Obsessive-Compulsive Penguin Simulator

My brother (and Flashbang coworker) Adam and I made this simple little game in about 5 days, for TIGSource's Video Game Name Generator Contest. It was primarily Adam on art, me on programming. A bit of a warning -- it probably won't run well on integrated graphics cards -- the scene is pushing around 800k triangles (way more than necessary but clearly the whole project has a rather irreverent spirit).



Obsessive Compulsive Penguin Simulator

 

In the crowded field of obsessive compulsive penguin simulators (I swear, there are almost as many as WWII shooters!), I must say this stands out as one of the cutest.

--Eric

 

How does the game function?

 

Hey, very cute indeed! How did you manage to get the penguin to animate in such a bendy, rubbery, manner?

Unfortunately I had to stop playing because it wasn't becoming more challenging, and was becoming boring. I got to around 35000 points IIRC. I think the controls could be tighter, and I think it would be better if the game ended sooner (perhaps put a 3-minute time limit on it).

Otherwise, great work and well done!

 

Yeah, I stopped at 47,770 because I have to leave soon, but I thought it was brilliant. ;P Good job!

 

This game is freakin' awesome! I think it needs a name change though. I'm rather fond of "March of the OCD Penguin"

 

haha - nice work : )

great animation on the penguins, i agree eventually the gameplay needs some more variety though.

 

Hi Dock,

Basically I had a ring of transforms around the waist to which the penguin was skinned and I just animated them procedurally. If I translate his head up, the transforms all all move inward; if I translate his head down, they all move outward. That simulates a sort of squash and stretch effect.

 

It's almost therapeutic.

 

this game is freakin' cool...

 

I'm with Aras, what controls the obsessive/compulsive gauge? Cute graphics, nice and simple game play, just clue me in on that gauge and I'm solid.

Nice work!

 

Watch the gauge as you play the game. Wouldn't it be nice if it just stayed right in the middle...just perfectly even?

 

woaaaa... soo cute,
i love the cute little fella, the white penguin one

 

Yes, but what causes it to go more obsessive, or more compulsive? Sorry, but I didn't sort that out right away and haven't yet gone back to give it another go...

 

Basically as more drifts pile up the meter goes up. Adam had some sort of crazy explanation for this -- something about the drifts being what you're obsessed about so they increase your obsession, and stomping them being your compulsion. I trust his expertise on this subject.

So I'll spoil the joke since I assume anyone who's going to play it has done so. I would describe it as a game in only the loosest sense. The idea is that there are some rewards for doing OCD things -- stomping on a drift gives points and plays a cute animation, keeping the meter precisely centered tells you that you've got "Max Multiplier!" etc. The rub is that the game doesn't end. We wanted the player to slowly realize this and then notice that it's only their own obsessive-compulsive tendencies that have kept them playing.

It seems to have worked to an extent, though perhaps not as well as we'd have liked. Were we to do it over again, I think I'd approach the design a little bit differently -- pick a behavior that I want the player to exhibit (stomping the drifts flat) and design all the feedback to encourage that. The meter in particular muddles this in the current incarnation. As it stands it's a little rough since we were bound by the compo deadline and didn't want to spend a ton of time on it.

 

I tried to socialize the penguin, but during his waddle toward one of the foreground penguins he fell through the ice. Now the drifts are piling up and all the other penguins don't care! Please fix this bug! The penguins need our help. We must direct them!