FRONTIER
The Team
Daniel Eji - Programmer
Abdul-Rahman Dawoodu - UI Designer
Saleh Hosseini -Programmer
My Role
Lead Game Designer
Level Designer
Audio Designer
The Idea
The module gave us the criteria that we had to make a multiplayer game, which meant we had to create and understand how balance for both players can work. I always wanted to delve deep into creating a multiplayer experience where splitting the roles of players and spectators. In this case, players would have a active participation in how to complete the game and the spectators would influence the environment to cause more havoc for the players of the game.
This was the core idea that was going to work with the game, where both of these teams don’t have direct interaction rather the game environment would be the method of interactivity between the players. This concept delved deep into how could be introduce that type of gameplay, and the idea created was maybe there could be a race. You see loads of sports where racing happens which has a lot of spectators but how would it be if they could stop the people racing to get to the end goal with emphasised the gameplay.
Additionally, a theme of space was added to present a challenge in regards to the reasoning everything is happening.
Mechanics
An Asymmetric game, as each player group has a different set of rules to follow.
Team 1 - Rangers
The Rangers have been sent to occupy this Planet in the name of Peace Corp and deliver a peace treaty to the native Aliens on the planet. These players will be in the environment trying to solve a puzzle within a limited time to get to the end, they will be met with 4 different sections where these puzzles are solved, increasing difficulty, once they reach the end of the 4th section they win. The method in which they solve puzzles relies on each player in this team having a different ability.
Player 1 can use the power of Teleportation to teleport over holes (with restriction to distance) and through allocated walls. Player 2 can use Telekinesis, to move objects including blocks and certain platforms (in essence this player can create make-shift bridges)
Team 2 - Aliens
These will be the native Aliens having the miscommunication that they are being invaded by these Rangers and are choosing the defend their home planet before the Rangers can find a good settlement.
Aliens move around the level slower than that Rangers however aren’t restricted to the layout of the Level, instead they can freely fly above the Level. Additionally they also have abilities but their abilities differ from how the Rangers are played. Both Aliens have the same set of abilities where they can summon enemies from their current position, plant bombs, plant devices to slow the Rangers down, shoot rockets from above and finally change the weather conditions. There are two main methods in which the Aliens can activate these abilities. The first two I mentioned are on a cooldown timer, whilst the final 3 involves the Aliens collecting resources in a shared resource pool.
Below is a video of the game in action, however there is a update build, but have been unable to record footage
Blog Process
Level Design Pt 4
As creating the Puzzle they are conducted in steps being the ideal method the player should do in order to complete them, the steps for the first puzzle have been done so now we are going over the rest of them
Technical Design Pt.2
One thing that also needed to be examined was one of the Abilities the Alien player group has, as the abilities in general were hard to grasp as they have a few and how they are carried out aren’t entirely simple either.
Technical Design
This is the point where I delivered more specific imformation in terms of players abilities and what they are able to do, as I have a general consensous, for the developers, it’s important that they can understand everything to the small details. My main concern was commiunicating the clear ‘non-direct’ interactions between the player groups and what tools the Ranger group had to solve these puzzles
Level Design Pt.3
Following up on the previous one, because of the ‘procedural generation’ of the levels, it made me think of Splunky and knowing that the map changes often, it became the basis of our design. Now to make these map do as intended the concept was to make three different variations of each puzzle, but this would mean to create three methods of solving the puzzle too
Level Design Pt.2 and Audio Ideation
Starting to refine the puzzle structure as the previous one was quite basic, there needed to be a method in order to understand how we are gonna allow the Ranger Player group and the Alien Player Group to navigate in the map. Addtionally, we didn’t have a total theme yet so taking on the advice of one of the team members I decided to also elaborate on that
Product Planning
Started to make a project planning tool, I was familiar with the SCRUM method, I found it effective and pitched it to the team and it seemed all good
Design Method 2
Thinking how the players should solve the puzzle together, after thinking they should tag objects for the other one to interact with, designing the first puzzle and refining the flow of how both Player groups will play and to be a bit spicy adding a little narrative to hold the thing together
Level Design Pt.1 and a Disturbance in the Force…
After hearing one of the other team members come with a suggestion on how we should implement these puzzle by having ‘proceduratly generate’ levels, it got me thinking about the structure and how the game can be followed
Slowly but surely, Design Method Pt. 1
Finally getting a general idea of the mechanics for the game, at least having the inner workings of delevering a multiplayer puzzle game which still inherit thinks about the Players and the ‘Spectator’ Players
The Importance of Balance
Learning about the importance of game balance between the players, it’s easy to undestand but hard to execute but this is how I figured the Game should balance out in regards to what I want to achieve.
Players and Spectators
Seeing some of those game where people can chat and the text itself turns into a object in the game, but doing further research about what other games also have these elements. There should be a difference in gameplay between the actual players and the ‘spectator’ players
First day, and Group Name
Well this was the first day, the creation of the group and what my vision was for a multiplayer experience. I’m a pretty idea centric guy and I like to type a lot, so yeah