«Pen Panic is a cartoony, grid based Puzzle Game, where you push your way through masses of chickens, stack them together and try not to kill them! »
In Pen Panic, you confront the serious issue of factory farming by facing masses of chickens. Experience the lack of space, step into the role of the chickens, and immerse yourself in the cartoony art style.
The chickens stack up to three per field, whether alive or dead. If the space is too tight, the chickens die instantly. Fight your way through multiple levels as the pens grow larger and the number of chickens increases.
Your goal is to escape the farm, but be careful! Don't squeeze too many chickens on the way.
This game prototype was developed during a six-week module as part of the Game Design bachelor’s program at the University of the Arts in Zurich.
Process
For the main mechanic of the game, I combined the two retro games "Boulder Dash" and "Sokoban". During the brainstorming phase, I came up with the idea to take factory farming as the setting. So I started sketching out the concept and building a prototype in unity.
My design pillars for this project were Sustainability, Fun and Empathy. From the beginning on, I wanted to have a game that criticizes one aspect of society. But not in a serious but rather a humorous way. I chose a comic-like art style that allowed me to express the emotions of the chickens. The chickens should stick out to the player, as they are the most important part of the game. That's why I gave them a colorful purple plumage. Everything else got a bright, sterile color.
I decided that three levels plus one tutorial level would be a fair amount for the first version of the game and the scope of the project.
Game Play
Feedback, Ideas and Optimization
— Sound Design
— Extra Challenge: Collecting eggs
— Variation: Kill everything in one level
— All chickens have names
— Animate the chickens in a way that they are more lively and their movement is more comprehendible
— No maze game but a puzzle game: lead the player through the stable, maybe with a path
— Independent movement of the chickens makes it much harder to design the difficulty of a level. Maybe it's better to remove this feature.
— Better design and introduction of the UI, what is what