Role: Game Design, Illustration, Animation
Timeframe: 3 months
Platform: Web
Tools: GDevelop, Affinity Designer, Clip Studio Paint
Background
“Spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) is an invasive planthopper that feeds on a wide range of plants, including grapevines, hops, stone fruit trees, and hardwood trees. When the spotted lanternfly feeds, it excretes a sticky, sugary fluid that promotes sooty mold growth, which can further damage plants. Its preferred host is tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima), and today 19 States and the District of Columbia have some degree of infestation.”
The spotted lanternfly invasion in the United States was first identified in my home state of Pennsylvania in 2014. By 2020, my family’s backyard was full of them. Pennsylvanians were advised to destroy bugs on sight to help contain their spread.
For my final project for the Game Art Certificate at the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, I created a game to spread awareness about this invasive species.
Game Overview
As in real life, the player must swat as many lanternflies as they can. I drew all sprites and level backgrounds based on observations in my family’s backyard.
The game has three levels corresponding to the three distinct stages of the lanternfly’s development: the early nymph (black with white spots), late nymph (red with white spots), and adult (winged). In each level, the number of lanternflies increases, and they become more mature. Lanternflies are tricky to kill: the nymphs are quick to jump, and the adults are quick to fly away. Therefore, lanternflies in the game will scatter if the swatter misses them.
A challenge of controlling lanternflies in real life is avoiding harm to native species. To underscore this point, I included lookalike bugs in the game—milkweed bugs and ladybugs—that reduce the player’s score when hit. Each level becomes more visually cluttered, making it harder to distinguish the lanternflies from other bugs.
Outcome and Remastered Edition
The game was well received by instructors and led to my successful completion of the Game Art Certificate program. Progress on the game was also shared with other stakeholders at the college to promote the certificate program, which was new at the time.
I’m currently developing a new edition of this game to add features I wasn’t able to add over the course of the certificate program—and to better reflect my current design skills:
- Currently, the lanternflies in the game instantaneously teleport away when the player misses them with the swatter; this was the best way I could represent their jumpy nature, given my limited technical abilities at the time. In the new version, lanternflies will follow an actual arc of motion.
- Realistically, a lanternfly would also attempt to escape if it sensed the swatter coming, or if the plant supporting it was disturbed. The new version of the game will reflect this behavior.
- The game levels are time-restricted, but there isn’t a timer on screen, nor even a mention of the time limit. That’s pretty bad UX design! Luckily, it has simple fixes.
- Given the limited scope of the game, there’s really no need for the level selection to be spread out across several screens. The new edition of the game will feature a condensed menu screen.
Stay tuned for the remastered edition of Spotted Lanternfly Smash!