BirdFeeder Design History
Game Designer, Level Designer, Programmer | 2022
At first, the only word we could think of was "Bird." Alex Mojado and I were discussing a new game concept, and we kept finding ourselves possessed with birds. We wanted to make a game about birds. The only problem is: we didn't know what we wanted that game to be.
This Design History documents our iterative development process from our chosen direction all the way to release.
This (image) was our first concept sketch after various ideations, using cubes and spheres to denote different types of fruit to deliver to different types of birds while avoiding a zookeeper in a maze-like environment.
In this concept, failure to deliver the correct fruit lead to loss, though this idea was scrapped in favor of rewarding the player with more points for correct delivery.
The first update with art assets also led to an error in the blur effect which was corrected for future builds.
A better view of the maze-like walls.
Dedicated Fruit assets helped strengthen the visual identity.
We also added birds to take the place of the "Food Stations."
When the bird models were implemented, I decided to add a feature where the birds begin to chirp as you approach.
This small addition helped players understand when they were near a bird while also adding a bit of character.
A closer look at the purple square fruit.
With fruit models in place and textures corrected, we added an animated zookeeper model. This fully removed all grayboxed elements from the game.
An updated look at the purple square fruit with a colored stem.
The particle effect was updated to be more visually pleasing.
With this, the core game was completed. Now, we pivoted to finalizing menu design.
An unsuccessful design update to the menu. This design was intended to create visual cohesion between menu and game, but was too difficult to read.
Updates! A new version of the game with updated UI, Mechanics, and Art began development!
A Day/Night cycle was implemented to better enhance the game's visual aesthetic.
After writing simple scripts for the zookeeper, player controller, and fruit, we developed a simple graybox. The zookeeper script was designed to be random in movement unless the zookeeper ended a close enough proximity to the player.
Here, we were able to adjust the sensitivity of the zookeeper to ensure the game had a successful flow and was neither to easy or difficult. Player movement was also adjusted, as we decided the player should move slower when carrying fruit.
With the blur corrected, this build merged early art assets with a grayboxed level. This build also began to feature the "maze-like" walls to enhance the level.
The grayboxed level elements were replaced with dedicated art assets. Utilizing these assets, the level layout was also updated.
While editing art assets, we accidentally broke the game's textures, leading to gray bushes and fruit.
Both Bird Stations were designed to visually correlate to a different type of fruit in both color and shape.
A closer look at the blue sphere fruit.
An updated look at the blue sphere fruit with a colored stem.
A particle effect was added to the birds when they are fed. This served as a visual indicator that the player had successfully fed the birds while also adding a fun visual flair.
A placeholder menu with simplified backgrounds and layout.
The final menu retained visual cohesion while placing the text on a black background for clarity. This menu was also used as the key art for the game.
Amon the new updates was an updated typeface that better fit the game's visual style.
