Moving Mania
is a short game in which players operate a claw to pack a moving van. These items seem weird... is this legal?

"Moving Mania" was made in two weeks, and features a special controller built with wood and the Microsoft Adaptive Controller system. The big handle controls horizontal movement of the claw, with a large trigger on the backside to open and close the grip.
You've just signed onto your new job as an intern at Mega Mover, where you'll be using a giant metal claw to load items onto moving vans. These items seem valuable... we'll take them, sell them, and keep the money for ourselves!
Boxes holding lab equipment are thrown to you through the vent. Careful - if you drop them, they'll break and decrease in value! As the game progresses, items become more unusual, including glass tubes with radioactive material (fragile, do not break!) and creature cages that jolt around unless scared by the light. The game ends as the truck bursts through the garage door, leaving no time for us to get caught!


Individual Contributions

• Utilize input system and Unity events to map actions to both mouse/keyboard and custom crane handle built with adaptive controller
• Implement box fragility mechanic (value decrease, model state change, and destruction with drop velocity)
• Design and implement UI, audio captions, and some sounds
• Implement glass breakage and ending door crash animation
• Prototype claw movement

Team Contributions

• Game design to create interest curve via escalation of box mechanics
• Narrative design to create stakes and compelling world
• Participate in playtesting to receive and iterate on user feedback
• Design intuitive adaptive controller interface

Challenges & Lessons
The biggest challenge was figuring out how to use the adaptive controller to create a unique and immersive interface. We ran through lots of iterations of different button sizes, placements, etc. to find what would be most natural and intuitive for the user. Through this process, I learned the importance of playtesting often, especially with new faces. I found myself thinking that the controller was easy to use- but this was just because of the extra time I spent using and "practicing" it while testing. Seeking new testers gave us new, honest perspectives to learn how the controls really felt on the first try. This helped us nail the control diffculty level we were aiming for- something easy to use, but becomes harder as the user feels more urgency and tries to rush.