Hokay, so...
We have this idea for a game.
The name of that game idea is: ~*~*~! C o l o r F u s i o n !~*~*~
(Here's a banner for it)
"Okay cool!" you might be saying. You also might be wondering "Well what is it?" Fantastic question! Well you better run for cover because I'm about to drop a bomb on you! (Figuratively speaking, of course...)
Color Fusion is a ...
- 3 player co-operative
- puzzle platformer
- adventure
"Cool! Sounds neato! Tell me more!!"
Okay. We're going to release it on this platform:
And make it using this:
Oh, by the way, it's 2-dimensional.
"Sweet!! Who is making this amazing game!?!?"
Our team is as follows:
- Will Gallagher
- Artist
- Webmaster
- Sound effects
- Matt Burroughs
- Programmer
- Level Design
- David Noonan
- Programmer
- Business Management
"How did you guys think of this!?!"
Well, despite looking a lot like LBP, that game did not influence the design of Color Fusion. However, two other games did.
- Cid the Chameleon
- Formerly created by Will as a student project.
- Made use of colored platforms as the primary game mechanic.
- Inspired the color-coded collision we implement in Color Fusion.
- Braid
- The painterly artistic feel in Braid partially inspired the art direction for Color Fusion.
- For example: scanning in actual finger paintings as background pieces instead of trying to digital create them.
- Here's a screenshot for reference:
"So how does this game work, exactly?"
Well, the players exist as three differently colored blobs of paint that live in an expansive canvas world.
You play as these three little dudes!
Pretty similarly to any other puzzle platformer, really. Players jump around and attempt to progress through a level by solves puzzles. However, in our game, the color of an object is of utmost importance. Players can only interact with objects of their own color. Let me illustrate.
If you were the red player and attempted to jump through a blue platform, you'd fall straight through it. But if you were the red player and attempted to jump on a red platform, you'd have no problem and land just fine. These "rules of color" allow us to craft very interesting platforming situations.
Color moves beyond just collision, though. All of the three primary colors (Red, Yellow, Blue) of which the players control have access to specific emotions which commonly correlate to that color. The players can wield these emotions as special abilities to further their goals. To make a simple example out of a long-winded explanation, if you're the red player you can get really angry (because red = anger) and use your rage to crush opponents. Get it now?
But wait, it gets even cooler. Remember the "fusion" part of the title? Well, that's not there just for kicks and giggles. Players can fuse together to form different colors, gaining access to new collision options and emotional abilities. I'll pause to give you a moment to pick your jaw back up.
(Green is sick)
Okay moving on.
"So does this shindig have a story associated with it?"
Short answer: kind of.
We are still developing the story into something that suitably fits the theme and feel of the game. As it currently stands, the story is essentially that the blobs want to fully explore the world that they live in. Just for fun. That's about it.
Like I said, we're still working on that.
"This all seems pretty swell, but why should I invest my hard-earned dollars into this game?"
A few reasons.
- Not many 3 player co-op games out there.
- Interesting niche with few close competitors.
- Very heavy focus on cooperation, promotes teamwork.
- Has potential as a fun teaching tool.
- Captivating artistic style.
- Use of real finger paintings and heavily stylized graphics.
- Also, sweet music to compliment the visual art.
That's about it! Please feel free to leave comments telling us what you think about the game or how we could improve it!
Thanks for stopping by!
- The Maniacal Crew