For the next game I am in the process of making for my Masters Degree, I am making a game with GBStudio, but this game will focus on the aspects of mental health as its focal point, and the ways the player can play this game and find ways to cope with it better.
My first ideas for the game was a platformer where the mechanics resemble feeling stress in the real world, where the player can perform strong attacks once they have taken enough damage in order to heal, but not to an infinite degree where the player can constantly get hit by enemies in order to do so.
For the start of the designing process, I created a main character that would be going through their own turmoils. Using Adobe Photoshop, I created Claire, who the player will control in the game.
She went through different designs, most of which was deciding on a hairstyle that would show up best on a Gameboy screen and colour palette, once that was decided, the rest of her outfit helped to compliment her hair, especially once she was made as a sprite.
The lighter colours on her jacket were not only a stylistic choice, but they were also used in order to map out the shape of her body whilst making her sprites. This is also true whilst animating the walk cycle for Claire, colouring one of the legs differently helped greatly with mapping out where each of her legs should be.
I have also designed six different enemy types that will populate the dream-like worlds that Claire will travel through.
Each will function differently with how the player will have to avoid their movement patterns, as well as defeating them.
As seen on the sprite sheet, the mass of stars was meant for an animation representing the defeat of an enemy, shown by a small sparkle of stars, however this became tough to implement as the amount of frames on screen slowly led this to surpass the limit, resulting in graphical errors.
The first enemy designed for the game is called a Gunk, influenced by the idea that these monsters are clogging up Claire's thoughts, whilst making them a simple threat, similar to a Goomba in the Super Mario games. Stomping on top of it will defeat it, as it moves left and right.
The Crawler works in a similar way, however, they are meant to be faster than a Gunk.
The third enemy implemented in the game is a trickier one to beat, the Encroacher, This enemy will stay still until the player gets within range of it. Upon getting too close, it will dart towards the player in order to make contact. Holding the jump button for the highest possible jump is the key to survival.
The first boss of the game is an enemy called the Blocker, whose AI works similarly to the Encroacher, however, the line of sight is larger to span the whole boss arena. It takes six hits or shots to bring down, allowing you to complete the level.
The speed of the Blocker is also faster than the Encroacher for the extra challenge.
The fourth enemy implimented into the game is the Grasper, which will act as the second boss.
The function of this boss will be to grab Claire as it descends, dealing a point of damage.
While not implemented yet, an enemy that I plan to add is the Bloat, an enemy made to represent overthinking which can overwhelm a person who does so. The plan with the Bloat is to make the Ai simple as it will walk back and forth, but will require three hits to defeat.
Another enemy with similar intentions is the Sludge, who will require multiple hits to defeat, however, they will block health pickups until they are defeated.
The Enforcer is an enemy that works similarly to the design and movement of the Encroacher, however, he has longer range of attack that the player has to avoid,on account of wielding a lance and a more frightening face, representing a suit of armour
When possible, I also plan to add enemies such as the Corvid and Wasp, whose appearances prey on common phobias of birds and insects. These enemies will be in the sky and will act as a mobild hazard to the player.
