C://PORTFOLIO/PROJECTS/GROCERY-TRIP // 2022 // EXHIBITED AT GDC 2023
Grocery Trip!
ALTERNATIVE CONTROLLER
GAME DESIGN
INTERACTION DESIGN
ARCADE
// BRIEF
A school project: build a video game with its own original controller in 3 weeks, then exhibit it.
3 weeks
DURATION
Teamwork
Management
Communication
SKILLS INVOLVED
2 Game Designer
2 Automotive Designer
1 Developer
CREW
Game Designer
Experience Designer
ROLES
[ 1 ] GAMEPLAY OVERVIEW
A chaotic grocery race.
//PITCH
You're at the supermarket. The list is long, but the timer is short. One of you drives the cart, the other grabs items off the shelves. Other shoppers in your way? Shove them.
Get as much groceries as possible before running out of time.
Drive.
The navigation through the game.
Grab.
The goal, what scores points.
Punch!
The release, what makes players laugh.
Three things to juggle at once is a lot for a pair of hands.
Especially when the controller is a shopping cart!
[ 2 ] THE SPLIT
One controller, two players.
We decided to divide the controller for two players. The idea came from a childhood memory: being a kid stuck in the cart while a parent races through the aisles.
Shared Controller
// PLAYER 1
The Parent
DRIVE
NAVIGATE
Steer, boost
Find your way, avoid obstacles
// PLAYER 2
The Child
GRAB
PUNCH
Reach and snatch
Push other shoppers aside
One choice. Three design consequences.
// COGNITIVE LOAD
One job per player.
Focus over multitasking.
// COOPERATION
Players need to sync
up to get points.
// DIVIDED INPUTS
A weird controller becomes
manageable when shared.
[ 3 ] GAME FEEL
The real challenge: making the cart feel fun!
A shopping cart is annoying to push in real life. That was our raw material. Game feel was the job: turn the friction of a clumsy object into the pleasure of a well-tuned one.
// PHASE 1. ON SCREEN
First, we tuned the cart on keyboards.
Steering, accelerating, dodging, all done from a laptop, with arrows and a free vehicle script we'd pulled off the internet. After a few rounds of adjustments, the cart felt workable. Not great, but playable.
"It almost felt right."
// PHASE 2. ON THE CART
Then we plugged the controller in.
Same game, same code, same physics. Different planet. The cart drifted past every aisle, accelerated into walls, refused to turn. Players stopped laughing and started apologizing.
"A tank on a frozen lake"
// PHASE 3. THE TUNING
Four parameters. Dozens of user tests.
We grabbed anyone passing the studio: classmates, friends, randoms, and watched. Did they smile while playing, or only after? Push acceleration too high, you get an F1 in sand. Too low, you're back to the tank. The right answer was always between two failures.
There was no single moment when it clicked. Just a slow convergence, test after test, value after value, until the cart stopped feeling like a problem and started feeling like a ride.
// TUNING NOTEBOOK
// 01
Acceleration
WAS
Bump into every walls in 1sec
NOW
Speed builds up smoothly
// 02
Turning radius
WAS
Slide past every aisle
NOW
Tight, drift-ready
// 03
Ground Grip
WAS
Ice rink
NOW
Sticky, but fast
// 04
Braking
WAS
Stop instantly, or slide forever
NOW
Cart settle on its own
[ 4 ] ELECTRONICS & WIRING
Wiring the cart: where UX meets hardware.
I'd never wired anything before. So I learned by doing on the entire structure.
// WHAT I WIRED
Driver controls
On the driving structure
→ controller inputs
Punching & grabbing pads
On the interactive structure
→ action inputs
Input board
What turns input into action
→ all of it talks to Unity
Steering sensors
To control the direction
→ direction inputs
WHAT I LEARNED
// 01
A sensor is a design decision, not just a technical part
// 02
Hardware iterates like software: think test, adjust. But with a soldering iron.
// 03
Cable is also invisible UX. If a wire gets in a hand, the player feels it before they see it.
// RESULT
end of project / day 18
Three weeks earlier, I didn't know which end of a soldering iron to hold.
Now, I know what's inside the cart.
[ 5 ] FINAL STOP
GDC 2023!
We applied to exhibit our game at GDC 2023, the largest conference for video game industry professionals in San Francisco. Months later, we received the exciting news: our application was accepted!
// HOW WE GOT THERE
We couldn't fly a real shopping cart to San Francisco like this. So we rebuilt one in wood, this time foldable, as a structure that collapses into a flight-safe box, including all the stuff needed for the game to work.
// THE TEST THAT MATTERS
We knew the game feel worked when players laughed mid-game.
For us mid-game laughter means the controller disappears, and only the game and fun remains.
One player even came back 11 times in a row chasing the leaderboard!
3 days.
//ON THE FLOOR
200+
//PLAYERS TRIED IT
Let's make something fun!
// CONTACT
victor.motlyc@gmail.com
in/victor-motti-207930228/
// WEBSITE BUILT WITH CARE BY VICTOR MOTTI