The Beat of the Ocean
Unity 2D Top-Down Class Project
Team Size: 9
Date: 4/7/23 - 5/1/23
Role: Lead Game Designer
My Role
I was the lead designer on this project. During this development process, I created the concept for this game, designed and balanced the systems and mechanics, and crafted some important documents.
Controls
We were tasked to use an unique controller for our game. My team decided on the DK Bongos for our controller. We used all the inputs this device could offer.
Enemies
There are three basic enemies and one boss that attack the player. Each enemy tries to attack the player from a different side and the boss chases the player around with its tusks.
The Goal
The player's goal is to clear the sea of any enemies that stand in their way. We gave the player different weapons and upgrades to chose from to assist them in this task. All of which use drum based commands.
My Process
In this project, my team and I were tasked in creating two prototypes for a green light process. There were six total ideas and only two could go through. I prototyped The Beat of the Ocean, and it was one of the two prototypes that went forward. The idea came from the DK Bongo controller. It made me think of ships that used drums to give commands. From that, I continued with the idea of fighting enemies on the open seas while only using a drum and improving your arsenal as you win battles.
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I created almost all of the systems and mechanics the player interacts with in the game. This includes, but not limited to, the shop, enemies, weapons, balancing of the weapons, enemies, and loot drops, level switching, and so on.
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There were some issues we faced along the way, but I came up with some creative solutions to help fix these problems. For example, we wanted to have progression in the game and different levels for the player to experience. We ran into an issue with saving the players weapons, gold, upgrades, and etc. from one level to the other. So our options were to scrap having different levels or not save the players progress, but I created a solution that solved this problem.
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This project turned out very well and taught me some important things when working with larger teams. I learned how to properly onboard new team members, communicate with a big group of people, and create a game using an unique input.
