IGB400 Project Pitch

Context

In today's games development industry, programmers are required to be knowledgeable of relevant engines, scripting languages, and teamwork methodologies to become employable (CG Spectrum College of Digital Art & Animation, n.d.).

Namely:

• The two engine giants Unity and Unreal Engine (Perforce, 2020)

• C#, C++, Javascript

• And comprehension of the game production pipeline

Furthermore, a programmer requires some key scripting skills to compete in the field such as advanced mathematics, object-oriented programming, networking, style guide application, and debugging.

Finally, experience is the most sure-fire method of displaying one's ability to perform. The state of having done something before or not in a related field can impact one's employment opportunities greatly.

Let's declare a new project pitch with respect to this industry.

Whenever one pursues a new project - especially to improve their portfolio - they must seek to challenge themselves and become a more appealing individual in the eyes of their targeted industry. Challenge can take the form of honing and experimenting with existing skills, or the acquisition of new relevant skills. Since I believe most of my current skills are of high ability, I intend to do the latter for this project.

A programmer skill I am yet to develop include networking - this can be the focal design goal. Otherwise, I would like all other design elements to meet a balance of familiarity and unfamiliarity to ensure both a fruitful and achievable project. As a baseline, I would like those unfamiliar elements to include:

• A new game genre

• Gameplay variety using class inheritance

• Collaboration with a team using version control

Pitch

School Duel is the project I pitch to meet the above criteria. This will be a local multiplayer auto chess game.

Auto chess itself is a fresh new genre that has rapidly grown in the market following a Dota 2 fan-made mod called Dota Auto Chess (Bhernardo, V., & Gökhan Ç. 2020). Its gameplay involves players owning a board where they can strategically purchase and position unique units on cells and battle opponent boards. Losers receive player damage until only one remains.

I intend to produce a true auto chess experience with some slight innovations on my end to contribute to the evolving genre. These innovations include:

• Auto turn based combat

• Dynamic board sizes based on level

• School themed units

Otherwise, the standard applies with a scope suited for a single developer. The following gameplay is promised:

• Players own boards

• Players can purchase unique units from a shop

• Players battle other players with their boards in rounds until one remains

If time permits, I will add additional mechanics relating to the genre such as ranking up units with duplicates, items, PVE rounds, etc.

Justification

As my current portfolio contains zero networked projects, the development of multiplayer game will fill this gap. Furthermore, riding on the auto chess wave will prove beneficial for my project's relevance in the market and expand my knowledge of today's top genres.

Unlike other projects, this genre features a hero fighter system where each unit posses a unique ability akin to board and card games. The support of said abilities combined with auto turned based combat and local multiplayer presents quite a challenging concept to realise programming wise - a challenge suited to myself given my current programming skills. I have yet to develop such a sophisticated system and believe it will greatly improve the quality of my portfolio.

References

1. CG Spectrum College of Digital Art & Animation. (n.d). Game Programmer. https://www.cgspectrum.com/career-pathways/game-programmer

2. Perforce. (2020, April 24). What Are the Most Popular Game Engines? https://www.perforce.com/blog/vcs/most-popular-game-engines

3. Bhernardo, V., & Gökhan Ç. (2020, June 6). What is an autobattler? https://dotesports.com/news/what-is-an-autobattler