Panda Eats! Documentation
Designing and prototyping this game was a delight. When we were given the option to create our own game, I immediately thought of pandas. Pandas are so cute and most likely everyone thinks they are absolutely adorable. Why else would China gift Giant pandas to other countries as diplomatic gifts?
The next thing I thought of were the games I’ve played on my phone, and the aspects of the that made them fun and kept making me play them when I was bored. I’m not the type that likes to play games continuously, just occasionally when I’m bored or have nothing to do. This aspect inspired me to create a game that doesn’t require a long term commitment but, can be started where you left off so you didn’t feel that the time and effort you spent playing the game wasn’t going to waste, in case you did want to continue.
The format of the game is a side scroller infinite runner style, where the user is immediately thrown into the game as the screen starts moving and the panda starts running when you press play. The idea of the game is that there is a momma panda bear getting chased out of her habitat by a crane machine because of increasing neighboring developments. On the levels, the panda must collect bamboo to stay strong and use for upgrades and special powers like invincibility, attacking sleep snores, etc. There is also the opportunity to collect mantou scents. These mantou scents are designed to attract a male mate, because the male panda seeks the female panda through the attraction of scents. If the player collects enough mantou points, they can buy/unlock new players like the dad panda or baby pandas. If the panda runs into or hits a boulder or a construction tool, the speed of the panda is halted and the crane is closer to the panda until 10 more seconds of safe running. If in those 10 seconds the panda hits another obstacle, the crane then runs the panda over and the level is ended. The player can then use 5 bamboo points to restart the level (which is usually more than enough unless the player really sucks) and can resume at the start of the level.
Once I got the design aspect of the game figured out, I started on blueprint prototyping the game on Unreal. I built the whitebox first to be able to visually see what I was envisioning. I then prototyped the jump action, which was a bit difficult to line up. The panda will have 2 type of jumps: short and long. Depending on how the player presses the spacebar, the player can control if the panda has a short jump or long jump. The player has to identify whether an object or second story requires a short or long jump. The way to win the game is to collect all the bamboo and mantou scents in each level.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/19uMgQEIjLvmhwPQ7t4rMOLG604MStZ8EslnRLqmUos4/edit?usp=sharing
