Honk
Every Goose, ever
Great ideas can come from anywhere. Including hitting a roadblock on ideas and firing up your switch to kill some time. After a play session of Untitled Goose Game I realized that for this head to head project I could make it goose themed with the express purpose of having an analogue of “Press Y to Honk.”
And so I got to work making a quick sketch. The premise of the game is that the players are opposed geese fighting for the pond. The marbles are an abstraction of their attacks against each other, where sending the marble to the other player’s playfield is a counterattack, while draining the marble on your side is getting hit.
If the playfield looks barren, that is because it is. I purposely left it fairly empty, as the examples I looked at had relatively simple playfields. I reasoned that a large portion of the fun came from the presence of a second player. Plus, I know that the Pinbox 3000 is quite a small unit, and has a correspondingly small playfield, so I can’t get too crazy either.
Honk, honk
The goose I walk past to get to class
This version with the red lines highlights the ‘bozo zone’ which are the two lanes that are easiest to shoot down. I decided to put the ramps to the other player’s side in those lanes because a head to head machine is not very exciting for both players if both balls spend the entire game on one side. So, the ball should be able to switch sides with relative ease, something players who find themselves juggling both marbles often will appreciate.
HonkHonkHonkHonkHonk!
The goose that is currently chasing me as I write
The main gimmick, past being a head to head machine, is the ability for players to honk at each other. I plan on installing a module on the side of each machine that consists of a battery pack, a soundboard, speaker, and button. When pressed, the button will trigger the soundboard to play the honk sound effect. The main intention is for the player to hit this button whilst both marbles are on the other player’s playfield, but players are free to hit the honk button whenever they’d like.
That’s it for my Named Goose Game, designed to test the idea that honking at another player while they struggle with two marbles is fun.