politellamafan

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Week 13: Final Playtesting, Postmortem, and Submission

Our final week was focused on internal testing, finalisation, and reflecting on the design process that led to Hell Riders.

Playtesting and Final Adjustments:

We ran final tests to make sure the difficulty curve felt fair and consistent. While the game remained intentionally challenging, especially for first-time players, the pacing felt appropriate: early encounters were simple enough to onboard players, and more aggressive enemy spawns ramped up the tension across the session.

We also made sure that:

The modular damage system worked cleanly from start to end. For example, losing a vehicle part (like the left or right side) had a clear visual effect and removed a specific ability (e.g., side-mounted shooting).

Enemies had predictable behavior patterns so players could learn how to counter them after a few runs.

The scoring system, while simple, rewarded both survival and aggressive play.

Reflection:

Looking back, the modular health system and the skulls lane-based dodging/shooting loop were the two strongest aspects of our design. They supported the game’s core tension: “Can I survive just one more wave with half a heart left?” The moment-to-moment choices whether or not to stay aggressive or switch lanes to avoid damage, created emergent gameplay within a simple structure.

If we had more time, we would’ve liked to:

Add visual storytelling elements (like background scenes showing the world falling apart)

Include more enemy variety or random event modifiers

Expand the soundtrack and have adaptive music layers based on in-game tension

Still, as a prototype made by students, Hell Riders captured the tone, mechanics, and challenge we set out to build. Our team collaborated effectively across design, asset creation, and testing. It was a strong project for the semester, and we were proud of how far the concept had come from a rough pitch to a much improved game.

[politellamafan]

Week 12: Final Iterations and Visual Polish

This week was dedicated to refining the existing features of Hell Riders and making sure the overall presentation and gameplay loop felt complete. No new mechanics were added at this stage��our focus was on delivering a finished product that represented our original design goals.

Key tasks we focused on:

Finishing Visuals: We cleaned up the background visuals and enemy sprites to make sure everything was readable and aligned with the pixelated post-apocalyptic theme. The environmental tiles (roads, barriers, etc.) were finalized and recolored to ensure consistent contrast with the player and hazards.

Polishing the UI: We added a simple UI overlay to display the player’s score and core stats, but kept it minimal so it wouldn’t distract from the on-screen action. The start screen and game over screen were also finalized, with themed text and menu buttons.

Sound and Music Integration: Audio was one of the final elements to come together. We chose a looping synth-metal background track and added distinct SFX for the player’s gunfire, vehicle damage, and pickups. The audio helped cement the “metalhead apocalypse” tone we were aiming for.

Small Fixes and Adjustments: While we didn’t encounter major bugs, we smoothed out the player hitbox slightly and adjusted spawn spacing between enemies to ensure the game didn’t feel unfair or chaotic during high-speed segments.

By the end of the week, we were confident that the game was playable from start to finish, with all the intended systems like lane-switching, vehicle-based health/damage, enemy attacks, and collectible pickups, functioning as intended. It was a solid wrap-up of the implementation phase, and we were ready for final testing and polish.

[politellamafan]

Week 11: Playtesting, Feedback and Mechanical Adjustments

Now that our first playable build of Hell Riders was up and running, we focused on internal testing and refining the core systems. The prototype allowed for basic movement across three lanes, fuel drain over time, and combat with enemies spawning at randomized intervals. Hazards such as flaming wreckage and barrels were also functioning, albeit with minimal visual feedback.

During our team’s early playtests, one thing became immediately clear. The core loop was engaging, but the systems needed more feedback to be readable. Several players failed to notice that they were losing fuel, or did not recognize the impact of lane-based decisions until it was too late. We addressed this by adding a fuel gauge to the UI, visual hit flashes when damaged, and slight camera shakes when players collided with obstacles.

One major win was the reception of the modular damage system. When players lost certain components of the vehicle, such as weapons or the front wheels, it changed the way they played. This encouraged on-the-fly adaptation and made it feel like every decision mattered. However, we noticed that without pickups or ways to recover from damage, the system felt too punishing. We began planning for shield pickups, health pickups, and temporary buffs that could counteract some of the chaos.

Another challenge was the difficulty curve. Because enemy and hazard spawns were randomized, some combinations felt overwhelming or impossible to react to. We realized we needed to refine how enemies spawned together, adding rules to prevent harsh overlaps.

We also discussed ways to introduce audio and visual cues to alert players of incoming threats. These changes would be addressed in the next iteration. Overall, this week was essential for identifying friction points and proving that our concept had strong gameplay potential.

[politellamafan]

Week 10: Assignment 3 Development Progress, Group Formation & Team Discussion

This week marked the official kickoff for Assignment 3, and with it, a new kind of challenge: working in a team to develop a cohesive, playable game from the ground up. After a voting for the team member's game design, we gravitated toward an idea that felt both exciting and unique. Thus, we began our development on Hell Riders.

Hell Riders is a side-scrolling, post-apocalyptic vehicular brawler, where the player drives a weaponized war rig through a hellish wasteland crawling with raiders, mutants, and environmental hazards. We leaned heavily on inspirations like Mad Max, FTL, and Dead Cells, Jetpack Joyride focusing on creating a rogue like experience with tight combat, high tension, and layered systems, as most bullet-hells.

Design Priorities from the Start:

Build the core loop: Fight → Scavenge → Upgrade → Survive

Focus on procedural zones, each filled with unique obstacles (mutant nests, vehicle ambushes, collapsing terrain)

Implement modular vehicle damage where each part lost affects gameplay

Add fuel, heat, and ammo systems for resource management

Drawing from Fullerton’s chapter on uncertainty and meaningful decision-making, we wanted players to feel the weight of every choice including whether it’s pushing forward with low fuel or taking a detour for a repair node and risking an ambush. Our early design documents helped us lock in some of the tone and systems.

This week’s biggest success was establishing strong team communication. Everyone had space to contribute. I started early work on the tile-based procedural level system, as well as rough prototypes for vehicle movement and collision.

[politellamafan]

Week 9: Racing Postmortem, Assignment 2 Final Design

Reflecting on the first full prototype of Turbo Rush: Skyline Sprint, I see clear progress from my Asteroids experience, especially in control design and feedback clarity. Playtesters described the game as “fast and exciting,” with the turbo boosts adding a satisfying strategic layer.

Reflecting on Fullerton’s principles, particularly their focus on “playcentric design” and the importance of iterative feedback loops, I realize how critical early and frequent playtesting is. Some testers reported a steep difficulty curve in early levels, which suggests I should have introduced adaptive difficulty sooner to ease players into the experience. For future projects, I will prioritize setting up incremental testing phases to identify and smooth out such pacing issues earlier.

If I were to improve the development process, I’d schedule structured playtests earlier to catch pacing issues sooner for example some players found the difficulty curve steep at the start. Early testing could have helped me tweak obstacle density and enemy traffic patterns for a smoother onboarding experience.

From a design perspective, I found the neon urban skyline theme visually striking but somewhat limited in variety. Expanding the setting with diverse environments (like rain-soaked streets or night-to-day transitions) would add visual interest and deepen immersion. Additionally, implementing vehicle customization and progression mechanics could provide players with greater agency and longer-term goals.

The final design document reflects these insights with clear descriptions of mechanics, progression systems, and aesthetic goals. Writing this helped me crystallize the game’s identity: a high-speed, risk-reward racer that combines skillful navigation with explosive power-ups.

This week reinforced the importance of balancing challenge and player agency, a core lesson I’m eager to apply in future projects.

[politellamafan]

Week 8: Racing Development Post, Assignment 2 Progress

Building on last week’s pitch for Turbo Rush: Skyline Sprint, this week focused on translating that vision into a working prototype in GDevelop. My main development goal was to establish tight, responsive vertical racing mechanics that capture the speed and tension I described.

The biggest technical challenge was refining the vertical scrolling movement and lane-switching system. I experimented with different acceleration curves and collision boxes to find a sweet spot where the racer feels snappy without losing a sense of momentum. Inspired by Fullerton’s emphasis on “game feel” (Fullerton, 2018), I paid close attention to input responsiveness and player feedback, ensuring that every lane change and boost felt impactful. Early playtesters already reported the controls felt intuitive and engaging, which was encouraging.

I also began implementing core obstacles like moving vehicles and collapsing road sections. I wanted to introduce environmental hazards that require quick reflexes but don’t overwhelm the player. Balancing this was tricky; too many obstacles made the gameplay frustrating, while too few removed tension. To address this, I am experimenting with adaptive difficulty mechanisms, which meant modifying obstacle density and speed dynamically based on player performance. This approach aligns with Fullerton’s ideas about pacing and flow, which emphasize matching challenge to player skill to maintain engagement.

One challenge I encountered was balancing difficulty as too many hazards made the game feel unfair, while too few made it boring. To address this, I’m exploring adaptive difficulty scaling inspired by Fullerton’s reading on pacing and player motivation.

In terms of assignment progress, I refined the game’s visuals and style with cute hand drawn details, aligning visuals with the game style of a platformer. I’m also drafting documentation for the game’s mechanics and narrative context in the developer 'one sheet'.

This week’s key learning: translating a clear elevator pitch into solid gameplay prototypes requires constant iteration and a focus on player experience, especially control responsiveness and feedback loops.

[politellamafan]

Week 7: Asteroids Postmortem + Racing Elevator Pitch

Postmortem: Final Thoughts on My Asteroids Prototype

The Asteroids prototype turned out to be a big leap forward for me, both in terms of design thinking and technical implementation.

What went well:

Gameplay Feedback: As planned, visual cues were strong. Playtesters mentioned the game “felt satisfying” to play.

Controls: After playtesting, I improved the movement. Ship control now feels snappy but not too floaty, and momentum carries nicely.

What didn’t work so well:

Score System: I added a score counter, but it wasn’t prominently displayed. I now realize how important it is to make score progression feel visible and rewarding, especially in an arcade-style game.

If I were to redo this prototype, I’d:

Implement a wave-based system with intermissions for upgrades

Include boss-type asteroids that behave differently (e.g., explode into mines)

Tweak difficulty scaling to avoid early-stage boredom (Perhaps by adding levels 🤔)

I learned that even with a simple gameplay loop, adding layers of feedback, progression, and choice makes a big difference in player engagement.

Elevator Pitch: Turbo Rush: Skyline Sprint

“Turbo Rush: Skyline Sprint” is a fast-paced 2D vertical racer where players weave through dense traffic, dodge explosive hazards, and race against time across the soaring highways of a futuristic city. With tight controls, split-second reflexes, and a variety of upgradeable vehicles, it’s all about mastering the climb from street racer to skyline legend. Think Crossy Road meets F-Zero, but with turbo-charged style.”

Core Gameplay Features:

Fixed vertical camera with upward scrolling movement

Obstacle-dense lanes: speeding cars, collapsing roads, energy walls

Pick-up based power-ups: turbo boosts, shields, lane-warpers

Player Role:

You’re a rogue racer in the underground skyline circuit, trying to reach the top of the mega-city’s outlaw leaderboard. Speed and style are your only weapons.

Visual Style:

Bright neon pixel art, animated traffic lanes, glitchy HUD effects, and a thumping synth soundtrack.

Target Audience:

Fans of quick, high-stakes arcade games with easy-to-learn, hard-to-master mechanics. Ages 10+.

[politellamafan]

Week 6: Asteroids Development Post + Interesting Mechanic/Book Chapter/Game Discussion

Asteroids Prototype Progress: Shooting for the Stars

This week, I dove deep into the development of my second prototype: a modern reimagining of the classic arcade game Asteroids. While the original Asteroids featured minimal graphics and a simple gameplay loop (rotate, thrust, shoot, and repeat), my goal was to create a more immersive, feedback-rich version that still honored the twitchy, reflex-based roots of the original.

Core Gameplay Goals

From the start, I focused on three key gameplay goals:

Fluid and responsive controls – inspired by the original but with smoother acceleration and deceleration to feel modern.

Dynamic feedback – visual feedback for shooting, collisions, explosions, and enemy spawns.

Satisfying progression – increasingly difficult waves of asteroids and new enemy ship types introduced as the game progresses.

To make this work in GDevelop, I began by mapping out the base mechanics:

Ship rotation following mouse location and direction

Automatic forward thrust

Shooting with the left click

Power-Up System and Player Incentive

To add a unique twist, I started prototyping a power-up system. Occasionally, a destroyed asteroid drops a glowing orb. Collecting this grants one of three randomized effects:

Rapid Fire Blaster (temporary increased fire rate)

Shield Bubble (absorbs one collision)

This mechanic encourages players to actively chase down drops mid-combat, adding a risk-reward dynamic. It also introduces a decision-making layer: should I risk flying into a dense asteroid field to grab that power-up, or play it safe and stay away until it's safe to reach it?

Interesting Mechanic/Book Discussion: Feedback Systems

Reading The Game Design Workshop (Fullerton, 2018), particularly Chapter 7 on game feedback, helped shape how I implemented feedback loops in this prototype. Fullerton emphasizes the importance of “instantaneous and continuous feedback” to keep players engaged and informed.

Challenges Faced

One of the hardest things this week was balancing asteroid movement and appearance. Initially, they all moved too fast and cluttered the screen. I had to tweak spawn rates which not only gave a better difficulty curve but made destroying asteroids more rewarding.

[politellamafan]

Week 5: Platformer Postmortem, Asteroids Elevator Pitch

With the platformer prototype completed, it’s time for a postmortem analysis.

Platformer Postmortem

Reflecting on my platformer development, here are some key takeaways:

What worked well?

Fluid movement mechanics and physics-based interactions added depth to gameplay.

What could be improved?

The level design needed more variation, and enemy AI could be more dynamic.

What would I change if I had more time?

Implement more power-ups and fine-tune the enemy behavior.

Asteroids Elevator Pitch:

For my next prototype, I’ll be working on a space shooter inspired by Asteroids and similar styles of games.

Elevator Pitch: Asteroid Rush is an arcade-style space shooter where players navigate an asteroid field while battling enemy ships. With fuel and ammo available to the player, they must strategically navigate the abyss while surviving waves of obstacles. The game’s fast-paced action and fluid movement create an engaging challenge for players.

[politellamafan]

Week 4: Platformer Development Post, Playtesting and Pitching Insights

This week, I made significant progress in developing Echo’s Leap. My primary focus was refining the gameplay mechanics and implementing interactive elements.

Key Developments:

Advanced Movement System: Introduced jumps for more fluid navigation.

Enemy: Designed a basic enemy that patrols a set area.

Playtesting and Pitching Insights

I conducted an initial playtest with a few peers to gather feedback on controls and game feel. Key observations included:

Responsive Controls: Testers appreciated the fluidity of movement but suggested refining jump height and acceleration.

Clarity of Objectives: Some players were unsure of level goals, indicating a need for better visual cues.

Enemy Challenge: The current behavior was too predictable, reducing difficulty.

Based on this feedback, I plan to improve enemy patterns, refine the movement, and add more visual indicators for objectives. My next step is to finalize a playable level and polish mechanics.

[politellamafan]

Week 2: Platformer Elevator Pitch

This week, I focused on defining the core concept of my platformer game and experimenting with GDevelop. I began by creating an elevator pitch that encapsulates the essence of my game in a concise and engaging manner:

Elevator Pitch: "Echo’s Leap is an action-adventure platformer where players control Echo, a nimble explorer traversing a mysterious world filled with gravity-defying landscapes and ancient ruins. Players must master dynamic movement mechanics—running, jumping, wall-climbing, and using power-ups—to overcome environmental challenges and evade shadowy adversaries. With fluid motion and physics-driven puzzles, Echo’s Leap offers an immersive experience that rewards agility and problem-solving."

Experimenting with GDevelop

To bring my vision to life, I explored GDevelop, a no-code game engine designed for 2D games. I began by setting up a basic character sprite, implementing movement controls, and testing collision detection. Here are some key takeaways:

Movement Mechanics: Implemented responsive left/right movement and jumping.

Physics Integration: Adjusted gravity settings to create a natural jump arc.

Tile-Based Level Design: Experimented with platform placements to test vertical traversal.

Preliminary Animation: Added simple sprite animations for movement and idle states.

Next week, I will further refine the game’s mechanics and start designing the first level.

[politellamafan]

Week 1: Elevator Pitch and Initial Concept

The first step in creating my platformer game was brainstorming the core mechanics and setting the foundation. I wanted my game to focus on smooth, responsive movement and engaging challenges.

To guide my development, I read The Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton, which emphasizes a player-centric approach. Gameplay must be compelling, as it’s the key factor that keeps players engaged.

High-Concept Statement

Gameplay: A fast-paced platformer emphasizing precise movement, physics-based mechanics, and interactive power-ups.

Why it's compelling: The game balances platforming challenges with unique physics mechanics, rewarding strategic movement and quick reflexes.

Target Audience: Ages 10+.

Player’s Role: The player is a daring adventurer navigating treacherous terrain to uncover an ancient secret.

Motivation and Rewards: Players earn points, unlock new abilities, and face increasingly difficult levels.

Genre: Action-platformer.

Setting: A mysterious, abandoned fortress floating above the clouds.

Elevator Pitch

“Skybound Secrets is an action-packed platformer where players traverse a floating fortress, unlocking hidden power-ups and using gravity-defying mechanics to overcome challenges. With dynamic movement and physics-based puzzles, every jump, climb, and glide matters as players uncover the fortress’s lost history.”

[politellamafan]

"It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop"

- Wisdom of Confucius