Herbal Wytchcraft
A 2D point-and-click herbalist simulator that explores relaxing games design through themes of Scottish folklore and witchcraft.
Project Summary
Herbal Wytchcraft was designed and prototyped for my honours project at Abertay University.
For this, I researched relaxing video games and design theory. This involved research of relevant topics (such as stress, flow, and evaluating existing media), and the practical development of Herbal Wytchcraft.
This is a 2D point-and-click herbalist simulator, in which the player must use the plants found in their garden to craft and then sell custom medicines to their customers. They must choose the herbs they use in these medicines based on their medicinal properties and their relevance to the customers ailment, as well as choosing the type of medicine (infusion, cream, syrup, etc.) based on the customers use needs.
Additionally, the design features further mechanics focused on progression, such as building relationships with faeries, a decoration system, and buying new plants/upgrades from merchants, however, these are not included in the prototype due to limited scope.
Research
Honours Proj Report.pdfThrough my research, I established a framework of parameters for designing relaxing games.
To create this, I first investigated the relationship between video games and stress - aiming to understand how video games can contribute both positively and negatively to players' stress levels. I then examined the theory of flow and its existing components - contextualizing these to fit relaxing games specifically. I then examined Spritfarer as an exemplar for how it creates flow and relaxation, in order to understand the successes and failures of this in practice.
I then continued this research through my practical development of the game prototype in order to test my framework in practice. From this, I was able to expand the framework to include additional parameters that I had previously overlooked.
My final report can be found to the left if you would like to read this research in detail.
Core Game Loop
The core game loop can be found to the left.
The game follows a simple loop of craft -> buy -> sell. This loop is very self-fulfilling - players will sell medicines to buy new herbs, and then these herbs will be used to make more medicines.
Each stage of the core game loop has its own main mechanic and assigned room. The image explaining this can be found to the left.
The "collecting plants" stage is assigned to the garden, which features the gathering mechanic.
The "craft medicine" stage is assigned to the crafting room, which features the crafting mechanic.
And the "sell medicines" stage is assigned to the storefront, which features the seling mechanic.
Collecting Plants
The photobash for the garden can be seen above on the left, and the user journey diagram for this room can be seen above on the right.
Crafting Medicines
The photobash for the crafting room can be seen above on the left, and the user journey diagram for this room can be seen above on the right.
Selling Medicines
The photobash for the shopfront can be seen above on the left, and the user journey diagram for this room can be seen above on the right.
Expanded Design
Herbal Wytchcraft GDD.pdfThe game design document also included some additional mechanics that were not included in the prototype. This document can be seen to the left, and it also includes the full documentation for the mechanics in the core game loop.
It is important to note that this GDD is not complete - and only pertains information relevant to my research. As such, it does not contain information on systems such as UI/UX.