Unlucky in love? Well, now you can try your chances on the Internet with the Dating Game Online, a multi-player Web version of the classic TV show produced by Sony Online Entertainment.
The online game was designed and developed by San Francisco-based Click 3X/Construct, the company formed by the recent merger of post/effects house Click 3X San Francisco and Construct Internet Design Co., a San Francisco-based Web firm with design resources (SHOOT, 3/12, p.23). The entity is owned by New York-headquartered IllusionFusion (IF!).
Based on the premise of the original game show, the Dating Game Online features Construct’s interpretation of the TV show’s ’60s kitsch look and feel in its use of wild colors and funky graphics. During three rounds of play, the "chooser" asks questions of contestants and gives each answer a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down; the game also opens up for chat between players in between each question.
In the "moment of truth," the chooser selects one contestant and the two players take a compatibility test. Their score determines the destination of their "virtual date": the Tunnel of Love or the Road to Hell, both of which take place in a private chat room.
Although the game debuted online in March, Click 3X/Construct president Lisa Goldman related that Sony first approached Construct in April ’96, just as the World Wide Web was taking off. She said that the job took that long to complete due to a year-long development period and because the technology-until recently-hadn’t sufficiently developed to allow them to create what they’d envisioned.
Specifically, Sony wanted a game with high scalability; that is, one that can accomodate many users. Sony wanted at least 200,000 simultaneous users; Construct exceeded that by developing a server now capable of handling more than 500,000 simultaneous players.
One of the challenges was translating the show into a Web-based game that would be of interest. "You can’t directly translate the TV experience," said Goldman. "The TV show relied upon the bachelor or bachelorette not being able to see the other contestants, while the audience can see them-that’s really where the dramatic tension came in. On the Web, you can’t do that kind of a reveal; on the Web, everyone is behind a mask. You really can’t tell if any of the players are who they represent themselves to be." Instead, Goldman said, they designed the Web game to emphasize the opportunity to banter and flirt with other participants.
Players create a profile by answering questions about themselves (gender, age, hometown, occupation, ice breaker, tragic flaw and favorite activity). One of the more interesting aspects of the game is a customizable avatar, a graphic representation of a person’s online persona. Users then pick an avatar ( i.e.-Anime Girl, a look inspired by Japanese cartoon art; or Strip Girl, a Cubist-inspired look in which the face is comprised of different photographs juxtaposed together). These looks can be customized with mix-and-match hairstyles, eyes, faces and torsos.
The game itself is played in three rounds: Funny, Sexy and Final Plea. In the first two rounds, the chooser asks the contestants the same two questions (example of a Funny question: "You’re a new candy bar. What does it say on your wrapper?"). In Final Plea, the chooser goes one-on-one with each contestant and asks a final question. After this, the chooser makes his or her selection and the two of them go on to a bonus round, the compatibility test (comprised of 10 multiple-choice questions). Based on their answers, the two go on to a virtual date–the Tunnel of Love, if their answers are very matched, or the Road to Hell, if their responses are divergent.
In addition to opportunities for verbal exchanges, the game also provides "avatudes," which are avatar animations that display player emotion at times when words fail. To access avatudes, users press one of the three faces-happy, sad and surprised-on the player control bar.
And since these are the ’90s, the game even has a "jerk button" allowing contestants to eliminate offensive player behavior. One player can put a tiny jerk indicator next to the avatar of the problem player; if the other players agree, they can jerk the player as well. After two such "jerks," the problem player gets a warning. If the jerkiness persists, the player’s text will be cloaked and the player removed from the game.
The real-time chat game was written in Java. "It’s a really big application and it’s one of the most ambitious things ever done on the Web," claimed Goldman. "The really innovative things we did were creating a stylish user interface, so the graphics are appealing to consumers, especially the young demographic that’s into dating. They don’t want to play a dating game where they don’t get to look cool."
Construct credits go to interface/interaction designers/software engineers Sascha Becker, Cynsa Bonorris, Peter Molletiere and Sam Trychin; interface/interaction designers/visual designers/producers Mark Lawton, Annette Loudon and Andy Slopsema; interface/interaction designer/software tester David Hartmann; software engineers Lior Saar and James Waldrop; visual designer/producer Rebecca Frydman and software tester Wes Carroll. Project manager credits go to Linda Branagan, Cathi Cox and Goldman.
