A Kayak for Kyle
Digital Game Design - Physics game / 2021
Team project: responsible for game mechanic design, narrative design, animation, and programming.
A Kayak for Kyle is a humorous and challenging physics game that weaves the player's failures into an evolving and heartwarming story.
Players play as Santa, who is delivering a kayak to a kid, Kyle. Unfortunately, Christmas eve is about to be over. To speed up, Santa decides to sled down the mountain by this kayak! If he fails, he has to wait until next Christmas to try again.
Control
Multiple functions in one button
Press A → Turn left Release → Move forward Press K → Turn right Release → Move forward
We assigned multiple functions to one button. The player holds the A button to turn to the left and the K button to turn to the right , and releases the buttons to move forward.
On the one hand, this design makes this game easy to learn because the players do not need to memorize a bunch of keys. On the other hand, it also makes the control a lot more complicated, because every time the player turns, there will also be a side effect which is "moving forward."
This design makes the player have to master the timing of pressing and releasing buttons, and creates challenging physics gameplay that is easy to learn but hard to master.
Narrative Design
Reveal new stories when failing
In the story, if Santa fails in his mission, he will try again next Christmas, which makes the story move forward while the player replays again and again.
At the beginning of each attempt, players can read the new year’s letter from Kyle to Santa. As the player keeps failing, Kyle will grow up, and the content of his letter will change according to his age. This not only gives players new surprises every time they play but also cultivates the relationship between players and Kyle.
A story about waiting for love
In all, I wrote 74 letters. Through these short letters from Kyle, I tell a story of a man who was waiting for the love of others.
Although we know that it is unlikely that players will replay 74 times to read these letters, this complete backstory gave our team a clear design direction, making the entire game cohere into a more complex creative vision.
Although we know that it is unlikely that players will replay 74 times to read these letters, this complete backstory gave our team a clear design direction, making the entire game cohere into a more complex creative vision.
