Extended Practice Mini Game Research: Layout, Size and Content

I then moved onto looking into a mini game idea that we could include in our level, this was something that we had already spoken about and thought that it may be a nice idea to include one. We wanted to go with something simple and something that would only take a minute or two to complete and something that would sit within our own levels.

Crash Bandicoot
The first game that I looked at for a mini game inside the main level of a game was the first Crash Bandicoot game. This is a brilliant example of putting in a small 'bonus round' that can be fun but challenging to the player but offer a little something different to the game play dynamics. The fact that this particular level is side wards is what makes the bonus rounds in Crash Bandicoot so unique to the game due to the fact that the rest of it is largely fixed to the forward and backward axis, with only a small bit of side to side movement.

What seems to work so well for the Crash mini game is the different scenario it puts the player in, you have to try and break all of the boxes, if you are into getting that 100% completion, but also you don't have to worry about dying, but you can't go back if you do, unless you start the whole level again, something which works very well.

Spyro
I then wanted to look back at the Spyro series once again but this time for the mini games. I started by looking at the first game as this for me has been a major influence for me so far throughout this project but the only real mini games that feature are the flight levels. In themselves they are fun but can be quite annoying for the player who just wants to charge around everywhere, and also it's never really explained how he can fly all of a sudden when he can only glide in the rest of the game. But I digress, the point of the mini game is meant to be something different from the rest of the game which is does provide and it also gives you a timer, meaning that you have to complete it as fast as possible, something exiting for the player to try and do.

I then moved onto looking at the third Spyro game, Year of the Dragon as this was the major game which introduced fully playing mini games throughout the course of the game and introduced them whilst you where in the middle of a level. You can find them through black portals that are located in each level and most of the time it involves Spyro himself doing something ridiculous like skateboarding to catch lizards.

But this also introduced new mechanics that sometimes worked for the game but also the introduction to playing as different and new characters. There was a slight element of this in the first game, but it became apparent that this was one of the main features of this game having whole levels dedicated to playing as Shelia the Kangaroo or Agent 9 the monkey, and they weren't incredibly bad overall.

Each character had there own unique movement and combat system, Shelia being able to use kangaroo's moves to kick enemies and jump onto really high platforms, Sgt. Bird being able to fly up to higher platforms and having guns to defeat his enemies. Hunter the cheetah is slightly different as he would only feature flying in his airplane, making these mini game similar to the flight ones that Spyro completes and Agent 9's levels being even more like Spyro, apart from he cannot glide but does has a gun instead of being able to charge.

The idea of having these mini games in this way is very fun and exciting and a great way to involve other characters but due to the time scale of our project only being just under four months, and the complexity of having to not only create and rig one character but multiple ones is just too greater task. However the idea of having a mini game existing in the level is a great idea, and it could go onto being inspired by any of these ideas.