Best Practices for Fast Game Design in Unity
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The document outlines the fast prototyping process used by Gameloft Montreal, emphasizing its importance in evaluating game ideas and reducing risk. It provides ten key tips for effective prototyping, focusing on aspects like scope selection, embracing failure, and testing methods. Additionally, it illustrates a seven-day prototyping example and discusses the significance of feedback and microinteractions in game feel.
Best Practices for Fast Game Design in Unity
- 1. FAST PROTOTYPING with Unity at Gameloft Montreal
- 8. PROTOTYPING TEAM MONTREAL • 1 year • From 1 to 5 people • 30 projects • 1 day to 2 weeks per project • From one to five prototypes per project
- 9. WHY WE PROTOTYPE • Evaluate fun/feasibility/appeal • Sell the idea to others • Reduce risk • Experiment • Serendipity
- 10. HOW WE MEASURE SUCCESS • Team’s self evaluation • Internal Playtests • External Playtests • Open Beta • Per project metrics
- 11. 10 TIPS CATCH ME GAME FEEL
- 12. SHOWTIME! It won’t take long
- 14. 2 PEOPLE 2 WEEKS JUST ME 1 WEEK JUST ME 2 WEEKS 3 PEOPLE 2 WEEKS
- 15. 10 TIPS The fourth one will drive you crazy
- 16. • No need to prototype everything • Where do you want to experiment? • What do you want to demonstrate? 1. PICK THE RIGHT SCOPE
- 17. Pick the right scope.
- 18. 2. FOCUS ON THE UNKNOWN • Don’t prototype things that already work • Identify core features • What’s unique to your game • Not just gameplay, but also art, sound, and more
- 19. Focus on the unknown.
- 20. 3. KEEP THINGS SEPARATED Three Stacks : • Gameplay (cubes / blockout) • Art (key art, concept, characters, animations…) • Meta
- 22. 4. EMBRACE FAILURE • Kill ideas early • Learn from your mistakes • Rebound from them
- 23. Embrace failure.
- 24. 5. FAKE IT TIL YOU MAKE IT • Strive for « good enough » • Reuse material as much as you can • Determine the minimum effort required
- 25. Fake it til you make it.
- 26. 6. MOVE FAST AND FIX THINGS • Solid foundations will allow you to iterate faster • Prepare for experiments • Separate structure and functionality from look and feel
- 27. Move fast and fix things.
- 28. 7. PICK THE RIGHT TOOLS • Main tool : Game engine, Photoshop, Powerpoint, After Effects, Pen and paper… • Toolbox : Houdini, Jenkins / HockeyApp, Gitlab, MMTools
- 29. Pick the right tool.
- 30. 8. MAKE IT AWESOME • Focus on that core feature the player does all the time • Put the effort in where it will have the most impact
- 31. Make it awesome.
- 32. 9. TEST OFTEN AND TEST CORRECTLY • Have random people play it • Let them figure out what’s fun or not • Internal & external playtests, open beta
- 33. Test often and test correctly.
- 34. 10. HAVE FUN • Create a game you’re proud of • Speak up • Show your work
- 35. Have fun.
- 36. MORE TIPS! • Avoid procedural • Test on real devices • Keep things simple
- 37. MORE UNITY! • Asset Store • Cinemachine • Odin • Amplify Shader • Effectcore’s VFX packs
- 38. MORE TOOLS! • Magica Voxel / Oculus Medium • Asset Forge • The Noun Project / game-icons.net • Bfxr • Asesprite
- 39. CATCH ME 7 days prototyping process example
- 40. PITCH • Pacman with abilities • Thieves and cops • Setting : Arsene Lupin / Sherlock Holmes
- 41. DAY 1 - MOVEMENT • Quick iterations to get the feeling right • Grid based movement that doesn’t feel clunky • Tons of options to play with : speed, acceleration, deceleration, auto move, direction queue, and more.
- 42. DAY 2 – COLLISIONS AND CAMERA • Raycast based collision detection • Reuse of pre-created blocks to build the modular grid • Cinemachine for the camera
- 43. DAY 3 - AI • A* from the Asset Store • Custom tweaks to fit the grid movement controller
- 44. DAY 4 - ABILITIES • Tested phasing, teleport and jump • Settled for jump after a few user tests • Modular ability system, ready for more
- 45. DAY 5 - COINS • Basic highscore system • Automatic coin generation (works whatever the grid) • Easy to tweak rewards and positions
- 46. DAY 6 – CONTROLS • Three alternate control modes to pick from • Customizable dead zones, gravity etc • Also supports keyboard / gamepad for testing purposes (and switch port)
- 47. DAY 7 – MORE ABILITIES • Adding a new ability is super fast • Custom inspectors for game designers
- 50. DAY 7 - MOCKUP • Mix of free stuff from the asset store, previous projects and new quick and dirty blocks • Fast lighting setup
- 51. GAME FEEL It’s all about the feedbacks
- 52. MICROINTERACTIONS Communicating feedback or result of action • Vibration when you turn your phone to mute • Pull to refresh • Twitter’s heart
- 54. 1. Projectiles
- 55. 2. Explosions
- 56. 3. Shells
- 57. 4. Recoil
- 58. 5. Muzzle Flash
- 60. 7. Explosions
- 61. 8. Camera Shake
- 62. 9. Dynamic Light
- 64. 11. Flash
- 65. 12. Spread
- 67. Bonus 1. Slow Motion
- 68. Bonus 2. Health Bars
- 69. MORE ABOUT FEEDBACKS • Microinteractions - Designing with Details by Dan Saffer • Juice it or lose it Martin Jonasson & Petri Purho • "The art of screenshake" Jan Willem Nijman from Vlambeer
- 70. MMFEEDBACK • One line setup • Instant juice
- 71. MMFeedback
- 72. MMTOOLS • Many tools like these • Build and share your own toolbox!
- 73. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Pick the right scope • Make it awesome • Iterate quickly and test frequently
- 74. WE’RE HIRING! Come and say hi
- 75. THANK YOU! Renaud Forestié twitter : @reuno