Arcade Project
Arcade Project
An up-cycling 2D stealth platformer game starring old game characters and modern game machines.
Research
Game Design
Level Design
Programming
2D Game Art
Duration
Award
2020
Merit Award
Hong Kong Wireless Technology Industry Association
2019
Best Music Award
The Hong Kong Game Development Association
2019
Gold Award (Student Group)
The Hong Kong Game Development Association
2018
Best Student Work Nomination
China indie Game Alliance
About The Project
Despite the fact that arcade delivers spectacular gaming experience with its innate traits, it is mistakenly labelled as falling behind times and hence, somehow being alienated in the game industry before the general public can give it a try.
<text-colour-orange>Game Up-cycling<text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
The unique aspects of old arcade games will be translated in a modern way in the project. Apart from the hardware and software, in the sense of game design, the play and the game content from the old arcade games could also be blended to elevate while inheriting the irreplaceable traits of an arcade.
<text-colour-orange>Superb Price-performance Ratio<text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
Tangibles could be made of inexpensive, easily-collectable, recyclable materials. The construction is also simple enough to be made. For the core, which hereby refers to the game, is empowered by Unity - an open source game engine, and needs effort in programming. Despite a minimal monetary cost, the New Arcade's performance level is not sacrificed.
Video
Videos
Feature
Arcade Game Walk-through
April 30, 2017
Playlist
Game Prototype
Other Deliverables
Media Coverage
Case Study
Background
This project aims to translate the unique aspects of arcade games in the old days and craft them into a modern Arcade. This project took reference from the classic 80s arcade games in terms of mechanics, rules and dynamics. The abandoned games from the last century would be strategically blended in a way that gains attention and revitalises its sociality-ecouraging trait.
Keywords
Retro-gaming
Arcade
Social Interaction
Upcycling
Spectacular
Inspiration
Motivation
Arcade, once stunned the world, has its unique charm that NO other gaming consoles can compare. However, these cabinets nowadays sit behind bars inside local game centres because of the common prejudices against the venue and legal restrictions.
I want to create a gaming cabinet that show Arcade's unique charm to the crowd, as well as to offer them experience of the spectaculars, non-commitment and mechanic simplicity.
Research Questions
- What are the recognised charms of Arcade?
- Is the game experience Arcade offers still competitive nowadays?
If so, why is it being eliminated in the market?
What are the forces? - How old Arcade games can be upgraded and improved in a way to re-gain its competitiveness?
Research Methods
Field Studies
Primary Research
Observation
<text-colour-orange>Arcade Business in Japan & Hong Kong<text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
Field trips were organised:
- To investigate how differently arcade business is operating in Japan and in Hong Kong, and
- To examine the factors which could possibly affect the prosperity of an arcade business
<text-colour-orange>Well-preserved game flow and solid gaming experience in Arcade<text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
Arcade games in general are known to survive on the attractiveness of their game play. While arcade keeps the money element as players' motivation, the original game flow is not disrupted. By setting the Play as the major focus, solid gaming experience can possibly be guaranteed.
Modern games intentionally manipulate the game flow, in a business sense, through implanting a short-cut which allows players to reach the victory at more ease by paying money. Challenges were originally the gateway to satisfaction but now becomes the cashier.
Findings
<text-colour-orange>What are the recognised charms of Arcade?<text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
- Emotionally engaging
The tension derived from the acknowledgement of being allowed for only a few mistakes magnifies the joy of winning. - Non-commitment way to play
The simplicity in arcade's control steering and game rules allows infinite ways to win or to lose. - Live performance
Arcade's innate advantage in size and the tangibles ascends the play to a live spectacular performance that catches attention - cultivate people's connectivity and foster sociality. - Obvious distinction & originality
<text-colour-orange>Why Arcade Fades? And why is it still flourish in Japan?<text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
<text-colour-orange>Reasons of the sustaining craze for Arcade in Japan<text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
- Arcade is an official gaming business
- Strong support from Local Arcade Manufacturers
- Favourable Cultural and Business environment
Arcade is officially an independent business in the gaming industry in Japan. Arcade business generates a lot profit which relies heavily on customers' long-term support. Most of the arcade manufacturers, such as SEGA, station in Japan, which implies a strong support of not only cost-justifiable hardware and software development, but also marketing - cultivating the arcade culture in purpose to sustain arcade's profitability. They also put effort in creating new mechanisms together with tangibles, contributing their distinct originality to keep and draw more players.
<text-colour-orange>Reasons for Arcade business going down outside Japan<text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
- Arcade becomes a niche in games due to its bulky size and low mobility, shifts in people lifestyle and emerging technologies and devices
- Home-gaming dominates
- Difficult business environment for Arcade's survival, e.g. Government Policy
Arcade is not considered as a mainstream in the game industry outside Japan. Home-gaming dominates due to the thrive of home-gaming devices and gaming technologies and ease in gaming-gear accessibility. According to the founder of the Retro.HK gaming expo, what worsens Arcade's popularity and development in Hong Kong is the government policy.
Insight
<text-colour-orange>Mixing the merits of 'Old' and New<text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
Arcade's beauty in terms of <text-colour-orange>physical manifestation<text-colour-orange>, <text-colour-orange>sociality cultivation<text-colour-orange> and <text-colour-orange>mechanism design<text-colour-orange> overturns the misconception about Arcade being obsolete or worthless. It is possible that the 'Old' Arcade transforms to a 'New' console to attract modern players, containing the well-preserved game flow and gaming experience just like in the old times.</text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
Design Goals
- Simplicity in gameplay and control
- Non-commitment engagement
- Spectacular
To expose Arcade's unique charms to the crowd and offer them chances to experience such a spectacular game machine with the attributes of mechanic simplicity and non-commitment.
Design Process
Arcade is a bulky and spectacular game machine, which has simple and flexible mechanics, placed in a public area that boost people sociality through physical manifestation. This definition derives the following <text-colour-orange>design principles<text-colour-orange>: </text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
- Skill-driven gameplay
- Least delay in tangible control input
- Simple game rules
- Obvious game resources, e.g. time, number of attempts
- Clear and dynamic response in terms of sound, light, animation
Design Decisions
Mechanics
<text-colour-orange>Timely Level Challenges<text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
The level needs to be restructured to assist the character going up before reaching the bottom (game ends).The restructure can be done by shooting bullets at these blocks to eliminate them.
<text-colour-orange>Blending 'New' & 'Old' Physics<text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
The physics borrows the concept in Minecraft - Density of the blocks. Sand blocks drop if the supporting mud block disappears; Water blocks flow and spawn more water blocks downwards.
<text-colour-orange>Enemies<text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
Enemies appear in groups and act in rhythmic sequence, just as they were in the space shooting arcade.
<text-colour-orange>Simple Reward<text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
Player Score when they hit the mineral blocks, yet, some of them are better kept as stepping blocks.
<text-colour-orange>Game Resources<text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
Items such as Cherries and Star will upgrade the character's weapon in a short period or give the player an extra life.
Level Design
Challenges
<text-colour-orange>Tangible Development<text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
The tangible is the signature of Arcade. It includes the screen, control panel, the lightings, the speakers and the money slot contributes to the spectacular gaming experience. The combination of all these requires a high level of tangible prototyping skills which I lack. I, fortunately, with the help of the online community, figure out an alternative that serve the purpose to a similar extend.
<text-colour-orange>Exposure Difficulty<text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange></text-colour-orange>
As the tangibles occupy spaces and weigh certain kilograms, the volume restricts its mobility. It becomes passive when approaching players. Player-to-player interaction that happens during the gameplay also consume spaces. Placement and its mobility challenges a lot when it comes to setting up for playtests.
Iterations
Reflection
It is definitely a fun project to work on! Arcade should be appreciated as they are art by themselves. This project brought me to the new professional field such as production design, prototyping, craftsmanship, Lego structure design. The time is too tight for having every aspect being done perfectly. I had been too obsessed with the exterior features of the arcade, leaving little time to iterate and modify the game. I shall spend time to further improve the game in the future.
Additional Discussion
Aspects which are not covered in this break-down but could be worth discussing in person.
- Pixel Art Production
- Level Design
- Tangible Development