Phantom Mansion
A port of the highly successful mobile phone game forgimme5games.
goalsTo convert an existing java developed game to Flash, which would allow the easy creation of additional chapters whilst remaining faithful to the original game.
process
Using an emulated version of the game as a reference point, and gimme5's exisiting level editor, we ported the game so it would play exactly the same as the original ( In terms of not just features, but timings ).
Early Mansion images.
The game was built such that any level can be played on either a phone or the web and be identical, thereby reducing costs for further cross platform development, and also that each additional chapter requires the minimum of time to implement.
solution
From the off this was one of our most difficult projects. Having to adhere to the level structure which wasn't Flash friendly and didn't have the scope for a lot of the game mechanisms, absorbed a lot of the time allocated for the project.
Having multiple chapters allowed the graphic style
to evolve from the original version, seen above.
Also the lack of an actual Game Design Document meant that the game was built from the bottom up, as opposed to top down ( Due to this being an existing IP as opposed to being developed by ourselves ). This entailed features not being highlighted and so the need to retro fit them into the code, which caused a crunch period near the launch date of the first episode.
Another stumbling block for the game was the framework in which it sits, which was produced internally at gimme5. The framework was designed to be a simple drop in and forget, but when dealing with multiple chapters such as the mansion series this actually hindered the work flow, as assets such as the sounds couldn't be tested outside of the relatively expensive ( In terms of time ) framework.
In spite of these issues, which have been taken on board by the client for future projects, the actual development of the game went smoothly, with the client providing the assets ( Levels, art and sounds ) it meant we could focus purely on the code and adding subtle enhancements to the game ( Such as the Crystal Ball picture-in-picture mechanism, and in places increasing the scope of the original engine to allow even more features to be added ).
resultThis series of games have proved to be gimme5's most successful online IP, with a large community following, as can be seen with:
Community created walk-throughs.
play it here |