Introduction
Round 5 was a festival sound. The objective of round 5 was making an interactive world for the festival in 3 weeks. Our team made multi-player PS Move color puzzle game that player can rotate, scale, and change color of the shape.
What went right?
1.Intuitive game mechanic
We choose the simple intuitive game mechanic rotating and positioning shape’s color and size which is familiar to most of the age group. So, lots of guests naturally grab our world and have fun. Also, it immediately gave guests a feeling of being smart and the moment they communicate and cooperate with each other was powerful enough to make the players engage into the world.
2.Polished artwork & sound
Even though we used just a simple shapes and colors, we wanted to deliver the amazing moments to the guests. We put lots of time and efforts to the shader and particle effects that makes our shape looked more beautiful. Also, we gradually added the sound layer according to the guests’ progress. It worked really well and helped the guest to emotionally engaged to the game more.
3.Embraced the constraint
Festival automatically gives us lots constraints. We had to make a game concept that works for most of the age group. Moreover, we had to find the concept that is not offensive to most of the people. However, the constraint gave us a more clear goal to proceed. We could filter our idea and easily be on the same page. It helped us to focus more on detail.
What went wrong?
1.Exhaustion
It was the last round for us, and everybody was exhausted. We all need rest, however, there was no time to rest. So we lost almost a week because everybody couldn’t invest our full potential to development.
2.Big direction change
From Round 3, I have learned simple concept works well, but for this round, I forced the weird & complicated story game idea to team. After we got feedback from the faculty, I also agreed this was so complicated so we changed it all. Fortunately, the new concept worked, but because of my stubbornness, we lost a week for the development.
Conclusion
I learned “Simple is the best”. Also, I figured out people appreciate the game with lots of details. Feeling of being smart in the game was powerful enough to make people to be emotionally engaged with the game.
The most valuable experience for this round was we had a chance to actually interact with the guest at the BVW festival. Watching people having fun with our game and sharing their excitement reminds me why I decided to be in the entertainment industry.
Overall, through the whole Building virtual world class, I changed a lot. First, I learn how to be assertive and confident, and Second, I learn how to respect and trust my teammates. Now I’m less afraid to say sorry when I did something wrong. I’m less hesitant to say “Yes and…” to my programmer, artist, and game designer. Now I have a gut to say I’m a producer.
JOSHUA HANJOON KIM 