Undertaken as part of my 4th year Honours Project, Balloon Balloon is a game designed to create a sense of carefree childish fun; the sensation of floating through air on a balloon. It was a solo project, using XNA and Farseer Physics.
Currently only running on PC, the plan is to produce an X-Box version which will be published on X-Box Community Games.
You can dowload the latest PC version
here.
Use the arrow keys to move left and right, and the space bar to jump.
The concept of Balloon Balloon differs to most of my game designs in that it came from a less scientific or reasoned standpoint. The idea came to me in something of a daydream, and rather than open up a word processor and begin furiously typing out all I could on the idea (as I normally would) I instead sat and drew a picture:
With this picture to inspire me, I began thinking more about the concept behind the game, and the sensations and feelings behind it. Finally opening my word processor, I began writing, but found myself still wrapped up a sort of childish whimsy, and thus didn't write a design straight away - in attempting to encapsulate the concept I was trying to put across, I ended up writing this:
Balloon, Balloon
Can you swing on the moon?
Can you soar with the clouds up on high?
Can you keep up the pace
in this vertical race?
Can you touch all the stars in the sky?
Finally, with this in place, I began to write the original draft of the design document (which you can read
here). Unsurprisingly, this went through some changes during development (see
the working document) but ultimately the end product was what I had imagined at the beginning - a feeling that words simply cannot describe. Looking onward, there is plenty to be added to the game, and I look forward to being able to replace this post with another detailing a more polished version of the game (see
Balloon Ballon Future Document).
Labels: fun, games, independent games development, PC games
