Welcome to the vertical slice of our game!
Pitch
In this puzzle game you play as Lö, a character with big dreams of conquering a mountain despite his inability to jump. Your journey unfolds as you gather photos, and use them to creatively transform the surrounding world and overcome obstacles along the way!
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This project is a vertical slice of the final year project for the Game Design degree. The assigned theme was "social struggle through glitch".
Project identity :
Project name : Polaroid
Discipline : Game Design
Project type : End of year project
Duration : 4 months
Project Timeline : December 2020
Members : 5
My role in this project
Throughout this project, I wanted to leverage and challenge my skills. To achieve this, I took on the role of project management, organizing group meetings and planning various production stages. In addition to conceptualizing mechanics, I worked on level design and animating characters for which I was already responsible with other group members.
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I also proposed and conducted user testing that helped uncover bugs and issues.
The levels construction
As Lö cannot jump, we wanted this to be evident in the level design. The initial levels were crafted with this concept in mind: the end is lower than the beginning. However, everything shifts when Lö encounters a plant NPC that enables upward movement. You'll then notice that in the subsequent levels, we gradually begin to ascend.
Level 2
Level 6
Testing the project
We employed three different methods to test the project.
Our initial approach involved observing some players as they tested the game and, with their consent, recording their playthrough. Throughout this process, we encouraged them to verbalize their thoughts, helping us measure and adapt each level's balance.
Following this, we administered a brief survey to all testers to gather additional feedback on their experience.
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Finally, an in-game script allowed us to collect comprehensive data from each playthrough: the time spent to complete each level, and the frequency of picture usage per level.
Ultimately, we gave particular weight to this last method, as it provided direct insights into the gameplay and the player's interactions.
Rational design
I conceptualized a document for rational design, initially targeting the production team but designed to be accessible to external parties such as investors or clients. This exercise was undertaken to immerse ourselves in a business context. My role involved designing the pictures, considering the various obstacles present in the game and exploring potential solutions.
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Since the document was made for class, it is in French.
Want to play the game ?
You can play the game by downloading it right here : https://senydesu.itch.io/polaroid
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And a little fun fact, some people have tried to speedrun it. See it by yourself by clicking here!