don't run with scissors
This game is a full-body experiential game, controlled by a 6-foot-long pair of scissors. The game invites you into the mind of a curious kid left home alone with only one instruction: don’t do the things you know you shouldn’t. Race the clock to leave a trail of destruction on your way up the leaderboard!
The Opportunity
Build a game with a custom alternative controller to showcase at the alt.ctrl.GDC exhibit at the Independent Games Festival
Brainstorming
Thinking Outside the Box
We spent about two weeks completing sprint-like brainstorming sessions, such as brain-dumping words and objects, as well as drawing connections and parallels between types of interactions and content. We focused our brainstorming sessions on interaction first, in order to build our content around the controller.
Goals
Engagement
We wanted our controller to be big, friendly, and inviting to use to encourage users to engage with our game
Audience Participation
Knowing that our project would be showcased in high-traffic areas, we prioritized creating an experience that could be enjoyed by onlookers, even if they weren't playing the game
Easy to Learn
Similarly, the game needed to be easy to learn. Any onboarding needed to be 15 seconds or less to allow users to familiarize themselves with something that was already intuitive to use
Our Pitch: Don't Run With Scissors
Playtest #1
The First Shift
After our pitch, the biggest piece of feedback that we received was that our idea seemed too constrained for the chaos that it intended to portray. Peers and professors wanted more freedom than the constraints of a runner-style game, so we adopted the approach of an open-map world.
Project Status
About a month into development, we had iterated several times on our scissor design to test user comfort, weight distribution, and hardware placement. Steering was still in development, but we had a Hall effect sensor working to detect open/close. During the playtest, we guided users around the map and allowed them to chop up our grayboxed house
Learnings
Adding visual and auditory feedback for actions would be crucial for gameplay and user delight, but even this early in the process, we received overwhelming positive feedback and user enjoyment
Playtest #2
Project Status
After implementing a potentiometer for steering, we playtested again a few weeks later. By rotating around the center joint of the scissors, users could fully explore the house and and wreak havoc
Learnings
Implementing the steering had a major impact in the direction of the project – after all of the development on the open-map concept, we realized that the constant player run speed got them stuck on objects, walls, and corners. So, we shifted our approach again, back to our original runner-style game
Go Big or Go Home
To pitch our game to alt.ctrl.GDC, we knew we had to wow our audience – and what better way to do it than an absolutely massive pair of scissors?
Polish & Present
Cutting Down the Scope
Due to time constraints, we had to limit some of our original plans, such as implementing power-ups and procedural generation for the maps. We focused on maintaining the integrity of our project by polishing the core features, and leaving room for growth past our initial exhibition
alt.ctrl.GDC
After shipping our massive scissors across the country, we finally had the chance to exhibit at the internationally recognized Game Developers Conference in the Independent Games Festival! We received overwhelmingly positive feedback, and we can't wait to continue growing
The Conclusion
Make something amazing and have fun doing it
I have learned so much working on this project – I've worn so many different hats, learned tons of new softwares, and experienced the heartache and joy of building, breaking, and rebuilding a project. I have gained so much experience working side-by-side with developers, understanding how to coordinate teammates and deliverables, and how to have fun doing it.