P2-20: Cardinal Conquest
By Abhi Desai, Brendan Reeves, Luke Mann, Noah Wong (in alphabetical order)
CS 247G — P2-20
Link to Game: https://github.com/abhidesai12/Cardinal-Conquest (follow README.md instructions)
Artist’s Statement
Cardinal Conquest is a challenge RPG through Stanford campus to defeat the evil M‘Tree’L, who has stolen your research on the cognitive life of trees to take back control of the university by turning the Stanford community into mind-controlled trees. The game takes the player through a wide range of dystopian Stanford environments overrun with ‘tree-ified’ zombie students and staff that the player must overcome before facing off with M’Tree’L in an epic final battle to recover your research and save the school.
We drew heavy inspiration from similar RPGs, but have made important modifications that make the dynamics of our game fresh and delightful for players. We wanted our game to feature a suite of different mechanics but with a unified humorous narrative. The art of Cardinal Conquest evokes the 8-bit nostalgic feel of old platformers, balancing minimalism and fidelity to make the player feel connected to the world. Cardinal Conquest invites the player into a variety of retro environments that blend into their own modern life, specifically to their own student life. Given our narrative location, we’re targeting primarily Stanford students, staff and affiliates of all ages, ideally with some past experience with RPG and online games, although anyone is still able to experience a bit of Stanford life for a while and have a great time.
Model of System 247g (link)
Initial decisions about formal elements and values
From the beginning, our main goal for ‘Cardinal Conquest’ was to create a humorous and engaging narrative game set on Stanford’s campus to generate a joyful experience for students who play our game. We aimed to incorporate mechanics that would not only challenge players but also evoke the unique culture of Stanford. In this vein, we initially were very interested in typing as a central mechanic, as it evokes a child-like aesthetic we were after. And thanks to great feedback, we added several other formal elements into a larger suite of mechanics to contribute to this value.
Aesthetically, “Cardinal Conquest” adopts a cartoonish and vibrant art style that complements its humorous narrative. The visual design features distinct themes for various library areas and unique enemy designs, all contributing to a cohesive and engaging game world. The sound design, with catchy 8-bit music and humorous dialogue further enhances the experience. Witty references to Stanford culture are embedded throughout the game, providing a playful and relatable backdrop for players familiar with the setting.
Testing and iteration history
During our design and iteration process, we documented many playtesting sessions. We’ve included three of them here where the most critical changes were implemented. We iterated heavily from our initial concept to our final product as detailed below. We built our game using Pygame from the beginning. We made this decision from a place of academic curiosity for programming video games from scratch. We’re especially proud that the majority of our playtesters left their testing session with a smile on their face thanks to the humor and fun of our Stanford aesthetic!
Playtest A, First Steps
For the first iteration of our game, we had decided we wanted to include a Stanford identity to our game with a throwback typing mechanic. Here’s the map of this initial version:
We received positive feedback from our playtesters for this prototype. The main point of praise from our testers was that the game evoked the nostalgia we were hoping to generate with the Stanford environment and child-like typing mechanic. Our main feedback from playtesters was that the tree enemies were moving too fast and it wasn’t reasonable for people who typed at a normal speed to defeat the enemies. One playtester (who was exceptionally good at typing) disagreed. Moreover, at this point, our game lacked a compelling raison d’etre for the players actions.
We also confronted unique practical implementation challenges with Pygame at this stage as none of us had ever used this before.
Playtest B, Introducing new Mechanics and more refined Narrative —
At this stage, we decided to integrate multiple levels. We also refined the typing mechanic, nerfed the tree enemies, and ideated a new narrative that we can question our playtesters about. At the end of this phase, we built out the 3 core mini-games that make up the full game.
We got a lot of feedback at this stage to help us build a final vision. Narrative wise, we decided at this stage that our core mechanics would be varied from challenge to challenge on an overarching quest to steal research back from MTL.
We decided that our three main mini games at this stage would be the original typing mechanic game (now reserved for the final boss stage), a WASD avoid enemy challenge, and a shooting game. We got some great feedback on each game but the main complaint that at this stage the levels were too difficult to complete in a reasonable amount of time. This led us to decide to heavily nerf all of the games to make them more accessible to the general audience we were targeting.
Playtest C, Final Edits —
Our last play test took place in week 10 with a near-final version of our game. This important day allowed ust to receive more fine-grained edits for our final submission.
For this final version play test, we were fortunate to get a lot of recurring feedback or specific details to refine our final submission.
One comment we received from all of our play testers that day was that it was confusing and annoying to have case sensitivity for the final boss typing game. It was nice to receive such granular feedback, as it’s a testament to how far along our game has come.
Another play tester was unsure if he had progressed from the librarian stage due to killing a sufficient number of enemies or if he had entered a room. This highlighted the need to further clarify our formal mechanics for win conditions which had perhaps been so obvious to us overdevelopment that we neglected to include proper on-boarding.
Above all, though, we received praise for the addition of cutscenes that allowed the different mechanics of each mini game to feel unified as one complete story arc. We received feedback that it would be wise to include even more narrative towards this end. This was also suggested as a way to “fill out” the game more.
At this stage, we also decided to increase the difficulty again, which we had nerfed in a previous test. Recall that the target audience of our game is Stanford students, therefore our design thinking for difficulty was that it should be difficult enough to be a fun challenge, but not so difficult that it distracts from the humorous theme we are achieving with a Stanford-themed game suite.
Video from Final Playtest: https://youtu.be/q9a2pY4q5HE
MDA Design Thinking
Our MDA thinking for Cardinal Conquest compelled us to use a unique blend of humor and challenge in its mechanics to engender a nostalgic aesthetic. We wanted to create a game that feels both familiar and fresh, so we mixed different types of gameplay reminiscent of games from the childhood’s of our target audience: Stanford students. The shooting mechanic in the librarian game lets players move around Green Library, taking down mind-controlled tree librarians, adding a fun, strategic element. The avoidance challenge, inspired by a plethora of online games with a similar mechanic, requires precise movement to dodge slow-moving frat bros, keeping the tension high. However, we made the mechanic fresh by including the setting of Green library as a new Stanford-specific boundary for the movement. Finally, the typing challenge in the boss fight not only adds a fast-paced twist but also brings back memories of childhood typing games. These different mechanics work together to keep players engaged and entertained throughout their quest. The aesthetic and narrative help strengthen the cohesion of the mechanics just as the mechanics strengthen the affect of our game’s aesthetic.
Cardinal Conquest’s pièce de résistance is all about capturing the playful spirit of Stanford life with a nostalgic twist. With its 8-bit graphics and catchy chiptune music, the game feels like a delightful throwback to old-school games we grew up with. The humor woven into the narrative and the familiar campus references make it especially relatable for Stanford students and staff. From a dynamics perspective, the interaction between the game mechanics and the player’s experience was crucial in our design process and thinking. Specifically, the shooting, avoidance, and typing challenges each bring something new that maintain player interest and engagement. This combination of nostalgia and modern gameplay creates a fun, immersive experience that’s all about enjoying the journey. By blending these elements, we’ve made a game that’s challenging but not frustrating.
Final Narrative Progression
In Cardinal Conquest, players start their journey on the Stanford Campus, where they are introduced to the narrative and basic controls, which at this stage is only space bar and WASD. The first level takes place in the Green Library, where players use a shooting mechanic to navigate the library and take down 10 mind-controlled tree librarians, engaging in strategic movement and targeting enemies within an 8-bit graphical environment accompanied by chiptune music. The next level, Frat Row, challenges players to dodge a combination of fast-moving and slow-moving frat bros using precise movements, evoking a retro campus setting with humorous depictions of frat life sprinkled into the dialogue. Moving on to a Stanford-esque scene that looks a bit like the Oval, players must type words quickly to defeat 10 tree enemy henchmen of M’Tree’L, testing their typing speed and accuracy in a green open area with animated tree adversaries. The climax of the game occurs when these trees are defeated and M’Tree’L appears. At this final stage, players face the final boss in an intense typing challenge to reclaim their stolen research, set against an atmosphere with epic music. Finally, the game concludes back on the restored Stanford Campus, celebrating the victory and the restoration of the university!
