UB Funkeys (2007)
UB Funkeys was a series of games that unlocked via UB keys sold by Radica and Mattel. The series came out in 2007 with 4 total series.
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While the game is no longer supported, there is a fairly active reddit fan page.
My Role
I worked as a game artist, animator and game programmer doing much of the development on the main mini-games in Series 1 and 2.
Lessons Learned
Crash Course in Programming
This was my first game and commercial project after school. I learned a lot about basic programming concepts as a self taught developer, and I enjoyed working with a large team of people.
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While I didn't know much about game design at the time, I was curious about why some games captivated players for long periods of time, like Mahjongg and Match 3, while others like Volleyball or Fishing didn't. (The first two had a much broader set of choices, layouts and strategies while the later two had limited and repetitive actions that didn't vary enough to be interesting over a longer period of time.)
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Games live long
What we work on can be around for a while and can have a big impact on people's lives. It's still amazing to think how many people grew up playing this game. As game designers it is important to take a moment and think about the experience we are crafting for players. Is this what we want to communicate? What are we saying with the games we are making and what do these games say about us, now and in the future?