The Ultimate Martian Roulette
>About the game
The Ultimate Martian Roulette was created for the Ludum Dare 50 game jam, with "Delay the Inevitable theme.
For this project, I handled the cards, game balance, and character reactions. Though the theme and setting were dark, I aimed to lighten the mood through gallows humor in the card names, descriptions, and characters' facial expressions.
>Making opponents seem more real
Card selection for other contestants was random, but we wanted to make their actions feel real and justified. Through carefully chosen card names like "I'm sure you will be fine," "I have no other choice," and "Eat that!", I aimed to compensate for the basic AI and create emotional connections between contestants.
For AI opponents who randomly played cards that lowered their survival chances, we named these cards to suggest a defeatist attitude. This made their self-destructive choices feel more believable to players.
Faces & Emotions
Conveying emotions like relief, dread, and fear was crucial for reinforcing the game's theme. However, with limited time for 3D modeling facial expressions, we needed a creative solution. Our answer was to give each character a helmet with a digital display that could show expressive emoticons.
I scripted facial reactions in C# that responded to each character's survival chances, the previous opponent's actions, and their shot outcomes.