from the sky and compile upon the floor creating a structure. The lava level is indicated with red waves and will slowly make its way up, higher and higher at a growing speed depending on how high you have climbed. The green transparent shapes dotted about can be collected and will determine the next shape that will fall from the sky. The higher you climb the better your score.

If I was to properly develop this game mechanic I would add and develop the existing and new game elements to make it more interesting and enjoyable to play. I think the fundamentals are set out to make it a great game and I think players will easily become addicted to playing it and because the blocks fall randomly each time you play you climb a different set of shapes.