Designer Blog #3

Hello hello!

My name is Marisa Moreno, and I'm back here again to give an update on our game, Robot Riot, made by our very own Sparkplug Studios. Our team is run and managed by our producer, Miciah Coley, who will go over more about the production process during this last sprint in his production blog.

This time around, our team has expanded from our original twelve members to fifteen total members who have lended a hand into this project, and we cannot be any more grateful for their help.

Since the last time I reported on the game's design, there have been many changes as we reach the halfway point of our game's development. From level additions to our pivoting scope for overall completion, we have been all hands on deck for some time and have no intention of slowing down.

The last designer blog I reported on the start of our third level and the near conclusion of our second level. I will circle back to Level 3, but I would like to focus on Level 2: The Village.

The development and design of level two hit a slight snag with a change of the architecture intention. Since the props of The Village were leaning to be a bit more modern in style, it made sense for the building architecture to also follow a modern style. This pushed back the time when the level was completed, but we managed to get it completed for the recent build.

We also did not have a playtest during this sprint, but we do have data that will be reviewed and used to adjust the game in the coming sprint.

Back to the third level. I had mentioned before that the level, titled The Oasis, would have a mix of a paradise and Greco-Roman architecture, and our team delivered. Our level designers and 3D artists delivered the vision as pictured below, bringing to life the little oasis for our bot characters. While the level itself has not been built at the end of the sprint, our team has a better inkling of what the level will look like once it is assembled.

Speaking of our bot characters, we also saw the conclusion of our main cast. The last of our bots (between both bot and combat modes) Tanker and Rem were modeled and textured, so our 3D artists can now fully focus on our fourth and last(?) level, The West.

In keeping with the idea that each level has its very own aesthetic and theme, I pivoted for Level 4 to have a wild west theme. If our bot characters can visit an oasis type level, then thematically, they can also be exposed to the western frontier. Since Robot Riot is a combat-focused game, I wanted to pay homage to the saloon/bar fights in western films and have props within the saloon that will also be movable to add to that chaotic atmosphere.

With our team also having expanded this sprint, we utilized our sound designer, Phae Petersen, to create various sound effects for our pickup items within the game. These involve our consumable items and our weapons and power-ups to give effective player feedback as players go through the game. We hope to have other sounds, like character hover and ambient themes for the levels sometime in the future.

Despite the slight snag throughout the sprint, as well as the expansion of our team here at Sparkplug Studios, we as a team continue to push forward into development as I am so proud of our team and the effort they have put into the game thus far.

See you in the next update!