Dare Blogs – King of Dice

Who are King of Dice?
Four of our team come from China, and the last one is from Scotland. Our game is Dice Rolling.

We have been developing Dice Rolling for three weeks at the University of Abertay, but we joined Dare to be digital in March.

How did you get involved with this year’s competition?
At the beginning, we never thought we would get selected to represent China in Dare because there were so many strong teams. But our self-confidence and desire to win became stronger and stronger as the competition went on.

There is something important which can be gained from taking part. In this competition, we discussed the game idea together, we worked on our demo-animation until midnight, we showed our idea to the professionals from the gaming companies and improved our idea following their advice. Dare is a medium which gives us chance to develop a real game from designing to going public.

What will you take away from the experience?
Dare has given us a great oppourtunity, which we seized. We have used what we are learning in our game already. It is also great to communicate with other game development students who will be the fresh talent in tomorrow’s game industry. There is no doubt that the experience of Dare will last a very long time and will have great influence in our future study. It has made us more clear about what we need to learn and what way we want to do in the days we have remaining.

What was the biggest problem you faced in the development process?
The most difficult problem we faced was not the technology or the short developing time, it was the language and communication. English is neither our first nor official language. As Chinese students, we have not had many chances to use English in our daily life. But when we arrived here, everyone spoke English. What is worse, their English have different accents that make them just like speaking different languages!

During the first week, several professionals came to see our game. After a short introduction, they gave us some advice about our game, but I couldn’t understand them, so our team’s Scottish member Liam becames a translator. We couldn’t understand Liam at first, but we used almost everything we had to communicate, such as the dictionary, body language, drawings etc. After several weeks we understood each other well.

Liam is a very important part of our team. Without him we couldn’t have made it to where we are today.

What can you tell us about the title you are working on?
Our game name is Dice Rolling. Dice Rolling is a turn-based online 3D puzzle game for PC, suitable for all ages.

The main characters are die and the game maps are made of grids. In the game, players roll their die to a certain grid to light it up, this happens when the player rolls the correct dice face to match the pattern on the floor. If one player rolls his/her’s dice to the grid which has been lit up by the other player, the grid light will be put out.

We use die as main character to bring a familiar experience to players from a new angle. We link the maths with action in one puzzle game which can be played online, meeting the players’ needs to share and to fully mobilize players’ creativity and competitiveness as well as to ensure the replayability.

Would you recommend your experience to others?
Yes. I liked this city at first sight, the bule sky, the soaring seagulls, the old buildings which are full of cultural richness. After living here for several weeks, I have to say I love this city and Abertay University. Friendly, considerate people and its academic style impress me all the time. Here really is a paradise for people who want to relax, learn and to enjoy their lives.

I would like to say thanks to Dare to giving us this wonderful opportunity.