Saturday 22 September 2012

Super Spuds: The App

I thought I’d spend my work hours planning a possible story sequence for a Super Spud app.  All the apps I download and play always seem to have the same format: you earn coins so you can slowly upgrade and you spend hours of your life doing the same thing over and over just to unlock more things.  This is what happened to me with apps like Temple Run - simple but very addictive!  I guess a Super Spud app would work the same way, you’d be in control of a Super Spud and you’d walk around the rubbish tip city earning money. 
This money could come from either finding it, or earning it through competing in sports games or accumulating prestigious medals.  For example, earning a Medal of Bravery for performing a heroic act like saving a Super Spud from an invading seagull would earn you ten gold coins.   You could then trade in your money to buy new houses, weapons, clothes, or even the postage so you can fly away on holiday and visit another city.  The more medals you accumulate would also allow you to enter certain zones within the city, like the army base, adventure playground, or the royal castle.  I’d want the game to be as fun and entertaining as possible, so there would be lots of dialogue and interacting with other Super Spuds, with multiple choice dialogue options so you choose the storyline.  If the Super Spud you were controlling died, by having their package rupture or being spotted by a human, you’d still keep your total money earned but you’d choose another flavour type (or the same one) and come back, probably forfeiting some of your gold coins.  The longer you survived, the more money you’d earn as a bonus.

 Beginning: Choose your flavour type!

The first screen would have a range of flavour types to pick from, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.  There are a lot of flavour types in the book, so I’d probably only give you access to five types to pick from initially, then you can unlock more with coins and medals earned during the game. 
For example:

1.       Steak and spinach –    (+) very strong, very courageous.
                                      (-) eager to be a hero, quick to die, no sense of humour.

On first glance this flavour would be a good type to choose – they are strong and fearless.  The problem would be they’d have an overwhelming urge to be a hero and it’s likely you’d end up dying and losing some of your money.  It would also be hard to interact with other Super Spuds as all a steak and spinach cares about is working out in the gym and being a hero.

2.       Menthol mint          (+) sociable, sometimes heroic.
                                 (-) crazy, no dress sense, oblivious to danger.

This flavour would be sociable and easy to interact with other Super Spuds around the city.   They are harmless but slightly crazy with no real fashion sense.  They would be vulnerable to danger as they are too crazy to understand any threat and would easily run into a thorn bush without thinking.  However, their added sociability would allow you to interact with Super Spuds who previously wouldn’t talk to you when you were a steak and spinach flavour.

Other flavours would include blueberry (cool, trendy), salt and vinegar (arrogant) and strawberry and cream (smooth talking, safety first).

Once you chose your flavour, you’d enter your character name and then if you died, you’d always come back as that character but you could swap flavour types and personalities.  It would be the different personalities and attributes that allow you to progress in the game i.e. you’d have to play as all five flavour types to complete the first adventure and unlock more adventures and flavour types.

 Playing the Game

After you’ve chosen a flavour type and entered your name, it would be pretty much a free roaming game.  You could walk around the city, chatting with other Super Spuds, entering bars, clubs and houses to search for money and partake in mini-quests.  You could go to the local racetrack and drive for money, or compete in the Olympics.  There would always be a threat from sharp objects, evil Super Spuds, animals and humans.  Hiding from humans and animals would be a key part of the app.  There would be a larger overall quest, such as saving the city from attacking evil Super Spuds or rescuing the royal family.  The more money and medals you earn, the more prestige you earn and your fame as a Super Spud would increase around the world.  I’d also include an evil option on the home screen, where you can choose to play as either good or evil. 

This would be the basic outline of the app.  Let me know your thoughts!

The book blog tour is going well, thanks to Stormi at lightning book promotions for organizing it.  Also, please check out my friend Katherine’s blog hop (link on the top right) to meet some cool bloggers to interact with.

http://lightningbookpromotions.com/

Thanks!

2 comments:

  1. The Super Spud adventures sounds awesome! And I am always happy to meet another Tolkien fan.

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  2. Haha love the detail, and salt and vinegar is definitely arrogant :P

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