THE ONCE AND FUTURE RAT KING
Prove your worth as you rally rodent forces to your aid. Complete noble quests with your friends in cozy couch co-op. Discover how we are stronger together, in a weird parable about rats, friendship, and the power of teamwork.
THE ONCE AND FUTURE RAT KING is whimsical couch co-op PC game that can be best described as Katamari Damacy meets Untitled Goose Game, with lots of rats. It draws inspiration from Arthurian legends and provides wacky, physics-based shenanigans in a low-poly, medieval setting.
SPECS
Type: MFA Thesis Project
Platforms: PC
Engine: Unreal Engine 5.0
Status: In-production
Game Team Size: 2 developers
Project Length: 12 months
Game Tools: Unreal, Adobe CS, Blender, Dungeon Architect
Team Tools: Monday, Slack, Miro, Google Suite
SUMMARY
In retrospect, a written thesis would have taken less time. But...it would have significantly less rats.
In 2022, I began exploring the mechanics and puzzle ideas that would become The Once and Future Rat King.
I collaborated with my partner Calahan Kirkner, a systems engineer, to develop the core movement mechanics that would define the moment-to-moment joy of the gameplay experience.
Over the course of development, hundreds of iterations were made on puzzles to find the fun and create a flexible set of interactions that allowed the game to support single-player puzzle-solving without dedicating a separate gameplay mode.
The final art direction, setting, and narrative tone were designed around the project constraints. To give myself the time required to focus on design, I planned early to opt for utilizing external asset packs over. The time saved in concepting, modeling, texturing, and rigging was paramount to achieving the desired level of fidelity on my vertical slice.
The Once and Future Rat King was developed and presented as a vertical slice for my MFA in Game Development thesis at Academy of Art University.
GAME DIRECTION
As a solo-ish developer, I set out to create a delightfully off-beat collaborative puzzle game that highlighted my skillset as a "design-forward" narrative designer while working with limited resources and a short development timeline.
A driving force throughout development was a kind of playful defiance. Defiance to marketability and the norm. Everything else I had ever built, game jams aside, needed to be marketable to an audience. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I gave myself to make a game that might only appeal to me and my own sensibilities.
THE VISION
I defined the game's pillars and outlined objectives in a living game design document. Looking to other competitors across genres, I researched these games and outlined my findings in comparative analysis write-ups that helped to inform and shape the final game.
THE ROADMAP
Using my anticipated semester courses as a timeline, I established a roadmap for the project to prioritize tasks and implementation of content in an intuitive order.
PRODUCTION
To hold myself accountable, I maintained the same project management standards that I would have in a studio environment and worked towards objectives in weekly sprints.
PUZZLE DESIGN
I developed puzzles based around the idea that we can go fast on our own, but we can go far together.
PUZZLE
Defined puzzle mechanics and designed the framework for the game’s environmental puzzles.
Built blueprints for modular puzzles.
Drew maps and made flowcharts to track puzzle progression and player options in each encounter.
Produced spreadsheets recording what would happen or trigger in each step of the puzzle, such as cues for audio, animation, camera transitions, etc.
USER RESEARCH
Organized live playtests, conducted interviews with players, and collected anonymous playtester survey data.
Reviewed tester data and built objectives and strategies to address actionable feedback.
GAME DESIGN
I designed a series of small levels with puzzle driven design.
CORE MECHANICS
Defined gameplay mechanics and framework for the game from the ground up.
I worked closely with my systems engineer to implement the initial paper prototypes into Unreal Engine 5.
GAME LOOP
Designed and iterated on creating a loop that was highly modular and scalable.
Crafted encounters and mini-games that offered appeal to both casual and more experienced gamers.
Reinforced narrative themes through the player’s in-game actions and abilities.
LEVEL
Designed linear level maps for world environments.
Implemented Dungeon Architect into the production pipeline to optimize the workflow for building game exterior prefabs.
NARRATIVE DESIGN
Storytelling with a silent protagonist looks a little different. I wrote all player-facing text, including cinematics, dialogue, missions, codex entries, tutorials, UI, and flavor text.
In addition to creative writing, I also maintained technical documentation for the game’s design, mechanics, and encounters.
GAME MISSIONS
Defined optional encounters and any triggers or gating through spreadsheets.
Wrote and implemented quests and dialogue using Blueprints in UE5.
Tested missions and iterated on gameplay for narrative cohesion, consistent voice, and game flow.
WORLDBUILDING
5 distinctive environment settings, each designed with its own unique puzzle content.
CREATIVE WRITING
Designed codex entries with clear gameplay goals (such as introducing game locations, player abilities, or accessible quests.)
Edited and revised gameplay copy for UI notifications and in-game updates.
Provided environmental storytelling through unique points-of-interest (POIs).
TECHNICAL WRITING
Produced game lore wikis and game design documents.
Wrote and maintained gameplay mechanics documentation.
ART DIRECTION
With the constraints of a solo-developer project, I worked to develop a cohesive visual style based around premade asset libraries.
ART
Built reference guides for characters and environments, focusing on a whimsy-forward approach to the genre.
Created extensive storyboards for gameplay, cutscenes, UI interactions, and to guide game feel/juice.
Created and implemented UI wireframes and icons used in the final game.
ASSET SELECTION
Compiled premade asset libraries/packs based on cohesion to central style tenets.
Collaborated on building an audio/music library and catalog, assigning music and ambient sound by different zone locations and interactions.
ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
Working on this project required me to take on some unique tasks that didn’t fit neatly into the categories above. Here are a few of the highlights:
Wrote external pitch scripts, web copy and print copy.
Recorded, cut, and edited videos for pitches and promotional materials.
COLLABORATORS
I had the privilege to work with some incredibly talented people on this project.
Calahan Kirkner (Programmer)