Take the Plunge
A 3D Sandbox with the uncommon verb of "plunging"
Take the Plunge
Team: Patryk Tokarz, Charlie Tipping, Chris R Shantz, Jason Persaud, Justin Barry, Owen Brecknock // Tools: Unreal Engine 5 // Time: 5 days
Take the Plunge is a 3D sandbox unreal engine game that was created as for a game jam hosted by Sheridan College. This project spanned five days of design and development. This project has six members including myself that have all made meaningful contributions to the design, production and testing of the game.
What is Design Week (Game Jam)
Every academic semester, Sheridan College hosts Design Week, a game jam where teams are randomly generated and given design constraints. The teams must then coordinate and work together to create a game.
The theme of this design week was uncommon verbs. We were tasked to create a sandbox game in any engine that used a verb that was uncommon as our main mechanic. For example we could not use verbs such as fighting, shooting, crafting, etc. as our main mechanic.
My role for the project was project was game designer and programmer. Additionally, because I was the most experienced designer on the team I took on the role of coordinating the design of the team through small design activities that would allow team members to organize and express their ideas.
The following is going to show the entire design process over five days.
Day 1 - Introductions & Concepts
The first day of design week was dedicated to meeting our team and deciding our main mechanic. We played around with a couple concepts for our verbs and ultimately decided to prototype three based on a team vote.
Day 2 - Deciding on a Verb
The second day was dedicated to choosing one of our previous mechanics and iterating on how it might look in game. The verb/mechanic we chose was plunging (to plunge). Programmers (me) also focused on getting into engine and implementing these concepts.
Here is a video of the plunging mechanic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7giJO5bvk0&ab_channel=PatrykTokarz
Day 3 - Production & Priorities
The third day was dedicated to production. At this point we narrowed down what are mechanic does (plunging would be picking up and dropping objects), we also decided what object would have unique interactions and what kind of affordances we would have to implement for them. All of the actors in our game were put on a priority list in order to visualize what the team would be focusing on.
Day 4 - Playtests, Polish & Implementation
The fourth day was dedicated to playtests, polish and final implementation. At this point the games programming was done and the placeholder assets had to be replaced with the artists meshes. Everyone on the team worked so extremely hard this day that we stayed in the school working from 9:00am - 1:00am.
Day 5 - Presentation
The fifth day was our final conference. Every team in the game jam gathered in a conference room to showcase the game. I'm extremely proud of both the game and my team. I couldn't be happier with the final product.
Something cool I want to mention is the use of extrinsic motivation. During our showcase we handed out "plumbing invoices" to players. The invoice would have game achievements written on them and members from our team would cross off the achievements when they saw a player completing them.
Post Mortem
I was extremely lucky to have such a supporting team (team pic above). In the end everyone loved what they had created and our booth was the most popular in the game jam!
What Went Well:
- The team worked well together and maintained good communication throughout the development process.
- The core game mechanics were implemented successfully, and the game was enjoyable to play.
- The retro-style graphics received positive feedback from players, and the team was able to create a visually appealing game within the allotted time.
- The game was completed and delivered on time.
What Didn't Go Well:
- The game lacked a clear storyline, which made it difficult for players to fully engage with the game world.
- There were some technical issues that arose during development, which caused delays and required additional time to resolve.
- The game lacked a goal, which made it difficult for players to understand what they were working towards.
Lessons Learned:
- A clear storyline is essential for creating an immersive game world that engages players.
- Technical issues should be addressed early on in the development process to avoid delays and additional work later on.
- A game must have a clear and compelling goal that is integrated well into the game's mechanics and communicated effectively to players, as it significantly impacts their motivation and enjoyment.
Overall, Take the Plunge was a successful project that showcased the team's skills and abilities in game development. While some areas could be improved upon, the team learned valuable lessons that will be applied to future projects.
The last thing I'll leave here is a link to download and play the game: https://solidssnook.itch.io/take-the-plunge
Cheers!
