Instructions

• Hold [SPACE] to fly
• Use gasoline to jump over walls
• Hit enemies to score points
• If you pick up too much gasoline, you explode.
• Reach the goal!

Progression Mechanic Name

Resource Modulation

Instant Death

Variable Jump Height

Description of mechanic and its progression

Resource Modulation - the player must expend gasoline to fly, and if the player takes on too much gasoline they will explode. As the player is given more opportunities to pick up gasoline, they must learn this mechanic and pick up the optimal amount of gasoline to be able to clear wall obstacles while also not overloading their gasoline and exploding.

Instant Death - Over time the potential of dying becomes more and more threatening because an instant death results in the loss of progress. The more progress the player has the more fearful they are of losing it.

Variable Jump Height - the player can use a jetpack to jump higher. Over time the player gains and loses gasoline, which is the resource they need to change the height of their jump. Since that resource is being modulated over the course of gameplay, the progression of jump height is that it’s availability changes over the course of gameplay.

Implementation description

The player plays as a jetpacker who is trying to reach the end of a side-scroller. The player is able to move up and down due to their jetpack for which they have a supply of fuel that goes down as the player moves up and can go up when the player collects gasoline cans. There are various obstacles the player has to avoid that they will die instantly if they touch.

Description of how your pattern(s) relate to the prototype. (Include a link the to pattern)

One Tool, Many Uses is reflected in the Jetpack’s ability not only to help the players dodge walls, avoiding death, but also acts as a method of attacking enemies. As the pattern suggests, this dual-use mechanic allows the designer to add depth to the actions a player can take without necessarily asking them to understand a brand new mechanic, thus adding complexity. Our pattern, I Have Glass Bones and Paper Skin, involves using the instant death mechanic to make players feel fragile and at risk to encourage strategic gameplay. In our prototype we have the player set to die instantly when they hit an obstacle to force the player to always be attentive to these obstacles and to manage their gasoline supply carefully to avoid situations where the amount of gasoline they have is not enough to avoid one. Our pattern, Feeling powerful, states that implementing a charge jump can be used to make the player feel more powerful without changing the game’s system or other mechanics too much. In our prototype we have enabled our player to move up whenever they’d like as long as they have fuel, giving the player a lot of mobility and making them feel as if they have a lot of ability. Finally, our pattern, …But You Tolerate It suggests that designers can create alternating repetition of tension and relief by adding a resource that needs to be modulated as a mechanic - in our design, the player gets the benefit of longer flight by picking up gasoline, but if the player picks up too much gasoline, they explode. Thus, the player must modulate the gasoline so they have enough to clear obstacles but not so much that they explode.

Analysis describing the implications of the progression explored in your playable prototype.

Due to the implication of the instantaneous death mechanic the consequence for dying further into the game is that more progress is lost. The player will progressively get more nervous about hitting an obstacle because the more progress they have the more fearful they will be to lose it. The continuous management of the gasoline resource is something that changes throughout the course of the prototype due to the constantly changing availability of the gasoline cans and the varying situations in which the player must expend gas.