What is Duck, Bobutt?
What kind of game can I make that allows me to play entirely with my butt ? Duck, Bobutt! is an exciting alt controller game where the player must sit on the controller in order to help Bobutt duck and avoid the hungry crow!
PROJECT OVERVIEW
GAME DETAILS
Genre: Alt Controller
Platform: PC and Mac
Game Engine: Unity
My Roles: Designer · Engineer · 2D Artist and Animator · Fabricator
LOGISTICS
Project Duration: January 2020 (one week)
Team Size: 1
PROCESS
This was a prototype created for my thesis-prep class (CTIN 542) taught by Jeff Watson in my second year at USC’s Game Design MFA program. The prompt was to answer an ad one of our peers sent out in terms of what kind of game they wanted. We chose one ad and spent 12 hours designing a prototype based on our own interpretation of the ad.
Ideation Process
Notes on brainstorming possible actions related to the mechanic.
Visualizing the game and setting up the Unity scene structure.
Player character and enemy animation frames.
The ad I picked was “Create a game that uses your butt to play.” I was ecstatic with the prompt. To start, I thought about scenarios that involved using your butt to perform actions. My mind landed on (all pun intended) sitting and squatting as the main mechanic.
I must have been drinking boba or thinking about boba at the time, because I decided my player character would be a boba! Eventually my mind started putting things together: the player must sit down on a controller (placed on a chair) in order to help Bobutt the boba duck and avoid getting eaten by boba-loving crows.
Creating The Game and Alt Controller
I used cardboard and aluminum foil to create the controller that resembled the player character, Bobutt. The controller’s foil is then connected to a Makey Makey board using alligator clips that reads the input from the player’s butt impacting the controller.
For the game, I used Unity to construct the scene and programmed the controls to react with the Makey Makey and controller. I learned that the Makey Makey is a very user-friendly tool that makes it straightforward for Unity to receive input from an external controller. Art assets drawn and animated by hand, sound effects recorded in person.
When setting up the scene, I wanted to simulate the effect that Bobutt was running along the Z-axis. To do this, I drew boba straws that are positioned along the road, and animated to scale down as it translated towards the vanishing point of the scene. Bobutt was positioned at the bottom of the screen and had a simple running animation. These two elements together helped simulate Bobutt running in a simple yet effective way that allowed me to quickly finish my prototype within the time constraints. The translate animation technique was also used for the crow to simulate it swooping down in attempts to snatch Bobutt.
Playtesting and Feedback
My playtesters had a blast playing the game! Many of them expressed positive feedback, including:
Tiring but extremely fun!
A great workout 💪
Really fun and unique theme that was very on-brand for me.
Controller was very receptive and allowed for different play styles (holding onto chair arm rests; holding onto table; using hands to attempt ducking faster; etc.)
An improvement they expressed included pushing even further in creating a controller that can ONLY be played using one’s butt.
Overall, the prototype was a huge success in answering the ad and gave players a fun experience that made them feel more open to using their butt to play Duck, Bobutt!
