Broombot Battlegrounds - Carter Greene

A frantic 4-player party battler starring adorable vacuum robots!

— PLATFORM

PC / Planned Console Release

— ENGINE

Unreal Engine 4

— TEAM SIZE

12+ contributors

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– Designed and created functional prototypes for core movement and combat systems

– Used Google Docs to communicate technical specifications and design pillars to full team

– Oversaw level development process for 16+ multiplayer maps across four gamemodes

– Developed modular level mechanics and sequences with Unreal Blueprinting

– Conducted semi-weekly standup meetings, providing critique and articulating sprint goals

– Collaborated with other project leads to define project milestones and delegate tasks

– Prepared pitch presentations and other materials for correspondence with third party companies

#1: SIMPLICITY

Broombot Battlegrounds is envisioned as the perfect game for parties and social gatherings. In service to this ideal, we sought to create an intuitive experience that anyone can pick up and play, regardless of skill level.

#2: CHAOS

Randomized power-ups and unpredictable level mechanics add novelty and variability to each round of play. Introducing chaotic elements additionally serves to facilitate competition as less skilled players can use these mechanics to gain an advantage.

#3: INTERACTIVITY

We wanted each themed environment in the game to exude its own unique personality through distinctive set-pieces that players can directly engage with.

By prioritizing this goal throughout our design process, we were able to create maps with more charm and hidden detail, making them fun to explore as well as battle on!

TECHNICAL DESIGN

As the project's design lead, I was required to clearly demonstrate my ideas for game concepts to the team and assist in their implementation.

In pre-production, I utilized extensive documentation and visual diagramming to communicate technical and design specifications for our movement and combat physics, allowing for seamless collaboration with programmers.

I worked hands-on with Unreal's Blueprints framework to bring these drafts to life – delivering functional prototypes, polished mechanics, and vital game balancing changes throughout the project's life span.

As I was additionally responsible for overseeing development of our 16+ battle maps, I hand-developed a wide variety of modular level elements, leveraging playtesting data from showcases we attended to optimize my designs for our target casual audience.

LEVEL DESIGN

As our game's level designer, I was charged with drafting and developing functional multiplayer level layouts and engaging interactions across all 16+ of our game’s uniquely themed battle maps.

My work as a level designer included:

– concept sketching

– documentation of design parameters

– blocking levels out in-engine

– scripting interactions with Blueprints and Sequencer

– iterating based on playtesting data

– placement of final art assets

As the game is intended for a wide audience, I made sure to include level elements that cater to a wide variety of play styles (particularly Fighters, Explorers, Achievers, and Socializers).

With each level I developed, I made sure to include elements that facilitate distinct gameplay scenarios while maintaining a set theme. The Clean of the Hill level Boiler Room, for instance, places greater emphasis on player mobility with mechanics like the Air Ducts that allow for quick, strategic map rotation.

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PRODUCTION

As a project lead for our team, I assisted our Lead Producer on a wide variety of administrative tasks for development and publishing of our game.

Our team primarily practiced an Agile production strategy, with development being broken into milestones consisting of several two-week sprints. Each week, I provided a comprehensive task list with supplementary documentation using the Google Suite. I would then collaborate with our Lead Producer to synthesize this information for our team’s Trello board and assign priority for each task.

Throughout development and post-launch, our team attended several large-scale gaming conventions to promote and playtest the game. PAX East 2023 in particular required extensive logistical and financial planning, as team members would be flying in from out-of-state to attend.

Leading up to the event, I created a comprehensive event plan which included a customizable Excel sheet for budgeting and list of relevant deadlines. Using this plan, our team successfully secured all necessary booth materials and merchandise, making for a seamless show-floor experience. My work allowed our game to be seen and enjoyed by hundreds!

Additionally, I acted as a main point of contact for our team's LLC and maintained communications with a variety of third parties including lawyers, bankers, and companies like Epic Games and Nintendo.

Our correspondence with Nintendo, which aimed to secure approval for a Switch port of the game, required me to create and present a pitch document and slide deck (a portion of which is shown to the right). We have since been approved, and development of a Switch version is currently underway!

Carter Greene

A frantic 4-player party battler starring adorable vacuum robots!

Broombot Battlegrounds is a 3D competitive party battler where players engage in frantic, fast-paced combat as colorful, customizable vacuum robots. The game successfully debuted on Steam in February 2023, and has since received three free content updates.

Responsibilities:

Accolades:

DESIGN PILLARS