Dating game for New Zealand species - welcome to the Ugly Club
Asia Martusia King had never designed a game before, but she has gone all out – building a dating game involving New Zealand species.
The University of Otago student has created and submitted the game as part of her master of science communication degree.
King wanted to combine learning with something fun, and ended up with The Ugly Club – essentially a dating simulator, based on the annual Bird of the Year competition.'
“Science games do exist but, to be frank, a lot of them are really boring and lack story, so my primary aim is to communicate these concepts in a way which is fun and silly and integral to a plot,” King said.
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The game has a plot line which will take some beating, and involves some ‘‘uncharismatic New Zealand fauna’’ – an Archey’s frog, a wētāpunga and a short-tailed bat – aka the “ugly club”, who a player ends up flatting with at the University of Otago.
When a player receives an invitation to the Bird of the Year annual ball, they go on “dates” with their flatmates to decide who they want to bring.
King said those dates range from partying on Dunedin's infamous Castle St, or playing the popular student drinking game “possum” in the botanic gardens.
“Dating simulators are essentially visual novels, so as long as I did the art and the writing I figured I could teach myself how to put it all together, and it would be way less difficult that teaching myself how to code,” King said.
“I had heaps of fun with it. I don’t think anyone outside of New Zealand would appreciate the game at all ... but I don’t care.”
The beauty of the game
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