Interactive Prototype #3

For this final prototype I wanted to try to make the game a little bit more dynamic. I felt I needed to add something that would make the game more interesting. Also due to the multiplayer aspect of the game, I wanted to make it more enjoyable (more competitive) and really get the users engaged with the game. So for this I tried a feature I wasn't entirely sure was going to work, but one that I felt was worth a shot.

The new feature builds upon the existing Tic-Pac-Toe game and essentially means that after a player captures a square on the board, the player's pacman stops moving forward until the player completes a minigame. All this takes place while the other player can continue to move around the board (until they capture a square). The mini game works as a sequence of key hits. So everytime a player captures a square, a sequence of 5 random keys are chosen from the player's movement keys (A,S,D;J,K,L). So this new feature works like the following:
1. Player captures a square.
2. Player's pacman stops moving
3. The player's first key hit appears on the right hand side of the screen.
4. The player must hit the correct key to move forward through the sequence of 5.
5. If a player mishits a key in the sequence, the sequence restarts.
6. Only when a player completes the sequence without a mishit will their Pacman's movement unlock.

I feel this system of gameplay might improve the multiplayer interactions and make the game more likely to go either way. Skill becomes so much more a part of it and I think that's really important.

I've tried to keep the other dynamics of the game the same, based on the feedback from previous prototypes. It'll be interesting the see the feedback for this idea especially compared to the old system.

Interactive Prototype 2 Testing

As I was unable to go to the testing practical, I filmed the setup and testing of my prototype. These videos show the setup with 4 hand pads.

Interactive Prototype #2

This prototype has been designed as an extension of my original Interactive Prototype. This new prototype builds on the original game and adds a new method of controlling the Pacmen. When designing the controller I tried to think of something fun but also functional. I also knew I wanted it to be simple, as anything too complex would simply be too difficult to use. My original design was supposed to include pads for your feet. These would be used to propel the player forward. After building an early prototype of this though, I quickly realised that this was not going to work well. I found that when running on the spot really fast it was not unusual to have at least one foot on the ground at all times. Since the game was predicated on the necessity of alternating steps, this simply couldn't work.

After the failure of this setup, I thought about changing the foot setup to something like bicycle pedals, but couldn't think of a sturdy way to try this out. In the end I opted to remove the foot propulsion system entirely and I think it's made the game a lot more playable. Now the players are propelled forward by a fast timer and they merely have to control the turns. I was at first worried that it would make the game too easy to play. After several minutes of playing though it became clear that would not be the case. Because the players are moving quickly and there is only a very narrow window to turn left or right, timing is everything and it's very easy to get wrong, thus slowing you down.

In the end, I'm actually really glad the foot propulsion system didn't work out because the final design works really well and makes the game a lot more fun. Strategy becomes more important and because it's a multiplayer game, the game gets pretty intense. It's a good thing the setup can take a beating because it certainly cops some abuse when players miss a turn haha!