OVERVIEW:
Super Game Brawl is a 2v2 Capture The Flag + Combat Arena style game that was developed during VFS's Hat Jam 11. Super Game Brawl was also awarded the overall best game award for Hat Jam 11 In Super Game Brawl you can pick between one of four playable characters, the Project Manager, Artist, Level Designer, and Programmer, each with their own unique attacks and abilities. Once your character is picked you and a team mate will load into the arena facing another team of two, who you will battle it out with as you race to capture the flag. Each character was designed around their own individual fantasy with a powerful unique special ability. Additionally each character had a ranged attack that applied a unique status effect on foes as well as a similar melee attack which they could use to clobber their opponents in the flag capture objective. |
ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
Gameplay Systems Designer
Level Designer
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DESIGN THOUGHTS AND LEARNINGS:
Character Abilities & Player Interactions
Objective & Pick Ups
Character Abilities & Player Interactions
- Other than their special abilities, characters shared mechanical functionality so as to create a low skill floor in order to encourage team work and communication.
- Characters were designed to have a depth of dynamics and synergies with each other for players to explore and master. For instance the programmer could use their special ability to reverse the controls for all opponents, opening up the floor for the burst heavy artist to devastate foes.
- Each characters special was designed to be more so a challenge of timing and understanding the situation instead of mechanical proficiency. Players could thus feel useful and impactful every time they unleashed their special ability, however if they timed it perfectly they could completely sway the tide of the game making the play super rewarding.
- On the other hand, the ranged ability was one which posed a mechanical challenge rewarding skilled play and usage by placing opponents in various negative status effects which the friendly team could capitalize on.
Objective & Pick Ups
- The main objective of the game was to capture your opponent teams flag and bring it back to your own base, with the first duo team to do this five times declared the winner. Each teams base was situated on either end at the bottom of the arena, whereas the flag that they had to capture situated at the top of the arena t the opposite end. This was done to encourage player movement and lead to inevitable encounters and interactions.
- Along the way there were various pick up spawns which could allow players to heal up, get a movement speed boost, or charge up their special instantly. These could be contested by both teams and lead players to make traversal decisions on the fly, opening them up to moments of power from which to make awesome plays.