Moving Out Monday #8: Truck Sizes
Hey Movers,
Last time we jumped into the liquid guava pools of Moving Out FX, so this time we thought we’d talk about the tangerine element that is pretty much in every single level – the TRUCK!
Each Moving Out level can be played with up to four players, and this makes for some real considerations when designing the levels themselves. From the number of objectives to the ratio of heavy to single mover items, there’s a lot to consider. One huge factor is that the number of items changes as the player takes on bigger jobs, so as the game progressed, we noticed a real problem that needed to be solved.
How did we solve that? Well, it seems pretty obvious now, but… different sized trucks!
This solution was super elegant and scalable, as controlling how finicky it is to fill the truck with items changes the level difficulty itself! Different truck sizes also had the added benefit of adding a mini game inside the core level design and gives all our wonderful players the freedom to be creative in their stacking.
Are you the sort of person who wants to load the truck as high as you can to completely eradicate that empty space?
Maybe you’re a neat freak and you want everything done in an orderly manner? Go on, get your tetris on.
Perhaps speed is more your thing? Throw everything in there with abandon, but do be careful - you don’t want your items to topple or there goes your play time!
Something as simple as changing the truck size changes the capacity of the delivery zone and that makes all the difference. User testing was crucial to figuring out the right size truck for each level too, so another shout out to that excellent group of people is in order. Thank you lovely testers!
So when you get your hands on this game and you’re loading that truck up like a boss, just remember to let your inner truck-sorter have the reins – you’ll do just fine.
Team SMG, moving out!
Last time we jumped into the liquid guava pools of Moving Out FX, so this time we thought we’d talk about the tangerine element that is pretty much in every single level – the TRUCK!
Each Moving Out level can be played with up to four players, and this makes for some real considerations when designing the levels themselves. From the number of objectives to the ratio of heavy to single mover items, there’s a lot to consider. One huge factor is that the number of items changes as the player takes on bigger jobs, so as the game progressed, we noticed a real problem that needed to be solved.
How did we solve that? Well, it seems pretty obvious now, but… different sized trucks!
This solution was super elegant and scalable, as controlling how finicky it is to fill the truck with items changes the level difficulty itself! Different truck sizes also had the added benefit of adding a mini game inside the core level design and gives all our wonderful players the freedom to be creative in their stacking.
Are you the sort of person who wants to load the truck as high as you can to completely eradicate that empty space?
Maybe you’re a neat freak and you want everything done in an orderly manner? Go on, get your tetris on.
Perhaps speed is more your thing? Throw everything in there with abandon, but do be careful - you don’t want your items to topple or there goes your play time!
Something as simple as changing the truck size changes the capacity of the delivery zone and that makes all the difference. User testing was crucial to figuring out the right size truck for each level too, so another shout out to that excellent group of people is in order. Thank you lovely testers!
So when you get your hands on this game and you’re loading that truck up like a boss, just remember to let your inner truck-sorter have the reins – you’ll do just fine.
Team SMG, moving out!