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Freeze Point: Frozen Crag
PRIMARY ROLES
-Lead Game Designer
-Gameplay Designer
-Level Designer
-Environment Artist
SECONDARY ROLES
-Resource Pack Artist
-Systems Designer
-Game Balancer
DESCRIPTION
Freeze Point is a mix between the classic Freeze Tag and Hard Point Game Modes with some twists. Teams fight for control over points on the map in order to accumulate score. To do this players must fight off players on the enemy team by freezing them and un-freezing teammates. Along with that, power-ups spawn in dedicated locations around the map and add strategic value to team play and coordination. Points can be contested by enemies which stop score accumulation on the point. Score gained while under a team's control also scales with the number of players on the point up to 3. This game went through a lot of iterations and changes to get where it is, but I'm extremely pleased with how it came out. This was a fun game to design and create. It has become a huge success at our PONG Winter LAN events with over 17 player teams each event.
RESPONSIBILITIES
• Led the team from concept to final product.
• Designed and planned out the core systems, gameplay features, and gameplay loop.
• Designed the map layout of "Frozen Crag" and built the middle of the map, both team bases, and point C.
• Created all custom armor, weapon, and Power-Up textures in the game.
• Worked collaboratively in a small scrum style team.
• Led game balancing and user experience.
• Came up with the freeze mechanic, designed Power-ups, and determined their placement.
• Documented my design and artistic processes.
• Hosted numerous alpha, closed beta, and beta tests.
• Finished Frozen Crag on time for launch at the winter LAN and it has been a fan favorite game ever since.
YEAR
2022
GENRE
Team based Freeze Tag Mixed with Hardpoint and Power-ups
PLATFORM
Made in Java Minecraft for version 1.19. Published on Minecraft Realms. Also available on Planet Minecraft and Sticky Piston Server Hosting as a free map and game to download.
Game Design
Concept to Final Product
Challenges
The concept of Freeze Point came from me and some of the other PONG Build Team members as we were planning for our winter LAN event. A lot of us wanted to make Freeze Tag, but each of us had a different idea on how to make it function inside of Minecraft as a main LAN event.
I pitched a large scale class based Freeze Tag game where 5 control points were objectives both teams had to fight to control in order to accumulate points. This pitch had the control point and class ideas from one of my past pitches "Spire Fight." However, due to limited coders and time we had to scale the game back to 3 points with powerups instead of classes. My class ideas were later used in a future capture the flag game called "Terracotta Canyon."
Coming to consensus on how the main objective should work as well as classes and the freeze mechanic took a great deal of time to iron out. This set map design back since it needed to be designed around the gameplay loop and spawn timing.
Eventually after many map iterations and freeze mechanic changes we ended with the game called Freeze Point on the map called Frozen Crag. It turned out beautifully and really tested our team's design skills.
We decided to reduce the number of capture points from 5 to 3 and make a 3 lane map to better suit the large team sizes. In addition, classes were removed and replaced with Power-ups that spawn around the map. This was done to add game diversity, give greater player agency, and help promote strategy since the freeze mechanic we came up with was a 1 hit freeze. This made fights fairly quick and fast paced. Freeze Point was a fun and challenging game to design, and it turned out amazing. It has been a LAN event favorite since its release.
Scope and Development Time
Challenges
At the start the scope was fairly small and simple, but it grew quickly as we brainstormed how to turn a simple version of Freeze Tag into a main event game. A lot of our time developing the game was spent on the freeze mechanic, core objective, and map itself. All 3 went through many different iterations and led to the game that we have today.
During development we went back to the drawing board numerous times on many core aspects of the game. Before classes were removed, we already had a large map in development for the game which was scrapped due to time and class removal.
There was a lot of back and forth with how the game should play out and how the map should look/feel. This was mainly due to alpha testing that changed our design philosophy because the mechanics were not engaging and the walking distances were too long.
Granted, there was a decent loss of time due to core mechanic alterations, but in the end the project was completed on time with multiple alpha and beta tests under its belt. I always prefer putting forth my best work to make something I am proud of. Sure, it can be a hassle for a team to go back to the drawing board a time or two, but if it makes for a better game then I'd do it every time.
Why Hardpoint?
Challenges
Hardpoint is a game in which two teams fight to control a moving area on a map in order to score points. Having more players on a point increases the number of points acquired by the team every second. The game promotes map exploration, team pushes, and tactical defenses which is why I pitched it to my team when ideating Freeze Point.
Freeze Tag by nature is fast paced, relies on teamwork, and takes advantage of the environment. This made it the perfect shell for a Hardpoint style objective where both games' core incentives and playstyles blend seamlessly together.
Hardpoint usually has only one point that changes location around the map every set amount of time. However, that is something we as a team didn't like about the game. I came up with the idea to combine the point mechanic from Hardpoint with another mode commonly referred to as Domination, Control, or Control Point where there are 3 points on a map that players fight to keep under their control in order to score points. This led us to 3 stationary control points which acted similarly to Hardpoint points in which the number of players on a point increased the score of a team every second.
At first it was hard to find an objective to place into the shell of Freeze Tag since its nature is very fast paced. We needed an objective that made freezing players tactical and incentivized team play. This led me to pitch my Control Point idea. The build team and I recently finished a World of Warcraft themed capture the flag game at this time, so capture the flag wasn't something we wanted to do again so soon. The Hardpoint game I knew from Call of Duty stuck in my mind as we brainstormed, and I brought up the idea and it stuck fast.
Making map orientated objectives not only incentivized team play, but it also made a ton of sense with Freeze Tag. It gave the game that FPS style make or break play making potential where players can freeze a whole team on a point for a retake or pick players off slowly. Power-ups only heightened the strategy and team play which had a huge part in leading to the success of the game.
Why Power-Ups?
Challenges
The Power-up mechanic came from my initial class system for the game. Due to classes not working out for this game we still wanted ways for players to have more varied combat experiences and more strategic gameplay options. This led us to Power-ups. Power-ups spawn in set locations around the map out of the way from key map points. When walked over they add one of many Power-ups to the player's inventory. Power-ups have a respawn timer and only one Power-up can be held by a player at a time.
Each of the many Power-ups are designed to supply a tactical and useful ability such as a mass AoE freeze, long range freezes, freeze immunity for a limited time, and even a decoy snowman that counts as a player on a point. These abilities create new and different gameplay strategies every game and promote teamwork to make the most of the limited Power-ups that spawn on the map.
Making Power-ups useful, but not game defining is a hard balance to find, but after a lot of testing we found that balance. It was really fun to design and make art for all the abilities. However, not all my creations made it into the live game. Jump Boost was one Power-up that was removed due to its lack of impact in the game and its unintended use of getting to out of bounds areas on the map. Another removed item was a Frozen Fishing Rod. It was notoriously hard to hit a player with when cast, and in most cases regular melee was better which led to us removing the Power-up.
One Power-up wasn't always a Power-up. The Fire Staff was originally in every player's inventory and was used to unfreeze players. However, it felt clunky to switch between inventory items in the middle of a fight to unfreeze a teammate. This led to us making player's fists and ice arrows un-freeze on hit which made the game much more fluid and exciting. The Fire Staff was then repurposed as a Power-up that gave the player limited freeze immunity when used. It is a really fun item and is very skill testing which is something I always love to design into games.
Gameplay/Systems Design
Challenges
Gameplay Loop
The main gameplay loop in Freeze Point is to maintain control over the 3 control points on the map and have the max number of players on control points to gain the most score.
Players must tactically position around the map and navigate it to acquire useful Power-ups.
The preferred team size is 15 with a total score of 1500 points. However, the total score to win is configurable in the game settings and team sizes are un-capped as well. This makes the game highly configurable and accessible to many players if they decide to download and play our game for themselves or for an event.
Making control points matter was a hard task. This was done by making players need to be on points to score. This made the team fights right at points and led to greater teamwork and strategy due to having players commonly in one area.
Having Power-ups off to the side on the way to control points was done to make Power-ups something players had to seek out. We knew players would camp Power-ups if they were too close to points, so I commonly distributed them on the map in rotation lanes where players could take a little extra time to get them. This way it promotes teams to rotate between points during a game and aids teams that are losing a point.
Challenges
Freeze Mechanic
The freeze mechanic in Freeze Point is very simple. Upon hitting a player on the opposing team with their fist the player is immobilized and unable to attack. Frozen players are shown by a block of ice on their head. Teammates may un-freeze frozen players on their team by punching them. If a player is frozen too long they respawn at their team's base. If a frozen player is on a control point, the point is seen as contested until the player is sent back to spawn or unfrozen.
The freeze mechanic in Freeze Point went through a lot of changes in its development. The first idea was 1 hit freezes that immobilized players and sent them to a jail like cops and robbers after being frozen for a while. This did not feel fun and did not work with classes, so we tried a freeze meter that would fill up from doing damage and slow a player until they freeze solid.
This made the game less like Freeze Tag and led to us scrapping the class idea. From there we did a full 180 and went back to our original idea of 1 hit freezes. However, we removed the cops and robbers jail aspect, instead making frozen players immobilized until either they are thawed by a teammate or die and respawn at their base.
This way was by far the most fun and engaging freeze mechanic. It stayed true to the core of Freeze Tag which we liked a lot. Making sure the concept of Freeze Tag was easy to understand was very important to me. Therefore, the simpler and closer it was to what people recognized the better.
Challenges
Power-Ups
Power-ups spawn at set locations on the map and give a random power-up when walked over by a player. These Power-ups are on a cooldown and display a mystery icon until picked up.
A lot of my original class abilities inspired the Power-ups now in the game. The Archer class originally had a icy bow that froze people at range. That same bow and 3 arrows are now one of the Power-ups in the game. The bow has been expanded upon since then to also un-freeze teammates when shot by the bow.
Power-ups are a good way to promote strategy and playstyles in a scalable game. They create fun interactions, but are not always needed. Having all players 1 hit freeze enemies is already strong. Power-ups were designed to supplement that strength, provide interesting ways to turn tides, and extend team fights due to the naturally short encounters of melee fights.
Making Power-ups fun and strategic for players on both teams was something I put a lot of thought into. I wanted Power-ups to be worth getting and using, but also not too polarizing and frustrating for the player it was used against. This led me to create Power-ups that promoted playstyles.
All Power-ups I made were designed with skill gaps in mind so that each Power-up has many practical uses that a player must decide how to use. For example, The Snow Cloak Power-up grants temporary invisibility which can be used to infiltrate an occupied point, thaw players secretly, ambush players, and so much more. This is just one example of how a single Power-up can be used to promote multiple playstyles and gives the player agency to decide which way they would like to use it.
Having a naturally strong melee freeze on all players meant that Power-ups needed to be designed to either support it or provide equally useful freeze alternatives. Icy Ignition is an example of a freeze alternative Power-up. When used it AoE freezes all enemy players around you, but it freezes you as well. It's a huge swing play, but it can be risky.
Challenges
Game Balancing and Feel
Balancing Freeze Point wasn't nearly as hard as a game like Hedge Legends. Each mechanic was designed to work off each other in a way where scaling only amplifies certain aspects.
Freeze Mechanic:
More Players = More back and forth freeze fights.
Less Players = More strategic freezes and thaws.
Power-ups:
More Players = More Power-up economy and management.
Less Players = More Power-up up time and swing potential.
Control Points:
More Players = Larger and more spread out team fights.
Less Players = Smaller and more tactical engagements.
Balancing for a scalable game wasn't as hard this time around. I've done it numerous times before on my other games, and I have learned which key parts to enforce and parts to leave to the players. Due to this game being objective based and all players having the same freeze potential, it creates a self limited factor where increasing player count only amplifies team fights due to the fast paced nature of Freeze Tag.
The score per player on a point caps at 3. This leads to more diverse playstyles at higher player counts. However, Power-up cooldowns stay the same no mater the player count. This creates a Power-up economy at higher player counts which makes for very fun fights over Power-up locations and team Power-up management. Lower player counts lead to high Power-up up time and more stealthy play rather than team rushes which make for more exciting single player plays.
Making Freeze Point feel fun no matter the number of players was always in mind throughout development. This is one of the reasons a lot of mechanics were remade multiple times until they felt great. 1 Hit freezes made for exciting gameplay and thawing teammates made it tactical. Respawns were fairly short and travel time wasn't too long, so it always felt like there was action. What you did at a given moment mattered; this concept is something that I and our players loved about the game.
Level Design
Map Layout
Challenges
The game Freeze Point is on a map called Frozen Crag; It's a large ravine in a frozen over mining operation. The Red team is on the more mining themed side of the ravine and the Blue team is on the more snowy and frozen side.
Frozen Crag is a 3 lane map with each lane leading towards a specific control point. Each team also has a rotation route that cuts through the middle of the map to promote rotations.
Point A is inside of a cavern filled with ores and obstacles including an underwater part of the point.
Point B is in the center of the ravine across from both bases. It's a large frozen over watchtower filled with ice spikes where the mining theme meets the frozen theme.
Point C is inside of a frozen lake surrounded by mountain tops with a square dock as the center of the point.
Making Frozen Crag took a couple tries. Early in development we had 5 control points and made a large open map to navigate. However, due to the removal of classes and limited time, we decided to make a new map. This map was Frozen Crag; Frozen Crag was designed to be a more classical 3 lane map. However, due to making these lanes very defined and enclosed, we opted to make an additional rotational route that cut through the middle of the map.
When making the map we knew we were building it to be for various amounts of players per team of which players might not have played it before or have been to our public betas. Consequently, we made sure routes and control points were clearly defined around the map. We also made sure that who controls what point at a given moment is always displayed at the top of player's screen along with their team's score.
I made a ton of sketches and scale models when designing the initial 5 control point map and Frozen Crag. I always love to plan things out a ton before jumping in head first. My feeling is that it's better to perfect a vision in its simplest form before jumping right in. That way issues that arise are much smaller and are more manageable.
Point Design
Challenges
Control points were designed to be areas of high strategy since they were core points of interest in the map. I made sure that each point took full advantage of the 20 block square point size and points had vertical movement as well as plenty of height variation. Having height variation in a tag based mode adds more skill testing and ways to play. Height creates important dynamics in pushes and plays players could make. By making player movement and navigation a core skill in the game, it extends naturally to every Minecraft player. This skill is commonly unused and undervalued in numerous Minecraft games. However, by designing the map around this skill it in turn makes fights over the point much more exciting and skill testing. Each push feels like a battle and every game new battle strategies emerge.
Making control points feel different than the rest of the map was a little difficult for some points, but by keeping lanes narrow it made control points feel massive to players. Making each point feel unique design wise was a difficult task. However, I overcame this through changing the height variation and surrounding obstacles.
Point A is a cavern with a watery cave beneath it and ore nodes looping around the top to create high ground.
Point B is a watchtower with vertical twisting ice spikes the encircle it to create numerous places of varying height above the ground.
Point C is a frozen lake with a square dock on stilts above it with a hole in the center that creates a 2 floor dynamic.
Map Aesthetic and Strategic Terrain
Challenges
Frozen Crag was made to look like a frozen over mining operation. To create that feeling I wanted to have things around that belonged at a mine as well as ravine. I made cranes, coal deposits, gold sieves, a massive drill, and so on. The soft lore of the build was that the Red team was more of the miners and the Blue team was more of the frost and cold. However, that being said there were creative liberties taken to make the map environment dynamic and whimsical.
Making environments both functional and beautiful is something I love to do. I don't like making beautiful things players cannot use, and I don't like making boring environments for players to play in. In Frozen Crag each piece of decorative terrain within the map boundaries served as an interesting place to do combat.
Since it was Freeze Tag as well as a a location based game. Environments played a huge role in the way fights went. High ground matters, line of sight matters, and every nook can cranny matters. I designed my terrain to be accessible for newcomers as well as experienced players. By having dynamic shapes, recognizable structures, and skill testing jumps. It creates a very fun environment for players to learn and master across multiple skill levels.
I have not seen Minecraft maps designed this way before and I feel that it's a huge missed opportunity by game designers and map makers. By designing for player experience and skill acquisition it makes environments memorable, skillful, and beautiful. I learned this from playing numerous team based games such as Call of Duty, Counter Strike Global Offensive, Overwatch, and countless others. This method of making environments functional and beautiful is something I always strive to achieve in my games.
Engagement and Rotation Timings
Challenges
When designing Frozen Crag I made it a point that control points were the main areas players should fight near or on. Power-ups are placed off to the side on both sides of the map leading up to points to give players an incentive to not only push points, but create a feeling of excitement since they want to use their Power-up. This layout keeps players constantly engaged throughout the game with miniature goals as they want to get power-ups, rotate to points under attack, and group up to form a push.
The distance between team spawns and control points was meticulously planned out and carefully timed so that players on points were not constantly bombarded, but it wasn't so long as to make the walk tedious. This balance helped a lot in managing fight locations and made for very smooth gameplay.
It took a lot of measuring and timing to find the exact map size needed to create a balance where all 3 control points felt defendable and yet able to be taken back. I wanted each point to feel different, but be similar in timings so that team coordination on the fly as well as rushes were smooth and rotations could happen more often to create a variety of player vs player fights.
Timings and places of combat were a main concern when first designing and ideating the map. We had multiple early iterations with variations of high and low ground as well as flank routes. However, the flank routes and openness between points felt unnecessary in such a fast paced game. It also led to some issue of timings where players were rotating to sites too quickly.
From there I decided to make harsher divides in the 3 lanes and have symmetrical rotation routes. This made rotations still impactful and useful, but it made full team rotations take longer.
Freeze Point Assets
Here are some of my favorite pictures from the live game. Art wise I was responsible for Power-Up Icons, Map Design, Armor Design, Resource Pack Design, and Building the Spawns, Point C, Point B, and the middle of the map.
More examples of my work on Freeze Point can be found on the Freeze Point Artwork Page in the Art Gallery shown below. There I walk through my processes and challenges when designing artwork for the game.
Art Assets
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