CANDY MOUNTAIN

2-4 players Arcade Cabinet Game Design 

Collaborator: Manxue Wang

Tag: Unity, Arcade Cabinet Game, Digital Fabrication ( 2015.3--2015.5 )

Introduction

Candy Mountain is a multiplayer arcade game that allows four players to play at the same time. This is a collaborative project. The arcade cabinet is 6’ tall, 4’ wide. It is a candy shooting game. Each player controls one character with two buttons: one to move back and forth, the other to shoot. The more candy you shoot and collect, the higher score you get. At the same time, players try to avoid being attacked by other players because if you’re hit, you freeze. The one who has the highest score wins.

Design Process

Ideation

The Problem

During our research on arcade cabinet game, we found that most of the arcade cabinet games are designed for men. Speaking of arcade cabinet games, gender stereotypes still exist. While playing the arcade games, Manxue and I feel that the topics and design of the games are not what girls interested. Muscle, power, speed, fights, blood are popular element in arcade games. However, do female players really love these kind of topics? Also, the interaction between players and arcade are confusing when one user controls more than three buttons at a time. 

research

First of all, we studied different kinds of classic arcade cabinet games. We studied what kind of game is the best match to different arcade cabinet. And we study the interaction between players and buttons and joystickes.

Solution

Based on our research, we'd like to create an arcade cabinet game which is user-friendly to kids and women. That's why we choose candy, robot, mountain and low-poly style as our game elements. 

GAME DESIGN

We decide to make a multiplayer candy shooting game. Each player controls one robot. Since the robots are trapped in mountains, they should dig the mountain and collect as much candy as they can. We simplified the interaction, so players could only use two buttons to play the game. The robot spins all the time. Players press the left button to stop the robot from spinning and start to walk in one direction. Also, Player can control the robot to shoot mountains or other robots.

After determined the topic and story of the game, we start to design the game mechanism and design the arcade cabinet.

Game mechanism

avatar and candy design

Unity Game development

Arcade Cabinet Design

Brainstorming

We brainstormed the shape and dimension of the arcade cabinet. We combine what we research and our game's features together, and start to build the four players arcade. Considering that players need enough space to stand in front of the arcade, it's 6' tall, 4' wide. Also since the arcade should be easily move from place to place, it's side should be less than 30'' wide (the size of most of the doors and elevators).

Sketch and User Test

We've created several version of the sketch of the arcade. Based on that, we do a lot of user test in order to enable people from different height and size can play the game together. According to the principle of universal design, we lower the height of the arcade table for kids. Our goal is to make the arcade table accessible to most of the players. 

Draw in Vectorworks

Designed each piece of the arcade in Vectorworks (CAD software) according to our sketch. 

Digital Fabrication

CNC --> Assemble --> Paint --> circuit, speaker, monitor --> Test

Complete!

Arcade Show

feedback

The project includes game design, programming in Unity, physical arcade design and digital fabrication. Since both of us have design background, we learn Unity from scratch. Also, it's our first time to use Vectorworks ( a CAD software ) to design the shape and size of the cabinet. And it's time consuming to cut large pieces plywood by CNC machine. We overcome all the difficulties finally create our arcade game! Now the arcade cabinet was donated to Bloomfield College, NJ.