Bitmin
A Pikmin-inspired Strategy Puzzle game where you play as a Scientist in a strange land where he has to use his robotic creations to gather resources for his science experiments. This started out as an assignment in Advanced Scripting, where I made a Pikmin prototype in 3 weeks halftime. With that, I recruited an Artist Lisa Lövgren and an Animator Elin Carlström to expand on the game in a 5 weeks long halftime project.
I've always been a fan of Pikmin since playing it in my childhood so it was really fun deconstructing the mechanics to making my own version of it. I decided early on to skip the combat aspect of Pikmin and instead focus on the environmental puzzles. I thought the water hazard in Pikmin was interesting as in being only dangerous to your Pikmin and thought it would be fun to also have the reverse with poison that was only dangerous to the player.
My Goals:
- Refine my Pikmin prototype
- Work together with an Artist Lisa and an Animator Elin to breathe some life into the game
The Professor and the Bitmin
First you get the Scrap, then get the Bots
The main objective is to collect Amber Crystals using your Bots and to get Bots you need Scrap. In the original Pikmin the pickups are labeled with numbers to indicate how many are needed to carry it, but in Bitmin I put handles on the pickups to show how many Bots are needed. The plan was to have bigger pickups with more handles but I cut it due to time. The Amber Crystals were at first one of the big pickup but I could find a natural way for it to have handles so the Bots break it apart and carry one piece each instead .
Amber Crystal Gathering
Pushable Stone Block
Water is Bad for Bots
How to Train your Robots
When implementing the player's move set I basically copied what Pikmin had already done. The Players move set in Bitmin includes:
- Picking up and Throwing bots
- Whistle: make the bots follow you
- March: make the bots follow the Cursor
- Dismiss: make the bots stop following you and return to idle
Bring Scrap to the Ship
Breaking down the Wall
Obstacles
There are four main obstacles in the game. Stone Walls that Bots can break down, it breaks faster the more Bots. Stone Blocks, which can be pushed by six Bots and acts as a door mechanic. Water, in which the player can move freely but the Bots move slow and soon gets destroyed. And finally, Poison, in which the player move slow and faints after a while, but the Bots are unaffected.
Poison is Poisonous
The Level
This level is meant to introduce the basic mechanics and explore the different Player Actions. It is roughly divided into four areas with an Amber Crystal in each. I call the areas are the Start Area, Lake Beach, Fungi Forest, and Rocky Cave. I wanted to make the areas visually distinct from each other to help the Player navigate and build up a mental map. I also wanted to encourage exploration so I made all the areas connect in the middle so the Player can choose where to explore first.
Start Area
To exit of the start area a Stone Block, which requires six bots, needs to be moved. This forces the player to learn the basic mechanics, Tear down a wall and find the first Amber Crystal before actually being in any danger.
Lake Beach
This is might look like a nice and peaceful area but the water makes it Not Safe For Bots. Get to the Amber Crystal by Throwing the Bots between the small islands to push the Stone Block from the other side and open a shortcut to the Amber Crystal.
Fungi Forest
The Mushrooms emits poisonous spores that are dangerous to the Professor. You need to March and Dismiss the Bots to get both them and you through. This area acts as a reversion of the Lake Beach area.
Rocky Cave
In this part of the level I wanted to play around abit with elevation and verticality and highlight the Throwing Mechanic. The player needs to Throw Bots up ledges to open up the path forward and get to the Amber Crystal in the middle.
Debug Tools
Easy Debugging, for me and the Team
I made a few tools to help me debug different parts of the game. The Bots have a text widget showing its AI state and beam particle showing who the Bot it is following when in a line. This was really useful when debugging the AI. I found out that Animator Elin also used the debug tool to debug animations so I also added the text widget to the Professor to show which Animation state he was in. I added debug buttons to spawn Bots and to Teleport the player around obstacles to test out more parts of the level quickly.
Bot Spawner
AI and Animation State Text
Teleporter
Prototype
Bois the Game: A Game of Bois
The prototype was made by me in three weeks as part of an assignment in Advanced Scripting. I had a lot of fun making this and it served as a good starting point for Bitmin and help a lot with pitching the idea to Animator Elin and Artist Lisa. It was a really fun project to work on, which is why I wanted to continue and evolve it and make it even more beautiful.
Working with the Team
An Artist, an Animator, and a Level Designer walks into a bar..
Well not really a bar.. but we worked together on SPITE: Blood Sun. And when I had the idea to expand upon the Pikmin Prototype for my portfolio I asked around for artists and animators to collaborate with to turn the Bois into Bots. Animator Elin Carlström and Artist Lisa Löfgren took the bait and we started working together with what became a big part in all of our portfolios.
