Boom & Bloom
JANUARY 2024 //Boom and Bloom is a fast-paced FPS where you use plant-powered guns to defend your farm against waves of enemies. Plant your guns to reload, protect your crops, and survive the relentless onslaught of weeds threatening your last piece of farmland.
ABOUT THE PROJECT //Boom and Bloom was developed over a semester outside of class with a team of five students. I served as both the designer and project lead. The game is a first-person shooter where players fight waves of enemies using a unique mechanic: planting their ‘guns’ in the ground to reload.
Credits:
Project Lead/Designer: Rulon Adams / @Rulyguy
Lead Programmer: Peyton Crua / @JadedPython
Lead Programmer: Adam Kaci / @Stickguy
Programmer: Julian Rosas
Lead Artist: Hayden Hogan-Doria
Music by: Hikari Kami https://twitter.com/y0kaimusic
DOCUMENTATION //As the game designer, I created a design document to track all additions and changes. I used Workflowy.com for its unique bullet point organization feature, which allowed for easy expansion of ideas.
While Workflowy helped with organization, it wasn’t significantly better than Google Docs and was less accessible for the programmers, who were more familiar with Docs.
I’ve become better at organizing gameplay mechanics and systems in my design documents, but I didn’t focus on art this time. For my next project, I plan to include relevant art details in the design document as well.
COMBAT DESIGN //Boom and Bloom’s focus on combat set it apart from my other projects, with a unique shooter mechanic. Inspired by Plants vs. Zombies, I designed plant-powered guns that must be planted in the ground to reload over time.
This mechanic evolved the game from a simple shooter to a strategy shooter with tower defense elements. Instead of just fighting enemies directly, players defend a carrot (the 'Tower') from waves of weeds (the 'Enemies'). This added an extra layer of strategy, as players must manage their health, the tower’s health, and ammo for three plant guns.
Once the core mechanics were in place, I spent a lot of time balancing the stats of guns and enemies to ensure fair gameplay.
LEADERSHIP //This project was my first experience leading a game development team, and my goal was to gain experience while creating a game I could add to my resume. I aimed to finish the game within a semester, so I needed to be mindful of the project’s scope. From previous game jams, I learned that keeping scope small and tight is key to success.
Initially, my focus was on getting the basic mechanics working in a test room. As the project progressed, I adjusted the scope based on our progress, ultimately adding a simple gameplay loop and a wave system with the tower defense elements.
While I think I led the team well for my first major project, I learned a lot, especially in managing team members and ensuring tasks were completed. I realized I need to be firmer in holding people accountable, and I look forward to improving my leadership skills in future projects.
