RESPONSIBILITIES
Game Designer
-Made the Game Prototype by Machinations
-Designed the Basic Game System concept
-Designed the gameflow with different stages
-Designed the cards with different strategy
-Designed the feature exchange system
-Balanced the cards with weights and effect
-Created the Excel Simulation Version
-Run a group play test
-Managed the card list into UE4 Table Version
Technical Designer
-Made the 2D cards into the UE4
-Implemented the UI logic in UE4
-Assisted the programmer to implement the game rules in UE4
-Made the process of tutorial in UE4
-Implemented the UX logic in UE4
-Implemented the Cards Effect in UE4
-Set camera and layout of sectors in UE4
PROCESS OVERVIEW
RESEARCH
-Analysis similar games (Wingspan) to design the system
-Analysis the base card set of Hearthstone legend to design the card strategy
PLANNING
-Create the Prototpye Game System
-Create the Card Design Standard
-Just focus on the first stages demo implement
-Only use 36 kinds of cards in the demo (10 Drive, 24 Residential/Industrial, 2 Hybrid)
-Only 10 rounds in the first stage which players need to get 2000 Fathoms
BLOCKOUT AND ITERATION
-Implemented the game rules in UE4 and give the engine table for designers to change the card attribute and gameflow easily.
-Got the feedback "The game is too complicated." and simplified card effects.
-Added the action point concept to limit the player actions to simplify the game.
-Implemented more feedback in the game to make the game juicy.
In-depth understanding of the design content
In the following sections, you can learn more about the design ideas and tips for this game, which shows my work during the game development.
MIXT Prototype Made by Machinations
This Gif shows the engine building mechanism in the MIXT, players need to build Resource Sectors first to get more resources every turn to buy and build more and better cards in Public Sector. (Only to show the prototype here, cards in game will have different cost and gain.)
The Actions Players Can Choose to Perform During their Turn
For Alpha Version MIXT, the rule shows interaction with resource sectors, buy cards, build cards need cost the action point. Once every two rounds of cultural exchange, players must select a card to exchange as a gift, or the round cannot be skipped, and players do not pay action points for that card.
Sector System Design for Enhanced Sociability
In order to add to the social nature of MIXT and create the right social space for players, we shifted the goal of the game from competition to cooperation.However, given the marginal effect of player behavior (preventing some players from behaving in a disruptive way), we chose to partially privatize the Engine Building, but it was building points in the public areas that determined victory.
Game system design (Xmind)
Different Stages of Card Design Differentiated Experience
At different stages of the game, the player needs to feel a differentiated pace of play to maintain flow. Therefore, two schemes were designed to change the rhythm of the game in different stages. After discussion based on the character experience and the difficulty of implementation, the second scheme was chosen. The core cards of the Engine Building of players in each stage would change, thus deriking different strategies.
Card Design to create different strategy
The essence of player interaction is thinking, so creating a card not only creates a vertical dimension (where the effect of the card is significantly improved), but also creates a horizontal dimension. How can players choose their strategies freely when faced with two cards with similar benefits, thus creating a variety of gameplay.
Numberical balance in Card Design
Card Revenue Weight = Card Consume Weight = 5* Rarity level
Card Revenue Weight = Attribute Weight + Effect Weight
Card Consume Weight = People Cost + Wealth Cost
The effect weights of cards are rated according to the benefits of their effects.
Card Distribution simulation (Excel)
This feature on the one hand, can be used to simulate the shop set to test the paper version of the playability, on the other hand is used to test different present frequency during the rare degree card is the same as the designed, tested, found that the frequencies of high degree of rare card is much higher than the designer think, the reason for our error estimation for 5 CARDS in the probability of high degree of rare card, Wrongly calculated as the probability of a rare card in the draw, after adjustment to normal.
UI interaction Implement
In the project, I was responsible for the implementation of user interaction, including hover window, interface jump and player feedback.This video shows the UI part of the game.
Card Effect Component Implement
In order to avoid editing the same blueprint class at the same time and increase work efficiency, the card effect is implemented in the form of Component, which can be used only by adding the module to player Pawn. Meanwhile, because the card effect is divided into three categories and needs to be triggered when the player operates different. Therefore, according to the trigger time, this module creates 3 custom functions corresponding to 36 card effects respectively, and retains the interface, so that docking developers can easily realize function series
Camera And Scene Layout
There are five areas of the game, each with five cameras, and the store provides a camera for the top view of the game environment, as well as a viewing camera when the player adds fethoms.
Tutorial Implement
In order to prevent the player from misusing action points during the tutorial, the combination of Images and buttons is used instead of the actual game. The player can only click on part of the screen to continue the tutorial. The player can effectively learn the rules and actions of the game in the shortest possible time.
Camera Controller Implement
Since buildings can be placed on top of each other in the Drive area, the player needs a camera that can adjust the direction and height to ensure the experience.
3D Activated Button Implement
To distinguish between the two activated areas, the activation button was materialized into a 3D button in the game, and dynamic feedback was added to hover and click.