Tiny Scientist is a casual construction and management mobile game revolving around building and expanding an ant colony. The game features a 2D side god-view (similar to Fallout Shelter) with pixel graphics, where you play as a scientist who was shrunk down to the size of an ant and is now communicating with (and leading) a colony of ants.
There are several different types of buildings (called Cells in the game) that you can construct and manage in Tiny Scientist, and each cell relates to one or more resource types. The Mine cell helps you extract scraps from the depth of the Earth, providing the necessary resource to build other cells. The Farm cell allows you to produce sugar, which is what you need to feed your ants. The Academy lets you educate your ants and improve their stats and abilities. The Laboratory enables you to hatch your eggs and raise new ants! There are several other cells in the game, such as Barracks, Storage Room, Ant House, etc. Each cell can also be upgraded for better productivity and improved efficiency.
Each cell in Tiny Scientist needs an operator ant to function. That means each ant is specialized in a skill that can be used to run a cell. Such ants are called Worker Ants; without them, cells cannot produce anything. The Famer Ant works in the Farm cell, Miner Ant works in the Mine, Guru works in the Academy, the Researcher Ant works in the Laboratory, and so on. In addition to Worker Ants, the game also features Soldier Ants. They can be trained inside the Barracks cell to prepare for any potential threat, or to be sent to carry out missions and operations in the outside world!
One part of my job at Tiny Scientist was to work on different game entities and concepts that were either already existing or design new ones. I improved and finalized the design of some basic cells (Mine, Farm, Laboratory, Barracks) and also designed some new ones (Academy, Ant House, Storage Room, Mission Center, Nest Hall). I categorized them into two different groups depending on their gameplay functionalities: some cells required a worker ant to function, called Active Cells, and others did not, called Passive Cells. I also designed the concept of all of the ants in the game, which were then categorized into Worker Ants, Soldier Ants, and Noble Ants.
The process of designing the concept of the cells and ants involved a few different steps. First, I wrote a document for our concept artist, explaining each entity from a literary and artistic point of view, which helped him visualize them better. Then I described the overall look and feel of the entity, its potential color palette, as well as the possible props, tools, and equipment that could be used in their design. Then I explained how leveling up could change the appearance of the entity, providing various visual references for each level. Finally, I designed and documented, in great detail, the functionality of the entity in the game, their abilities, stats, and related gameplay systems.
One of the different systems that I worked on in Tiny Scientist was the Quest system. Quests were certain activities that the player was asked to do during the gameplay, in exchange for certain rewards. These activities could serve different purposes such as:
Teach the player the basic mechanics of the gameplay (Tutorial)
Help the player expand and grow their colony (Collect, Build, Upgrade, etc.)
Give the player the option to venture out into the wasteland to find resources (Optional)
Introduce new Noble ants and the requirements for bringing them into the colony
Serve the narrative aspect of the game and advance the storyline forward
To introduce quests with such variety to the player, I categorized them into two different groups: Tasks and Missions. Each “quest” in Tiny Scientist went into one of these groups based on a few factors such as difficulty, priority (impact on gameplay), and whether it took place inside or outside the colony.
I also worked on the economy of the game. Since it was a construction and management game with elements of combat and strategy, the internal economy determined a big part of the fun of the game. I defined all of the different resources and currencies of the game (Sugar, Scraps, TinyBits, etc.) and how they could be produced, spent, and converted to each other. Then I used spreadsheets to establish and balance the game's internal economy. For each cell and ant, I created a separate sheet where I defined and balanced their stats, costs, and rewards. I also used spreadsheets to design systems such as Decay (cells decaying over time and needing repair) and Time Calculations. For some systems that could be simulated easily, I used the Machinations tool to test them before I could playtest and see how they work in the game. This process helped me balance them faster.
Last but not least, I also worked on creating some mockups for UI elements and menus of the game. For that, I used the program Balsamiq Wireframes as well as some custom icons and shapes that could demonstrate the functionality of different UI elements to our UI artist. While creating those mockups, I tried to be aware of the most important UX principles and best practices to ensure a smooth and friction-free experience for players.
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