Game Design

GAME CONCEPT: Little Jurassic People

Little Jurassic People, a mainstream 3D Web Massively Multiplayer Online Game, is my biggest project yet. I created the original concept for the game and it got selected at Supinfogame for development.

Now, with a 6-member core team and up to 49 regulare contributors, the game is undergoing a nine month full time production on which I’m the lead game designer and creative director of sorts. Our goal is to have a fully functional online prototype ready for the end of June 2009.

Little Jurassic People is a mainstream 3D web MMOG set in a lush Jurassic environment. Designed as a relaxing, stress-free and gameplay-centered experience, this project subverts traditional hardcore and casual MMO conventions. Players explore an incredible prehistoric world in which they can interact with everything they see, from trees to dinosaurs, they can have a true impact on the game ecosystem.

Featuring a pictographic communication system, the gameplay is also suited for a younger audience.

The game concept can be found HERE (pdf, english)

The french game concept can be found HERE (pdf, french)

First teaser trailer

As the Creative Director and and Lead Game Designer of the pro jet, I have many tasks:

1. Making sure the actual game reflect the initial concept and is suited to its intended audience
2. Managing a design team, scheduling design tasks and setting priorities
3. Setting up a work method (for the designers) for the team and making sure the working environment is a positive one
4. Reviewing and evaluating all the design work
5. Reviewing all the 2D/3D/sound assets as they are produced and overview their implementation
6. Combining all the design work into a functional work document adapted to project team size structure
7. Over-viewing the implementation of the the design work by working closely with coders, artists and everyone else on the project
8. Other tasks, specific to the project reduced team size,  include: designing the player experience and learning process, coordinating play tests, communicating around the project

 Some example of behvaiour work, this one in particular concerns basic global detection system for dinosaurs

 PARALLAXIS

Position on the project: lead game designer, level designer, level builder

As a week long game development exercise, I developed, along with 4 other people, an Unreal Tournament 2004 cooperative MOD to be played by a non seeing player and a “seeing” player. Together they go through a series of levels filled with puzzles. They need to cooperate and using audio and visual clues to aid each other in their adventure.

The subject of what is called an “intensive week” (see it as a students introduction to “crunch”) was to develop a UT MOD playable by both a non seeing and a seeing player.

Interesting Fact: By creating template elements in Google SketchUP, we came up with a unified level layout process which granted a smooth level design/building pipeline.

S.N.A.P.

Position on the project: game designer, lead writer

S.N.A.P.:as a week long game development exercice, I developed, along with 4 other people, a 2D adventure prototype. Using photos from SUPINFOGAME real environnements, the project was coded on DARK GDK, Dark Basic C++ Extension.

The subject of what is called an “intensive week” (see it as a students introduction to “crunch”) was to develop a point&click game requiring a card deck. The interesting bit was doing the card game stand-alone, playable on its own by its own set of rules.

S.N.A.P. sees the player trying to help an excentric AI in purging its systems from a powerful enemy, V.I.R.U.S. by solving a series of puzzles. Solving these puzzles requires the use of a stand alone card deck, specifically created for the game.