Greasefire
Genre: Single-player Arcade
Platform: Android
Engine: Flash
Skills Used: Systems Design, Documentation, Scripting, Testing
Team: Jed Myers (Designer), James Khorin (Designer), Norman Paquette (Artist), Ryan Kirklink (Artist), Erika Anderson (Programmer), Andrew Millsap (Programmer), Mike Hamilton (Producer)
Platform: Android
Engine: Flash
Skills Used: Systems Design, Documentation, Scripting, Testing
Team: Jed Myers (Designer), James Khorin (Designer), Norman Paquette (Artist), Ryan Kirklink (Artist), Erika Anderson (Programmer), Andrew Millsap (Programmer), Mike Hamilton (Producer)
In the Beginning
Our initial planning sessions were for a top-down shooter called Greasefire. In it, we had wanted to recreate matrix style bullet-time on a touch screen. Our initial design document pitched this game for the tablet and used a Diablo-esque control scheme, with the PC following the player's finger. A double-tap in any direction would result in a jump into slow-mo. When in slow mo, they could fire bullets.
Our initial planning sessions were for a top-down shooter called Greasefire. In it, we had wanted to recreate matrix style bullet-time on a touch screen. Our initial design document pitched this game for the tablet and used a Diablo-esque control scheme, with the PC following the player's finger. A double-tap in any direction would result in a jump into slow-mo. When in slow mo, they could fire bullets.
Initial Prototype and Feedback
From this version, I made a quick flash prototype that represented the top-down version. While shopping this initial prototype around, one of the testers made a nonsensical comparison to door-kickers. We didn't think much of it at the time and instead continued to work on the action prototype. We spent two weeks getting that prototype to work. AB Testing However, the Doorkickers comparison got my co-designer thinking about a new application of the mechanic. Instead of an action game, he proposed that we make a second prototype using our mechanic tactically, planning your movement and jumps ahead of time to reduce the burden of the player to plan on the fly. |
Genre Change
The team was very excited about the B build and the test results were neck and neck. In the end, we went with the tactical version due to the teams excitement. However, the next few weeks required us to get a level design tool up and running within a week. While they were working on this, I took to researching sounds and music. We decided on a Rock-a-billy music style to fit with our main-character, who we etermined early on to have a greaser aesthetic.
The team was very excited about the B build and the test results were neck and neck. In the end, we went with the tactical version due to the teams excitement. However, the next few weeks required us to get a level design tool up and running within a week. While they were working on this, I took to researching sounds and music. We decided on a Rock-a-billy music style to fit with our main-character, who we etermined early on to have a greaser aesthetic.
Crunch
This game, unfortunately, was the one that required the most crunch out of any game I have ever developed. We didn't have level design tools until the last week and no way to know how they looked in engine. We had to scrap initial sketches for levels because the programmers got bottle-necked trying to implement assets. Nonetheless, we had a working demo by the end of Week 6. |
Post-Mortem
This project was a rough project at the end but ultimately, I think it's one of the most rewarding projects. It's one, in retrospect where I can see clear iteration on a core-mechanic. The game we made was very different from the game we originally conceived of and for that reason, I think it was still a success. However, the two week switch taught me the value of beginning AB testing sooner rather than later in a project cycle. If I were to go back, i might have insisted we stick to the top-down shooter prototype. And this is simply because we could have immediately made level design tools and had a more polished experience.
This project was a rough project at the end but ultimately, I think it's one of the most rewarding projects. It's one, in retrospect where I can see clear iteration on a core-mechanic. The game we made was very different from the game we originally conceived of and for that reason, I think it was still a success. However, the two week switch taught me the value of beginning AB testing sooner rather than later in a project cycle. If I were to go back, i might have insisted we stick to the top-down shooter prototype. And this is simply because we could have immediately made level design tools and had a more polished experience.