Game Concept devlog

Game Concept devlog

Working title

The game that is going to go into production very soon has been given the working title of Project: Island in the Sun. This name will change later on, but that name is good for now. The idea for that working title came from the fact that the island of Malta is a sunny island in the Mediterranean Sea, and it is a unique place for an air combat game out of all the air battles that took place during WW2.

Game concept statement

The game concept is: "In Project: Island in the Sun, players must use their plane to take out invading German and Italian planes to stop them from taking the crucial Mediterranean island of Malta." 

Genre/category

This would go into the 2D shooter genre because of the aerial combat, and it can have some educational value with the player learning about the siege of Malta during WW2, but also if a parent for example is buying a game for their child they might try and get something that the child can learn while they play.

The concept creation process/area

You could call it a mashup because the main source of inspiration is from 2 classic games, 1942 (1984) and Super Mario Land, (1989). As shown in this video, 

the scrolling only goes up the screen and has more advanced sprites, compared to Super Mario Land which is not as graphically complicated and only has different shades of black and white due to the limited Gameboy hardware. 

This video shows world 4 level 3 of the game in which the plane powerup is used. This kind of gameplay where you need to dodge the enemies while shooting at them yourself is the kind of gameplay is the goal to make the game interesting and playable but not extremely difficult. The war theme idea was inspired by 1942 because that idea was good but with my skills remaking 1942 in 6 weeks would not have been a good idea, so the more realistic goal is making a simplified version of the 2 games with my mostly original idea.

Audience and competitive analysis

There is a large following for pixel style games in 2023 made in 8, 16 or even 32 bit resolutions. This market or pixelated style game space lets new developers or companies thrive and creates a good sense of competition, which means players or potential buyers can look past the game not having up to date graphics if the gameplay is good enough or the style is what they want. Look at Minecraft for example which is one of the biggest indie pixel style games of all time and proves the fact of graphics doesn't mean everything. Even though Minecraft was officially released in 2011, more recent pixel style games like Sonic Mania can make a large audience, even though Sonic the Hedgehog is a very popular longstanding IP. Although having modern graphics, Party Golf is an example of a smaller game that had some success and has generated an audience. In short, a small game like Project: Island in the Sun can stay afloat and compete in the indie games space and can also have a wide audience from children to adults or whoever is interested enough to press play.

Game treatment and concept art

Due to my "atroce" skills at paint dot net using a mouse and having very little experience with it, there has not been any official concept art made for the planes and enemies and such yet because it is still undecided on which real planes the sprites will be a pixelized version of. At this stage it will either be the Messerschmitt BF-109, (pictured below) or the Junker JU-87 "Stuka" (also pictured below)

The concept for the Italian planes would be a pixelized version of either the Macchi c.202 Folgore, (pictured above)

or the Reggiane Re.2001 Falco 2 (pictured below). 

The concept for what the player will be is an older plane and one considered obsolete for 1940 standards, but something to make the player think: Can I actually do this with this plane or is it too hard? This plane, (pictured below)

Is the Gloster Gladiator and it was for a while the only aircraft able to defend against superior planes. This is a true story but a game that is too easy can get boring real quickly if you aren't entertained enough. Adding a level of difficulty adds to the experience and makes the player stay longer on your game, while it not being impossible.

Although these are not concept art for the game but it is what the concept for enemy planes and the player will be based off. When the sprites are actually made I will attempt to make them look different from each other so the player can tell enemies apart. The background however is a bit more difficult because having a picture like this, 

does give the player an idea of what is going on at the current time but gives a feeling of you have already lost. Either a black and white or colour image that does not have destruction is a way of telling the player: you are not dead yet keep going! That kind of message to push them on to beating the game. When the background will be implemented tests will be done to see if a lower resolution old image like this fits the sprites on screen or whether to go for an 8 or 16 bit style background. But what will make someone look at this game and think wow, this looks interesting. If they are fans of older style games or the war/shooter genre they will look at the low price (because charging $89 for basically a pixel style webgl game is a very bad business idea if I were to release this like an actual game) and then think am I going to play it for 10 minutes and then never touch it again or will i get an hour or more out of it? In its first release there might not be tons of content but there will be some. You can always find out the end of the game by searching what happened since this game is based of a real historical event but why do that when you can play it to find out.

Reference list

These did not format well when I copy and pasted them.

Acred, M 2019, Ju 87 stuka, viewed 14 April 2023, <https: www.asisbiz.com="" il2="" ju-87="" ra="" pages="" junkers-ju-87b2-picchiatelli-ra-97-gruppo-238a-squadriglia-red-11-italy-feb-1941-01.html="">. </https:>

Cybermodeler.com 2013, Macchi c202 foglore

Dosgamert on YouTube 2014, ‘Super Mario Land - World 4-3 (1989) [GAME BOY]’, www.youtube.com, viewed 13 April 2023, <

>.

MamePlayer on YouTube 2010, ‘1942 Gameplay’, YouTube, viewed 13 April 2023, <

>.

Mann, A 2017, Gladiators

Militaryimages.net 2018, Malta, under Attack WW2, viewed 14 April 2023, <https: www.militaryimages.net="" media="" malta-under-attack-ww2.127822="">. </https:>

Unknown 2012, Re.2001 Falco II

US National War Museum 2020, Forgotten Fights: Malta’s Faith, Hope, and Charity, 1940, The National WWII Museum | New Orleans, viewed 14 April 2023, <https: www.nationalww2museum.org="" war="" articles="" british-biplanes-faith-hope-charity-1940="">. </https:>

Wallup.net 2015, BF109, viewed 14 April 2023, <https: wallup.net="" messerschmitt-messerschmitt-bf-109-luftwaffe-aircraft-military-artwork-military-aircraft-world-war-ii-germany-he-111-heinkel-he-111="">. </https:>