Attached are our concepts map for our chosen system and game. It was very useful to draw each working part out like this!
System Concept Map:
Game Concept Map:
Comparison and Analysis:
Making these concept maps was helpful in visualizing how each part of the system interacts with each other to make a cohesive whole. In the case of our chosen system, we started with identifying the challenges that birds face during migration (as can be seen by the outer ring), and then worked from there to identify how that affects the overall migration cycle. With the elements of the migration cycle listed (that we wanted to model), we linked each to the core idea of how they affect stamina.
In the case of our game system, this idea of stamina (taking the form of energy) serves as a core mechanic of our game. Each bird’s survivability is dictated by their magnitude of energy, and nearly every mechanic of the game interacts with energy in a positive or negative way, bringing strategy. The player’s party of birds also faces a number of environmental dangers, inspired by the dangers real birds might face during their journey. In order to simulate the “actions” birds take to navigate these challenges, we have a deck-based action system (like Slay the Spire) which allows for players to take advantage of some of the skills and behaviors birds might engage in to make it through their trek (i.e., swapping places with other birds, tightening their formation, etc.). Of course, this does not track one-to-one with simulating bird migration – and we didn’t want it to! As can be seen by the game concept map, we wanted our system to allow for an emergence of strategy through relatively simple mechanics. We hope to see how to best optimize this!
