Bubble Pop: Doodle Quest
A hyper casual puzzle game built to better understand mobile game design.
Key Info
Engine
Unity
Full Gameplay
Role
Game Designer, Software Engineer
Team Size
3
Production Time
3 Months
Game Design
Design Goals
Goal #1: Understand the unique requirements of designing for mobile such as stores, genres, touch input, varied screen sizes, etc.
Goal #2: Purposefully design a first time user experience that guides the player through the core loop.
Game Design Doc
At the very beginning of our game my team and I created a core design document. We researched competitors and laid out our foundational designs like our core loops, player motivations, levels, monetization, etc. A sample of the sections I wrote is pictured to the right.
Core Game Loop
First Time User Experience Storyboard
Early on in our process we considered retention and the importance of onboarding players effectively in mobile. For our game, we created a storyboard for our first time user experience, using terminology from the class. We mapped out the UI, player actions, system responses, guides, how we taught our core loop, and the times for each step.
Event Design
As an additional exercise, each member of my group was tasked with individually designing a limited time event for our game. Our design had to account for various types of players and their frequency of engagement with the game. I designed the “blitz event” and wrote a game design document detailing every aspect of it. As part of this document I detailed the new gameplay, all of the rewards, and charted out player progression based on level of engagement.
Gameplay Programming
General Implementation
I did all of the gameplay programming for the game which included aiming, the bubble shooter, bubble interactions, reroll booster, bubble switching, popping/dropping, color detection, points system, and the puzzle mechanics. All scripts were done in C#.
Level System
In order to make our game scalable I created to make our level design easier. This involved creating a format for files, parsing them, and dynamically loading the number of levels and their content. This system made it incredibly easy for the team to iterate on and create new levels.
Example of one of our levels
Production
I was the producer for our group, including setting up and maintaining source control, organizing documents, holding meetings, delegating work, and working to get our game on the store. As part of the course requirements we had to have a version of our build listed and available to verified playtesters. I lead this effort and was able to get a preliminary build on the Google Play Store accessible by following these instructions.
Final Product
Images from collaborative team project, not all features representative of my work.
A complete playthrough of Bubble Pop: Doodle Quest.
