Game Idea A Week: Cocktail Challenge

Week Nineteen (13/02/2010)

The idea for this week is a Wii game where you play against or with friends to make cocktails. Players are given recipes and then use their Wiimote to prepare the ingredients, pour the right amount of the liquids, combine and garnish the drink to finish it.

Platform:

Wii

Genre:

Party game

Why it needs to be made:

Many party games available on the Wii are targeted towards children. However, adults do like playing these games with friends and can feel awkward if the game is too "kiddy". This game takes the elements of a good Wii party game, but uses more mature content and themes, since alcohol is sometimes used to make the drinks. Another reason to make this game is that cocktails are very popular drinks and there is a lot of variety in ingredients and mixing methods.

Description:

Make cocktails, mocktails, punches and more by moving the Wiimote to create and add ingredients, then mix them together. Compete against friends or work together in a bar to serve more customers. Each drink uses a combination of the following actions:

• peeling, chopping and zesting fruit for garnishes and to put in the drink itself;
• squeezing fruit juices (twisting);
• pouring correct quantities of liquid ingredients (use Wiimote like a bottle, tip it over for the required amount of time);
• opening champagne;
• adding small drops of intensely flavoured ingredients such as Bitters (tilt so only one drop comes out of the bottle on the screen at a time)
• choosing the right glass shape;
• scooping ice to add to the glass;
• muddling ingredients (crush them);
• shaking the ingredients in the cocktail shaker (shake the Wiimote over the shoulder);
• stirring ingredients together (circular, stirring motion);
• using a blender to combine ingredients;
• straining ingredients into a glass;
• positioning garnishes on the glass (balancing the Wiimote carefully);
• lighting a flame for flaming drinks;

To complete an action players are shown an image (e.g. fruit on a chopping board) and then must associate the correct movement to do (e.g using a knife-like chopping action) within a time limit. To create an entire cocktail they do a series of movements that relate to the cocktail ingredients and then get a score for the entire cocktail based on how well each individual movement was executed.

When competing against other players, the players must all complete the same cocktail. Points are awarded for speed and accuracy of the movements. The screen is split so that each player can see their progress on the cocktail separately. When playing cooperatively with other players, the players will work together to make multiple cocktails for customers. Each player has a role to play in a production line style process to create the cocktail. The players get an overall score for their drink and compete against other AI teams, or teams of their friends at the party.

Why it will be a compelling game:

There is a large variety of cocktails that can be made, and many different Wiimote movements to match the different components in the drinks. At the beginning, players will be shown an image on the screen (e.g. a cocktail shaker full on ingredients) and will be instructed how to move the Wiimote (shake it up and down over the player's shoulder). As the game progresses, the player will only be shown the image and not the Wiimote instructions. This means that players will need to learn which images go with which movements. This will be challenging to learn and will cause laughter when the wrong movement is chosen.

Other thoughts:

This game will include appropriate warnings about drinking alcohol in moderation and responsible drinking. Players will be forced to make mocktails (non-alcoholic drinks) periodically.