Instructions

E to shoot Doubloons (preferably into Doubloon Slots)
R to whack (More damage the more gold you have)

On Ship: A + D to move, Space to Jump
On Land: WASD to move

1 Project Description

1.1 Game System Description

The goal of this project is to create a playable concept for the following complex game system:

A small and focused game economy which facilitates a role-playing experience driven by a self-evident anchor resource.

To implement a playable concept for this system, we have selected the role of a pirate for the player to role-play as. The pirate was selected for many reasons, i.e., because it makes intuitive sense that all decisions a pirate makes will be governed by doubloons, which makes it a great candidate for a self-evident anchor resource.

This game system is driven by two patterns that are related to each other in a subtractive manner. The first is Linked Investment Incentives, a pattern derived from games like Kingdom: Two Crowns, Cookie Clicker, and Bloons Tower Defense 6. This pattern suggests that designers implement compound mechanics in such a way that interacting with a compound mechanic creates a positive feedback loop in other compound mechanics. This helps to obscure a dominant strategy if one exists and encourages the player to participate in every mechanic the game has to offer. We believe this pattern helps facilitate a designed role-playing experience: for example, a designer wants the player to role play specifically as a pirate.

The second pattern is an antithesis to the first, called Disparate Investment Incentives. It was derived from games such as FTL: Faster Than Light, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. This pattern suggests that designers implement compound mechanics in such a way that interacting with the compound mechanic creates a positive feedback loop within itself, incentivising the player to further invest time and resources into a compound mechanic. This prevents choice paralysis in the player because they are rewarded for specializing rather than exploring all the game has to offer. This pattern is best implemented when the game has many systems for the player to choose from in terms of investment, and we believe this pattern helps facilitate an emergent role-playing experience: for example, the designer wants the player to feel in control of whether they roleplay as a mage, warrior, or rogue.

Together, these two patterns represent a variety of games that each aim to deliver a role-playing experience to the player, but in vastly different ways. We believe taken individually that these patterns may be self-referencing and may be prone to confirmation bias. However, considered together, we believe we have uncovered a phenomenon that helps to differentiate the goals designers have in creating incentives within and among systems.

1.2 Larger Game Design

Imagine everything on a pirate ship is coin operated. The goal is for the player to get the ship from one side of the map to the other. If they want to move the ship forward, they shoot a coin into a coin slot. If they want to drop anchor to get buried treasure on an island, they have to shoot a coin in the anchor coin slot. If they want to fire cannons to defeat enemy ships, they have to shoot doubloons into each cannon's coin slot. We can keep the mechanic idea we had of whacking people with bags of gold, which in this case would defeat enemies quickly but leave the player with fewer doubloons to progress with. The amount of gold in your bag could weigh you down.

1.3 Player Experience Analysis

A cyclical, but ultimately forward progression where the player is constantly needing to manage their anchor resource, health, and scurvy. In their adventures, players will always be spending their hard-earned doubloons and close to bankruptcy, but the promise of an even greater reward is always on the horizon – like a real pirate. Our players should be constantly making decisions with their money. If their mind is not on their money, we have failed. The player should always feel as though they are on the brink of failure, but never reach it, while still being motivated to progress forward. The player’s anchor resource (coins) should have constant sinks, forcing the player to scarcely manage their resource, and the player’s health and scurvy should have few generators, and constantly sink.

2 Game Narrative

2.1 Setting & Tone

The game will take place in an alternate universe set in the 1600’s in which capitalism caught on way earlier and pretty much every endeavor is governed by corporate policy. The gameplay will take place in a lagoon, where the player will be exploring islands and the stretches of empty water in between. The player will spend their time on a traditional pirate ship, complete with a large sail for movement and cannons for ship-to-ship combat. The islands will be small and contain red “Xs” that show the player where they can dig for buried treasure. The player may also spend time on a skeleton pirate ship, which contains pirates that have succumbed to scurvy in the lore of the game. The setting is very concentrated to the last few islands in a lagoon before the player’s goal island that is full of oranges with which they can be free of scurvy forever.

We aim to achieve a satirical tone with this game. This will primarily be achieved through the irony of a pirate that is a cog in the capitalist machine. Our gameplay will be balanced in such a way that the player must execute the traditionally exciting aspects of a pirates life (ship battles, plundering for gold, and sailing) in almost a bureaucratic manner to avoid being killed by scurvy. This satire is supported by an absurdist and humorous tone that is communicated through the game’s mechanics. For example, everything on the pirate ship is coin operated even in scenarios where coin operation does not make physical sense (i.e., you have to use coin-operated orange trees to get oranges). As another example,  the player will be able to use a melee attack that involves whacking an enemy with a bag of doubloons. We believe this humorous tone helps to deliver the intended message of the game - that life under capitalism is so soul crushing that it’s comical.

2.2 Level Design

The level will be designed to deliver 2-3 minutes of gameplay that facilitates a pirate fantasy that requires bureaucratic attention to the player’s scurvy levels to succeed. The format will be a hybrid between a 2D vertical side scroller and a 2D three-quarters view side scroller. When the player is on their ship, the game will behave as a 2D vertical side scroller. When the player sets anchor and moves to an island, it will become a 2D three-quarters view side scroller.

We will include at least 1 island the player can explore, which will each contain at least one orange tree and at least one red “X” to encourage the player to get off their ship and explore the island. We also will include at least 1 enemy pirate ship encounter, which will encourage the player to use the coin-operated cannons to defeat the enemy. Finally, we will include a goal island that is full of oranges that will conclude the short experience when the player reaches it. 

In between each island there will be empty water to allow for the player to gain scurvy and encourage them to engage with all systems to recover from that scurvy when they reach the next island. 

2.3 Player Character Narrative

Pirates are free spirited, sea-faring vagrants who live life to the fullest! Except those that are employed by the Shanty Corporation. For better or worse, your situation is the latter. On one hand, your company provides you with everything you need to live the pirate life - a mighty vessel, a doubloon carrying bag, the patented Doubloon Flintlock Rifle, and access to the monopolized Wild Orange trees that decorate your assigned Sea (one of Seven). On the other hand, you need to spend all of your hard-earned booty to operate the Shanty Corporation property required to do your job (which is to say, plunder for corporate gain and a pittance in disposable income). 

It has always been your dream to be a pirate. The rancid smells, criminal activity, and egregious alcohol consumption has appealed to you since you were a wee seagull. You long for the freedom of unemployment… But, pirates who are not employed by Shanty Corp. tend to succumb to the pirate’s mortal enemy: scurvy. Shanty Corp employees are reminded frequently of the horrors of this disease when they encounter the Scourge: a smattering of formerly free pirate ships whose crew members have turned to animated skeletons. Shanty Corp. assures its workforce that this fate is due to prolonged bouts of Scurvy. You decided when you entered your adolescence that it was much safer to go the route of employed piracy. You would at least get to taste the pirate life with the safety that employment with Shanty Corp. brings.

But many years have passed since you made this decision. You learned through decades of organized and lightly-compensated piracy that you are indeed being exploited by Shanty Corp. You want more. The booty you plunder should be yours, not some corporate fat-seagull who has never tasted the sea salt or battled scurvy with Wild Orange juice. But that’s just it - pirates and scurvy are a package deal outside the safety of Shanty Corporation. You definitely do not want to end up as a Scourge vessel… at least not in your 40s.

In recent months, you decided to follow up on hearsay locals have been spouting about for the better part of the last 5 years: there is an island full of Wild Oranges somewhere in your assigned Sea (one of Seven). Truly Wild Oranges, not the coin-operated ones. So many Wild Oranges in fact, any pirate who visits and stuffs their cargo hold would not have to worry about scurvy for at least a decade. As you grew in age, you could no longer resist the urge to check if it’s true. 

You have been chasing this island for months now. Based on the rumors you heard, you know you are within a day's trip of its rumored location. You remember getting really sleepy right before you were about to dig up some booty. When you wake up, the final leg of your journey begins. Does the island exist?

2.4 Narrative Support of Mechanics

The rhetorical argument we are making in this game is in favor of the Linked Investment Incentives pattern. In short, this pattern suggests that creating a positive feedback loop that is propagated when the player engages in all systems in the game encourages the player to live out a designed fantasy. In our case, we are designing a pirate fantasy, as we want the player to engage in all the stereotypical aspects of being a pirate. The aspects of pirate life we include are cannon combat, sailing, discovering buried treasure, scurvy, and melee combat. If the player partakes in each of these mechanics, they will have lived a pirate fantasy, and thus our mechanics and pattern usage are structured in such a way to encourage the player to use all the mechanics. Additionally, we wanted to use a single, self-evident anchor resource as a direct method of applying our understanding of game economies into a practical project.

We felt like being forced to live out a particular fantasy was a humorous concept. In a sense, this is what designers are doing when they create a game with a single fantasy to role play - the designer is encouraging a player to live out a fantasy as they have designed it because the designer believes this fantasy would be fun for the player. In a pessimistic perspective, this extremely limits the players freedom. So we decided to take that to an extreme, to the point where the player has next to no freedom in the game and are forced to live out the fantasy we are designing for them. This felt like capitalism to us.

We designed the narrative to support the notion that we are forcing our players to participate in every mechanic of the game. The player character being employed by a capitalist corporation shows what little control the player character has over their life, just like the little control we are giving to the player in terms of how they play our game. The pirate theme likewise fit with the satirical nature of our commentary, as pirates are typically associated with freedom from law and order. However, in this world, pirates are just employees working to survive like everyone else. We felt like the monopolized resources the player has to interact with to do their job justified the otherwise nonsensical usage of coin operation on all of the game’s interactables driven by our desire to use a single, self-evident anchor resource of doubloons, which is also fitting for a pirate theme because pirates are driven by riches and wealth. 

3 Mechanical Analysis

This section details all compound mechanics used to implement the target game system. Each section head identifies a compound mechanic. Each section identifies the purpose of the mechanic, denotes a pattern used to guide the implementation of the mechanic, reports atomic analysis of the mechanic, and lists the resources the compound mechanic acts upon. 

3.1 Ship Combat (Cannons)

3.1.1 Purpose

To give the player a sense of empathy with the pirate character. To create an investment opportunity for the player’s doubloons to propagate linked feedback loops.

3.1.2 Pattern Guidance

Coercive Ludonarrative Resonance - The player may not be familiar with or predisposed to the exciting pirate tropes we are looking for them to engage with. We aim to create enjoyable interactions for the player that also gives them the thrill of being a pirate. We don’t anticipate the tropey, stereotypical idea of a pirate from the 1600’s being triggering for players, so we are comfortable implementing this pattern.

Linked Investment Incentives - This is the pattern our target game system is aiming to make a rhetorical argument for. To achieve this, we will need several options for the player to invest their doubloons in such that we can create the prescribed positive feedback loops in other mechanics. For example, destroying ships may grant the player extra shovels (instead of doubloons directly), which incentivises them to search islands for X’s.

3.1.3 Atomic Analysis

The Ship Combat compound mechanic can be broken down into the following atomic mechanics: Shooting Cannons, Destroying Enemy Ships, Ship Movement

Shooting Cannons - The player can shoot doubloons into a cannon, which causes a cannon to fire at an enemy ship in front of the player. 

Destroying Enemy Ships - Once the player has dealt enough damage to an enemy ship through the use of cannons, the ship is destroyed and the player can collect resources from the ship. One potential resource is Shovels which would help implement Linked Investment Incentives.

Ship Movement - The player’s forward movement is blocked by enemy ships. Thus, the player must defeat ships in order to progress forward in the level.

3.1.4 Resources

Doubloons, Cannons, Enemy Ships, Ship Movement Speed (reduced to 0 if the player hits an enemy ship)

3.2 Progression (Wind Sail)

3.3.1 Purpose

To allow the player to progress through the game by traversing the ocean to reach the ultimate end goal.

3.3.2 Pattern Guidance

…But You Tolerate It - The player can shoot coins directly into coin slots to power the wind sail and move the ship. Coin slots higher up on the sail move the ship at faster speeds which is beneficial to the player and their end goal but can only be reached with increased jump height that comes with the negative scurvy resource. Requiring the player to modulate their scurvy to reap the benefits of the negative resource without dying adds challenge and complexity to the player's experience and requires the player to balance risk and reward when making decisions.

And Now I Guess We’re Doing This - We don’t want the player to spend all of their money on moving the boat forward as quickly as possible, as this presents a dominant strategy. This pattern suggests adding lethal consequences to players trying to overextend their character’s abilities. So, to ensure the player is encouraged not to spend all of their money here as quickly as possible, we can make it so enemy ships completely stop all forward momentum. Then, the player will need to be cautious of how much of their currency they spend on this mechanic.

3.3.3 Atomic Analysis

The Progression (Wind Sail) compound mechanic can be broken down into the following atomic mechanics: Ship Movement, Shooting Doubloons, Jumping

Ship Movement - To power the ship the player must shoot doubloons directly into the coin slots on the wind sail.

Shooting Doubloons - The player can shoot doubloons for a number of different purposes including ship movement. To move the ship the player can shoot doubloons directly into the coin slots on the wind sail.

Jumping - The ship's movement can be powered through the sail by shooting doubloons into coin slots at different levels of the wind sail, the stronger levels only being accessible at higher heights. When the player is able to jump higher they are able to power the sail at stronger levels and progress their ship at faster speeds.

3.3.4 Resources

Doubloons, Ship Movement Speed

3.3 Discovering Buried Treasure (Shovels, Anchors, Islands, X’s)

3.3.1 Purpose

To give the player a way to generate the primary currency and offer opportunities for the player to invest time and effort into generating the primary currency to be spent on mechanics that will help them progress through the game.

3.3.2 Pattern Guidance

Linked Investment Incentives - This mechanic allows the player to earn more of the game's primary currency but due to the way all of the mechanics are designed to interact with one another, the player isn't able to solely invest in this mechanic alone. Moving the ship will allow the player to progress and potentially reach more islands and investing in the scurvy mechanic would allow players to accomplish this even faster. The player is meant to be able to choose for themselves how they want to invest in the various mechanics.

Don’t Take My Money It’s Mine and I Love It - This pattern suggests that demonstrating many uses of a currency to a player will inherently raise the player’s attachment to that currency and make them more cautious when using it. By making every mechanic in the game have something to do with spending this money, players should form a very strong connection with doubloons, and thus digging at an X on an island will be a very rewarding experience for them.

Whatever it takes, I need to find more of this! - This pattern suggests that we can create a sense of scarcity, value, and urgency in the player by keeping the amount of resources they acquire just slightly greater than the amount of resources they need to expend. This pattern will guide the balancing of this mechanic as this is the main resource generator for doubloons.

3.3.3 Atomic Analysis

The Discovering Buried Treasure compound mechanic can be broken down into the following atomic mechanics: Earning Doubloons, Digging for Treasure, Encountering Islands

Earning Doubloons - When the player discovers buried treasure they can obtain doubloons which is the primary currency and can be invested into combat, ship movement, or other methods of earning more doubloons.

Digging for Treasure - On islands players can use shovels to dig for treasure. Treasure is valuable to the player because it rewards them with more of the game's primary currency. Finding treasure on islands is one of the primary ways for the player to earn doubloons.

Encountering Islands - As the player's ship traverses the ocean it might pass by islands that can contain buried treasure, orange trees, and enemies. The player can choose to explore the island to gain resources at the cost of their time and at the risk of their health.

3.3.4 Resources

Doubloons, Shovels, Islands

3.4 Scurvy (Oranges, Jump Height)

3.5.2 Purpose

To create a sense of tension and relief within the player such that they feel the thrills of being a pirate in alternating repetition with the lulls of simply sailing an endless sea.

3.5.2 Pattern Guidance

…But You Tolerate It - Consistent with the pirate theme, we want the player to experience a pattern of tension and relief. Such changes in emotion would mirror the pattern a pirate may experience when engaging target ships and sailing the ocean after with their plunder. This pattern creates that sense of tension and relief by asking the player to modulate a resource, where they become more powerful as they accumulate more of the resource but too much could end their experience entirely.

Death and Resources - The tension created by the previous pattern is heightened by the inclusion of Death and Resources, which encourages designers to make player death heavily meaningful so players are incentivised to avoid it at all costs.

Clock’s Tickin’ - This pattern suggests using some form of diegetic timer to ensure that players keep pace and don’t spend too much time exploring an area. In our game, the Scurvy meter could encourage the player not to spend too much time exploring enemy ships or an island for too long because if they do they may succumb to scurvy. This fits well with our narrative goals of making the player feel like they are on a capitalist, bureaucratic schedule.

3.5.3 Atomic Analysis

The Scurvy compound mechanic can be broken down into the following atomic mechanics: Jumping, Orange Trees, Scurvy Accumulation, Death

Jumping - The player can jump higher the more Scurvey they have accumulated. This interacts with the main progression system because the player gets a better reward the higher they are when they throw doubloons at the sail. 

Orange Trees - The player can spend money on orange trees to produce Oranges, which lower their scurvy levels.

Scurvy Accumulation - The player accumulates scurvy at a fixed rate over time. 

Death - If the player incurs too much scurvy, they become a skeleton pirate which ends the game and forces them to restart.

3.5.4 Resources

Doubloons, Oranges, Scurvy (Which is represented by a reduction in Maximum Health), Jump Height

3.5 Player Combat & Interaction (Shooting Doubloons, Melee Attacks, Doubloon Bag Weight)

3.5.2 Purpose

To give players a feeling of the fight for life and treasure and the choice of whether wanting to use the limited resource to ease the way out but closer to bankruptcy.

3.5.2 Pattern Guidance

Make It Count - Doubloons will be a scarce resource for the player and using them in combat will be a very easy way to waste them. This pattern suggests setting up high stakes for the player so they are careful when using ranged combat, so that they get some sense of danger even though they are a safe distance from enemies. Missing means wasting money, which should serve as high enough stakes to maintain tension if the player decides to play it safe with ranged combat against enemies.

Linked Investment Incentives - In this atomic mechanic, players need money to do everything other than combat, yet this resource is also used to deal damage; and this resource is directly linked to the damage players might deal. How players use this resource in combat is player’s different choice, it doesn’t have a dominant strategy.

And Now I Guess We’re Doing This - We hope to design a combat loop the player finds exciting and engaging. But, we don’t want the player to only focus on combat. This pattern suggests adding lethal consequences to players trying to overextend their character’s abilities. By adding in a monetary cost to participating in combat, we ensure that participating in too much of it will lead to the player running out of money, and thus be unable to buy oranges and will die of scurvy.

It’s Easy, Just Hit This Button - By abstracting all of our gameplay such that everything mechanic in the game is coin-operated by shooting coins into coin slots, the player can think more about their scurvy resource and their next objective rather than a bunch of other mechanics in the game. To succeed in our game, the player will need to know movement, jumping, and how to shoot coins. This simple control scheme will make it easier for players to focus on the strategic portions of our game.

3.5.3 Atomic Analysis

The Player Combat compound mechanic can be broken down into the following atomic mechanics: Shooting Doubloons, Melee Attacks, Coin Bag Weight, Death

Shooting Doubloons - This is the standard way to deal damage to enemies, but it costs from the anchor resource - Doubloons - which is needed for everything in the game. 

Melee Attacks - This deals more damage to enemies, but it might cost more Doubloons. It also has the chance of being attacked by enemies, but it is a way to earn money by killing enemies.

Doubloon Bag Weight - Doubloon bag weight increases when players have more money, and it deals more damage when it’s heavier.

Death - If the player’s health is zero, they die which ends the game and forces them to restart.

3.5.4 Resources

Doubloons, Health, Coin, Coin Bag Weight

3.6 Parrot

3.6.1 Purpose

To give the player a meaningful reward for properly managing their money beyond just completing the game. To give the player an extra interesting option upon which to spend their money. To give the players a sense of curiosity about what a companion would do in this game.

3.6.2 Pattern Guidance

Essentially Two of Me - This pattern suggests that the designer can make the player feel more powerful by giving them an AI companion that aids them in combat. It suggests that the level of power the player will feel is related to the autonomy of that companion. The parrot would automatically defeat skeletons so the player wouldn’t have to spend as much money to defeat enemies.

I Will Take My Time Back, Thank You Very Much - This pattern suggests that automation of a monotonous task is really rewarding, so the player will feel rewarded without having to add extra complexity to the game. 

Death and Resources - The player will love the parrot because it is a cute pet. If the player dies, they will have to unlock the parrot again, a loss of resource that is sure to encourage the player to play it safe.

3.6.3 Atomic Analysis

Melee Attack - the Parrot does melee damage when it flies in to enemies 

Following the player - the Parrot would follow closely to the player when the it is not attacking skeletons.

Doubloons - the player needs to spend their doubloon resource to purchase the parrot at an expensive price.

3.6.4 Resources

Doubloon, movement speed when attacking enemy, return speed, damage dealt to enemies

4 Economic Analysis

The player will constantly have to think about the generators and sinks for doubloons, as doubloons are the core mechanic of the game. Every system within the game is interacted with by using doubloons. The player can obtain doubloons by defeating enemies, carry those doubloons in a bag that is used as their melee attack and for projectile attacks, and expend those doubloons to attack, interact with objects, and function as the anchor resource of the game. Due to the interconnectedness of the resource related mechanics the player must always be making decisions about the management of these resources. Almost every action the player can take costs a doubloon. While the player is on an island the boat will not move but the island may have opportunities to generate doubloons or reduce scurvy levels. Conversely, maintaining higher scurvy levels can allow the player to move the boat faster, increasing the rate of potential island encounters. The player will also have to consider the metrics of their character's health as resources to balance. High scurvy allows players to jump higher, potentially allowing the player to power the sail with the higher coin slots which move the boat further for the same price as the lower sails. Higher scurvy, however, brings the player closer to death, and these levels can only be brought down with oranges that must be collected on islands with skeletons that are an even bigger threat to health. Islands also contain opportunities to generate doubloons but opportunities to lose them as well. While in combat the player will also have to make quick critical decisions about their doubloons, as the melee attack has the potential to do more damage for a reduced cost, but with greater and more unpredictable loss per hit while projectile attacks will consistently do the same amount of damage for each doubloon expended.