IOU : UO_Me

This is a game about making quick decisions to avoid the greedy UO_Me and his band of crypto homies. All while restoring both color and light back to all zones of the Rainbow Blockchain. This will be done by controlling IOU_BOI with taps, swipes, and device shakes to manage through puzzling waves of UO_Me crypto homies.

Game Flow

IOU : UOMe is played through a series of levels, each building upon the mechanics introduced to the player in the last. Levels are short ranging from 2-3 minutes of total play time to allow for bite sized chunks of gameplay while on the go. Drawing inspiration from games such as Crossy Road, Frogger, and Patapon levels will be packed with micro decisions for the player to make, maximizing the immersion and “escapism” per minute played. Every action the player makes will be directly tied towards the progression of the level.

Rules

Only one action can be performed every 1.0 seconds.
This internal cooldown can be adjusted with power ups or debuffs.
Movement Icons will be one the right hand side of the screen
- Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TyocFJTF9g&t=352s

Every action that the player takes will let the UO_MEs perform an action as well
- The UO_ME will also move at the same Global Cooldown speed as the player. If the player has sped up so will the UO_MEs.
- Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs4Sc6-PjQI
Once the Z-plane of the IOU_BOI has passed by an UO_ME it will be converted into Rainbow Energy and unable to affect IOU_BOI.
- This is how IOU_BOI defeats the UO_ME homies. By drawing them in and giving them part of his Rainbow Energy. Fulfilling the nature of his name.
IOU_BOI will be defeated once he has been touched by any of the UO_ME homies.
- The current level will immediately reset upon IOU_BOI’s death.
- Data on real life blockchains cannot be edited by others so the respawn system is a callback to that. IOU_BOI will respawn until he wins. There is no auto-lose scenario where the player is kicked back to the main menu.
The light pulses emitted from the movement icons will only awaken up to two of the closest UO_ME homies.
- Each direction will be tied to a specific light color.
  - Up = Pink
  - Down = Purple
  - Forward = Green
    - All derived from IOU_BOI’s color palette.

Goals

Short Term
- Avoid being converted into a greedy UO_ME homie.
- Make it to the end of each level.
- Collect each of the tokens in the level

Long Term
- Complete all of 20 levels of the Rainbow Blockchain
- Defeat UO_ME and convert him and his crypto homies into IOU_BOIs

Actions

Tap one of three movement icons on the screen to move in that direction (up, down, forward)
Tap Special ability icon once the special meter is fully charged

Reward System

At the end of each level of the Blockchain that IOU_BOI is able to restore, a reward screen will appear to communicate to the player how well they performed. The ranking system will be based on two main factors. Each contributes to the amount of points the player will receive at the end.

The first being how many actions were performed in a combo. Actions are considered to be performed in a combo if they were performed directly (within 0.2 seconds) after the Global Cooldown. The scoring system will take a ratio of the total actions performed over the amount performed within a combo.

The second factor will be how many times IOU_BOI was defeated within that particular level of the Blockchain. This system will be tested and adjusted once a prototype has been completed.

1 Star
- Completed the level.
2 Star
- At least 25% of actions were performed within a combo.
3 Star
- At least 50% of actions were performed within a combo
- No more than 15 respawns
4 Star
- At least 75% of actions were performed within a combo
- No more than 10 respawns
5 Star
- At least 90% of actions were performed within a combo
- No more than 5 respawns

Visual Feedback

Tapping a movement icon will generate a circular pulse effect of a particular color depending on which direction was tapped. This pulse will expand over a time delta and awaken UO_MEs that are hidden in the blackness of the screen as their triggers are hit by the pulse. The pulse will have an alpha element that will allow items underneath the pulse to still be seen.
Having IOU_BOI pass by UO_MEs without being hit by them will have the UO_MEs disintegrate into a colorful particle effect, signifying their transformation into Rainbow Energy.
The right side of the screen space will contain a rainbow gradient bar that will fill in over time as rainbow energy is acquired by IOU_BOI. The bar will never exceed the position of IOU_BOI.
- Once the rainbow energy meter is full it will begin to glow, signifying that IOU_BOI’s special ability is ready to use.