Finish Line | Lauren Pearce Design

3rd Year University Collaborative Module

Time scale - January 2nd - February 10th 2023

Team Size - 18 people

Role: Game Designer and Project Co-Lead

Responsibilities:

Thorough research of racing games and race tracks
Create a GDD on Confluence
Make a rule sheet
Playtest and iterate based off feedback
Track design and blocking out
Create a trailer for the game
Managing a team of junior designers, regularly communicating with other sectors and overseeing the production pipeline
Create mechanic diagrams

Game Trailer

Overview:

This project enabled me to see a full small scale development pipeline as well as managing the responsibility of communicating between the departments.

This was my first taste at designing a race track so consequently I have a better grasp of the design elements that go into making tracks tick. For example, after research I discovered chicane curvature is often used to slow traffic, so I designed a dynamically changing obstacle (a leaking bag of treats) which grows throughout the track, which creates that curvature after a moment of high intensity to slow down the gameplay and provide more pacing variety.

This project also aided in my organisational skills, from regularly holding Design meetings, to communicating with Tech to see the scope viability of Design decisions.

In addition, overseeing junior designers meant regularly going through their tasks, providing feedback and having calm discussions.

Track Design process:

1- Research and analyse racing games and real life tracks

2- Produce a rough map and analyse against findings

3- Iterate a cleaner version that can be applied to a plane in Unreal Engine

4- Block out around the plane

5- Iterate again based off internal and external playtesting feedback

Software used: