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Babbo Motel is a spin on the popular virtual game Habbo Hotel. It is a simple 2D top-down game hosted on the browser. Players entering Babbo Motel can create their avatars and socialize with one another.
A player wishing to enter Babbo Motel is greeted warmly:
Hey, welcome! It's been a while since I've seen a new face around here. But!! You do look kind of familiar. Remind me who you are again.
This is a prompt for the player to sign up. But if they don’t, it's fine because a login screen will pop up to inform players to create an account.
Once the player signs up, they are taken to the character customization page. Here's where they create their avatar by choosing from various options in body, hairstyle, eyes, clothing and accessories. The player then enters a name for their avatar. That's it! Now they're in the multiplayer world of Babbo Motel.
Here, they move around the space in real time and see what other players are doing. Players can interact with one another using the chat function. If they want, they can even modify their avatar in the middle of the game.
The current prototype for the project showcase primarily uses chat as the interactive mechanism. Enhancements will see more action among players, imagine virtual fights and weapons.
Once inside Babbo Motel, players cannot walk off the screen. When they attempt to, they will not be able to move past the wall leading outside the motel. The feature is in place to aid players in staying within yet moving freely in this virtual world.
Depending upon players' appetite for exploring and interacting within virtual spaces, they can expect hours of fun inside Babbo Motel.
The idea for Babbo Motel sprung from the desire to understand the amount of work that goes into programming a game. Interest in metaverse blockchain gaming and NFTs are gradually rising. This information is expected to be helpful in conceptualizing and planning a mini metaverse version of Babbo Motel.
Virtual worlds replicate many of the behaviours one might expect to see in the real world. Alternatively, they can also be a safe space to be who one wants to be, but cannot in the real world. Players can use avatars for anonymity, personalisation and relationship development. A virtual world allows everyone to meet as equals, and can be an empowering space if used productively.
Babbo Motel is a solo project (yes one Bootcamp graduate developed this all by himself!) that involved a pretty significant amount of work to bring it to life. Working on the project helped form a clear understanding of the amount of concept, particularly object-oriented programming, that goes into creating an online game.
The key things that stood out about the project are:
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