Sometimes, you find a name so perfect that you must build a game around it. In this case, the name was proposed by one Josh McHugh, a good friend and artist at Iron Lore Entertainment, during a rousing game of 1000 Blank White Cards with the Wednesday Night Gaming Group.

A recent post on Raph Koster’s site , A bit on how I think games work, poses an interesting breakdown of game design into four layers; the mechanical, the statistical variation or content, the metaphor, and the narrative layer.

My work-a-day life as a game designer is spent making handheld games for some very big licensed properties (see games in sidebar). The practical upshot of this is that I am almost always handed the narrative layer, and sometime a good chunk of the content layer, and then asked to craft mechanics and metaphors that serve the gospel bits. These companies are very particular about how their stories are portrayed, so there is not often much wiggle room.

So it’s little surprise that in this forum I have focused a good amount of attention on the mechanics and metaphor, and let the narrative go hang.

But the title requires tribute, and throwing narrative caution to the wind, I give you:

Camp Ninja: Martial Arts and Crafts

Camp Ninja is a summer camp for young Ninjas, an idyllic place where they can hone their combat skills, and make ceramic shuriken and leather wallets, learn to disappear into the shadows and canoe.

As I write this, I can’t help think of my own wonderful memories of summer camp, the camaraderie, the adventure, the psychic training…oh wait, I might be confusing that with Psychonauts , my favorite game from last year. All right…let’s step gingerly around the ripoff/tribute line and differentiate this game.

I see this on the Nintendo DS. You navigate your character in a foreshortened overhead view through the camp, stopping at different stations that each contains a unique mini-game or challenge. These challenges fuse the martial arts training and the glued-macaroni/leather wallet making camp motif. Some possible contenders:

The Shuriken/Canoe Race

An overhead view of a canoe race, heading up toward the DS top screen. Simple strokes on each side of the canoe cause the character to row. The relative amount and force of each alternating stroke steer the canoe. There are obstacles to avoid in the stream (you can see them coming down from the top screen, so you have reaction time. You are naturally being attacked from shore and other canoes. A quick stroke out from the player in a direction throws a shuriken in that direction.

The Scavenger Hunt/Gauntlet of Death

The camp councilors hide in wait in the forest, high in the trees on the DS’s top screen. Young Ninja’s make their way through the forest, searching for the hidden tchotchkes, and taking down the councilors before they attack. The mechanic for movement would be tapping points on the screen with the touchpad. You would tap from tree-to-tree, and the context-sensitive movement would be similar in style to the penguins from Madagascar, if they were ninjas on wires. Flying from tree to tree, bouncing off trees, or back-and-forth up two trees. The outward stroke throws shuriken.

Making and Decorating Your Ceramic Shuriken

These shuriken don’t make themselves. A cross between a game and a toy. A quick star trace with the stylus cuts out the shuriken. Then a decorating interface allows you to customize your deadly but colorful stars.

Nunchucks Practice

A rhythm game where moves are called out and require a series of taps, swoops and little circles to keep the nunchucks in motion and to avoid painful but amusing accidents. Instructor demonstrates on the top screen.

Final Thoughts

There is a camp leaderboard, and a variety of badges to earn, and the goal is to become the best Ninja at camp, and make gifts for all your family members.

I think there is some pretty interesting space to explore with the rhythm games. I like the idea of a somewhat slow paced rhythm game where you have to sneak in time for attacking your enemies in between beats (dance, one, two, turn, shuriken, tap and hold three four, nunchuck and spin). The attacks aren’t part of the called moves, just something you have to sneak in without losing the beat.

Well, that was amusing, but I think I’ll be heading back to metaphor and mechanics tomorrow.

-game over-

Thanks for reading another action-packed installment of Design a Day. For background on the Design A Day challenge, take a peek here and here.