CYBERDRIVE 2077
Contribution
Designer and Programmer (Intern at MassDiGI, SIP 2018)
Development TimeLine
13 weeks
Framework
Unity
Platform
Android Tablets and IPads
Description
Play as a renegade hacker as you drive into the heart of the evil supercomputer that rules this world. Race, dodge, and fly at breakneck speeds through endless levels in cyberspace. How far can you last inside The System? Coming soon!
DATA DRIVEN DESIGN PROCESS
Why follow a Data-Driven Approach?
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The field of Game design seems less evolved as compared to the field of Psychology and Anthropology.
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A designer from one field may not have knowledge about the design principles of another field. As designers, we need to start documenting our findings and publishing them just like the field of psychology.
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I believe there are important lessons to learn from these evolved fields to make the game design discipline more organised.
How to execute a Data-Driven Approach?
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Learn about some of the techniques my team used for researching and gathering Data.
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This includes a step by step process to play a game like a Game Designer.
How to execute a Data-Driven Approach?
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White-Boxing: We went ahead to build a white box to replicate the feel of the researched game.
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Fail fast approach.
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Identification and Tweaking of Parameters: Finding out which parameters of our game affected the gameplay feel of it.
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Created several prototypes for two games: An Endless Runner and Stack Jump.
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The idea was to identify which game our target audience preferred playing the most.
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We used the same process for playtesting and iteration as discussed above.
Week Three
Endless Runner Whitebox
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Playtesting: It was time to test our whitebox to understand how our target audience reacted to the feel that we had established for the game.
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The documentation uses MoSCoW prioritization for rapid prototyping. This way, we knew what to focus on and what information to filter out.
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Iteration: This also involved tons of iterations based on the feedback we received from the players.
Week Four
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Playtested both of our genres to better understand which one to pursue to make an addicting game.
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By the end of this week, we chose the endless runner genre and decided to test it more to create a fun replayable game.
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This week, I sat down with the 3D artist to make a list of approved obstacles.
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Researching on Obstacle Shapes, types and sizes.
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Identifying types of Approved and Non-Approved obstacles.
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We collaborated and tested every obstacle in the gameplay to make sure they were not too hard, too difficult to notice, too big, too small etc.
Week Seven
Identifying Gameplay progression in one Sector. This is where I started defining the framework for each level.
A typical level would flow in this manner:
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Warm Up: Discovery, Adaptation, Enjoyment
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Calibrate: Player experiences obstacles for the first time and they start learning the dodging mechanic
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Reward: Players get rewarded for dodging the obstacles in the calibration phase
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Challenge (Part 1): New obstacles get introduced
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Challenge (Part 2): Difficult obstacles along with animated obstacles are introduced
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Rest: Players get to rest before the next level
First version for level framework
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Building a Level. The dos and don'ts of building a level in CyberDrive 2077.
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Creating a level using the Level Editor we made in Unity especially for the game.
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Teaches how to construct a level to non-programmers.
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Contains file structure information and naming conventions.
Week Ten
Made a video for non-programmers on:
MORE PROJECTS.
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Researched on UI by looking at similar games like Race The Sun and Super Sonic Surge.
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Made a couple of Wireframes.
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Decided on the aspect ratio.
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Identified our colour palette.
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Locked down on a vaporwave theme.
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Connected and spoke with industry professional and Unity Evangelist, Oscar Clark.
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Came up with monetization strategies described by Oscar Clark in his famous monetization talk.
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