Floood | 26/06/2022

Grounders Video Game

So, when I was a small child, my friends and I used to play a fun game at a playground near our houses, and we called it grounders. Apparently it's an uncommon outside of canada, although I have read that some people called it "Blind Man's Bluff".

Now, for those of you who have not heard of grounders, it's a tag based game, with the very important element of listening. I would always play it at a playground with a couple of friends, ranging from 3(a little boring unless everyone is super skilled) to groups of around 10(gets a little crouded at this point/you need a big playground). To play, one player becomes the "it". This "it" has several to follow several rules and has several "powers". These rules/powers are:

• The "it" has to close their eyes when standing on any non-ground suface, otherwise restarting the games.
• They also must count to a certain value with their eyes closed to allow everyone to run off and find places away from the "it".
• Typically, the "it" will state a phrase after waiting the time to broadcast that they are ready. My friends and I commonly used the phrase: "One to ten, not counting again, GROUNDERS!"
• The "it" is able to call the phrase GROUNDERS at any point when they hear someone on the ground(especially obvious with the pebble playgrounds), although the "it" cannot call it from the ground.
• When the "it" tags someone or calls "GROUNDERS"(and someone is on the ground), this person becomes the new "it", and a new round would begin.
• If a player other than the "it" calls the phrase "Broken Dishes", this signifies that the "it"'s eyes are open and that they are cheating. This typically results in a round restart.

My friends and I also added a few rules to make the game more interesting and difficult for us, such as no "saftey first", a commonly implemented rule that allows the "it" to open their eyes while climbing.

So... about the video game...

One of my oldest friends and I have been working on different variations of the grounders game as a video game. A while ago, my friend dropped out of the project, and I forgot about it for some time. However, I recently remembered the game project and looked back upon the project. I thought about it a bit, and decided to try remaking it in the Godot Game Engine, which was what we used the first time to create it.

Thus far, I've spent the last month working on the multiplayer function of the game, utilizing a server-client based system wherin one player is a "host" that all the other players can join, although I might change this to a peer-to-peer system if I think it will fit the project better later on. The current online system is extremely unoptimised, and I need to solve that issue soon.

I have a basic player bean, although I later plan to add more bouncy and fun style graphics, in the style of games like Fall Guys and the new remake of The Legend of Zelda™: Link’s Awakening. Also, the music will have a style based off of several songs from the game Miitopia and Mario Kart, although most of the time the music won't be playing, as the game relies heavily on listening, so most of these will function as menu music. Thank gosh I have some music production skills...

I currently have a very basic design doc just so I can plan out my ideas. I will share it here, but I will also summarise the doc for those of you who do not want to read it.

LINK TO THE GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT

So, to start, the game can most simply be described as: 3D Multiplayer Hide and Seek wherein a player titled "it" has little visibility, and must find the other players before a timer ends. Now, this differs a little to regular grounders, as it includes a timer. This is included to make the game more fun, as without it, the game could theoretically go on forever, which could be very boring.
Next, I wanna talk about the primary features, which are: Servers/Lobbies, Mods, Maps with different descriptors, all the regular "it" funcions, and hiding places.

To end, when I am finally finished with this grounders project, I want to try and release it on steam, for everyone to play for free, although I might just make an itch.io page later on.