The Problem
I was brought onto the game Keenville when a need for a fast travel system arrived. Essentially, the problem was that you would travel around a map by clicking on nodes. This could take a very long time as well as it was easy to get lost.
My job was to figure out how the fast travel system would work, how it would be introduced, as well as how other key elements of the game would have to be shifted based on this new systems introduction.
Although I wasn't working with the full game and it's systems, I wanted to get an idea of the entire flow of the game. I made this generic chart (shown above) to capture the full picture. I like to do this so I have a clear understanding of what I'm working with.
Next, I gave a couple of options of how the fast travel system could play out. I wanted to give the client a visual that they could connect to the game, as well as a walk through that would reiterate what I was thinking.
I made it a point to explain my thoughts with all of the options and collaborated with the Keenville team to figure out the best option. Above is the option we ended up going with.
I then created visual mockups to show what the map could look like as well as the mini map button.
Before the mini-map and fast travel was implemented, you used to be able to get to games through a menu in your home. After discussing with the team, it was decided that this was not going to be a feature anymore once the fast travel was established. We wanted to advocate for exploring the world. I designed the mock ups above to replace that menu inside the home. The idea was that you could see what games were assigned instead of being able to click on the games in a menu and travel to them.
After these systems were approved, I also drafted up VO lines and broke down how the tutorialization of the mini-map would work when you first enter the home as well as when you first leave the home.
Vehicle Implementation
At this point, we had the fast travel system worked out, documented, and implemented. However, when you used the mini-map, the screen would simply fade in and out of white and you would appear at the game. FableVision wanted a vehicle system so that kids could use vehicles to get around and see the world of Keenville. My job was to figure out if you would have to purchase vehicles, where vehicles would be introduced, how it would be tutorialized, as well as how would vehicles appear when using the mini-map.
The tutorial when you first enter the home explains how you can use beans as a currency to buy different items for your home and to customize your avatar. Because of this, I thought the best place to put the vehicles menu was with all the other customization options. I named this the "Garage" (shown above)
Here you could choose a vehicle, purchase a vehicle, as well as potentially pick different colored vehicle.