aaron vanderbeek

Starcatcher is a 2-D physics based game targeted for the XO Laptop audience created during the Pittsburgh Game Jam in November, 2007. You can move any of the objects on the screen and/or add more blocks from the side construction panel just by clicking. The goal is to collect all of the stars using your cannon in as few shots as possible. The game also includes a level design tool for easy creation of new levels.

You can download this game for the XO laptop or read more about the XO laptop and the OLPC project at www.olpcgames.org.

Starcatcher was designed with the principles of the XO laptop and the One Laptop per Child project in mind. Our game is targeted to a younger audience but is accessible to an older audience with the combination of art style and complex puzzle based gameplay. We avoided use of language so as to get around localization issues and took advantage of the XO laptop's easy file sharing capability by incorporating a level editor so that people could easily design levels and send them to their friends and family.

Players can operate in cannon mode or build mode, both of which are operated using the arrow keys (toggle between modes using the up arrow). Move the cannon with the left/right arrow keys and shoot with spacebar. They can move pieces currently in the level at any time, even when the cannonball is bouncing around on the screen in real time. It was our original idea that moving of pieces would be restricted during shooting, a la Incredible Machine, but found that it was quite fun to move things around in real time to try and get more favorable bounces. Players would often restrict themselves knowingly from moving pieces when they were interested in more puzzle-like gameplay.

Designer: Was a part of all discussions pertaining to concept, game design, and features.

Sound Designer: Found, modified, and created all sounds in the game that matched well with the accessible art style.

Level Designer: Created ten levels that ramped difficulty and encouraged experimentation.