No More Traffic Jam!
2nd place at Serious Game Request 2010
Rijkswaterstaat, the executive arm of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment wanted to try new concepts to reach the people that go to work by car because traditional campaigns don't work. Everyone should be aware of their own behavior on the road and drive safely. To make people aware of their behavior me and a group of students came up with a strategy/puzzle game named No More Traffic Jam!
I am responsible for the design of big parts of the game's graphics and the User Interface Design. Our concept finished 2nd in the final on 26 November 2010. More information and videoclips can be found on Feature Talent's YouTube channel
Gameplay
Your task is to make sure that every car safely arrives at his work or home. You will get money and score points for every car that has arrived at his destination. You must prevent the cars from getting stuck in a traffic jam as rush hours appear and keep The Traffic Jam Meter in the top left corner low. When the meter starts to glow and the words Traffic Jam appear, you know you have to hurry because it can be game over very soon!
Tools like speeding cameras, traffic signs and campaigns all have their own effect on the cars and you have to choose wisely, because your choice can make the difference between winning the level or getting stuck in a traffic jam or even worse... being caught in an accident!
Quizbus
Every now and then the Quizbus comes by and gives you a multiple choice question. The answer you choose is translated into the behavior of the Quizbus and again your choice can result in either gently rolling tyres or some tyres leaving the car and going on to their destination by themselves, because your choice caused an accident. It's all about good behavior on the road!
Playable alpha version and 3D intro movie
A 'playable' alpha version, which contains many programmatic errors, inconsistencies and no intro movie can be found on the No More Traffic Jam! page. The 3D intro movie can be found on my YouTube Channel. This version lacks real gameplay but it gives a good impression of the graphics and style I created for the game.
The original UI was designed by an other team member. I already designed the button icons for the UI, but I made a completely new User Interface too. I thought things could look brighter, 'happier', because although it's a game for adults, it still was meant to be cartoony. Besides that, I thought the functions of the buttons had to be made clearer to the player, so I made a couple of categories and divided them into tabs. The old and new designs are below.
The Quizbus is a vehicle that randomly appears in a level. Because the game is a serious game, we wanted to let the player see what the consequences of his choices are when a specific situation comes up. That's where the Quizbus jumps in. It gives the player a question and a couple of answers. The answer that is chosen by the player will be translated in the Quizbus's behavior on the road. This way the player can immediately see what will happen next: will the vehicles just drive on or does your choice cause a traffic jam or maybe even an accident?
Below are some 3D renders for the intro movie, made in 3DS Max using my 3D models and an early build of the game in Unity3D with a first version of the Traffic Jam meter that must be kept low by the player to prevent a Game Over screen from appearing.
The player can use campaigns against drivers that are misbehaving on the road. It's some kind of a special power that can only be used once per level. It's expensive, but its influence on the behavior of the drivers is great.
The original logo and splash screens -in red- for the game were designed by an other member of the team, but I thought I could come up with something that would better fit the traffic theme. For the logo I thought it would be cool to modify a font so it would look like as if the letters are painted on the road like the white stripes.
Low-poly 3D models of real life objects found around Dutch highways. These are used to give the game a touch of realism and make the levels look like as if they were real roads.
