cows vs aliens
GAME PRODUCER, designer, & programmer
ux Designer
UNITY, C#, visual studio, GIT/GITHUB, GOOGLE SUITE, MIRO, TRELLO, itch.io, SCRUM
PLAY THE GAME AND CHECK OUT TEAM DEVLOGS ON THE Cows Vs Aliens Team Itch.Io Page!
Welcome to Cows Vs Aliens, an Alt Ctrl Co-Op endless runner!
You are two aliens vacationing Earth together and have discovered the cutest creature you’ve ever laid eyes on: COWS! Sit in and operate our command chair controllers to collect as many cows as you can to maintain your happiness meter, but don’t fall for the decoys! FBI agents, suspicious of extraterrestrial activity, are disguised as cows and are out to get you AND your new beloveds!
GAME TRAILER:
created by Em Dryer
Project context:
In Jessie Contour’s Fall 2023 Senior Design Project: Next Level Arcade class, students develop an alt ctrl video game centered on the experience of the alternative controller, rather than the arcade cabinet in previous years. The class aims for acceptance into the Alt.Ctrl.GDC showcase at the 2024 Game Developers Conference (GDC) (fingers crossed!).
Students lead the entire development with guidance and feedback from Contour, guests, playtesters, and each other.
My roles:
Lead Game Developer
Game Producer
Game Designer
Game Programmer
UX Designer
My involvement: August 2023 - Present
goals:
TEAM:
Develop an enjoyable and functional 2D alt ctrl co-op top-down arcade game that operates with custom-made alternative controllers (custom-made controllers distinct from traditional console handhelds, keyboard, and mouse inputs) and a themed installation.
Publish a team project page with an engaging site design and an overview of development.
Get accepted into and show our game at the Alt.Crtl.GDC showcase at the 2024 Game Developers Conference.
INDIVIDUAL:
I decided to take this class as one of my Senior Design Projects because of the opportunity to carve out and hone in on professional roles I was interested in. One particular discipline I wanted to gain more experience in was UX. This class offered me the ability to more directly merge my experiences and joy as a game developer with my more recent interest in UX.
The Team: MOO-NIVERSE ENTERTAINMENT
Em Dryer, Lead Producer, Audio Designer, Experience Designer
Eriane Austria, Game Producer, Designer, & Programmer; UX Designer
Emily Mercado, Concept Artist, 2D Game Artist, Level Designer, Animator
Larenz Harrington, Alt Controller Fabricator, Programmer, & Designer
Christine Chen, Concept Artist, 2D Game Artist, UI Artist, Animator
impact:
TEAM:
We created an enjoyable and functional co-op game experience with themed alt controllers and installation, which is published on our team project page on Itch.io!
Each of us deepened our knowledge and skills in our disciplines of interest and worked well as a team (Moo-niverse Entertainment <3).
Alt.Ctrl.GDC 2024 TBD!
INDIVIDUAL:
I gained an incredible amount of experience in each of the roles I took on and understanding of how each role related to the others. I pivoted and iterated countless times throughout the process alongside my team based on evaluating my own work and hearing others’ feedback, which led to high-quality deliverables. Putting all of the parts together and working together as a cohesive team was a satisfying, fun, and meaningful experience. HUGE thanks to my team for their dedication, support, and brilliance and to our mentors who helped guide us throughout the process!
The Journey
MY RESPONSIBILITIES & Deliverables
Game Design @ end of class from Game Design Doc
GAME PRODUCER
As the Game Producer, I led the digital production of our project and worked with our Lead Producer (Em) to develop production timelines; manage tasks, assets, and communication; and document progress. My deliverables included:
A Trello Board with weekly sprints for our early production timelines and scoping purposes (specifically the game dev components)
Design of and updates to our Game Design Doc with iterations and documentation of assets
Design of and updates to Asset Tracker and Asset Checklists for game asset needs, progress, and implementation into the game
Communication of game asset needs and game dev progress to team
SOPs/instructions for use of Git/Github with Unity and implementation of certain prefabs to mitigate merge conflicts and bugs (only had 1 merge conflict the entire semester!)
Documentation of game dev progress through screen recordings, videos, and photos
Pitch of the game experience
GAME PROGRAMMER
Being the Game Programmer was both challenging but incredibly rewarding when getting all of our parts working together. I programmed the entirety of the game (aside from the cutscenes) in C# using Visual Studio, and I worked in Unity to build the game. This involved lots of prototyping, learning on my own, debugging, and iterations to make the game enjoyable and functional. I worked closely with my team to ensure that their game assets (art and sound) were being shown and working the way that they intended with the alt controllers, game design, and UX. My deliverables included:
Well-documented Git/Github repository
Functional game reflective of game design
Seamless integration with alt controllers
WebGL Build for Itch.io (keyboard)
Windows Build for in-person showcases (alt controllers)
Multiple Windows Builds for playtesting and documenting in-progress builds
Scripts for:
Co-op Player Movement
Co-op 2-Part Collection Scheme
Game Stats
Cow, FBI, Obstacle Behaviors
Endless Runner
Game/Difficulty Progression
Gameplay Tutorial
Main Gameplay
Scene, Audio, UI Management
UI Navigation (alt controller and keyboard versions)
VFX, SFX, UI Triggers
Leaderboard
Randomization
Implementation of game assets, game design, select stretch goals
Creation of prefabs and Unity scenes
EMBEDDED WEBGL BUILD
FROM ITCH.IO
GAME DESIGNER
We decided on the core loop as a team (Collect cows! Avoid FBI!), and my role as the Game Designer was to design the mechanics that a) facilitate and enhance the core loop throughout our Level Designer’s (Emily) blocks and b) connect seamlessly with our Fabricator’s (Larenz) alt controller designs in a balanced, story-driven, and fun player experience. My deliverables included:
An up-to-date Game Design Doc with documentation of previous iterations
White boxing and determining art asset dimensions with Artists
Balanced game design and mechanics that center the core loop and story
Clear game progression mechanics and game over conditions
Functional and effective gameplay tutorial
Cohesive game design and alt controller experience
Motivating features (ex. Leaderboard) for replay-ability
Ideation of game stretch goals
UX DESIGNER
As the UX Designer, I led playtesting, evaluated UX and playtesting findings, and implemented UX changes primarily in our game and on our Itch.io page. We did casual playtesting during class and at multiple showcases, as well as in-house playtesting amongst the team to figure out how we can improve our game, alt controllers, and installation. Although I designed formal playtesting, formal playtesting was out of scope and no formal playtests took place; however, I learned a lot in designing it. My deliverables included:
User personas
Design of playtesting documents used by the team
Documentation of playtesting findings with team
Synthesis of playtesting findings through affinity mapping
Presentation of playtesting findings and suggestions for next iterations to teammates
Iterations on UX Design in-game and on our Itch.io website (main page) with our UI Artist (Christine)
Wireframes to determine the flow between Unity scenes in-game
PRE-PRODUCTION
In the Pre-Production Phase, we collectively established our core loop, story, feel of the game, team roles, and ideas for our alt controllers. I created and began managing game production materials; developed an early Unity prototype; and worked with my teammates to further develop our project concept as we moved into the Production phase.
In this stage, we were still deciding whether co-op should work with 1 alt controllers or 2 alt controllers as we wanted to stay within scope. Based on playtesting of our Pre-Production prototypes, we ultimately decided on co-op with 2 alt-controllers to ensure that both players are equally engaged in the gameplay.
PAPER PROTOTYPE
Christine created these paper prototype assets. I worked with Christine and Larenz to record a demonstration of our core loop.
early UNITY PROTOTYPE
I implemented our bare bones core loop into this early Unity prototype to establish our base project and get early feedback on game design and approach to building the game.
PRODUCTION: Deliverable 1 (D1)
Deliverable 1 was a proof of concept in which the game’s core loop was fully functional and the alt controller designs were finalized.
**more details about my process, pivots, and decisions soon**
GAME DEV PROGRESS @ D1
d1 PROCESS snapshots
D1 Week 1
D1 Week 3
D1 Week 2
D1 Week 4
PRODUCTION: Deliverable 2 (D2)
Deliverable 2 was an updated game with a functional core loop, essential screens, and a start on implementing juice and polish, as well as alt controllers to near-completion.
**more details about my process, pivots, and decisions soon**
GAME DEV PROGRESS @ D2
d2 PROCESS snapshots
D2 Week 1
D2 Week 3
D2 Week 2
D2 Week 4
FINAL DELIVERABLEs
Final Deliverables included a juicy, polished game that functioned well with our fully-fabricated alt controllers, situated nicely in our installation, and was fun to play altogether.
**more details about my process, pivots, and decisions soon**
TRIAGE & POLISH
FINAL POST
GAME DEV PROGRESS @ FINAL SHOWCASE
final PROCESS snapshots
REFLECTION
We faced several challenges throughout the development stemming from the nature of building an entire project from scratch. However, we as a team navigated ambiguity, overcame roadblocks, and created an alt ctrl game experience that we feel proud of!
Overall, developing Cows Vs Aliens, an Alt Ctrl Co-Op Arcade Game was an intense, fun, and valuable experience. I greatly deepened my skills in each of the roles I took on and my understanding of how each of my roles related to the others. I got to see how my previous experiences and skills showed up and improved in this project, as well as witness the insane level of expertise and dedication of my teammates. Through evaluating my own work and hearing others’ feedback, I pivoted and iterated countless times throughout the process in every role, and I was able to deliver high-quality work alongside my team. I really enjoyed piecing all of the parts together as the Lead Game Dev, further exploring the UX discipline, and working with my amazing teammates (ask me to talk about them, and I could compliment them for ages!).
In the future, I’d like to continue fine-tuning the game by optimizing scripts; cleaning up Unity scenes; improving the Leaderboard and in-game mechanics; and implementing more of our Stretch Goals.