English_Is_Hard_
Project Type
Unity Game
Skills/Tools
- Unity
- C# (Visual Studio)
- Visual Scripting
- System Design
- Game Pacing​
Project Overview
English_Is_Hard_ is a ground-up Missile Command-style shooter with typing-game elements that I made in Unity with two other designers at DigiPen. We developed an initial product pitch, then brought the game through pre-production all the way to shipping to Steam.​ I contributed to the creation of the game's core loop, and implemented both the Typing and Wave systems for the game using a combination of Unity Visual Scripting and C# code. I was also responsible for pacing Waves to guarantee a satisfying difficulty curve. Scroll down to read more!
Implementation
For this project, I implemented two of the game's core systems: the Wave Manager to control the spawning of enemies and power-ups, and the Typing Manager to handle all elements related to the typing mechanic. I made these systems to be dynamic and simple to modify, while keeping functionality intuitive to make them easier to interact with for the other designers.
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For the Wave Manager, I utilized Scriptable Objects to make modifying Waves quick and easy. As a result, myself or either of the other designers could quickly make changes to Wave Data by directly adding or removing Enemies from waves.
I also created functionality for randomly-generated Waves after a certain point in the game, creating variation while maintaining a satisfying difficulty curve. I made sure that the generated Waves would trend upwards in challenge, while still having regular drops to keep players engaged.
To handle all of the typing-needs of the game, I made a simple Typing manage to handle player input. I took care to make outward-facing functions easy to understand to make it more straightforward for the other designers to work with it when implementing their own systems.
Wave Pacing
Being a wave-defense-style game, the pacing of enemies and challenges were crucial to the player experience. I spent a lot of time designing the Waves of enemies for the player to face to ensure that they would be suitably challenged, without overwhelming them too early.
English_Is_Hard_ features several enemy types and unique power-ups. Since new things inherently spark engagement, part of creating satisfying pacing was deliberately placing these "new" moments in the wave progression to keep a player hooked.
To ensure fun and climactic peaks to gameplay, I designed a kind of "boss" wave to mark the end of each set of 10 waves. The meteor "boss" was a big typing challenge, forcing the player to use the typing skills they've been practicing all game.
Playtesting and Iteration
All aspects of the game, especially wave balancing, needed extensive testing and iteration to get perfect. We tested our builds frequently, making regular updates to pacing and challenge (as well as other game elements) to get the player experience as consistently enjoyable as possible.
Participant Observation
During development, I would seek out unbiased testers and have them play the latest build, paying close attention to their behaviors and emotions during play to identify what they were enjoying and what was causing them friction.
Evaluating Results
Me and my teammates would discuss our results together, drawing conclusions from our observations to get a clear view of what the game was succeeding and failing at.
Informed Decisions
Using the conclusions drawn from our results, we would make changes to the game. Sometimes these were small updates like tweaks to waves, but in extreme cases they were entire game system overhauls.
