Game Pillars/Goals
Quirky Fun: Create a game with pure humorous intention to amplify the quirky uniqueness of playing as a duck.
Childlike Experience: Develop an experience for children as the designated target audience but not limiting the same experience for adults.
Puzzling Exploration: Iterate on different game mechanics that would promote exploration throughout the many possible puzzle mechanic.
Challenges
Lack of Experience: Waddle Waddle being produced in Unreal Engine 5 highlighted the initial challenge of experience not being a great factor in the development process.
Limited Time & Scope: With limited time there was constant issues in creating a proper scope of a final output of the project, especially as a singular developer.
Solo Development: As the only developers and sole creator of Waddle Waddle, it was quite a challenge in creating all aspects from music, textures, 3D models, and so on.
The Approach
1. Design Sprints
With solo development my process started with jumping between game development portions, which led to an unorganized mess of things. Instead, I started doing sprints structured into groups for Game Mechanics, Visuals, & Sounds with every week starting a sprint of the three. If I was able to complete a sprint early in that week, polishing the completed sprint or starting another sprint would go on. This was utilized so I could reduce frustration and boredom of the development process jumping between creative and technical creations.
2. Always Organize
To keep consistent design sprint transitions fluid and effective, keeping organization was a must and three main factors were used in-order to keep consistency:
Folder Structures: Organizing folder and data contents in a singular drive with naming schemes for easy access.
Diversion Control: Using version control, backups were easily created to revert or implement new updates.
Planning & Scheduling: Having a planned outline of completion and embedding into a scheduling software like Asana or Trello did wonders.
3. Develop an Identity
With a scope in place for the game and the experience, developing an identity was able to keep myself on track to creating specific game portions that would align with each other:
Color Pallette: Creating an array of colors to use in inspiration of Studio Ghibli for its simplicity. Simple colors with no one color overpowering each other was a requirement.
3D Model Requirements: Sculpting many assets for the game including trees, foliage, and other worldly assets without the need of high poly counts made additions to the identity.
Graphical Assets: Incorporating all the previous acknowledgements for the in-game world, there had to be the same for out-of-game such as the User Interface and marketing assets.
4. Have Fun, Enjoy the Process
This project was a testament to my dedication and ambitious nature, as this was tied throughout my courses in my Fall 2024 Semester at HU. I learned there are many factors to contribute towards the process of being a creative and technical person. Figuring out exactly what I wanted to present to an audience; I was determined to learn and enjoy all aspects. With hiccups along the way- there is no doubt there was frustrations, but as well as it's love and care. Taking my time and enjoying the creation showcased that all aspects did not need to be a standard beyond my capabilities.
Results
2 Gameplay Levels: The final iteration throughout the limited time I created 2 levels, one being a tutorial level and the first puzzle level.
10+ Gameplay Mechanics: Creating over 10 fully built gameplay mechanics such as Dialogue System, Dynamic Fences, Generators, Camera Controls, and More.
6+ Wearable Hats: Creating the mechanic of collecting hats in order to complete levels, I was able to create many hats with dynamic elements in-order to create variants.
Implemented User Interface (UI): A fully built and customized UI through the main menu, loading screen, pause menu, and more with consistent colors and animations.
Positive Reception: With player testing the reception from the player group all showcased amended amusement and ambition of the future of the project.
Conclusion
Waddle Waddle was a bold and rewarding venture into solo development fully creating a game of this scope on my own. Despite facing challenges in time, experience, and workload, I embraced an organized sprint-based approach that allowed me to iterate across design, visuals, and sound while maintaining a consistent and charming identity. Focused on delivering a quirky, childlike experience rooted in exploration and puzzle-solving, the project not only helped me grow creatively and technically but also earned positive reception during testing and became part of my university’s Game Design curriculum. Though there’s still much I’d love to expand on, this experience taught me the value of enjoying the process, embracing imperfection, and celebrating progress and I’m excited to see where Waddle Waddle might waddle next.
