If you’re a budding game developer, you should know that Gamasutra’s education-focused sister site GameCareerGuide offers information for game industry students and beginners — and every three weeks, it also launches a Game Design Challenge that anyone can take part in.
Whether you’re a student or a seasoned developer, practicing your pitching skills is a valuable tool for whatever career you’re pursuing, so the competition is always open to anyone interested in making games.
For this week’s challenge, the GameCareerGuide staff asked readers to look at new games like Overwatch and Battleborn, and pitch game designs for team-based competitive gameplay. We’re highlighting a few of the winners that have caught our interest, especially since team-driven gameplay doesn’t just have to be about saving the world.
Vault Raid by game designer Caleb Seibert
Vault Raid is a team-based competitive game. Two teams of 2-4 players each compete to infiltrate a secure bank vault in the shortest time possible and escape with all the money inside before the other team does. To do so, each team must solve a series of puzzles to unlock security doors deeper into the vault while deploying traps to slow down their opponents.
A team wins once they’ve unlocked the final (usually the 3rd) door into the vault and all team members have entered. As soon as the final member enters, the enemy team’s vault locks all puzzles, an alarm sounds, and they’re unable to progress any further. A SWAT Team enters and arrests the enemy , while the winning team carries the money out to their getaway vehicles and escapes. They can earn a bonus dollars based on the time it took them to clear the level, which can be spent on new outfits.
Goblin Soccer, by CSU Chico Game Design Student Jacqueline Crosswhite
Goblin Soccer is a 3v3 team soccer game where players pick from a variety of unique goblins. Goblins have been organized into three roles. Blocker, Striker, and Carry.
The Blocker’s job is to block the ball using the environment, stunning their opponent, or taking the hit themselves. The Striker’s job is to score using an improved kick, powerful attacks, and knocking out foes. The Carry’s job is to carry the ball using improved handling, dodges, and speed. Players are not restricted to any class and can choose to have a variety or all pick the same role.
The game is meant to be simple, familiar, yet complex and overall goofy. We are talking goblins here!
Interested? You can learn more about these and other successful submissions to the Game Design Challenge over on the GameCareerGuide forums, then head over to GameCareerGuide to get the full details and submit your idea for the next competition!