RETAIL RIOT
THERE'S A BLACK FRIDAY.
THEN THERE'S A RETAIL RIOT.
PLATFORM: PC
ENGINE: UNITY
DATE: SEPT. 2016 - PRESENT
DURATION: ONGOING
TEAM: CARGO BOX STUDIO (6*)
ROLE: TECH. GAME DESIGNER
*JESSE BAKER, RAPHAEL TETRAULT, RUBY XIA, IAN WANG, JOSHUA GARCIA
DASH INTO RETAIL RIOT AND EMBRACE CONSUMER CULTURE WITH UP TO 9 PLAYERS.
OVERVIEW:
Inspired by the riotous Black Friday, Retail Riot is a 9-player competitive shop-off submitted to ESAC 2016.
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Gameplay revolves around collecting, protecting, stealing, and dropping-off items at the checkout to gain points.
My roles included game design and programming, with emphasis on player-store/item interactions.
IF YOU'RE THE SMARTEST PERSON IN THE ROOM, YOU'RE IN THE WRONG ROOM.
1. DESIGN CHALLENGE: CIRCULATION
Circulation became an early issue in testing; players were sticking to the quickest routes to the checkout and leaving the corners of the store untouched. To address this, I implemented a distribution system with a simple 'heat map' which resupplied less-travelled areas more frequently. As a result, map circulation improved without compromise.
2. TECHNICAL CHALLENGE: NESTED RIGIDBODIES
When I added functionality for picking up items, I realized players' rigidbodies conflicted with those of nested items. The player's body shared its settings with the items, which would roll away. To resolve this, instead of having a rigidbody on items at all times, I created a helper gameobject which would parent the item when dropped, providing a rigidbody. These helper objects were then managed by a recycler, reducing their overhead usage.
Follow us on Twitter for updates on Retail Riot: Refunded.
RETAIL RIOT
DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE
2. PROGRESSION
TEAM WORKFLOW:
STAGE 01: CONCEPTUALIZATION. MEET 1.
STAGE 02.
PROTOTYPING. MEET 2.
STAGE 03.
ITERATION & POLISH. MEET 3.
We work on a 1-2-1 pattern, where we plan for a meet then work for 2.
By meet 2, we begin a prototype with the new features, testing when possible.
By meet 3, we test the prototype. If an idea was missed, it is implemented.