Welcome to TownCityVille

           Welcome to TownCityVille!

           TownCityVille is known for being unremarkable. However, two things set this town apart, its citizens are terrible drivers and the town is located next to a beautiful coral reef. TownCityVille citizens used to gather at the reef and watch the vibrant sea life. However, recently, with the rise in carbon emissions, the warming of the global climate, and the increase in litter, the reef is bleaching and dying. 

           Fortunately, TownCityVille is united. They want to save their reef. From the local millionaire Jamal Barnes to students at the local school systems, everyone is willing to make sacrifices and work for the betterment of their local reef and the global climate. 

           You are a young postal worker who just moved in with your aunt, the mayor of TownCityVille. Your actions can have a drastic impact on the environmental state of the city. Use the arrow keys or the 'WASD" keys to move around the city. Move into the green exclamation points to deliver a package, but watch out for others on the roads. If you get hit by their crazy driving, you will lose money to insurance costs. Your salary is based on how many packages you deliver in a year. Your insurance rate is based off of how many citizens you collide within one year. You can use your money to help the local environment, buy vehicles, and do other things by returning to your house and going inside. 

           Your score is primarily based on how fast you get the pollution counter down to zero. Financial responsibility and personal safety also influence your score. 

           You are not alone! Remember, no matter how many obstacles you hit the other citizens are working towards the same goal. Together, you will help save the climate and the reef.

 

           Note: Many thematic details may not be 100% accurate to the actual math and biology behind climate change. For example, coral does not regain its color instantly when pollution levels go down. When planning, designing, programming, writing, and drawing this game, I had to strike a balance between realism and fun game design. Many choices were made to send the themes of environmental action rather than to perfectly simulate the actual climate crisis. Specifically, I wanted a vibrant art style that changes with the player's actions. 

           Nevertheless the point still stands, greenhouse gasses and pollution are destroying our oceans, our glaciers, and most importantly other human lives. Planting trees and reducing energy consumption by driving fuel-efficient vehicles and investing in sustainable energy helps save our planet. Furthermore, being mindful of our waste and picking up after ourselves is vital for preserving delicate ecosystems. I encourage everyone who plays "Welcome to TownCityVille" to go out into their communities and work for a better planet. every single person helps. together we can fix the current climate crisis!

 

           Creators note: I have been creating half-video games since second grade. After my first few basic creations, I had several ideas, but never programmed them through to completion. This year, I took a computer science course at my High School's career center. I learned how to code which opened up several possibilities in programming. After one more exciting Half-game, I was looking for a new Idea for a game. I came across the Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Program and realized that I could submit a game for their scholarship program. Furthermore, It was for a cause I am passionate about, preserving our environment. These two factors combined sparked what has since been my passion project "Welcome to TownCityVille."

           I decided I wanted to make a 1980's style arcade game complete with limited colors, limited sounds, limited resolution, and brutal difficulty. I slowly brainstormed a game where you made money by fighting tooth and nail through some insane hectic traffic. That money could then be used to help out the environment encouraging similar activity in players' real lives. However, the brutal difficulty spawned an issue: 80's arcade games were meant to devour quarters with their difficulty. Failing at saving the climate is hardly a situation I wanted in my game meant to inspire hope for a better climate in players. I decided to make it so that you can't lose. Even when the player does nothing, the actions of local citizens still save the climate. They just do it much much slower. This is meant to promote the message that we are not alone when fighting for our planet.

           Although I didn't have an arcade-style color pallet, I did limit my game to the approximately 70 default colors in the GameMaker Studio 2 sprite editor. This gives the game a more arcade-y look. I also limited myself to three colors per sprite as was common with most 8-bit arcade games. finally, I used a 224 x 288 resolution (the same as the original Pac-Man arcade cabinet) to fully make "Welcome to "TownCityVille". These limitations forced me to be creative in sprite design and to find creative solutions to sneak more colors in images in other ways. I also had to shorten several lines of text to fit them within the tiny screen. 

           However, "Welcome to TownCityVille" isn't completely pure. GameMaker Studio 2 can process many more objects than any 1980's arcade cabinet could. Also, although the music is 8-bit compatible, the game runs multiple sounds at once which was simply implausible on 1980's hardware. 

           I completely created this game from the ground up. I animated everything, programmed everything, thought of all the ideas, did all the writing, and made all the sound effects. However, I did download the music royalty free from TechnoAxe. I cannot thank this resource enough. the music is catchy and far better than anything I could have ever made by myself. To check out TechnoAxe and more of their music, visit http://teknoaxe.com/Genre_Code_2.php?q=Eight.

           Finally, I want to thank my mom for being my primary play-tester. Thank you all for checking out my first complete game in over seven years! Welcome to TownCityVille and thank you for playing!