Kokoro Renzu
- 心レンズ -
Kokoro Renzu combines exploration of a small open world with a card game. These two aspects are linked by a mechanic : photography.
You can capture any object with your camera and turn it into a playing card, like a polaroid. You can also reuse the cards you've acquired to create a copy of the captured object and shape the world around you !
I'm the lead on this diploma project, which I did at LISAA as part of my Bachelor's degree in Game Design.
I'm in charge of System Design (exploration and card game), Level Design, documentation (GC, GDD, data table...), UI integration and management of the 14 students team.
Lyn's story
The player takes on the role of Lyn, a young child living on the fictional Japanese island of Kokoro with her grandfather Hiwasai during the Edo period.
Her goal is to beat Hiwasai at a card game he has invented himself, so that he will agree to take her to the capital, to take part in the "Himatsuri" festival.
To get there, he'll have to explore the island, discover its secrets and photograph its beauties.
Main Mechanic
Explore the island of Kokoro to take photos of objects, animals and Yokais.
These photos, transformed into cards, will allow you to defeat opponents at "Yokai No Kake" and explore new areas thanks to the 'Print' mechanic, which copies an object already captured.
The island of Kokoro has been designed so that certain parts can only be accessed after capturing certain objects, in the manner of a metroidvania.
Puzzles are scattered throughout the island. They can be solved with the Print and are optional, like the Korogu in Zelda BOTW.
Solving them unlocks exclusive cards !
The Print also serves to bring the world to life and make the player feel that his or her actions have an impact.
Several interactions have been planned, and others have emerged during playtesting !
Animals can have 3 different behaviors :
fleeing, aggressive and neutral.
Some are more difficult to catch.
The player must therefore attract them with food and crouch down to be more discreet.
Kokoro Island
To make exploration motivating, the island has been designed as a small open world with several biomes that are more or less accessible.
The island is built around points of interest visible from afar (landmarks) and thematically recognizable areas (districts).
The open-world structure of Kokoro Island gives players a great deal of freedom, but makes it more difficult to control their experience.
After several playtests and adjustments, the landmarks and level art composition enabled us to direct players towards the critical path we had originally planned.
Lyn's Notebook
The vast majority of Kokoro Renzu's UI is intradiegetic. It takes the form of a notebook in which Lyn will store his cards, photos, island map, settings...
Yokai no Kake
Yokai no Kake is a mix of card game and board game, pitting 2 players against each other on a 5x5 chessboard.
Each player takes on the role of a Yokai.
There are 2 ways to win a game:
- Make the opposing Yokai's HP fall to 0.
- Occupy the opponent's zone of influence for 3 turns with more units.
In this game, there is only one resource.
Players can spend it to summon a card in their zone of influence, draw, attack or move around the battlefield.
The illustrations on the cards are photos taken by the player.