Title
Farmpocalypse
Overview
Farmpocalypse is video game prototype that combines action and strategy. In the game, players control an old farmer on a crusade to stop the arrival of a wicked animal prophecy. Hundreds of hypnotised frogs have abandoned the pond following a demon's call that has to consume ten of them to materialise. Alone in this cause, the farmer realises that his anvil has been blessed with cosmic powers to help him awake the frogs and fight the evil.
Resources
IDE | Visual Studio 2010 |
Language | C# |
Framework / Libraries/ API | Microsoft XNA |
Image Editing | Gimp, Photoshop, Illustrator |
Inspiration
Orcs Must Die! is the primary influence of Farmpocalypse's gameplay. However, both the interaction with the scene and the control of the main character in the bi-dimensional context are inspired in Super Mario World. A simple pixel art style permitted a quick development of the graphical assets. The animation of the main character is based on Super Mario Bros whilst the forest demon's design is a mixture of the eighties alien E.T. and Dragon Ball's villain Babidi.
Gameplay Design
In the original GDD, Farmpocalypse was conceived as a mix of Orcs Must Die! and Super Smash Bros. During the game, possessed farm animals would appear from both sides of the screen and the main character would have to stun and use them as projectiles against other animals. The game was designed for a 4 months development in which the ultimate goal was offering a fun experience to users with a taste for demanding games. The link below is the original level 'walkthrough' concept.
farmpocalypselw.pdf | |
File Size: | 1822 kb |
File Type: |
Development
The game was developed from January 2013 to April 2013 as a final project for the Computer Games Development HND in Edinburgh College. Due to time limitations, some original features like the inclusion of other animals or the improvement of the HUD were dropped. A deeper focus was put on the users experience, achieving a very pleasant 'toy' control and a rewarding combo system that permitted players either obtaining points or recovering lives. Both the main theme and the sound FX were created exclusively for the game by sound engineer, Eric Fernandez-Baca.