Duration:
5 months pre-production
2 months production
Responsibilities:
Design and script the systems and mechanics of the game.
Iterate on the prototype and develop a ludic sketch prototype at the end of the project.
To ensure that momentum is essential to the core actions of the game.
To show the core mechanics, systems, the core pillars, and a "slice" of the game cohesively and concisely.
To make sure the prototype is polished and highlights the design elements in a previous assignment for this project.
Design Commentary
This video outlines my decision regarding the game loops, core pillars and how I fulfilled them.
I discuss how I have used my numeric design and how I’ve solved some problems with upgrading.
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Download Instructions are on the itch.io page.
My design process was to:
Present the core game and show elements relating to the core game and the larger idea.
I wanted the game to communicate the core feeling of momentum and management. Combination moves are a way of conveying momentum and the choices of moves help manage the player's speed.
The meta loop is intended to add "extra" interest and have upgraded movement and weapons throughout the game.
The commercial plan was taken from successful indie and AA games of the last 5-6 years and combined it with social platforms like Tik-Tok.
This expands the reach of my game across social media platforms ensuring that game has a healthy and lengthy lifespan.
My intention was for the neon lights to subtly guide the player through the level highlighting the futuristic environment.
I wanted this neon to extend to the player’s weapons and for it to be the same colour to help the player identify that the neon is also there to guide them.
Design Pillars
These design pillars are important as they will convey what the essence of the game is and it will bind the mechanics and overall feeling of the game. everything in this project relates to these pillars from art to sound to UI to mechanics. Everything in the design document or the game will relate to these four pillars.
Game Mechanics
The thought process of the mechanics are:
I have established the core in the pitch, I need to expand on each of the core loop nodes and the feeling of each specific move.
I wanted to communicate the idea of rhythm, combination moves and safety moves.
If the player learns the physics of the jump, the timing and overall rhythm, the player can then avoid using the safety moves.
The meta loop is used as a method to segment the levels allowing the player to take time to upgrade. Ammo can be used as currency to spend and upgrade.
I wanted the compulsion loop to have the implicit rewards of mastery reinforced with explicit rewards like upgrades this also ties into the upgrades pillar (see GDD)
I wanted an overlap between the core loop actions for example I wanted shooting to contribute to traversal via the knock-back and management with the recoil and characteristics of each weapon (see Numeric Design). I wanted players to be efficient with their choices, finding the balance between fast movement but also landing precise shots so players do not waste their ammo.
The enemies shown in the document creates a mix of actions requiring the player to set up a priority list of which enemies to kill first. This is intended to create systemic agency as the enemies gets the players to use various actions to kill them.
Numeric Structure
The thought process is annotated on the images.
Sample Level Design
The sample levels are in blocks to show what the game would require to make a level and what each area contains.
I wanted to show the characteristics of each area and what they could look like for the game. The challenge was how could I make these areas fit in with the pillars of the game. The documentation details what are the characteristics and how they could address some or all of the pillars.