Presentation

Artefacts Studio, France - Rhythmic combat game – 2006 - Proprietary Engine

Dancefloor was my first project as a game designer. It's a rhythm game for the Nintendo DS, inspired by the Bust-a-Groove series. The game was designed to be played with a proprietary peripheral that the publisher wanted to sell with the game. That drove the whole concept of the game.

I designed a system that would move away from the classic Dance-Dance Revolution rhythm game of the time, to incorporate some principles from the beat'em up genre, and to use the Nintendo DS touch screen as much as possible. We had to build our own tools to create rhythm patterns based on a playlist of songs provided by the publisher to create our level design.

The peripheral never reached us in either form during development, which forced me to design the game blind and make strong design choices that I wouldn't have made otherwise.

I was also responsible for training an intern.

What I did

• Game concept based on the client's proposal.
• Game design around a hypothetical peripheral to be sold with the game (which turned out to be a simple latex sheet to put on the bottom screen...). This guided the whole concept of the game.
• Character abilities and universe design with the character designer.
• Designing rhythmic patterns for the dance part of the game, combos and the life system.
• Mentoring an intern.