Noel Grünbaum – Game Designer

Summit Sprint is a mobile game where you swipe to climb a rock wall in as short of a time as possible.

I was the only Level Designer on the project.

Design Intent

The game is all about swiping quickly and precisely to reach the top. I therefore set out to make easily readable levels that you could clear without too much difficulty. It was designed for mobile, but still allowed for going faster to support the player fantasy of speeding up a wall.

I decided on some rules for myself which were:

• There can be leaps of faith but you should be able to see the coming rocks horizontally along the rock as much as possible
• There can be particularly difficult jumps but there should be chalk nearby then to allow for waiting
• There should be opportunities to take risks to improve your time
• Keep mandatory jumps to a minimum but allow for jumps as much as possible

I followed these rules as far as possible.

I used Level 1 as a testing ground for mechanics and how difficult the climb should be. This level, was changed fundamentally multiple times during the project as the design changed throughout. It started out with just climbing and no jumping as it had not been implemented yet.

Chalk was added to the game to replenish your stamina. I put it at certain jumps to make it possible to progress if the player runs out of stamina. A mechanic change was made where you can jump even if you run out of stamina but cant catch yourself to allow the player to take a bit more time if needed before difficult jumps since chalk would usually be nearby.

After the first playtest and feedback I noticed

• how many struggled with the first level whereas not with the second level.
• How much the people who got past the first level enjoyed the rest of the game

I therefore changed

• Level 1 to be level 2 and vice versa, however I changed it back when I realized that the actual mechanics of the original first level were meant to be first up.
• Instead, I moved the jumps at the end of the first level, the hardest part, closer together to make it fit with being the first level.

During the last week I merged level 1 with 2 and 3 with 4 to get longer levels that are closer to a minute long as that was what we were originally aiming for and it let there be more space to improve for the player in any given level.

Conclusion

This was my first time designing for mobile.
During this assignment I learnt a lot about how capable we can expect the player to be in terms of mechanical skill, swiping precisely, as well how in your face the path had to be in terms of optimal paths or optional paths. Next time I work with mobile, I will be more trusting in the player’s ability and do more with the levels.

I think a reason the gameplay and levels work so well together is that I developed levels constantly and early in the project as it was still being molded. This meant the decisions we took could be better adjusted to the realities of what could and could not be done.