Braul

Braul is a local multiplayer game based around an ancient Aztec Mesoamerican ballgame, with the addition of combat elements to spice up the action. Using Xbox 360 Controllers, up to four players can duke it out in the arena to see who can brawl their way to victory.

Take control of Tochtli (Rabbit), Chimalli (Shield), Xochitl (Flower), or Xilonon (Hairy one) in a battle royale to see who has the balls of fury. Combine precision and combat prowess; players can steal the ball from each other in the hope that they’ll be able to land a clear shot at the goal and clinch victory.

Braul boasts the ability to be played as a free for all game, or as a team game, with changeable win settings; highest score in two minutes, or first to 15 points.

Concept

The concept for Braul was inspired by the incredible controller-based local multiplayer games we played at university, such as Rayman Legends, Spelunky, and Little Big Planet. Though we’ve adored the single-player elements of these games, it was the mini-games included in these games (Rayman’s Kung Foot, Spelunky’s Death match, and Little Big Planet’s Basketball) that caught our attention.

We wanted to produce a game that we wanted to play, with our friends, deciding to combine elements of our inspirations into something playable, and over time, the vehicle in which we would present this combination of game styles made itself apparent; the Aztec Mesoamerican ball game.

As for the name ‘Braul’, we took the two main elements of the game (the ball game, and the fighting, or ‘brawling’), and combined them to make Braul (pronounced just like ‘brawl’).

Artwork

The art-style we chose for Braul was reminiscent of Rayman Legends, with all graphics in the game hand-drawn by Paddy Selman. We decided to utilise this theme throughout the game, to ensure everything looked vibrant fresh, with a wet paint style worked into the core elements of the artworks.

Music / Audio

Five tracks were produced for the video game, three of which were used in the menu systems, gameplay, and sudden death situations.

Concentrating on percussion, the tracks all include a wide selection of tribal drums, darbukas, bongos, claves, guiros, tablas, and cowbells for good measure, to create a very busy and exciting selection of tracks for Braul. Sound effects for the game were also original, keeping in line with this percussion theme.

You can listen to them, along with music produced for iSo, on Soundcloud.