“molly galaxy game project” · angry birds is a challenging, yet simple game, that involves...

BY: MADDIE CHAFFE

“MOLLY GALAXY GAME PROJECT”AFTER EFFECTS AD

Maddie Chaffe Professor Mike SalmondVideo Game Design30 Novmeber 2015The Space Adventures of Molly Galaxy Ad Project

INTRODUCTIONGAME AD PROJECT

“The Space Adventures of Molly Galaxy” is a game I have been developing throughout the course of the semester. I started with creating characters based off of the English folk tale “Molly Whuppie”. I decided to give the characters and overall plot of the story an interesting twist, and made it outer space-themed. I next started to develop what the world of Molly Galaxy, the games protaganist, would look like. Once my environment designs were polished, I decided to continue on and make an ad that would display how my game would be played. The game is intended to be in the form of an iphone app, in which the player would use his or her thumbs in order to move the characters.

“The Space Adventures of Molly Galaxy Ad Project” Maddie Chaffe November 2015

WHY AFTER EFFECTS?After Effects was the program I chose to display the different motions of my charcters, because with the amount of time alotted it was in my best interest to use this program as opposed to Unity. Because I chose to use After Effects I was also able to show how the characters would interact with one another, as well as different object that are included in their worlds.


OVERVIEW OF THE GAMESince the Space Adventures of Molly Galaxy is made to be an iphone game or an ipad game, the foundations of the game are fairly simple. The user will use their thumbs to move the character up or down, by tapping above or below the character. The player can also move Molly from side to side by tilting their phone to either side. These motions are key to gameplay in order to avoid space junk, which makes Molly lose a life when she collides with it. Molly’s goal is to avoid floating space junk, while trying to gain shields, orbs and powerups. As Molly excels to higher levels, they become harder, and open different options for the game, such as teaming up with other players or battling enemies.

ORBS, SHIELDS, POWER UPS, AND FIREBALLS

Orbs are floating circle-like figures that Molly needs to gather in order to excel to higher levels. As the levels go up, the number of points from orbs Molly needs to obtain goes up. Orbs all have different numbers on them, ranging from 1-5. The amount of points Molly gained from orbs can be seen at the bottom of the screen. Shields help to temporarily protect Molly from space junk or attacking enemies. Power ups help Molly move faster, temporarily protect her from space junk, and can even help unlock special powers on certain levels of the game.


OVERVIEW OF THE GAMEORBS, SHIELDS, POWER UPS, AND FIREBALLS

Each time Molly reaches 5 lives from gaining Power Ups or Shields, she unlocks a new power which helps her battle enemies. Fireballs can be used by Molly when she unlocks them everytime she gains 5 lives. They help her battle The Lonely Giant. When Molly or an enemy is hit by a fireball it causes them to lose one life. The Lonely Giant’s power is to shoot fireballs, which also causes Molly to lose a life when she is hit by one.


SHIELD POWER UP ORBS FIREBALLS

OVERVIEW OF THE GAMELIVES AND POINTS

By collecting Orbs, Molly gains points, which helps her excel to the next level. Each level requires a different amount of points, and the amount of points required to pass each level increase the further you progress in the game. Molly enters each level with two lives, and she can gain more lives through gaining Power Ups and Shields. Molly can also lose lives by getting hit by space junk or fireballs. The amount of points needed for each level is listed at the bottom left corner of the players screen, the amount of lives Molly has is shown at the top left corner of the screen, and the amount of points gained from orbs is shown at the bottom right side of the screen.


CHARACTERSThere are four characters that are featured at certain points throughout the game. Molly Galaxy is our main character, who the player plays as throughout the game. The other three characters are Prince Lunar, The Lonely Giant, and King Kuiper, who appear throughout the game in various levels.

PRINCE LUNAR

Prince Lunar is Molly’s love interest, who she can occasionally team up with throughout different levels of the game. When Molly teams up with Prince Lunar, it becomes more challenging for the player, because they then become in control of both characters movements. However, when Prince Lunar joins Molly, Molly can not be harmed by his actions, she can only benefit from them. Meaning he can be hit by space junk or fireballs and it does not effect the player’s score. Once Prince Lunar is harmed by either space junk or fireballs a certain number of times (depending on the amount of lives he has) the player simply loses the aid of this character, and the game goes back to single player. In order to control both characters in the same level, the player must tap the character they wish to move, then either tap up or down or tilt their phone in order to move them. This selects the character so that there is no confusion as to which character the player is trying to use.

While Molly benefits from the help of Prince Lunar because any orbs he collects goes directly to the player’s scoreboard.


CHARACTERSThere are four characters that are featured at certain points throughout the game. Molly Galaxy is our main character, who the player plays as throughout the game. The other three characters are Prince Lunar, The Lonely Giant, and King Kuiper, who appear throughout the game in various levels.

THE LONELY GIANT

The Lonely Giant is an enemy of Molly, whom she has to battle in order to pass one of the higher levels in the game. The Lonely Giant shoots fireballs at Molly, which act as space junk and cause Molly to lose lives. Molly can battle The Lonely Giant by getting enough Power Ups to unlock her shooting power, and be able to shoot back at him.

KING KUIPER

King Kuiper appears in the same way that Prince Lunar does, to help Molly gain points in various levels.


CHARACTERS

KING KUIPERMOLLY GALAXYPRINCE LUNAR THE LONELY GIANT


INSPIRATION AND RESEARCHI drew a lot of my inspiration for the game, The Space Adventures of Molly Galaxy, from various Mario games. I liked the idea of having different planets for each level, similar to Super Mario, in which the player ventures to a new world after completing a level. I always drew some inspiration for my characters and the roles they play from Mario games. Molly Galaxy, is loosely based off of Mario himself, the Prince is based off of Princess Peach, and The Lonely Giant is based off of Bowser.

The idea of avoiding mushrooms in Mario Games is where I drew the idea of incorporating space junk into the game. Mario also has to battle Bowser at the end of the game in order to meet his goal, to win Princess Peach, which is where I came up with the idea to incorporate a showdown between Molly and The Lonely Giant into the game.

I watched clips from Various Mario games to draw some inspirtation for how my game would be played. I liked the simplicity of the movements in Mario games, and since my game is meant to be an app game, I knew I also had to incorporate simple movements, while still making the game challenging and fun.


INSPIRATION AND RESEARCHIn addition to looking at Mario games in order to gather knowledge and inspiration, I also looked at popular app games that have fairly simple movements and premises. Angry birds was another game I looked into to gather some ideas on simple movements that I could incorporate into my game. Angry Birds is a challenging, yet simple game, that involves aiming birds at different set ups, and trying to get rid of the pigs within them. The levels start out fairly simple and progressivley become more challenging, as do the levels in The Space Adventures of Molly Galaxy. In Angry Birds, players can unlock different birds with new powers as the game goes on. This feature of Angry Birds inspired me to incorporate different powers that could be unlocked in my own game. Everytime players get Molly up to 5 lives, it unlocks a new power that will help her defend herself againt her enemy.

Some of the other games I looked into include Flappy Bird, and Fruit Ninja. I looked at these games because they were both very popular at one point, but have fairly simple movements and premises. These two games are fun and addictive, as I would like my game to be.


INSPIRATION AND RESEARCH


ANGRY BIRDSSUPER MARIO

PLAYERSThe Space Adventures of Molly Galaxy can be played by all age groups, ranging from as young as 8 to adults of 20+ years of age. The different levels allow for a variety of different players to partake in the game. The game starts out fairly simple, and as players progress to higher levels it gets progressively harder, as do most games. The game does get harder as players progress to different levels, but the general motions needed in order to play the game are fairly simple, making it easy for players of all ages to enjoy.

REQUIREMENTS

All players need in order to play The Space Adventures of Molly Galaxy is a smart phone or ipad, in order to download the game.

The Space Adventures of Molly Galaxy apeals to both male and female players for a variety of reasons. Males may enjoy the outer space aspect and the idea of battling other characters and shooting fireballs. Females may enjoy the led female character aspect of the game. The Space Adventures of Molly Galaxy is truly fit for all players.


PERSONA #1

MATT BROWN

Age: 9

Scenario: Plays app games on parents iphones, or on the family ipad.

About: Matt is interested in games with simple instructions that is still engaging and challenging. He does not like games that require a ton of instruction. Enjoys games in which characters fight, has a hard time finding such a game available in the app store that is not too challenging. Enjoys The Space Adventures of Molly Galaxy because of it is fun and easy to learn how to play. He enjoys the battling other characters aspect of the game as well as teming up with other characters. Although the lead character in the game is female, he enjoys the out space aspect of the game and does not feel that it is a “game for girls” because of this aspect as well as the fighting aspect.


PERSONA #2

KALEY SKILES

Age: 13

Scenario: Enjoys playing the latest app games on her new iphone.

About: Kaley enjoys the female lead aspect of The Space Adventures of Molly Galaxy. She is just entering junior high and enjoys talking about the latest apps with her friends. Kaley enjoys locking new levels of the game, and finds it exciting that each level presents a different world and different challenges. Kaley also like the fact that she can play the game on her iphone and ipad, as opposed to a computer or gaming system, which she does not own.


PERSONA #3

MIKE BOWER

Age: 19

Scenario: College student, who enjoys playing games on his iphone inbetween classes and while taking the bus to campus.

About: Mike is a busy college student, who likes to relax between classes with some fun, mindless games that he can conveniently have access to on his smart phone. Mike is a fan of games that are easy to follow but still present a challenge, such as Angry Birds, Flappy Bird, or Fruit Ninja. Mike discovered The Space Adventures of Molly Galaxy in the app store, and enjoys playing it because it is fun, simple, and challenging. He finds the game addicting and while he thought it started off fairly simple, he is finding it harder and harder to pass the increasingly difficult levels. Mike certainly enjoys playing The Space Adventures of Molly Galaxy to fill his free time and have some fun in between classes.


FURTHER DEVELOPMENTWhile I have developed a lot of the concepts and foundations of the game, a lot of further development would have to be done in order to make my game playable. I envision my game with completely different planets for each level, and containing many levels that get progressively more difficult. Obviously it would take a lot of time and building to create my game.

Expansion of my ideas and further development of the functions, actions, and levels would be needed in order to turn my idea into a real, functioning game that one could download in the app store.


FINAL THOUGHTSI thouroughly enjoyed creating my characters, environments, and ideas for a finalized game. While this semester in general was quite challenging for me, I learned a lot about how much goes into all types of game design that I would never have learned otherwise. Although at the beginning of the semester the idea of developing characters, concepts, and actually game seemed very difficult, I enjoyed the process of learning all of the development, research, and critical thinking that goes into designing games of all sorts. In my future career, whatever it may be, I would love to have the opportunity to work with games in some way shape or form.

I would love to someday further develop my game, and turn it into a functioning game that could actually be downloaded and played. This project has broadened my horizons as a designer, because before this class I never saw myself as working with developing games and I feel that I have gained a lot from this experience.


“molly galaxy game project” · angry birds is a challenging, yet simple game, that involves...

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