Trans-Harmony
Context
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Trans-Harmony is a collaboration between ESMA Rennes (formerly ETPA) and the Trans Musicales which is a music festival.
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The aim of the festival organizers was to explore the potential of mobile video games as a media for raising the attractivity of the festival.
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Our school's guidelines were as follows:
In groups of around 8 students, design a game concept in one week, then, two months later, produce a prototype in another week.
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We were allowed to visit the festival and interact with the organizers to better understand the ins and outs of the event.
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The first concept
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After talking to the organizers and taking part in the festival, our group wanted to illustrate the work put in by the organizers to put on this festival.
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Indeed, we were impressed by the work the organizers had done in terms of organization and management.
We therefore proposed a project focusing on strategy and management.
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Pitch:
Trans-Harmony is a mobile game where you play the role of a Trans Musicales organizer. The aim is to give players a taste of what they might see and hear on their way to the festival.
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In a Top-Down view with 3D Low-Poly graphics, the player is presented with a random selection of several bands, and must choose 4 of them to fill the 4 festival halls via drag and drop.
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There are 4 different audiences (1 per room), each with different tastes and generating points. A music group has an impact on the audience in its room, but also on those in adjacent rooms
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Feedback on the concept:
At the end of the first week, we had to present our concept. Our managers pointed out several problems with our game.
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We had put a lot of emphasis on strategy and management, which unfortunately made the concept slow.
The player would have had to think long and hard about the interactions between the different rooms before making a decision, and this would have immediately put an end to the game, either positively or negatively.
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The time spent interacting with the game would have been very short, as opposed to thinking about it, and that wasn't a very attractive selling point: a game where you have to think long and hard for a very short period of satisfaction.
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In the end, our game looked more like a "management application" than a "game".
We were so intent on representing the work of the organizers that we almost forgot that our aim was to create a GAME.
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Adjust concept
Our aim was to integrate more interactivity into our concept, while reducing the strategic aspect, so as to allow the player to take less of the headache and simply discover the Trans Musicales festival through a game.
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To do this, we've abandoned the strategic component of the original concept in favor of more reactivity.
We decided to increase the number of player interactions, even if they didn't become more complex, in order to make the game more dynamic.
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Although the player must still use the "Drag and Drop" function to interact with the game, the choices to be made have been simplified.
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Instead of deciding which is the best group for the best room, the rooms "randomly" display an item (e.g. Micro) that they need, and the player must select the corresponding item from a list, then "drag and drop" it to the room in question.
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We've kept the principle of 4 rooms, which represent the festival well, but we've abandoned the idea of one room having an impact on the adjacent room, as this would have meant a lot of combinations to anticipate, and was no longer in keeping with the new concept.
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To ensure viable balancing and a consistent progression curve, we recorded and processed important game variables in a spreadsheet.
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These variables include the time of a game, the number of requests a room can make during a game, the time between two requests, the number of objects available to the player, the player's reaction time, and many more.
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New pitch:
Trans-Harmony is a mobile game where you play the role of a Trans Musicales organizer. The aim is to give players a taste of what they might see and hear on their way to the festival.
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The game features a Top-Down view with 3D Low-Poly graphics.
The player will have to help the 4 festival venues run their concerts smoothly. To do so, he'll have to supply them with the necessary equipment within the allotted time.
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Result:
We were able to produce the prototype on schedule, and the partnership fulfilled its expectations, as the following year the Trans Musicales festival renewed its partnership with the school.
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