Embedded Files
A rhythm-lite skateboarding game developed for mobile devices, this game launched on the Google Play Store on February 22, 2021 found here. The game also had a projected Apple App Store launch of April 22, 2021 here. Development started in October 2019 and persisted until it's final update on May 9, 2022. Assets for art and sound are outsourced and were created by contracted workers.
Beat Skater was initially published in early access on itch.io, found here, on September 23, 2020. This is also where patch notes and developer logs can be found.
Gameplay Implementation
Gameplay Implementation
is done in Unity, so C# is the language being used. The moment-to-moment gameplay, presented in the gif to the right, consists of players using both fingers to swipe two different zones on each side of the board in relative synchronization.
This gameplay is achieved through manipulation of the UI objects and a general object-oriented code structure, which can be seen in the code snippets below. UI collisions between the player finger and the trick zones destroys the hit zone and creates a side-based "action type" object, which will pass itself to the larger player script before resetting the side. Once the larger player script has received action types from both sides, seen in the second code snippet below, the player will have a determinate function that attempts to convert the two action types into a trick that can be seen on the top camera.
Design Iteration and Development
Design Iteration and Development
focused largely on the moment-to-moment gameplay, as it went through many iterations before reaching the version seen today. Throughout development, a primary focus in the design was creating a unique input method for the game that resonated with the intended feel of the game. In looking at first gif on the carousel to the left, the initial design simply required the player to swipe in a cardinal direction on both sides of the board, providing little feedback to the player, visual or otherwise, and overall just being unclear. The iterative process on this design shows itself relatively naturally through comparing the different gifs, where each iteration narrows the design to a more satisfying and immediately apparent structure. Most notably, the transition from the third gif to the fourth gif showcases this through the alteration of the core control input scheme focusing more on clearly communicated player actions and opportunities.
Documentation and Team Management
Documentation and Team Management
as with any development cycle, became an larger portion of the project as development continued, where the project status, details and revisions were meticulously documented in the Beat Skater Design Document.
Both project and team management on the project were also managed personally. This consisted of planning the development milestones, managing the tasking during the agile process, and ensuring that development is a streamlined as possible for all of those involved.
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