Aims

Use the bitsy tool to create clips of the parade in paprika, combined with appropriate gameplay.

Inspiration

Bitsy’s features may seem simple, but it is unexpectedly suited for expressing emotional themes. “https://hangedman.itch.io/sonder” uses simple 2-frame animation to create an excellent musical atmosphere, “https://linda-nd.itch.io/day-in-the- life” provides a deep sense of immersion with minimal silhouettes and a cinematic camera feel, which got me thinking what should drive my bitsy game?
Then I thought of my favourite animated film “paprika” ——A clip that the bad guys invade the real world through dreams, driving people into various moving objects and acting crazy. I intended to combine the feeling this gave me with the gameplay of maze to create a psychedelic game.
I have written dozens of games that can be created with this tool and will continue to make them later, bitsy is so good for expressing improvised ideas.

Prototype

Critical reflection

I tried to use flickering animations to create a sense of atmosphere for the procession and used flickering obstacles to create difficulty for the maze. Despite the small size of the game, I still get tired of creating dialogue, drawing artwork and designing levels at the same time, probably because I didn’t plan the full game content in advance. I will to take another look at the game during next iterations from a holistic perspective, and aim to improve the narrative and art presentation.