DODO PEAK

Dodo Peak is a modern take on our favorite arcade games from the 1980s.

DodoPeak is a game I developed with some friends that later got picked up and launched with Apple Arcade! It started as a side project between my friend Patrick McAvena and myself that we slowly developed over 2 years. Through a series of events, we were then given the opportunity to build a team and take it to the next level. It’s amazing to witness how a small independent passion project can go so far.

Our core team was built of Patrick McAvena leading development and production, our newest partner Kyle Erf handling all technical direction as the project grew and became much more complicated, and myself leading the design and creative. We also worked with illustrator Maxime Bourgeois to help us develop all the background art as well as Nathan W. Mckee who created all the music. Currently Juliana Halko operates as our marketing manager and social media coordinator.

Apple Arcade

featured in the Keynote

It was such a surreal experience to see our project and team keep growing. Above is a picture of Apple Arcade being announced at the Apple Keynote Event.

Arcade goes Live

Here’s a look at the App Store featuring Dodo Peak shortly after Arcade launched globally.

Responsive Design

One of the biggest challenges of this project was having to launch on all Apple devices, including Apple TV and Mac simultaneously.  This means designing a responsive visual system that feels physically interactive, while also controller friendly.

Ui / UX DESIGN

Though I usually specialize in UX motion design when it comes to building products, I did have to handle and design all Ui/Ux design of the project. Being able to jump in and out of various roles when resources are low helps make things happen.  It deepens your understanding of all aspects of the process, making you a better collaborator in the future.

UX MOTION

While motion designers can bring a consistent feel to a product, Building prototypes quickly to help visualize and guide development can be extremely effective when aligning a team. Above are some of my my early motion examples in After Effects.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

CORE ANIMATION LOOPS

A look at some of my character design and development work.

ENEMy LOOPS

Additional character design and 3D development work I did for the enemies of the game. Each enemy I created had its own unique game mechanic that was inspired by my favorite 80s videos games. Textures from Patrick McAvena on the more complicated models.

Behind The SCENES

Short documentary

Here’s a behind the scenes video that we created for Apple as we were building up to the launch.

IT’s not always pretty

Here’s a look at some of my very first explorations to get an idea of how rough things start. My favorite part of a project is thinking through all the pieces and finding how everything connects. I heavily rely on rough experiments like these to visualize ideas and have a folder of hundreds of these gems for Dodo Peak.

Figuring out what works

Iteration is vital when you are figuring out what works in hopes to make a great end to end experience. Dodo Peak wen’t from a AR experiment, to score based arcade game, to a pay-to-play mobile app, to a time-based premium game. Looking back at my files there’s easily over a hundred versions of what the Ui would be. Here’s a few examples of some earlier explorations.

BUILDING A WORLD

Moving FAst

Though I would have never considered myself a level designer before this experience, I did end up leading the creation of most levels in our game. Due to limited resources and tight deadlines, I worked continuously with the team to enhance and simplify our creation tools so we could move faster. I <3 custom GUIs

FIGURING OUT AN LOOK

Though we developed the concept, the systems, and the general art direction over a long period, most of Dodo Peak’s content, including 90% of its levels were done in just under 3-6 months. Once we finally figured out what the core loop would be and how levels would flow in those early stages, things started to process very quickly. This lead to finding the right artist (Maxime Bourgeois) who elevated and locked in the aesthetic style we were looking for.

BECOMING A LEVEL DESIGNER

Continuous iteration is everything when you are figuring out what works in hopes to make a great end to end experience. Dodo Peak went from an AR experiment, to score based arcade game, to a pay-to-play mobile app, to a time-based premium game.

UpdateS!

Here’s a look at our very first update after releasing on Apple Arcade. We developed a whole new world introducing new enemies with mechanics. Now there’s even a cowboy Dodo.

Dodo Peak was by far the biggest and most ambitious project I’ve been apart of. I’ll be adding more content and behind the scenes slowly over the next few months. Check back soon!