Charles Vargas To Blue Gravity Studio Test Project 31/05/2024
Summary:
“Baby to Love” is a coop point-and-click experience where you step into the shoes of a parent and join the messy routine of a small family, perfect for playing with a friend or a loved one. It is a fun and cosy experience with challenging gameplay and a strong message behind a light-hearted adventure.
Game Concepts:
- Game Genre: Real-life Simulator, Construction, Multiplayer, Cute, Relax, and Casual;
- Unique features: Realistic and immersive dive into the reality of the parenthood journey, gamification of everyday shores with a blend of diegetic UI and 2D UI with every day is a new day game-loop.
- Audience: Casual Audience, New Players, and couples;
- Platform and Engine: Developed using Unreal Engine 5, and targeted for release on PC with exclusivity on Steam.
- Planned Release date: summer 2024
- Publisher: yet to be announced
Game Design:
Casual games are often seen as unimportant, providing players with a shallow experience focused solely on fun gameplay loops. However, some games manage to offer both depth and enjoyable gameplay. Examples of this are "Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons" and the cooperative experience of "Overcooked." "Baby to Love" combines both genres, offering a touching experience paired with a fun, captivating, and addictive gameplay loop.
Story:
The player takes on the role of an average Joe parent, a customizable character who recently moved to a new house in a small town to start a new life and turn this new place into their family's home.
Characters:
Customizable characters with background stories and personality traits will be passed down to the baby, who will inherit the visual and main personality traits of the parents. The characters will have easy-to-understand animations to enhance the readability of the character's mood and stamina. Additionally, pop-up balloons with emojis will provide tips to the player.
Mechanics and Gameplay Loop
In this game, players will use point-and-click commands and actions, as well as camera control based on moving the cursor to the screen border. The game's loop is influenced by the roguelike aspect of Hades and the pacing of Overcooked. The game resets daily, and the player's progression is tied to the baby's happiness and the number of tasks the parents complete each day.
Objective and Progression:
The objective is simple, make everyone happy and healthy through daily tasks while interacting with the baby, working, and housekeeping while avoiding getting tired or unmotivated. Progression, on the other hand, is divided into three different categories: character development, work promotions, and house upgrades.
- Character development: the aspects of the character that can be evolved through the gain of experience gathered through the realization of tasks.
- Work Promotions: The parent will be promoted by participating in work events, leaving the parent working with high happiness, and completing full work cycles and mini-games. As a result, they will need to work fewer hours and be rewarded more.
- House Upgrades: using the money to buy better furniture, increase the home size, and home appliances.
- Money and Home Appliances: Money can be used to buy home appliances and groceries, which can be used to improve the time needed to accomplish tasks and give better health and happiness to all family members.
Levels:
In the aspect of levels and maps, are broken into two major parts, the player's house and terrain, and the city and its whereabouts. The player can alternate through both of these maps, where different game mechanics would be presented progressively.
- Player House and Terrain: As said above, the player will be able to increase and customize the layout of the house, in addition, the player will be able to expand and buy more terrain.
- City and Whereabouts: Ideally these areas are for events, where the player will be able to walk with the baby, participate in work events, go to work, and get access to stores and premium stores.
Aesthetics and Music:
It was inspired by “Little Sim World” and “The Tenants” a low poly art style with bright and vibrant coloring as a standard creating a cosy and comfortable environment that will be fast-paced throughout the day. Returning to a calm and cold coloring while the parents lay to rest on the sofa strengthening the day cycle feeling of the game.
UI and UX
The goal is to minimize the screen space dedicated to the user interface (UI) to create a minimalist feeling.
UI elements:
- Diegetic:
- Task progression bars,
- Parents and baby's feelings feedback,
- Non-Diegetic:
- Aime of day
- Aime progression
- Action menus.
Audio:
The audio will play a key role in setting the mood and guiding the player's emotions throughout the game.
- Background music: Jazz music will be the standard background music for the game, but as the daily tasks become more hectic, the music will transition to a new theme.
- Sound effects: The main purpose of the task sound effects is to alert the player of an impending task failure with a cartoonish tone that will stand out. Other sound effects are intended to blend with the environment and contribute to the overall mood.
Art Style:
Inspired by the “Paper Mario” aesthetic, “Baby to Love” will follow the general idea of the mix between 2D and low poly 3D.
- 2D Assets: the use of 2D assets for characters and interactive items to make them easily stand out from the environment.
- 3D Assets: utilizing 3D assets to create realistic lighting without compromising performance by using low-poly assets in a 3D world.
Production
Monetization
"Baby to Love" will be a one-time purchase game. It will generate revenue through sales and microtransactions in the in-game premium market. In addition to these methods, the game will have a currency that can be bought with real money. This monetization model was chosen because it can fit not only in a Steam and PC player environment but can also be easily adapted to a mobile environment in the future if the game project chooses to reach the mobile platforms.
Pricing Model
Understanding the resources and the project can be profitable, it is possible to measure the base price, compare other titles of the genre, and additionally propose new value to the player.
- Base Price: $25,00 to $30,00
- Value Proposition: Co-op, being a strong aspect of the game, allows players to receive a free copy for co-op gameplay. The copy can only join a current game host while having access to all game features.
Marketing
The main marketing objective is to reach the target audience through social media and influencers.
- Social Media:
- Create engaging content on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to showcase gameplay footage, highlight features, and share testimonials from couples who have enjoyed playing the game together.
- Use targeted advertising to reach couples who are interested in gaming or relationship-building activities.
- Influencer Partnerships:
- Partner with influencers who specialize in gaming or relationships to create sponsored content or participate in live streams where they play the game with their significant other.
- Encourage influencers to share their genuine experiences and reactions to the game, emphasizing the fun and bonding opportunities it provides for couples.
General Production Planning
- Pre-Production( Month 0 - estimated deadline: two to three weeks)
- Low-Level Game Design
- Prototyping
- Production( Month 1 - estimated deadline: four to six weeks):
- Asset Creation
- Programming
- Gameplay
- Level Progression
- Events
- Level Design and World Events Locations
- Intern Testing(Alpha Testing)
- Post-Production:( Month 2 - estimated deadline: three to five weeks)
- Polishing
- Public Testing(Beta Testing)
- Marketing
- Support and Updates
Conclusion
In conclusion, “Baby to Love” is a beautiful experience, with a fun and addicting game loop, with charismatic and personal characters, and with a strong and not invasive monetary capability.
The project's primary objective remains to tell a beautiful history that I will grow the player experience, impact his worldview, and be profitable to the production team and investors.
Glossary:
- UI: User interface;
- UX: User Experience;
- Diegetic: Every aspect of UI that is built inside the game world;
Appendices
- Low-Level Game Design;
- Scope of Work: A deeper dive into the game Production Planning;
- Level Design Documents;
- Prototypes and Mockups: Deprecated Document Versions and Assets Library;