Family Gambit

System · Game loop

The game loop

Inspired by WarioWare, the game strings together three randomly drawn mini-games. The player has five seconds to clear each trial: succeed and you move on to the next; fail and you lose a life — symbolised by a parent who disinherits you. As the run goes on, the timer speeds up and the seconds tick by faster and faster.

• Three mini-games drawn at random and chained one after another
• 5 seconds per trial — success: on to the next mini-game; failure: the player loses a life
• Each lost life is symbolised by a parent disinheriting the player
• The timer accelerates as the run goes on: the seconds tick by faster and faster

Mini-game · 01

Pimple Popper

The player has to tap the girl's pimples fast to pop them in time — so she's ready for the class photo!

• Fast tapping mechanic, against the clock
• Punishing failure: the whole class laughs at her and her family disinherits her

Mini-game · 02

The Wedding

The player has to grab the groom's hand and guide it over to the bride's so he can slip the ring onto her finger.

• Grab-and-drag mechanic built on precision
• Failure: the bride calls off the wedding and the family disinherits him

Mini-game · 03

French Test

The player has to complete the quiz by matching the right answer to the sentence to finish.

• Matching mechanic: connect each prompt to the right answer
• Failure: a bad grade on the test and the family disinherits him

A background scene stays loaded at all times: it carries all the game data — remaining lives, current mini-game, rounds won and game speed. Each mini-game is actually a scene loaded on top that reads this data when it starts and returns its result when it ends.

• Persistent background scene: holds the global data (lives, current mini-game, rounds won, game speed)
• Each mini-game is an overlaid scene, loaded then unloaded on top of the background scene
• The two scenes communicate on entry (reading the data) and on exit (returning the result) of the mini-game

Game Design

Game design intentions

We really wanted to lean into the WarioWare-like principle: dead-simple mini-games, cleared in a few seconds and deliberately absurd. To amplify the stress the genre is built on, we based them on the most nerve-racking little everyday actions anyone can relate to.

• Leaning into the WarioWare format: ultra-simple mini-games, understood and cleared in an instant
• A deliberately ridiculous, over-the-top tone
• The most stressful everyday situations, to match the tension of the genre