Brainstorm – bitsy prototype

On the miro board we are going to create a common pool of one-line ideas (remember ideas aren’t precious, it’s all about the development and execution). Hopefully there will be some interesting starting point for an explorable scenario to prototype in bitsy.

Let’s all follow the prompts and come up with a handful of post its each.

Adaptation

Start from an existing story or artifact and add your twist.
e.g. Hamlet BUT you are Elsinore and you can change the course of the story.

Little Red Riding Hood for Young adults – the coming to age themes are foregrounded and the style is gothic

An adaptation of the viral video “British lads hit each other with a chair” in which you are cameraman and it’s a gay and magical realist.

Can you think of other examples?

Nonfiction

What if it’s based on a historical, biographical scenario?

A puzzle platformer but each “level” is a scene narrating the overthrowing of the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran by the CIA and the UK.

A guided tour of assets ripped from Assassin Creed but actually a videogame essay examining digital cathedral builders and their medieval counterparts in relation to the unionization of game developers.

A dating sim based on actual stories and techniques used by pick up artists (and you are the one being picked up).

 

Non linear time-space

What if the rooms jumped between different times and spaces?

Protagonist-first

What if the character is not a blank slate? What is the character’s motivation?

You are a quack doctor trying to get a medical license in Shakespeare times.

You are trying to come out to your conservative family

You are a mom, hanging around aimless while your teenage daughter is throwing an art party?

Structure-first

Puzzles, quest, investigation, time loops… bitsy may be limited in the interactivity it affords but since we are just prototyping we can imagine mechanics that are not there.

You are with your lover in the 10 seconds before the world ends, what do you do?

You are browsing an archive try to piece together parts of a conspiracy that actually happened

A typical branching structures but the choices are about navigating the complex political factions of the 1979 revolution in Iran.

Location-first

A common approach: the protagonist is the place, and the story is told through objects and spaces.
There plenty of mansions and islands in arty exploration games.
What could be some other unique, self-contained spaces?

Part 2

Let’s take a look at everybody’s notes, riff on some ideas by adding comments, modifiers, or integrations, if you have any.

Let’s vote our favorites. The vote doesn’t affect anything. It’s just a temperature check to see what are the most exciting ideas.

Now pick an idea, either yours or somebody else’s – it doesn’t matter if more than one student works on the same ideas, it could actually be quite interesting.

Start mapping the game space on paper, noting places, connections (doors), characters, interactables, and dialogues.

Remember: this is a prototype and you only have a week to develop it, try to stay under 10 rooms.
Let’s try to have a map on paper to discuss before the end of the class.