Chuck The Duck In: Crossy Seas

Game Link

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ySZSMpFMXFSJQvVp_5uTx3JTwaKyyCaH/view?usp=sharing

Expanded Concept & Design USP's

I believed there was a gap in the market for streamlined mobile roguelike games that appeal to a mass market audience. I also felt that a city-building meta tapped into current mobile trends of customisation and design (create a town with buildings placed where users wanted them) and gave a logical way to unlock abilities that would relate to the building, for example, unlocking a waterski store unlocks the ability to equip water ski's with rockets, capable of faster traversal. This theme novelty invites other mobile-friendly features for a casual mobile audience including light storytelling (Mayor Beaky hires Chuck to explore the world and take his findings back to Ducksville to grow the city!), creativity in building names, descriptions, and abilities and bright, vibrant colours fitting to a hybrid casual title.

Overarching Design Problem (from testing)

In a game with a camera and track that mimics that of an endless runner, I needed to ensure the controllable character and all other key buttons were accessible with a tap or drag of the thumb without players having to readjust their natural hand position. The initial design focused on positioning the controllable character near the bottom left corner of the screen for a clear view of oncoming threats.

This presented two key issues: the distance from the controllable character and other interactive buttons was too large and the controllable character's fixed position was too near the bottom left corner of the screen; both controlling the character and accessing other buttons would have resulted in users needing to adjust their hand position midway through gameplay. This would have caused a negative user experience and, likely, high churn.

How That Problem Was Tackled And Overcome

Repositioning the controllable character closer to the centre of the screen meant the player could interact with both the controllable character and buttons without readjusting their hand position.

If I was to further iterate on this solution I would enable tapping, dragging and releasing anywhere on screen to control the character, catering for all hand sizes and thumb positions not tied to the fixed position of the controllable character. Adjusting the camera's field of view and x offset, so that the camera shows more of the remainder of the track as opposed to areas that have been passed, would also ensure a better gameplay experience for the user.