Kimball Brooksby - Game Designer

Summary

For this alternative-control exploration game, the majority of my time was spent implementing quest and secret event content using the quest line system I developed at the start of the project. The most challenging thing about this project, though, was coordinating the experiences of using the custom controller we built with the mechanical experience of the player in the game world. That combined experience of riding a horse and interacting with the game environment in interesting, unexpected ways is what makes playing it so delightful.

Details

Team Size | 12

Duration | 3 Months

Platform | Windows (Itch.io)

Role | Technical Designer

Tools | UE 5, Blueprints, Trello, Google Sheets, Miro, Perforce

Controller Design

The Problem: Why Make a New Controller in the First Place?

Controllers are the filter through which players interact with the game world, so by creating our own controller, we have more control over the player experience we are trying to deliver to the player.
This comes with its own set of problems, though, as taking the time to learn a new controller is a substantial cost for the player to play the game.

Our Goals: Focusing on the Artifact

Intuitive Controls: The player should be able to leverage the common understanding of horse back riding to learn how to control their character.
Tactile Enjoyment: The player should enjoy interacting with the controller outside of just using it to complete objectives within the game world.

Our Solution: Cowboys

We modelled our controller and our controls after actions seen in old westerns.
- Accelerating - Kicking your heels into the sides of the controller increases your speed by a fixed amount.
- Turning & Braking - Pulling on the reins let you turn or brake at an analogous rate.
- Delivering - Holding out the right piece of mail from your mail bag triggers nearby delivery quests.
- Jumping - Gripping the horn of the saddle causes you to leap over obstacles (or do another action contextual to your current mount).

What Worked & What Didn't:

In our playtests and during our showcase, new players figured out the controls for the game in the first minute or two of play.
Conversely, the sensitivity of the controller was not calibrated well, leading to players exerting themselves too much and breaking parts of it.
Overall though, we often found players laughing and riding around the game space without a specific goal, which demonstrated that we had met our goals.

Comparison: Early Sketches of the Controller (Top)
Controller Showcase at Utah Games Launch(Bottom)

ControllerShowcase.mp4

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