Grégoire Laroumanie -Game designer
Hop Around
2D Mobile platformer
Febuary 2022-June 2022
Hop Around is a mobile platformer that utilizes an underuse mechanic in mobile games : the GYROSCOPE !
The developpement lasted 4 months, and out team consisted of 2 game designers, 3 game artists and 2 programmers.
What I did
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Lead game designer
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Designing the 3C's
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Designing the Interactive elements
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Production of 3 levels, from initial design to art integration
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Implement a monetization system
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Integrate a dynamic camera with triggers
What I learned
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The constraint of mobile and gyroscope usage
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Using ProBuilder on Unity
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Being lead game designer and having to make decisions when necessary
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Enhancing replay value
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Adapting the projet and making changes to address vision-related issues
An action platformer game
The initial idea was to create a puzzle game with mechanics involving the gyroscope. However, these two intentions are not compatible, as the gyroscope introduces a physical dynamic for the player, and the gaming experience is not aligned with what is sought for a puzzle game. We decided to keep the gyroscope and, therefore, revamped the gameplay by switching genres to create an action platformer
Controller mechanics
The controller operates using the gyroscope, and consequently, the majority of the game mechanics as well. Here are some designed mechanics and interactions to make the game more frenetic
The tongue
The main mechanic in the game is the tongue. With a simple touch screen input, Rebby the frog will extend her tongue, and if the touched object allows it, she will interact with it
The rings
The rings are objects placed at heights. When Rebby latches onto the rings with her tongue, she can swing using the gyroscope
Hooks
The hooks function similarly to the rings, but they are not subject to the gyroscope's gravity
Level design
At the service of production
Paper format
At the begining of the production, we started by making small individual workshop. Each workshop was design using a certain mecanics or gameplay elements. We made more than 20 workshops, then, by pooling them together, created 5 levels consisting of sequences of workshops
Blockmesh
Once the workshops were combined, each of us created the block mesh for the levels while testing and iterating on metrics gameplay elements. I did 3 levels for Hop Around.
This took time due to the changes in the game's directions, so we had to create proper guidlines to ensure coherence across the game
Art integration
For most of the levels, the artists handled the graphic integration. However, the shift in game type led us to develop larger levels than initially planned, making the graphic integration task quite substantial.
As game designer, we took on repetive task to help the artist, like integrating certain parts of the levels using prefabs created by the artists
Hop Around gameplay
