Context

This project was made for during the Production Process and Pipeline module for University at the end of my first year, where we had to work in a group to produce a fully functioning game. My team was a group of three and were given 9 weeks to produce a game given the conditions of a real team environment. This module ran alongside a solo project where we had to make the mechanics of a game, shown in "Turn-based RPG". We used Blueprint to construct this project, utilising Github as our version control.

The Process

We began by learning what everyone's strengths and weaknesses were, and how best we can channel people's abilities into the areas they work best in. We then went on to create a general concept for the game, where we landed on making a game where the player is a chef who has to shoot ingredients a burger to complete the order. We found games with similar mechanics and vibes, and formulated a design for the level, UI, gameplay, etc. We used GitHub's built-in Kanban Board to make and assign tasks to keep organised. We would hold scrum meetings to consolidate the state of the project, and figure out the next step.

My Role

As the team was small, everyone in the team would have to cross different specialisms. However, we took on a main role each, to minimise the amount of confusion on who was working on what. I mainly took on implementing Gameplay as I programmed: the player, the weapons, the UI, the system tracking the order on the burger, the system getting and completing the order and the upgrade system. Due to time constrants and the deadline getting closer, I also had to implement the HUD UI and added the "How to Play" section into the main menu.

More Detail

The Game Idea

As the team had decided to go with the "Chef shooting ingredients at the burger" thing, we developed the idea further to help cement the game loop and idea of what we were looking for, before going off and finding ways to make the game. We came to the idea that the chef/player would shoot a multitude of ingredients at an (NPC) incomplete burger, whose actively trying to avoid getting completed, around a kitchen. The multitudes of ingredients are fired from one of three guns, with each gun having a primary and secondary firing function. With this general concept, the team separated and conducted research into how we could bring our vision to life.

Planning

Aspects of the game were assigned to each member of the team. I was assigned to research the gameplay and the UI.

Gameplay

For gameplay, I went to games such as Slime Rancher, Dead by Daylight and Bigfoot as these games contains chasing things, which coincides with our game.

From the Slime Rancher games, I determined that we could utilise the entertaining frustration sometimes created by the game. The Slime Ranchers balance the frustration created through its gameplay with the satisfaction of completing your collection, or nabbing a slime needed for progression, to induce a level of anxiety, yet providing a greater level of entertainment and accomplishment.

Dead by Daylight added perks that improved the hunter's ability to catch its prey. This could be turned into an upgrade system, in which the player could spend currency gotten from completing orders on stat boosts, with special abilities being a possibility for later along the line, if we had the time

Another game that holds similar mechanics to our game is Bigfoot. The game Bigfoot makes the most out of its environment when it comes to gameplay. We could use this in designing the level, to add another level of complexity to the gameplay.

UI

As our game is most similar to simulator games, I turned to games such as Slime Rancher 1 and 2 (again), PowerWash Simulator, Fast Food Simulator and Overcooked.

The Slime Ranchers use minimal text and only displays vital information in an engaging manner. I thought that we could mimic what they do to display the time and currency the player has to keep the player up-to-date with their positioning. The player's ammo will also be shown in a noticeable yet undisruptable way, like in the Slime Ranchers. The keybinds will also be displayed on screen to inform the player constantly but subtly.

PowerWash simulator displays the weapon equipped, with some farther info on the weapon, and the player's progress.

For Fast Food Simulator, we thought of using pop-up widgets to inform the player on the item or objective.

And Overcooked has a playful UI style and provides the player with what each order requires, which we could use to develop our UI.