Orb - Student Project 2010

In my second year of University we were put into teams of 4 and given the task of taking on another team's initial game idea and creating a playable prototype in 8 weeks - making any other design changes we deemed necessary.

We were given the game 'Orb'. The premise of the game was to maneuver a platformed environment where the 'Orb' of light around your character diminished over time. The player would have to collect Orbs to expand the diameter of the light source. The aim was to find the exit door to each level and the key to open said door. 

We worked on the game in Gamemaker. I was the team leader for this project and my job was to organise the group, keep workflow steady and delegate jobs. Unfortunately during this time one of our group members dropped off the grid which added the pressure but made us more focused.

The main mechanic - the diminishing light source - was the most difficult to implement and myself and Dave spent a lot of time putting it together with our very limited knowledge of GML. I was responsible for implementing assets and testing them within the game. I was also responsible for level design and testing platform layouts. Knowing that the lack of visibility would hinder the player's progression we made sure that the Orbs were widely available and that they would guide your way. 

Making this demo was a really important moment for me. It taught me how vital play testing was in the game development process and I feel that if we had had time to get others to test this before the end, I would have made a lot of alterations to the levels I designed. We had the game tested post-hand-in and the consensus was that the game was difficult to traverse wit the lack of sight and could be unforgiving. In some cases people were put off by the difficulty, but others enjoyed it, saying that they felt challenged and completing it gave them a sense of satisfaction. To satisfy the needs of the players I would still have liked to alter the game to provide a more gradual learning curve leading up to these more difficult levels.

Level Design by myself

Art by Daisy Spiers

Last minute alterations made the light decrease too fast which was disappointing as a lot of the background details we put in were lost in the final demo. Such as, animated cave paintings at the start of the first level that show the basic play mechanics and goals.

In hindsight, it would also have been nice to add re-spawning Orbs, as one of the 3 levels requires back-tracking if the key is missed.

Daisy Spiers - Lead concept artist, co-designer, asset production, animation
Dave Treharne - Co-programmer, audio/sfx


Below is a link to the final demo:

Download ORB here