Blog

This is a breakdown of how we envision the gameplay of The Yellow Boat Reimagined would be. Though some of it are not the exact match as the one in the current game, rest assured, that we are finding ways to push through with the project and fulfill this.

Disclaimer: Nothing posted here is final. But I just wanted to share a few gameplay flows I brought up in team discussions. My goal was to align the vision, and streamline the information in the documentation so that everyone in the team knows every in-game events.

This is one of the most basic maps we had to discuss and design. The main challenge we had to overcome in this area is the way we need to present the tutorials in a VR environment. It is beyond the scope for this behind the scenes and I would love to share how we solved it.

I decided not to put props in the maps and strip off all the details as we wanted the art team to exercise their creative visions. So most of it are just paths, entry and exit points, and large components of the map.

Here, we wanted to create a clear distinction of the walkable path while still submerging players into the swamp. This will prime them about the repercussions of traversing bodies of water which slows down player movement speed.

This area serves as the first climbing challenge and a validation of their concept on bodies of water. Gradual injection of mechanics was our primary goal so that players would not get overwhelmed or tired easily.

From here, a series of challenges await the player. We wanted to show the things children go through just to get to school -- crossing rivers and overcoming tedious challenges. The map is layered with different mechanical levels. From the test of swimming to a validation on climbing then a safe challenge of flinging from one climbable object to another.

Here players would find a sense of momentary release by calmly walking through a small village. They could interact with the villagers or enjoy the scenery before facing their final challenge of crossing a dilapidated bridge.

Finally, the last map is quite simple yet the challenges are hard (no spoilers). We decided to simply end the game by rewarding the players of the aftermath. It was the final moment of relief that we wanted to show after the long and dangerous journey of the player going to school.

We want something like the one presented in the progression chart which was a technique lifted from Mike Lopez’s Gamasutra article about making gameplay progressions – Gameplay Design Fundamentals: Gameplay Progression.

We want increasing cahllenges, mix and match of skills used in a level and finally game modifiers that ups the ante on the player. By doing this, we hope to really nail down the idea that these children fight tooth and nail just to get the education they deserve. Read the [TYBR] Map Prototypes on some samples on how we plan to translate all of this into the game.