August 2008

• [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game Soyweiser
  On Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at 7:14 PM, Acius <adamhelps@gmail.com> wrote:
  
  >
  >
  > I assume that the answer is mostly to keep the on-screen information
  > minimal--lightweight heads-up display, and don't overcomplicate things.
  > Don't require the player to type a novel. Single-key commands are
  > preferred.
  > Yup, you tend to end up with spatial games, like moving pieces around on a
  > board, rather than games that use text or arrays of commands.
  > For bed-time? Silence is golden. That, or the sounds need to be very
  > relaxing. Lots of ocean waves, waterfall noises, rain drops...
  > Make sure you save game state often ^_^. Most of the screens on the small
  > devices can't do high-motion graphics anyway, so you're probably going to be
  > doing a 2-D game with a lot of still images or sprites.
  >
  > Since part of the purpose of a bed-time game is to get the player relaxed
  > and sleepy, it makes sense to target and reward mental tasks that make you
  > tired. In my case, that would be memorization, mental arithmetic, and some
  > kinds of puzzle solving. Problems involving quick movement, social
  > interaction, and the little 'rush' I get from reaching stated goals are
  > going to wake me up a bit. Since we're trying to be multiplayer, perhaps the
  > social interaction can be delayed? (more email than IM)
  >
  > One style of game that seems appropriate is the Ikariam/Travian style of
  > web-based empire building. The games run in real time, but moves often take
  > several hours to complete. A game that explicitly encourages logging in at
  > bed-time, checking yesterday's results, making several moves, and then
  > logging off seems appropriate for the design goals. An added benefit is
  > that, by limiting the amount you can do at once, there's a cap on how late
  > you can stay up playing it. I'm sure there are a lot of other directions you
  > can go with the idea, however.
  >
  
  
  Perhaps something like a coffeebreak roguelike. These are supposed to have
  low graphic requirements, little sound, fairly low complexity (for a
  roguelike, this can still be a bit to much). And they should not take up to
  much time.
  
  http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopment.org/index.php?title=Coffeebreak_roguelike
  
  --
  Soyweiser
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