APD- Play and Nature- Week10

Play and Nature- Week10

Theme

In response to the theme of " Play and Nature", I made a PC game named Jumpy Doggy, which is a game for all ages to enjoy. Players use the left and right directional keyboards to manipulate the doggy character. Four seasons and corresponding obstacles await players to conquer. Step on the enemies to jump higher! You can immerse yourself in the beauty of the four seasons until you reach the goal.

Method

There are four seasons in Jumpy Doggy, which are switched in sequence when jumping up. Each season has different ambient sounds, obstacles, sound effects and backgrounds. Touch the top of the tree in winter to win the game. If you move under the obstacles, or fall over a certain distance, the game will be judged to fail. Stepping on the obstacles can destroy them. In the future, the function of scoring and timing will be introduced. Manipulating the character from the left and right borders of the screen can lead to the other side to increase in the operability of the game. The branches will be randomly generated as pedals. I use the protagonist of Studio2 as the protagonist of this game, and introduce the IOL work in the second week to complete jump animation.

Context

This game is based on Doodle Jump, which is a classic computer game where the protagonist keeps jumping to reach the most levels. The game mechanic is very simple, using direction pads and the space bar, the player can easily get into the situation. The interesting part of the process is that I came up with the background arts first, before I decided how the game was to work. For me, nature came forward before the behaviour of play. Although it is a bit ‘unnatural’, I think this is also a way of tinkering with ideas

To make sense of an artist’s game requires that we recognize that there is a difference between games as entertainment and games as a medium (Sharp,2015). For me the game is made for a simple reason, to enjoy the beautiful season scenery while having fun. Though you may fail the game, you will automatically restart the game. There are no objectives or conveying anything. Just have fun!

Reflection

I am glad I finished this game which should be done in the game jam. I spent a massive effort painting the background in a short time, so I really want to complete it. I built the game mechanic step by step on my own and I have learned a lot about Unreal Blueprints. The game should be much simpler, but every time I open the project, I added a few features to it, and gradually it became more complete than I planned.