Monday, September 15, 2014

The concept behind WoE - War of Elements

WoE - War of Elements is our contribution for the js13kGames competition 2014.


It's a multiplayer game you can play with your mobile phone. It's designed for up to 4 players. The goal of the game is to "shoot" the green circles. The first player to 10 hits will win the game.


But you will soon recognize when you go over to the js13k website and try to play our game that's it not a normal mobile multiplayer game. Because you can't play it alone. That's not that unusual for a multiplayer game you will say. But with WoE it's different.


WoE is meant as a multiplayer game you should play with gamers sitting next to you. Because your mobile phone is just a controller  and all the user interaction is happening on one screen. This concept isn't new either, it's what classic console games stand for.


But for WoE you don't need a console. All you need is a (big) screen and friends with smartphones. That's it. Of cource your mobile phone and the desktop should be both connected to the internet and your browser in use shouldn’t be that old. But for most gamers around that shouldn’t be a problem.


So the concept covers the following things:


  1. mobile game because you need your mobile phone
  2. social multiplayer game because all gamers should be together in one place
  3. board game because all players group around one screen (board)
  4. portable console game because the browser is the console and so you can play it everywhere you have a browser installed (so it's “portable” but you don't need to carry it with you)
  5. use of controllers to control the action on screen (since the most people carry around their phones with them anyway, no extra preparation is needed)


WoE is just a prototype. And that is true in at least two ways. 1. The game is a prototype, so it looks like one and sometimes it will feel like one. And 2. The concept is a prototype, so we can't describe it appropriately yet.

But we feel this way of playing could be a new way to look at (mobile) (multiplayer) (console) games.