Ventura Girls

Project Description

For our senior capstone in the IXD program, we were asked to make something that complimented all the work we had achieved in our studies. The prompt was wide open; we could do any kind of design that interested us, or fill a gap in our portfolio that we were interested in. I decided to really have fun with it and go all in on a dream project of mine: developing a video game.

Problem

The "problems" this project solves for are more personal, one problem that I didn't have any video game projects in my portfolio. However, there is a systemic problem I think this project also addresses: the lack of women in video games. Women, both as characters in games and developers of them, continue to be ostracized, and by solo-developing a game featuring women characters as the protagonists, I like to think I bring something to the table. However, the main problem remains ultimately personal, where I wanted to create a video game, but had never actually done so before.

Insights

I knew by tackling a game development project I would really be allowed to flex my skills not only as an interaction designer, but as a writer, artist, and programmer. I'd never worked in Unity or C# before but I thought that tackling something like this head-on would also be a great exercise in learning a new tool quickly. Additionally, it was imperative that I strengthen my project management skills so that I could block my time effectively to create a deliverable by the end of the semester I could be proud of. There were bumps along the road for sure, mostly in the time management sector; I found that one piece of background art could take me twelve or more hours. Scoping became key to the success of the project, and outside insights I gained from interviewing people in the game industry cemented the importance. Though I wasn't able to deliver a fully polished, fully finished game by the end of the sixteen weeks, I knew I could come through with something both playable and beautiful!

Solutions

The semester finished with a presentation, which I treated like a pitch, and our grad show, where I was able to present and test a playable demo for the rhythm section of my game, as well as selections of art and other visual developments for folks to check out. I was really happy with the result, and it was received well! I'm excited to continue working on Ventura Girls, and see it through to completion, and was grateful for the opportunity to explore a space that had always interested me in the world of technology and design.