Summary
The intent of Medevac was to create an engaging game about warfare, where the player doesn't participate in combat, rescuing both allied and enemy combatants.
Overview
Platform: PC with Xbox 360 Controller
Project Duration: January 2017 - May 2017
Project Role: Systems Designer and QA Lead
I was brought onto the Medevac project about half way through its development, with the primary goals of tweaking the feel of the Medevac’s boost, developing an upgrade system that would enhance the narrative themes of the game, and creating environmental hazards to increase the difficulty of the game.
Refining Movement and Bosting
When I came onto the Medvac project, one of the chief complaints from QA testers was that the Medevac felt heavy and unresponsive overall, and that the boost felt clunky and unrewarding. To address these concerns, I created an intent document requesting which values I wanted the programming team to expose, so that I could tweak them on my own. The documentation detailed three stages of maneuverability – planning for integration with the upcoming upgrade system, these were target goals for what the Medevac would feel like as the player bought additional upgrades.
Eventually, the final design was a mix between the second and third stages – tweaking the drag and weight of the Medevac’s Rigidbody in addition to the exposed variables improved the handling characteristics of the Medevac significantly. As seen in the trailer video, after leaving boost mode, the medevac has a brief but noticeable deceleration period where horizontal and vertical movement sensitivity is gradually improved as its vertical speed decreases. This resulting effect was praised by QA testers as well as the judges at GameFest 2017.
Upgrade Tree
One of the major goals for Medevac was encouraging the player to rescue combatants from the “enemy” side in addition to their own. In order to provide an incentive to do so, I created two simple upgrade trees for the player, each with a different focus. My intent here was to make the player to weigh the benefits of who to save, and who to leave behind, on each trip. While the initial pitch went well with QA testers, the upgrades were later cut from the project due to scope concerns. In hindsight, I think this was an error, since it detracted from our goal of creating a conflict in the player over immediate reward or benefits in the future.
"Spotlights" - Environmental Hazards
Creating environment hazards for Medevac was one of my favorite parts of the project. I wanted the hazards to be a part of a battle that was just winding down. Initially, I wanted to create ground based enemies that shot at the player, but later iterated on the concept to be “spotlights” – laser painting of the player by drones. This fit better with the futuristic themes in the rest of the game, and helped keep the ground clear of clutter that would otherwise make it difficult for players to find and rescue combatants.
My favorite spotlight was “The Big One”, a multi-tiered spotlight which continually tracked the player. This one was created to solve the problem that spotlights were immobile, and therefore fairly easily avoided, especially if no combatants spawned near them. By continually pressuring the player with an immediate threat, players had to pay attention to their own safety even when far away from the rest of the hazards.
It also helped us find a diegetic way to manage the boundaries of the map – players who stray too far away from the base ship are quickly targeted by Big One, and destroyed if they don’t return to the play space after several warnings. Leaving the boundaries of the play space was a frequent problem during testing of the game. With the horizon far in the distance, and a great deal of space available in the map, constraining the player in a way that wasn’t an invisible wall contributed a good deal to the experience of Medevac.
Developers
Michael Walker
Systems Designer, Lead QA
Colin Brady
Programmer
Tucker Cole
Environment Artist
Amos Byrne
Producer, Lead Designer
Robert Gentile
Lead Programmer
Michael Manfredi
Lead Artist
Brent Edwards
Artist