Designing Syrup Hosers

I created Syrup Hosers during Winter Break with the seasonal goal of making a winter theme multiplayer game for the holidays. This winter-themed game was also an opportunity to incorporate my love for Canada into a game. These two desires blended into a concept of a multiplayer game of shooting syrup guns. Upon deciding on Syrup Hosers' name, I knew that the idea was a winner. The design of Syrup Hosers evolved from the concept and turned into a game centered around controlling space with syrup in a similar vein to the territory control of Splatoon. Many elements of Syrup Hosers also took inspiration from the multiplayer game Towerfall, such as the hold and release aiming system and screen wrapping since they function well for a game like Syrup Hosers.

Syrup Hosers still manages to offer a twist to the established genre of platform party fighters by lacking any way to kill your opponent. I debated on whether to provide a means of killing your opponent through a slow hockey stick attack but decided to design the game around using syrup to slow your opponents. This radical twist resulted in questions on how to design the game around this limitation. The first of these questions was "What should the win condition be?" since most games' objectives center around killing your opponents. My solution was to spawn pancakes that the players had to collect to win. This system would require players to constantly move and incentivize using your syrup to slow your opponent while chasing the pancake. I also added power-Ups to create alternative strategies rather than simply chasing the pancake. The Beercan is a speed boost that allows for a faster collection of pancakes, thus creating a different item to focus on other than the pancake to win. The additional power is a Soap Bar that serves as a countermeasure to a player spamming syrup all over the level.

Initial tests of Syrup Hosers after these systems were in place revealed a design problem since the optimal method of play was boringly passive with not enough incentive to engage with your opponent. I had considered incorporating a way to take away pancakes from the beginning by jumping on their head. Still, I found it lacked counterplay, with the new optimal strategy being to continually bounce on your opponent, preventing them from ever getting a pancake. I settle with making it so shooting your opponent with syrup causes them to lose one pancake but have an opportunity to run away before becoming vulnerable to losing another. I tweaked other elements, such as changing the objective from "who has the most pancakes by the end of the timer" to "who gets x amount of pancakes first," which also solved the issue of grabbing one pancake then trapping your opponent for the rest of the match. I also altered the level layout to ensure that players have plenty of escape routes through screen wrapping or falling from platforms when they get hit. I even positioned all the trees used to refill your syrup so a player can not trap their opponent while camping the tree.

The end result of these unconventional design decisions is a game built around its limitations that offers a uniquely engaging multiplayer experience.