Bravemark

Video Game Development and Design

Bravemark is a 2D pixel-art video game that is as gratifying as it is difficult. Through extensive research and play testing, I designed this game to provide an engaging experience that is both empowering and challenging for video game enthusiasts.

Research

Observational Study

I’ve spent an extensive amount of time watching gamers in both structured and unstructured observational research. There’s also a surprisingly large amount of insights you can glean from watching video game streamers online and literally sending them designs to test live on twitch.tv.

A streamer from the UK playing a level I designed in Mario Maker

Years of Experience

It’s a funny way to put it, but it’s true! I have years of experience. I’ve been playing video games since I was a kid. All of these years of experience greatly contribute to my understanding of what makes a game engaging.

Retro Jam 2021 (my entry took 1st in appeal, 2nd overall)

Game Jams

Game jams are events in which developers have a short amount of time (often a single weekend) to create and submit a game from scratch. I’ve participated in a few (and even won a pretty big one) to practice game development and learn what works well and what doesn’t.

Ideation

Based on my research, I brainstormed different player abilities and level designs in relation to those abilities. I then started sketching out concept art for a story and world that would lend itself well to those potential mechanics.

Obstacle Ideation

Concept Sketches

Design Principles

Before going much further, I established design principles based on my research to guide my design decisions as I built the game.

The game will:

Be exceptionally difficult, providing engaging and satisfying challenges for advanced player
Empower the player to move and interact with the level in many unrestrained ways
Achieve difficulty through fair level design rather than limiting the player character’s abilities
Strive to accommodate the player’s intended input, even when actual input erroneously differs
Provide synergistic character abilities to further empower the player
Tell a compelling and engaging story with deep character development and relationships

Prototype

Game Foundation

I coded a first draft of the game with temporary artwork (literally just squares and rectangles), just to establish the physics and basic movements (jump, run, climb). Once I had that in place, I started creating pixel art to fit the jungle aesthetic in my concept art.

Initial physics and movements were established with just shapes

Coding and Debugging

With the basics established, I started coding the additional character abilities and interactive level elements. I created the associated pixel art in tangent. Each mechanic and game function presented new problems to solve with significant time spent coding and debugging each (300+ hours for everything in the level 1 demo).

Interactive flower animation (10 frames)

Demo Level Prototype

I polished my game assets, wrote and recorded music, added sound effects, and built a demo level with a brief tutorial and obstacles of varying levels of difficulty. My goal was to create a demo with obstacles that challenged the player while showcasing the character abilities, thus achieving player satisfaction upon completion of each obstacle.

Testing

With the demo in hand, I ran play tests with pre and post-test questionnaires. I found 7 participants who fit my target audience.

A play test in which I took notes and was physically present to observe usability, player satisfaction, emotion, etc.

Test Results

Initial feedback was generally positive. Participants appreciated the challenge and felt that the level mechanics were engaging and interesting.

“I enjoy the platforming challenge. The mechanic with the green guy is also a creative and nice touch. I also think that mechanic could go a long way with new and innovative ways.”

“I liked the puzzle-solving mechanic of the game. That feeling of finally figuring out how to get to the other side is a good one.”

Despite the relatively positive feedback, I observed areas of frustration and took note to adjust the game in future iterations to mitigate those frustrations. Some of the more prominent ones are listed here:

Players accidentally walk off ledge
Excessive difficulty made the player feel like giving up
Player expectation didn’t match input
Sometimes confusing occurred for lack of feedback from the game

To dig deeper, I asked questions about each obstacle specifically in a post-test questionnaire. The questions targeted areas in my established design principles (how fun, how clear, and how difficult).

Obstacle 16 was a sweet spot. It was notable difficult, but fun and easy to understand. The result: player satisfaction.

Iterative Design and Development

Based on findings from my play tests, I “baked in” countless adjustments to the game to better accommodate the player. The character is excellently responsive, and the gameplay accurately predicts intended player inputs rather than exact and sometimes erroneous ones.

The result is a game that just feels good to play.