Product Owner
Technical Designer
Team Size
16
Time Frame
22 Weeks
Engine
Unreal 5
What is Mid-Death Crisis?
Mid-Death Crisis is a 3 player couch co-op strategy game where each of the players play as the minions of an Evil Lich named Zeborius Zelgan (otherwise known as Zeb). Recently, Zeb has really lost his mojo and an Empire of Frog People have laided claim to his crypt. It is up to you as his loyal minions to clear out your master's crypt and bring him back to his evil ways by passing Zeb's spells between your allies and incrementally empowering it until it is powerful enough to be rid of your enemies.
What I Worked On
My Role
As Product Owner
At the beginning of this project, I was responsible for testing several early directions we could take with our concept. We tested competitive, single player, and cooperative versions as well as turn-based or real time versions. I worked with our lead programmer to build short, low-scope prototypes then brought each iteration to testing and analyzed the data to figure out the best direction we should take. Eventually we settled on the turn-based co-op version of the game we have today. That early prototyping was really important for us to figure out exactly what we wanted to pursue with our unique concept.
Once the project picked up pace, my role shifted towards managing scope and keeping the vision of the game in mind while the team and I made important decisions. I checked in with all disciplines to work with them to figure out what was reasonable for them to do in a sprint. I would then take that information to incorporate that into each sprint's plan to ensure every member on the team understands how their work is important to the game and that we respect their time and effort. When important decisions are being made, I made sure to listen to all voices across all disciplines so that we could find the direction the entire team can get behind.
As an example, our game previously had separate phases for player movement and spell redirection. We began to discuss combining these phases into one single player phase. Some team members were worried that it would feel too much like the real time version we had previously discarded while other team members believed this change would greatly increase player agency -- one of our design pillars. After talking about our concerns, we decided to build a low-risk prototype to test the idea before committing to it. Once we tested it, the whole team agreed on the value of that change and we decided to keep it in the game.
As Technical Designer
As the project was in full swing and team members felt more comfortable with the direction of the game, I could spend less time sprint planning and more time assisting in-engine. I did a number of things but notebly I implemented our designed spell abilities and effects, some in-world UI elements, and various dynamic visual effects.
I had previously worked with our programmers to communicate exactly how the designers would like the spell abilities and effects to operate. Once it came time to get everything the designers had created into the engine, I used the systems the programmers created to implement each one. For the spell abilities, I built a Desmos graph to help me create Unreal Curves for how much stamina each spell ability should consume. When it came to the spell effects, I read the blueprints the programmers previously made and put in new code to get the desired effects.
What I learned
This project was monumental for me as a game developer. I had previously been in leadership positions on other projects but never with this long of a timeline and this large of a team. I learned the importance of rapid prototyping to find what made our game unique and how to leverage that to build solid foundational pillars. I learned how to stick to those pillars in order to make decisions that would benefit the game the most. I learned how to balance taking decisive actions with making sure all team members are heard and have all the information they need. I am really proud of the work that myself and the whole team put into this game and not only the final product, but also the process we used to get to this point. I felt the team was respectful, honest, and open. I believe my leadership style in combination with the other leads and every team member made that happen.