Wild Gamble
2nd Place
People's Choice Award
Role: Game Designer
Properties
Engine: Unity
Group (# of Members): Texas Game Jame 2023 (5)
Genre: 2D, Survival, Roguelike, Top-Down
Description
In the wild, Quetzal only has a stick to defend himself. Upgrade your weapon to survive the monsters that get stronger every day! But BEWARE! The mysterious merchant can trick you into downgrading the weapon!
Responsibilities
- System design for shop and weapon trading
- Level design by placing objectives on map and controlling enemy spawn rate
- System design for health and stats of weapons
Process & Documentation
Brainstorm
I organized the brainstorming session on a class whiteboard to overview how the game will flow through the levels. Initial designs of the shop trading system, dialogue, and the weapon system can be seen. Prior to these drawings, we had brainstorming sessions on what to create to meet the theme of traps for our game jam. We decided to combine elements of mental and physical traps for a creative experience.
Weapon System
Players start out with a weak stick that deals only 1 damage. Different weapons are set to have different attack motions. For the stick and the sword, they have a swinging motion that deals a wide area damage. For the spear, they have a long area damage. For the guns and bows, they have a projectile shooting out. Players can choose the weapon they like to beat the game.
Shop System
The shop appears after every level ends. The mysterious owl mechant offers to trade for an upgraded weapon that has twice the damage of the player’s current weapon. However, through a lie probability, the merchant may provide a downgraded version of the weapon. Players need to take the risk without knowing when their weapon can be downgraded, creating a mental trap experience.
Level Design
The walls, which are the big trees surrounding the map, are increased in size and looks as if the walls are moving. As the level progresses, there is much less space for the player to move around, causing a physical trap and limiting the players’ strategy to avoid the attacks of the monsters.