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Kaboom: Feathered Chicken

Platform:
PC
Duration:
two days
Team Size:
8
Role:
Designer
Software:
Unity
Language:
English
Overview
Kaboom: Feathered Chicken is a 2D arcade two-player competitive party game in which the player's objective is to use controllers to control feathers to tickle the opponent. The players can use "kaboom", reassemble, and terrains to better accomplish their goals. Kaboom: Feathered Chicken is a jam game for 2024's Global Game Jam.
Responsibilities
Some of my responsibilities include:​
  • Design the feather tickle system.
  • Design the "kaboom" system (player disassemble & reassemble system).
  • Communicate art & program needs with art designers & programmers.
Gameplay Video
Design Goal & Reflection
Goal: create a simple & relaxing arcade party game.
Reflection: Players on have two inputs in Kaboom: Feathered Chicken: left joystick and disassemble/assemble button, so the gameplay is easy for anyone to start within 30 seconds. Even though this is a two-player competitive game and players do feel excited and thrilled when they are about to hit each other, we de-emphasized the wining or losing outcome of the competition by using a most-black loading transition after one player wins. Thus, the players mostly focus on the gameplay rather than the outcome, feeling relaxing in most cases.

Goal: create a game that makes people feel funny.
Reflection: we add a lot of unpredictability into the game: 1. it's hard to control the movement of the player because the feather constantly drag the player forward and the player can only change its movement; 2. the players' body components will fly into any direction after they disassembly; 3. the player that is being tickled by the feather will fly away at one direction at a high speed. Together, these unpredictability can cause a lot of funny moments in the game and shape this game silly and fun.

Goal: create thrilling gameplay experiences in the game
Reflection: the pace of the game is quite dynamic and lively in the game, which makes the gameplay experience exciting and thrilling. Thanks to the design that as the two player gets closer, the timescale will be smaller, but once one player is hit, the two players will rapidly pull away, and the timescale will be normal, creating a bullet-time fencing-style combat.
Game Iteration & Design Process
At first, the game comes from one simple concept that two players try to make the other laugh by using the feather they hold to tickle the other. This game mechanic feels solid yet not interesting and funny enough as an arcade party game. After that, the mechanic of disassembly and assembly is added into the game, making the game much funnier because now the players have different strategies on how they use their abilities. Then, the obstacles and levels are added into the game, giving the game more layers of fun. Finally, we notice that the players are having a lot of fun and tons of tensions when they are close to each other yet no one hits the other, so we add the timescale-change mechanic into the game to amplify such tension and fun in these moments.
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