Description
I decided to make a minigame rush kind of game. The objective is to complete a series of small consecutive challenges. In my video, I show the challenges being different steps in my morning routine, these being waking up, going downstairs, microwaving food, and cleaning the dishes. Each one of these smaller “minigames” have a different objective.
The first one asks the player to mash the corresponding button on the screen. I used the symbols on a PlayStation console controller. The second game is more rhythm based. The player must click a button in sync with the beat. The third game wants the player to solve a math problem. The last game requires the player to rotate the stick on the controller in the correct direction. At the end of all the games, a rank is given based on how many games were properly completed, and how many were failed. In this video, there are 3 successes and 1 failure (the failure being the final minigame). The main objective of the game would be to try and complete every minigame perfectly without faults.
This is very much an “infinite” type game, as described by Jane McGonigal in Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, as the game doesn’t have a clear end goal. The idea of the game is to keep replaying the minigames until the player can master every one of them, or as a fun party game with friends.
I based this game format off of games such as WarioWare and Rhythm Heaven, two games which use the same foundation, WarioWare being closer to the small tasks back-to-back aesthetic, and Rhythm Heaven focusing more on entirely music based minigames. I felt that this was a good game format to follow as I personally find that these kinds of small tasks done every day as a routine fit very well into the idea of different blocks dedicated to each action. This is especially true when considering that in this game format, the minigames tend to be shuffled or changed out every time the player takes the challenge, just as a morning routine may change depending on the tasks to be done later in the day.
When I was editing the footage, I used a few sound effects on freesound.org to emphasize certain actions, such as the pressing of a button, or the beat of a rhythm. I found some royalty free music as well on bensound.com. When deciding on a format, I found Li Wei’s works to be a good foundation for the game. In each of his images, a small story is occurring within, presenting an action such as being kicked off a building (5 Levels of Freedom), falling into a car (Falls to the Car), or floating away (On the Surface of the Earth). In my project, I am similarly presenting a series of small stories and actions, although much less exciting and surreal.
Works Cited/Used:
_stubb. Typewriter ding_near_mono, freesound, https://freesound.org/people/_stubb/sounds/406243/
cydon. Jingle004, freesound, https://freesound.org/people/cydon/sounds/133054/
Druminfected. MetronomeUp, freesound, https://freesound.org/people/Druminfected/sounds/250551/
Fupicat. Correct Bell, freesound, https://freesound.org/people/Fupicat/sounds/538147/
InspectorJ. UI Confirmation Alert, A4, freesound, https://freesound.org/people/InspectorJ/sounds/403005/
McGonigal, Jane. Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, Penguin Publishing Group, 20 January 2011.
Mueller, Ludwig. Perc_MetronomeQuartz_hi, freesound, https://freesound.org/people/LudwigMueller/sounds/548518/
pan14, cheering church 2, freesound, https://freesound.org/people/pan14/sounds/266186
Rhythm Heaven, Nintendo, 2008.
RICHERlandTV. Bad Beep (Incorrect), freesound, https://freesound.org/people/RICHERlandTV/sounds/216090/
Tissot, Benjamin. Brazil Samba, bensound, https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/brazil-samba
Tissot, Benjamin. Psychedelic, bensound, https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/psychedelic
WarioWare, Nintendo, 2003.
Wei, Li. 5 Levels of Freedom, 2004.
Wei, Li. Falls to the Car, 2003.
Wei, Li. On the Surface of the Earth, 2004.
Wong, Matthew. Ding Dong, freesound, https://freesound.org/people/MatthewWong/sounds/361564/
yottasounds. Typewriter - single key - type 1, freesound, https://freesound.org/people/yottasounds/sounds/380138/Programs
Programs
Filmed using a Sony Cyber-shot DSC RX-100 compact point-and-shoot camera, sounds edited in Reaper, and video edited using Adobe Premiere Pro.