⚒ Development 🛠
In the first 1-3 weeks i created different type of enemies (which vary in their values such as speed, distance, behaviour, ...), level ideas and mechanics which builds around the shooting aspect. This was pretty fun but also frustrating at the same time because I came up with many ideas that could be implemented but because of the constrains our prof. gave us we did have to cancel those.
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
My role in this project was being Game Designer or superficially the one who comes up with the main ideas for the game in terms of; Mechanics, dynamics, gameplay feeling and the UI elements.
In the week 4-6 I focused on developing and polishing the main elements of our game further more such as the NPC's dynamics between eachother, setting the rules of a playthrough and also giving our artist and coder references and storyboards/screenflows to help them understand the idea of our game even more.
These were the first iterations of the perspective and artstyle of the game.
The key element was it to hit the people who pass across the screen. Also hitting specific spots increases the gain of points and trigger specific events.
After talking and developing the game both coding and design the artstyle became also more clear to get rid of problems such as the perspective (since it had to be a 2D game which made the ideas of hitting different spot of the character harder) so we set on a top-down kind of view.
In the 7-10 week my main aspects of designing and creating changed to rather finding problems and adjusting certain elements of the game. So it was mostly writing the problems down for our coder and changing values of the NPC's and rearranging UI elemnts.
Since there wasn't more to be added in terms of ideas I was mainly looking at what was really necessary or missing in this game and then it blew my mind; Sounds. I added them and it made the experience of playing this game 5x better since you are understanding the feedback of your actions much more.
Phase 4
In the last weeks 11-12 I was only changing the UI and the different menu screens as well as writing down every bug, glitch and abuse of mechanics that came up in that current version and told the coder about them.
That really concludes the journey of this project and as mentioned above, it was really fun and I hope you either enjoyed this overview of the design process or the game itself (Link to the itch.io page where you can download the game).
In the first 1-2 weeks I had to create a storyline with multipile different outcomes that are of course not to generic and also something to design and develop „minigames“ out of. My first idea was it to write down everything that comes into my mind and then connecting them to make different storylines that are interesting to experience.
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
We settled on having 3 minigames but depending if you win/lose or what you choose to do; the following cutscene and the ones that will be shown later on will also change. With that being sad, I created 2 of the 3 minigames ideas. 1. Escaping the bullies in the cafeteria, 2. Distracted at work (Our artist came up with the idea before he even pitched us the game) and 3. Fleeing and rescuing from the burning appartment.
After talking about that in the group we realized that it would take too much time to convert this into our project for this semester in this short amount of time we have. So we did cut out most of the storylines/minigames but still picked some of my ideas which we can implement into the story where the suicide will be inevitable but you can still experience different parts of his life.
After finishing the layout and fixing the positions, range and movement of the bullies, I've created the scene in Unity and used the assets our artist provided us. The rules were also set; the player has to escape from the cafeteria within a certain timeframe without getting spotted by the bullies
(The player starts in the bottom left corner and the exit is on the top right).
After the first minigame was set, I've started working together with our artist of his idea of the second minigame. The goal was it create a game where the main protagonist is at work and is slowly doozing away in which he is ends up doing two things at the same time; his paper work and catching fishes in his fantasy.
So the main idea here was it have the main event happening on the right, which is to stamp papers with a tick or an X depending on the calculations listed on the paper itself. Meanwhile you also have to catch some fishes which relaxes you from stressing out or sleeping during work. We reworked the fishing aspect into rewarding the player by giving him more time if he manages to catch a fish since the game ends by either not being able to finish the paper work in the timeframe or doing too many of those wrong.
Phase 4
Now to the last minigame in which you can only save either your wife or your child from your burning apartment. You have to navigate through your apartment which is filled with fire and smoke and find your family as soon as possible. You can also hear them screaming/crying for help which helps the player more in terms of navigation. I created a top-down layout of the level again and marked the important checkpoints where the player will have to click arrows which lead to the following rooms.
Afterwards i halfed the amount of checkpoints since there were just too many.
As always, thank you for your attention and I hope you enjoyed this small design doc. or the game itself (Link with the itch.io page above where you can download the game).
This project was based on a story we've read and rounding it up with a theme where the focus should be set heavily on the story. In our case it was based on a pitch idea afterwards where the main protagonist of the game commits suicide. This was also one of the first big digital projects I've created with a team and I gotta say it was harder than expected. The teamwork on this project was pretty solid since we've covered every aspect of the Game Design pillars and we were constantly talking and giving feedback to eachother whenever a big or small step has been achieved.
🎯 My personal view and my team 🎯
⛓ Rules and Constrains while creating this Project ⛓
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A story heavy game
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Not much text
⚒ Development 🛠
My role in this project was being the Game Designer with the focus set on Level Design and Storyboarding.
