Spellbook Rush

SUMMARY:

Spellbook Rush is 2-player couch cooperative game for the PC where players take on the hats of two young witches as they try to escape their magical library. After a long day of slacking off, the two witches sneak into the closed library to find a magical book with all the answers. Upon arrival, however, they find that not all books are as receiving to them. Dodge flames, avoid getting inked, and don’t run into that smoke as you brew potions and knock out the evil books in a fast-paced game where communication determines if you taste victory or suffer defeat!

PLATFORM: PC / Unreal Engine

DATE: August 2016 - May 2017

ROLE: Lead Game Designer, Lead Producer

INTENT STATEMENT:

To build an enriching and engaging cooperative experience that gives purpose to communicating within the game.

GENERAL GAMEPLAY DESCRIPTION:

The general gameplay of Spellbook Rush follows a very simple pattern: See a book, grab the corresponding material, throw it in cauldron, grab a vial, scoop the potion, throw it at the book. While the basic gameplay is simple, it is our varying books and levels that are designed to make that experience intense and difficult. The more books on screen, the faster our chaos meter grows, and if it fills, you lose. The books are designed to obstruct and distract the player by working with each other so that they can challenge the players, but not overwhelm them. Players are able to throw objects they pickup back and forth between each other to help them navigate the game environment and deal with the challenges presented by the books. All of this comes together to create a cohesive gameplay experience.

CONTRIBUTION DESCRIPTION:

On this project, I was responsible for leading the design team, leading the team, designing the systems, technical design, and coordinating the team.

Starting out, the team was only 4 people and goal focused on getting a vertical slice of our game so that we could pass greenlight and continue work into the next semester. If our vertical slice wasn't good enough, our team would be cut and reallocated. Beginning development, our main goal was to get our primary systems in the game and finished, which was my responsibility. Because we didn't want the players to be inundated with systems that would end up only appealing to hard core gamers, we made a relatively simple game loop that would be easy to pick up and enjoy, but could also be challenged to make the players cooperate and communicate more.

Because the main game loop was relatively simple, we need ways to challenge the players. This resulted in us using our books as our main source of difficulty, especially when we combined them with time pressure. Books always arrive in pairs that match their environment, and are never repeated. This allows to make dynamic books that coordinate well with each other, but also are effective for a player's estimated skill level. The books as a whole essentially function in the following way: One obstructs and one distracts. While this was not in the forefront of our minds while developing Spellbook Rush, on looking back it is clear that is the way we were developing them. One book is a general nuisance, but isn't overwhelming in any way, so we can place more of those scattered throughout the level. The other focuses on directly obstructing what the players are trying to do, and needs more direct placement in our waves and levels. As an example, we have a squid and water book in our pirate level. If players collide with the squids ink stream, a layer of ink is applied to there UI. This will continue to happen to the player until they have been hit 5 times by the ink, at which point no more ink will be added. The players have two options to remove the ink: waiting for it to be removed, which is upwards of 10 seconds, or use a waterbucket on each other to wash it off. Paired with this is our water book. It shoots bubbles of water that if players are hit by, then are encased in and slowed until the bubble hits a wall and pops. These two work together with our game systems for the characters to make players communicate to navigate the challenge they pose.

As team lead on this project, my work focused much the same as my design did: opening communication channels. One of the things I have found that the biggest thing we can do to improve a team are to open up communication on all fronts. The biggest thing I did on the team was make sure that no communication was ever stifled and that we engaged openly and directly. By having open conversations in the first place, we as a team were able to avoid arguments further down the line.