Engage in a fluffy frenzy of photonic warfare.
Can you survive?
Battle your friends online in this fast-paced top-down shooter. You star as an adorable penguin who is dropped into an arena with only a laser gun as protection. Who will emerge victorious?
Laser Penguins is based off our team’s mutual love of laser tag. Our game balances the lighthearted quality of pudgy penguins with the high adrenaline feel of a top-down shooter. From icy tundras to candy kingdoms, our world was built with creativity in mind, offering a multitude of zany characters and immersive arenas where players can test their skills.
In Laser Penguins, players will
- Play exhilarating matches of 2 to 4 players over a LAN connection
- Enjoy the fast, fluid movement of marble-style movement controls
- Plan shots that bounce off the reflective ice walls, to target your foes from around corners
- Pick your favorite out of 4 playable characters
- Experience the unique challenges present in each of the 3 original maps
- Choose to play either every-penguin-for-themself or team game modes
- Advance your skills in the bonus single-player target practice mode
Board Game
Turns
Select a random player to go first. Players’ turns proceed in a clockwise direction from this player.
Setup and Objective
Each player starts out with a penguin represented by 2 tiles, each of which denotes a single “life” for that player. Players starting positions are chosen by each player before beginning the game. Each time players are hit by a laser shot, they lose a life and every time a player scores a hit, that player gets a point. If a player runs out of lives at any point during the game, they will respawn on their next turn. The player with the most points once time is up (5 minutes for each game/or the first player to reach 3 points), wins.
Player Actions
Gameplay starts with one player and moves clockwise around the game board. During a player’s turn, they may move three or fewer spaces in any direction. They may also shoot at most one laser shot in any of the eight board directions at any point during their turn. This laser bounces off of any reflective surfaces at the angle of incidence, and can hit other players after bouncing. If it does hit another player, the player who shot the laser rolls a d20 to take a single life from that player. If the player rolls at or above two times the distance that the shot travels to its target, the hit is successful, and they take a life from the target.
Death
When a player runs out of lives, the player is removed from the board and gets to “respawn” by placing the tiles on any board square. The player may not move or shoot on this turn but may be shot at by anyone else starting on the following player’s turn.
Laser Penguins: board design
objectives
Players will have different objectives in different multiplayer game modes, including the following:
- All Deathmatch
Players earn a point for every time they eliminate another player. Each player’s goal is to have the most points after a short time period, at which point the match ends.
- Base Destruction
Players are placed onto one of two teams. Each team has a base which can be destroyed by hitting it with a laser some number of times.
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Mood
- Color and Lighting
Our game should use color to invoke a whimsical atmosphere. Our color design is clear and cheerful. It consists of vibrant characters and environments that harmoniously coexist.
- Atmosphere
When playing Laser Penguins, players will be focused on other avatars and power ups. The environment shouldn’t distract the player from the main objective. The examples above show unobtrusive environments which are still visually interesting. Our game’s backgrounds and other assets will immerse the players in the thematic design of that level.
Characters
We are aiming for an aesthetic that can be described as cute and coldblooded. The penguin is one of the most beloved animal characters, appearing in films, animations, and video games. In our game, adorable penguins become soldiers, equipping themselves with high-tech laser weaponry. As a result, in terms of character design we aim to apply a cold blooded soldier style to adorable penguins. The cartoonish penguin will be well equipped as a laser penguin. The game’s environment starts with the Antarctic, in which all element designs like walls and mirrors will resemble an ice world. Eventually, when the penguin starts traveling, more themes like rainforest and desert would be introduced, sticking with a cartoony but competitive style.
Maps
For each environment, we would like to design maps with areas that have unique and interesting qualities. Some spots will be more defensible than others, while others may make the player very vulnerable. In order to reach advantageous spots, the player must pass through difficult areas, so there is always some risk/reward decision that must be made when the player is considering occupying a certain area. Part of gameplay will be discovering which spots are advantageous, and players will use this knowledge to gain the upper hand. Areas like these will be created by having a series of corridors which are more confined combined open areas that are less defensible, and by using our unique mirror mechanic to give players flexibility in where they can shoot.
Laser Penguins: Ice World Theme
Laser Penguins: Candy Kingdom Theme
LEVEL DESIGN
High Level Design Principles
Laser Penguins' gameplay is guided by three primary goals: to be fast paced, easy to pick up, and skill oriented. To accomplish these goals, the team has devised a series of basic building blocks for each map along with some high-level map design principles.
Basic Building Blocks
Because Laser Penguins has simple mechanics which are relatively easy for players to pick up, the primary purpose of the basic building blocks is make the game more skill oriented.
from left to right (1), (2), (3), (4)
The structures pictured above are the basic building blocks which level designers will use to elicit desired player behaviors. In diagrams (1) and (2), pictured in light green is the area in which a penguin’s lasers are able to reach if a player does not utilize bouncing; pictured in dark green is the additional area the penguin's lasers can reach if the player does utilize bouncing. These structures will encourage players to use the game’s bouncing mechanic in order to get access to the greater area, allowing for level designers to provide a differentiator between skilled and unskilled players with respect to the game’s bouncing mechanic, and lend an offensive advantage to certain portions of the map.
Diagrams (3) and (4) showcase structures which, rather than allowing for designers to increase the area reachable by a player’s lasers, allow designers to alter the ease with which a player can avoid an incoming laser directed at them. Structure (3) decreases the ease with which a player can dodge an incoming laser, since the attacking player can take advantage of multiple points of attack in quick succession. Structure (4) increases the ease with which a player can dodge an incoming laser, by providing them with the opportunity to quickly reposition behind cover. Used in conjunction, these two basic structures will allow level designers to tune to defensive capabilities of portions of the map as desired.
INTERACTION DESIGN
Player Actions
Players have only two actions in Laser Penguins.
Interactions
Ui Design
Low Fidelity Wireframe
Mid Fidelity
High Fidelity
