Moving Out News

Hey Movers!

Last week we talked about truck sizes, but this week we thought we’d let the art team run rogue and show you some of the cool animations we have in the game – specifically Emotes and Dances!



We started with emotes in the game. These included clapping, a face-palm and a thumbs-up.

Once we added these and saw how excited people were - they used the emotes so creatively - it spurred us on to add some dances to the mix as well!



The dances had to fit the exaggerated anatomy of the Movers, so this was a particular challenge for our animator. A lot of dances focus on leg movement that didn’t really translate because our Movers have teeny-tiny legs (we love them for this, though). Likewise, their wonderfully large, but perfectly-sized-to-pick-things-up hands, also posed a problem.

On top of the character’s proportion… issues, the isometric-like camera generated some legibility considerations. It also complicated how the animations need to be crafted.



We also wanted to make sure everyone could get in on the action, so wheelchair Movers have their own unique dances on top of the ones they can already do!

Thanks for joining us again this week and we hope you’ll love wiggling your Movers as much as we’ve loved bringing them to life!

Until next time, Movers!

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!

Hey Movers,

Last time we shared our love for all the helpful folks who put their hands up to test the game, so today we thought we’d give you some excellent eye-candy and deep-dive into FX Land!

Games are such a mix of art, design and tech and FX really is the quintessential blend of all three. With Moving Out, game-play really drove the FX, but sometimes the reverse was true as well. Our tech artists really had to stretch themselves to achieve some of the effects you get to see and experience in the game. From smoke to fire, fluid to… bodily fluids… ahem… sweat, we have it all!

Being in the realm of Technical Art, FX can be /really/ technical, but we know you’ll be able to follow along, so let’s jump in with a SPLASH!





Fluid bodies and liquids play a big role game-play wise in Moving Out. Sometimes they’re death traps, sometimes they’re a requirement of other game elements. We really like it when game-play shows us that we need to make something to ‘fill a hole’ visually – an entire self-levelling fluid system was built because the game-play and story called for fluid-filled, deliverable objects. Our tech artists were really proud of their solution here – it’s all shader-based and conceptually it’s pretty neat.





Now, here’s something else to blow your mind. Did you know that our smoke, flames, and fluid splashes are all made the same way with the biggest difference being… gravity?! Don’t let anyone tell you that physics isn’t fun again.





Sweat was another game-play driven effect. We iterated a lot on this because it really is a visual indicator for the game mechanics. The sweat is a clue that you’re doing something in a less-than-efficient way in the game, and hey – you might need some help if you want to smash that time! Originally, we were more literal with the treatment: it looked like water, it was a little sluggish and tear-drop shaped. This didn’t really communicate the urgency that the sweat needed to though, so we made the sweat particles smaller, longer and speedier. This got the idea across cleanly and acted as a seamless, visual cue for players, one that we think is pretty elegant and effective.





At the end of the day, FX really bring the game to life. Smoke chugging from car exhausts, conduits that light up for game-play – all these effects help to really build the world into something that’s visually appealing and simultaneously communicates super important game-play elements. We think our tech artists did a great job of making the world feel extra polished and we hope you do too.

Why not tell us in the comments what effect you’ve liked most that you’ve seen so far and let us know how excited you are to interact with these in game!

Until next time!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/996770/Moving_Out/

Hey Movers,

Today we thought we’d talk about… YOU, the players! User testing is such a big part of what we do here at SMG that we try not to make a final call unless it’s passed the ‘people test’. It’s pretty great how many ideas have come from watching the playthroughs and we love being inspired by our players. With ideas being shared so organically, it’s a far cry from an isolated development experience!

One of the standout game mechanics that was born through user testing was the co-throw. In one of the playtests, the players tried to chuck a photocopier over the side of a balcony. At this stage, we’d only really let users throw smaller objects, but these testers opened us up to the idea that we could try a cooperative throw! By working together to swing big ticket items and releasing at just the right moment, we could allow players to throw hefty objects over balconies, pools and into fully loaded trucks. This simple idea changed the game so quickly!



Another cool element that came from watching the playthroughs was to do with the animals. One time a player was chasing after a goose, trying to catch it to give it a hug. We thought this was such a cute idea that we added this functionality to the game and now you can grab and hold all the animals. It seems so obvious now, but without user testing we may never have gotten there.



As for the actual user testing process, we recorded gameplay footage and captured tester audio which gave us unfiltered, on-the-spot, contextual user feedback. It was this sort of immediate sharing of ideas that led us to ‘the macaroni.’

We’d seen that there was a hole in the gameplay, so we added a large, curved item to our list of movables. We weren’t sure what this would be art-wise, so we just dropped it into the game as a big, yellow tube. One of our play testers was so excited at the sight of what they called the ‘giant macaroni’ and their enthusiasm was so infectious, that despite it being a large, curved sofa in game now, it is and always will be known to us internally as ‘the macaroni.’



User testing played a huge role in the development of Moving Out. From early versions of levels to suggestions and bugs, our players really helped guide our decisions by showing us so quickly what did and didn’t work.

We’d like to thank everyone that was kind enough to play the game throughout the development. Games are such a collaborative process and good ideas can come from everywhere. So thank you to all of our testers for being so enthusiastic and for helping to make the game what it is today.

See you next Monday!

Hey Movers!

Just thought we’d share with you some shots of the early game development so you can see where the levels start and where they wrap up!





Here’s an idea we had for a slippery slope - something we tested super early on, before we had any real characters at all.





Rotating platforms were the core element of this level.





The idea of moving through a traffic jam was also super fun.

Greyboxing is where we really get to play and try things out but it’s also really exciting to see how far we’ve come once the art is complete!



'Til next Monday!