In with the new!
We figured we’d start with updates on our newest projects, "Derby" and "Chumps Chained," which we began after our Summer Pitch competition in June 2024. A lot of great ideas were presented. Everyone in attendance voted on the top five, and our leadership team then narrowed it down to two. Those selected received assistance to continue ideation throughout the summer, and early prototyping began this fall in collaboration with the Game Design and Computer Science capstone groups. These teams showcased their prototypes at the Game Design and Interactive Media program’s Fall Demo Day at WVU, alongside a new and improved Light Rush and many other excellent student projects.
ICYMI: PurpleHouse was published last summer on Google Play and the App Store. The slider below links to several projects shown at Demo Day that you can play right now. Check it out—we’ll still be here when you’re done playing!
Derby
Here's a video of where we started when our smaller team worked on it in Intermediate Game Design, prior to the transition this summer to a MonRiverGames project. We'll show an update video at the end of this section. You can stay up to date with project on our page.
With more help this semester, our team was able to transform Derby into a polished experience that was closer to our initial vision. A part of this vision was giving the player fluid and dynamic movement that gave them the freedom to explore and a set of tools to master. In the original project, we used a skateboard plugin for the movement that worked as a placeholder due to a pressing deadline. After a rigorous series of trials and error, we developed a prototype for Derby's movement that allows the player to drift, dodge, and engage with the environment.
Speaking of environment, through the development of the game's hub and the first stage, we transformed the vertical slice we had prior into a space that provides the player an open sandbox to explore and discover while completing their objective. In conclusion, our team took great strides in developing Derby further into something that honors Derby's legacy while being enjoyable for the player and the developer. In just a few short months, Derby looks unrecognizable from when we started.
We’re optimistic about its future in upcoming semesters. Thank you, Keegan, for leading this project, and thanks to all Team Derby members for your tireless efforts.
Chumps Chained
This year in Chumps Chained, we conceptualized, refined, and implemented art style into a proof of concept prototype that we will continue to develop. We are taking a gameplay and aesthetics-first mindset towards our game, focusing on making each moment fun. From adding visual flairs for extra whimsy to level design that encourages player via player interaction. This all effectively gives us a great foundation for further building out this project.
The most important mechanics to our game loop were player physics, the chain connecting them, and the grab mechanic. All of which are essential for moment-to-moment play. It took a lot of team effort to make that work. We demoed the project at a few different venues and that gave us a lot of useful feedback to get the game “feeling right”, from minimizing player friction from pickups to moving appropriately with their linked partner. This also allowed us a quicker amount of time from ideation to iteration. We approached the game’s development with accessibility considerations into the base design of the project and present during all aspects of design. We did this throughout the development process too by focusing on creating modular assets and prefabs. This will help us draft future levels faster.
We wanted to also ensure the style and aesthetic fit Walter and Jellybean’s (our main characters) world. It became a team effort to choose an effective color palette, determine the angles and style of the objects in the playspace, and bring characterization to the NPCs and world around them. The art had to coordinate with puzzle functionality, such as with platform design. The world also has an absurdist feel, so we tried to bring that into the world as much as we could and plan to keep developing that. The team worked closely together to ensure art was cohesive and to give feedback to each other. Player feedback also showed that people enjoyed the characterization of Jellybean and Walter. Their outfits, expressions, and animations seem to show their personality well.
UI art and design also began. It took the team a few drafts and reiterations to create UI art that matched the style and feel of the game but wasn't too visually distracting. A cartoonish but simple style has been decided on. It uses flat colors with slightly thick and pronounced outlines, and simple hard shadows create the look. There is more to be done, but this is good progress. Accessibility features such as text size, font adjustments, color, ect. are being kept in consideration and are planned to be implemented with the development of the game. Thank you to this team’s leads for guiding this group through their ideation and prototyping phase this semester. The team leads, Joshua and Cadence, wish to also thank all members of the Fall capstone group that helped give this project its initial push! They can’t wait to pick it back up in the spring. Stay up to date with this project on our page.
Onwards with the "old"!
Light Rush
These mothman kids have been busy. We tried a new approach through this project: collaborate with classes earlier than capstone. There were several students in the last few years that felt strongly that we should try to integrate the studio sooner, so Prof Cole, Colwyn Bordeaux (Community Manager), and Liza Litten (Leadership team) drafted a plan in the summer and launched it in Intermediate Game Design this Fall. This course handles more advanced game design concepts, niche game career pathways, and 3d game development, so we thought it best to start small and optional. Two contests, which doubled as low stakes ideation/design assignments, were run. The first was a Level Design Contest. There were so many great ideas, from greenhouses to mountain stages to cliff faces to TNT factories, all based on regional locations. Honestly, there were no bad ones. We talked as a group and decided on the merger of several, we felt, would give the most movement and sense of "Appalachia". Some took the bonus points for winning and ran into the sunset, while two decided to develop out their levels as their final projects for the course. The second was a Character Design Contest. These were also a lot of fun to view.
Thank you Sean, Matt, Ethan, and Christian for your level design assistance this semester. Thank you, Ivan, for knocking those new mechanics out of the park and assisting with some issues as they arose. Thank you, Jared, for continuing to monitor the project and helping with the big issues when we struggle to overcome them. Thank you also to the MonRiverGames leadership team for assisting with this Intermediate Game Design collaboration this semester. Here’s an updated video of how the game currently plays.
WV Quest
In our last update on WV Quest, student Ben Bradford discussed the ideas computer science students brought to the project this year, as well as design updates. Before that Max Goins discussed a few of the new design aspects and overview of each student's goals. The 2024 Spring Session at MonRiverGames brought the team together to think more on the overall game play loop of WV Quest.
Prior to this school year, mini-games launched from QR Codes relative to different parts of the museum. The idea was that students visiting the museum would unlock mini-games relevant to where they were at in real-time by scanning these while visiting, but to what end? We decided: the end of their actual tour in person. The project, as of last spring, updated with a map mode that allows you to play the full game without scanning QR Codes. There are many reasons we've added this.
First, using QR codes is an early form of Augmented Reality that started gaining steam over a decade ago. It is still really interesting and has been around long enough now that it is relatively accessible and understood by a large audience. The use of QR codes was introduced in the first group of the project, prior to MonRiverGame's assistance, as an alternative to the more Hi-Fi Augmented Reality option of 3d Scanning. The groups' initial goal from that year was to use 3d Scanning to create a game students visiting could interact with in real time at the museum.
There were many issues with this. For example, many students only used Wi-Fi and don't have much data. A lot of rural areas (where we live in Appalachia) still do not have adequate wifi coverage or strength. 3d Scanning that is connected to the web is difficult to get working properly in our area. It's a big memory drain that Wi-Fi in rural areas can't keep up with. Additionally, if the lighting isn't just right, it can also fail. To put it simply, it would take more than we have access to to make an AR game based on this stable. QR codes are more stable in this regard, however, in our experience. They can still- due to slow (or no) Wi-Fi cause our game to break. We want everyone to be able to play and enjoy this by the time we're done.
Introducing Map Mode: By introducing a map mode, and focusing on their play within the game, we can encourage exploration at the WV State Museum regardless of a student's Wi-Fi access. In this year's update a map mode was introduced that provided a visual reinforcement as completing each mini-game for each area provides a map piece. Once all map pieces are completed, it is then game over. It's customizable so that we can add more pieces if there are more games, as needed.
Updates to Mini Games: There were new mini games created for this school year, and several that were updated. We're still balancing on that line of "fun" while being educational for the middle-school-aged museum goers that would be using this app.
Prototype Soon
We hope to have a playable prototype for museum staff to test out on site soon. We received a lot of helpful feedback from the Museum Staff in May 2024, which we've been hard at work implementing since then. Namely, to ensure that the games themselves are engaging and supplement the information provided on site. We've also been handling the ch allenges of a project that has passed through many different programmers and artists, even before we started assisting with it. So our goals right now are to clean it up in order to make it easier to onboard new/current members to the project as well as focus on the app's play as a whole. Zachary Hubbard started some of that clean-up work and continues to lend a hand to it when he can, as an early member of the project. Shylar Hanlin dug deep into the new Dr. Bone's mini game to provide more detailed documentation for future programmers and fix existing issues this semester. Brandon Edgar and Eric Gill are continuing this as we enter the new year.
Want to learn more about this project? Head over to the WV Quest game page.
What to expect in 2025
GDIM Anniversary Compilation Project Announcement
Over the summer, we formed a selection committee to review exceptional student work from the past five years, created in WVU's Game Design and Interactive Media program and Interactive Design for Media program. During the fall, we began reaching out to former students whose projects demonstrated strong narrative and play value to be included in an Anniversary Compilation Game (title to be announced). This game aims to both promote the talents of students in the program and support studio fundraising efforts to enhance professional development opportunities.
The Anniversary Compilation Game may be among our first offerings available for purchase at a modest fee, allowing us to continue our work. All selected participants will receive free Steam keys for both early access and the finished version of the game, proper credit for their contributions—marking, for many, their first published game on Steam—and an invitation to further engage in the ideation and development process through the studio.
We are in the very early stages of this exciting project but are optimistic about its potential. Permissions and files have already started to come in from participants, and we may issue a second wave of invitations soon. After the New Year, we will follow up with each team, individual student, or alumnus who has agreed to participate.
Light Rush on Steam?
Before we let out for this session, the studio had a vote on whether we felt Light Rush was ready for early access on Steam. The results were positive, so we will be working to get a page up and make this project available for your testing. If you worked on this project in any way, moved on, but would still like a key to participate in early access playtesting- all you have to do is ask. Drop in on our discord or send us an email info@monrivergames.com with your name.
Derby and Chumps Chained get playable?
They are both aiming for the same goal- a demo ready in time for GDC2025 that can be wishlisted on Steam or one that can be simply downloaded from https://gdimwvu.itch.io/
For Steam to happen, they both must have a polished demo that's playable without external guidance, start on their early access version so that people can sign up for it at the convention, and have a realistic plan for completion of their full version. They must also have the marketing materials to be able to launch a full Steam page. That's a difficult mountain to trek for any team, especially an undergraduate student one.
The leadership team plans to be fully engaged and more systematic in both teams' process next semester as they attempt to reach these goals. https://gdimwvu.itch.io/ is not a bad alternative, however. There's plenty of company over there from previous student work and other indies. There's also the possibility of becoming part of the compilation project that we'll publish on Steam, if they desire. Should either team express the desire to be on that platform instead, early in the process, we will take a different approach with that team.
Getting Ready for GDC 2025
We'll be back on the expo floor in GDC Play area with West Virginia University in March. This year, we're encouraging the student group attending to (a) select their demo games [1 or 2] with their professors guidance and (b) build the booth set up, including: interactives at the table, their "pitches", and takeaway items and/or materials. This will give them practical hands-on experience in all of the work that goes into preparing to demo for an event with over 30,000 people in your field. They are going to need your support. Watch out for them and follow their adventures when we get there :) What games do you think they should choose? What would be a cool takeaway from our booth, that's also cheap to make?
SAVE THE DATE!
January 21-26 The West Virginia University site in now active on the Global Game Jam web page. You can check out all details here. https://globalgamejam.org/jam-sites/2025/west-virginia-university-media-innovation-center-evansdale-crossing The Game Dev Club running it, IGDA West Virginia University Hosting it, and the rest of us participating are waiting for spring semester hours to determine exact times at each location listed. You are also permitted to participate remote, if in the state of West Virginia.
Spring Indie Regional Showcase: We were able to secure a reservation on our normal site- the Media Innovation Center at the WVU Evansdale Campus- for Saturday, April 26. It will be 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm for public viewing, and 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm devs that showcased private networking only (dinner provided). We'll have a sign up out soon and will be contacting last year's sponsors after the New Year's as well. We'll have a link activated for sponsors to sign up as well. You do not need to sign up or rsvp to attend, just to show your work and participate in the private event after. Have you never attended a Spring Indies at WVU before? Search our blog if you are curious about previous years!
Have a Happy and Safe New Year!
Cole (Director)