Night Runner
Executive Summary:
This is an overview into the design and implementation of a gameplay loop that involves timer mechanic, item gathering mechanic, as well as the level design for Night Runner, a mod for Fortnite.
Introduction:
As the game designer responsible for the gameplay mechanics in "Night Runner", the focus was creating a game that was fluid, risky, and fast-paced. By utilizing the Unreal Engine for Fortnite (UEFN), I was able to quickly prototype and publish this game for all platforms.
Background:
By exploring Fortnite's stock of speed-running, "parkour" games, I saw that they're was a large number of players still playing these style of games. I was greatly inspired by the visual styles of Cyberpunk and Blade Runner to create a setting almost similar to them.
Design Goals:
- Keep it fast-paced by having the player collect Nanites while still keeping an eye on the clock
- Keep it fast-paced by having the player collect Nanites while still keeping an eye on the clock
- Easy to Play by making sure the rules were simple and easy to follow
- Challenging to Conquer by laying out obstacle courses as well as intimidating jumps
Conceptualization:
The rule of the game (core game loop) is for the player to run through the city skyline to collect nanites, which is collected into a tracker, which was written in Verse the programming language for UEFN. A timer was developed to make sure the player had enough time, but would instantly kill them to make them restart the game again.
The rule of the game (core game loop) is for the player to run through the city skyline to collect nanites, which is collected into a tracker, which was written in Verse the programming language for UEFN. A timer was developed to make sure the player had enough time, but would instantly kill them to make them restart the game again.
Flow chart for core game loop
By doing a sketch of the level design, I planned on figuring out the layout as well as laying out some of the Fortnite tools that were available to me such as the air jump boost and zip lines to aid the Player on navigating the map.
Sketch of level design
Top view of the level design layout blocked out before I began applying some other background buildings, decor, and a damage volume for when the player fails a jump causing them to restart the game.
Level design laid out in UEFN.
Level design with added obstacles, decor, and buildings
Timer:
Applied the timer which ran down as the player played and tried to collect the nanites scattered through the map. A challenge for the timer was trying to balance instilling the fast-paced fear of trying to get through the map before the timer went down, but also giving them enough time to actually confidently complete the game.
Applied the timer which ran down as the player played and tried to collect the nanites scattered through the map. A challenge for the timer was trying to balance instilling the fast-paced fear of trying to get through the map before the timer went down, but also giving them enough time to actually confidently complete the game.
I had myself and some testers go through it multiple times to make sure that the timer was fair.
Fall Damage:
Implemented fall damage by using a Damage Volume component that would instantly kill the player once they passed the border of the volume causing them to restart the game.
Damage volume implemented to restart the game when Player falls through.
Movement:
By laying out extra obstacles like parkour pillars, this would cause the player to plan out their moves as well as giving them a reason to waste some time.
By applying some movement aid like air jump boosters and ziplines, the player can safely zoom through the map gaining some time back from the help of these items. It was a fine balance of making sure they risked time, but also rewarding them some as well.
Jump boost
Zip lines
Item Collection:
Nanites were collected into a tracker, which was written in Verse the programming language for UEFN. Once the player collected a nanite, they would receive a message on the UI that they successfully collected the Nanite.
User Testing:
User testing was done by inviting my Instagram, Thread, and Linkedin followers to the island to give it a test run. From there, they would send me an email via Google Forms to notify me of issues that came across while playing.
User testing was done by inviting my Instagram, Thread, and Linkedin followers to the island to give it a test run. From there, they would send me an email via Google Forms to notify me of issues that came across while playing.
Technical Challenges:
Learning UEFN was a bit different than Unreal Engine. Since you are making a game in Fortnite, Epic has laid out most of the work from assets to VFX, so it was easy to iterate and test designs quickly. The downside was that it was a bit more limited that Unreal Engine since you are working in the confines of Fortnite itself, so you can only scale as much as Fortnite's servers allowed.
Learning UEFN was a bit different than Unreal Engine. Since you are making a game in Fortnite, Epic has laid out most of the work from assets to VFX, so it was easy to iterate and test designs quickly. The downside was that it was a bit more limited that Unreal Engine since you are working in the confines of Fortnite itself, so you can only scale as much as Fortnite's servers allowed.
While Unreal Engine had C++ and Blueprints, UEFN uses Verse, their own programming language due to server security. So it was a bit of a learning curve to come off of a background of Unity/C# and Unreal Engine/Blueprints to something completely different.
Post-Launch Support:
Planning on adding more depth to the game as more players enter the game.
Planning on adding more depth to the game as more players enter the game.
Lessons Learned:
The challenge of balancing a game can be often solved by testing with multiple people.
The challenge of balancing a game can be often solved by testing with multiple people.
Conclusion:
Aside from the ego boost of finishing another game, I have to say thanks to the testers from my social media as well as my kids for dealing with my repeated testing. Game enjoyment is beyond mechanics, you have to give them a feeling.
Aside from the ego boost of finishing another game, I have to say thanks to the testers from my social media as well as my kids for dealing with my repeated testing. Game enjoyment is beyond mechanics, you have to give them a feeling.
Play the game here:
Island Code: 3941-3975-2715
