“How are microtransactions designed to be as addicting and profitable as possible?”

“What is the current state of hockey video games?”

“What does art look like that uses your current skill set?”

؜Condensed Abstract

Videogames have often been criticized both by players and non-players alike for their addictive designs and manipulative monetization practices. Nowhere are these disliked monetization and gambling practices more rampant than in sports video games. What once used to be one of the highest regarded genres of games, slowly morphed into one of the most disliked, avoided and insulted of genres. These themes will take form in this project, which is a hockey videogame made in the Godot game engine. It will tackle issues of monetization, gambling, and addiction, all of which heavily affect sports videogames, especially hockey video games. Other sports have had successful alternative indie videogames to challenge big companies, it's time someone gave hockey a shot.

NOT REPRESENTIVE OF FINAL ARTWORK

Background

Monetizating games is a practice that is constantly evolving. Recently, a multitude of different strategies all culminate in a new form of monetization known as microtransactions which are small purchases made online. Instead of buying a game in a single larger purchase and getting all the content with it, now many games are free to play with the option to purchase in-game cosmetics or upgrades with real world money. This new strategy has raised ethical and legal concerns over the “dark patterns” used in this monetization strategy which are “deceptive or manipulative designs on digital platforms that trick users into making unintended choices”.

The officially licensed simulation style sports video games utilize all of these gambling mechanics and tricks in their most popular mode, “ultimate team” (or “my team” for NBA 2K). Players open up loot boxes for a chance to get their favorite real world athletes and then create a team using the ones they've unlocked to compete against other players.

This vacuum of competition has allowed for a new genre of games to flourish. Indie (independent) games, or games developed by an independent studio (a studio not owned by a larger company) have disrupted these monopolies by creating smaller, focused games that appeal to different niches instead of trying to cast a large net to appeal to as many people as possible with big budget games.

Precedent Here

Octopath Traveler

SquareEnix

Retro Bowl

New Star Games

Precedent Here

Expected Outcome | Precedents

Methodology | Research

Precedent Research

؜Contemporary Hockey Games

I will play older hockey games that are highly regarded to see why people love these games so much, and what features I should use for my game

I will play contemporary hockey games to see if there is a gap in the market for an old-school styled hockey game. See what works in current games and what doesn't

Advisors

Quincy Birkenhead -

Production

Ben Ferguson -

Economic Theory Advisor

Mason Cotton -

Game Development

؜Siena Jekel-

Artistic Advisor

Methodology | Creation

Game Design Document

Programming in Godot

؜3D Model to Pixel Art

I will create a text based game design document that will allow me to have a tangible vision for the game. It will consist of the game's technical specs, art style, gameplay mechanics, design pillars, controls, user interface, and user experience.

The programming will be done in GD script, which is the programming language the Godot engine uses.

I will create flow diagrams for my state machines in Figma which will help me guide the code before I make individual parts of it

The art assets will be created using a technique of rendering 3D models into 2D pixel art, allowing me to create 8 different rotations of the same character using a programming language instead of hand drawing each angle.

NOT MY ART

Methodology | Testing

General Testing

Target Audience Testing

Art Critique

I will create the gameplay mechanics in godot, and test them with non-hockey fans to find bugs and polish the game

once the product is in a more polished state, I will do testing with my target audience to refine design aspects of the game.

First, before I commit to an art style I will have the NuVu community and the NHL community give me art critiques. This will allow me to rapidly iterate on my art style before I create a ton of assets for the game.

Final Deliverables

Finished Player Movement

Finished Stick Handling

Finished Art-Style

Refined rink enviorment

Player Animations

؜Sound and visual effects

؜

؜Pack opening animation

؜Thank You!