About Bobo Ranch:
The Bobos have escape the barn and players must herd them back. Players take on the form of a Woopee, a colourful well dressed bird, and use their special abilities to redirect the escaped bobos back into the barn.
Players must pedal on an exercise bike to move in game, and if they are wearing a Bluetooth heart rate monitor then the game can determine the quality of their exercise and reward players with increased action meter charging speed.
Bobo ranch is a casual game where players are encouraged to work together to more quickly herd the bobo into the barn. Players have the option of one of three play styles. They can either shout the bobo towards the barn, lasso and drag them to the barn, or hypnotize the bobo and cause them to follow the players path. Periodically tornadoes will push the bobo up to the top of the stage, and the bobo will naturally avoid the barn if possible.
Development Notes:
In contrast to Gekku Race which emphasized pedal performance, and Biri Brawl which emphasized action timing, Bobo Ranch was designed to emphasize positioning and team work. The player controlled Woopee in all three play styles was designed to have a ring of influence on the Bobos and players would be encouraged to maneuver the Woopee to target as many Bobos as they could.
Bobo Ranch was also used to study Aim Assistance Algorithms, in this case using the shout the player normally would provide a force in a straight line between their avatar and the targeted Bobo. With players who struggle to maneuver a joystick, the task of lining up a shot perfectly to send Bobos to the barn can be frustrating. We developed algorithms that would provide a curving force based on player skill level. If the player was frequently able to aim their shots towards the barn, no aim assistance was applied. If the player struggled with the task, the trajectory was nudged in a way that would help them compete against more skilled players. This algorithm would record scoring over several sessions and adjust based on comparing results of fellow study cohort members.
Additional game quality improvements were made for the game’s free play mode. Versus matches were enabled by implementing a Bobo tagging system, if a player recently interacted with a Bobo, that Bobo would change colours temporarily and only the matching coloured player would be able to score with that Bobo for a set period of time. Glowing outlines on the Bobo would also grow and shrink as the player got closer or further to indicate how much force would be applied if the player were to shout at that moment.