Scaffolding: Concept Review

 

Scaffolding: Concept Review

By: Luke and Stanley

Games

Zero Ranger

INFO: Zero Ranger is a high-octane shoot-em-up I hold dear to my heart due to it’s intense action, gorgeous presentation, outstanding music, and unbelievably deep story. It has received very little mainstream recognition, and I hope that through a unique controller people could see the fun there is to be had with this game.

MEHCANICS: The game uses WASD for movement and ZXC for it’s 3 firing modes. As you progress through the game you slowly gain more weapons and through each button (or combinations of buttons) you can use a wide array of different abilities, opening up a lot of potential for replayablilty and a high skill ceiling with the nuance from the weapon abilities.

EXPRESSION: An alternate controller could offer more immersion into the game than the standard gamepad or keyboard input it expects at the cost of being less responsive. Although, since the game’s easy mode “WHITE VANILLIA” has it’s own unique story and setting, it could allow the controller to add extra immersion if it focuses on the aspects of that game mode specifically.

INSPIRATION: The game is based off the show “Gurren Lagann”, so immediately I had the idea to recreate the mecha cockpit from that show as a controller for the game, and all other ideas branched off of that. Mainly levers, switches, and panels you would see in a fighter cockpit or mech are what the ideas are based off of.

QUESTIONS: Does an alternative controller being less responsive make the game less fun even with the potential additional world building? Is a full cockpit-styled controller feasible, or should it be further scaled down?

 

Vampire Survivors

INFO: Vampire Survivors is a casual-friendly bullet hell where you shoot automatically at enemies around you and rapidly become more powerful to outpace the rapidly growing strength of enemies surrounding you.

MECHANICS: There are only two main mechanics: Moving using WASD or the mouse pointer, and redeeming new items on level up. DLC levels like to spice up the formula frequently, but the controls remain the same and simple as always.

INSPIRATION: An alternative controller for the game could propose a new challenge for playing (what is a fairly easy game), be more immersive, or be more intuitive for non-gamers to pick up and play.

QUESTIONS: Would an alternative controller feel different enough from normal play to warrant it’s own existence?  Can you make something more intuitive than a D-pad and a select button for non-gamers?