Santa Training Course
About
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Role:
Programmer/System Designer
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Platform:
Cave(a unique platform used in theme park. It has three connected screens to render a scene and a dynamic platform to create a bumpy feeling)
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Description:
One is steering the sled with a DDR Dance Pat while the other two need to throw gifts at the houses to score or snowballs at evil snowmen. Once a team's score is higher than a certain value, a Santa license will be sent.
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Project Duration:
2 weeks
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Assigned Theme:
Game for festival: Guest ranging from kids to industries veterans came to our ETC festival and had fun with students' work.
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Contribution:
1. Themed our game to be a Chrismas related party game and designed some mechanisms including how the sled moves and how evil snowmen behave.
2. Programmed the auto-generate game map, obstacles, houses and evil snowmen, implemented the controller of the sled and snowman AI.
My thoughts on Cave
Cave is an intriguing platform but quite hard to handle since it has many limitations. Usually, the only natural input devices are Vive tracker and Vive controller, which are not ideal devices that let players input movement instructions. So most of the Cave projects built by my classmates are more like choreographed experiences with limited interactions, such as a journey in an auto-moving minecart.
On the other hand, Cave provides a dynamic platform that allows players to stand or sit on it, ideally creating immersive experiences in vehicles.
Initial idea
I initially envisioned a sled racing game that players steer the sled with a DDR dance pad, dodge obstacles, and race with some NPC. I shared my thoughts with my teammates more ideas sparkled in our minds. Leah, one of our team's artists, came up with the idea of playing as Santa and throwing gifts with Vive controllers. To make the game more thrilling, I proposed adding some evil snowmen that will block players' sight when hitting the sled, and players can kill them by throwing a snowball at them.