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Engine: Unity

Programming Tool: Visual Studio

Language: C#

Role: Designer & Programmer

Team size: 1

Development Time: 1 ½ months

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Synopsis:

"Pinkour" is a local two-player racing game designed to be played on Windows computers that draws heavily from pinball machines for both the gameplay and aesthetics. The setup is the opposite of normal pinball; each player starts with a marble at the top of the board and must navigate their way to the bottom of the board and bypass the flippers in order to cross the finish line and win. Various obstacles will be scattered along their path during the race to slow down or even return them to the beginning.

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Project Components:

• Design Focus:

  • Level Design for Racing Games

  • Building Local Co-Op Games

• In-Game Objective:

  • Finish the race by reaching the goal at the end of the pinball table before your opponent does

• Project Objective:

  • Develop a unique local co-op racing game and improve knowledge of 3D level designing

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Design Breakdown:

The original concept was slightly changed midway during development, hence why the lifecycle was considerably shorter than the length of other projects.

 

The early idea consisted of 2 treasure hunters that had to race each other through various parkour challenges in order to reach a treasure first. Grabbing the treasure would act the same as crossing the finish line; whoever reached the treasure first wins the game. This concept was changed due to challenges with implementing engaging and fun level environments that fit this motif, as well as challenges with implementing smooth parkour mechanics.

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Sticking with the racing genre, the concept was reworked to fit a new motif: racing along a pinball machine. This idea took the traditional purpose of a pinball game and flipped it on its head; instead of trying to keep the ball from falling between the flippers, you want to get your ball to pass through the flippers. This idea extends further to the obstacles on the pinball machine; instead of trying to get your ball to hit them for points, you want your ball to avoid them so that you don't lose speed. Finally, as this would be a local 2-player race, both players begin from what would be the top of the pinball table. A countdown will signal when the race begins, and a message displaying the winner is shown when the first player to cross the finish line does so.

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Since about half of the development time was lost and much of the project had to be changed half-way in, the level was not able to be tested too thoroughly before submission. As such, there are known areas which could see improvement to their designs to make the level feel better to play on. The title was coined near the end of the process, combining "pinball" and "parkour" for the game's title (the parkour element being an ode to the original idea).