Mark Esparagoza
18 Person Team | 4 Months
Growing a System
Floravna was developed by Nerd Raft, a DigiPen game team I joined in the spring of 2020 during development. I was the systems designer to...
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Establish an engaging gameplay loop
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Have a sense of discovery as the game progresses
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Simulate the systems and mechanics in isolation
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Create emotional attachments towards plant/animal hybrids (Planimals)
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Ease the player into a relaxing environment
Growth Spurt
When a planimal runs out of 1 nutrient that they need, then it will stop growing. This created a sense of urgency that the planimal really needed them.
✖ Other nutrients decrease over time. This creates a situation that the player must quickly give their planimals nutrients or else they will keep running out of resources, making the game more twitch like than relaxing.
Sheet Simulation
Using Microsoft Excel, I determined how much resources the player would have at certain stages of the game. It helped me determine the cost values and reward values that would control when the player discovering planimals.
Code Simulation
I wanted more accurate data on the game. Using C#, I wrote a program to determine the time it takes the player will get a certain number of resources. It can run multiple simulations and get the average of all simulations run.
If Time
I would change the mechanics for growing so once one of the resources needed depletes, then the other resources don't deplete. This would make a more relaxing experience instead of the player trying to rush to get that one depleted resource in.
