The Genesis Project
Trailer
Developer: Perfectly Generic Team
Engine: Unity
Development: 06/25/2016 - Ongoing
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The Genesis Project is an isometric RPG with house/tower building mechanics that aims to replicate SBURB, the universe creating game, as seen in the webcomic Homestuck. Create your character, fight your parental guardian, and end the world before building up and creating a new one!
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The game is still in the very early stages of development and is developed entirely through volunteer work.
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Features:
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Randomly generated dungeons and planets
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In-depth character customization
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Player-to-player ability interaction
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Hundreds of weapon variants
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12-person multiplayer
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Game Description
Responsibilities:
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Lead Narrative Designer in charge of the writing department.
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Participate in and assign tasks for writing team members.
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Work cross-discipline with other departments for decisions relative to design or narrative.
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Review and approve new content relative to text and dialogue.
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Generally contribute to the content design process.
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Contributions:
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Currently working on the implementation of a proper, in-game tutorial alongside the programming team.
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Lead creation of Class/Aspect combination Abilities (144 in total).
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Created Balancing Spreadsheet with to track values and balancing of abilities.
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Showcase: Ability Balancing Sheet
Design Goals: Create a way to track values of every unique ability in the game relative to a player's stats.
Problem:
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We had already created an spreadsheet containing all 144 abilities in written form and the programmers had gone ahead and implemented all of them. Also, certain classes used unique formulas when calculating the value of the skill relative to a player's stats. There was not an easy way to view all of this information all at once, let alone balance it. ​
Player Stats and Weapon input
Solution:
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Working alongside the head programmer, we recorded all the current values into a spreadsheet and made note of what stats were changed along with color coding for easily identifying their effects. Any additional notes such as knockback distance or range of an effect were also commented on the cell itself.
Results:
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Now anyone is able to use this and see the value of abilities for an individual player given level, health, and weapon equipped. More so, programmers now have a tool that they can directly reference without having to go into the game to see values, or alternatively when testing we can make sure that the abilities are balanced the way we want them to be. There is still of course room for improvement such as going back and organizing items better.
Snippet of Spreadsheet
Color Key:
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Green > Improves stat
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Red > Lowers Stat (not seen)
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Orange > Improves and Lowers stat
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White > Non-Stat-Change Effect
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Maroon > Special formula in comment/Listed elsewhere
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Purple > Flagged for potential reworking/scaling
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