Instructions

Use the full screen button in the bottom right corner for best results.
Use A and D keys to move.
Use E key to give pets.

Resource Name

Adorable Animals

Resource Description

Our pattern requires the player to have a strong connection to the resources they gather during play. Typically, this is achieved through having the player work to obtain the resource - if they put time and effort into obtaining a resource, they are more likely to perceive the resource as valuable. Due to the scope of this playable concept, we could not ask the player to put too much time into a resource to associate it with value. Therefore, we needed a resource that is valuable to the player at first glance on the visceral level. Thus, the resource is adorable animal followers. The cute art, silly names, and realistic vocals from the animals are included to make the player feel like they are being followed by friendly animals they would be sad to lose.

Mechanic Name 

Player Death

Mechanic Description

A stereotypical fail state with its roots in arcade games. If the player meets a fail condition, the player character dies, and the game state is usually altered in some way (i.e., you can’t play anymore and you have to put more money into the arcade machine). Death in a game is not as scary as death in real life, so designers must be clever in encouraging the player to avoid death in the game. Our pattern (described below) addresses this design problem. Also, don’t worry - the adorable animals cannot die in our game.

Implementation Description

A basic 2D level was designed in which the player can move back and forth in a small area. Within that area, tiny adorable animals spawn. The player is instructed to “give pets” to these adorable animals to make friends. We implemented the “give pets” additional mechanic to lightly preserve the typical manner in which a player assigns value to a resource - by working for it. When enough pets are given, the animal becomes a follower and the player can collect as many followers as they can. But, there are anvils falling from the sky. If the player is struck by an anvil, all of their adorable animal followers will make a sad noise and scurry off screen left. The goal is that player death will cause the player to lose the adorable animal resources they have acquired, so the player will be encouraged to avoid anvils at all costs.

Description of Pattern Relation to Playable Prototype

Our pattern “Death and Resources” suggests designers should penalize player resources upon player death to incentivize players to avoid death at all costs. In this playable prototype, we created a very compelling resource - adorable animals - for the player to collect during gameplay. If the player dies, we penalize that resource by making all of the adorable animal followers the player has amassed run away off screen. We designed the animals in a way to help the player to gain an immediate, visceral attachment to them, thus making it heartbreaking when they run away. By penalizing this resource we hope to incentivise the player to avoid getting hit by an anvil at all costs.

Mechanic and Resource Relationship Analysis

From studying this mechanic in several games, we identified that designers can penalize important resources to incentivise players to avoid dying in game. This solves the problem of players not fearing death in a space that cannot actually cause them harm. We articulated this in our pattern “Death and Resources” (a pun on Franklin’s famous colloquialism “Death and Taxes”). Although the pattern suggests lightly penalizing many resources to ensure the most valuable resource to the player is penalized, we opted to design a resource we felt most players would find valuable and just penalize that one completely. The implication of this mechanic is that the player will try as hard as they can not to die, as the resource penalty is too much for them to bear. In situations where death is likely (such as an infinite number of anvils falling from the sky), and the resources are extremely valuable (adorable animal friends you have collected through pets), the threat of death creates intense situations where the player is highly engaged and does not want to die in the game.

Design Pattern Description

Death in life is final and inescapable. But what does that mean if you can just respawn? Nonetheless, designers must make the prospect of virtual death concrete, terrifying and seemingly irreversible. Designers can assume the player’s understand this concept, and thus can implement death to apply a penalty to the player that the player is incentivized to avoid at all costs. A penalty that is likely to achieve this effect is loss of many of the player’s resources - if the designer is unsure which resource the player holds most dear, they can lightly penalize a variety of resources to ensure each player avoids death as passionately as they do in real life.

Pattern Link

Death and Resources

Attribution

All assets used for this playable concept are original except for those listed below:

Fonts

  • "Lato" font by Łukasz Dziedzic - Used with permission under SIL OPEN FONT LICENSE Version 1.1 (Asset Link)

Art

Sound Effects

More information

Development log

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