Stream
This was a collaborative effort between myself and Travis Hubbard from ZombieFlame.com. I completed the design and art, and Travis did all of the programming — he was awesome to work with!
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Artist Statement
Stream was created in honor of my grandfather, Frank Gadd Hess, who passed away peacefully the morning of January 28th, 2009.
My grandpa was one hell of a guy. He lived most of his life in a small town nestled in the rural hills of northwest Pennsylvania. He raised four kids and owned his own Culligan water business. He was a Freemason and a Navy veteran. He once told a group of church people that Jesus looked like a hippy. He made fantastic pies and, to this day, I have never eaten a pancake that came close to tasting as good as his.
In 2007, due to his declining health, he moved out to St. Louis, Missouri to be near my family so it would be easier for my mom to take care of him. I will always treasure the time he spent with us in his last few years.
Stream primarily focuses on the memory loss my grandpa suffered from in the final years of his life, and also attempts to preserve the strongest memories I have of him. The different types of memories (for example, the pine tree or barbershop icon) correlate to events or activities I remember most fondly about my grandpa, some of which were mentioned above. The images for each type of memory are not explained in game, which hopefully encourages players to come up with their own definitions for each icon. Using the match-3 mechanic gives the player interesting priorities and contributes to the idea of memories defining who we are as a person. The golden and dark memories abstractly represent moments we experience in our life that are very special or regretful.
I chose to make the setting a stream because it's similar to the river that runs through New Bethlehem, my grandpa's hometown. Water is also used as a metaphor for the passage of time and the cycle of life and death. While this game deals with a sad topic, I did not want the game to come across as mournful or depressing. I purposely chose a cheerful, spirited acoustic guitar track to accompany gameplay.
Creating this game has helped me deal with my grandpa's passing by constantly thinking about his life in a positive way. While I still miss my grandpa, I love him with all my heart and he is in my thoughts daily. Most importantly, I think he would get a kick out of playing Stream.
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Design Document
The player controls an old fisherman who is suffering from age and illness. He stands on a bridge that crosses over a gentle stream. Lost memories from his life float by in the water beneath him. The player must try to save as many memories as possible so that his life experiences aren't forgotten. Saving correlating groups of defining moments from the old man's life is more beneficial than saving individual, more mundane memories.
Goal
Collect memories and score points before the stream runs dry.
Main Screen
Basic Controls
Stream is played with a mouse, which controls the motion of the man and his fishing line, and the spacebar, which controls reeling in the fishing line.
· PC stands on the bridge at the top of the screen.
· As player moves the fishing hook (using the mouse), the old man automatically moves back and forth to follow the hook's x-position on screen.
· The fishing hook does not exactly follow the motion of the mouse, but "lags" a bit, especially if the player moves the mouse quickly.
· The hook also moves more slowly upstream than downstream.
· Player launches the fishing hook by left clicking (hook can only launch if it has been reeled all the way in.) The hook launches towards the location of the mouse cursor.
· When the player moves the hook into a memory, the hook "catches" the memory. The player can then drag the memory around the stream by moving the mouse.
· If the player has a memory on their hook and drags the hook into another memory, they will "link" and form a group. Defining memories (explained below) can be grouped together to form life experiences and score points. Identical memories can be grouped for additional points.
· Grouped memories move a bit slower than individual memories.
· The player can reel in the hook (and anything attached to it) by repeatedly pressing the space bar. This draws the hook upwards on the y-axis of the stream, and when it reaches the bottom of the bridge the player collects any memories attached to the hook. The faster the player hits the space bar, the faster the line reels in. Grouped memories take a bit longer to reel in.
· When the player taps the space bar, the hook should move up 30 pixels.
· For every consecutive time the player taps the space bar, this amount increases by 10 pixels (40 pixels for second tap, 50 for third, etc).
· If the player does not tap the spacebar within one second, this number resets.
· The line must be completely reeled in before the player can launch it again.
· Players can launch/reel in as often as they'd like.
Title Screen
Shows game title, instructions and credits overlaid against the main screen. Clicking anywhere begins the game.
End Screen
Shows the game title and the players score overlaid against the main screen.
· Player can click "Submit Score" to see how they rank in the Stream score database.
· Player can click "Play Again" to start over at the title screen.
Score breakdown
· Score: the points the player scored for collecting memories
· Memories Saved: the amount of memories collected by the player
· Memories Lost: the amount of memories not collected by the player
· Memory Restored: the amount of saved memories divided by the total amount of memories (500), displays as a percentage
Memories
There are 12 different categories of memories which represent events, locations, possessions or people that were present in the old man's life. Memories are spawned at the top of the game screen every few seconds and flow downwards off the edge of the screen.
Golden Memories
Golden memories are very important, positive moments in the old man's life.
· When they spawn in the stream, the memories in the stream move slower.
· Golden memories provide 5 points when collected.
Dark Memories
Dark memories are black spots in the old man's life, such as tragic moments or decisions he is not proud of.
· If the player is moving a memory and it hits a dark memory, both the dark memory and the normal memory will be consumed by this negative area and vanish.
· Dark memories do not add or subtract points from the players score.
Memory Bank
The memory bank (located on the right side of the stream) displays a group of memories that are particularly important in the old man's life. Memories currently shown in the memory bank are called defining moments (or defining memories), and collectively form this important experience.
· Collecting 1 defining memory adds 1 level to that memory only.
· Collecting 2 grouped defining memories will add 2 levels to both memories.
· Collecting all 3 grouped defining memories fills up all 3 levels for all 3 memories, effectively completing the entire experience in one move
· When a defining memory has been completed, the player does not receive any points or bonuses for collecting additional memories of that type. However, these memories can be used to provide bonuses for defining memories that are not yet complete.
· Once all three defining memories have been completed, they vanish and three new defining memories appear in the memory bank.
· Defining memories have a colored border when they appear in the stream so they visually stand out.
More In-Depth Explanation of Collecting Memories
· There is a max of three memories per group.
· Any memory can be joined into a group with another memory, but specific combinations will grant many more points.
· The order the memories are grouped together in does not matter.
If memory types A, B & C are currently in the memory bank...
Collecting only one kind of memory:
A - adds one level to A
AA - adds two levels to A
AAA - adds three levels to A
(same rules apply for B & C)
Collecting two kinds of memories:
AB - adds two levels to A and two to B
AC - adds two levels to A and two to C
BC - adds two levels to B and two to C
AAB - adds three levels to A and two to B
AAC - adds three levels to A and two to C
BBA - adds three levels to B and two to A
CCA - adds three levels to C and two to A
(and so forth; basically the doubled memory gets an extra level)
Collecting all three kinds of memories:
ABC - adds three levels each to A, B & C
If the player combines defining memories with memories NOT shown in the bank (represented by X)...
AX - adds one level to A
AAX - adds two levels to A
ABX - adds one level to A and one to B (the bonus levels are stripped)
Scoring
Collecting memories:
1 normal memory = 1 point
1 defining memory = 2 points
Golden memory = 5 points
Collecting identical normal memories:
Every identical normal memory in a collected group is worth 2 points each.
Completing an experience:
Once the player has filled up all three defining memories to level 3, they are awarded 15 extra points.
End Game
The old man only has a finite number of memories from his life, and once they run out the game ends.
· The stream will gradually speed up as gameplay progresses and dispense memories much more quickly.
· The bar along the left hand side of the screen moves down 4 pixels for every row of memories spawned. This will visually represent the time the player has left in their current game session.
· Once the last memory has vanished from the screen, the game is over and the end game screen appears.
© Gwendolyn Murray 2009