ChromaCorp
Team project, Lead System Designer, Programmer
ChromaCorp is an Indiecade Award winning project. I worked as the lead system designer and as a programmer.
ChromaCorp is a immersive experience where players work for a dystopic company. Taking place in physical space four players enter their cubicles to begin a narrative experience that fits between a Disney land ride and an escape room. Although there are win/loss conditions and puzzles ChromaCorp plays more like a high production party game than an escape room and is aimed a general audience while maintaining enough depth to entertain seasoned gamers.
Development of the Core Loop
I designed and implemented the core gameplay loop of ChromaCorp. The core loop used WarioWare style mini games to maintain company productivity while players look for opportunities to sabotage the company. Using playtesting data I redesigned the system working with interactive designers and artists to iterating the system and core gameplay loop to the version we have today.
ChromaCorp runs off of one computer and has 4 player instances that independently run different mini games at the same time. I designed and programed our subversive task manager which handles the logic that switches player states between the 7 mini games. This system is intertwined with our phase controller which monitors macro game state, tracking time, and cutscenes.
Mini Games and the Quota System
ChromaCorp is composed of 7 mini games that contribute to the macro goal of taking down the company through acts of subversion. The original version had 3 mini games that cycled and were the tasks that ChromaCorp assigned their employee’s (players). This was streamlined to be one mini game with higher complexity. I designed and implemented this mini game with random generation, scaling difficulty and adapted it to the various core loops and quota systems we designed and built throughout the development process. Pictured below you can see the various iterations of the Ui and quota systems as they developed left to right.
Subversive Tasks and Alternate Controllers
ChromaCorp has 4 custom alternative controllers that players use to perform subversive acts to take down the company. I handled the unity side of the controller integration and built 3 of 4 of our alternative controller games.
