Cycle 2 – Activity 2 – Game Look and Feel

The game idea that we decided on is a Crazy Taxi Game with tropical style cyclone element.  Describing the game can be done by saying its:

• Tropical/Beachside
• Hectic
• Emergency and panic stricken (Sirens and alarms)

From these ideologies of the game, some images for reference were found and a mood board was constructed from here

Image sources:

• Top Left: http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2012/12/trail-of-destruction-after-cyclone-evan-hits-fiji/ 
• Top Right: https://myworldmarkstory.com/2013/01/07/denarau-island-during-tropical-cyclone-evan/
• Bottom Left: http://checkgamingzone.blogspot.com/2015/08/gta-vice-city-free-download.html 
• Bottom Right: http://www.destination360.com/europe/cyprus/limassol

Some further ideas for this style were the following:

• 80’s deco?
• Envirobear? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLbFz8jqe6c
• Programmer art?
• Eye of the storm implementation.  What’s it like to be in the centre.

By using the ideology of this style and mood of the game, we can further investigate the dimensions and other key look-and-feel elements of the game.  As the game is set in a city, there will only be one spatial dimension which the player can interact with.  Furthermore, as the game will be slightly realistic, the scale of buildings/cars and other objects will be important, otherwise we will start to drift away from the desired mood of the game.  The outskirts of the city will be closed off so players will feel a further sense of enclosure and panic will be easier to create.  The boundary of the city will be cut off by debris and other blockades such as wild winds.

The city will be set in the modern day, potentially around the 1980’s with that sort of era’s decorations flying around.  It will also be close to a beach and have a somewhat tropical vibe to it, indicated by palm trees and other associable items from this area.

The setting will be largely outdoors with the geographical architecture being consistent with modern day city buildings (more beach side apartments, a couple of shopping centres, palm trees).  Objects will be represented by their appropriate model, however, if the model cannot be found a placeholder will be used.

The people of the city will be panicked, however, there will be nothing special about the people, they are just ordinary people.  The game will further draw out the desired mood with sounds such as howling wind, crashing trees/debris and sirens.