Abrakajumpa

Overview

Abrakajumpa is an exciting platformer game we created during my capstone project at UCSC. It combines magical themes with challenging gameplay for a captivating experience. As the production lead, I oversaw the entire project, making sure our team collaborated effectively and met all our milestones.

Timeline

January - June 2024

My Role

Production lead, playtesting, and coding

Collaboration

A team of 6 including engine lead, design lead, tools lead, lead artist, and playtest lead

Tools

Unity, Miro, CI/CD Pipelines

My Role

In my role, I coordinated tasks, kept the team on schedule, and made sure we communicated well. I set up playtesting sessions to gather feedback, which helped us improve the game mechanics, level design, and overall user experience. I worked closely with designers and developers to bring game features to life, adjust gameplay, and boost visual appeal. I focused a lot on quality, fixing bugs and performance issues to ensure the game felt polished. I also set up CI/CD pipelines using Git, making our development process smoother and allowing us to quickly update and release new builds.

Project Goals

Our main goals were to create a fun and engaging platformer game with responsive jump controls for a satisfying experience. We wanted to design the game for one-hand accessibility and develop a user-friendly interface with intuitive controls. We also focused on thorough playtesting to fine-tune the game and ensure an enjoyable player experience.

Challenges and Solutions

  • Challenge: Managing team dynamics and keeping communication flowing.
    Solution: We held weekly team meetings and used tools like Google Sheets to track progress and quickly address issues.

  • Challenge: Balancing creative ideas with technical limitations.
    Solution: I worked closely with the team to prioritize features and find practical solutions that fit our timeline.

  • Challenge: Making the game user-friendly and engaging through playtesting and UX design.
    Solution: I conducted extensive playtesting sessions, gathered user feedback, and used it to improve gameplay mechanics, enhance the interface, and ensure the game was accessible and fun for players.

Outcome

Abrakajumpa was a hit during playtesting, with players praising its innovative gameplay and captivating visuals. This project demonstrated my ability to lead a team, manage complex projects, and deliver a high-quality game while keeping a strong focus on user experience.