Decisions
- Use isometric graphics and stick to simple, geometric shapes.
- The game was essentially a timed puzzle game, and that’s how it shall remain.
- Allow for walls so that blocks don’t need to be wasted to define the boundatry of a room
- Allow for multiple, animated objects. (The original only allowed for two due to hardware limitations)
- Don’t artificially limit movement in the y-axis.
- Every move in the game comes at an energy cost. (Energy is a unitary variable, in the original, we had food and water)
- Feature the original music in some way, plus remixes, and as many references to nostalgic material as possible.
- Instead of a single map, the game will now feature multiple levels, with the possibility of a sub-game.
- Increase the pace of the game.
- Heartbeat should be proportional to energy expenditure.
- Feature a lot more events that require energy expenditure. It’s a resource management game and your resource is energy. Every verb uses energy. (Verbs in games are not Crawford’s idea, I described them in 1996 at a Games Awareness Day at BITS)
- Energy and other variables should be displayed as a bar or other easily discernible visible metric.
- Add new verbs like drop, push, energise, levitate, materialise and dematerialise.
- Add new nouns like energy packs and artifacts. The former to help you progress in the game, the latter for scoring.
- Add a total score, with a worldwide leaderboard.
- Consider UGC
- Use XCode and openFrameworks to prototype
- Start with placeholder graphics, don’t worry about them looking good for now.
- Rooms can be of any size
