Exercise 6.6: It is time to brainstorm your own idea. Get a potential team together—either in class or a group of friends who are interested in working on a game with you. If you cannot get a group together, do it on your own. As you did in Exercise 6.4, in the blue-sky brainstorm, state an interesting challenge for your game, set up a whiteboard or a sheet of butcher paper, and use the techniques previously discussed to generate 100 ideas related to your challenge in 60 minutes. This might sound like a lot, but if you can keep the energy level up, you can do it!

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To complete this exercise, our group met through Google Hangouts to hash out our ideas for the game we will be creating for our final project. Although we had some initial ideas to start with, we needed a serious brainstorming session to begin to develop them. Fullerton offers some creative methods for brainstorming. As recommended, we began by identifying a challenge and then followed her shout it out, stream of consciousness, and research strategies to generate and work through our ideas (Fullerton, 2014, p. 179-180). Throughout this process we made a point of honoring all ideas and had a lot of fun. 

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Our Challenge: How do we create a game that balances authenticity with game play?

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1. Use Unity as our platform

2. Will we purchase assets or design/create our own images?

3. Will we add music?

4. Historically accurate story line

5. Story boarding our timeline 

6. Use Storyboarder from wunderunit.https://wonderunit.com/about/

7. Researching architecture

8. Having puzzles and challenges at different levels

9. Focusing in on a certain time in Ancient Egyptian History

10. Focus on a character from ancient times

11. Avoid duplicating existing stories such as Assassin Creed and Pharaohs 

12. Time travel

13. Have 3 levels 

14. Do we design this as 3D?

15. Is 2D more manageable? 

16. What should our characters look like?

17. Should we use existing assets for characters?

18. Are there female models of characters other than Cleopatra?

19. Sprite models created?

20. How will Senenmut evolve in terms of what she looks like

21. Will we portray her as a superhero/muscular/archetype?

22. What will she be wearing as her roles evolve?

23. How do we work collaboratively on game development?

24. Level One is our invitation to play: 

25. A young tourist visiting Temple of Hatshepsut

26. How do we tie our tourists and Senenmut together?

27. What will be the link?

28. She is also 12, an Egyptian enthusiast 

29. Studying Ancient Egypt in school

30. Wanders away from the group (school trip)

31. Her parents are archaeologist - wanders away from her parents

32. Climbs steps of the temple 

33. Enters an archway as is transformed into our character: Senenmut 

34. Alice in wonderland down the rabbit hole

35. Based on a historical figure - Senenmut, (https://www.elladesigngroup.com/blog2/pharaoh-hatshepsut)

36. Born to literate parents

37. Senenmut is sold to Hatshepsut family/household

38. She works as a slave performing task for masters.

39. How do we reveal our character is literate?

40. Has been educated by her family

41. She is an only child

42. Father is a farmer

43. Had to sell her due to hardship

44. She is a young teenager - she’s 12

45. What challenge/puzzle reveals this?

46. Hieroglyphs translation

47. She comes across a papyrus scroll that has info on it about a trade debacle

48. She learns about an Invasion attempt 

49. Trojan horse type of thing

50. Trade ship full of soldiers

51. She sneaks off to the port 

52. Rogue like movements of this character

53. To try and stop something from happening

54. She records the events of the challenge for Hatshepsut as proof 

55. Incorporating educational content with entertaining tasks

56. Finding game assets that reflect the period

57. Using Hatshepsut temple as the backbone to the game

58. Creating a plot that is player-centered

59. Female centered spinning the cast system on its head 

60. Senenmut, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senenmut )

61. How to move a character from challenge to challenge

62. Map-based expanded past valley of the kings 

63. Level 2 - enter archway in the castle as a portal to take her to a seaport

64. She proves her talents by thwarting the debacle

65. Her social status evolves

66. She moves into society as a merchant trader

67. Leads the merchant traders

68. End of level 2 she enters archway back to the temple

69. Enters role as a noble person

70. In level three she has to solve a mystery

71. Senenmut discovers a plot to kill Hatshepsut

72. She works hard to prevent this

73. Should we incorporate Hatshepsut being mummified as the end of the game

74. Based on history, Hatshepsut tomb contained two mummies - do we incorporate it

75. Do we add that she (Hatshepsut)  was poisoned through skin lotion

76. Who poisoned her?

77. Should we incorporate her (Senenmut) architectural achievement

78. Incorporate her importance in the royal court (see wiki site)

79. Senenmut build her tomb temple

80. Add this to level two 

81. What challenges/obstacles can we add around the building of the tomb?

82. when ‘s she’s building tomb does she hear of an assassination attempt?

83. Does she have environmental obstacles: scorpions, quick sand

84. How is this game won

85. Do we have her mummified with ?

86. Do we have her battle Hatshepsut’s son?

87. Does Senenmut become pharaoh?

88. Does it end with a ceremonial passing of the torch to the son with the burial

89. This could be the final task

90. Preparing the son

91. Her final wish is for son to become pharaoh

92. This leaves it open for another game 

93. At the end it comes back to the tourist

94. Enter another arch and cuts to the son dressed as Pharaoh

95. Opens to a sequel

96. Flush out one level?

97. The story line for multiple levels with concept art of the levels. 

98. We build the level with the most action

99. Which level will we develop

100. Should we build level 2 where she’s thwarting the attack

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References

Fullerton, T. (2014). Game design workshop: A playcentric approach to creating innovative games, CRC Press. NY: Taylor & Francis (CRS Press). Retrieved from NY: Taylor & Francis. Retrieved from https://www-taylorfrancis-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/books/9781315104300