SpiritSphere is a local multiplayer game that draws inspiration from classics like Zelda and Windjammers and combines it with arcade style gameplay found in air-hockey, tennis and pong.
The game is easy to pick up for casual players but also offers more advanced game mechanics that enable competitive play.
Motivatie
Best Casual Entertainment Game
SpiritSphere builds on the classic game of air-hockey, a game which almost everyone has played at least once or twice in their life.
The goal of the game can't be much simpler, simply hit the ball (puck) into your opponent's goal.
If you know what an analog stick and a button is then you have all the info you need play SpiritSphere, therefore the game is perfect to pick up and play for less experienced players.
I had a great time bringing the game to conventions like Animecon, where the crowd isn't necessarily made up out of gamers, it was a joy to see a match between two people who are normally not that much into video games.
I believe this is exactly what makes a game the perfect contender for Best Casual Entertainment Game!
Motivatie 2e categorie
Best Music & Audio
I have to hand it to my composer, gas1312. I gave him the difficult task to come up with some tunes that must fit in both an arcade game and a fantasy RPG, with the limitations of 8-bit sound channels nonetheless! And boy did he deliver.
The tracks all have that good old retro RPG vibe to them, but at the same time they remind you of the beats you might hear at an arcade. The volcano stage theme is a perfect example: https://gas1312.bandcamp.com/track/volcanos-tongues
It starts off as a song that might remind you of a dungeon you played in an old Zelda game, but then the bass kicks in and it easily becomes something you could dance to.
Because of the difficult and somewhat strange mix of a fantasy and arcade soundtrack, and just how well this freaky combination turned out, I can submit the SpiritSphere soundtrack to the category Best Music & Audio with a great sense of pride!
Motivatie 3e categorie
Best Game Design
How do you combine an arcade game with an action-RPG? That's the question I asked myself when I started development on SpiritSphere. I took a good hard look at both genres to see which elements I could use. In the end I decided that my core philosophy should revolve around risk and reward.
Every mechanic in SpiritSphere revolves around this principle; You can move your character closer to the center of the arena for great offensive capabilities, but in doing so you are leaving your goal wide open. Same goes for using charged attack or dashing towards the sphere.
The key to mastering SpiritSphere is your spatial awareness, knowing where to move your character and what the consequence will be, while at the same time predicting the trajectory of the ball.
This is a principe that applies to all ball games, and therefore is a mechanic more casual players can easily grasp and relate to as well.
Grabbing two vastly different genres, putting them into one game and still conveying making mechanics make sense after just a few rounds of play is what makes me submit SpiritSphere to the category of Best Game Design.
