MDA Framework
Meltdown is a game about keeping Gus’ Excitement level high by drinking beers and kicking ass. Each level requires the player to control the environment and Gus while keeping penguins and tourists out of Gus’ way. Players can increase their score by knocking penguins and tourists out of the screen while downing as many beers as
they can find. Players should feel an amount of time pressure while playing the game. This is a mirror of Gus’ own feeling towards his home melting.
All of the levels in Meltdown have been created using modular assets in a grid based Level Editor. As time passes each level slowly falls to pieces leaving Gus with less options of where to go and thus the risk of a lower score. The player’s score starts at maximum of 10,000 and slowly declines while the player is not drinking beers or hitting penguins.
This unique score system coupled with the level melting mechanic puts players under real time pressure to finish each level with a good score. To get the highest scores players will have to manage Gus’s speed, route choices, the environment and keeping
the NPC’s out of Gus’ way. As Gus is moving down a semi-set path players will really have to capitalize on the control they do have in the game to get Gus to go where they
want him to go.
The game is built on an “Easy to learn, Hard to master” structure. This allows players who want to play Meltdown as a submissive experience to easily progress through the levels. However the more hard-core players who enjoy a challenge can attempt to get the top score in every level and really get the most out of the game.
Meltdown is a game about keeping Gus’ Excitement level high by drinking beers and kicking ass. Each level requires the player to control the environment and Gus while keeping penguins and tourists out of Gus’ way. Players can increase their score by knocking penguins and tourists out of the screen while downing as many beers as
they can find. Players should feel an amount of time pressure while playing the game. This is a mirror of Gus’ own feeling towards his home melting.
All of the levels in Meltdown have been created using modular assets in a grid based Level Editor. As time passes each level slowly falls to pieces leaving Gus with less options of where to go and thus the risk of a lower score. The player’s score starts at maximum of 10,000 and slowly declines while the player is not drinking beers or hitting penguins.
This unique score system coupled with the level melting mechanic puts players under real time pressure to finish each level with a good score. To get the highest scores players will have to manage Gus’s speed, route choices, the environment and keeping
the NPC’s out of Gus’ way. As Gus is moving down a semi-set path players will really have to capitalize on the control they do have in the game to get Gus to go where they
want him to go.
The game is built on an “Easy to learn, Hard to master” structure. This allows players who want to play Meltdown as a submissive experience to easily progress through the levels. However the more hard-core players who enjoy a challenge can attempt to get the top score in every level and really get the most out of the game.
Challenge and Reward Structure
The challenge and reward structure of the game is entirely based on the unique score system that falls as you move through the environment, the player must keep their score up by drinking beer, flicking penguins and swiping tourists. Each level contains multiple routes where each route is a different length and they each contain different obstacles to deal with. By choosing the shorter route the player loses less score from time but they put themselves at risk to more geysers and tourists.
By choosing a longer path the player is safer from hard hitting attacks but needs to work harder to keep their score up over time. The melting mechanic also comes into play here as the shorter routes collapse at a faster rate than the longer paths making it more dangerous to traverse.
The challenge and reward structure was built from the ground up to reflect the state of the world in relation to Global warming. As the player’s options slowly decrease, as the level melts and as you spend more time in the level, the player must focus more and more on resource management to get to the end with a respectable score. Much like the current state of the world where we are slowly polluting ourselves into a corner.
Design
As the game progresses the landmass in the levels shrinks, because this is a late game level it is made up of lots of small islands connected by rotating ice sheets. The player needs to set up these ice sheets in the right direction to cross over from one island to the other, there is over 20 different routes in this level to get from the start point to the beer at the end. The game level is created using our grid based level editor but we use environmental models to break up the grid based structure of the levels and make it more aesthetically pleasing.
The challenge and reward structure of the game is entirely based on the unique score system that falls as you move through the environment, the player must keep their score up by drinking beer, flicking penguins and swiping tourists. Each level contains multiple routes where each route is a different length and they each contain different obstacles to deal with. By choosing the shorter route the player loses less score from time but they put themselves at risk to more geysers and tourists.
By choosing a longer path the player is safer from hard hitting attacks but needs to work harder to keep their score up over time. The melting mechanic also comes into play here as the shorter routes collapse at a faster rate than the longer paths making it more dangerous to traverse.
The challenge and reward structure was built from the ground up to reflect the state of the world in relation to Global warming. As the player’s options slowly decrease, as the level melts and as you spend more time in the level, the player must focus more and more on resource management to get to the end with a respectable score. Much like the current state of the world where we are slowly polluting ourselves into a corner.
Design
As the game progresses the landmass in the levels shrinks, because this is a late game level it is made up of lots of small islands connected by rotating ice sheets. The player needs to set up these ice sheets in the right direction to cross over from one island to the other, there is over 20 different routes in this level to get from the start point to the beer at the end. The game level is created using our grid based level editor but we use environmental models to break up the grid based structure of the levels and make it more aesthetically pleasing.