Gameplay Journal #10

A lot of my value-based games follow environmental and animal-based themes. My first idea involves the environmental theme of oil spills and the negative effects of it on aquatic life. I had the idea of the main character being a duckling (since whenever I think about oil spill situations it always reminds me of the Dawn commercials where they clean the ducklings from the oil spills and it hurts my heart). His goal is to escape his polluted water and reach clean water. He will have to avoid sections of polluted water (a core mechanic will most likely be a jump or double jump). For time pressure it will most likely be a side scroller, so the character is in a hurry to escape the pollution. In order to offset the difficulty there will be little human sprites that help support the duckling over larger patches of oil to help it reach its goal. I feel like this speaks to our responsibility to help the ocean wildlife that cant help themselves.

The second game idea I have is for animal abuse. The objective is to get this puppy to feel safe and comfortable, so the game would involve collecting comfort items (food, water, blanket, toys, etc) and fighting off enemies (violent owners). Upon defeating all the enemies and attaining all the collectibles, the dog feels happy and you win. I really resonate with this message, im just still figuring out a way to make it feel more persuasive/radical, whether through dialogue or gameplay.

My third game idea is another environmental game idea. A lot of our forests are dying, so I was thinking of creating a game that focuses on cleaning up polluted areas and gathering resources to plant trees. The enemies would be people throwing trash and digging up nature in which they would have to be defeated, and then the litter will have to be picked up and stuff planted in its place. This idea would be pretty cool, I just ability wise am not sure how I would carry it out, so its in a lot more conceptual stage than my other ideas.