Stellarune

https://www.mergicianproductions.com/

OVERVIEW

Stellarune is an addictive and unique action strategy game, where players use dice to cast magic spells while engaging in real time, grid based combat. Here, magic is a power bestowed from the stars and where the essence of a soul manifests in the form of dice. Defeat various foes while using strategy to reach the top of the tower.

MY ROLE

Game Designer
Project Manager
2D Artist (Animation & Illustration)

THE TEAM

Reef Liew - UI Artist, VFX
Zhixuan Xiao - Lead Programmer
May Li - Game Designer, 3D Modeller
Pornpitcha Thongjen - 3D / 2D Artist
Eric Ni. - Programmer

TIMELINE

Jan 2023 - Present

RELEASE

PC/Steam
Fall 2024

SUMMARY OF CONTRIBUTIONS

Set up documentation systems and organisation in Notion (weekly sync, meeting notes, investor discussions, finances, HR, bug log)
Facilitate playtests, consolidating player feedback and proposing changes or finding action items
In-game and Steam page localisation from English to Japanese & Chinese
Quality Assurance on each new build, to ensure there are as few game-breaking bugs as possible
Balance numbers for boss, enemies and player health, attack and defence
Translate diagrams into words on our Game Design Documents

Design intuitive User Interfaces (Credits, Settings, Tutorial)
Design products like posters and postcards for events/showcases
Art Direction on enemy designs and environmental biomes
Designed and composed our company website https://mergicianproductions.com
Designed and formatted all Steam capsule images as well as composed text for the page

Assign tasks and manage team workload and workflow through Jira & Notion
Attend conventions and pitch to potential shareholders, stakeholders & investors.
The key point of contact between investors, shareholders & convention organisers
Handle tax forms, contracts and legal for all employees
Created our pitch deck & crunched business numbers
Track our budget, spending and salary payments
Purchased and managed company domains, and company emails
Co-manage social media and oversee and assist with the creation / art direction of posts on all platforms

Find more information visit our Steam page here

Gamescom Asia 2023

CONTRIBUTIONS TO GAMESCOM ASIA 2023 DEMO & EXHIBITION

Directed our trailer, requested clips and angles from our programmers to send to editing
Rewrote all of our narrative documents and game design documents to be up to date with the latest mechanics and storylines
Pitched Stellarune during a private Speed Networking event with Publishers and Investors
Networked and hosted meetings with several publishers, developers, marketers
Designed, printed and prepared materials such as posters, postcards, monitors, controllers and business cards, as well as set up and tore down the booth
Photographed the entire event, added key photos and materials to our press kit
Manned the booth and promoted Stellarune to the public for the entire duration of the exhibition (4 days)
Specially prepared a new business deck as well as an informative deck about the mechanics, vision and timeline of the game for publishers and investors
Designed UI assets for the tutorial and credits
Onboard two new hires to the team
Did a live interview and demo of our game to the public on the Indie Wavemakers livestream
Consolidated feedback from the general public and gained knowledge about battle-network games and their popularity in Southeast Asia.

OCT 18 ~ 19TH 2023

My coworker Reef and I were invited to present our demo of Stellarune at Gamescom Asia 2023 held in Singapore. There we got to opportunity to talk to several potential publishers and investors as well as present our game to the public in Asia for the first time.

Play NYC 2023

AUG 5 ~ 6TH 2023

We were invited by NYU to attend Play NYC 2023 and hold a booth as one of six representatives of the New York University Game Centre Program.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PLAY NYC 2023 DEMO & EXHIBITION

Designed our company logo and ‘key image’ for printing, press and official trademark
Designed our company business cards
Talked to several members of the press and industry insiders about our game
Purchased and sourced materials for the construction of our booth
The key point of contact between the organisers of the event, and filling out all forms and documents
QA tested the latest Player vs Player mode as well as consolidated feedback from players
Set up Caard, Email Newsletter and Twitter/X accounts for Mergician Productions

New York University Spring Showcase

MAY 18 ~ 20, 2023

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SPRING SHOWCASE DEMO & EXHIBIT

Created and designed promotional artwork such as the hero image, switch casing art
Worked with two other teammates to rehearse and create our ‘elevator’ pitch deck
Hired two contract employees for SFX and Modelling. Served as the key point of contact and created a sound organisation database to track what sounds we needed
Compile feedback from playtests (inside and outside of school, attended Unreleased Games Showcase in Harlem and GDC) and proposed relevant changes and or fixes
Held performance review sessions with co-workers to assess their happiness and well-being, as well as to properly assess workload
Update Game Design documents and introduce new documentation systems and methods to ensure all mechanics are up to date for the programming team
Managed tasks and uploaded them to Jira. Tried various project management styles like Kanban, waterfall, Agile, and Scrum and took a masterclass on the subject.

Stellarune was initially created as a Capstone project at the New York University Game Center. As such, as part of our final examinations, we presented at the showcase. Additionally, we also pitched our game to the Game Center Incubator program as an opportunity to gain funding.