Cason Quisenberry - Roomblade

Design Principals

• Satisfying Cleaning: The goal of the game's cleaning system was to feel satisfying to the player. We took inspiration from games like "PowerWash Simulator" and "Vampire Survivors" where the game starts with a seemly impossible task, but the player slowly is able to complete the level. The floor starts with a random generated dirt pattern that covers the entire floor. The enemies also add more dirt onto the ground further covering it. This allows the cleaning mechanic to change the look of the entire level which add a building feeling of accomplishment. The Clean Mode speed boost allows the player to make a large amount of progress very quickly for a rush of dopamine.

• Intense Killing: The satisfying cleaning is juxtapose with the intense killing combat of the dust bunny enemies. We took inspiration from hack and slash games like "Hades" and the combat of "Vampire Survivors" to have a strong connection to our other core principal. The over whelming amount of infinitely spawning bunnies causing an intense feeling for the player to use their weapon to slash them. This causing a need for the Kill Mode mechanic that gives the player then ability to quickly take out enemies in their way.

• Weapon Design: The player can upgrade their weapon through an item shop that is available after playing the levels. This gives the player an inherit goal that helps to encourage them to keep playing the game. Each weapon is designed to be more intense and interesting than the last to keep the player motivated to buy the next one. The starting weapon of the Butter Knife is designed to be boring and has a low damage output to encourage the player to get the next weapon. The Kitchen Knife is simple upgrade with a increase of length and damage. The Katana and Chainsaw both follow this same upgrade principal. The final upgrade, the Glock, is a different combat system that allows for long distance attack to attack the entire screen. The Glock price is designed to need replaying a few of the levels to be able to buy it, and the new Glock system encourages replayability.

• Game Loop: The game loop combine the three concepts to make the game flow together. The player needs to clean the room, but the enemies make more dirt that the player needs to clean which causes the player to need to kill the enemies. Killing the dust bunnies also gives the player Roombux that allows them to buy weapons which allows them to kill enemies quicker. This simple loop achieves the goals of the game to create the desired feeling in the player.