Game Idea – Art Driven Design
October 18th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
Chinese Brush Art / Japanese Sumi-e Art
See linked picture below:
I thought a game involving a river journey would work very nicely with the flowing lines and soft colours in this style of art.
They player plays as a fisherman travelling down the local network of rivers on his bamboo raft. As the player moves along the river, the path behind fades into mist and the path in front gradually appears like it is being drawn with brush strokes.
There are small schools of fish in the water and the player’s goal is catch as many as possible before the day ends. The player is accompanied by his trained cormorants which help him catch the fish.
The player can only do a few actions. Navigate around ont he river (to find schools of fish). Release the cormorants (in order to catch fish). Call the cormorants back (in order to move to a different location).
A few possible challenges:
- Once you disturb the fish they run away, so to get the best catch you should position yourself in a way to corner the fish against the river banks and herd they with your cormorants.
- Currents, river reeds, other natural features can also make a difference to one’s strategies. (E.g. Reeds slow your cormorants down and offer hiding places to fish, so it’s best to herd fish into the open before releasing the birds to catch them).
- River demons occasionally appear. They may steal your fish and harm your cormorants or may be benevolent and will direct you to good fishing areas.
Mountains and rivers
