Say hello to our main character(s). The player will have the ability to chosse between a male and a female main protagonist. This should help players identify with the character more easily.
Travel through time and space and test your knowledge of the history and principles of democracy. Help adventurous Lou to keep the time machine whole and find a way back home. Demokratia is an intriguing mix of adventure, puzzle and skill game elements.
For the analysis we looked at the jump and run game Jetpack Joyride, the point and click games Questionaut and Samorost, and the strategy game Democracy 3.
Jetpack Joyride
“Join Barry, a struggling gramophone salesman, as he breaks into a secret laboratory and commandeers experimental jetpacks. Strap on a bullet-powered jetpack to dodge lasers, electric fields and all the missiles that come your way.” – Halfbrick Studios
Jetpack Joyride is a mobile side-scrolling endless runner/action game produced by the Australian company Halfbrick Studios. The game was released in 2011 and is available for Android, IOS and Playstation.
The protagonist Barry Steakfries steals a Jetpack from a top-secret laboratory. Since it is an endless game the goal is to get as far as possible and earn as much coins as you can. You can put your highscore online to compare with friends. With the coins you earn it is possible to upgrade your outfit to customize Barry. The game uses an intuitive touch system to control the jetpack; when the player presses anywhere on the touchscreen, the jetpack fires and Barry rises. When the player lets go, the jetpack turns off, and Barry falls. The player does not control his speed, only his movement along the vertical axis.
We like this game for its simplicity and challenging gameplay elements.
Questionaut
„Journey through strange worlds and test your knowledge of English, Maths and Science on this magical mission to recover your friend's hat.“ - Amanita Games
In this point-and-click-game the player has to click on the screen to solve visual riddles. If the visual riddles are solved, the player has to answer some knowledge-based questions. When a question is answered correctly, fresh hot air is blown into the protagonists balloon. When the balloon is full, he can travel to the next level.
The levels are created with a love for minute details, it makes the world lively and beautiful to look at. We would like to include some of the point-and-click elements of this game into our game.
Samorost I
„Samorost 1 is short point-and-click adventure game. The goal is to help the little space gnome save his home asteroid from collision with another asteroid by solving diverse puzzles.“ - Amanita Games
This is the second game by Amanita Games on our list. Visually it is not as sophisticated as Questionaut, mainly because it dates back to 2004. However, it was created with the same love for small details. Gameplay is similar – the player has to click at elements on the screen in order to solve visual riddles. The simplicity of the game, and the interaction with the game world is something we will try to incorporate into our game.
Democracy 3
“Ever wanted to run the country? Have you ever wanted to be president? or prime-minister? Convinced you could do a better job of running the country? Let's face it, you could hardly do a worse job than our current political leaders.” – Positech Games
Democracy 3 is a political simulation game, that is about building a functioning system. You can adjust the parameters of your system, such as taxrates, funds, education and many more. The game uses a lot of visualisations and society data. The goal is to build a well functioning system – doesn’t sound like much fun? It is hard to digest, so if you are not really into politics you probably should not play this game. It is the opposite of what we would our game to be like.
