Dev.log Yellow

Dev.log Yellow
(3) Additonal exercises: Gamifying a snowball fight.

Reflection:
   During this exercise I realized how much I missed as a child, only being in one or two snowball fights. This game has the potential to tap into a deeply nostalgic, competitive experience, with an art style that beings strong mixed feelings to mind. I realized that one of the key features I listed some might find offensive. Players being children and getting hit by cars as a possibility for an instant game over might offend some, so it can be dropped or modified so that players who step in front of cars get 'honked' by the driver, giving them 'hp' loss through embarrassment. It would actually be more realistic this way. I also hadn't realized that the flow of the game would be changed if I represented left handed players by allowing them to throw with their left hand. They could have an advantage in certain places because of this.

   I also hadn't realized just how easily I could gamify a real life system as it is described in chapter two and three. The Rules of a snowball fight are unspoken, but known by it's players; don't hit bystanders or cars, don't get in the way of traffic. I realized that the outcome of this game, 'going home in tears' may upset some players, and it may be too predictable. Maybe players could persist after their clothing is completed saturated and the are cold at the cost of points? Making the enemy cry can be more important to a kid throwing snowballs that catching a cold for a week. This is an experience that needs to be accounted for. The Boundaries I created, traffic/ playground objects and parked cars and ice, function as both cover and Obstacles, just as mentioned in chapter 3.

   I noticed I unintentionally made time and special resources into big factors of gameplay, and many of the other things mentioned in chapter 2. The time factor is when players become to cold or wet, and the snow available depletes in spots as they are overgrazed. In game this can translate into strategic dilemmas for players. What will they do when the only snow left is in the street, or melting in the gutter? I also noticed I hadn't considered that the game could be either Multilateral competition or Team based. I seem to have taken after Miyamoto's example on looking to childhood for inspiration, and come back with gold.
Below is my writing for the exercise: 
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I believe a quintessential snowball game needs a few things.
~It needs multiple players or at least AI designed to simulate this. 
~It needs: clothing/ gear system that insulates players from cold/ wetness for a short time.
~Small crafting mechanic that allows the player to build snowball on the fly, or make larger balls of ice for rolling/ snowmen.
~Terrain that not only simulates ice hazards, and traffic risks, but the quality of the snow itself, in relation to weather conditions.
~player body heat mechanic
~urban/suburban locations
~strong use of hot/ cold coloration, or a restricted color palette to emphasize the setting.

   First thing we need is a throwing snowball mechanic. Players should have an 'hp' value that runs out, causing them to 'run home crying' essentially. Players lose hp when they are struck by snowballs, the frequency with which you get hit, where you are hit, and how hard matter. A tough kid might take one snowball to the face and be fine, but two in a row will bring tears.
   A clothing system offers some customization for player individuality, but also how the player protects themselves. Each player has a finite 'allowance' from their fictional parent they can use before each game to change their gear. Googles will protect a players eyes and give them a resistance to being hit in the face, but the steam form their breath occasionally blurs visibility on screen. A scarf can be placed in the wind to fool enemies, but it may snag as you carry it, slowing you down. Watertight gloves greatly slow down the rate that you become saturated by melted snow, but make it harder to craft, an hold snowballs. Boots are semi-waterproof and give a sharp resistance to being wet by slush ice thrown up by a passing car, but once they are wet or they become too hot it begins harming the player.
   This brings us to body heat. The playable space has a low temperature, slowly lowering each players body temp. When players become to cold, the game is over and they go home. Their body heat gives them a gentle resistance against becoming wet, until their clothing becomes too wet and they begin losing heat in the cold. Stronger winter coats offer greater protection, but at the cost of trapping body heat. Too hot and the game is over, or the player can take it off for a short time, leaving them vulnerable.  
  Terrain can provide slip hazards, depending on how cold it is, or how much sunlight is available, slush as a severe wetness hazard. Cars passing by temporarily block the players path, cutting the field in various directions. players gain points for hitting other players, but lose points for striking random passerby, ice skaters, or more expensive cars, just like you would get in trouble in real life. The quality of the snow varies depending on the wind patterns and sunlight. Powder snow is harder to craft with and less aerodynamic, but melts faster. Tougher snow is thick and easier to craft and throw, but consumes more snow to make. overtime all types of snowballs can freeze in harder ice balls, that move very slow but hit very hard. Additionally, the wind shear will chill players faster.
Urban and suburban locations are snowball fights happen. frosted playgrounds and street offer cover and hiding places under parked cars, or on jungle gyms. Players can roll large snowballs off of slides and swing sets onto passing players, for heavy 'hp' damage, while ice may make movement harder or faster.
I feel the most important offering of a snowball game is distinctive and dramatic winter colorations. With the right shaders  coded into the game, you can portray the streetlights painting the snow clouds orange, the headlights of cars lighting up snowmen and players, Christmas lights flashing in the scenery, but also making the street, or the 'battle' zone cold with blues and purples, but also the houses warm with reds and yellows to emphasize that regardless of what happens, each player has a cozy home to return to and dry their belongings for the next game, like winter vacation from school in the city. Paired with the restricted color palette I feel this could be unique offering.
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Dev.log option 1:

   This week while working on my card game assignment, I came with dread, to the logical conclusion not every player may find it fun. I knew nothing of card games outside of Uno and Apples To Apples. (I couldn't even understand Yu-gi-oh as a kid) I know the requirement was that our card game should be as fun as possible, but this is subjective. I realize not every player may enjoy the lull of building a house of cards. I even realized that older players may not always have the manual hand dexterity to build a house of cards. (this could be fixed in product design by giving the cards magnetic material on the edges, making them heavier and easier to throw also, I'm sure of it. Maybe a sort of magnetic strip that reverses the and super charges the card, so that other structure are blasted apart when collided with.) Perhaps the rules are restrictive, but I might be on to something. I also remembered that this is a problem I faced playing Uno Flip with my grandmother and aunt.

   One of the key problems I ran into during testing was that my grandfather refuses to touch card games and wouldn't help. (I suspect alcoholism and losing something in a card game had something to do with it, more than religion) My mother also loathes card games, clearly has hurtful memories of not being able to understand them as a kid, and made a huge deal about helping, until I just wound up making a how-to-play video instead. Next time I'll have to do this on campus with another student, if there are any around.

   As a child I usually played alone. Building houses of cards, Legos or plastic cups to knock down was the most fun I could have before discovering flash games. I dislike multiplayer games, as even now gaming is still my best escape from other humans, but writing up the concept for a snowball fight game gave me a great look into how art, competitive play, and indirect time-gating to merge to make an interesting game. I see now that even a multiplayer game does not have to be vicious competition and a boring shooter where the game is decided by quick-scoping at an arbitrary chokepoint every time. I really do want to revisit this idea at some point.