This month in our PLAYHACK we’re giving you 20 hearts and a loveable furry friend to use in your game.
The aim? Build a Valentine’s game for somebody special.
One thing we want to try this month was start a discussion around game mechanics and ideas for what sort of game you can build given the assets available.
I’ll kick it off with a few, but what sort of games can you build with up to 20 hearts and/or stuffed bear?
Mechanics
Here are some ideas for mechanics that would be well suited to the hearts theme.
Grow mechanic
A couple of game mechanics which involve growing an object.
Sometimes the the mechanic is “big fish eats little fish”. Where the player is under your control and you “consume” smaller items. Like this Hearts Collector
Sometimes the mechanic is to grow while avoiding other items. Like in this Battlefish game.
These could be great mechanics for a game involving the hearts. Big hearts consume little hearts. You could use the different styles or colors as level themes.
Flight and Collectibles
Another classic mechanic from flash games is the “fly as far as you can” game. Something like the classic Learn To Fly 2. With this type of game, you use your skill to launch the player on an ideal path. The further they fly the more points you get. Then you can upgrade your player to fly even further.
One extension to this mechanic is the mid-air collectables. As seen in Flight by Armor Games. In this case the idea is to launch on a trajectory which collects the most items. You could use the hearts as collectibles. Launch the bear? Or maybe make your own model for the player.
Classic Games
How about re-creating a classic using the hearts.
Puzzle Bobble
The arcade classic, use the colored hearts instead of bubbles.
Pac-man
Collect hearts instead of pellets and the bear instead of power pills? See this scary re-creation of pac-man using PlayCanvas.
Candy Crush
The classic match-3 would work will with hearts. You could even combine it with last months models for hearts and gems?
What do you think?
What are your ideas? What genre could you adapt to use the models? What classic games could be re-created as a Valentine’s gift for a loved one.
