Very Very Valet icon

Very Very Valet

Co-creator
Toyful Games, 2021

Overview

  • Very Very Valet is a couch coop party game where players must pickup, park, and return cars by any means necessary! I'm one of the two developers at Toyful games, along with longtime collaborator Tim FitzRandolph). Design and code were shared between the two of us, with my focus being on the character animation system, writing, UI, and game feedback.

Contributions

  • Character Animation System

    Character based games need strong characters - which means having stellar animations! We built an animation system that uses a relatively low number of keyframes, allowing us to implement six characters within scope and budget. I was responsible for implementing the system, iterating the feel, and animating several of the characters. Here's a blog post that goes into detail about the system's approach and implementation.

  • Visual Direction

    Since the game is designed for maximum accessibility, it was essential to look warm and inviting. The level visuals are designed to help focus players on essential elements - valets, cars, and return zones. Environments use a mix of bright colors and simple textures to create a proper base for chaos to ensure. I also designed and built the agency HQ seen in the menus.

  • Level Design

    The core pillar of Very very Valet is "variety over difficulty". We felt that unique, interesting levels were more interesting than pure difficulty spikes - especially with players of all skill levels. I built about half of the 24 locations.

  • Writing & Text Effects

    Though the game is intentionally simple, we liked the idea of building out this strange world where valets parachute into locations to help people park. It gives the game more character, and reinforces the goofy and earnest vibe of gameplay. I wrote the level introductions, and built the system for displaying text (More details here)

Notes

  • Party games have to be quick and simple - you're supposed to be playing the game, not the UI! Building simple and direct UI gets players to gameplay with minimum fuss.

  • Check out the frequently updated Toyful Games blog. It covers a variety of topics from character controllers to animation breakdowns to level design tools.

  • Very Very Valet would be nothing without our top tier collaborators! Check out Tim Rosko, Oskar Kuijken, Kolarp Em, and Brandon Proulx.