Armadillo, Bumblebee, and Octopus want to meet up and enjoy a scenic picnic together, however, the hiking route to get there is difficult to pass through alone. All three friends will need to help each other out to reach their destination together.
Controls:
WASD or arrow keys to move
Q & E to switch between characters
Spacebar to join two characters together or separate them
This game was a submission for the GMTK game jam 2021.
You can play the game here
Rankings based on 5817 total submissions for the GMTK 2021 game jam. We placed top 8% in the overall category.
For This game I was involved with both the programming as well the game design and level design with one of my teammates Matthew Laikhram.
The game involves three animals, the octopus, the bee, and the armadillo. Each animal has different ways of moving around in the level and interact with each other in different ways. It was important to introduce the player to each animal and what abilities they have to offer before having the player interact with mixtures of the three. To beat each level, all animals must reach the picnic basket.
The Universe:
At this time of the year all the animals within the community of PartyVill have picnics together to show how the community has bonded during times of great struggle. They call this special time "The Picnicing". They celebrate their history by eating copious amounts of food and making small talk. Similar to Zootopia, herbivores and carnivores co-exist together due to the fact that the carnivores have 100% control over their predatory urges to eat meat. To celebrate the picnicing, the animals travel to a special spot far away from their community and set up the area for a special picnic. It's a long and often treacherous journey so to prevent causalities, they often will travel in pairs or triplets and protect each other along the way. Dangers include cliffsides, raging rapids, unfamiliar plants, poisonous mushrooms, and the list goes on and on. This particular picnicing we find that everyone in the community has teamed up with each other with the exception of the octopus, the armadillo and the bee who were all off doing their own thing at the time. The octopus was swimming around when it realized that the picnnicing was beginning while the armadillo was in the middle of trying to roll up a dirt slope to roll over a tree and the bee was making a new friend with a flower. All three rush to the meetup spot where the picnicing trek begins and realized that everyone else is has already picked their partners and are beginning their journey. Left alone, they all look at each other and come to the conclusion that they'll have to work together if they want to make it to the picnic.
Main Characters and Abilities:
There are three main characters:
The Octopus
Basic abilities:
Move to the left
Move to the right
The octopus is a rather derpy looking fellow but enjoys life the fullest everyday. It spends his days swimming around in large bodies of water, taking in the atmosphere. It is rather afraid of going on big adventurers but will do so if it's absolutely necessary. That being said whenever he does swim around in large bodies of water, it often will swim in circles so he doesn't stray too far away from his home and what he feels comfortable with. That way it can rush home in a moment's notice at the first sign of danger.
Special abilities:
moving up
the octopus can walk up to what is deemed a sticky surface and move upwards to climb it
moving down
while on a sticky surface, the octopus can move down to climb down that surface
fall protection
when the octopus walks off a sticky ledge, it will cling to the side of the surface rather than fall off, allowing the player to begin climbing down or up that surface
The Armadillo
Basic abilities:
Move to the Left
Move to the Right
The armadillo is a pretty speedy individual. It loves living life on the edge and will often times roll around rather than walk at the fastest speed it can roll at. It considers rolling to be the best way of travel and will happily use that method to travel great distances. Having a grand sense of adventure, the armadillo will will travel for days and weeks on end away from its home with no particular destination in mind, the feeling of adventure supplying its energy to trek across large distances. The armadillo is deathly afraid of water though and like a non-swimmer in water that is lower than their height, it will curl into a ball (it's happy place) and seek solace there.
Special abilities:
Breaking barriers
upon reaching a high enough speed while holding a particular basic ability long enough, OR while falling for a long enough period of time to build that speed, the armadillo can break barriers both in and out of water
The Bee
Basic abilities:
Move to the left
Move to the Right
The Bee is considered to be a very shifty individual even though it will explain that its not. Every other animal will hear the buzzing and automatically think its trying to trick them into doing something, which means the bee doesn't have a lot of friends in the grand scheme of things. It spends its days searching for honey and chilling in its hive with the occasional ol' college try of making new friends (which fails every time). It is not opposed to talking to flowers and will often claim it has lots of friends and point out various flowers and recite their names, which further creeps out the other animals even more. similar to the armadillo, the bee hates water but isn't afraid of it. The water just messes with its wings and it hates when its wings are wet.
Special abilities:
moving up (flight)
Upon moving up the bee will take flight and fly around. flight time is limited however and the bee will eventually get tired and slowly fall back to the ground. flight is maintained by continuously holding the button for moving up. flight time is further reduced depending on the animal the bee is carrying as well.
While in flight:
move left (while in flight)
move right (while in flight)
moving diagonally (while in flight)
the bee can freely move while in flight including having additional movement in the diagonal directions.
Controls:
Move to the right: right arrow or D key
Move to the left: left arrow or A key
Comments:
Each input modifies the current speed of the animal. for the octopus the current speed is unchanged over time whether it be on land or on a sticky surface or in water. For the armadillo, the input will increase its acceleration over time to a maximum point. For the bee the input will modify the current speed differently on the ground (the bee will move more slowly on the ground) versus when its in the air (moves noticeably faster)
3. Q or E to swap to a different animal
Comments:
There may be multiple animals in the same level and this input will allow the player to cycle through them all as needed. Cycling to a different animal or joined animal will allow the player to control it/them and gives them access to the current abilities of that entity.
4. Join two animals together: spacebar
5. detach two joined animals: spacebar while controlling the two joined animals.
Comments:
The player will not be able to join if the entity they are trying to join together already has two animals joined together. For example, if the bee tries to join with the armadillo joined with the octopus, it will not work.
Potential Problems:
One potential problem associated with the controls is the confusion when using the Q or E buttons to swap to different animals. Since most players will likely associate the Q button with cycling to the left (because the Q button is to the left of the E button) and the E button with cycling to the right (because the E button is to the right of the Q button), it may confuse the player when the animals are not lined up nicely with the swapping controls. For example, the list of animals may be octopus, bee and finally armadillo in that order and the player is controlling the octopus. Pressing the E key will cycle to the right and logically the next animal will be the bee for the player to control. However, if the armadillo is visually in between the octopus and the bee, pressing the E key will still cycle to the bee and may confuse the player slightly.
Potential Solution:
A potential solution for this is to take a visual approach similar to the how the Lego games handle swapping their characters. In those games to swap a character, active particles fly out the body of the character the player was previously controlling and then fly into the character that is going to be controlled next. This will help with the visual confusion when swapping between the different animals in Picnic Party Pals.
Gameplay Elements:
Surface Properties:
Special note:
the bee (and only the bee not joined with any other animal) has a special property where walking on any surface makes it move considerably slower than any other animal introduced in Picnic Party Pals (encourages the player to fly with bee for movement purposes)
Basic Surface is solid ground
All animals will collide with the upper part of the solid ground and will be able to walk on it
the surface of the water/the body of water
As weird as it is to call water a surface, the player will be able to interact with it throughout the levels.
all animals will collide with the upper part of the water with each animal interacting with the surface of the water in different ways (including joined animals)
the octopus will be able to land on the surface of the water and be allowed to move freely in the water as well as dive underwater.
the armadillo will land on the surface of the water and immediately sink and lose all movement controls
the bee will land on the surface of the water and immediately float on the surface and lose all controls
bee joined will armadillo will land on the surface of the water and immediately detach, which then prompts the previous interactions between the now separated bee and armadillo
bee joined with octopus will land on the surface of the water and will be allowed to move freely on the surface of the water (including flying out of the water) but will NOT be allowed to dive underwater
octopus joined with armadillo will land on the surface of the water and will be allowed to move freely both on the surface of the water and be able to dive underwater as well.
Surface Properties (Cont.):
Sticky vertical surfaces (vertical wood and stone walls)
the octopus (and every joined combination that involves the octopus and another animal), Upon interacting with a vertical sticky surface will stick to that surface, allowing for the ability to climb up and down that surface. while on the ground walking up to the sticky surface and pressing the key that denotes moving up will also allow the octopus (and every combo involving the octopus) to stick to the vertical sticky surface and move upwards)
the bee and the armadillo can't interact with these surfaces (and combinations involving them and NOT the octopus) and therefore have no effect on them
slippery surfaces (vertical green grassy wood and icy blue walls)
the octopus (and every joined combination that involves the octopus and another animal) upon interacting with these surfaces (by walking on them or falling off their ledge), will lose the ability to stick to their sides, preventing them from being climbed upwards or downwards.
the bee and the armadillo can't interact with these surfaces (and combinations involving them and NOT the octopus) and therefore have no effect on them
Interactive elements:
Picnic Basket
Picnic baskets are placed at the end of a level. When all available animals in the level (the octopus, the bee and the armadillo are available animals but they all may not necessarily be in the specific level) are within the close proximity of the picnic basket, the level will be complete and the next level will begin.
Barriers
Barriers prevent the player from continuing in the level and will have to be broken by using the armadillo movement when it has gained enough speed (combinations not involving the octopus will allow the armadillo to break barriers as well).
Rewards:
The ability to play the next level
Upon interaction with the picnic basket with all available animals in close proximity, the player is moved to the next level to progress.
Graphics and Styling:
Picnic Party Pals' art style will be light to enforce the story of three animals trying to get to a picnic together. The ground will be a base brownish color while every other element will have a noticeably bright color such that it stands out including all the animals, the water, various unique terrains as well as the background so that the player can take in all these elements without being distracted by all the basic ground surface elements in the game. The animals will be drawn in a cartoonish manner in a way where they seem less like their real-life counterparts and more friendly. Below are some of the concept art for the animals and some of their combinations as well as concept art for the title screen.
Music and Sound Effects:
Picnic Party Pals' music and sound effects will be of a lighter nature considering there are no serious elements in the game nor are there any elements that require music of a more dramatic nature. Similar to Super Mario the music will be dynamic in the sense that each animal will have a specific component of the track and when joined together the components will also join together, just like how Yoshi has the drum components of the track and when Mario joins with Yoshi, the drum components add to the overall main music. There is a base melody (the piano) that plays no matter what combination of characters (with their respective musical components) are active
Game audience:
I believe that Picnic Party Pals will appeal to a more casual audience (and not hardcore gamers). The gameplay is very easy to understand and introduces the player to new things in a manageable way. However as the player progresses, the player's skill grows along with the game, which allows the player to utilize what they already know to complete more complex levels. In Picnic Party Pals, the gameplay is kept simple so that it's accessible to all and to increase the player challenge, the levels are designed as interesting puzzles that encourage the player to utilize their knowledge of each animal and how they interact with each other when joined in order to complete the level. interesting puzzles coupled with the fact that there is no way the player can essentially "fail" a level and get a game over of some sort further mitigates the frustration of the casual player and encourages them to work their way towards completing the level and reaching the picnic basket with all available animals. In terms of further increasing the reach Picnic Party Pals has on its audience, I believe it's important that a game has familiar elements to make it easy for players to familiarize themselves with the game and understand it but also have new elements that help distinguish the game from existing games in the same genre. In the case of Picnic Part Pals, there are familiar concepts of movement that are easy for a player to understand with the new concept of joining different animals and their abilities together to provide new and interesting gameplay without confusing the player with complex concepts.
Level Design:
The first level can be shown below in its entirety.
The first level starts the player off with the octopus and we immediately place it into the water to let the player know that the octopus can move around freely in that water. As we progress in the level there are raised walls to teach the player that the octopus can climb those walls to progress further. Lastly there is a ledge before the next pool of water where the player will learn that the octopus won't simply fall off the ledge but instead stick to the corner of the ledge where the player can choose to fall off from the sides or simply move down the wall into the water.
The rest of the level involves teaching the player about a special icy terrain, which the octopus can't climb on but can walk on. There is one piece of ice terrain in the water as well to teach them about how to use the octopus to jump out of the water and over the icy terrain.
The Second Level can be shown in its entirety here:
The second level introduces the armadillo which behaves a little differently from the octopus. When the Armadillo gains enough speed either horizontally or vertically he can break through these barriers to progress the level. We started off the level introducing the player to this concept by placing a barrier on level ground and a barrier below to show that these barriers can break with enough speed. Just in case the player misses the idea that they can break barriers if they are fast enough, a third barrier is then placed on the ground below really close to where the armadillo would fall so that when the player moves the armadillo into the wall with a low speed it won't break. There is enough space on the left of that third barrier for the armadillo to roll there and then build up speed to continue.
This next section of the level introduces the join ability where you can join with the octopus. The wall is a barrier to teach players that the armadillo can't climb up them but the octopus can join with the armadillo and they both can climb up it together.
This next section of the level is after the octopus and the armadillo have joined together. The player will learn that the octopus can swim with the armadillo once they reach to the water section. A barrier in the water will let the player know that they have to use the armadillo and drop into the barrier from a high place (similar to the beginning of the level). If the armadillo drops while joined with the octopus, then the water will break their fall and the barrier will not break. At that point the player will learn that they can swim underwater while joined with the armadillo. After detaching the armadillo from the octopus and breaking the barrier, the player can progress. The armadillo in water will actually be immobile and the player will learn that if they switch to it but they can use the octopus to join with the armadillo and bring it out of the water to progress to the next part of the level.
For this section the player will learn that the octopus' ability to stick to the ledge is prioritized over the armadillo's speed and will not be able to speed off that ledge to cross the gap and reach the picnic basket easily. They will have to detach and use the armadillo to make that gap and then break the barrier from the other side so the octopus can pass through and the player can reach the picnic basket with both the armadillo and the octopus.
The Third Level can be shown in its entirety here:
The first part of the level introduces the third animal, the bee. The bee can fly for a limited period of time and that period of time is lower depending on which animal the bee is joined with (taught to the player in later parts of the level). The bee also moves extremely slowly when on the ground making it more worth it to fly around with the bee and manage its flight time than to move it along the ground by itself. This space is for the player to mess with the bee and learn how to use the bee.
This section took quite a bit of time to design. We wanted to prevent a fail state for this game and the introduction of the bee made it really hard to prevent fail states because the bee can join with any animal and just fly them to sections where the player would get stuck and can't progress no matter what (or fly the armadillo or itself to the water). In order to fix that problem we simply placed a waterway from the bottom where the octopus is placed to the ledge right above the barrier in the water so that no matter what happens the octopus can save the other two animals if they happen to get stuck in the water. To progress in this section, the player has to use the bee and join with the octopus to fly to the armadillo. the green patches on the wood can't be climbed by the octopus so the bee has to fly the octopus to the brown wood for the octopus to stick onto it (and reset the bee's flight time). After reaching the armadillo the player has to drop the armadillo from a great height (either using the bee or the octopus) to break the barrier and then have the octopus swim with the armadillo to the top where they have to break the top barrier to let the bee through. When the barrier under the water is broken the player may try to have the octopus swim with the bee (after moving the armadillo to the top of the wood wall. At that point they will learn that the octopus can't swim underwater while joined with the bee.
This next section is a more advanced version of what was shown in Level 1. Since all three animals have to progress to the next part of the level, the player has to work with the three animals (joining and detaching them) to make it to the next section of the level. There are multiple ways to progress in this section so the feeling of combination variety will be very apparent to the player especially with the introduction of the bee in this level.
This next section is pretty involved. All elements of the game are taught to the player at this point so we wanted to introduce a section of the level where the player has to understand the abilities of the animals and use those abilities to get all three of them to the picnic. To progress this section, first the player has to break the double barrier by flying the armadillo with the bee to a sufficient height to break them. Then the octopus has to move the armadillo underwater to the top where the higher barrier is and have the armadillo break it (where the armadillo will then fall because it is moving too fast). The armadillo can then make its way to the water below and wait for the octopus to pick it up again. The top barrier broken on top allows the bee to reach the top where the octopus can join with it and they can cross the water. The bee can fly with the octopus out of the pool of water and onto the half greenery half wood block. After that, the octopus will have to detach from the bee and go and grab the armadillo to bring it to that same ledge. From there, the bee will have to fly the armadillo first to the terrain the picnic basket. Lastly, The bee can't fly back up to the octopus from the picnic basket so it'll have to join with the octopus on the wall opposite the green terrain where the picnic basket is and then fly from the wall to the picnic basket.
