IRON HARVEST
Iron Harvest is an award-winning real-time strategy game set in the alternate reality of 1920+. Players lead powerful dieselpunk mechs, infantry and hero units into battle and utilize base building, fortifications and cover in a brutal competition for resources, victory points and the fate of nations.
MY TASKS:
Game Design
Level Design
genre: Real-Time Strategy — team size: 65+ — time frame: 6 months (Internship, KING Art Games)
RESPONSIBILITIES
Game Design
-
Being responsible for the challenge gameplay mode, figuring out how to set elastic difficulty levels appropriate for different player types and defining metrics for performance ratings
-
Playtesting the game’s systems, mechanics and content and giving input on their design and parameter balancing
-
Helping shape the ingame resource economy for multiplayer skirmishes
Level Design
-
Creating challenge maps from start to finish, involving ideation, blockouts, progressive refinement and final polishing of gameplay spaces, content and event sequences
-
Doing exciting mission design by developing good structure, pacing and difficulty flow
-
Setting up a playground map to be played at public exhibitions by fans and media
-
Updating and improving multiplayer maps
Defending a bridge in the challenge map 'The Last Stand'
Scripted mission briefing in 'The Last Stand'
Destruction of incoming forces in 'Hold the Line'
Defending a bridge in the challenge map 'The Last Stand'
Impressions
LEARNINGS
In my internship at KING Art I experienced working in a really large team for the first time. I learned to share the design process within an established hierarchy, getting task assignments and advice from more experienced colleagues, while contributing and advocating my own ideas. My most important take-away was that as team size increases, information flow gets more difficult, which necessitates more sophisticated methods and routines for communication.
Creating gameplay content for a big audience of core players was exciting and challenging. I learned a lot about designing narratives, gameplay pacing and difficulty levels that work for a wide variety of player types. It was amazing to see my work being experienced by so many players, watching Youtube videos of playthroughs and reading strategy discussions on Reddit. Working on this fantastic project definitely strengthened my dedication to develop more great games in the future.