Bombargument

Game Identity/Mantra:

Journalism-themed bullet-hell game with a mixture of arcade and map application visual style.

Design Pillars:

Frustrated. Overwhelmed. Determined.

Genre/Story/Mechanics Summary:

The theme tries to explore the frustration and even danger journalists (but also regular people) face every day due to misinformation and perceived anonymity. As the game progresses and the years pass, the situation gets worse and worse, which acts as a cautionary tale and tries to motivate the player to take a stance. The rapid difficulty spikes serve to give the player an analogous sense of frustration and danger.

Features:

Words used as hazards. Simple, skill-focused gameplay. A trackable “score” (the level the player loses at).

Interface:

All the players needs is a standard mouse and keyboard. The controls only use the arrow keys and the Escape key for an early exit. Since the mouse is mainly used for menu navigation, a trackpad is perfectly accounted for.

Art Style: 

The retro arcade visuals lull the player into a false sense of security and amplify the sense of it being a game, while the map visuals serve to show a certain root in reality to it.

Music/Sound:

The menu music serves to amplify a safe, happy mood. The game music with its lowering pitch evokes dread and stress, later depression. The silence of the game over screen adds a certain gravity to the loss, letting the player speculate what that means for the character.

Gameplay:

If itch.io blocks the video, it's because it doesn't allow SharedArrayBuffer with YT videos so here's link: Youtube Video