Course Summary - Phase 2

The very first post on this blog recaps the first main phase of our Scholastic Collab Studio Fall 07. The narrative ends with the submission of five different creative briefs that present full-fledged interpretations of what a Monster Quest game could look like.

Phase II of the Collab Studio was kicked off with a new Monster Quest creative brief that was created by the instructors based on the content in the student creative briefs. The new brief was entitled Mail Order Monsters. The core vision for the game was as follows:

As the possessor of a mysterious (and magic) catalog of monster costumes, the player buys fantastical outfits that, when worn, transport him to a dreamlike realm where he is transformed into a powerful creature c.f. Ben Ten. In this realm he is the Guardian of a small tribe of humans (and other players are Guardians of different tribes). The player plays mini-games, goes on quests, and explores the realm to help, protect, and grow his tribe.

The core elements that made up the brief included:

• Collecting - The player has an avatar that can collect, improve and level up multiple magical monster suits/costumes.

• User generated content - The player can craft her own suits and customize pre-crafted suits/costumes.

• Mini-gaming - Part of the game experience involves playing mini-games.

• Questing - Part of the game experience involves questing and RPG style gaming.
  

• Community - Players can show off their collections to each other and in massively multi-player environments.
  

In addition these core elements, the brief also left the space open for better solutions to the possibility of user-generated quests, one of the core design concepts from the original Monster Quest brief.

The Mail Order Monster brief was presented to the class and a lively discussion ensued. The class was then broken into four teams -- two to work on visual design and two to work on game design. The efforts of the teams were meant to be complimentary but also overlapping and competitive in a friendly sort of way. The goal was for each team to attack a set of well-defined design problems and then present those solutions to the larger group, including outside visitors from the Scholastic Lab for Informal Learning.

Below you can read posts from three of the four teams describing their efforts in Phase II. With the completion of their work, we have moved into phase III, with all members of the class cohering around a single design vision, team roles and execution plan in preparation for presenting a final conceptual prototype on December 12.

Visual Desing - Group 2

Our intention as one of the visual design group was to create the feeling of a world trap into the old and the new, a futuristic mechanical world in which every object will have a double functionality and a life of their own. Walking teacups, self-operating closet and an interactive monster catalog are some of the examples. We wanted from the beginning to present a fantastical world, this idea was the editorial voice along our design decisions. Another important element was to offer a real-time customization of the space; the bedroom should be a true representation of how the user envisions the space. Changing the color of the different objects in the room, adding his own picture to the picture frame on the desk and building a personalize and unique collection of monster suits are some example of how the user engage with the game and feels that he is part of the creation of the narrative.











There are three central objects of interaction in the room. The bulletin board in which the user will find a “snap-shot” of every single monsters suit he build, including a small description, time and date of creation, and name of the suit. He will also be able to visualize through a map places we already visit and places and quest he want to pursuit.






The desk is the central interactive design space; here the “magic” monster suit catalog is located. This construction interface will allow to customize the suits by dragging and dropping from a menu of preset parts. Every part can be change in color, size and position. At the beginning the user will have the opportunity to chose from a pre-made selection of four suits, and latter will have the possibility to alter them in a more unique way. One example of the choices that the player will have when deciding how to build the suits are”

Eyes:
Normal Eyes: These are regular looking eyes that most of the suits come with.If a specific shape isn’t specified, players have the option of choosing either round or oval shapes. These eyes come in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, brown and black, unless otherwise specified.
Nocturnal Eyes: For some monster suits, players have the option of selecting Nocturnal Eyes, which only come in a yellow color, but are valuable for finding items at night time or in darkened areas.
The Sightless Eye: The Sightless Eye is an upgrade that can exist only ifcomputer-controlled ghosts exist within the game (and it is my hope that that they will). The Sightless Eye is completely white and resides in the player’s forehead. With it, the player can see and communicate with ghosts that are sure to be littering the land. Valuable information can be gleaned from ghosts.


















The last object is the bead. The bead is a transportation and storage device. Once your monster suit order is made from the catalog the bead will display under it the collection of suits. It will rise up in two legs. What a more perfect place to “hide” your collection. As the suit is created, a description card is automatically produce, including the snap-shot of the suit and all the information to be post on the bulletin board, so that it could be easy access and is also a way to keep track of all the creations, you never know when you will need one.





The bedroom is definitely the players’ first interaction with the game. Is the entrance to this magical world. Our goal was to make it engaging and interactive as possible. As soon as the player entrance he will taste what the world is about, what kind of adventures will be awaiting him, and how far he is part of the game, what kind of choices he can make to create it his own.

Game Design Group 2 - Joe & Nancy

During this project phase, Joe and I fleshed out different components in the first draft of Mail Order Monster document, such as Monster Catalog and player locations, to complete the course of the game. Our goal was to design the ultimate customizable game experience, which includes character design and abilities, style in gameplay, and environment personalization, as well as emphasizing the duality of the imaginary and the real world (The Realm vs. Player Room).

Mail Order Monsters (draft#2)
Game Diagram



The user begins the game in the Player Room, where he or she can create monster costumes through the Monster Catalog. Using a transportation device, such as the chair or the bed, the player transforms into a monster who takes care of the Village inside the Realm (the world of imagination). In the Village, the player can take part in the primary mini-games, which are story-driven single-player games that help the villagers rebuild and improve the village, or the secondary mini-games, which are bonus games that pads the gameplay with extra fun! The player can also participate in RPG quest games given by the Village Elder, which ventures out into the Woods (explorable areas outside the Village) and eventually the Capital City. In the Capital City, players can join the Monster Parade to see the Monster looks, weapons, and accessories of other players, and participate in multi-player RPG or multi-player mini-games when they invite other players into their village.

Examples & Precedents:

* Puzzle Pirates is an online game where the player learns how to be a pirate through mini-games. We used the navigation map and panel design of this game as an example of how user interface will look like in The Realm.

The mini-games in Puzzle Pirates, such as "How to Carpent!" and "How to Sail!", are also great examples of our primary mini-games in The Village.


* Another game with great examples for our secondary mini-games is the online game Candy and Clyde


* We decided to use the battle style of Adventure Quest for the primary and secondary single-player RPG Quest games in the Woods.


* For the exploration areas, we took examples from the online mini-game Exile for its user exploration map, where parts of the map is revealed as the player discovers more areas.



Another style of gameplay is from Dragon Fable where the user navigates horizontally through the game locations without a map system.


* For the Capital City, we imagine the city depicted similar to the design and interface of the game Warbears


The inspiration for Monster Parade in the Capital City comes from the Wii game's Mii Parade, where different characters are displayed standing around in a wide screen or marching in the town square.


* The Club Penguin magazine found in different shop corners throughout the game is an example of the Monster Catalog, where the player can purchase special edition weapons, accessories, mini-games/village buildings, and etc...


The Monster Catalog will serve as a newsletter of special events or seasonal and holiday multi-player RPG that takes place in the Capital City. For example, Halloween hunted house adventures, similar to the what has been done in Club Penguin and Dragon Fable.


The Monster Catalog can even include the Monster creation tool.


* We would like the Monster Creation tool to be as flexible or customizable as the Mii creation tool.


For future development (Mail Order Monsters 2.0), the Monster creation tool or any weapon creation tool (for the purpose of User Generated Content) can be as open for personalization as the game creation tool in Drawn to Life a Nintendo DS game for players who like to draw and see their creations animated to life.

Visual Design Team 1

Monsters:

Mail Order Monsters


My Task creation of Monster Sample: I created a monster and avatar character based off my group’s criteria. We wanted to bring a comical and cartoon element to the game’s visual design. I researched cartoon’s such as Dexter’s Laboratory, Kappa Mikey and even the Justice League series on Boomerang. I like the blend of this traditional (ex: Bugs Bunny) character design and the Asian anime (ex: pokemon) influence.

Most of the most popular characters on the market are inspired by anime. Our group focus was a player creation tool that would allow for maximum user control.