'Skquirm' Visual Game Design

Skquirm is a chaotic multiplayer “kart” battle game is a product of a collaboration with a multi-disciplinary team for the Level-Up Showcase Exhibit. Every year it opens up submission to compete against other teams across Ontario and to share student made games to the public. Teams were given 8 weeks of development time to build a game from scratch for the 2016 Level-Up Student Game Showcase.

Industry:

Game

Target Audience:

Casual players who loves toilet humour.

Tone:

Playful quirky battle royal with a splash of colour and chaos.

Scope of Work:

Danny Tran: Art direction | Character design | Typography Design | Concept Art | Presentation Deck | User Interface | User Experience |  Brand Identity Design |  Stationary Design | Editorial Design | Illustration 

Ryan Fung: Lead Level Designer | User Experience

Yorie Nakayama: Programmer | Environmental Animator | User Experience

Alan R. Gomes: Programmer & Animator

Alex Yung: Programmer & Animator

Adso A. Papandrea: Character 3D Artists & Animator

Eric O'Brien: 3D Texture & Colouring

Joshua Salvador: Sound  Designer | User Experience

Programs Used:

Photoshop | Illustrator |  InDesign | Blender(3D software) | Unity

Objective

Our goal is to create a memorable and easy to learn game for the 2 day Level Up Game Showcase Exhibition. 

Idea

The game 'Skquirm' is to attract players using humor and simple game mechanics, directing towards younger audiences! The project involves developing a visual to support the story for an immersive experience by utilizing user interface, simple user flow, promotional prints, and user manuals.

Before designing the functions of the game, we did competitive analysis on games that already exist and challenge ourselves to create something out of the ordinary. With the research, we decided to create a game in world that revolves around bugs and toilet humor. I helped explore the world we want to create by using concept sketches. 

Identity  

The art direction is to amplify the game's toilet humor and the fun chaotic persona. The cute and vibrant is to juxtapose the grotesque sewage environment and characters.

Logo Process

We needed a logo that embodies the quirky and chaotic game to match the experience users will get playing this game. The brand persona we want to highlight is quirky, energetic, and comedic.

Naming process came naturally. Collectively with the team, we looked the concept of the game and thought of roaches squirming around and fighting each other with items found in the washroom. In result, we decided to call it Skquirm! A quirky sounding title fit for the quirky game.

The team grew attachment with the concept of having one of our little characters from the game integrated in the game. The unconventional logo form conveys the quirkiness players would expect from the game.

Custom Skquirm Display Font

The typeface is made specifically to appropriately support the game's persona as a conventional font for a fun, colourful, and chaotic game. The font should reflect the world in Skquirm, which means to make it so that the shape is slightly imbalanced to move away from structural formal look.

In Game Interface

During the development and countless of play tests, we decided to also include more information on a loading screen for players to review before a round begins.

Manual Design

As the exhibition day was approaching and after many game testings, it became apparent that a menu guild will be needed during the showcase. Players can familiarize themselves with the game while waiting for their turn.

Insight

Developing a video game isn't only about creating appealing and functioning gameplay. With the right level of the competitive situation made with simple mechanics, it can increase the additive playable experience, especially at a game exhibition. From our process, we learned the importance of weighing the level of time it may take for the list of our ambitious deliverables before committing to the direction because we ended up using most of our time on the physics and 3D items due to a steep learning curve. Overall, it was a success as our game put many smiles on the player's faces!