Fairy Tale Prototype
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University:
Project Type: Genre: Role: Team Size: Development Time: Development Tools: Platform: |
NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences
Prototype Role-playing game Game Designer 2 team members 4 months Unity3D PC |
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Fairy Tale is a prototype of a role-playing game featuring dungeon gameplay with random encounters leading into combat. The main focus of the prototype is the combat system which is inspired by Final Fantasy's Active Time Battle system but takes it one step further. I build the prototype in collaboration with a programmer in order to simulate a studio environment where a small team would be working on developing an early prototype.
For the graduation project of my bachelor degree I designed and created a prototype of a role-playing game and documented my design process during the prototype's development. The development of the prototype was a collaboration between me and a programming student at the same university. I decided to build the prototype in collaboration with a programmer in order to simulate a studio environment where a small team would be working on developing an early prototype.
The primary goal of my graduation project was to develop a prototype of an innovative combat system for a role-playing game. The combat system is inspired by the 'Active Time Battle' system from the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy's 'ATB' combat system adopts a cooldown timer for each individual character as opposed to a more traditional turn-based system. This mechanic was something that I wanted to explore and therefore I decided to use it as the basis of the combat system for my game. But I wanted to create a combat system with a more interesting game space than the 'ATB' system in Final Fantasy. Therefore, I decided to build a system that uses a hexagonal grid as a battlefield. Furthermore, I wanted character actions to be executed while other characters are waiting for their cooldown timers to deplete. The combat system is explained in detail in the video below.
For the graduation project of my bachelor degree I designed and created a prototype of a role-playing game and documented my design process during the prototype's development. The development of the prototype was a collaboration between me and a programming student at the same university. I decided to build the prototype in collaboration with a programmer in order to simulate a studio environment where a small team would be working on developing an early prototype.
The primary goal of my graduation project was to develop a prototype of an innovative combat system for a role-playing game. The combat system is inspired by the 'Active Time Battle' system from the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy's 'ATB' combat system adopts a cooldown timer for each individual character as opposed to a more traditional turn-based system. This mechanic was something that I wanted to explore and therefore I decided to use it as the basis of the combat system for my game. But I wanted to create a combat system with a more interesting game space than the 'ATB' system in Final Fantasy. Therefore, I decided to build a system that uses a hexagonal grid as a battlefield. Furthermore, I wanted character actions to be executed while other characters are waiting for their cooldown timers to deplete. The combat system is explained in detail in the video below.
The combat system went through multiple iterations during development. Each iteration was playtested and data was gathered both through observation of the playtesters and a questionaire. Based on the data that was gathered changes were made to the game in order to improve the player experience. One of the biggest challenges throughout the development was to properly communicate the rules of the combat system to the player. Because the combat system uses an unorthodox blend of real-time and turn-based elements, it was no small task to get the game's feedback and user interface up to a level were the player is able to understand the combat system without going through a tutorial first.
For a more detailed look into my design process you can read my graduation essay which can be downloaded above.
You can also download the prototype to give the game a spin. The use of a gamepad is recommended.
For a more detailed look into my design process you can read my graduation essay which can be downloaded above.
You can also download the prototype to give the game a spin. The use of a gamepad is recommended.
