PORTFOLIO HIGHLIGHT
PORTFOLIO HIGHLIGHT
July 2020 - November 2020
Fox vs Fox
“Fox vs Fox is a 2D two-player platformer game where the two players compete with each other to get a higher score within the given period of time. It was exhibited in the MAGI EXPO 2020. One day, a fox met another fox-like creature. "I'm an alien-fox. My aim is to take over the earth. We are the best species of fox in the universe. You will be replaced" The alien-fox said. "No, we are the best foxes! We are fast and we can move swiftly. Let's have a competition to prove who is the best!" A war between the earth’s fox and the alien fox is going to start!”
Genre: 2D Platformer, Multiplayer
Engine: Unity
Platform: itch.io, PC, Mac
Project length: One semester, 12 weeks + 1 week to tidy up
Team size: A sound designer (Benjamin Willis) & a game designer (myself)
Roles and Responsibilities
General Game Design
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Quickly built a few prototypes and tested them with some playtesters
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Researched on games of the same genre and with similar mechanics
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Designed game mechanics (scoring system, platforms, attack modes) that creates challenges and encourages social interactions
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Narrative Design
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Created the narrative concept
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Level Design
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Designed the levels in both modes
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Made use of the platform layout to introduce more interactions between the players and create challenges to the players
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Programmer
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Programmed the whole game with C# (character movement, mechanics, animation, scene transition, everything)
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Wrapped all the assets together as a playable game
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Fixed any bugs found in the playtests
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UI and Graphic Design
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Designed the characters, environment, props and platforms
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Worked on all the sprites in the game
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Designed the UI of the game
Pre-Production Book
Art Book
Research & Development
The initial inspirations for the first two prototypes were Super Mario Bros.U Deluxe, Super Mario Maker (SMM) and Ultimate Chicken Horse (UCH). In SMM & UCH, players are allowed to construct their own levels. This idea was incorporated into idea 1 where player 2 could add different traps/ monsters into the level. Unfortunately, these two ideas were eliminated after the prototypes were playtested as the feedback was negative that players didn’t find them engaging.
Spelunky, PushGo and Steg and Rex were the inspirations for the second round of prototyping. They are some multiplayer platformer games with a simple level layout which allow the players to interact with each other. In this round of playtesting, the players find the fourth mechanic, where the two players compete with each other to get a higher score, the most engaging.
Storyboard
This storyboard illustrates the flow of the game. The players will learn about the background story at the beginning of the game. Next, they will go through the tutorials to get a concept of how the game works. After that, they will play the actual game and compete with each other to get a higher score within the time limit.
Mechanics Design
The basic mechanic of a platformer is, of course, jumping. The game designers’ job is to add other mechanics on top of the basic mechanic to make it more engaging. As we all know, ‘challenge’ is a major element for players to determine whether they enjoy the game or not. In the mechanics design, part of the challenges would be from the level design and part of them from the other players. Besides ‘challenges’, ‘social interaction’ also contributes to the amusement of players. Therefore, it is important to design mechanics that encourage social interaction in the gameplay. ‘Stun N steal’ and ‘shooting’ are mechanics that allow players to attack and gain score from each other in short and long distance respectively.
Flashing Platform
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Some unstable platforms where they appear and disappear over time
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Making the players unable to stay on them for a long time
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They are usually put somewhere as an essential step for the players to reach higher platforms
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So that players cannot go up easily whenever they want
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Rotating Platform
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The rotating platforms tip when players stand at the end of them
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May cause the players to slip and fall off from the platform
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While making good use of them can reach a higher position quickly, like a shortcut
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They are usually put between two layers of platforms
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May help the players to reach platforms on top or hinder them from doing so
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Screen Wrap
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This is a single-screen platformer
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Players may feel like the environment is cramped
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Made it feel more spacious by wrapping the screen
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Allow more variations in paths to a certain spot
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Stun N Steal
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A mechanic to allow players to attack each other when they come close together
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When a player jumps and steps onto the other player, the player being stepped will be stunned
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Three scores will be stolen from the stunned player to the player who attacked
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Shooting
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A mechanic that lets players shoot at each other even if they are far apart
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Three bullets will be collected from each star
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The bullets will travel horizontally for an infinite distance unless hitting an obstacle
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Players can shoot the others as long as they are on the same horizontal level
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A player can gain three points from the player being shot
Level Design
Normal Mode
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The platform layout changes every 50s in the game and there are three levels in the normal mode. The levels in normal mode are combinations of two or more types of platforms to create some occasions of conflicts between the players.
Hard Mode
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There are also three levels in the hard mode. In hard mode, each level emphasises on one type of the platforms to amplify the challenges brought to the players by that type of platform.
Colour Palette
Five sets of colour palettes were selected with the keyword “playful” and tested. Then, some potential players’ opinions were considered and a majority of them think that the fourth palette from the left looks suitable for the game but they think the alien fox in cyan colour is more coherent with the ‘ultraspace’ feeling.
Character Design
The Earth Fox
Personality
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It has high curiosity and loves exploring in the forest. Thus, it’s familiar with the forest environment. On the other hand, It has the dignity of being a fox. It strongly believes in its physical abilities to move quickly around the forest. No one in the forest, even in the world can do this better than them. Furthermore, it’s smart and cunning to play tricks on his opponents in a competition.
Physical Ability
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Having a body with high dexterity, he can jump through different platforms swiftly to collect different scoring items. It also has extremely good reflexes to dodge the attack or jump away from tipping platforms.
The Alien Fox
Personality
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It’s trained to be strong and conquer other planets since it was young. His lineage has already taken over more than 50,000 planets. He has a great sense of pride to be a member of his lineage and is confident to defeat all the other fox species in the universe.
Physical Ability
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Very similar to the earth foxes, he has a body with high dexterity which can do nimble moves. It also has extremely good reflexes to dodge the attack or jump away from tipping platforms. Though it is not like the earth fox, who has already lived in the forest environment for a long time. With the genes from thousand billion years of evolution, the alien fox has extraordinary sensations that let him get familiar with the environment quickly.
Environment Design
As the alien fox met the earth fox in the forest, the environment should be full of woods. A few thumbnails were experimented and I like the presentation with woods of different shades to show various distances of the trees.
A daytime forest and a nighttime forest were drawn. Since the alien fox is in the colour of cyan which has a similar tone with the daytime background and thus the nighttime environment is used in the later stage.
For more details, you may want to read through the pre-production book! Here