Virtual Pet / Social Commentary Game Concept

This is going to be a virtual pet and/or social commentary game for the iPhone we want to develop in about 1 - 1.5 months.

We are working within a budget of 1-3k.

This game is designed to be very simple and repetitive but it delivers a message.

It's also approachable from the angle of being a "sim" style game.

The game is done either using photorealistic drawings, 16-bit style artwork, or photographs for the imagrey.

Go with whatever choice you feel is the easiest medium for you to work with.

The point is that this is a game about a man addicted to playing an online MMORPG.

Obviously for legal reasons we never state any game names for the MMORPG he is playing, instead we present it as a generic fantasy game.

We only see bits of the screen, as it's usually obscured by the back of his head as he sits in his chair.

We design the guy sitting in the chair to have long straggly hair and wear a T shirt most of the time.

He sits in his chair and shifts about going about differint modes. The animations are somewhat stiff, this is OK, it let's us
transition him better from being happy to disguntled, to depressed.

He's happiest when he's constanlty had his "fix" of playing the game, which is represented by a daunting yellow bar on the right side of the screen.
At the top, however, we see a calendar with his funds. He constantly loses money for food each day (about 10 dollars a day) and he also has to pay 20 dollars a month for his subscirption fee to the game he is playing.

The calendar doesnt need to present years, just the day and month.

Every 6 months a huge game update comes out which requires you to pay 50 dollars to pay for it. If he can't afford it his bar starts losing at double speed.

This guy's starting funds is 200 dollars.

You have to try to encourage him to work as a fry cook at a local resturaunt flipping burgers, it's obviously very boring and he gets quickly bored doing so, and as he does so his need for the game will increase therefore his yellow satisfaction bar goes down.

In addition to just needing money and to play the game he also has social obligations, both in-game and outside of the game.

For instance, his In-game guild is occasionally holding guild meetings which he must be playing the game to attend, this, however, can interfere with his work and other events in his life.

We basically need to set up about 20-or-so random events, like a death in the family, or a friend has a break up and wants someone to talk to, etc... All these things can cause massive point losses to the addiction (yellow) meter.

So yeah most of this game is based around timers and stat calculation, but it's also an on-going game, even if the character eventually tries to go cold turkey and quits, he goes on to have a fine life UNTIL the sequel to his favorite game is announced then the whole game starts over again with the 200 dollars and him fully addicted.

Most of these game "Events" occur with text. We may have corresponding images to go along with it. Some will cost money others will effect points, others will cause time to flow faster than expected.

There are only 5 settings in which the game takes place.

1 is the low-end job workplace where he can be a fry cook or, if he keeps it up, get upgraded to working the register.
2 is the high-end desk job where he gets promoted to manager
3 is the main area at his computer desk. We don't have menus when the app starts it just starts with the player right here. A title fades and it begins.
4 is bed. Its next to his computer, but it basically shifts the camera a bit.
5 is his living room. Sometimes he has friends over to watch a movie. But he may often leave them in favor of playing the game by himself while they sit in his living room and watch a movie.

We also have relationships which can occur with a red bar. These can either be in-game or in real life. And they can switch from being in-game to being in real-life if certain events are triggered.

Aside from the things mentioned here there is not much else.

I will provide a more fleshed out point-based technical write up as we continue to develop this game.

I am also willing to lend my services to you or your company as a graphic designer to help save some time taken with developing menu art and graphics.

I'll try to use 2 differint sets of menus to refer to real-life events and in-game events happening to our "character" who is a virtual pet.

You never see the protagonists's face, only the back of his head, if he works the register his face is obscured.

The point of the game is to be a social commentary on many MMORPGs having carrot-dangling techniques which can sometimes lead to people developing compuslive disorders related to computer / game overuse.

I should point out I'm a psychotherapist which is partly why I'm interested in making this game to not only get the word of compulsive game overuse out there but to also allow gamers a chance to, theraputically, view themselves in the role of the character and see how playing an MMORPG constantly can influence and effect their lives.

If you are realistically interested in working on this project please to not hesitate to contact me at any time.

I'm reachable at i.boswell@gmail.com   or you can respond to this taskcity message.

~ Ian B.
~ Motion 9 Studios