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Flip Exchange

Dylan Ho, Erica Yuen, Lisa Ruan, Rachel Thornton,

Yuqi Hou, and Jenny Xu

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Creating an “Educational Game”

  • Unanimous agreement on a game focusing on gender tropes, with a flipping mechanic to showcase each gender’s strengths

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Timeline of Content Development

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Damsel in Distress

Cultural Differences

Baby choosing its gender

Fall of the Berlin Wall

Two Separate Nations merged by a Wizard

Two Separate Nations merged by a Wizard

Three stories:

Hot vs Cold

Wet vs Dry

Round vs Square

Major Scope Down

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Game Message

  • Difficult to deliver a complex message through games
  • Best to stick with a simpler message:

“Characters come to realize the other party can do things they cannot do and take advantage of those differences to achieve a common goal.”

  • Abstracted characters: fire and ice

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Project Management

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Defined Roles

  • Dylan - Backend/implementation, Game Design, Dialogue
  • Erica - Design, Animation, Frontend, Project Management (Changelog)
  • Jenny - Design, Art, Sound
  • Lisa - Art, Design, Project Management (Tasklist)
  • Rachel - Backend/implementation
  • Yuqi - Backend/Frontend implementation, Story/content

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Software Development

Art Creation

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Mechanics

  • First prototyped switching mechanic = final mechanic
  • Strong connection between message and mechanic

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Technical Problems

  • Friction
  • Version control
  • Individual puzzles
  • Front end asset implementation
  • Animations

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Level Design

Created levels to gradually teach players game mechanics

  1. Jumping
    1. Onto platforms
    2. Over chasms
  2. Special Flip Mechanics
    • Flipping to get past obstacles
    • Flipping to avoid obstacles
  3. Boss Level
    • Use everything player has learned
    • Climactic finish!

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Creative Development

  • We let team members experiment with new ideas
  • Different switching mechanics
  • Boss level ✅

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Prototype 1

  • Basic game mechanics
  • Test + create basic puzzles
  • No assets
  • Unrefined physics
  • FOCUS PLAY TEST:
    • Central game mechanic
    • Positive feedback on concept
    • Message not final
    • Results:
      • Scrapped gender focus

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Prototype 2

  • 1st iteration of sprites
  • Has basic game feel
  • Introduction to story/context
  • FOCUS PLAY TEST:
    • Targeted age range
    • Players did not look at top half
    • Wanted more juice
    • Results:
      • Changed some controls
      • Discussion about top world

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Prototype 3

  • Juice!
  • Finalizing sprites
  • Fine tuning colors + feel
  • Added Music
  • FOCUS PLAY TEST:
    • Single world vs. two worlds
    • Target demographic
    • Physics bugs
    • Results:
      • Increase age range
      • Keep two worlds

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Prototype 4

  • Chose better fonts
  • Animation
  • Refined storyline with art
  • Cutscenes
  • Sound

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Art/Aesthetics

  • Simple, smooth, almost abstract
  • Inspiration
    • Badland
    • Journey
    • Monument Valley
    • Firewatch
  • Important to make art different from pixel-art style of games to make impression on player

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Game Feel/Juiciness

  • Sound effects explain what’s happening
    • Switching/dying/jumping
  • Cinematic looking game
    • Cutscenes, minimal text
  • Graphics to emphasize differences in worlds
    • Particle snow/steam

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Lessons Learned

  • Commit to a message in the beginning
  • Stay relevant to age range (8-10)
  • Meeting in person is hard with a lot of people
  • The lesser of 2 evils
    • Top half of the screen
    • Still something we’re working on!

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Thank you!

flipexchange.github.io

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