Poly-Vinyl Pests! is a Shoot 'em up game about ants fighting against plastic fused creatures and then each other. This is a primarily two player game that puts the players in the shoes of ants is a world where plastic has taken over the world and creatures have started fusing with it.

 

Gameplay​

The gameplay of Poly-Vinyl Pests is is a two player twin stick shoot-em-up that switches between player-vs-enemy and  player-vs-player. The boss fights have the player face off against a boss with unique attacks and patterns while the player-vs-player sections test the players skills against another human being. In between rounds the player will also recieve upgrades which will pick to increase the power of their ant to help them defeat the bosses and the other players. The player throughout boss fights and player fights gains score depending on how well they perform which will be tallied at the end of the game to determine the winner.

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​Team:

Ethan Vawter - Generalist Designer and Narrative Designer

Eric Cowette  -Producer and Publishing

Autumn Grandell - Scrum Master and QA Manager

Jonathan Cui - Gameplay Designer, UI Designer, and Game Designer

Jake Hopkins - Level Designer, Narrative Designer, Game Designer

Trace Mclaurin - Gameplay Director, Product Owner, and Game Designer

Peter Newman - Generalist Designer, VFX Designer, and Game Designer

Nik Presser - Sound Designer, Audio Engineer, and Game Designer

Ian Bee - Texture Artist, Environment Artist, and Game Artist

Jasmine Leong - Environment Artist, UI Artist, and Game Artist

Lucas Trudeau - Animation Concept Artist, and Game Artist

Jeffrey Popek - Generalist Programmer, UI Programmer, Game Programmer

Thomas Smith - Systems Programmer, Graphics Programmer, and Game Programmer

Ben Stone - AI Programmer, Graphics Programmer, and Game Programmer

Braeden Trefethen - Composing SFX and Game Sound Designer

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Production

 

This is a Unity game that I made with the team IDX Legends during my fourth year at Champlain College.

 

The intent of this game was to make a twin stick shooter that challenged our players against fun and interesting bosses along with each other. ​Along with that we wanted to tell a story about how the plastics that are polluting our planet and changing it forever through environmental storytelling. ​​​​​​​

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I was onboarded onto this team after their was already months of development so I had to make sure I fit in with the team along with actively adding to it. Fortunately the current team at the time had ideas for where they wanted to go with the project those being upgrades and new bosses. I chose to work on the upgrades as I enjoy researching mechanics and making them fit in with the themes of the game. In Poly-Vinyl Pest's case that is making upgrades based off ants and plastic products. To make the upgrades I would first research and and brainstorm ideas off of them. Then between me, the programmers, and the rest of the designers we would implement the upgrades into engine and then balance them throughout development.

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My other biggest contribution to PVP was the alternate game modes which I headed the development for. I started by brainstorming a series of game modes that fit within the gameplay of PVP and could be made within the time period of the project. I would then with the help from the programmers implement the game modes into the game and balance. For example for the single player mode I had to make the bosses easier so it can be completed by one player without being repetitive.