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PLANET RUSH

Planet Rush is a strategy game in which players take control of companies that are sent to distant planets to exploit resources. In fierce competition, they place buildings to claim land, mine raw materials and produce higher goods. As a unique twist to the genre, players also need to dismantle obsolete buildings and ultimately leave the playing field behind with only their most valuable resources to be sold for profit.

MY TASKS:

Game Design

System Design

Level Design

Development

genre:  Turn-Based Strategy

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team size:  1   —   time frame:  4 months  (Bachelor Project, HTW Berlin)

RESPONSIBILITIES

Game Design

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  • Starting the project by accumulating a set of flexible ideas instead of creating a tightly defined concept for a finished game

  • Applying a highly iterative design workflow with distinct versions that add features step by step driven by playtesting

  • Creating opportunities for interesting decisions by providing multiple options to achieve gameplay goals

  • Figuring out how to make players engage and enjoy the process of dismantling

System Design

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  • Creating a unique area control system that generates interesting spatial conflict

  • Developing a concise economy with distinct roles for each resource and a flexible production pyramid

  • Designing the fundamental turn-dependent building mechanics and interconnections and defining a set of building types

  • Balancing the parametrization of buildings, as well as various long-term strategies, utilizing economy analysis

Level Design

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  • Developing a versatile map editor to quickly create and iterate map designs

  • Forcing conflict via scarcity, as well as proper distributions and dimensions of open spaces and resource patches

  • Making sure that maps provide multiple options for strategies and counterplay

  • Controlling gameplay progression by limiting building space for area control buildings

Development

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  • Programming all systems of the game in a robust and highly modular fashion

  • Developing intuitive controls, effective visual communication of abstract gameplay processes and a clean user interface to provide a solid user experience

  • Designing and implementing an AI player using a utility AI system working with modular considerations and influence maps

Development Process Impressions

LEARNINGS

Throughout my studies I learned that the most effective way to successfully design games is to work iteratively using playable prototypes. Therefore, I developed Planet Rush with a series of distinct versions, each progressively expanding the game’s loop, systems and features. Working in this method enabled me to always stay in control of the design space and have the flexibility to incorporate feedback and creative suggestions of playtesters. This process worked out extremely well and resulted in a final prototype that was praised for its cleverly interconnected systems and mechanics by many players.

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I have a broad skill set and many interests in the fields of game development, but this project clearly confirmed to me that my biggest passion is to work with game systems and discrete mechanics. I love developing the rules, parameters and mechanisms of game systems, working out the complicated interdependencies, creating content within the game’s emerging design space and balancing everything by carefully configuring the right values. Therefore, I definitely want to continue to specialize in game system design in the future.

Thesis Impressions

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