– From the Desk of Glenn Seidel, Game Designer–
How would you like to change the world around you? Don’t like that billboard? Change it! Wish all the flowers in the garden were yellow roses? Change it! Want all the statues in the world to be monkeys? Hey, you could change that, too!
Affecting the world players engage in inspires them to feel empowered with the ability to change on command. That has always been a big aspect of our games here at JumpStart. However, that is not the only way a player can affect the game world. This week, I’m going to look at some of things we’ve tried over the last few years.
Customization has been a big part of our past games and continues to be. We first allowed players to put their own art up on billboards around the world. Then, we let them plant their favorite flowers in the planters and even spruce up the place with their favorite decorations. The ability to personalize their game world is an incredibly compelling element. It allows young players to reflect their likes and dislikes into the world and change the actual world to reflect who they are.
Recently, we’ve taken the next step in customization by letting the player change their avatar’s apparel and appearance. This was a huge undertaking for our production teams and the final outcome of our Jumpeez have been very well received. In our recent kid testing, we saw kids spend most of their time in the Jumpee creator, just to get the right look!
Our Jumpee Creator
Affecting the personalized world can be brought out in more dramatic ways. In the Playstation 2 and Wii game “Okami,” the player’s success is reflected in the condition of the world. The goal is to bring a gray, dreary world back to life with color and energy. Just like in “Okami,” players of JumpStart 2nd Grade attempt to return the color back to the game in the Color Meister Challenges. This creates a visually interesting world and helps emphasize how the player’s heroic action could affect their personal gaming world.
- Color Meister Challenge
Finally, I was able to attend this year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California. One of the topics I heard discussed was the idea that players’ actions change the overall game’s structure. It was discussed how in some games, the actions of one player could effectively change the layout of a large multiplayer game. Sure, the examples were grand and pretty sophisticated, but it is clear that everyone is trying to find new and interesting ways to let players affect the game around them.
My question this week is, how would you like to affect your world??
Filed under: Behind the Scenes Tagged: | game design
my douter is aloud to play this game
hi where can i play this game because it looks interesting writing by juan
Hi, Juan-
To play the game pictured in the second screenshot, you can become a member of JumpStart.com and then download Quest for the Color Meister via Manage Account -> Downloadables. Please let us know if you have any more questions!
Thanks,
The JumpStart Team