AN ELEPHANT, THE CITY, POTATO CHIPS
PROMPT
An elephant, the city, potato chips -- make a game.
Elevator Pitch
A physics-driven comedy heist game starring an elephant and a raccoon, blending vehicle-style traversal with stealth-platforming in a surreal city. Get in, get the snacks, get out.
Demonstrates:
Brainstorming and concepting abilities
Ability to communicate and explore potential gameplay
Player-experience-focused thinking
Early systems exploration (controls, character roles, environment structure)
Completion Time
For this prompt, I approached it as an exploratory first-pass concept, not a fully-scoped pitch.
Total Time: ~10 hours.
Brainstorm & Description: ~2 hours
Explored multiple directions and wrote the initial framing before choosing one to develop further.Controls Exploration: ~5 hours
Sketched, iterated, and experimented with the movement/control concepts.Level Ideas: ~3 hours
Mocked up possible encounters and moment-to-moment beats.
BRAINSTORM
Ideas:
Control elephant body, control trunk separate. Direction of trunk = projectile launch. Trunk extends to a certain degree. Controls like Snake?
Team up with raccoons to steal chips from the snack bar by extending your trunk over obstacles for them to climb
Seagulls fly overhead with their stolen snacks. Suck up objects to launch at them. Get chips. If food hits the ground it disappears
Disguise your trunk as an employee. Work a shift at a convenience store. Help customers while your trunk has other ideas in the snack aisle...
A mega potato chip corporation is urbanizing your home to build their next factory. Send them back to the city!
An elephant finds a triple hot death chip on the side of the road. HOT! It rampages through anything in its path, trunk blazing like a flamethrower, to find relief.
It's an elephant but it controls like an excavator. Navigate through neighborhoods under the cover of night to find delicious snacks in the suburbs just outside the city. Be careful not to make too much noise.
Every time the elephant eats something it gets bigger. It starts with a chip and ends with an entire city, Katamari-style.
Side scrolling. An elephant walks around the city at night. It's Pittsburgh so no one is out. Even if someone saw you they would just think they drank too many IC Lights. The elephant can extend its trunk. Like really far. Find a good building to check out and reach your trunk up and through the windows. You're looking for vending machines. Inside each building is a puzzle-like environment that your trunk needs to navigate to get those delicious BBQ chips from the vending machine.
Don’t feed the animals. You’re at the city zoo. Try to stack Pringles into the correct shapes to get them to the elephants.
Top Ideas
In a team setting, concepts would be discussed and a few standouts would be chosen to explore. As this is a solo exercise for myself, I chose one with defined mechanics, one that seems the weirdest or most funny, and one that I just like.
Mechanically-Inclined
1. Control the body and trunk separately: I can already see an elephant moving around and it's trunk creating odd patterns, projectiles and objects being flung about chaotically. The player would use WASD and arrow keys, or dual thumbsticks. However, the few games like this that I've tried I've been terrible at...
Weird/Funny
9. Vending machine raider: The idea of an elephant wandering around a quiet city at night with a trunk that can extend into the upper floors of skyscrapers sounds pleasantly surreal. Though, I'm having issues really thinking about what the player actually does with the trunk once they're controlling it inside of a building.
Personal Preference
7. Elephant Excavator: Maybe this one also fits in the "mechanically-inclined" category above, and maybe it's because I've worked on an excavator game before, but the idea of an animal that controls like a vehicle seems like it has the potential to generate some interesting gameplay.
Choice
Elephant Excavator
I've previously worked on a game about operating an excavator and I've always thought there was more potential in using realistic excavator controls in an unrestrained setting. As a result, this idea was the most clear to me while looking at the brainstormed ideas. Even though going with the thing that comes easiest can leave out the potential of other ideas, sometimes it can be better to just get anything into a tangible form during early concepting, and especially so in this case as I'm completing an exercise.
Excavator + Elephant [1] [2]
I also saw an opportunity in this idea to combine several elements from the other ideas into this one. What if the raccoon companion is the one controlling the elephant, Ratatouille style? What if the raccoon can position the trunk in such a way in front of an office window that he can disembark, climb up the trunk, and enter a platforming level? I picked this direction because it created interesting mechanical contrasts (heavy/precise, inside/outside).
This kind of "everything" thinking is usually bad for scope, but early on while in a blue skies concepting phase it can also be a way to generate more ideas. I don't see any reason to narrow down just yet, so why not explore?
DESCRIPTION
It’s a quiet night. Downtown isn’t what it used to be, there’s not a soul in sight. Not even a mous- IS THAT AN ELEPHANT?!
An elephant rumbles down the road, it moves almost like a tank. It looks like someone is on the elephant, IS THAT A RACOON?!
The raccoon steers the elephant onto the sidewalk. They back up into an alley, parallel to the biggest skyscraper in town. Then, like on a construction site, the raccoon carefully uses the elephant’s trunk to push a dumpster into position, then a concrete barrier, then a car! Are they building stairs?!
The elephant walks up the impromptu stairs, each component groaning under the weight. But the structure is sound. Next, the dexterous raccoon manipulates the elephant’s trunk to reach as high as possible. The tip of the trunk just reaches a rickety vent. With a sound like a vacuum cleaner, the elephant uses its mighty lungs to rip the grate clean from the building. To avoid making noise, the raccoon carefully guides the trunk to just above a dump truck full of sand. When the grate is aligned with the sand, the elephant releases the grate and it falls without a sound.
The raccoon repositions the tip of the trunk in front of the now open grate. He dismounts, climbs up the trunk, and disappears into the building. He navigates the maze-like HVAC system, keeping an eye out for a special glow. “Gotcha.” he whispers to himself as he sees the faint light.
He drops down out of the ceiling, across the room is his goal; the vending machine, all of its delicious contents basking in that cold light. “Cajun Squirrel Flavored Chips - Limited Time Only. Just like she said.”
One problem, a building like this requires a pro. State-of-the art cameras, motion sensors, malfunctioning Roombas, you name it. And this place is big. Cubicles, towering file cabinets, leaky water coolers, dying office plants. But to this raccoon, these are all platforms and pathways toward the prize. The raccoon looks out over the series of challenges in front of him, cracks his knuckles, and gets to work.
He jumps from office object to office object, timing his jumps with the security camera’s sweeping motion. He takes one big leap and with a flip he lands in front of the vending machine. Alarms blare, “Lasers. That’s new.”
The door bursts open, a guard shines his light at a now empty spot in front of the machine. The bandit has already begun his daring escape. He flees as the guard chases him, the guard knocking the office supplies about in a chaotic frenzy. A stray coffee mug could knock the raccoon off course and he would be done for.
He’s made it back to the vent. He flies from the side of the building, high above the alleyway with his partner waiting below. He extends his little raccoon arms and legs and catches the wind. He lands on the elephant, kicks him into gear, and they peel off into the night. But what’s that? Security golf carts!
Somehow, just like an excavator, the elephant’s upper body rotates while his legs continue to churn forward. His trunk smashes into a garbage can, sending it careening into the pursuing guards. One of the carts spins out. Two to go. Next, he lowers his trunk to just above the street. He begins to suck and up comes a manhole cover. One of the carts swerves the opening, but the other doesn’t see it in time and his cart tumbles as its wheel gets caught in the hole. Last one. The raccoon carefully straightens and lines up the trunk, still holding the manhole cover. The elephant exhales and launches it through the air. It crashes into the cart, stopping it in its tracks.
The two thieves drive off into the night, headed for their hideout.
“Did they have the stuff?”
“The chips, are in the bag.”
CONCEPT
First things first, how do you actually control an excavator? [3]
Possible third-person view of the elephant-ular gameplay.
Moving the the right thumbstick forward and back controls the 'boom.'
Moving the left stick forward and back controls the 'arm.'
The right thumbstick, controls the nostrils. Left to suck up, right to blow away.
Moving the left stick left and right rotates the entire upper body, but the feet stay in place. However, if the camera doesn't follow the rotation it would become very difficult to control the trunk...
...So the camera is always pointing at the back of the raccoon to provide a functional view. Here the elephant's upper body is at 0º, 45º, and 90º with a garbage can as a reference point as the camera rotates with the elephant.
Here's an animated example to further illustrate what it looks like to rotate the elephant's body.
Pressing a shoulder button will move the corresponding legs forward, turning the entire elephant accordingly.
Another animated example. Note how the legs move with the body this time.
Pressing both shoulder buttons at the same time causes the elephant to rumble forward.
Maybe the elephant could slide across the ground like Bowser in Super Smash Bros to further reinforce the vehicle aspect. [4]
The bumper buttons are the same as the shoulder buttons, but in reverse. So pressing both at the same time causes you to go backwards.
In addition to the "realistic" excavator-inspired controls, there's a hop button. For when you need to get your elephant into hard-to-reach spots.
A potential level layout based on the description in the above section. Key pieces are highlighted. (This illustration isn't from the player's point of view, it's only meant to show parts of the level.)
Success! I think the fun in this example would come from playing with the game's physics and finding a solution that works.
Once inside, the gameplay shifts to a 2D platformer. The elephant uses his strength and mass on the outside, and the raccoon uses his nimbleness and cleverness on the inside.
Levels like the one above are bite-size experiences. The goal is to get as many chips as you can. In the above image, there's a vending machine with snack bags, but in the locked security office is a family-sized bag. The player can choose to get one, both, or none.
Other ideas hinted at above:
Patrolling Gang Mice: They've been stealing snacks long before you showed up, and they don't like that you're on their turf.
Coffee Mugs: Grabbable objects that the player can hold and throw. These stun enemies and trigger objects.
Patrolling Security Guard: Equipped with Sleepytime Tranquilizer pistols, it's their job to stop the recent rash of snack snatching that's plagued the city. They often carry security cards and other important items.
Fire Extinguisher: Perfect for causing disruption, just don't get caught in its chemical spray!
Rogue Roomba: An autonomous cleaning robot that's developed a taste for blood. Moves slowly back and forth until it detects movement, at which point it chases its poor victim relentlessly
Filing Cabinet: Push and pull the drawers to create platforms. They're pretty heavy with useless files so they take some time to move.
Security Doors: Needs a keycard to open.
Thoughts
Potential Strengths
Original setting and physics-driven gameplay could result in a chaotic, emergent, sandbox-style experience. Many players love this type of thing.
Mechanics for the elephant controls are based on a real vehicle, so there are clear starting points for what to prototype.
The idea contains several potential mechanics and perspectives, making it adaptable for prototyping in different directions depending on team goals.
Potential Weaknesses
Realistic or vehicle-style elephant controls could frustrate players without deliberate onboarding. Early levels would need to introduce movement systems gradually and clearly.
The split between elephant “excavator-style” gameplay and raccoon platforming risks feeling like two separate games if not unified by a strong core loop.
Managing two distinct control schemes and movement systems increases scope and may require careful production planning.
[1] https://www.pexels.com/photo/yellow-excavator-95687/
[2] https://www.pexels.com/photo/gray-elephant-walking-on-grass-field-133393/
[3] Operating a Cat 320 Excavator: The basics
[4] File:Xbox 360 -controller (fi).svg by Alphathon License: CC BY-SA 3.0
[5] Melee Bowser Dash
Commercial material used under fair use for portfolio purposes. © 2025 Bryon Lagania