Ping's Planet - Game Design

Project Brief - Build a progressive story based app with the theme Spot the difference.

Target Audience - Children 7 yrs and above.
End Deliverable - A smartphone/tablet game application

Kids are engaged with mobile devices as less expensive tablets and an increasing amount of hand-me-down phones create greater accessibility to these platforms than before. Mobile technology can be a lifesaver for kids always looking for new alternatives when bored. During the breaktime children can happily play for an hour or two and buckle down on schoolwork afterward. The aim of the project is to bring the classic print game of spot the difference, in the palm of one’s hand.

Character design, Environment art and User interface design of the new brain teasing game
Ping's Planet - Spot the differences

Character Design

Ping is the main protagonist of Spot the Difference. The player’s aim throughout the games is to help him turn the barren planet to dream planet by spotting the differences to travel to different planets and collecting various gameplay elements.
Alien is known for his observation skills which help him travel. If we fail to spot the differences it will be disappointed, if we spot them he will go on further adventures.
Discover and unlock unusual planets on your way. Solve puzzles based on spot the difference to win the elements from each.

Keywords for character - Cheerful, friendly, active, curious, expressive, observant, ageless, traveller

The character design process involved sketches, expression set, body proportions, gestures, different actions and scenarios the character would interact.

Form - Shapes and lines being the building blocks of children's visual vocabulary, a circular form was chosen as the basic form of the character. Circles have no beginning or end. Circles have free movement. Their movement suggests energy and activeness. The wide eyed character was chosen to highlight sense of curiosity. The antenna sensor on the character's head serves as a multipurpose fun add on to his behaviour in different environments.

Colour - A bright green (green + yellow) suggestive of energy, enthusiam as well as safety seemed apt for an alien character who are also recognized with their green skin property.

The game is about ping's surreal journey in space searching for the most unusual planets from outer space. As one progresses through the game they have to collect variety of elements from each of them to create the planet of their own.
The game demands concentration, observation skills and timing to create this beautiful planet. Discover and unlock unusual planets on your way. Solve puzzles based on spot the difference to win the elements from each.

Environment Design

The storyboarding process involved rapid sketches of the different environments of different planets and pings adventure journey exploring them. The process involved rapid sketches, detailed storyboards, visual style iterations, defining colour palettes and final renderings.