2023 / Game Design & Development, Research, UX & UI Design, Prototyping
About the Project
Wrecks to Riches is a 5-8 player interactive, team-based puzzle adventure that challenges verbal communication, collaboration and problem-solving skills. It aims to provide an engaging experience that not only entertains but also fosters communication, teamwork and creativity, leaving players with memorable moments of shared triumph.
This is an academic project for the Master of Digital Experience Innovation (MDEI) program at the University of Waterloo Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business, owned and designed by a group of graduate students. We were tasked to create an interactive experience for a group of at least 5 players, that would encourage them to play and win the game as a team. The core requirement was to make the players collaborate and win as a team, not in competition with each other.
Visit my teammates’ LinkedIn profiles: Amrit Kaur Klair | Andre D.J. | Betty Alemayehu | Elijah Robert | Livia Popa | Juan Barahona | Takawira Mundure
Watch the video below for a walkthrough. Take note! It’ll have the answer keys.
Behind-the-scenes
After we finalized the theme and which type of interactive experience to go with (a puzzle game), we proceeded with the storyboard.
My teammates did a great job conceptualizing the scenes for the narrative. My role was to think of puzzles and come up of ways to apply the narrative into the game.
Character Pages
Each player is asked to select a unique totem (icon) at the beginning of the game. Two or more players should not have the same totem. Each totem represents a unique character, and each character holds a clue in one of the puzzles within the game.
I worked with another designer, Amrit Kaur Klair, in creating graphics, backstories and clues for each player. We conceptualized the backstories for each character, carefully making sure that clues fit their background and distributing the clues depending on the number of players playing.
The Puzzles: Sharing is Caring
Remember! It’s a project requirement to make the players collaborate and win as a team, not in competition with each other.
Once players select their totems, they can start the game together. Since each player holds a unique character and a unique clue for specific levels, players will not be able to get to next levels unless they share clues with one another.
Players will have to communicate on who has what clue that can (or cannot) solve each puzzle and level to win as a team.
I went with Axure because I find it more powerful with conditionals rather than Figma or Sketch. All these, even when the kraken moves to reveal the tunnel or determining the right set of keys for the chest, are if-then statements baked into Axure.
Most vectors were licensed for free from Vecteezy, but view the media sources for a complete list. Watch the walkthrough video to learn how to win the game.
Download the project statement for more details, citations or to view the written step-by-step answer keys.
Results
It was a challenge working with a big team, but in the end we were able to pull it through. The research and story teams did an amazing job thinking of the scenes, so applying them into puzzles were easier.
This is probably one of the toughest Axure projects I’ve done, but I’m proud of it. It truly pushed my limits with logic and if-then statements, but I’m overjoyed with the end result.
The project ran for about a month, but the prototype itself took me roughly 36 hours to complete. We got an A.
Gallery
Disclaimer: Wrecks to Riches is an academic project. Project details and citations are found in its project statement. This is not intended for commercial use.
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