Video Game Instructions In this game, you are Montag from the novel Fahrenheit 451. You are in a maze, trying to reach the river. There are 10 books hidden throughout the maze that you can collect to earn more points. The Mechanical Hound moves around the maze too, and if it touches you, you lose. The goal of the game is to get to the river without getting caught by the Mechanical Hound and collect as many books as possible. How to use the controller: Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move your player: Up key = move up Down key = move down Right key = move right Left key = move left. To start the game, press the green flag button then the space button on your keyboard. Try to get all 10 books and get to the river in under 100 seconds! Note: Sometimes the Mechanical Hound has 'zoomies' and spins on the walls for a few seconds. I tried to fix it on Scratch but it's not possible because I can't design the Hound to be able to think for itself on this website.
Connection to the novel: My video game connects to Fahrenheit 451 in several ways. First of all, it shares the exact same goals that Montag has in the scene where he escapes the city: Get to the river Preserve the knowledge Avoid the Mechanical Hound! The first way my game connects to the book is that both the player and Montag have the same goal in the scene where they escape the city: to escape the Hound and get to the river. In the novel, one of the most intense scenes is when Montag is running to escape the city. This game lets players experience what Montag was feeling and what he experienced during that scene. By playing, people can imagine what it felt like to be Montag: trapped, hunted, and desperate to get to the river and protect the books. By making my video game from Montag’s point of view, it helps the player put themselves in his shoes to understand his struggle in that scene. Secondly, in this video game the Mechanical Hound represents the same danger and control that Montag faces in his world. While playing, the one thing you can not do is get caught by the Mechanical Hound. In the game, if you get caught you lose. In the novel, if Montag gets caught he dies. In the video game the Mechanical Hound is portrayed as a negative, harmful thing. In this scene of the book Montag views the Hound and society as negative and harmful, too. The third and final goal of this game is to save as many books as you can. Collecting books in my game symbolizes preserving knowledge. That relates directly to Montag in that scene since they have the same goal. Montag will do anything to preserve the knowledge in books, even risk his life for it. In conclusion, my video game directly connects to Fahrenheit 451 because both Montag and the player share the same three goals: to escape to the river, to save books, and to not get caught by the Mechanical Hound. Total time spent working: 12 hours (plus 4 hours on Godot before it lost my work and I had to restart) Try to get all 10 books and get to the river in under 100 seconds (current high score is 49 seconds)!
