Design Blog 1

Stumblebumps Unite is a local multiplayer obstacle course party game. Players assume the role of a stumblebump, small plush dinosaurs that run, jump, and dive their way through intricate playroom themed courses from an ant's eye view. My name is Michael Szolowicz, and I am the lead designer on this project.  This blog will cover the ideas, practices, and evolution of the game’s design throughout development. My producer Donovan will be writing a production blog in parallel which will cover the development of process and work of our talented team members.

Stumblebumps production is broken down into sprints, with each sprint covering a period of two weeks. This being the first blog for the first sprint, the work is fairly level at the moment. This means most of the work is on things like documentation, coordinating the team, and ideation. Sprint one mostly taught me what does and does not work when managing a team. These lessons will inform my process as we move towards a playable build, at which point real iteration can begin.

The Game Design Document (GDD) has been the bulk of my work thus far. It is a wiki style GDD, contained in a shared Google Drive folder with subdirectories for different disciplines.  This has multiple benefits. First, we can have separate documents for separate topics which reduces the load of information developers have to sift through. Second, it makes it easy to add different formats of documentation like images and spreadsheets. Third, we can selectively grant edit access to folders and documents, which has allowed team members to edit or create their own documentation.  The GDD started with some explanations of controls and mechanics as well as mood boards for the artists. Over the sprint it expanded to contain wireframes, UI art, feedback on level designs, asset lists, and more. This is very much a living document that should give a holistic view of the project’s evolution by the time we launch.

One application of the GDD I wanted to give special attention to is the model asset list.  This is just a big spreadsheet with known models needed for the game. What’s special about it is the features provided by Google Sheets. I am able to include a reference image and description of each asset, then link that row directly to other team members. This has allowed Donovan to add links to Jira cards taking developers directly to the spot in the asset list where the model is described. Features have given me a lot of confidence in the decision to use Google Drive as our GDD.

Of course, all those models in the asset list are for more than just looks. Levels are the backbone of Stumblebumps Unite, so I have been working closely with our three level designers on the first batch of Grand Prix levels. So far we have used a one level per designer approach, where individual designers wait on feedback to move to the next steps of their design process. I was initially happy with the annotated maps, with only one designing needing more than two rounds of feedback on this step. The block outs were put together fine, but some delay on getting the appropriate player controller parameters set caused a delay in testing these properly. Setting the player controller parameters was my responsibility, and was completed early in sprint two, nonetheless I accept responsibility for this delay. While the block outs should be a starting point for the first prototype, I am not entirely satisfied with the quality of the designs. Alongside my producer, I am working on a new level design flow that will let designers focus on smaller pieces of levels at a time. Hopefully this new workflow will improve iteration time on level designs so we can reach the highest quality possible for this vital element of the game.

Between what worked and did not work there are a lot of good lessons to take away from the first sprint.  Overall, our biggest success was the GDD and asset list which really helped get everyone on the same page and going on work. Level design started strong but turned into a shortcoming in need of improvement. Moving forward, my goal is to address this issue to help us achieve a playable build by the end of sprint two.  This is just the start of our journey, so stick around for more as we build the ultimate four player obstacle course party game.