The document describes the development process of the game "Pipeline" by an independent game studio. It outlines how the team initially conceived of a sci-fi themed game where a small alien escapes from the FBI. They decided on a platformer genre inspired by games like Super Mario Bros. One member was appointed as project lead, another as art designer, and another as lead programmer. They created concept art, designed levels, characters, and gameplay elements before building out the first level and continuing production.

1. First
Impact
-­
Making
Of
‘Pipeline’
Ideation:
From
the
start
we
wanted
to
do
a
game
with
a
Sci-­‐Fi
feel
to
it,
we
weren’t
decided
on
what
genre
it
would
be,
however.
(Platform,
shooter,
RPG,
etc.)
I
suggested
the
initial
idea
of
a
small
alien
escaping
from
the
FBI
and
trying
to
return
to
his
spaceship,
so
with
this
idea
only,
Sam
Hayman
began
to
draw
some
concept
designs
whilst
Sam
McCourt
and
I
began
outlining
the
basic
story.
We
agreed
from
the
start
to
have
a
small,
peaceful
alien
that
would
not
be
using
any
forms
of
weapons
(so
this
ruled
out
the
chance
of
making
a
shooter).
Early
concepts
for
Jeremy
(on
the
left),
first
design
for
Jeremy
with
two
colours
(on
the
right).
Drawn
by
Sam
H.
Once
we
had
the
alien’s
basic
look
and
name
decided,
we
focused
on
the
genre,
me
and
Sam
M
had
come
to
the
conclusion
that
it
would
be
best
to
make
a
platform
game,
we
took
inspiration
from
games
such
as
Super
Mario
Bros
and
Braid.
Sam
H’s
main
inspiration
for
the
Jeremy’s
look
came
from
the
character
Stitch
from
the
film
Lilo
&
Stitch,
and
the
character
Gizmo
from
the
film
Gremlins.
I
suggested
“First
Impact”
as
a
working
title,
and
we
decided
to
stick
with
it
throughout
the
entire
production
of
the
game.
I
was
appointed
Project
Lead,
Sam
H
as
the
Art
Designer,
and
Sam
M
as
Lead
Programmer.

2. Pre-­Production:
Before
we
began
making
the
game,
we
began
to
design
assets
such
as
the
laser
traps,
buttons,
and
collectables.
As
they
were
quite
easy
to
make,
Sam
M
and
I
made
a
lot
of
these
whilst
Sam
H
worked
on
the
background
for
the
levels,
he
also
designed
a
concept
layout
of
what
level
2
may
look
like
when
it
was
done,
we
referred
to
this
quite
often
when
building
the
level.
The
background
design
used
for
level
1.
Left:
The
concept
for
level
2.
Right:
The
final
version
of
level
2.

3. While
Sam
M
and
I
the
built
the
alpha
version
of
our
game
so
that
the
basic
code
was
already
written
for
the
later
versions,
Sam
H
began
designing.
The
first
thing
he
designed
was
a
‘game
in
a
frame’
cover
the
cover
was
as
all
old
arcade
game
covers
were
elaborate
and
a
completely
different
thing
to
the
actual
game.
His
game
in
a
frame
showed
the
FBI
agents
surrounding
this
crashed
alien
and
his
ship.
Sam
then
started
the
designs
for
Jeremy
first
using
aliens
from
films
and
TV
programs.
The
design
of
Jeremy
was
done
with
two
colour
variations,
yellow
and
blue,
the
blue
proved
to
be
more
popular.
Sam
also
designed
various
versions
of
the
FBI
with
square
Minecraft
styles
and
then
a
hand
drawn
style,
he
then
had
Sam
M
&
I
pick
a
favourite
suit
colour;
black,
blue
or
grey.
The
collectable
items
were
easy
enough
to
do
a
file
document
for
level
one,
a
sheep
for
level
two,
and
three
shattered
ship
part
with
glowing
orange
energy
stripes
for
the
unused
third
level.
There
was
also
the
designing
of
the
laser
traps
used
in
level
one,
there
several
different
designs
and
then
Sam
H
had
the
idea
to
include
a
warning
sign
for
those
who
didn’t
read
the
rules.
The
warning
sign
was
the
best
out
of
the
lot
and
was
chosen
by
the
team
for
the
game.
Sam
M
stepped
away
from
the
programming
for
a
while
and
designed
the
buttons
we
would
use
for
our
menus,
while
Sam
H
started
designing
the
level
backgrounds,
floors,
walls
and
ladders
as
well
their
placement
in
the
levels
of
the
game
which
Sam
M
and
I
could
use
if
they
didn’t
have
a
better
idea
for
our
level
maze.

4.
Production:
Whilst
Sam
Hayman
continued
to
work
on
more
art
for
the
game,
Sam
M
and
I
began
to
build
level
1,
level
1
was
a
lot
more
simple
at
the
beginning
and
after
testing
the
level
we
had
decided
it
was
too
easy,
and
added
another
guard,
an
automatic
laser
trap,
and
increased
the
speed
the
guard
fired
his
gun
at.
The
process
of
making
the
game
was
the
hardest
and
longest
part,
we
spent
many
weeks
battling
frustrating
bugs
to
get
the
level
working
(once
we
had
these
fixed,
creating
level
2
was
a
lot
easier,
and
only
took
just
over
a
week).
Along
the
way,
we
added
and
removed
many
elements
of
the
game,
such
as
the
death
sound
effect,
after
a
while
we
decided
that
the
noise
was
too
annoying,
so
we
removed
it,
after
complaints
from
the
Beta
Testing,
we
also
turned
down
the
volume
of
the
laser
sound
effect.
At
one
point
we
also
had
no
main
menu
or
loading
screens,
so
Sam
H
&
Sam
M
designed
a
menu
screen
and
buttons
and
I
made
a
soundtrack
for
it.
Sam
McCourt
designing
the
main
menu.

5. Post-­Production:
As
we
built
the
game,
we
also
began
to
collect
a
variety
of
sound
effects
for
the
game,
such
as
laser
sounds,
buttons,
and
gunshots.
Sam
H
also
made
a
few
sound
effects
such
as
the
noise
that
plays
when
the
player
obtained
a
collectable,
and
the
death
sound
effect.
I
designed
a
soundtrack
for
the
main
menu
and
level
1,
and
Sam
Hayman
made
the
soundtrack
for
level
2.
Screenshot
of
the
Garage
Band
file
for
the
level
1
soundtrack.
For
the
main
menu
and
level
one
pieces,
I
took
inspiration
from
composers
such
as
Sam
Hulick
and
Jack
Wall,
and
their
work
on
the
Mass
Effect
Trilogy,
the
soundtrack
for
those
games
had
the
80s
Sci-­‐Fi
that
I
wanted
to
emulate
in
the
soundtrack
for
the
main
menu
and
level
1
of
First
Impact.
For
level
2,
we
needed
a
very
different
soundtrack,
as
the
environment
it
was
set
in
was
very
different.
Being
as
heavily
influenced
by
Sci-­‐Fi
as
I
am,
I
knew
I
would
not
be
able
t
make
a
very
good
soundtrack
for
it,
so
I
handed
the
task
to
Sam
Hayman,
who
created
a
much
more
up-­‐beat,
cheery
score.

6. Post-­mortem:
While
I
am
very
proud
of
the
work
the
three
of
us
have
done
for
this
game,
I
do
I
have
two
regrets
about
the
game;
the
first
being
not
able
to
have
a
third
level,
we
had
planned
from
then
start
to
have
a
three
level
structure,
(three
acts),
that
were
to
increase
in
difficulty.
It
is
only
due
to
time
constraints
that
we
had
to
cut
level
3,
it’s
not
as
if
we
decided
“let’s
make
a
third
level
now”,
we
had
decided
from
the
beginning
to
do
so,
Sam
had
made
concept
art
for
it
and
designed
the
collectables
for
the
level.
The
second
regret
is
not
having
enough
time
to
squash
all
the
bugs,
such
as
the
glitchy
ladders,
this
ties
into
my
point;
not
having
enough
time.
I
also
wish
that
we
could
of
found
a
way
to
make
the
game
slightly
more
innovative,
and
offer
more
replayability.
We
are
still
not
entirely
sure
what
causes
the
problem
with
the
ladders,
when
Jeremy
climbs
on
a
ladder,
if
the
player
lets
go
of
the
W
key,
Jeremy
will
drop
to
the
bottom
of
the
ladder,
we
determined
this
was
something
to
do
with
the
gravity
effect
we
had
in
place.
We
tried
turning
gravity
off
(this
caused
a
variety
of
glitches,
such
as
Jeremy
flying
off
screen
at
one
point),
making
exceptions
when
he
was
on
the
ladder,
and
so
on,
yet
the
problem
persisted.
There
was
also
a
conflict
of
rules
about
his
movement
when
he
reached
the
top
of
the
ladder,
so
having
to
hold
down
W
and
either
A
or
D
to
get
off
the
ladder
created
animation
glitches.
Problems
such
as
this
could
have
been
fixed
if
we
had
more
time
creating
the
game.