CARLOS GUTIERREZ | Game Designer
Platform:
PC
Tools Used:
Duration:
8 months
Role:
Lead Game Designer,
Level Designer
Team:
Will Harrison,
Eric Pacelli,
Luke Douglas,
Cody Winchester,
Nick Robison,
Chris McCooey,
JoyLee Flahive,
Jesse Snyder,
Adam Zemany,
Shaun Davies
Contributions:
Systems, Sound,
Level, & UI design
Overview
Play as Professor Stretch on a field trip to a wacky new world! Use your stretchy arm to swing and spring your way through a colorful alien environment with gooey, gelatinous formation all around the planet. Collect alien samples and round up your rambunctious, runaway students to save the day!
I worked on Professor Stretch throughout its entire development cycle. During pre-production I was the only designer on a four person team. I took on the role of interaction designer, sound designer, level designer, and scripter. The team grew to eleven people total at the start of production and my role changed to lead designer and vision holder. During production I worked closely with artists, designers, programmers and our producer to ensure every task was being done in a way that contributed to the main vision of the game. I iterated on the goals, mechanics, and level design of the game as internal and external feedback was given.
Conception
The first decision we had to make was what our main mechanic would be. Each week we would vote on two mechanics and prototype them in that week. I created one of the two prototypes each week. I presented the idea of a grapple hook mechanic based off the stretchy arm toys I'd get out of vending machines when I was younger. The rest of the team shared this memory and we prototyped it. After several test sessions and comparing feedback on our many prototypes we decided to move forward with the stretchy arm mechanic.
Stretchy Arm (Pre-Production)
In the early stages of Professor Stretch, the stretchy arm mechanic acted more like a linear grapple hook. This was too much like grapple hooks in other games and it wasn't the stretchy arm I envisioned for the game. After some tinkering in-engine, I worked with our programmer to make the stretchy arm act like a spring. QA feedback showed us that this change made gameplay much more fun. I tweaked values that affected elasticity of the player tether, quickness of firing/retracting the arm, and the distance the arm could reach until we had a swing that was satisfying to use.
Line Arm
Springy Arm
Stretchy Arm (Production)
At the start of production I recruited a systems designer to refine the swing mechanic. The feedback I received at the end of pre-production told me that the elasticity of the swing was fun, but players didn't feel they had enough control. Over the course of a few meetings we worked out a swing that would have the elasticity of a stretchy arm with the movement arc that a player usually expects from a swing mechanic.
Final Swing
Goals (Pre-Production)
I wanted to bring back the satisfying feeling that collect-a-thons of years past brought to the players. I made the main objective to be collecting a certain number of objects in each level and take these collectibles to an end area. To motivate the player, I added a time limit to how long the player had to complete their objective. The time limit was too unforgiving at first. I added a collectible that added time to the countdown so players had a safety net.
The context of our game was a professor running around a planet after a field trip had gone wrong. This turned the main collectible into the students that were on the field trip and the end area became a rocket that would leave the level when the player collected enough students. Time extenders took the form of pictures that the player would use to bribe the rocket driver into staying a bit longer as they searched for students.
Goals (Production)
At the start of production I wanted to bring our goals back to collection. To accomplish this I removed the time limit from gameplay entirely. The time aspect of the game made the player feel hurried and I wanted them to feel relaxed as they played the game. To create the collect-a-thon romp we wanted the player to experience I created various collectibles beyond students. I met with the design team to brainstorm what new collectibles would seem appealing to the player. Some collectibles were arbitrary while others would work towards unlocking bonuses for the player. The arbitrary collectibles were cut because they didn't hold significance to the player or narrative and the bonuses were a stretch goal for the project so building a collectible around them wouldn't have been logical.
The new collectible we created was the Glymyte. Again harkening back to pre-production, Glymytes were the tiny creatures that Glyx was componsed of. We took these small characters and turned them into collectibles for Professor Stretch under the context that he was collecting the foreign species for research. Along with the Glymytes came our star system. Players would now try to earn three stars per level. A star would be given to the player if they: finished the level, collected all students in a level, and/or collected all Glymytes in a level. Towards the end of production we implemented an achievement system that created incentive for the player to earn all three stars in each level.
Glyx (Pre-Production)
Once we had our main mechanic and general goals set, I started on creating a unique mechanic that would pique interest for our game. I wanted this new mechanic to be as wacky as the inspiration for our main mechanic. With this in mind I created the gelatinous substance known as Glyx. This semi-solid gelatine would serve as bounce pads, brittle blockages, and hazards to the player. Glyx could be bouncy, brittle, or hazardous depending on what state it was in. Players could manipulate the state of Glyx by producing a harsh or soothing sound.
Glyx felt disconnected from the world we had created since it was it was usually on its own when players encountered it. To help intertwine Glyx into our world I created Glyx infused platforms. Platforms that were once stationary were now joined by platforms that jiggled or broke when the player landed on them. In an attempt to make Glyx more challenging I created Moody Glyx. These variations of Glyx would change state without player interaction; forcing players to give some thought to their movements in difficult areas.
 Glyx SpectrumGlyx originally had 3 states: calm, agitated, and angry. This translated into their brittle, bouncy, and harmful properties. It was also possible for Glyx to be manipulated if it was living. |  Moody GlyxGlyx was previously able to change on its own in some cases. This was removed from the game in later iterations. |  Glyx ManipulationSound was the only thing able to change Glyx. Players (or students) could create harsh sounds which made Glyx more hazardous or soothing sounds to make Glyx more brittle. |
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Glyx (Production)
The general reaction to Glyx at greenlight was mixed. People felt it was interesting, but the mechanic was too complex and it broke pacing. After a small break from the project I was take a fresh look at Glyx and identify which modifiers had to leave. Moody Glyx was too much for players to take in because they were already spending most of their time learning what regular Glyx did and how it worked. I removed Moody Glyx from the design for that reason. As we developed the pillars for Professor Stretch we also noted that we didn't want the player dying so harmful Glyx was no longer needed.
Two factors of Glyx caused it to stop players from swinging through the level; its always solid form and manipulation through a spectrum of colors. I revisted an idea from pre-production which had players swimming through Glyx. The remaining Glyx behaviors wouldn't translate well into Glyx that players could swim through. I called design team meetings to brainstorm various behaviors that would be interesting with this new iteration of Glyx. After plenty of discussion I determined the best ways for Glyx to affect the player is by slowing or accelerating them. These two modifiers directly influenced player movement throughout levels. Finally, being able to modify Glyx was changed to a toggle. Back when we had a spectrum it felt odd for the player to instantly switch Glyx states, but now that there were only two types of Glyx it felt natural. The player didn't generate this change on their own anymore because they would have to stop in order to modify Glyx. Instead, player now had to swing off a new entity called the Bellyfish
The Bellyfish
The Bellyfish acts like a lightswitch for all Glyx in the level. When the player latches onto the Bellyfish with the stretchy arm it causes an effect that makes all Glyx in the level switch from their starting state to the opposite state. The idea came from a conversation with the lead artist. I suggested we have a jellyfish creature in the world that could change Glyx. The lead artist still liked the idea of sound and suggested a jellyfish in the shape of a bell. This hybrid creature became known as the Bellyfish.
At first, players had to swing off a Bellyfish to change Glyx. Players liked the Bellyfish, but were getting annoyed that they were bumping into it while swinging. I worked with the programmers to make the player able to grab the Bellyfish, but also pass through it. I experimented with the player being able to trigger the Bellyfish through grabbing it and body contact. Players liked being able to pass through the Bellyfish, but they found themselves accidentally changing Glyx by passing though the Bellyfish. We brought the Glyx change behavior back to only being triggered when the player grabs a Bellyfish and put a cooldown on it so players couldn't rapidly switch Glyx by accident.
World (Pre-Production)
World design started out in the same vein as a Metroid/Castlevania game. I wanted the player to explore a large environment and return to sections when they gained a new ability. The overhead of creating a world like this proved to be out of scope. The level design what we wanted with this world was also too restrictive for our stretchy arm mechanic. As I played with the main mechanic more I created more open levels that gave the players many options for navigation. My level design at that time was fun for players to play in as a sandbox, but didn't keep players focused enough on the goal. At the end of pre-production I created a level that had a scaled down metroidvania layout with room for players to swing around in. This helped us keep the objective clear while giving the player freedom of exploration.
 World Map ConceptOriginally, I wanted the player to navigate through a world that would empower them and draw them to return to previous spaces. This changed as our mechanic evolved. |
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World (Production)
The level design of our vertical slice was open-world in nature, but needed refinement and would prove to change drastically over the course of production. I recruited a dedicated level designer alongside our systems designer so Professor Stretch could have its gameplay complimented by the level design. After working with our level designer we learned that vertical gameplay didn't work well with our main mechanic. He also noted that the open nature of the levels didn't help to enhance the fluid nature of our movement. We talked about how to create levels that worked towards the intended experience and soon the level design shifted from open to completely linear with the ability to back track. This change proved to make the levels and mechanics much more fun. Players felt like they were always making progress and had a much easier time accomplishing goals in the game.
 Level 1 LayoutAs the level design changed the focus shifted more on horizontal movement. |  Level 1 FinalFinal version of level 1 with all art assets and collectibles. |  Level 2 layoutHorizontal movement was high priority on this level and there was still room for the player to explore. |
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 Level 2 FinalFinal version of level 2 with all art assets and collectibles. |  Level 3 layoutThis level introduces the idea of branching paths and off the beaten path pockets in which players can find collectibles in. |  Level 3 FinalFinal version of level 3 with all art assets and collectibles. |
 Level 4 FinalFinal version of level 4 with all art assets and collectibles. |  Level 5 FinalFinal version of level 5 with all art assets and collectibles. |  Level 6 FinalFinal version of level 6 with all art assets and collectibles. |