My Xbox is out of commission and I'm so burned out on my 534/541 final that I can't even make my brain think about it, so instead I spent the evening making a digital prototype for the casual game I wrote a treatment of earlier this semester, Butterfly Garden: Capture. There was some amount of skepticism that the idea would actually make a workable game, and I figured there's only one way to know for sure. So you can check out the rough prototype here, if you like.
It more-or-less follows the design. To sum up: you're trying to capture a butterfly, which will serve a purpose in a larger game. There are three circles, which form a triangular net. You can manipulate the net by moving your mouse and pushing the circles around the play area. There are nine butterflies, but you're only interested in one of them - the one marked in orange. The butterflies also tend to move away from the mouse cursor, but their movements are largely randomized. Your goal is to separate the butterflies and arrange the net so that it encloses only the orange one. When that condition is met, click the mouse button to capture the butterfly and win the game.
I was afraid that this game would not be playable. So far, it seems to me, that it is both playable and winnable - even winnable with style, to quote Raph Koster. But it's not a whole lot of fun. This is a very early prototype, so more than anything else I'm looking for potential, and I think it might be there. But if you have a chance, give it a look and let me know what you think.
Comments (2)
this was really awesome! i had a hard time just getting the one marked orange and nothing else. it was fun just capturing the orange one (w/o regards to the others being in the net) while making sure the rest just didn't leave the screen.
Posted by Logan Olson![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://interactive.usc.edu/members/sbouchard/nav-commenters.gif)
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November 26, 2008 3:35 PM
Posted on November 26, 2008 15:35
The repulsion-based control is an interesting dynamic - frustrating, but was fun to try to master. Found huge difference in play between track-pad vs. stylus. For some reason, it made me think about a bar I used to go to after I graduated as a grad student (pretty sure it was called Antonio's Nut House) - really, not sure why, but playing the game brought back very old and deep and long forgotten memories akin to how smells can do the same. Maybe it was the similarity between the repulsion-based control and the wobbly - there must be some causality between what my feet are doing and where I am going - walking mechanics I might have had while at the nut house. Not actually joking.
Posted by mbolas![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://interactive.usc.edu/members/sbouchard/nav-commenters.gif)
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November 27, 2008 12:09 AM
Posted on November 27, 2008 00:09