Game & Level Designer
SPILIOS
The Full Story of
Tailwind: Tropics
Tailwind: Tropics is a 3rd person party game that was made with a "pick up and play" philosophy in mind. It takes the players through three thematically and gameplay connected phases. The game offers a faster pace with hard time limits that ensure matches are kept short. To ensure that the player truly feels in control and that the in game economy enables progression at a reasonable rate, there was rigorous testing.
My approach, as the solo designer for this project, was to create a dichotomy between the art style and the gameplay. Although the art style and color palette point to a cute game with little competition, the gameplay contrasts this with intense competition and pace. The game is still accessible both in terms of age, with several playtests aimed at children, and in terms of controls. The game has one-handed controls both on keyboard and with a controller, and works both for left-handed or right-handed players. The inspiration was a combination of Mario Party and Sid Meier's Pirates where one has excellent and time-tested party gameplay for all ages and the other has strong thematic gameplay and art direction.
To combine these games, I chose to skip the meta-progression of the board that Mario Party has and to focus on mini-games that played back to back. Taking the strong thematic approach from Sid Meier's Pirates to ensure all mini-games have a clear connection with each other that culminate in ship battle allows for faster matches and high replayability. The aim is for several matches to be played during one session and for meta-gameplay amongst friends by challenging one-another etc.
Tailwind: Tropics shines with its multiplayer. Having six players with teams of three creates a team dynamic where macro and micro-strategy becomes an integral part of the game and the fun. The design leans into utilizing the whole team with implicit roles such as defence, scouting and coordinating and in the final part of the game it focuses on placement and flanking.
The world of Tailwind: Tropics is vibrant, lush and mimics a tropical paradise. As for the player characters, Red Pandas and Racoons were chosen. They are both seen as whimsical and have a body type that is similar enough which sped up the process for animation, ensured the scale for all objects were the same regardless of team and allowed players to pick between two equally cute animals. The levels progress from land to sea with the first two phases being played on smaller islands and the final one on water in a large arena with lots of space and cover for strategy and gameplay.
Movement
Movement is meant to feel reactive and snappy with the player in total control. Due to the pace and size of the gameplay area, mistakes due to poor controls are not afforded and everything from the turn rate, movement speed and recovery time has been tweaked.
Scurry
Scurrying allows players to move faster over a short amount of time. The scurry is on a visible cooldown so careful planning as to when to use it will often determine the success of execution. It is available often enough to ensure players take the risk of using it.
Collect
Collecting is one of the key mechanics of the game. Players approach a material node and press the correct button to whittle down the health of the node until it drops a gatherable material. The material is then free to claim by anyone and must be dropped of in the shared collection barrels.
Throw
Throwing materials enables players to pass material to each other, to throw it past an enemy as well as enable the player to push again. By holding down the throw button the player can charge the throw to increase its range. When doing so, movement and turn rate is slightly slowed for easier aiming and for a chance for the enemy to catch up.
Push
Players can, when not holding a material, push each other. This includes both teammates and enemies and is such used at their own risk. The push causes the receiving player to get pushed back in the opposite direction of the pushing player and any material is dropped which can then be picked up by anyone.
Water Hazard
Falling or being pushed into water causes the player to reset to their starting position and briefly stun them, rendering them unable to move or act. This can be used to temporarily outnumber the enemy whilst creating tension and fostering quick route planning since all material nodes are spawned at different randomized locations each game.
Construct
Construct is the second key mechanic of the game. Here teams construct and improve parts of their ships. Every upgrade affects the whole team. Planning and coordination will greatly determine the outcome of the phase. The teams have a shared gameplay area and so, sabotage and blocking are an integral part of the phase.
Scavenge
Materials are finite, in a sense. Players can approach an empty material barrel and repeatedly press the scavenge button to find an extra material. This has a very low chance that increases with each press until a material is gained whereas the chance is reset to its lowest value.
Combat
Combat is the final key mechanic of the game. In this final phase, the outcome of the round is determined. Teams spawn in with a ship for each player on opposite sides of the map. They then combat, by shooting and ramming, until the enemy team is eliminated or the time runs out. When the time runs out, the team with most health left wins.
Shoot
Shooting the ships cannons can be done on either side of the ship, but not simultaneously. Holding the fire button charges the shot, increasing its range. There is a visible cooldown for firing again to encourage the player to move away from combat while it is recharging.
Ram/Sail Boost
Players can move faster over a short amount of time just like when scurrying. Only this time, it can be used to ram into other players. Ramming causes a good amount of damage but leaves the player unable to quickly disengage. The cooldown has a visible representation on the bottom of the boat.
Leveldesign Phase One
Initially, the plan for the first phase encompassed a much larger space and a longer playtime. This proved to miss the mark on the plan for the frantic multiplayer experience. The space was therefore sized down continuously until the design became one centralized island. Since the aim was to have a sort of triathlon the levels needed to provide an equally high pace.
To ensure that the space became even smaller without reducing the size of the actual map, hazardous spaces were introduced that penalize the player with a short stun duration when falling in that would reset their position to the center part of the map, allowing for a way to quickly get back into the action. Water became a natural hazard that provided both a visual and gamespace upgrade without feeling intrusive or unnatural.
Finally the introduction of the non-respawnable material nodes and the centralized shared deposit space made certain that player confrontation became unavoidable and that the gameplay became focused around the middle point of the map. The edges of the map can still be used to take a quick breather before heading into the action once again.
Leveldesign Phase Two
The purpose of phase two was to focus more on coordination within the team whilst racing against the clock to outperform the enemy team. While the first iteration of this map layout did that in an isolated space for each team, the mechanics were there but the greater challenge of multiplayer and the spirit of competition was lost. Therefore, the design shifted to a shared gameplay space that would allow player to not only ensure progress for their own team but also allow disruption of the enemy team. A centralized crossroads where each teams supply line crosses the other ensured player conflict.
The camera in this level went through several iterations needing to adapt to both the size and shape of the level. The camera was initially designed as that of phase one where each player had an individual camera but eventually the camera became static and shared between both teams and players. Due to the fast pace and large amount of factors that players need to keep track of during gameplay, a static camera provided a quick way for players to know where to look for what information, at all times. Visual representations of the teams progress where also added in the form of miniature ships that dynamically changed appearance based on the upgrade that was completed.
To counteract the chaotic nature of the shared space in a smaller area than phase one, safe areas were introduced that only the corresponding team would be able to enter. This gave players some breathing room to strategize and reassess when necessary and allowed fast identification of the map goal and direction the teams move in.
Leveldesign Phase Three
The third and final phase remained closest to its initial vision. The gameplay area was adjusted with regards to max firing range, the various size of the boat tiers, the ramming range and the speed which players could move. The camera is individual and moves with the player but does not rotate. The design has therefore taken into consideration the limitation of a 16:9 aspect ratio and the maximum fire range has been adjusted to not exceed camera visibility.
The map was meant to feel natural with traces of previous battles with islands scattered about and shipwrecks buried deep within the water. The islands also serve the tactical purpose of cover with the center island having a section that can be shot across. The section is also a way for the players to understand the maximum firing range since that is required to shoot across.
The map is balanced to have more open spaces for ramming and more closed spaces for ambushing or avoiding enemy fire. Teams have opposing spawning points and after being shot down the camera switches to an overview where players can provide information about the location of enemy ships, giving them a role even after their ship has been destroyed.
Gameplay Design
Tailwind Tropics is a multiplayer game and the menu is adapted to provide the options necessary for starting, joining or rejoining a game. The phases of the game are also represented in a spinning globe that conveys the theme and tone of the game.
When starting a game a pre game screen appears that, when playing for the first time, has instructions for how that phase is meant to be played. Each player must confirm by pressing the ready up button before the phase starts. These instructions come with both controller input schemes as well as looping gifs that represent the mechanics in that phase. These tutorials are toggleable via the main menu and are set per session for all players.
After each phase a post game screen tallies up the results of that phase as a way to compare and understand the progress of that phase, it also serves as yet another ready check before heading into the next phase. The results are clearly shown as numbers or by bars that represent things like remaining boat health, damage done, materials gathered, times fallen in the water etc.
The phases are distinct but clearly tie into each other to create a triathlon. The first phase has players gathering materials, the second phase uses these materials to upgrade their ships and the third phase uses the ships for combat. The winner of the last phase wins that round and the game is determined by a best of three. A win screen where the winning team spawn in on the top of a hill with golden crowns and a fully upgraded ship in the background provides both a reward for winning and a way for a sore loser to get some revenge by pushing the winning team of the hill with a "king of the hill" mechanic. The losing team spawn at the bottom of the hill with a destroyed ship in the background.
Gameplay Mechanics Documentation
Each phase has a two-pager accompanied with a flowchart detailing the mechanics of that phase and how it is meant to be played out. More general or overarching mechanics such as balancing, economy and other systems have their own two pagers detailing how they are meant to function and the math used.
Diagrams for menus etcetera were also made providing a concrete and visible framework for programmers to work from. A UML class diagram was also done in collaboration with the lead programmer of this project.
Since the game is still in development sensitive information pertaining to specific mechanics have been redacted.
