Sprint 1 - Mecha Fighters
My group is working on developing our mobile game, Mecha Fighters. The idea for our game is to combine grid-based tower defense with roguelite elements to create a more tense and rewarding experience. The player will take on the role of a mecha squadron leader under the IJK, who are currently experiencing an alien invasion. Your job is to use your mechs to fight them off before they can destroy the planet.
As this was the first sprint, we spent some time at the start going through the different aspects of the game's existing documents, deciding what to focus on implementing and how to split tasks for each person. I am filling the role of the game's lead designer, so I'll mostly be taking care of the visual aspects of the game, including models, UI, and more.
We started working on converting the game concept into a functional physical prototype to test among our peers. For this, we came up with the idea of having a game board to contain the grid spaces needed to place mechs, with visually distinguishable pieces for Starter mechs, Advanced mechs, and enemies, respectively. Since we couldn't rely on code to track our resources, we opted to manually track player health, enemy health, and energy to ease the load on the player. For gameplay, we allowed the player to start with three Starter mechs that dealt a consistent amount of damage. As they eliminated each enemy, they would gain a resource, which they could use two of to buy upgraded mechs. These mechs relied on a die roll for damage dealing, but could go as high as five, compared to the Starters' two damage.
My role, in addition to converting the concept into a physical space, was to model, print, and paint the game pieces needed to conduct the playtest. I stuck with simple shapes to ensure a high-quality print and to save time on complicated painting.
Overall, our in-person playtest went pretty well. We had five testers, two women and three men, and received an average score of 3.2 out of 4. 60% of our testers were able to finish the game, defeating an average of 7.8 enemies and losing 2.4 of their mechs during the game. They also purchased 3 mechs on average. We got praise for our design of the board and pieces, as well as the concept being interesting. However, we did get feedback that the gameplay loop was a bit confusing, and the lack of resource tracking was difficult to keep up with. There was also some slight confusion on how the movement and combat elements worked at times.
In the digital prototype, we plan to address all of these issues up front. We want to implement variables and code to keep track of all of the players' resources for them, to eliminate that burden. We also plan on having a more fleshed-out shop system for purchasing mechs, as well as automated enemy activity and round progression. I believe that most, if not all, of the noted issues with the physical prototype will be fixed with the digital version. Most of it was due to our team finding it difficult to convert these automated systems into real space, but overall, I think we did a pretty good job.
As of now, we have begun working on the core mechanics of the digital prototype. My job going forward will mainly be handling the creation of models and UI. I plan to begin working on the models for the mechs and enemies first, then move on to the projectiles and resources, and finally the environment. I'm eager to begin realizing this idea and doing my best to make it as fun as possible.