A 2D game based on the theme 'balance', created during a game jam hosted by Level Her Up.
The game will be available to play for free on itch.io soon.
Our interpretation of the theme was the broad concept of finding balance to maintain mental health and wellbeing. We decided to make a game that would encourage the player to reflect on how they manage their daily life.
We discussed topics including the spoon theory, psychology, and the stress bucket method when designing our game. Though we had grand plans, this was a 2 day game jam and we settled on the idea of someone trying to organise and tick-off a to-do list for the week, and how they might reflect on what activities they prioritise over others.
Early on we determined that the use of sound would be an important feature of the game, that it might aid in reflection in a more abstract way. The idea of creating a custom sound or song depending on the players choices has become the defining component of our game.
Four different coloured orbs fall at random from the top of the screen. Each of the 4 coloured orbs correspond with a life category: work, personal growth, relationships, and leisure.
The player can click and drag these orbs into open slots on a 'to-do' list to the right of the screen. The to-do list is populated with random tasks each day. It is the players choice how to assign each of these orbs in the to-do list, or whether to do them at all.
As the orbs are placed into a slot, the player will hear a different instrument play and see a counter for that category increase at the bottom of the screen.
There are 7 rounds to represent the 7 days of the week. At the end of the final round, the player will be taken to an End screen where they can see their final score and hear their custom designed song (based on their choices for the week).
Alex - User Interface
Courtney - Art
Goya - Audio / Programming
Jess - Programming / UI / Animation
Natalie - Design / Narrative
Rei - Writing
Paper prototyping
Unity game engine
Hand drawn art, digitised
Garage band
- Sound effects for orbs going into slots
- Music composition during End screen, based on total score
- Sound clip plays on click, when clicking on an orb on the Start screen
- Animation on orbs on Start screen (little rock/wiggle back and forth)
- Animation on Violet on End screen (listening to music, blinking)