Moodboard:

Emotions/keywords: curiosity, whimsical, exploration

Spotify Playlist:

Possible Directions:

(1) One direction of our game could be to lean more heavily into a resource-grinding type of game, similar to Stardew Valley. At each stage, the player needs to collect a certain amount of resources in order to progress to the next stage. This could also tie in well with our idea for the narrative, since the player could be collecting resources in order to reach the end of the game (i.e. to construct their hot air balloon and fly back home).

Types of fun: Discover, fantasy, narrative

(2) Conversely, we could lean more heavily into a combat-style game, with a fleshed out magic system. This could involve the player defeating bosses in order to collect rare drops and build their hot air balloon. Each boss could have its own move-set and style related to the theme of the realm (we were thinking of incorporating a cave realm, forest realm, and water realm). Bosses could increase in difficulty, upping the level of challenge for players.

Types of fun: Challenge, discovery, fantasy, narrative

(3) Another direction, and one that I think could be particularly interesting, would be to combine both a combat-style and resource-grinding game. I think this could make sense with our narrative, since our player is working towards some final goal. At each stage, which for us is the different realms, there can be 2-3 subgoals for the player to complete in order to progress to the next realm. For instance, maybe they need to collect 100 stones and defeat a boss in order to progress to the next stage. We could also build incorporate the bosses into the narrative. For example, for the forest realm, maybe there’s an evil witch that’s been bothering the local village, and in the cave realm, maybe there’s a rock monster that’s guarding an important ore that the local orcs need. I think this can build in feelings of adventure and quests into the game.

Types of fun: Challenge, discovery, fantasy, narrative