Player Experience Goal:
Players will have to manage resources in order to craft items, stay alive and be the last survivor on the island. Players will become emotionally attached to the game and their in-game survival.
Premise:
You and 3 other players have crashed on an island. Collect resources, craft items, and fight and outwit other players. Be the last person standing to win!
My Role:
Project Manager
Lead Artist
Creative Director
Gameplay Designer
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What worked? What Didn't?
From the very beginning, my team and I agreed on the basic mechanics of the game: hunting other players, a set max-HP, and crafting items to create distinct advantages over other players. We continuously bounced ideas off each other in our first meaning.
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As a group, we spent time brainstorming different ideas for fishing, foraging and resource cards. After that process was done, I was in charge of creating the art pieces for 60+ card types. I designed the cards with a specific goal in mind: I wanted them to be eye-catching and make the player feel immersed in the game. I also balanced the card values and the card frequencies. It took a lot of iteration to get the cards to work exactly the way I wanted them to in-game; I needed to create a balance of card values so the game did not seem too easy, nor too hard.
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There were some issues in the end, however; the final board had a lot of clarity issues, and clashed with the art style of the cards. It broke the players' immersion and unfortunately led to a confusing experience, as players were unsure on where board spaces connected.
What We Changed and How it Improved
Something that played a huge impact on our game's success was our multiple playtesting sessions. There were a lot of different versions and drafts of our game board, and the playtests were the main reason how we were able to figure out what kind of board would enhance the gameplay.
