According to prompts to concept approaches given during our Monday session, I decided to take the path “from narrative to game”. As an inspiration I’ve chosen an episode from my favourite novel – the Phantom of the Opera, chapter 26, episode with scorpion or grasshopper. The main idea is that the Phantom offers Christine Dae a choice – to choose and turn a statuette of a scorpion or grasshopper on the mantelpiece. If she chooses scorpion – the opera and people will be safe, but she has to marry him. If she chooses grashopper – she’d reject the Phantom, and he’d blow the building up, burying everyone.
So we have 2 main elements – scorpion and grasshopper as the basement of the game concept. Currently I have 2 ideas:
A) They can be a final goal and mark the game ending after the events/mechanics happen.
B) They are incorporated into the mechanics and serve as active elements. For example, turning points, that can be both static or set up by players within their strategy. Players can focus on reaching their own goal or preventing the opponent from winning. Scorpion and grasshopper can have special functions each.
I have rerad the episode several times, thinking about elements that can be derived and turned into game features or parts of mechanics:
- Scorpion and grasshopper opposition as the main game concept
- Christine has to turn one of the figurines to activate the mechanism – possible mechanics element
- Explosion/flooding – can also be transferred into mechanics
I see the second option as the most promising one and is highly likely to develop this one. “Maze” games are too common whilst my approach to games is to have at least one small, but unique feature.
For the second option I have to create a criteria of how the cards can be attached to each other and to the goal creature. Maybe it will contain elements of pattern from the third option. That’s my task for the next week.