Feudal Fracas : Conquer Your Friends

Application Needs

1. Create an in-game screen and leaderboards (global and friends)

2. Create fully unique UI elements for a "match 3" game (Weapons, castles, and mild skeuomorphic design)

3. Fun, engaging interface

4. All-ages appropriate

UX Strategy

1. Research popular match 3 game styles (i.e. Candy Crush, Marvel Puzzle Quest, Farm Heroes Saga)

2. Draw up initial wire frames and test for flow

3. Decide on gameplay motivation, which ended up being "destruction" themed
   
   

This project was a 4-month design challenge. The initial stage involved familiarizing myself with today's biggest match 3 games (e.g., Candy Crush, Marvel Puzzle Quest, and Farm Heroes Saga). Each game has their own unique art direction, mood, and feel. I knew my design had to be not only unique, but push users to keep playing. To do this, I played with the psychological attraction towards destruction. People like to break stuff! With this in mind, basic wire frames were drawn up for Feudal Fracas: one main game screen and two leaderboard screens seen below. As you can see, the game was originally called Medieval Match. This later changed to Feudal Fracas when I was in the UI stage of the project.
 

UI Strategy

1. Determine warm and adventurous visual language

2. Customize a unique medieval typeface

3. Incorporate the "destructive" theme into the rugged design

4. Create a mood board before envisioning an art direction
   
   

Visual Language - Once I had completed my wire frames, I began uncovering the visual language for this project. I wanted the design of Feudal Fracas to be warm and adventurous. I want users to believe they’re really storming a castle during the game. The game brings an age-old feel that’s fun for any age, from the leaderboards to the actual gameplay screen itself. The game is bouncy, but rugged at the same time, that brings a sensation of damage and destruction every time you match three elements. I also decided to pair the typefaces “Amatic” with its goofy fun feel, and “Carribean” which gives it the medieval aesthetic.

Mood Board - The mood board for this project depicts not only medieval tones, but a perceived goofiness. As I know that puzzle game players are of all ages, I wanted to keep this game open to the biggest audience possible. The colour palette was chosen from a few medieval elements that I believed fit the bill in both comedic and destructive aspects. The purple of a king's velvet cape, the beige of a limestone castle, the brown of the drawbridge and the dirt of the battlefield, and the green of the knights' shields.

Gameplay

The objective of Feudal Fracas is to match three medieval weapons in order to do damage to the defending castle. For example, match three swords, and you’ll do five percent damage to the castle. Certain weapons do more damage than others, while the shields deflect damage and act as a block from matching weapons. The further you progress into the game, the deadlier the weapons you will unlock, allowing you to do more damage to higher armored castles.