Dinosaurs Vs Robot Aliens

Dinosaurs vs Robot Aliens (DVRA)

It is the time of the dinosaurs, and robot aliens have landed! The player must fortify their base and defend against the invaders before they steal all the fossil fuels.

The game is designed to be an accessible take on the tower defense genre. Traditionally, tower defense games have tended heavily towards war settings (modern warfare or medieval), and would continue indefinitely, making it very unappealing to the casual gamer. DRVA is aimed towards a more casual market, with lighter graphics, accessible website community and a set victory point.

The player takes on the role of the ruler of the Dinosaurs living in the Jurassic Age. The Dinosaurs tend to live happy and carefree lives, mainly made up of eating, breeding and sleeping. They really have no complaints.

One quiet morning, Robot Aliens land and demand that the Dinosaurs provide them with fossil fuels to power their spacecraft. The Dinosaurs decline the offer. The Robot Aliens are angry at being refused, and the attacks begin.

Dinosaurs vs Robot Aliens was my first decent sized game project, with a decent sized team. We worked over the course of one term (12 weeks) with around 25 people, who were budgeted to work around 9 hours each per week.This was a massive ask for us as we were also doing this subject at the same time as three other subjects, we had no control over who went into the team, timing was very tight, we had to answer to an extremely picky client and we needed to have a finished game at the end of it.

For the project, I was Lead Designer, with 2 other designers under me. I was primarily responsible for the high level design work, with the other designers working on combat under my direction. I also spent a lot of time testing and balancing the game, for which I needed to work in XML. 

It was certainly a trial by fire, but it was something that I'm infinitely glad that we did it, as it was a hugely useful learning experience, and I have another game to add to the list of "I did this." My biggest lessons this time around were

• Scope well and be prepared to adapt
• Team members need clear direction, goals, discipline and praise
• Programmers are the heart and soul of your game, understand what they do and talk to them often
• Don't be afraid to ask dumb questions
• Pitching and presenting are skills and take time to develop

As I still have yet to get a decent video capture working, have some screenshots of the game! If you'd like a proper working copy, please contact me and I will be able to arrange it for you.