This week I considered ideas for my level. In level design, I created a puzzle that was very kismet intensive. This time I'll be making a level that is very navigation intensive. The whole point of this is going to be that you have to find a hamster who stole your food. So you're not only going to have to navigate a maze but you'll also have to find a way to open the passage to the maze up.

I have a map of the maze that you'll be navigating in the hamster cage but I'm also considering going even bigger and creating a whole room for the hamster cage to be in. I want to take you outside of the hamster cage and have to run around the room after the theif hamster. I like the idea of running around a room from a different perspective. Seeing a hamster's view of everything would be interesting and whilst the whole point behind running around this room would to be to find the other hamster I think it would be a visually enjoyable part of the level.

The Pitch

The game I'm making is going to be named Nom Nom Nom, which is an appropriate title for the content of the game. It's meant to have a target audience of 17-27 but I think it could be an all-around fun game for all ages from young to old.

My inspiration for the game has been hamsters and their cute and cooky ways. I've always wanted to pursue the idea of a game where you see things from a different angle and see small objects as positively large. I was going to go same sort of alice in worderland type theme at first but I felt that it was not only too complicated but also too cliche. Going off of something that popular is almost guaranteed to disappoint.

Here's the story: You're one of two hamsters in a cage, living a good, fat, fluffy life when, all of a sudden, your food goes missing. And you notice your hamster co-hort also is nowhere to be found. Putting two and two together, you realize he's stolen all of your food and now it is your mission to get it back before he eats it all. Your cage is large and maze-like so it's not just as simple as running through a few tubes to find him, and all too soon you will find this problem has gone much larger than your cage.

I think the motivation here is strong. Hunger mixed with the anger of knowing you've been stolen from is more than enough to motivate anyone to find the hamster that took their food.

When you start the game you're going to probably feel small (because you're a hamster) and, immediately, your lack of food will become apparent. So you're mostly meant to feel angry and be filled with a sense of purpose to exact some sort of revenge. When you finish, you'll feel satisfied that justice was served and you have a full belly.

The art style of this level will be almost cartoony. Every thing will have simple lines and the hamster characters would have very large, shiny eyes. I suppose you could liken the style to Hamtaro. If I could have simple, two or three shade cell shading, that would be ideal.

While you're mood is supposed to be determined or angry enough to go find this hamster, the mood the setting gives you should be delightful and fun. Everything you see should make you interested and feel like you're part of this world. I'm excited to get started on it.