Game Design, a Work in Progress

Games, as a medium, have been around for nearly 50 years. In the field of game development, it can take years, even decades, from dedicated teams of coders, writers and art directors, just to create a single video game. In the Advanced Game Design elective provided at Galloway, the two-semester-long course hopes to condense this strenuous procedure into a fast-track process, with the final product hopefully being a functioning game. I decided to interview this class to see the progress that had been made so far. To get the most efficient data, I interviewed students from each section of the class. Each “department” focuses on one aspect of the design process. These departments include 3D modeling, art, coding, level design, and storyboarding/writing. 

Through talking to the various departments, I was able to gather general information about the specifics of the current project of the class. As of right now, the game is going to be a role playing game, with a first-person perspective and using mainly shooter mechanics for combat. In this game, you play as a mysterious gunslinger, traversing a massive train-like structure. This train is the last bastion of humanity, with the outside world having been turned into a barren wasteland, scared from an unknown conflict. The goal of the game is to take control of the world's last remaining water, concentrated into a single water bottle.

The first department I interviewed was 3D Modeling, headed by Nikolas Rojanets and Daniel Drouin. This department was in charge of creating 3D models for the character assets. The first step in this modeling process was to make a basic shape such as a rectangle. They would then manipulate it to resemble their desired character using things such as reference photos to help get the look pinned down. These models are made to be more polygon-heavy, as to emulate the PS1-PS2 era of games. Both expressed the fact that they were still very early on in the modeling process, but do hope to finish by the end of the semester. 

The second department I interviewed was Art. Eli Morneweck is tasked with creating the art for the game. Eli is also in charge of managing the team and keeping them on task. He would focus mainly on creating the UI, dialogue tab and hud, all in a pixel art style. The UI and hud art were inspired by a game called Smile for Me. I also talked to him about how the dialogue would be implemented, such as if it would use actual voice lines or music. The decision made by the team was to use a mixture of voice acting and music. The voice work would be used sparingly, only as a way to point out important sections of dialogue. This style of dialogue was first introduced in games like Undertale, which is the game that inspired Eli to implement this dialogue system. As the acting manager, Eli gave me a general estimate for how close the game was to completion, which was around 60%. The game that he said inspired the genre of the project was ULTRAKILL, which itself is a love letter to the first FPS ever, Doom. ULTRAKILL was what gave the team the idea to implement a boss mechanic into the game. These would act as the end to the sections of the train, being treated like a checkpoint before transitioning into the next area. 

After that, I interviewed those in charge of coding, Cooper Brown and Preston Cherry. As of now, they are working on structures needed to make the finished product, and have completed the enemy AI system, movement system, main menu system, and housing for the game. Coding is an integral part of the design process, and probably the most sensitive. Each line of code comes with the possibility of a future bug, which can take days or weeks to fix. I asked Cooper and Preston about an example of this, and they proceeded to describe to me a bug that took over three weeks to fix. This bug caused the player to shoot up into the air if they touched a wall. Obviously, this was a big problem, but they were able to quell this bug, and rewrite the code accordingly. This bug was found in the movement system, which I think to be the most complex. The reason for this is because it implements horde mechanics, which can be very hard to get right. 

The next department I interviewed was the writing and level design, done by Luke Cravey and Trevor Bagwell, who also would do 3D modeling for the levels. The writing process, as of right now, is completed. This process included coming up for the setting, story and lore of the universe that this game takes place in. The story takes a lot of inspiration from westerns and takes a few thematic elements from the movie Snowpiercer. These similarities include the train setting and a post apocalyptic timeline that both take place in. The antagonists of the game, a cult that worships a water bottle, were not really based off of anything in specific. They were more of a way to differentiate the enemy, and add some lore to the game. While this game would not have a lore heavy story, they decided to implement the methodology of, if you want it you can find it. The water bottle idea took form after Trevor came to the realization that Dasani water bottles are extremely overpriced. They are also in charge of level design, and they created the levels from the ground up, taking two months to create just the first few starting levels. This process became more efficient, as they were able to reuse assets, which saved a lot of time. Level design includes the design of the difficulty, so Luke and Trevor were also tasked with how to set the difficulty, which they chose to set like a souls-like game. Souls meaning Dark Souls, the infamously difficult IP from From Software. This type of difficulty design differs from the usual difficulty settings you see in most games. In Souls-like games you are unable to change the difficulty on the fly, as it is standardized. Instead, this game tests you more on your skill, then on your ability to mash buttons. This means that if you are a new player you are meant to struggle, but if you are a returning player you could more easily get through the game. With Luke and Trevor heading two sections of the process, I decided to ask them which they preferred. Both agreed that they enjoyed the writing process more, but learned and gained more from the level design process as a whole. 

The final department I interviewed was the background modeling, done by Nickolas Ioannides and Matthew McKelvey. Matthew was in charge of creating the weapon for the character, and one of the bosses, while Nick focused on plants, aesthetics. Both created the environments for the train cars, with the town car being the hardest model, as it had the most detail. As the level design progressed, the background design became easier, as both Nick and Matthew became more experienced. The level design progressed, each new level allowed for more and more reusing of past assets, which helped them speed up the progress. 

This class of the 2021-2022 Advanced Game Design has put in tens if not hundreds of hours into the creation of this game, and their efforts are already starting to bear fruit. Through this interview, I was able to peer into the intricate ways the different departments have worked hard to get a working project off the ground. Each department, on its own, has committed time to both learn and master their topic. I am really impressed with both what they have learned from this process, and what they have created as well. It truly is a sight to see, when what started as an Idea begins to become a reality. I am so glad I was able to interview this class, and would like to commend them on the efforts of both the team and each department. I hope to see this idea blossom into a fully fleshed out game, and wish the team continued success on their progress towards their completed game. 

By Holden Gruel