Kraken: A Tale of Revenge is a turn-based Role Playing Game with combat fishing mechanics.
In Kraken players fish for their combat actions rather than selecting them from a menu. This makes combat more engaging by making the act of selection more random.
My goal for this project was to find out what design conventions I could innovate on. I wanted to take two different genres known for their slow pace (RPGs & Fishing) and combine the most action packed parts. This work is still in progress.
Responsibilities Overview
Mechanics Design: Prototyped, playtested, and iterated mechanics with the intention to innovate the Role Playing Game genre
Narrative Design: Crafted a story that both compliments the mechanics and challenges typical RPG narratives
Role: Solo Project
Duration: 12/2022 - 04/2023 (4 months)
Genre: Role Playing/ Fishing
Tools Used: Unity, C#, Draw.io, Confluence
#Read More Below#
Mechanics Design
This project was initially part of a WarioWare style concept where different game genres would be adapted into fishing games. The RPG minigame stood out above the rest, so it was expanded upon.
When players go to select an action, a hook is cast down into a vertical “pool” containing all their possible actions. Each action is represented by a fish with the action name on it. The first action fish the hook collides with is the one the player will use. Stronger actions are deeper in the pool, incentivizing players to pay attention when selecting an action.
This project is still in the prototype phase. In the future systems such as inventory management and exploration will be implemented to round out the experience. In addition there will be a skill management system that involves raising the fish in the action pool. Players can feed the fish different buffing items and have them mate to create new actions. For instance a player can have a fire fish mate with another to create a stronger fire attack, or with a defense fish to create a move that hurts enemies that attack. The aim here is to innovate on other existing RPG systems
Narrative Design
The story for Kraken had to challenge RPG conventions just as much as the mechanics. The hero is older, his motivations are different, and his past connects with the combat mechanics.The most interesting challenge was the overall message of the game. During development the main narrative lacked the strong and poignant moral seen in the RPGs that inspired it. I took classes in Oceanography for inspiration and to help with my writer’s block. This research proved invaluable for the project with 2 key takeaways:
You can’t make a game about ocean life without acknowledging pollution and its effects
My enemy designs needed more inspiration from real deep-sea creatures
This experience led to better designs like the Steel Beam Sea Bream. This enemy is the boss of a sunken construction site, combining man-made items and a symbiotic relationship with small minions to create more interesting mechanics.
Richard M. Pequod lives as a fisherman and single father with his daughter on a peaceful island. One day the Kraken suddenly rampages through the island, destroying everything that Richard knew and killing his daughter(?). Decades later Richard is haunted by the guilt of not saving his daughter which takes the form of her ghost. He wanders aimlessly as a fisherman until being dragged into a mild conflict that has larger repercussions.
Summary
Learnings
Kraken: A Tale of Revenge was my first longform video game team project. My directorial inexperience led to inefficient pipelines and few implemented assets. I learned first hand how important a solid asset pipeline is for full-scale production.
