‘Sunken Treasure’ Prototype

Jul 28
2006

I started working on my Sunken Treasure game idea. So far I’ve mostly been trying to figure out the game structure and goals. You will control a diver, and will have to navigate the shark (or porcupine-fish/jellyfish/electric eel) infested water to bring gold coins from the bottom of the ocean to the surface. If a fish attacks you, you will drop your gold and have to go back down to get it.

A few different ideas about how the game might work:

  • You must collect a certain amount of coins before moving to the next level.
  • There is only one level, and it is just a contest to see how many coins you can collect.
  • You can pick up multiple coins in one dive. The payoff would be greater, but staying down longer would be riskier.
  • Each level lasts a set amount of time. You collect as many coins as you can. If you don’t get any coins, you still move to the next level, just with no money.
  • The value of the coins (or other treasure) increases the longer you keep it under water. So you pick up a coin, and something tells you it’s value, which is slowly rising. If you hold onto the coin for a long time (risking dropping it), you will earn more money.

The Prototype

A big part of the success of this game will depend on the movement of the diver. I want his movement to be slow to respond (since he’s underwater). This will make it more difficult to dodge the fish, and make the game more challenging. I built a quick prototype of the game to see if I could get satisfactory movement. It doesn’t have any of the final graphics in yet, but it allows me to start playing with the movement, speed, and difficulty of the gameplay. I built in some controls for game settings that I can use to test different options. (These won’t be in the final game).

Prototype Screenshots

Play the Sunken Treasure Prototype.

Graphics

I have this idea that I want the diver to have this huge old-timey diving helmet and a tiny body with flippers. I think the fish will be a mix of dangerous sea creatures. Slow moving jellyfish, fast electric eels, porcupine fish, sharks, piranhas, etc.

I haven’t made much progress with the graphics yet, but here are a few sketches:

Sketch 1
Sketch 2