Game Story Backgound
Ragnarok Racer combines the concepts of outer space and Vikings into a single-player platform racing game. The player is an astronaut Viking visits a planet, Asgard, and comes across a mysterious egg. The player must outrun the formidable forces which are constantly chasing them and return to their spaceship to escape before it's too late.
This game idea was inspired by Scandinavian mythology, where Ragnarök signifies the series of events and catastrophes that will ultimately lead to the end of the world [1].
Two games in particular provided inspiration for the game idea; Google Chrome Dinosaur Game and Super Mario Bros.
The Dinosaur Game is a single-player side-scrolling game built into the Google Chrome browser, featuring endless gameplay where the player cannot change their direction or speed and are only limited to vertical movement. The simple, but engaging, game mechanics were taken into consideration for our game idea. However, our game idea chose not to have an endless game, rather one with a set end condition.
Super Mario Bros is another side-scrolling platform game with more complex game mechanics and features than the Dinosaur Game. The player must traverse the game map while avoiding hazards to reach the end of the level. Game mechanics such as the utilisation of checkpoints, a set end condition and the side-scrolling platform environment were used as inspiration.
References:
- [1] The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Ragnarök". Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Ragnarok (Aug 2021)