Vampstar
A three-party game incorporating multimedia, including Phidgets, Dancing Pad, and PC.
Join V-chan, the town's favorite vampire idol, in her live show! Watch out for persistent paparazzi armed with bright flashlights aiming to capture her every move. Despite being an uneasy vampire, V-chan has her trusty bodyguard to shield her from the intrusive lights.
Play one of three roles—
V-chan, the idol: hit dance pad notes for a great performance.
Bodyguards: protect V-chan from the flashlights(physically!), or her stage performance will suffer.
Paparazzi: Overcome annoying bodyguards, capture the best photos of V-chan, and navigate the backstage drama.
Get ready for the competition between performer, protector and pursuer!
Genre:
Rhythm game + party game
Device:
Phidgets, Dancing Pad, PC
Game Engine:
Unity
My Role
Collaborated closely with programmers to brainstorm fundamental gameplay concepts and the whole game experience.
Design pixel-style UI elements for the title, ranking page, and game interfaces.
Regularly conducted playtests with new players, meticulously noting feedback and devising effective solutions, subsequently assigning tasks to team members.
As the sound designer, crafted impactful sound effects and music remixes to enhance the overall gaming experience.
Actural Gameplay
Timeframe:
3 weeks
CMU FALL FESTIVAL Set Up
More than 100 people from age 8 to 60 came to play the game, we planned and decorated the room like a vampire live show theme.
Learnt
From the project, I gained valuable insights into communication and playtesting.
As the UI and sound designer on the team, my primary goal was to offer visual and audio cues for players based on their actions. We decided on a pixel Y2K art style, a highly stylized choice that was new to me. Designing the game interface required extensive communication with our gameplay programmers. We meticulously planned the entire game experience, outlining each step the player would take. Prototyping wireframes and confirming details with the programmers ensured a smooth game flow. Predicting all possible scenarios, such as wins, failures, and returns, contributed to the game's integration. The same meticulous approach is applied to sound design, differentiating sounds for perfect, good, and missed notes to create a cohesive game flow.
Our team faced challenges in connecting the three-player roles. With the idol always facing the screen and the other two roles standing behind, the initial setup seemed more like an idol playing a dance pad, while the others engaged in a 2-sided competitive game, which was too separated. Two main problems: the idol couldn't see the interaction between paparazzi and bodyguards, and bodyguards couldn't see the idol's remaining health points.
To address these issues, as a producer, I suggested our team need to conduct numerous playtests, asking players to try different roles and providing feedback. Through playtesting and iteration, we found solutions. For the bodyguard feedback system, I incorporated audio cues to indicate successful light blockage. The idol's pleas for help signaled when the bodyguard failed and cheered when they succeeded, ensuring audio feedback even when bodyguards couldn't see the screen. To strengthen the connection for the idol, a playtest revelation inspired us to reward idols with health points for successful dance combos. This change proved successful in subsequent playtests, eliminating unexplained failures for the idol, providing clear feedback for bodyguards, and adding a fun dynamic for paparazzi capturing quirky pictures.