The Herb Runner

The aim of this project was to learn the process of developing a video game by simulating an industry standard development cycle. I joined a team of talented individuals as a game designer and developer. Our collective was known as Team Voxel.

From the onset, we wanted to develop a cozy game that was set in a fantasy world. We took inspiration from the games ‘Coffee Talk’ developed by Toge Productions and ‘Stardew Valley’ developed by ConcernedApe. Our aim was to blend exploration and simulation aspects so that the player could explore the world and then come back to their shop to interact with their customers. The tools that we utilized to develop our game were the Unity engine and C# scripting.

Since we had two developers in the team, I took ownership of working on the exploration aspect. The main challenge was developing a dynamic landscape and populating it with assets that made exploration interesting. Since the players had to venture outside to harvest herbs, to add a bit of a challenge, we decided that our game world would present different resources and traversal challenges to the player during different periods of the day.

The second challenge was setting up the world itself. I wanted to design the world with different terrain, elevation, and objects to ensure the environment did not feel static. Working in tandem with our artists and utilizing tutorials available online, I was able to create a larger dynamic landscape.

At the end of the semester, we showcased our video game to industry professionals who served as judges. Although we did not make it in the top three, we got special mentions from the judges who loved the vibrant and cozy atmosphere of our game.

Reflecting upon my contributions, I wish we had been given more time to develop our games because I would have wanted to further populate the world with interesting interactable characters. I would also want to develop interesting mechanics and puzzles to make the gathering of herbs more fun and interesting. Lastly, I would have wanted to add some more challenges when it came to traversing the landscape.