Old School Gamer Magazine chats with Project Haste Level Designer Trex Bhai about the game’s development process and much more.
About Project Haste:
A group of five Game Design students from Vancouver Film School have been nominated for their work creating a new first-person arena shooter game called Project: Haste. This is the 8th nomination for VFS students; in past years, VFS students have won this award 4 times for Pulse, The Cluckening, Afloat, and Meowmentum Mori.
In the fast-paced game, players compete in the Haste League and use high-tech suits to master parkour movement, maintain high speed, and control up to three unique weapons in a battle to eliminate their competition. The player who eliminates the most opponents by the end of the match is the victor.
The game was created by Sergio Lisuardi (Project Manager/Designer), Trex Bhai (Level Designer/Audio POC), Connor Roberts (Programmer/Technical Designer), Chevi Hernandez (Character Artist/UI, UX Designer) and Jose Andres Lopez (Environment Artist/Weapon Artist).
The prestigious Unity Awards celebrate creative and technical excellence in Unity-powered games, highlighting the incredible possibilities of the software development company’s game engine. The public can vote in most categories, which are divided into three sections: Games, Asset Store (i.e., game design applications), and Community (i.e., content creators).
Old School Gamer Magazine: How was this game born?
Trex Bhai: There were a plethora of reasons for us to tackle a fast paced movement shooter. Ranging from most of the team being long-time shooter “stans” to wanting to design a game that was easy to pick up, but hard to master. The team was born out of everyone’s hunger to be the best and the game is a proud product of that, but trust me we are only getting started.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What is your role in the game?
Bhai: Hey I’m Trex! I am the level designer for Haste. I am grateful for the opportunity to play that part, especially because I was not excelling in the level design courses and my previous project lacked the expertise I employed in Haste. However my lovely instructors and teammates at Vancouver Film School placed an infallible belief in me, which made me come back in with a vengeance!
Old School Gamer Magazine: What has development been like?
Bhai: A complete circus of wacky and fabulous craft. How I had the privilege of being surrounded by the most insanely talented teammates and instructors at Vancouver Film School is beyond me. I have never had that pump in my heart and push in my body. Of course, we had our days of doom and gloom, but what’s to be expected when creatives are pouring out their hearts and discussing ideas? It leaves you vulnerable, but kudos to us for always settling things intelligently. One thing that caused the most friction was having everyone on board with every aspect of the game. We did not have leads dictating any part of the process, which meant all the designers on the team needed to evaluate, criticize, and exercise the design. This proved to be our greatest strength, as everything in the game has everyone’s trust, belief, and heartfelt work behind it.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What makes this game special?
Bhai: Definitely the easy to pick up and hard to master gameplay loop. In haste you have an arsenal of 3 weapons equipped at all times with the ability to swiftly swap between them. While each weapon is crafted to satisfy their intended audience and solve a specific problem, the true fun of the game comes out when the player synergies the weapons by combo-ing them. For example using the rocket launcher to launch your opponents in the air and then finishing them off using your trusty revolver.
Old School Gamer Magazine: Any fun stories or wild moments during development?
Bhai: Haha, definitely the ‘Food Incident.’ We had just finished the functional design for the first three weapons: Sniper, SMG, and Shotgun. The visual identity of the game was evolving, and once our previous idea of holographic guns was put to rest, we were eager for a new direction.
I don’t know what it was—maybe we were all just hungry—but we made a hard pivot into a food-themed game, from the guns to the map.
My artists are so talented they even created concept art for the new guns in about 30 minutes. For example, this Cola-Sniper by my programmer, Connor!
The next day, we were all like, ‘Wait, what just happened?’ We decided to icebox the idea because it was out of scope. Truly a fever dream.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What games influenced this one the most?
Bhai: We dipped our toes in various fast-paced, movement-based games and shooters such as Titanfall 2, Black Ops 3, Overwatch, Team Fortress 2, and Meowmentum. We have a striking resemblance to Quake’s gun-switching “holy trinity” playstyle, but we arrived at that naturally through design. It’s crazy to see how they did that earlier, and arguably better than us, so long ago—no wonder they are beloved as classics.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What were the major lessons learned?
Bhai: There were so many, but what’s crazy is how Vancouver Film School knew and prepared us for all of the hurdles that game development entails. I don’t remember a single time where I faced a problem that wasn’t discussed by our Vancouver Film School instructors, which is astounding.
Biggest lesson: being humble. For example, having honest time estimates that reflect the work you are able to do rather than the work you want to do. While this is a passionate field of work where motivation is high, the demands of your work are high as well. So, inflate your time estimates and give yourself some breathing room.
Old School Gamer Magazine: Do you think preserving older gameplay mechanics in new games is important?
Bhai: I wouldn’t say “important.” Design is an evolving art form, and if Van Gogh had been busy trying to conform to the standards and preserve what came before him, we would not have Starry Night. However, on the other side, you have people inspired by his works who implement and extrapolate his methods to make great art as well. It’s informative to know and understand the old so you can come up with the new.
Old School Gamer Magazine: The marketplace is crowded. How do you think you stand out?
Bhai: Firstly, we have a game that doesn’t cater to the oversaturated market of hero shooters. While I play the genre, there are already a good number of them out there. There are a few things we are doing well, but if I had to pick one, right now we are cooking up a sweet customization system that isn’t going to break the bank like current games do.
Old School Gamer Magazine: How have your previous experiences in industry helped this game?
Bhai: I do not have any experience in the industry as of right now. But what I did have was the education and training from Vancouver Film School’s Game Design pipeline. I highly recommend the program. I tried my hand at game dev before the program for about 4 months, and I learned more in the first month of Vancouver Film School. They really know what they are up to.
Old School Gamer Magazine: How do you want this game to ultimately be remembered?
Bhai: For what it is.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What’s next?
Bhai: Project Haste is becoming Haste. We are working on making our proof of concept into a full fledged release. So keep an eye out for something fresh and fun hitting the fan soon.
Old School Gamer Magazine: Anything else you’d like to add?
Bhai: Watch out for these guys:
Chevi Hernandez,
Jose Andres Lopez,
Connor Roberts,
Declan Johnston,
Sergio Lisuardi.
These folk are legends in the making.
