Camp Champ
"Camp Champ" is a fast-paced 2v2 couch party game that brings a chaotic twist to Capture the Flag. Teams face off in frantic battles to claim the most flags within a set time limit, delivering an action-packed and competitive experience. Can you make your Camp Lead proud and earn the shiniest badges?
Role
Combat/ Game Designer
Made with
Unreal Engine 5
Genre
Narrative RPG
Concepting
Creating Game Seeds
During the early stages of the project, I explored a variety of unique ideas that could put an interesting spin on the Couch Party genre and created PowerPoint One Pagers to communicate the vision.
Example of a Game Seed that puts a Social Deduction twist on Overcooked
After the team decided on a 2v2 capture-the-flag game as our core concept, we began working in-engine to create a proof of concept. As the team’s system designer, I explored various camera angles and control schemes, testing different variables and movesets for the player character.
I researched other 2v2 couch party games as reference for the camera. Here, I took inspiration from “Meltdown Madness”.
Concepting different solutions for the dash
The team decided early on that a dash mechanic should be the player´s main means of traversing the map. I concepted various ways this dash could be utilized.
Dashing on button press
Concepting the 3Cs
Dash as a pickup
Dash as a collaborative mechanic, boosting the player further
Furthermore, I tweaked the player character variables to ensure a quick, snappy game feel.
Iteraing the control schemes
As the team wanted to target casual players, we had to make sure that the control scheme was easy to read.
As using both sticks proved to be too difficult for many players in the target audience, the controls were adjusted to only use the left stick. Using the Buttons also felt more intuitive to players than the triggers.
Sketching weapon functionality
With a variety of weapons central to the game’s core fun, I conceptualized and sketched how each would function. I shared these sketches with the programmers, enabling them to bring the mechanics to life in-game.
Sketch for the Fishing Rod + Engine Implementation
Sketch for the Slingshot + Engine Implementation
Concepting a collaborative mechanic
To strengthen teamwork between players on the same side, I prototyped a mechanic allowing them to fling each other into the air to pass obstacles more quickly, adding a dynamic layer to team interactions.
Blueprints enabling the functionality for the collaborative mechanic
The collaborative mechanic working in engine
Production
Creating VFX and Feedback
Using the Niagara Particle Effects in Unreal Engine 5, I was able to create visual effects to strengthen the feel of certain player actions and game events.
I created the cloudy dash-outline for the player as well as the dash-refresh wheel
Poof effect and mild screen shake when the player is defeated
Testing and QA
To ensure a high-quality product, I conducted extensive internal and external testing, reporting both bugs and gameplay issues to improve overall experience.
I reported technical bugs on the team´s Jira.
Feedback received from the testers was passed on to the team in the corresponding Discord channel.
Post-Mortem
As a reflection on the overall project, our producer asked each of us to write a statement on what we feel could have been improved regarding the process. Below, you can find the team´s statements as well as my perception of the matter.