GENRE
Shoot 'em up
PLATFORM
PC
ENGINE
Unreal Engine 5
DURATION
9 Weeks (Full Time)
TEAM SIZE
11 Developers
Game Description
The concept of Draconic Rampage had a focus on applying the gameplay and style of effect-heavy visual shoot 'em ups and bringing it into a 3D environment.
The idea behind Draconic Rampage came to be after looking into the market of shoot 'em up games and seeing no 3D version. We set out to make a 3D shoot 'em up with simplified movement mechanics to be able to focus upgradeable abilities.
Draconic Rampage is a top-down shoot 'em-up game developed by Ouroboros Entertainment as a part of Game Project 3 at Playgroundsquad.
Draconic Rampage allows the player to fulfill their dragon fantasy of pillaging villages and growing stronger with every attack. The player controls a dragon and must cleverly maneuver around the attacks from knights and archers as they aim to grow enough to once again rule the kingdom!
Contribution Summary
UI/UX Designer
I was responsible for the design behind the shape and form of all UI as well as the UX layout and animations. I put together a mood board for both UI and UX and worked together with the art team to create something fitting to the style of the game. I created several mockups and consulted the team on numerous occasions about the style, form, and function of the UI.
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The hardest challenge in designing the UI was capturing the clear readability of player information. Since the player gets attacked from all directions the UI had to be clean and small yet clearly give the player the necessary feedback. After several iterations, the final product turned out and was received well.
UI/UX Design
Medieval Dragon High Fantasy
Draconic Rampage's core focus is applying the genre of Shoot 'em up in a 3D populated environment. The market is missing a game of this kind which hosts an opportunity to make it a reality. We realized that the feeling of the game could be hard to capture in UI due to the lack of alike video game reference material.
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We needed to keep the UI minimalistic due to the nature of the gameplay aspect whilst also keeping the style matching the environment. A big problem quickly became balancing the usage of screen space while trying to convey all necessary player information.
Ideation
Starting off, I searched for reference material matching two words, minimalistic and expressive. I created mockups and found references for the UX side as well.
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I consulted the team to hear and see what they thought of the different mockups and ideas I'd created. After listening to everyone I had a clear picture of what to do and began creating temporary assets.
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Thanks to my prior experience working with UI on game projects I quickly noted down all screens that I'd need to design UI for. I began by creating paper sketches of all screens with their different possible layouts.
The idea behind the UI/UX was to keep with the high fantasy theme by having the UI's main assets be paper scrolls and magical rocks. This was well received by the artist making the art and led to an easy time communicating the style and shape of the UI.
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UI/UX Conceptiulizing
Thanks to the quick workings of the artists we were able to produce each individual asset needed which allowed us to accurately portray the intended idea.
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This time around I utilized the Adobe XD program to create functional mockups to more accurately show off to the team the ideas I had for the
in-game UI. Using Adobe XD made it easier to communicate my visions to the team and allowed me to change their feedback in real-time. Thanks to my extensive sketching on paper there wasn't too much need for iteration outside of the engine.
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For the process of conception, I talked a lot with the art team and got my feedback from them. I also worked closely together with the artist creating the UI to make the size accurate, constantly showing how I apply the different assets.
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Blockout
The first iterations of the UI used placeholder assets I'd made to convey the feeling and show the rest of the team how the UI was to eventually look.
The blockout process required a lot of iteration to allow for the most view of enemies for the player while also fitting into the game's style.
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The iteration process required constant feedback from the art team. Most of the iteration happened in the engine, this was to ease the process of showing the team members how it was evolving. There was also a lot of blockout with the ability to make the UX feel fitting with the sizes.
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Art Implementation
The implementation of all assets was completely done by me this includes the animations of each menu asset. The implementation went by easily with the help of the programmers. (Click to enhance the pictures)
Sound Design
Softend Continous Auditory Stumli
The traditional shoot 'em up feel we were aiming for has a lot of balance with their sound design. Since attacks most often happen automatically there has to be a great focus on balancing the sound level to not blow the eardrums of the player or overstimulate them.
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Finding this balance was a struggle as almost every ability was to use a specific sound effect to make them easily distinguishable. This, alongside the environmental sounds of the villages in the background, made the process a tedious but mandatory part.
Not only pertaining to the volume but also the pitch of each sound.
Research
The sound design process started with finishing the implementation of all the game's abilities and assets. Determining which parts are in need of sounds drastically reduces the amount of work needed. In turn, this gave me more time to polish and create the sounds which ultimately became final.
A lot of time went into finding creative commons licensed sounds that I could alter and make sound fitting for the game. Together with that,
I spent time looking through my old personal log of recorded sounds to see if any could be used.
First Sample
When starting the process of producing the sound effect I found it easy to create something resembling my vision of the finished product. This was due in part because I was able to maticoulsy alter each spectical of the sound to my liking to make them link together within themselves.
The inspiration behind the sounds came from high fantasy games and their usage of sound effects regarding magic since the player is in control of a dragon. The sounds not pertaining to the dragon, like the archer's arrow and knights hitting, were designed with one thought in mind, making them noticeable yet muffled in as surround sound.
The reason behind this approach was that the enemies are supposed to be viewed as inferior to the player. Yet they cause the player harm and must therefore audibly inform the player of their existence.
Final Sound
After several iterations and trying to match each sound from a design perspective, I ended up with a multitude of sounds that all fit together.
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As previously mentioned, the hardest challenge was making the sounds feel like they fit together whilst not breaking the eardrums of the players. One trick
I used to accomplish the cohesive feeling was to apply the same layered reverb on each sound effect. This allowed them to work in unison.
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The sounds listed here on the side are
a few of the ones found in the game.
I want to not only provide them in a clear manner but also show that in a vacuum they represent what they're intended to.
Gameplay Design
Draconic Rampage was originally a concept created by my co-designer Viktor Hybinette. However, he and I together developed the idea of the game and called the shots for how different aspects should appear. We wanted the gameplay to focus on the different combinations one could make with a plethora of different abilities rather than character placement.
Just like the other design parts, the gameplay had to go through several iterations which required a lot of redesigning of both the concept and code. There were some issues in how different personnel interoperated with the game idea which ultimately suffered as some changes quickly became irreversible and weren't discussed with the team before they were made. This led to even more workarounds being made in code.
Alongside balancing the abilities stats together with Viktor, I focused on making sure the UX was present in the gameplay. The biggest problem I solved was what to do with enemies who are obstructed from the player's field of view, hidden behind other objects. I went through several iterations, everything from occlusion masking to creating a brightly colored outline. I ultimately landed on making the enemies appeared as only silhouettes.
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On top of that, I was the leading force behind getting the player camera and enemy attack in place to make it noticeable to the player while not breaking the immersion. I made sure the hit effects were large along with the emission flash when getting hit and distinguishing the emission color between the player and enemies.
Project Manager
The role of the Project Manager was one I shared with Viktor Hybinette. We both decided that keeping an open clear communication line between us would easily ensure that we are on the same page and could from there on inform the team.
We decided to collectively put together the documentation and help one another with each other's personal notes if that was needed. Furthermore, we took on two different roles, Viktor the one managing the game's current state and I the one making sure it progresses as planned and that the team is managing the work.
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We decided that the sprint reviews should be made by me to keep a cohesive style and that the review itself should be held by whoever was best fitting on the given day. What I prioritized was trying to keep the team moving despite our setbacks and to keep everyone informed. With this job came holding the daily standup meetings and making sure that everyone is informed of the game's current state and future plans/changes.
Development Team
Programmers
Oliver Berglund
Arvid Lindgren
André Larsson
Game Designers
Artists
Hugo Wassén
Viktor Hybinette
Maija Eriksson Kukkonen
Anastasia Johansson
Andreas Olsson
Tamachat Hejderup
Kim Eklund
André Nilsson
Ouroboros Entertainment