Michael C Stewart

time for a drive 2013

synopsis

GAMEPLAY

development process: Personalization of this game

Time for a Drive is a game made for one of my closest friends. His dream is to direct and run his own animation studio sharing his own techniques and visions with the world. Aside from animation, his passions and hobbies involves sports cars and car shows. To relieve stress, this individual likes to take his car out for a drive along the highway. I have known and lived with this person for 3 years and this passion has never left his eyes. However, one day, he came home and was not himself. He had just been critiqued by a professional in
the industry and for the first time ever, I saw doubt in his eyes.

After a few days I completed his game Time for a Drive and the results were extraordinary.   Time for a drive is a 2D driving game where players control a car on the highway of life.  The goal of the game is to collect motivation tokens while avoiding other cars. Once enough motivation is collected, a life event occurs. These life events resemble specific points in the individual's life that brought him to where he is today. Eventually the player gets to see into the future; leading to a grand finally of the player pulling their car into the driveway of his own animation studio.

Symbolically, the obstacle cars resemble fears and hardships that await the player moving forward in their life. The cars even begin approaching the player from behind, which resembles the past coming back to haunt you.

The final touch I added to this game, was the car changing mechanic. As the player collects motivation, not only do you get closer to a life event, but the car begins transforming. By the end of the game, the player is controlling a Lamborghini, which was the individual's favorite car. Every design component of this game was added to connect more to the player.  

After a series of testing and finalizing the game, I was able to show the designated player his game. His reaction to the game was the most incredible things I’ve ever witnessed. Watching his eyes, I felt as though I saw something open up in his mind. It seemed as though there was no fear anymore. As of present, the individual works with a very well known animation company known as Cyanide and Happiess as a producer and is currently doing freelance work with other famous directors in the industry. This man still has hopes and aspirations to create and run his own studio. Every once in a while, he will play this game to remind himself of what he already knows is true. What follows is the player's reaction to the game: which was a public display of the game followed by a letter to myself.

For the privacy of the individuals involved in the game, there is not a public download link for the game.