Bigger, Badder, Buggier
A WebGL racing game based on the Carnegie Mellon University tradition of buggy racing
Click here to play the game
Team and My Responsibilities
The Buggy Builders studio consisted of the 19 students within the Advanced Game Studio class. I led the tech team and was primarily responsible for managing, scheduling, and ensuring completion of the weekly tasks for the students on my team. I also picked up any work that was left unfinished, as well as compiling the twice a week builds that were used for playtesting and in-class demonstrations. I represented the tech team within leadership meetings and validated that any ideas proposed by the design team were feasible for the tech team.
Game Description
Bigger, Badder, Buggier is a racing game in which players race their buggy around one of three courses. Similar to Mario Kart or other cartoon-like racing games. The game includes features such as Items that can be picked up, speed boosts can be used to increase the players speed, and obstacles that need to be avoided.
Challenge
This was the first time I had taken on a leadership role while developing a game. This experience had many unique team driven challenges such as how to handle missing work, unexpected absences, and shifting deadlines. I was ranked highly by both the producers above me and the students under me in my ability to effectively lead the team.
Development Environment / Tools Used
Bigger, Badder, Buggier was developed in the Unity game engine and was built for WebGL. The project team leads used Jira for task management and the tech team used Perforce for version control. The project team used Slack to communicate outside of standard meetings.
Highlight
The game was built off of some of the concepts and assets created as a part of last year's Advanced Game Studio project. While most of the code running this year's game had to be re-written, the tech team picked through last years game files and determined what to salvage or recreate. Hitting the ground running based on what was created previously was a unique experience. Instead of starting with grey-box assets, our early prototypes used semi-finished models and art assets. As a result, the project team was able to significantly advance the game experience with new complex features and refined mechanics from the previous year's version.
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