Posted December 17, 2025 by VitaliyP
Hello once again,
My name is Vitaliy Palnikov and I am back for a final post for our project Gummy gang. This time I will be talking about our final build and all the aspects that went into our game for the final iteration of it. My Producer Patrick McGee is also going to write a final blog post . I want to speak a little about each of the parts that make this game what it is, what I wanted the game to be and what the final build turned out to be at the end. In addition to speaking about each of our team members' roles I will be talking about 3D modeling, Programming, 2D art, Level design, and finally animation. The team that we assembled was great as everyone on the team contributed a lot to the overall final package. Throughout this entire process as the lead designer my role was to make sure the game had a clear vision with creating the design document and main ALR for all the assets. The most important part of my role I would say however was the constant playtesting. Every sprint was another round of playtesting, getting new info and seeing how our players play/ react to the game. No game will do well without play testers.
The initial plan was to have a game in an arena, where players fight over candy using power ups and your fists to collect as much candy as you can. The player with the most candy gets a chance to eliminate players out of the game, the last one standing wins. The core loop idea was to run and punch to collect candy. The game would entail 2-4 player local co-op, the ability to run, punch, collect candy, a map, and the killer cat mode to get the basic functionality of the game. Some of the non-core features that I wanted were power-ups, a variety of maps, different gummy designs, map hazards, and maybe jumping. I'm happy to say that all of the core features got in and some of the non-core features got into the game as well. The none-core features that got in are power-ups but not all the power ups that I wanted. 6 total maps. Different gummy designs, and map hazards. The final build of Gummy Gang is exactly what it was planned to be.
As a 3D modeler mainly myself through most of the CAGD program it was important that the assets fit the style of a game called "Gummy Gang" a more cartoony and playful style and I believe that we were able to accomplish that with the candy and sweets models that we got by our 3D artists. We have two modelers who were good at their craft and knew what they were doing and it shows from the final build of the game where we were able to fit most of the assets created for the game into the game. There are some areas of the pre-production that had issues, as a designer I created the assets before the levels so some of the assets were not able to find a home.
The same goes for our 2D artist role, creating 2D assets for the menus and our itch.io page. I believe in terms of charm and personability it's so important that without them the game would feel a little flat/ boring and at worst unprofessional. Having the 2D artist that we did who has worked on a previous project in 495 was a boon like nothing else. All the UI element art, the menu's, power-ups, the cat concept art, all the player faces, scene transition graphics, creating the tutorial cards and itch.io were created by them as a level that as a lead it was very impressive.
Programming is one of the most important roles in any video game, without them there is no game whatsoever. Our programmers were very familiar with the unity engine since the entire CAGD program for us thus far has been in unity so it was a boon to have that great experience in our team members for the length of the project. In addition to having them being open to learning new things if we wanted something that they haven't done before it was a learning experience that we love to see in someone . In this post, I mentioned some of the power-ups and that some were not able to make it in, for the scope and our programmers sanity some were not programmed into the game.
Level design is next on the list. Our level designer was able to take the mock-ups/ themes of each level that was envisioned and create different ALR's and annotated maps. For Gummy Gang I felt that the levels would make or break the game a little bit because depending on the layout the game would either have a nice give and take with the mechanics of the game as in a player punches another player and maybe they fall onto a different elevation of the map or you fall of purpose to get away, maybe some area's only small cats can make it through a certain gap. The levels that we got integrated into the final game which were 6 levels but 3 themes so every level has a variation level with that same theme. Two ice cream levels, two gingerbread levels, and two Halloween treat theme levels which gives the game a nice variety as each level plays differently.
Last but not least were the animators who were able to bring the game to life with all their animation work. Some visual way to give the player feedback on what is happening to the player at any given time. Any development at this level would be a mistake to not integrate some form of. The goal was to have whimsical and playful animations since that would fit the overall feel of the game being light hearted and visually cute. The work that was completed fit into the vision that I saw as a designer.
Finally, through all the positives and negatives of the final version that we have, I am proud of the team that worked on it. As a first time designer I learned so much in this experience which will definitely help me in the future. When I pitched the idea for the game at the beginning of the semester I was excited at the idea of creating a game and that I was completely responsible for what the game is meant to be, I couldn't wait to get started but I was a little apprehensive just a bit because I had never done designer work. Moving along I would say that the most important aspect of 495 is the team experience we get. Working at a AAA studio I imagine will be much the same, the standups and team dynamic/ interaction will change a bit but the overall journey to the end will much be the same. Obviously depending on the role you have in the production process. At the end of it all, I am glad I was able to experience 495 at the time that I did with all the amazing creatives.