Hexamster Twogether
Asymmetrical multiplayer party game.
THE PROJECT
Get ready for a crazy race!
In a peaceful house transformed into a huge playground, take part in the ruthless fight between rodents and the cat.
1 to 4 players can take part including one cat and hamsters.
Be an agile hamster and run as fast as you can to gobble up doughnuts before the time runs out.
Control the cat, slower but stronger, and fiercly protect your territory. Whichever side you are on, be sneaky and you will win!
Which side will rule the house?
HIGH LEVEL TIMELINE
- Month 1 : Planning, Game Design,
documentation, proof of concept & level design.
- Month 2 : Audio, Localization, testing, balancing, fine-tuning & shipping.
THE TEAM
- Game Director.
- Project Manager / Game Designer.
- Developer.
KEY GOAL
Produce & ship a multiplayer party game in 2,5 months with minimum expenses and staff.
MY ROLE
On this project, I had multiple roles.
From designing the concept through production all the way to testing & publishing.
- During preproduction, I started by coming up with several game design propositions for this follow-up game.
- I proceeded then with the planning and costs estimate, which had to fit in the 2 months and half constraint given by the company.
- Once the production started, I had multiple roles as I was the producer, supervising a developer intern and the art assets production.
- I also created & integrated the different level designs .
- When the game was ready to be tested, I led the playtesting sessions and made the corresponding adjustments to the the game and level design settings.
BREAKING DOWN THE PROCESS
The team didn't start from scratch since there was already a "Hexamster 1". But we had to push the concept even further and orient the game towards a new multi-player party-game style. Which is basically starting from scratch...
The first game had you controlling a hamster and running through a house to eat all the donuts within a limited time. It was a relative commercial success, but lacked severely in features and gameplay depth.
The mission with this sequel was to push the concept to the next level and integrate multiplayer, so that it can find a broader audience.
The team considered the first game as an advanced gameplay prototype and built upon it.
We were mainly inspired by casual party games and Nintendo games, especially in the ease-of-use, the mechanics and the game feel.
Finally, I felt like asymmetrical gameplay would gain traction since players would want to catch the donuts or to catch the hamsters.
This was very important since the game targets VR arcades.
Everything is Kawaii
We developed a random hamster creation system that gives you a new hamster each time you play.
This contributed greatly to the cute cartoon art direction we wanted for this game. The casual art style contributed to appeal to a broader audience.
THESE WERE SOME MAJOR LEARNINGS
The simplest gameplays require the most iterations.
When the team starts with an established gameplay, one might think that things will go faster. In this case, the testing period lasted longer than expected (even though we still met the deadlines). There was a number game and level design settings that had to be fine-tuned in unexpected ways.
Modular level design is the fastest to iterate on.
You need to have a solid base of "tiles" that can be replicated and then attach them together in a meaningful way to make a full map. Adding props creates layers of coherence, consistence and sometimes story-telling.
All in all, I found it to be a much easier and faster way to create whole levels and iterate on them.
Drawing from the motion gaming era.
To move, the player has to shake his controllers, imitating running in real life.
It is intuitively understood by players while reducing the risks of motion sickness.
This mechanic was used in some Wii sports games and also taken back recently by some VR games.