Team 22 Scaffolding Concept Review

1. Super Monkey Ball

Link: https://smb.sega.com/bananamania/lang/en.html

Our first game we chose was Super Monkey Ball. We all have played these games before and enjoyed them, and it was the first thing we thought of when thinking of games that could utilize unique controllers. The games can be played on a sphere in arcades, or even on regular controllers, so we thought of a couple ways to make a fun and interactive controller ourselves. The game relies on you moving the player character through the use of tilting a controller around and you can even hit a button to jump when necessary. We conceptualized a controller where you can move the ball around with an actual Monkey inside of it, to easily visualize your actions in real life and in the game. For the Inquiry Questions, this series of games easily fit the second and third question, about key mechanical objects being depicted in the games, and physical gestures being present in the game play. For the first question, the Ball you move around is the key mechanical object, and for the second question, you physically tilt your controller and move it around to control the Monkey inside the ball. We would like to know if our controller makes the game easier to play, and if it is responsive enough to what actions you take.

2. Vampire Survivors

Link: https://poncle.games/vampire-survivors

The Second Game our team chose to look at was Vampire Survivors. We chose this game because we enjoy playing this game and it was one of the first to come to mind when thinking of simple movement. This game also spawned several similar clones to it (such as Brotato) so we thought it was an interesting legacy to have. The gameplay is simple, it is a bullet hell style game and you move by using directional inputs to move your character around the screen while the game automatically fires shots at swarms of enemies coming towards you. As you survive waves of enemies in the game, you can choose from limited selections of upgrades to try and make it as far as possible before eventually getting killed. The simple movement made it very interesting to try and come up with ideas for creative controllers to use. We would like feedback on if our controller visually fits the theme of the game, and if it is comfortable to hold.

3. Tetris

Link: https://tetris.com/games-content/play-tetris-content/index-mobile.php

Classic Tetris is another fun, yet simple game our team enjoys to play. We were thinking of fun ways to make a controller look like one of the Tetriminos (the blocks) in the game and conceptualized unique ways to move the controller around, sort of like a Rubik’s Cube. In the classic game of Tetris, you simply just use whatever block shape the game gives you and try to drop it down and clear lines of other blocks and attempt to play as long as possible. You can rotate and drop piece slow or fast. The key mechanical object in the game are the blocks themselves, which are very iconic. We would like to know if our controller makes sense and is easy to remember how to use and move the blocks. We would also like to know if there is a specific block shape that may be easier to use and understand than another.