Juice Boost
Game Design through Prototyping
In an attempt to supply players with a fun and competitive experience, this “fruity” racing game for up to 5 players was developed as part of a course on game design. In the end, we ended up with a simple, but quite entertaining game. The intended player experience shines clearly when observing 4 players intensely compete for crossing the finish line first, while the fifth player is able to impact the game as they see fit, creating an enjoyable role as facilitator.
Working on the project showed just how important of a tool prototyping can be. Many times, we built a new game simply for testing and evaluating a specific mechanic, before introducing it to the game. It also proved valuable in making design decisions, as we often were convinced that a feature was important or irrelevant until getting hands-on with a prototype, in which our assumptions were proven wrong. Before deciding on a racing game, several other ideas were investigated, also using prototypes.
Image 1: Players control various pieces of fruits on a conveyor belt.
Image 2: One player is acting as a facilitator, and can throw a selection of grocery items onto the belt.
Image 3: The prototype allowed for up to 5 players in total, with 4-player split screen and the facilitator using a second monitor.