This was a big week for us design folk! On our end, we took a step back and really looked into what made our game tick, and how others felt about what we currently had. Last week we had a pretty straight forward idea: There is a king of the hill objective that moves around the map, and is only visible when interacted with by a shot or a player. We liked it, but it lacked several things, and left us with some big questions.
Why is it 2v2?
Where is the player on player incentive?
Why should I hold the hill? It’s more fun finding it
Where is the player on player incentive?
Why should I hold the hill? It’s more fun finding it
Over the course of the week Design team: Tyler, Cole, Kyle and I, met 3 separate times to take a look at our feedback from the professors and playtests. Almost immediately we knew how to remedy our situation, and as a result created what we believe will be our Buildshot gamemode going forward. What we have, as shown by the diagrams below, is a king of the hill / capture the flag type game mode where the players no longer gain points from holding the hill, but gain points through collecting and bringing back “flags” that appear around the map when a team member holds the hill. This solves our 2v2 issue, because we require 2 players to play the game in order to gain points.
The game starts as it has with 2 players on each side, with a single hill
When a player from a specific team enters the hill, “flags” appear around the map that can only be obtained by members of that team
Players have the ability to collect as many “flags” as they want while they are out
When a player returns to the held hill, that team will be rewarded with points for however many “flags” they’ve collected
With this split of the teams, it allows for a greater risk/reward form of gameplay where players will actively need to make more decisions on their actions. Specifics of what happens when players die with the “flags” and what happens when the opposite team takes the hill are still up in the air (as far as I know. Look at Cole’s PPJ for specifics). The following sprint will definitely take this idea forward.
What went right:
The design team is confident that this new gamemode will be the next step Buildshot takes to becoming a fun game. I also did some drawings on the side for city concepts. That’s still in the works.
The design team is confident that this new gamemode will be the next step Buildshot takes to becoming a fun game. I also did some drawings on the side for city concepts. That’s still in the works.
What could’ve gone better:
This week overall felt lacking because it was mainly design work and meetings. So even though as a team we got a good amount of design ideas out on paper, I feel like there’s little evidence of me doing work. That’s just a personal conflict. I know that this was a big week and we were very productive.
This week overall felt lacking because it was mainly design work and meetings. So even though as a team we got a good amount of design ideas out on paper, I feel like there’s little evidence of me doing work. That’s just a personal conflict. I know that this was a big week and we were very productive.
Hours:
Meetings: 8hours
Drawing: 3 hours
Total: 11 hours
Drawing: 3 hours
Total: 11 hours
