Scale
(Unity) WIP
Roles:
System Designer, Gameplay Designer
Year
2022
Team:
Team Leviathan (DigiPen Institute of Technology)
Links:
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Description:
Scale is my second team project at DigiPen Institute of Technology. It is a 3D platformer about a lizard, that features special movement mechanics based on that (Gliding, Water Running, Wall Running).
It is currently being developed by team Leviathan and will be complete December 2023
My contribution
System and Gameplay Design are my roles on this project.
System Design:
Currently, my job is to develop a simple in-game economy that will feature 2-3 types of currency and different player costumes that would be purchased during the playthrough. The main challenge, in this case, it to fit the scope of the game. The system has to be interesting and engaging but simple and easy to understand at the same time. By now I have developed and prototyped 3 different systems. The diagrams for those systems are displayed below:
System 1 features 2 types of currency. Breadcrumbing currency (Shells), and rare currency (Bugs). Shells are located all over the levels and are not serialized. There is an infinite inflow of them and the player uses them all the time to perform fast travels between the checkpoints. Bugs are a rare currency hidden all around the game world. Bugs are serialized which means that there is a limited quantity of those. The player can purchase a random costume by spending a certain amount of Bugs and Shells.
System 2 is a little bit more complicated but might be more engaging for the player. It features Shells and Bugs of different rarity (Common/Rare/Legendary). To craft a costume the player has to combine 3 Bugs and pay a crafting fee in Shells. Each bug has a Fusion Score depending on its rarity. During the costume fusion process, the Fusion Score of all 3 bugs is sums up into the Fusion Score. Depending on that Fusion Score, the player will get costumes of different rarity. The current fusion values displayed on the diagram below were determined using the playtest data on player expectations and satisfaction before and after the fusion.
System 3 features all the same currencies as System 2 but eliminates the crafting mechanic. The player can trade Bugs of a different rarity on lootboxes and open those lootboxes by spending Shells. This system is mechanically simpler than System 2 and less random than System 1. The benefit of that is that the player knows what to expect from the lootboxs (as in System 2) but doesn't have to deal with the complexity of crafting mechanics.
Gameplay Design:
My current job as a gameplay designer is to provide the tech team with documentation on the player controller. At the moment, I'm in charge of keeping the Player Controller States and Interactions document and playtesting. The Player Controller States and Interactions contains a list of all the player controller states, their variables that have to be adjustable and inter-state transitions. Playtesting on the other hand includes conducting regular playtesting and adjusting the player controller variables based on the feedback. Due to the fact that non of us ever worked on 3D platformers, playtesting allows us to learn how different player controller parameters affect the player experience during the game.