Crystal Carnage
Crystal Carnage
Crystal Carnage
Team Size: 5
Team Size: 5
Team Size: 5
Role: Systems and Content Designer
Role: Systems and Content Designer
Role: Systems and Content Designer
Development Cycle: 1 Year
Development Cycle: 1 Year
Development Cycle: 1 Year
Engine: Unity
Engine: Unity
Engine: Unity
Description: Crystal Carnage is a single-player horde shooter where you fight by hurling enchanted crystals at your enemies!
Description: Crystal Carnage is a single-player horde shooter where you fight by hurling enchanted crystals at your enemies!
Description: Crystal Carnage is a single-player horde shooter where you fight by hurling enchanted crystals at your enemies!
Core Contributions:
Core Contributions:
Core Contributions:
Collaborated with the project and programming leads to design and implement 9 projectile-based weapons and 8 enemy types using prefabs and custom scriptable objects.
Collaborated with the project and programming leads to design and implement 9 projectile-based weapons and 8 enemy types using prefabs and custom scriptable objects.
Iterated on the enemy spawning system using spreadsheets with Unity to determine what enemies are spawning at any given time during gameplay.
Iterated on the enemy spawning system using spreadsheets with Unity to determine what enemies are spawning at any given time during gameplay.
Balanced gameplay in Unity by changing values in player and enemy prefabs and the enemy spawning scriptable objects based on playtesting feedback to improve game feel.
Balanced gameplay in Unity by changing values in player and enemy prefabs and the enemy spawning scriptable objects based on playtesting feedback to improve game feel.
Wrote our post-playtest Google form to gather feedback from playtesters and analyzed its results to create design, art and animation, and programming action items.
Wrote our post-playtest Google form to gather feedback from playtesters and analyzed its results to create design, art and animation, and programming action items.
Design Goals
Design Goals
Design Goals
Provide the player with opportunities to use the core Pull mechanic and increase their skill in various situations by introducing new enemies and increasing difficulty over time.
Provide the player with opportunities to use the core Pull mechanic and increase their skill in various situations by introducing new enemies and increasing difficulty over time.
Provide the player with opportunities to use the core Pull mechanic and increase their skill in various situations by introducing new enemies and increasing difficulty over time.
Design and implement enemies with behaviors that present the player with new challenges, requiring them to adjust their strategy by modifying their movement patterns and utilizing their abilities in innovative ways to survive.
Design and implement enemies with behaviors that present the player with new challenges, requiring them to adjust their strategy by modifying their movement patterns and utilizing their abilities in innovative ways to survive.
Design and implement enemies with behaviors that present the player with new challenges, requiring them to adjust their strategy by modifying their movement patterns and utilizing their abilities in innovative ways to survive.
Allow the player to increase the strength and efficiency of their abilities as they progress, scaling their power with the difficulty over time as new enemies are introduced and spawn rates increase.
Allow the player to increase the strength and efficiency of their abilities as they progress, scaling their power with the difficulty over time as new enemies are introduced and spawn rates increase.
Allow the player to increase the strength and efficiency of their abilities as they progress, scaling their power with the difficulty over time as new enemies are introduced and spawn rates increase.
Balance the enemy spawning system to create breaks between waves of enemies to create a sense of rising and falling action and encourage feelings of anticipation and achievement within the player as they survive and defeat large groups of enemies.
Balance the enemy spawning system to create breaks between waves of enemies to create a sense of rising and falling action and encourage feelings of anticipation and achievement within the player as they survive and defeat large groups of enemies.
Balance the enemy spawning system to create breaks between waves of enemies to create a sense of rising and falling action and encourage feelings of anticipation and achievement within the player as they survive and defeat large groups of enemies.
Playtesting
Key Questions: Question #1: Evaluate the ease of use of the control scheme. How difficult is it to pick up the controls? Do they feel unnatural, confusing, or clunky? Question #2: How powerful does the player feel with enemies that only move toward the player and can be killed in one hit? Do they ever feel threatened or in danger with their ability to kill enemies with one collision with a Demon? Question #3: Is a simple, text-based tutorial sufficient for players to understand the controls and the mechanics of their core abilities (push, pull, fly, and slam)? Survey Questions: Do you like playing first-person shooters? If so, how often do you play them, and what are your favorites? Do you like playing Bullet Heaven games? If so, how often do you play them, and what are your favorites? How much time did you spend playing the demo? An estimate is fine. How did you feel while pushing, pulling, and slamming the crystals to fight off the enemies? For example, you might have felt powerful, frantic, or overwhelmed. What parts of the tutorial didn't you find helpful or understandable? How did the controls for pushing and pulling feel? Did you ever become frustrated with the controls? If yes, please explain what you were doing. Were there any situations where you felt threatened or in danger? If yes, when? How did you feel about the information in the user interface? For example, you might have seen something that you didn't understand or something obstructing your view Reflection: Our team's main takeaway from this playtest is that we're on the right track to creating our desired player experience, but we still have a long way to go. We've established that the foundation of our control scheme is intuitive enough to allow the player to use the mechanics fluidly, and their abilities allow them to feel powerful when destroying hordes of enemies. At the same time, we still need to rework and balance many of our mechanics and systems to get our core experience down pat. Our original plan for the Spring 2024 semester was to develop a progression system that included challenges that would allow the player to unlock new abilities and upgrades. Given that we had less than two months of work time before the semester ended, we refocused on maximizing our game's essential experience: killing enemies with the Demon abilities.
Playtesting
Key Questions: Question #1: Evaluate the ease of use of the control scheme. How difficult is it to pick up the controls? Do they feel unnatural, confusing, or clunky? Question #2: How powerful does the player feel with enemies that only move toward the player and can be killed in one hit? Do they ever feel threatened or in danger with their ability to kill enemies with one collision with a Demon? Question #3: Is a simple, text-based tutorial sufficient for players to understand the controls and the mechanics of their core abilities (push, pull, fly, and slam)? Survey Questions: Do you like playing first-person shooters? If so, how often do you play them, and what are your favorites? Do you like playing Bullet Heaven games? If so, how often do you play them, and what are your favorites? How much time did you spend playing the demo? An estimate is fine. How did you feel while pushing, pulling, and slamming the crystals to fight off the enemies? For example, you might have felt powerful, frantic, or overwhelmed. What parts of the tutorial didn't you find helpful or understandable? How did the controls for pushing and pulling feel? Did you ever become frustrated with the controls? If yes, please explain what you were doing. Were there any situations where you felt threatened or in danger? If yes, when? How did you feel about the information in the user interface? For example, you might have seen something that you didn't understand or something obstructing your view Reflection: Our team's main takeaway from this playtest is that we're on the right track to creating our desired player experience, but we still have a long way to go. We've established that the foundation of our control scheme is intuitive enough to allow the player to use the mechanics fluidly, and their abilities allow them to feel powerful when destroying hordes of enemies. At the same time, we still need to rework and balance many of our mechanics and systems to get our core experience down pat. Our original plan for the Spring 2024 semester was to develop a progression system that included challenges that would allow the player to unlock new abilities and upgrades. Given that we had less than two months of work time before the semester ended, we refocused on maximizing our game's essential experience: killing enemies with the Demon abilities.
Playtesting
Key Questions: Question #1: Evaluate the ease of use of the control scheme. How difficult is it to pick up the controls? Do they feel unnatural, confusing, or clunky? Question #2: How powerful does the player feel with enemies that only move toward the player and can be killed in one hit? Do they ever feel threatened or in danger with their ability to kill enemies with one collision with a Demon? Question #3: Is a simple, text-based tutorial sufficient for players to understand the controls and the mechanics of their core abilities (push, pull, fly, and slam)? Survey Questions: Do you like playing first-person shooters? If so, how often do you play them, and what are your favorites? Do you like playing Bullet Heaven games? If so, how often do you play them, and what are your favorites? How much time did you spend playing the demo? An estimate is fine. How did you feel while pushing, pulling, and slamming the crystals to fight off the enemies? For example, you might have felt powerful, frantic, or overwhelmed. What parts of the tutorial didn't you find helpful or understandable? How did the controls for pushing and pulling feel? Did you ever become frustrated with the controls? If yes, please explain what you were doing. Were there any situations where you felt threatened or in danger? If yes, when? How did you feel about the information in the user interface? For example, you might have seen something that you didn't understand or something obstructing your view Reflection: Our team's main takeaway from this playtest is that we're on the right track to creating our desired player experience, but we still have a long way to go. We've established that the foundation of our control scheme is intuitive enough to allow the player to use the mechanics fluidly, and their abilities allow them to feel powerful when destroying hordes of enemies. At the same time, we still need to rework and balance many of our mechanics and systems to get our core experience down pat. Our original plan for the Spring 2024 semester was to develop a progression system that included challenges that would allow the player to unlock new abilities and upgrades. Given that we had less than two months of work time before the semester ended, we refocused on maximizing our game's essential experience: killing enemies with the Demon abilities.
Playtesting
Key Questions: Question #1: Evaluate the ease of use of the control scheme. How difficult is it to pick up the controls? Do they feel unnatural, confusing, or clunky? Question #2: How powerful does the player feel with enemies that only move toward the player and can be killed in one hit? Do they ever feel threatened or in danger with their ability to kill enemies with one collision with a Demon? Question #3: Is a simple, text-based tutorial sufficient for players to understand the controls and the mechanics of their core abilities (push, pull, fly, and slam)? Survey Questions: Do you like playing first-person shooters? If so, how often do you play them, and what are your favorites? Do you like playing Bullet Heaven games? If so, how often do you play them, and what are your favorites? How much time did you spend playing the demo? An estimate is fine. How did you feel while pushing, pulling, and slamming the crystals to fight off the enemies? For example, you might have felt powerful, frantic, or overwhelmed. What parts of the tutorial didn't you find helpful or understandable? How did the controls for pushing and pulling feel? Did you ever become frustrated with the controls? If yes, please explain what you were doing. Were there any situations where you felt threatened or in danger? If yes, when? How did you feel about the information in the user interface? For example, you might have seen something that you didn't understand or something obstructing your view Reflection: Our team's main takeaway from this playtest is that we're on the right track to creating our desired player experience, but we still have a long way to go. We've established that the foundation of our control scheme is intuitive enough to allow the player to use the mechanics fluidly, and their abilities allow them to feel powerful when destroying hordes of enemies. At the same time, we still need to rework and balance many of our mechanics and systems to get our core experience down pat. Our original plan for the Spring 2024 semester was to develop a progression system that included challenges that would allow the player to unlock new abilities and upgrades. Given that we had less than two months of work time before the semester ended, we refocused on maximizing our game's essential experience: killing enemies with the Demon abilities.
Post Mortem
Post Mortem
Post Mortem
What went well:
What went well:
What went well:
Players quickly learned how to control the Push and Pull mechanic to manipulate the crystals to defeat enemies using our control layout.
Players quickly learned how to control the Push and Pull mechanic to manipulate the crystals to defeat enemies using our control layout.
Players quickly learned how to control the Push and Pull mechanic to manipulate the crystals to defeat enemies using our control layout.
We successfully juiced the core mechanic by creating weapons that the player pushes and pulls in the same way, yet behave differently when interacting with enemies and the game world, such as the Spear, Buckshot, and Skulls.
We successfully juiced the core mechanic by creating weapons that the player pushes and pulls in the same way, yet behave differently when interacting with enemies and the game world, such as the Spear, Buckshot, and Skulls.
We successfully juiced the core mechanic by creating weapons that the player pushes and pulls in the same way, yet behave differently when interacting with enemies and the game world, such as the Spear, Buckshot, and Skulls.
Players had fun running around and killing enemies.
Players had fun running around and killing enemies.
Players had fun running around and killing enemies.
What went wrong:
What went wrong:
What went wrong:
We had to pivot away from weapon upgrades toward the final projectile weapons unlock system due to an overestimation of team bandwidth at the beginning of development.
We had to pivot away from weapon upgrades toward the final projectile weapons unlock system due to an overestimation of team bandwidth at the beginning of development.
We had to pivot away from weapon upgrades toward the final projectile weapons unlock system due to an overestimation of team bandwidth at the beginning of development.
The game's lack of narrative direction made designing and implementing mechanics and content with a cohesive feel challenging.
The game's lack of narrative direction made designing and implementing mechanics and content with a cohesive feel challenging.
The game's lack of narrative direction made designing and implementing mechanics and content with a cohesive feel challenging.
Our small team size made it necessary for developers to work outside of their expertise, which is a good experience, while simultaneously slowing down development.
Our small team size made it necessary for developers to work outside of their expertise, which is a good experience, while simultaneously slowing down development.
Our small team size made it necessary for developers to work outside of their expertise, which is a good experience, while simultaneously slowing down development.
What I learned:
What I learned:
What I learned:
Deciding on a strong core narrative early in development can streamline critical decisions related to art direction and marketing.
Deciding on a strong core narrative early in development can streamline critical decisions related to art direction and marketing.
Deciding on a strong core narrative early in development can streamline critical decisions related to art direction and marketing.
If the end goal of a project is to create a cohesive, self-contained, and polished project within a limited time frame, filter design and programming decisions through the current skill sets and capabilities of team members.
If the end goal of a project is to create a cohesive, self-contained, and polished project within a limited time frame, filter design and programming decisions through the current skill sets and capabilities of team members.
If the end goal of a project is to create a cohesive, self-contained, and polished project within a limited time frame, filter design and programming decisions through the current skill sets and capabilities of team members.
