OK, now I'm starting to freak out...

I've just plotted out my schedule for the next few weeks and it's looking pretty tight! We were just told this evening that we need to animate (with sound!) our storyboard for another subject - for next tuesday! That's a whole day or so added to that schedule, which pushes back the quiz study which pushes back the Gamemaker testing...I'm going to have to launch straight into development of an idea I set on now if this is going to work! I should be fine, I just hate losing the time buffer in my schedules so early on!

So, I started nutting out the actual Stink Bug premise this evening. I have decided to go with that out of all the game ideas as it has a cool name :-) Plus, as I originally thought, it could give me a chance to influence people to think about living sustainably (which I've been thinking a lot about since the Carbon Neutral! game research). Its something I feel quite strongly about, and it relates to everything from misusing our water supplies, over fishing or excessive deforestation. You could even personally apply the concept to treating your body well and using it in a sustainable manner (e.g. allowing yourself to get well after being sick before going back to work, or not going out and partying night after night without burning yourself out).

So, the game in more detail. A row of 10 trees, with a random allocation of 10-20 (?) oranges on each. The 'orchard' has a fence on either side and just grass in fields as the 'limit' of the game area. The screen will fit a maximum of 3 trees in it at any one time, but it scrolls back and forth as you move the stink bug back and forth.

So, you're a Stink bug. The aim of the game is to stay alive as long as possible by sucking the health/life out of the oranges on the trees. Flying around uses up health (the faster you fly, the faster you use up health). You move around using the mouse and click on oranges to suck the life out of them

You have two other main enemies

1. the birds, which swoop down randomly (they catch you if you are in a the top branches of a tree they are above, but they can just swoop down over any tree tree and if they catch you, you automatically get eaten and die). Can't decide if there will be a warning bird sound then a sudden random swoop at a tree - if it's one you're in, it will go for you?
   
2. the farmer, who runs back and forth along the orchard (much slower than you can fly) spraying bug spray. If they stop to spray they will stay still for 6 secs (?). He can only get you in the lower branches of the tree. I haven't decided if he just sprays randomly whether you're there or not or if he will only spray directly at you. Does he automatically change direction when you do or does he just run one end to the other? Anyway, the more direct or longer the hit, the more health you lose. It won't necessarily kill you outright.

To suck an orange of health, you need to click and hold on an orange for 4 secs for full energy transferal. If you do it for a shorter time, you get less energy, but as soon as you click on an orange, it will automatically die, so it's wasted if you start on it. After you kill/use an orange, another one will grow back in a random place on the tree after 10 secs (?). If it gets to the point where there are no oranges at all left on a tree, it withers and dies, so you are left with less trees for food and the odds of the farmer and birds getting you increases. Plus it leaves the orange trees left with less chance to regrow oranges and you are likely to kill them off as well.

I think this will have to be time limited per stage - if you can manage to stay alive long enough you fly off to another orchard with a whole new set of trees (eg lime trees, more fruit but they have less health? Different birds? Stronger pesticide or faster runnign farmer?)

The exact timings and number variables (and health use) will need to be worked out in initial playtests and tweaks. The only thing is - does it achieve the intended player experience re learning about sustainability?

Or I could go with the snowball game, with a player learning experience of - thinking smart will help you if you're a nerd or bully plus even bullies get hurt and cry. If I could think of a good name for it I'd go with that one (or if I had time, I'd do it as well!)