Game Concept - Don't Touch The Lava

Graham Ranie - Game Concept

 Working Title
Don’t Touch the Lava

Concept Statement
The objective of Don’t Touch the Lava is to ensure the players ball doesn’t fall into the lava by bouncing around the screen onto platforms. But watch out! The platforms can quickly disappear.  

Genre
The genre is a platformer.

The players role
The player controls a ball. The players controls are movement (left and right) and jumping. 

Target Audience 
The target audience of the game is children, in the age range of 6 to 12 years old. The simplicity of the controls and mechanics will make it accessible to this age group without needing too much skill. Additionally, the simplicity of the controls also opens up the audience to players of any age and abilities, particularly those with disabilities. This will allow for greater inclusivity. The colourful aesthetics of the game will help to engage and appeal to a younger audience.

Competitive Analysis
The game will distinguish itself from other games through the simplicity and accessibility. The straightforward mechanics and controls will make it easy for new players to bounce (pun intended) right in and play.  There are some other games on the market that involve controlling a ball. ‘Ball Hero Adventure: Red Ball Bounce’ (Crazy Games, 2019) involves controlling a ball, however, the game doesn’t have the physics that is planned for ‘Don’t Touch the Lava’ (DTTL). The player rolls around, with the ability to jump, whereas the player in DTTL will continuously be bouncing, with jump being used to gain extra height. It has a similar aesthetic to what is being planned for DTTL.

‘Bounce Ball Blitz’ (Bespaly, 2023) is another game that focuses on the player controlling a bouncing ball. The game has a similar physics system for the ball to be constantly bouncing and needing to be moved around the world. This game requires the player to traverse the world and shoot the ball into a hoop at the end of each level. The mechanics areslightly different, where DTTL doesn’t have a goal they just need to survive the game world before the time expires.

Concept Creation Process
Throughout the process of coming up with the game idea I have used subtractive and minimalistic design to strip away many generic platformer ideas to come up with the concept for DTTL. Pascal (2011) discusses how this idea strips away ideas to give a foundation on how to build a game. I wanted to make this a platformer, but I’ve taken away a lot of elements that makes a platformer. A classic platformer like Mario or Sonic, has health, collectibles, and various enemies. I removed those from my game. There are no health bars or multiple lives in DTTL. There are basic controls to move left and right and jump. I wanted to focus on a platformer that utilises physics. There are no coins or gems to be found in this game to build a high score. The game focuses on keeping it simple to create an experience that any player can jump in and play. 

Game Treatment

Backstory
The game takes place inside a volcano which has various platforms placed strategically on the screen. The world is cartoonish, with a colour scheme to match. Bright colours will be used for characters, animations, and objects, with earthy tones for the volcano world.

The game starts with the players characters falling from above the game world onto a platform. There is lava swirling around underneath and this is the one part of the game world that is to be avoided. There are several platforms that show collectibles. It’s now the players job to collect these for as long as possible.

Mechanics
The game will contain realistic physics as a key mechanic. This is because the player is controlling a ball. This will require players to anticipate the movement and time the jumps accordingly.

• There will be a switch that will freeze the platforms. 
• There will also be booby trap switches. These switches will either make all available platforms rotate 180 degrees,  or make them move around the screen.

The platforms will come in a variety of materials which adds depth to the gameplay. Some platforms will disappear after a certain amount of time while others will rotate.

The player will be able to get power ups through the game. This will aide the player in their quest. There will be power ups to freeze platforms, jump higher, and move faster.

The player will also need to avoid geysers as they erupt and shoot upwards and sideways. Each level will be timed, with the player needing to survive for as long as possible.  

Concept Art

Image 1: Ball Character Pixel Tilemap Concept (Image by author).

Image 2: Dribble. “Lava Animation. Pinterest.” https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/479140847834850117/.

Image 3: Nintendo. “Yoshi’s Island.” https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Game-Boy-Advance/Yoshi-s-Island-Super-Mario-Advance-3-267640.html#Gallery.

References

Bespaly, Andrew. 2023. “Bounce Ball Blitz.” Andrew Bespaly. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2618350/Bounce_Ball_Blitz/.

Crazy Games. 2019. “Ball Hero Adventure: Red Bounce Ball.” Crazy Games. https://www.crazygames.com/game/ball-hero-adventure-red-bounce-ball.

Pascal, Kilo. 2011. “On Minimalism & Subtractive Design.” On Game Design (blog), February 8, 2011. http://ongamedesign.blogspot.com/2011/02/on-minimalism-subtractive-design.html.