Game Portfolio -- Unnatural Selection

Unnatural Selection

• Release Date: May 2022
  
• Current Availability: Prototype cancelled July 2022
  
• Release Credit Category: Design Credit
  
• Company: WIMO Games
  
• Business Model: Free-to-Play
  
• Category: Mobile Game
  
• Genre: Simulation -- Breeding

Personal Development Notes

• Fun Fact: This was another internal Game Jam winner that went on to be developed a bit more as a prototype game. This one was a bit different for us, but the employees at the company liked the idea so much that we decided to flesh it out with a prototype by using our outsourcing partners, Starloop. As the Designer over outsourcing projects at the time, this meant I was our main point of contact for game design and creation.
  
  This casual, funny fish breeding game was very different than anything our company had ever made before. Creating mashup fish from breeding them together had a great, mad scientist aspect to it, and we leaned into that by creating fish that glowed, wild patterns, and even elemental infusions based on their rarity.

• Job Highlights: The outsourcing company we worked with to create this game is located in Spain, but their team was assembled from all around the globe. At one point one of the designers I was working with had a solid 12 hours difference in time zones from me. The outsourced designers had created one long GDD, and we spent many hours reading through, editing, and refining the design. Coordination and communication was key in bringing together this project.
  
  
• Best Memory: I loved working with the artist leads at WIMO for Unnatural Selection, and we took a lot of care to select interesting looking fish. It re-ignited my love with owning a fish tank, and I bought one during development. I can't help but play other games with fish in them and think about our similar fish choices when I see it.
  
  
• Other Comments: A lot of times you just want to breed two fish together to see what the heck you get from the combination, which could lead to a lot of discovered fun. Of other note, the game's UI took a lot to perfect, but by the end, we had something very nice for a game that was heavily UI based. There's potential for a lot of fun here, but ultimately the metrics showed there wasn't a long-lasting stickiness to justify going into full production.

Sample Gameplay

I captured gameplay of the full playthrough of the first environment. Not shown is the second salt-water environment and a third environment where players could participate in multiplayer fish breeding events.