Sunday, November 4, 2012

Rhythm Odyssey

iOS | Credits: Lee Lim | Jeremy Kang | Michael Sng | Pradashini Subramaniam |
IGF China 2012 Competition Entry: IGF 2013 Main Competition Entry
Website: http://rhythmodysseygame.blogspot.sg/ 



 
Synopsis

“Keep to the beat to control Odysseus’ magical Rhythm Boat in a race to escape the wrath of Poseidon in an audio-visual Rhythm-Action experience.”

Rhythm Odyssey is a rhythm-action game in which players tap to the beat of the drums to help the Legendary Odysseus and his Magical Rhythm Boat escape the wrath of Poseidon, Lord of the Seas.
Harness the power of the magical sea creatures while avoiding the deadly wave-attacks of Poseidon – player-actions, power-ups and enemy obstacles in Rhythm Odyssey are designed to build on and enhance the music in each of the game’s levels.

Featuring intuitive touch-based controls and a unique aesthetic style based on Greek pottery, Rhythm Odyssey is designed to be an interactive audio-visual experience that marries audio and gameplay, for the iPad.
The game is slated for a March 2013 release.
 

Videos

Rhythm Odyssey IGF China 2012 Trailer


Screenshots

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The Grief of Quetzalcoatl

Global Game Jam 2012 :  Unity3D : Browser
Credits: Lee Lim | Jeremy Kang | Magnus Wong Tze Chien | Michael Sng| Shaun Tay | Pradashini Subramaniam |


screenshot


Synopsis

"The ouroboros is a dramatic symbol for the integration and assimilation of the opposite, i.e. of the shadow." - Carl Jung

The Grief of Quetzalcoatl is a metaphorical game where players have to guide the main characters through a series of memories to confront the haunting "Ghosts of the Past".

Players have to Absorb the ghosts to overcome them, however, absorbing Ghosts damages the player but also raises their maximum health in the long run, in reference to the rather ambivalent nature of facing up to one's inner Ghosts.

Coupled with a reinterpretation of the Quetzalcoatl legend, the game spurs players to ponder deeper about the game's metaphorical meaning through its mechanics and its meaning.



Websites
Global Game Jam 2012 Games - The Grief of Quetzaltcoatl
Global Game Jam Website

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Memoirs

Experimental Gameplay Project September 2011 : Indie / Game Maker : PC
Credits: Jeremy Kang





Synopsis

"History is Written by the Victors" - Winston Churchill

Memoirs is a top-down shooter featuring a gritty story about War, presented in the style of a History Book - the story unfolds and History is literarily written on one page as the Player combats enemy troops on the opposing page.

Designed for the Experimental Gameplay Project September 2011 theme of "Story Game", the original story was conceptualised, written and integrated with the gameplay in 7-days.

In Memoirs, Accuracy and Evasion are valued over an Eager Trigger-Finger, as through reducing the number of Civilians casualties in the story,  Players will gain an entirely different perspective of the events that transpire - hinting at a more sombre underlying message on the story's themes.


Screenshots




Websites

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Memento Mori

Global Game Jam 2011 : Indie / Game Maker : PC
Credits: Jeremy Kang | Magnus Wong Tze Chien | Kiew Sen Lieh | Pradashini Subramaniam | Shaun Tay | Derrick Ong



Synopsis

"Memento Mori - Remember Your Mortality"

From concept to completion in 48-hours at the Global Game Jam 2011 (Singapore), Memento Mori is a  game based on the famous Latin poem of the same name, based on the jam's theme of "Extinction".
  
Featuring double metaphors related to the theme of "Extinction", players guide a Roman Poet through a series of platforms made from the famous poem, as the words crumble behind him, while he runs towards salvation. Realised through the gameplay and presentation of the game, players are left to ponder on the metaphorical overtones and how the theme of "Extinction" is realised.

Memento Mori also features 2 of the GGJ2011 achievements: "Game for a Cause" and "Mandelbrot".

GGJ-2011 Achievements:
Game for a Cause: The game is about a social or political issue that can be solved solely through increased awareness.
Mandelbrot: The game features some pattern or aspect that fractally repeats itself at different scales.



Screenshots



Websites

Global Game Jam 2011 Games - Memento Mori
Global Game Jam Website

Friday, December 31, 2010

Shibuya Connection

Experimental Gameplay Project December 2010 : Indie / Game Maker : PC
Credits: Jeremy Kang  | Character Artwork: Shaun Tay



Synopsis

"The Shibuya Scramble Crossing is the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world that sees over 1 million people every day. However, all that really matters is finding the one in a
million..."

Designed for the Experimental Gameplay Project (December 2010) theme of "Drawing", Shibuya Connection features a drawing mechanic and is based on the concept of the East-Asian myth of the Red String of Fate.

In Shibuya Connection, players have to draw lines to connect male and female pedestrians on the Shibuya Scramble Crossing with the Red String of Fate to gain points - matching charming characters based on a light-hearted representation of Japanese archetypes; while avoiding deadly Ninjas - all in the span of a frantic 2-minute scramble for the highest points possible.


Screenshots

   
   

    



Websites


Thursday, September 30, 2010

A Firefly Story

Experimental Gameplay Project September 2010 : Indie / Game Maker : PC
Credits: Jeremy Kang | Artwork: Shaun Tay



Synopsis

Designed for the Experimental Gameplay Project (September 2010) theme of a "Neverending Game", A Firefly Story is an infinite game  that tells an Interactive Story of Life and Love.

In A Firefly Story, players have to click on the Blue Fireflies to gather light while avoiding the Red Fireflies.

The amount of light gathered changes the way the Interactive Story plays out through the seasons - where each story scene has been carefully crafted to allow for multiple permutations and interpretations based on the player's performance.

- Can you alter the Neverending cycle? -


Screenshots

 

Post Mortem: A Firefly Story


September's Experimental Gameplay Project was a tricky one, since there was an additional prize for it to be displayed at the Babycastles Indie Game Arcade in Times Square NYC, leading to some additional requirements / tips, which I set as additional design challenges for the game:-

1. Look interesting even when not being played. Attract players!

2. Be instantly playable, understandable, intuitive. Assume your game will be left in any possible state, and must always be ready for one player to leave, and another player to pick up some time later.

3. Avoid a title screen, or any menu system at all. (Like Flow.)

4. Use sound, but don’t rely on it for gameplay.


I thought long and hard about a game idea that could fulfill all the above criteria, based around an infinite game concept to suit the theme of "Neverending", and came up with a couple of quick ideas - but nothing solid really surfaced, as I couldn't put all the pieces together.

Finally, I arrived at the decision to revisit Fire(f)Lies, a game prototype I developed in January over the 48 hours that was Global Game Jam, and decided to expand on that, simply due to the fact that it fulfilled  Design Goal #1: To look interesting when not being played.

The part about making it a Neverending infinite game wasn't too difficult, as it probably meant taking away lives and playing for a high score, or combo count kind of thing, which would well suit the arcade experience - and a lot of games this month chose to interpret it that way, and so did I initially.

A tough decision that I had to make about this concept mid-way was whether to pursue something a bit more arcade-y, and probably more suited to the theme (and in the process improve the chances of getting selected)? Or try to go for something a bit more artsy, which I am more inclined towards, but being slightly less suitable for the theme based on conventional intepretations of an "arcade experience"?

In the end, I chose to go for something a bit more artsy, and more in-line with my design style. 

I tried to ponder a bit deeper into the concept of "Neverending", and I asked myself: " What is infinite or Neverending in this world or life?" Almost naturally, my mind drifted towards the concepts of cycles to be Neverending, and went on to list down some meaningful Neverending cycles.

And my mind started to shortlist cycles, like Seasons, Life and Love, and roots of a multiple narratives started to form, as I realised that these could be used to tell and Interactive Story, in which the player's performance in the game would affect the way the story turns out.


!Spolier Ahead!
(If you haven't played A Firefly Story, you might want to skip this section and come back to it after playing the game.)

It came down to 4 different stories running in parallel, The Story of Seasons (which occurs naturally regardless of the player), to signify the passing of the time, a Story of Life, a Story of Fate (a lovers' tragedy) and a Story of Love (see if you can figure out how these stories are represented through the game); and the player would switch between story "branches" based on his / her "score".

The trickiest part of this entire process however, was for the story to make sense, no matter what the potential branches were, and this came down to a matter of the meaning and interpretation of the individual scenes, through the composition of the visual scenes.

!End Spolier!

Fortunately, my colleague and friend, Shaun Tay - an artist by training, saved my life by offering to help with the story artwork after hearing the concept, allowing the vision to be realised. So thank you Shaun, you were a life-saver this time.

In retrospect, I think that I managed to fulfill most of the design goals set this month, but the last one, about using sound but not relying on it was something that I didn't manage to fully work around, as A Firefly Story is quite reliant on the sound effects to bring out the ambience, and it helps in gameplay that little bit.... ok, maybe quite a bit that actually amounts for something.

But oh well, there's always next month....