"Heist Night is an asymmetric multiplayer stealth game.
In which two players compete; each having different objectives, resources and camera perspectives."
In which two players compete; each having different objectives, resources and camera perspectives."
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Role: Producer, System designer
Development Team: Team 15 Team size: 10 Platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac Engine: Unity 5 IndieDB: http://www.indiedb.com/games/heist-night Development Cycle: January 2015 - July 2015 |
Winner NHTV's Best Design (2014-2015)
Winner NHTV's Best Code (2014-2015) |
My work in Heist Night
In Heist Night I had two jobs. My main job was that of a producer/team lead. I overlooked the priorities of the team and tried to make sure that the game would be finished by the end of the production cycle. This meant the scrapping of almost all of the auxiliary features.
My other job in the team was system designer. As such, I helped with balancing the game to keep it fun for both players. It also had to support the type of fantasy we were trying to sell. One were the thief feels like they are sneaking around avoiding the guards, and where they guards feel like they are slowly cornering the thief. Unlike in earlier version of the game, which was more a game of tag.
My other job in the team was system designer. As such, I helped with balancing the game to keep it fun for both players. It also had to support the type of fantasy we were trying to sell. One were the thief feels like they are sneaking around avoiding the guards, and where they guards feel like they are slowly cornering the thief. Unlike in earlier version of the game, which was more a game of tag.
Developer stories
Achieving the right Balance
As soon as we could test our project we started to balance the asymmetric game play. The main goal was clear from the start. Both sides of the game had to fun and fair. For fun we looked at the players reactions during play testing and focus testing. We also looked which side was preferred by the players.
Did they want to only play as one specific side? Did player preference matter? Was the fairness factor influencing which side they wanted to play?
These were the questions we were facing during the early stages of development.
The game started out with the thief only being visible to the guards when the thief was in line of sight of a guard. The guard player had four guards to start out with. So they would spread them out and then as soon as one of them found the thief, the chase would ensue. There were a multitude of problems with this. First one was that the guard player was overwhelmed with information. There was a lot of ground to cover, and they had to micromanage all four guards at once to effectively find the thief. So first we reduced the number of guards to three. This meant that the player had to micromanage less at once.
In a later revision we reduced the guards to two. Due to the players rarely using the third one.
To compensate for the lower amount of guards, we also provided the guard player with some extra information. The guard player would get the room which the thief is in. This meant that the guard player knows which direction they have to go in order to find the thief. This became the balance of our game.
Did they want to only play as one specific side? Did player preference matter? Was the fairness factor influencing which side they wanted to play?
These were the questions we were facing during the early stages of development.
The game started out with the thief only being visible to the guards when the thief was in line of sight of a guard. The guard player had four guards to start out with. So they would spread them out and then as soon as one of them found the thief, the chase would ensue. There were a multitude of problems with this. First one was that the guard player was overwhelmed with information. There was a lot of ground to cover, and they had to micromanage all four guards at once to effectively find the thief. So first we reduced the number of guards to three. This meant that the player had to micromanage less at once.
In a later revision we reduced the guards to two. Due to the players rarely using the third one.
To compensate for the lower amount of guards, we also provided the guard player with some extra information. The guard player would get the room which the thief is in. This meant that the guard player knows which direction they have to go in order to find the thief. This became the balance of our game.
Finding the core
When we started the project, we had a ton of features we wanted to add to the game. We wanted both sides to have abilities and interactive objects in the level. We wanted the guard to have cameras that they could place around the level, and the thief to block sight with smoke bombs.
In short we were inexperienced and were over-scoping the game. We were a team of ten, and we only had one day on school to work on it. About six weeks in, it was clear that we were not going to achieve our goal. We had about half of our time left, and none of the "extra" features had been developed. I had to make a call, and remove everything that was not part of the core. No more gadgets, no interactive items, and even the cameras that were placed by us were removed.
The result was that the game was a lot clearer and we were able to finish it, but not without crunching to make up for lost time.
In short we were inexperienced and were over-scoping the game. We were a team of ten, and we only had one day on school to work on it. About six weeks in, it was clear that we were not going to achieve our goal. We had about half of our time left, and none of the "extra" features had been developed. I had to make a call, and remove everything that was not part of the core. No more gadgets, no interactive items, and even the cameras that were placed by us were removed.
The result was that the game was a lot clearer and we were able to finish it, but not without crunching to make up for lost time.
About Heist Night
Heist night is an asymmetrical multiplayer game in which one person plays as a thief, trying to find their way towards the treasure through the museum. While the other player controls two guards trying to stop the thief before they get away with the treasure.
This game thought us the valuable lesson of scope. The original idea was so big, and had tons of features we wanted to put in. Had we pursued this, the game would never be finished. In order to complete production we scrapped the games to its bare minimum and made that as fun as possible.
This game thought us the valuable lesson of scope. The original idea was so big, and had tons of features we wanted to put in. Had we pursued this, the game would never be finished. In order to complete production we scrapped the games to its bare minimum and made that as fun as possible.
FIRST PERSON THIEF
One player assumes the role of a thief. The thief has to stay out of sight from the guards to steal one of the valuable treasures in the museum. |
TOP DOWN GUARDS
The other player controls the security guards. The guards have to locate and capture the thief before they get away. |
Contact
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