

PROJECT TYPE
DATE
Solo Project
Unreal Engine 4
June 2021 - December 2021

Overview
Cosmic Catering began as an idea to take a classic style of game, arcade-y pizza/person delivery game(kinda like Crazy Taxi) and have the player utilize vertical movement as well. I began initially picturing something kinda like the taxi scene in the Fifth Element, but after considering the scope that a large and vertical city would bring, I decided to go with a low poly aesthetic in space. Rather than regular spaceships, I felt that it'd feel more interesting and unique if the theme of the cars and the environment was low poly retro, 80s-esque. I was making these decisions while prototyping and iterating on the gameplay.
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One of my main reasons for pursuing this game idea was because it significantly lowered animation scope. Limiting gameplay to vehicles lowers key animation to essentially zero, saving a lot of effort on my part and allowing me to focus on making the gameplay fun.
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My Goal:
Create engaging gameplay with low scope, focusing on movement. I also hoped to make a game with many small decisions for the player in order to make managing tasks difficult due to high cognitive load.
Post Mortem
Things that went right:
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The blueprints I created were modular, allowing me to quickly implement features.
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The gameplay I had created by the end was limitless before I put a five-minute timer on it.
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Players enjoyed flying around.
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The simplified menu-navigation was incredibly helpful for maintaining flow.
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Created something fairly unique.
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Things that went wrong:
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Needs more tension/conflict as it is currently a very low-pressure experience.
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I had to cut the main clear narrative elements to prioritize completing the gameplay loop.
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What I've learned from this experience:
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Implementing controller support for menus in Unreal Engine 4 requires more time than it seems.
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I would benefit from working on more peaceful game experiences, to better understand how to make downtime engaging.
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I would benefit from the experience of creating games with progression and economy systems.
The thumbnail for this project on my Projects page is actually an AI-Generated image by DALLE-2, I wanted to give credit for it.