Folded

Team Lead / Lead Programmer - 7 Developers - 12 Weeks Development Time - 15 Hour Weekly Work Time - Lua / In-House Engine 

Description: Folded is a 2D platforming game in which the player takes on the form of a discarded love letter seeking to fulfill its purpose and deliver itself to the intended recipient. Over the course of the game, the player avoids obstacles and collects pickups to improve the quality of the letter, and thus change the outcome of the game.

Team Composition:

• 2 Programmers

• 3 Level Designers

• 1 Artist

• 1 Producer

Note: To play Folded, extract the zip file after downloading and find Play.exe. It requires an XBOX 360 Controller.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Team lead and programming lead

• Implemented Player Controls

• Implemented Glider and Ball form for the love letter, including custom physics for each form

• Scripted all hazards, fans, and rotating fans and exposed variables for designer customization 

• Wrote custom physics for fan interactions

• Scripted Dog and Bird AI, exposing variables for designer customization

• Scripted a custom love letter, whose contents can be altered in game by collecting pens, flowers, and perfume pickups

• Implemented custom interpolation effects and particle effects

• Modded In-House engine to support many game features

• Created a level to better understand the level design process

• General bug crushing

Game Mechanics

In Folded, the player takes the form of a love letter than can fold into two different forms. These different forms change the physics of the letter and allow the player to adjust to different puzzles and encounters. Each form has different trade offs, which are explained below

Regular Form

- This is the default form for the love letter. In this form, the player can run at a moderate speed and jump over obstacles. However, the collision radius is the largest in this form, which can leave the player vulnerable to hazards and enemies. This form is also the most volatile while under the effects of a fan's wind current, often leaving the player with little control. Because more surface area of the paper is exposed, the player will often find themselves being launched into the air while under the effect of a fan.

Glider Form

- When initiating glider form, the love letter folds into a paper airplane. In this form, the player can no longer jump or walk on the ground (However, one can slide with less friction!). In turn, the love letter gains more precise control under the effects of a fan. This allows the player to navigate obstacles with more control and reach higher territory by gliding through the air. 

Ball Form

- When initiating ball form, the lover letter folds into a paper ball. In this form, the player's collision is the smallest and allows them to reach previously unreachable territory by sneaking under narrow tunnels. In this form, friction is much less and changing momentum is more time consuming. The love letter may not jump in this form. 

The Love Letter

In Folded, the player collects various collectibles in the form of pens, flowers, and perfume. Each time the player collects an item, it changes the love letter itself and improves Kimberly's attraction level. A higher attraction level corresponds with a more well written letter. The love letter has four pages each corresponding with a level set.

The pens, flowers, and perfume each modify the letter in a different way, which allows for many different permutations of the love letter. This adds to replay-ability of the game.

This was a very challenging aspect of developing this game. The engine had minimal support for font rendering. I implemented many text formatting algorithms and added text highlighting to convey which lines were changed last. Another challenge was making the love letter always flow and make sense to the reader as it was being altered by pickups. 

Project Post Mortem

What Went Well

• Our pre-production stage was very strong. All team members were encouraged to contribute to the design of the game and the story. Buy in to the game was rarely an issue.
• All of the game's core mechanics were implemented early. This allowed designers to iterate and polish on gameplay and balance very early on. 
• Our team made the best of an engine still in its nascent stages. We pushed it to its limits and created a very interesting story and fun gameplay.
• The custom physics of the game allowed for a fun gameplay experience. Many players enjoyed turning into a glider and riding fan currents.

What Went Wrong

• This was my first team game at the guildhall and I learned a tough lesson that more is not always best. Before pre-production was over, our game had glider form, ball form, wall jumping, and flattening on surfaces. While having a variety of core mechanics may work with more development time, there was just not enough time for designers to obtain a polished feel and use for each mechanic. We ended up deciding to cut wall jumping and flattening, which meant a lot of development time turned to sunk cost, but a valuable lesson was learned.
• We lost a lot of development time due to the build breaking. This was due to lack of detailed software configuration standards and the engine being in its nascent stages. 

What Was Learned

• Designing a game centered around realism and a grey scale color scheme is very difficult. Much of our development time was centered around conveyance tasks, helping the player understand which obstacles were harmful, and discerning foreground from background. The added risk served as a source of motivation and inspiration for the team. The trade-off was that it added quite a few unanticipated challenges. 
• Always be mindful of the development schedule and how much time the team has to complete a milestone. If I would have given more thought to our allowed development time, I most likely would not have invested time into mechanics that were eventually cut.