Project Pitch

For my next game, I want to create a small game by myself that helps me learn some final skills that I’m missing before I go into industry, and help me have a more complete and well rounded portfolio. My current catalogue of video games that I feel are in a finished enough state to showcase and publish are all singleplayer games built in Unity Engine. This does not accurately reflect the breadth of my experience with designing and programming games, so I want to create a complete and presentable game that fixes this. To fix this, I want to choose a project that will allow me to learn relevant skills for going into the Games Industry next year.

Current Trends in the Games Industry

While the market for games still heavily favours singleplayer games, the industry is seeing a gradual shift towards a more balanced preference between singleplayer and multiplayer. In 2024, studies conducted in the US found that on average 27% of players were playing multiplayer video games (Statistica 2024). This has risen by 5% since 2022, when there was only 22% of the population that preferred multiplayer games. (Severin, K. 2022)Another major factor for the growing popularity of multiplayer is the increasing number of AAA multiplayer games being released, as well as the growth of the esports competitive scene. Due to these factors, demand for trained networking programmers is increasing. As a result of this, even junior software engineers often require a moderate understanding of networking in order to implement functionality into games.

Graph 1: Gaming preferences of different age groups in 2022 (Severin, K. 2022)

Another major trend seen in industry currently is the switch from Unity to Unreal Engine. Unreal Engine markets itself as a “AAA Game Engine”, advertising new top-of-the-line features and rendering options. As such, there has been a growing number of companies making the switch. This was only accelerated by the announcement of a Unity runtime fee in 2023, causing many small studios to switch to Unreal.These two trends have had some overlap, as Unreal also stands as the leading multiplayer game engine, with its flagship game Fortnite being one of the most well known multiplayer games, as well as being originally developed for Unreal Tournament, another multiplayer game.Closer look at Industry - Maxart
One of the places I would love to work next year is Maxart, a local company in Brisbane which currently develops XR / VR simulations for a range of clients. However, just last year they also released a game called Servonauts, a multiplayer co-op game.Highlighted Skills to Improve
For this project, I have decided to work within Unreal Engine on a Multiplayer game in order to learn both skills demanded by industry. As I already have experience with the Unreal Editor itself, I will primarily be focusing on learning the blueprints system. I would also like to see how C++ integrates with the blueprints when tackling some complex features that arise with multiplayer. Unreal Engine offers me the best chance to easily create a multiplayer game due to the large amount of online support and tutorials available. As I estimate learning both blueprints and multiplayer implementation will take up much of my time on this project, I aim to limit the complexity of features and the amount of artistic assets required, instead creating engaging gameplay through the multiplayer systems. As such, the gameplay will purely focus on multiplayer, like a party game or social deduction game.Current Portfolio Gaps
Within my current portfolio of best games, none are easily accessible to someone potentially interested in hiring me, as they require VR, are a board game, and aren’t released on Steam yet. As such, this game should be publicly available, such as being released on Itch.io, and should be easily accessible, by being built for PC or HTML5. I believe that Snap Lake Adventures does a good enough job at showcasing my skill at programming complex mechanics, meaning I would prefer not to make this game using physics or 3D movement. This allows me to create a 2D game, which would also make acquiring matching assets much easier.
Additionally, Dueling Coasters already demonstrates skill at designing multiplayer games, so I would like to keep the gameplay loop quite simple like a board game, as that is where I have more expertise.Requirements of Project
This project should:

  • Be built in Unreal Engine using Blueprints and C++

  • Be built around multiplayer, such that as few mechanics outside of multiplayer support are needed

  • Have a less serious tone to match Maxart’s co-op game Servonauts

  • Have little to no required art assets

  • Be publicly available

  • Be computationally simple enough to run as a WebGL game

  • Be a 2D game to reduce complexity of implementation

  • Have board game-like mechanics

Refined Concept
My game will be a simple party game called Their Highness? in which you play as a Medieval Lord, trying to become either the most influential, or infamous Lord in order to take the throne and be crowned “Their Highness”. The game takes place over 10 rounds, each a minute long. Each round players receive a new decree, then can freely discuss whether to pass the decree, or deny it. The outcome of the decree is decided by a public vote.
Each player gains or loses influence based on the outcome of the vote, and if someone gains or loses a total of 5 influence, they can start the Revolt, killing Their Highness. After this, they have a chance to give a speech to convince their fellow Lords why they should be crowned the new Their Highness, and one last vote is held, determining if the person with the least influence is crowned Their Highness, and thus winning the game, or the person with the most influence is crowned Their Highness.Justification of Concept
Their Highness fulfills the project requirements effectively by focusing on a simple core mechanic of voting, made interesting by the multiplayer aspect and differing goals. This mechanic can be easily implemented just as a UI, allowing me to learn how the Unreal UI system works. This minimal UI also means that few art assets will be required, and should be optimised enough to build to WebGL as it requires no 3D rendering or raytracing. Finally, the game also is simple enough that paper prototypes can be run as a board game to begin playtesting before development of the game starts.

Simple mockup of UI, demonstrating the Lord Mayor's perspective

Refined Concept
My game will be a simple party game called Their Highness? in which you play as a Medieval Lord, trying to become either the most influential, or infamous Lord in order to take the throne and be crowned “Their Highness”. The game takes place over 10 rounds, each a minute long. Each round players receive a new decree, then can freely discuss whether to pass the decree, or deny it. The outcome of the decree is decided by a public vote.
Each player gains or loses influence based on the outcome of the vote, and if someone gains or loses a total of 5 influence, they can start the Revolt, killing Their Highness. After this, they have a chance to give a speech to convince their fellow Lords why they should be crowned the new Their Highness, and one last vote is held, determining if the person with the least influence is crowned Their Highness, and thus winning the game, or the person with the most influence is crowned Their Highness.

Justification of Concept
Their Highness fulfills the project requirements effectively by focusing on a simple core mechanic of voting, made interesting by the multiplayer aspect and differing goals. This mechanic can be easily implemented just as a UI, allowing me to learn how the Unreal UI system works. This minimal UI also means that few art assets will be required, and should be optimised enough to build to WebGL as it requires no 3D rendering or raytracing. Finally, the game also is simple enough that paper prototypes can be run as a board game to begin playtesting before development of the game starts.Room for Expansion
This concept also has one simple yet major change that would be incredibly easy to implement once the core system is working. Simply make one person start as Their Highness. They do not gain influence, they do not lose influence. They just have to prevent anyone from revolting within the 10 rounds by voting against decrees that would cause someone to gain too much influence. This would only be implemented once the core mechanics are working as this could easily become a nightmare to balance the winrate, but would help at balancing the game itself, making it more approachable for new players, as a party game should be.

References

Severin, K. (2022, May 26). Single player vs. multiplayer | A generational changing of the guards or a bifurcation of gamer behaviours? MIDiA Research. https://www.midiaresearch.com/blog/single-player-vs-multiplayer-a-generational-changing-of-the-guards-or-a-bifurcation-of-gamer-behavioursU.S. single player vs. multiplayer frequency among gamers 2022. (2024, May). Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/259577/us-single-player-vs-multiplayer-frequency-among-gamers/