Cosy-Souls
Solo project
Practice based research
Play the vertical SLICE
annotated PLAYTHROUGH
Overview
Cosy-Souls is a 2D side-scroller that aims to blend elements of Souls-likes and Cosy Games. The project is an exploration of difficulty, using a layered design that will allow players to dynamically adjust challenge through gameplay choices. This is the final major project for my MA and is currently at the proposal stage.
Blending genres
The develop of Cosy-Souls involved the analysis of the Soul-Like genre and a comparison to the Easy Fun of Cosy-Games, as described by Nicole Lazzaro. The project makes the argument that many enjoyable aspects of Souls-Likes do not depend on high level of challenge and could be transposed to a gentler game style.
Analysis of Souls-LIKE GENRE
The following characteristics were derived from a synthesis of several games and sources.
Fixed difficulty
Exploration of an interconnected environment
Heavy penalties for failure
Preset checkpoints
Indirect storytelling
Melee focused combat
Pattern recognition
Sense of accomplishment
Deliberate combat
Finding easy fun
Nicole Lazzaro's model of easy fun was applied to the Souls-Like analysis, in order to make the following connections.
Easy Fun Actions
Souls-Like
Characteristics
Exploration
Exploration of an interconnected environment
Fantasy
Role play
Creativity
Building and leveling a character
Easy Fun Emotions
Souls-Like
Characteristics
Curiosity
Indirect storytelling
Surprise
Frequent traps and secrets
Wonder
Impressive visuals
Awe
Player is dwarfed by environments and enemies
From this analysis, a reasonable case can be made from experimenting with a mix of these two genres. The next stage of development experiments with difficulty, allowing some players to engage with high challenge while not making it a condition for completing the game. This will be achieved through a layered design.
Layered design
Cosy-Souls has been designed around the concept of layers, this will apply to mechanics, difficulty and level design. This has been informed by analysis of games that seem to take this approach.
Celeste - Case study
Celeste has been designed with options that allow to player to adjust the difficulty in some interesting ways. In addition to a sophisticated assist mode, the design Maddie Thorson has spoken about the movement set being flexible enough to provide a variety of challenge levels. This can be interpreted as a set of layers.
Layer 1 - Optional Challenges, Higher Difficulty
Hidden moves and mechanic exploits (dash cancel etc)
Optional stages and collectables
Speed Running
Layer 0 - Game as presented
Fixed difficulty
Progression linked to objectives
Finely honed traversal mechanics
More challenge
Dash
Less challenge
Climb
Layer -1 - Assist mode
Game speed can be adjusted
Adjustable stamina and dash limits
Invincibility
Level skip
This design allows players with a range of skills levels to experience Celeste, that experience will vary but player have the freedom to select a challenge level that is appropriate for their abilities.
Cosy-souls layers
The next step was to apply this theory to the design from the ground up. The result is a layered system of mechanics and features. Players will be free to experiment will all layers but all scenarios will be beatable at layer 1.
Layer 1
Run
Jump
Slash
Layer 2
Shoot
Cast
Layer 3
Block
Parry
Low Ability Players
All scenarios beatable at this layer. Combat may take longer or be avoided completely. Minimal rewards
Mid Ability Players
Requires a higher cognitive load, players will use more inputs and use ability to slow time. AoE abilities allow players to make more strategic decisions, thinking ahead rather than playing reactively.
High Ability Players
Requires players to be aware of their surroundings, have faster reaction times and be able to think a few actions ahead.
All players
Most Players
Some Players
gAMEPLAY bREAKDOWN
The core gameplay loop of Cosy-Souls represents the players freedom to choose how they deal with challenge. It will be possible for players to avoid combat, using the traversal mechanics. If players do choose to engage with higher level layers, they will reap greater rewards, see satisfying changes to their hub area and ultimately feel more connected to the game world.
Advance
Succeed
Evade
Attack
Story-board of player experience
This section sets out an example of the multi-linear design to be used in Cosy-Souls. In this example, the player must reach the exit by moving past a powerful enemy and over some platformers. The player can choose how difficult to make this challenge and will receive rewards appropriate to the risk.
This image shows how a stage may be completed using only the first layer of mechanics. The dotted line represents the path of the player, the floating platforms would blink on and off, creating a low-level platforming challenge. If the player makes it to the exit, they will progress to the next stage. The player could fail by falling in the path of the enemy or into the pit. On a failure, the player will return to their starting point, with very little lag.
This image shows an example of how a player may use the first layer of mechanics to complete a stage and defeat an enemy. The lanterns must be touched in order to be lit, once all are lit this causes the floor panels below the enemy to disappear, removing the threat. The dash mechanic is being employed (represented by the yellow arrow symbol). Completing the stage in this way will allow the player to progress but any rewards will be lost as the enemy falls. Completing the stage in this way will list it as completed in the hub world, allowing the player to see their impact on the game world.
The player could choose to complete this stage using more complex layers. In this scenario, the player would need to use all the same traversal mechanics to out-manoeuvre the enemy, in addition to the combat mechanics. Completing this stage in this way would ultimately lead to the same next stage but the player would gather greater rewards.
Next Steps
Cosy-Souls is currently being prototyped in Unity. A vertical slice will be completed by September 2024.
pROJECT oVERVIEW
If you would like to read the full proposal, please ask for a copy. This includes a literature review, design rules and a full breakdown of gameplay.