Indigestible

Indigestible is a 2D platformer about a corn kernel named Cornelius trying to make their way through different digestive systems. The idea for the game came from a game jam where the theme was “passage”, and I thought that it would be fun to make a fast-paced game about trying not to get digested.

Project Information

Type: Game Design, UX Design
Tools: Adobe XD, Affinity Designer, GameMaker, Unity
Team Size: 2
Platform: Web game

Background

The first build of the project was made by myself over a weekend using GameMaker Studio 2. The image here shows what the game looked like when I submitted it to the game jam. All assets, animations and code were done in GameMaker.

Once the first playable prototype was completed and the game jam was over, I thought more about what I wanted this game to be and how I might be able to improve it. While GameMaker was a great way to get my first build out the door, I felt that using Unity and it’s tools would be a better fit for where I wanted to take this project. Additionally, my brother Jonathan joined the project to assist me with game/sound design, so I could devote more time to exploring the UI/UX design.

Project Goal

Explore the UI/UX Design for a corn themed game

As with all of my projects, I really enjoy trying to figure out how different concepts interconnect with one another. Trying discover innovative ways to display information to the player seemed like an interesting challenge to tackle.

Process

I started off by sketching some ideas for what the UI in the game would look like. I knew that I wanted to incorporate different characteristics of corn into my designs, so I started off experimenting with that.

The first menu I worked on was a title screen menu. I thought that it would be fun to have a person eating corn on a cob, and having the options rotate with the corn. Next, I made a pause menuwhere the player character turns into a piece of popcorn, and then use their expanded body as the container for the menu! I made the prototypes for these menus using Adobe XD and Unity.

Below are a couple of videos showing these menu designs.

Title Screen Menu – options rotating with corn

Pause Menu – Playable character turns into container for menu

Something I thought would make the experience a bit more memorable was if I created a custom controller to go along with it! I purchased a DIY arcade joystick set and started out by testing the components to see how they mapped over to my PC. I then put the components into a shoebox until I could get my hands on a better enclosure.

I then worked with an artist friend of mine named Colleen Jennings to create The Corn-troller! Since Indigestible is basic 2D platformer, we designed a controller with only a few inputs in order to make the experience more approachable to players who are not avid gamers. I had a opportunity to showcase the project at a community event where quite a few people (specially kids) were drawn to the Corn-troller and were really excited to play the game with it!

Below are some images showing the process for building the final iteration of the Corn-troller!

Takeaways

It’s really fun to explore design that relates back to a specific theme

When I first started working on this project, I thought that I would only be able to come up with a few good corny puns (I’m so sorry). However, the more time I spent researching and learning about corn, the easier it became to visualize how different ideas could intersect. By creating a mindmap of these intersections, I was able to come up with ideas like the pop-up menu inside a popcorn shaped container, as well as the Corn-troller!

Game jams are a great way to learn and get outside of your comfort zone

While I don’t participate in game jams as often as I would like, every time I get a chance to join one I feel that I learn something new! For Indigestible, it was one of the first projects that I developed solo. I definitely got advice and feedback from my peers as I worked on it, but it was great to start with a prompt like “passage” and see how the seed of that idea became the prototype I ended up with. I believe that being able to perform all of the tasks in the game dev pipeline (art, design, coding, etc), even if it’s at a very small scale, is extremely valuable. I feel that by exposing myself to the disciplines that aren’t necessarily my forte, I get to learn a bit more about these different worlds, and in turn become a better communicator when speaking with fellow artists and programmers.