Initial Concept
The original inspiration for Fantasy Fit was Nintendo's Ring Fit - which, if you are unfamiliar, is an RPG-style fitness game in which you move through a classic hero's journey punctuated by battles where attacks use various different modes of exercise. With 3 team members (Kate Linn, Sikaar Keita, and myself) and four weeks to accomplish the project, we came together on our essentials to call the project a success:
- Hero's Journey: A scalable map with progressively unlocked areas and level selection
- Grand Adventure: An immersive open-world for each level navigable by an active locomotion
- Epic Battles: At least two types of enemies encounterable throughout the level to be battled using abilities designed around exercise.
- Hero's Journey: A scalable map with progressively unlocked areas and level selection
- Grand Adventure: An immersive open-world for each level navigable by an active locomotion
- Epic Battles: At least two types of enemies encounterable throughout the level to be battled using abilities designed around exercise.
The Abilities
We first focussed on the exercise abilities, each of us working on two abilities. The two I came up with were a force field defense and an energy ball attack. Both required some finessing from the initial drawings below, but ended up working quite well once implemented. The force field requires the player to move their hands quickly in circles to build up the strength of a force field to be used during defense. The energy ball has the player grabbing particles from volumes high to their right and left and releasing them in front of them to increase the power of an energy ball which is released on an enemy.
Training the Player
Our intention was initially to have the player go through battles to learn their abilities - however, we quickly abandoned this in favor of explicit instruction on each ability to handle any confusion. I personally took on what we titled the "Training Island" - an entry point for the player that required them to collect each ability by doing them correctly with a trainer in order to advance to the official "first level." This would ensure that the player be focused on the exercises and be immersed in the battles rather than confused.
The first step I took was to write out a desired path through the training process, which I then used to create a script for the trainer. This also served as an order of operations for each step of the training island. Each ability needed to have several elements in order to work properly:
- I recorded a series of audio clips for the trainer to explain each ability as they demonstrated them
- I hand animated in blender the trainer demonstrating each task as the player would perform them
- I replicated each ability broken down into verifiable steps so the game could tell where the player was in each ability
- I designed Runes (initial designs displayed below) integrated into each ability to later use as the UI for ability choice in battle
- I recorded a series of audio clips for the trainer to explain each ability as they demonstrated them
- I hand animated in blender the trainer demonstrating each task as the player would perform them
- I replicated each ability broken down into verifiable steps so the game could tell where the player was in each ability
- I designed Runes (initial designs displayed below) integrated into each ability to later use as the UI for ability choice in battle
Creating a Progression
I then set out to sequence them so that an open-world environment would allow the player to encounter the trainer at many different points throughout the island and still continue training where they had left off. After each successful training, the player was provided with an "ability sphere" to take to a central hub. Once all of the training was complete, these spheres would unlock the game map, which served as a portal to each level.
One of the most important things to me about designing in a spatial context is to take full advantage of the affordances of the medium. In this game, that meant making sure that from the beginning the player could interact with buttons by punching them, and creating a 3D representation of the game's landscapes to serve as the map. The player could pick up a totem that represented themself and place it where they wanted to go.
Building a World
I was responsible for building all of the environments for this project. I accomplished this first by searching for inspiration, which I found mainly in the Faroe Islands. These cold and stark landscapes were the perfect chose to juxtapose against ancient runes and magical abilities. For the terrain, I used Unity's built in terrain system to create contained areas that the player could explore, but be subtly guided by hills, canyons, and plateaus. I used Blender to create all of the architectural pieces, including the previously mentioned maps. The matter of placing content throughout the levels was up to me as well - creating climbing walls, vistas, and a purgatory where the player choses how they would like to proceed upon death.
Another important element of world design and immersion is a soundtrack. I took inspiration from classic rpg games and fantasy films to compose and record four distinct but cohesive pieces that they player would encounter throughout the game to set the mood.