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 Technology
Issues.
Cuckoo
Time! is
designed to be a 2.5 Dimensional platform game that can run on any contemporary
game console, and potentially, a handheld gaming device. The gameplay
and mechanics in Cuckoo Time! are very similiar to other games on the
market, such as Super Smash Brothers or The Incredible Machine.
Many games currently available in the market have a very poor representation
of physics. In their defense, realistic physics in games often make games
less playable or fun. Cuckoo Time!’s approach is to employ
an abstraction of physics in its gameplay where each object in the game
behaves in a simplified manner that clearly illustrates a single principle
of physics. By limiting the complexity of the simulation to ‘ideal’
conditions, this game hopes to address the root of common, basic misconceptions
of physics. Because the clock parts behave according to highly predictable,
repeatable laws, a rapid and intuitive understanding of those laws will
be come a crucial component of devising gameplay strategies and winning
tactics.
Player
Generated Levels
In the mid- 1980s, Lode Runner gained critical and popular acclaim
for shipping with a robust set of level creation tools and players have
been building and trading Lode Runner levels ever since. Cuckoo Time!
continues in the tradition of Lode Runner, giving players the tools to
create their own levels. Players will choose from a set of pre-existing
levers, springs, pulleys, and so on. This will simplify the construction
process, and allow mechanical advantage to be "black - boxed"
as opposed to computed for the design of every part. A component design
tool could be packaged with the game, or made available to players after
release, much as Sims design tools are downloadable from The Sims website.
The player
begins by laying down platforms. The player can also choose from any one
of 75 pre-existing platform placements that ship with the game. We expect
that novice game designers will choose a setting that looks interesting,
and then gradually move on to setting up their own platforms.
The design screen will show a toolbox of tool parts. When a player clicks
on a part, a dialog box pops up. Players can then choose the exact dimensions
of the part that they want via pull down menus (Each part has a set of
pull down menus corresponding to the particular variables for that part,
e.g. spring constant, mass, volume, dimensions). Players
place the objects in the environment, which is arranged in a 3D grid.
Objects "snap" to the grid so as to avoid problems lining up
parts. Lego Alpha Team employs a similar technique.
Multiple
Camera Angles
At any time, players can freely manipulate the camera, or move the camera
among pre-set camera points, which are set every 45 degrees in overhead
positions (much like the camera in Lego Alpha, The Sims, or SimCity 2000.
Multiple camera angles is necessary for
Copyright 2002, MIT.
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