Game Concept

Cannonball: Instrument of Ares

Cannonball: Instrument of Ares is a 2D cannonball-based puzzle game in which YOU control the angle of the cannon and power of the blast to avoid obstacles and complete each level objective.

Genre or category of game:

2D Cannonball-based puzzle game.

Concept creation process:

 The creation process of my concept started with the exploration of j13k games that were introduced in our classes. It helped me set my goal of developing something simple and fun with the intent to polish the gameplay first and have the option to flesh out features later, as deemed achievable within the time left for development.

 Knowing my goal, I decided to go back in my own personal history of games from when I was a kid/early teen and re-discovering some of the internet flash games I used to play and really enjoy.

Some games including Club Penguin, Tank Trouble, World’s Hardest Game:

(Disney, 2005),  (Purup, M. 2007)  &  (Snubby Land, 2008)

A lot of these games I had played at school on coolmathgames.com because it wasn’t blocked by the school’s internet policies.

 As part of my research I found Flashpoint Archive, a free archive of flash games downloadable as an app that solved the problem of flash games disappearing from the web after the discontinuation of flash. On there, I rediscovered a little-known game I had loved playing, Cannonball Follies 3: Cold Front.

 You play as Looney Tunes’s Yosemite Sam, armed with a small cannon boat and the purpose of completing a series of levels mainly comprising of getting the cannonball in a bucket while avoiding a myriad of different obstacles. This is simply done by adjusting the angle of the cannon and choosing power of the blast. 

Cannonbal Follies (Cartoon Network, 2005)

After finishing the game’s 13 levels, I decided I wanted to clone it, develop new levels of my own and expand on upon it by mashing up elements from other puzzle and level-based games.

Cannonball Follies 3: Cold Front (Cartoon Network, 2007)

Cannonball Follies 3: Cold Front (Cartoon Network, 2007)

Audience and competitive analysis:

 The audience I’m targeting is casual gamers, the goal is to allow it to be a low barrier to entry with the type of simple keyboard control scheme and concept. Working on low spec PCs and consoles/mobile devices is important to reach that casual audience I’m looking for.

 I’m positioning the game towards people interested in the mix of puzzles and comedic/strange storytelling. Similar games are Donut County, Undertale and A Short Hike & Little Inferno. These games have been quite notable successes in the past decade sharing similar elements of offbeat humour, absurdist writing, minimalistic gameplay and art design with puzzle solving.

Donut County (Esposito, B. 2018)

A Short Hike (Robinson-Yu, A. 2019)

Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation, 2012)

  I’d like to intertwine the story of the cannon’s character journey with the level design, some quite different from the game I’m cloning ‘Cannonball Follies 3’.

 A risk for this game would be the comedic elements missing the mark and the slightly absurdist story being too confusing or off-putting.

Concept:

 I’m developing a 2D cannonball-based puzzle game consisting of 5-10 levels of various obstacles in which you control the angle of the cannon and power of the blast to complete the level objectives. I’m cloning the gameplay of flash game ‘Cannonball Follies 3: Cold Front’ while expanding upon it with new concepts and level designs in a paper cut out style.

 The game will incorporate powerups, obstacles and different cannonball types while increasing the level of difficulty as the game progresses. The levels will have different completion states such as destroying targets, landing the balls in set locations and completing trick shots.

Backstory:

 After years of missing targets, a worthless abandoned cannon adrift at sea DEVELOPS SENTIENCE! Now fully in control of its destiny after divine intervention from Ares, the God of War, the cannon takes action into its own hands.

• Ares, the God of War, speaks in words from above to explain the early game tutorial and tips (also adds some story spice)
• Ares could interact with the player breaking the fourth wall like seen in an old Looney Tunes Cartoon:

(Jones, C. 1955)

• One story idea could be that each level is a series of trials for the cannon to prove their worth to Ares as an instrument of war, returning to former glory.
• Donut County styled conversations and dialogue system.

Additional Gameplay Ideas:

• Trick shots
• Magnet power up
• Split into 3 powerup
• Kill all momentum powerup
• Sticky Powerup

Art Style:

 Inspired by Paper Mario and craft paper art. Looking to use simple shapes and paper and craft textures for the sprites, backgrounds and UI elements. Planning to explore using real assets scanned and digitally created. Could explore how to add an element of drop shadow for moving game object elements with lighting.

Art Style Mood Board

Early rough concept sketch of the main gameplay scene.

References:

Club Penguin (Web) [Video game]. (2005) . Disney.

Purup, M. (2007) Tank Trouble (Web) [Video game].

Snubby Land. (2008) The World's Hardest Game (Web) [Video game] Armor Games.

Cannonball Follies 3:  Cold Front (Web) [Video game]. (2007) . Cartoon Network.

Cannonball Follies (Web) [Video game]. (2005) . Cartoon Network.

Esposito, B. (2018) Donut County (PC) [Video game]. Annapurna Interactive.

Robinson-Yu, A. (2019) A Short Hike (PC) [Video game]. Whippoorwill.

Little Inferno (PC) [Video game]. (2012). Tomorrow Corporation.

Jones, C. (Director). (1955). Rabbit Rampage [Film]. Warner Bros.