Sketchman Run Paléo and ESAF
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Overview
Type : Professional
Technology : Unity
Introduciton
La Mobilière supports a range of sporting and cultural events, notably the Paléo Festival in Nyon and the Federal Wrestling Festival. For these specific occasions, we developed fresh stages for the Sketchman game along with a multiplayer edition tailored to the local setting.
These stages were designed with three primary aims: first, as challenges to be completed prior to the events, offering opportunities to secure tickets and entries for a contest. Second, to enable participation at the La Mobilière booth during the events, featuring a multiplayer version where four players can engage in competition for prizes. Lastly, to integrate additional content into the base game once the events conclude.
Paléo Festival
The Paléo Festival in Nyon stands as one of Europe’s largest and most renowned open-air music festivals, holding the title as Switzerland’s biggest. La Mobilière has proudly served as its primary sponsor for eleven consecutive years. Each year, a dedicated stand near the main stage provides festival attendees with a range of activities and services.
Gameplay
In crafting the level’s gameplay, we’ve incorporated distinctive elements from both the Paleo Festival and La Mobilière. Players can gather the iconic red fedoras distributed at the festival stand to accumulate as many coins as possible. Apart from the character’s usual running mechanics, there’s an added feature allowing them to be carried through the crowd and slide on an umbrella to navigate around mud puddles. Given the festival’s propensity for rain, the field often transforms into a muddy terrain.
A preview of the level can be seen below.
To employ the game for competitive purposes, we utilized the standalone version of this level. Specifically, it was featured in three events at Geneva, Lausanne, and Neuchâtel stations, where the game was played on an Android tablet displayed on a television screen.
Multiplayer
For the multiplayer setup, the concept involves pitting four individuals against each other within the game. Each player operates on their respective screen, guiding their character in a running competition where success is defined by the furthest distance covered and the highest score achieved.
To create the multiplayer functionality, I utilized Unity’s legacy network system since the newly released multiplayer system was relatively new and not fully developed at that time.
The network structure was straightforward: we had a server responsible for synchronizing the actions of the four distinct clients. The game initiates once all clients are ready. Upon a player’s defeat, their score is transmitted to the server to determine the victor and exhibit the final rankings on the end screen. Restarting a game was directly facilitated from the server. All four clients and the server were operated on a single local computer. By connecting five monitors and assigning a window to each screen, players could individually control their characters using foot switches to simulate jumping actions.
You can observe a live game demonstration during the festival.
The configuration faced certain challenges, particularly an overheating concern in the afternoon due to temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius outside. Moreover, the dust from the field swiftly caused the PC’s fans to clog. Regrettably, intermittent system breaks and restarts became necessary as a result.
Federal wrestling festival
The Federal Festival of Wrestling and Alpine Games (Eidgnössischs Schwing- und Älplerfäscht) is a traditional Swiss sports event that occurs once every three years. It unites three national sports: Swiss wrestling (Schwingen), hornuss, and stone throwing. Regarded as Switzerland’s largest sporting event, it draws over 300,000 attendees and captivates thousands more through television broadcasts. In 2019, the festival is scheduled to be held in Zug.
Gameplay
For the gameplay, the fedoras have been replaced by wrestling shorts, and the players can ride a bull to obliterate obstacles in their path. This feature pays homage to the winner of the wrestling tournament, known as the king, who traditionally receives a bull as a prize. Furthermore, new obstacles have been incorporated to mirror the diverse activities available at the festival.
Multiplayer
Regarding the multiplayer version, a similar setup was employed with one key alteration: the foot switches were substituted with large push buttons. The foot switches proved impractical and didn’t endure the week-long festival duration.
During this event, operations ran smoothly due to cooler temperatures and improved system resilience, facilitating easier restarts in case of any issues.
Final
Both events achieved considerable success, drawing numerous participants to the booth to engage in gameplay and win prizes. Witnessing people thoroughly enjoy the results of my efforts was immensely rewarding.
Following the conclusion of these events, the two levels were integrated into the base game, appearing at the end of the level selection screen. Additionally, new achievements and leaderboards were introduced, akin to those for the original levels.