STUDENT gamE PROFILES
EducatEd Play!
Paper Plane
http://paperplane-game.com
IGF FInalIst PaPerPlane aIms to caPture the sPIrIt oF chIldhood Innocence, allowInG Players to GlIde throuGh the countrysIde and uncover what It
has to oFFer. as the Game ProGresses, the InItIally barren landscaPe becomes PoPulated wIth swInG sets, Farmlands, and more, dePendInG on where
Players GuIde theIr small PaPer aIrPlane. here, the team From French Game school enJmIn dIscusses the InsPIratIon and work that went Into creatInG
thIs atmosPherIc tItle.
Tom Curtis: How did you all come
together to work on this project?
PaPerPlane was our second year
student project in our master’s
degree program. For these projects,
you have to submit a pitch to the
school’s board, and they select
some of them. Then, you have to
build a team around your project.
There were three of us behind
this pitch, and quickly we found
six other teammates. We had six
months to develop a prototype
and we had to deliver three
TC: The game heavily emphasizes
life in the rural countryside. Did
any of you grow up in such an
environment?
Most of us did, or at least had
parents or grandparents who grew
up in the countryside, and we all
have different memories of this
type of environment. When you’re a
child, it’s such a rich and enjoyable
setting. To get a good feeling of the
countryside we did some "project
hikes" with the whole team. We
went around the city we lived in:
one that was more or less like the
one in the game. It's a wonderful
feeling to be on top of everything,
to be higher than your parents, to
have a private space where they
can’t go. Also, it’s really hard to find
people who never made a paper
airplane; every one of us did it at
some point either as a child, as a
parent, or as a grandparent.
course of development and
were harshly reminded during a
presentation that our game looked
too realistic, and it didn't quite feel
right. That was enough for us to
review all of the textures we had
done so far and do them again—
we did not regret it.
TC: What were your influences
when developing the game's
visual style? The game's
intro sequence in particular
seems to draw some cues from
impressionist paintings.
We opted for a visual style close
to hand drawing. Nevertheless, it’s
pretty hard to obtain a convincing
NPR render, especially with Unity,
so we decided to work with low-
poly models and flat textures, soft
light, colored shadows, and pastel
tones. The intro scene is a pre-
rendered sequence, so we tried to
obtain a painted visual style with a
little program wrote by one of our
graphic designers.
presentations during this time, with
the final one being in front of a jury
for the end of the project.
TC: How did you all decide upon
the premise for the PaPerPlane?
The proposed pitch was not quite
like the final prototype. At first, it
was more based on the concept
of Rube Goldberg machines, and
you would use the paper airplane
as a means of chaining actions
together. We got a little lost with
this concept during the first month
or two of development, and after
a few meetings with some of our
teachers, we were able to find a
different direction that suited all
of us. The idea of using childhood
memories came at around that
moment, and it was from there
that everything fell into place.
Angoulême, France, which is where
our school is. That was really fun
to do and it created a bond among
the team. Also, mountain bike
rides and books by French author
Jean Giono were major inspirations
during development.
We didn’t want to show a
kitsch, adult-idealized vision of
the rural countryside. It’s not all
flowers and cows there; we also
feature things like a highway and
a tractor, because these sorts of
things can still seem incredibly
fun in a child’s eyes.
TC: What sort of inspiration
did you draw from your own
childhoods?
The central tree house is really a
thing we all had in common—it also
speaks to every child. Everyone had
TC: What were some of the major
challenges you all faced during
development?
At first, we wanted to integrate
an "origami editor" into the game,
which would allow the player to
fold their own paper airplane and
even other shapes like boats or
cranes. That was a major feature
in the original pitch, but we had to
drop it because of the technical
and usability challenges involved.
It was a hard decision to make, but
it was for the greater good—you
need to keep it simple to be able to
focus on the little things.
Another stressful challenge
was when we had to do an art
change about a month before the
final presentation of the project.
We lost our direction along the
TC: What was it like working with
Unity as your game engine?
Unity is great for students; you
have all you need right away. You
don’t have to waste time developing
your own engine. Of course, the
engine is quite generic, so you
can make pretty much any type
of game you want. Unfortunately,
that’s also its worst drawback,
meaning you have everything to
make a game but not everything
is as advanced as you would like.
For example, the sound engine is
good but you can’t have interactive
music easily. However, some
missing features can be developed
with the help of plug-ins.
The fact that JavaScript is
implemented is also of great
help for the designers, and
when it comes to balancing and
playtesting. Using that, a non-coding team member can easily
tweak some game variable without
bothering a programmer.
TC: Now that PaPerPlane has
been featured in the IGF Student
Showcase, what are your plans
moving forward? Do any of you
have plans for future projects?
The IGF draws a lot of attention,
and it’s really a great way to get
contacts. We have been contacted
by several people with different
opportunities relating to this
project, and we are excited about
all of them so far. We all would like
to work some more on the game,
but once you finish school, it’s hard
to find time for side projects.
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