Our assignment was to create a game concept from two words that we were given. Our group, number 15, was given fancypants and clueless. The game needed to be in 2D, with no gravity and it had to contain at least one projectile and three power-ups.
Among the roles, I was chosen to be lead art.
We wanted the game to be focused on exploring, puzzle, challenge and panic. We also needed to include clueless and fancypants somehow. To solve that, we decided to have the actual theme as fancypants; the player is a snobby gentleman with a monocle, living in a huge mansion. To include clueless we decided to have the game board not fully visible, which would give the player a sort of cluelessness, along with exploration. You’re only able to see a small area around the player – the rest is dark – but you can also use an item to shine some light on the surroundings. This item is your monocle, which you’re throwing back and forth with the help of the small chain it’s attached to.
The first serious narrative we came up with was that the player is this snobby gentleman and you’ve just realized there’s someone in your house trying to steal all your valuable stuff. You’d be searching for the robber in your mansion to catch him, and you’ll be using your monocle as a way of exploring the area; it will light up the direction it’s thrown in. It also works as the projectile, with a boomerang effect. We wanted him to collect items in a kind of a labyrinth, to get the puzzle element included. We did have some difficulties agreeing on a logical goal for this version, though. Would he be picking up his own items to protect from the thief? What’s the goal with that and how do you win? After some more discussing we also considered having it the other way around; the player being the robber instead of the fancy, rich man. It was easier to put a specific goal for the robber, but we liked the idea of having the avatar throwing his monocle as a projectile. Since we couldn’t decide at that moment, I was asked to draw some art of the old man; both as an avatar and an enemy.
I didn’t color it at this time, since I didn’t know which version we would go with. I just did a simple design, in a more of a comical style than my own since I thought it would fit the feeling of the game better. I did my best in drawing the avatar in round shapes to get a nice feeling from him, while I gave the enemy some more pointy features (for example the beard) to give him more of a rough feeling. After some discussing though, we decided to go with the player being the robber. So, instead of being this fancy man; you’re the one robbing this overly rich and angry gentleman. Avoid him and his musket at all costs, if you want to survive.
The projectile in this scenario is now a glowstick bent to the shape of a boomerang. We simply call it Boomerang Glowstick. You can throw this to scout the area in front of you and you can also use it to stun the enemy if he gets too close to you. The enemy will walk around his mansion searching for you, hoping to catch you. If you get noticed you will get shot. The goal is to pick up as many valuables as you can while working your way to the first floor, where you can escape the mansion.
Second part of this will be posted in the near future.
Emma Fredriksson 