Contents
Intent Statement ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Research & Thesis ...................................................................................................................................... 3
System & Mechanics................................................................................................................................... 5
Explanation.............................................................................................................................................. 5
Visual Design Document ........................................................................................................................ 6
Video Overview Storyboard ...................................................................................................................... 6
QA Testing ................................................................................................................................................... 7
Test Plan .................................................................................................................................................. 7
Test Results ............................................................................................................................................. 8
Post Mortem .............................................................................................................................................. 11
Annotated Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 13
Additional Sources ................................................................................................................................... 16

Intent Statement
By using click and drag mouse inputs to manually pump shells in and out of a shotgun,
an immersive first person aiming perspective, and fast moving targets, I intend to create a"skeet shooting" gameplay system that is kinetic in its feel and precision & timing based in its
challenges.

Research & Thesis
My goal is to create a physicality based system which revolves around the player having
to manually pump a shotgun with the mouse before taking carefully timed shots at fast moving
clay pigeon targets rather than simply having the pumping be a non-interactive animation. The
overarching objectives with this system are to create a gameplay loop where the player faces
an additional physicality challenge besides simply aiming and moving and to make the player
feel physically connected with the weapon by means of kinetic interaction and game feel.
Most shooters with shotguns or other manually operated firearms like hunting rifles
simply play an animation when a new round needs to be chambered, leaving the player with nopossible interactions with the weapon during this time. In real life, however, loading a newround is just as physical as target acquisition and sharpshooting. I strongly feel that the majorityof shooter games tend to ignore the potential for a high amount of player interaction with their
weapons, and since players spend the majority of their time using these weapons, why notallow them to interact with them as much as possible?
I first got the idea for creating a physical feeling weapon interaction system after
deconstructing the VR game Hot Dogs, Horseshoes, & Hand Grenades (or H3VR for short). H3VR
is a game solely focused around physical weapon interactions with highly detailed and realistic
gun models that offer a huge range of interactions. Additionally, the game features many
enjoyable shooting range activities that test not only the timing and precision reflexes ofplayers, but also their physical abilities, since weapons must be loaded, chambered, and firedwith 100% physical interactions. The combination of physicality in weapon interaction, kinetic
game feel, and timing challenges interested me greatly because of how different it made theexperience feel from a traditional shooter. One of the challenge in particular is a mini skeet
shooting range in one of the maps where players can shoot clay birds in intervals with any
weapon they want, but it feels best with a pump action shotgun. After interacting with thischallenge, I was inspired to create an experience that replicates the same kinetic feeling ofpumping the shotgun shells physically while still having to have spot on timing to hit thetargets. This is where the idea for mouse drag based shotgun pumping in a skeet shooting
scenario was born.

Although I have much experience in skeet shooting in real life, I still had some questions
about the physicality factors of the sport and how I could reflect them in gameplay. To learn
more about this, I did research into the physical aspects of skeet shooting and eventually foundan article from the Journal of Human Sport and Exercise that was exactly what I was looking for.
In the article, which is titled “The relative importance of selected physical fitness parameters in
Olympic clay target shooting”, the researches discuss four different physicality elements that
occur in the sport of skeet shooting: postural stability, strength, Quiet Eye duration, andmaximal oxygen consumption (VO²max). While postural stability and strength somewhat apply
to my system (posture translates to player local and strength to recoil control), the mostimportant thing I learned from researching this article was the idea of the “Quiet Eye”, which is
described as the “final fixation gaze to a target” (Peljha) before the shooter fires the weapon. I
managed to reflect this in my system, as the best way to shoot and hit the targets is by waiting
to fire until the “Quiet Eye” period has occurred, or when the sight/crosshair has lined up
perfectly with the arc of the target.
One of the main pillars of the system I intended to create was a sense of “kinetic gamefeel”, or a satisfying feeling resulting from the motion of the weapon’s parts. In order tomaximize my ability to achieve this, I decided to focus my second research effort on learning
more about game feel in general and how to make it as satisfying as possible. I managed to finda long Gamasutra article published by a designer that goes into detail about what game feel
actually is and a 6 step process to making it work well. These steps include input, response,
context, polish, the metaphor, and rules. The ideas discussed about input, response, and polishwere particularly useful to me because they highlighted the areas that my manual pumping
system would utilize to get the shotgun interactions feeling kinetic. The manual pumping
controls stemmed from the input section while the audio, animations, screen shake, particle
effects, model recoil, etc stemmed from the response and polish sections.
Now armed with a broader understanding of the physicality of skeet shooting and how
to achieve kinetic game feel, I now had a solid vision for how to create the manual pumping
system. However, before jumping into Unity and starting to build it, I did one last piece of
research into the purpose of reloading systems in games to determine if this manual pumping
system I had devised was essential to my experience or just a cool idea. I managed to find anarticle that discusses the role of reloading as a mechanic in shooting games and ponders if
these mechanics are essential to shooters in the first place. After breaking down several
common reloading mechanics found in games (from simple “press R to play animation” to“active reloading based on timing”), the article concludes by explaining that reload systems arefundamentally important to a shooter if they provide tension in the experience. With this inmind, I concluded that my manual pumping mechanic would indeed be essential to myintended experience because it adds an extra layer of tension, as players must be able tophysically pump their gun between shots.

System & Mechanics
Explanation
The system gives the player control of a first person character equipped with a pumpaction shotgun in a small skeet shooting range. Clay pigeons infinitely spawn at two separate
stations, once of which spawns them in random patterns while the other spawns five pigeons in
a line every 5 seconds. The experience is meant to be experimental and does not have an
overall goal, however a points system allows players to keep track of how many clay pigeons
they have successfully hit.
Players can move around the range using the WASD keys on their keyboard. The
shotgun is aimed using movement from the mouse. Players can also jump with the space bar to
perform trick shots. Clicking the left mouse button fires the shotgun, but only if a shell has been
loaded into the barrel. To load a shot, players first click and hold the right mouse button toenter Pumping Mode. Once in Pumping Mode, aiming the shotgun is disabled, allowing themouse to be used to move the pump. While remaining in Pumping Mode, players first pull themouse downwards to pump out the currently loaded shell, whether it has been fired or not. To
load a new shell, players then push the mouse forward, pumping a new shell into the barrel.
Once this process has taken place, the shotgun may be fired again. Faster movements of themouse while in Pumping Mode allow the shotgun to be pumped faster, allowing for fasterfollow up shots and rewarding players who engage more physically with the system.
Clicking in the scroll wheel toggles the aiming mode between a shouldered perspective(with the shotgun at the side of the screen and a crosshair in the middle of the screen) and asight perspective (which uses the actual physical sights of the shotgun model). There is nodifference in the accuracy of the weapon between the two modes, but they each give a
distinctive feel to how precise the weapon feels. Firing the shotgun causes the player’s aim torecoil upwards, requiring them to pull their mouse back down to compensate when taking
follow up shots. This combination of firing, recoil compensation, and manually pumping as wellas the way this process feels is what provides the experience with its physicality aspects. In
other words, this system exhibits physicality in a gameplay challenge sense and a game feelsense.

Visual Design Document

Video Overview Storyboard

QA Testing
Test Plan
Test Intent: The goal of this test is to determine if the desired intent of my physicality
prototype has been successfully achieved in a playable form. Survey questions relate to tester
behavior when aiming, loading, and firing the shotgun at a target as well as how testers think
this process feels. The prototype will be considered successful if players feel physicallychallenged by the manual shotgun pumping and precise timing required to hit the targets, aswell as if the feel of operating the shotgun is interpreted as kinetic. I plan to get feedback fromat least 4 different people. The test will be held informally outside of the QA lab.
Testing Setup & Procedure:
1. Explain concept of the system and controls to tester
2. Launch game and observe if tester notices instructions in game world. Record
observation.
3. Let tester play with the system as long as they like, since it is an endless shooting gallery.
4. Have tester fill out form
5. Thank tester for their time and feedback
Test Questions:
1. Did you think about the timing of your shots when aiming at the targets?
2. Did manually pumping the shotgun add another layer of physical challenge to theprocess of aiming and firing at targets?
3. Did you feel that your aim needed to be extremely precise to successfully hit atarget?
4. When pumping the shotgun, did you find yourself flicking the mouse as fast as
possible?
5. How would you describe the feeling of the process of aiming, pumping, and firing
the shotgun? Did it feel physical and kinetic?
6. Did the kickback of the shotgun require you to quickly readjust your aim when taking
follow up shots on missed targets?
7. Which aiming mode felt more accurate to you: shoulder aiming with the crosshair orsight aiming with the shotgun’s sight?

8. Did you prefer one aiming mode over the other? Why or why not?
Survey: https://goo.gl/forms/kJcDxmHKL4YoGts53

Test Results
Summary: Overall, the testing was a resounding success. I got five people to test the game,
which was one above my goal of four. Three of the testers do not normally play video games
which resulted in a less biased test. These same three testers have all fired shotguns and goneskeet shooting before, meaning they are familiar with the real life version of the experience I
intended to replicate. The other two testers are game production majors at Champlain College.
While neither of them typically play shooting games, this didn’t seem to affect their enjoymentof the game.
Survey Responses:
1. Did you think about the timing of your shots when aiming at the targets?
A) Yes: 5
B) No: 0
2. Did manually pumping the shotgun add another layer of physical challenge to theprocess of aiming and firing at targets?
A) Yes: 5
B) No: 0
3. Did you feel that your aim needed to be extremely precise to successfully hit atarget?
A) Yes: 4B) No: 0
C) Other: 1: “Not extremely, but within the boundaries of the crosshairs”
4. When pumping the shotgun, did you find yourself flicking the mouse as fast as
possible?
A) Yes: 2
B) No: 0
C) Sometimes: 3

5. How would you describe the feeling of the process of aiming, pumping, and firing
the shotgun? Did it feel physical and kinetic?
A) I felt involvedB) It felt really physical and kinetic, I love the use of the mouse to reload. Much
better than pressing some keyC) Yes and it was very satisfying when you hit a bird.
D) pumping and firing were some of the most enjoyable aspects of the game. I
also liked the sound effect of the shells hitting the ground, very realistic.
E) Since I've shot a real shotgun I felt that this game was very physical and kinetic.
6. Did the kickback of the shotgun require you to quickly readjust your aim when taking
follow up shots on missed targets?
A) Yes: 5
B) No: 0
7. Which aiming mode felt more precise/accurate to you: shoulder aiming with thecrosshair or sight aiming with the shotgun’s sight?
A) Sight aiming with shotgun’s sight: 4B) Shoulder aiming with crosshair: 1
8. Did you prefer one aiming mode over the other? Why or why not?
A) I liked the sight aiming because I felt more in control of where my shots wentB) I think both were fun, the shoulder aiming was harder due to the big size of thecrosshairs, but overall both were really fun.
C) Down the sights
D) I used the crosshair aiming more, just because I have done that in other games(I am not an experienced gamer, just casual player)E) I preferred the sight aiming and I seemed to hit more targets that way. I thinkbecause it allowed me to stop thinking about lining up the crosshairs and justrelax and hit the targets.
9. Any additional comments/suggestions/feedback?
A) this is great bB) This is epic, make a full gameC) very fun gg m8
D) It was particularly satisfying to hit the clays, though I enjoyed the wholeprocess, it reminded me of real clay bird shooting.
E) The audio effects on all the gun noises are very accurate. Also liked that you
added the noise of the shell hitting the ground. Visually I liked the smoke inbetween shots and I pretty much could smell it too! I was a little confused withthe movement tools, maybe because I'm not a big gamer, but I did figure it out.
Also, wasn't sure how to quit the game.
Resulting Observations:
1. Testers took the timing of their shots into account before firing
2. The manual shotgun pumping was found to be a physicality challenge
3. Tester’s generally preferred the sight aiming over the crosshair because it felt more
precise to them
4. Shooting the shotgun was interpreted as being kinetic and even realistic by two of
the testers who have used real shotguns
5. Shotgun recoil managed to add another layer of physicality to the experience
6. The speed at which the shotgun was pumped using the mouse didn’t seem to mattertoo muchAnalysis: Based on the responses to the survey, the prototype seems to have succeeded in bothdelivering a physicality based experience as well as delivering on the intended experience
outlined in the Intent Statement. It was also successful based on the success criteria outlined in
the QA plan. Testers understood the timing required to hit the targets by lining the sight up in
the targets arc instead of following it through the air. Having to manually pump the shotgun
managed to physically challenge the testers with an additional action to perform before
shooting again. However, the speed at which the shotgun is pumped in correlation with the
speed at which the mouse is moved didn’t seem to really affect the experience of many testers,
indicating that some tweaking of the pumping speed in response to slower mouse input vsfaster mouse input needs to occur to increase the effort required in this challenge.
Interestingly, all but one of the testers reported that the sight aiming mode was more precise
than using the crosshair, despite the fact that there was no programmed difference in shotaccuracy between the two modes. This indicates that a perceived difference in precision andaccuracy occurred when using the sight mode, perhaps due to the fact that using sights is moreaccurate in real life and the testers may have felt this in an immersive sense. The feel ofoperating the shotgun was described as kinetic and satisfying by the testers, meaning theexperience managed to convey physicality through its game feel successfully. Additionally, theaddition of recoil on the shotgun and the player’s aim added even more physicality to both the
gameplay and the game feel.
Survey Results:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1AXLZy_iuVJzZkVPpRi6I63y72hYEcGs3VTrNpgAcftw/edit#res
ponsesPost Mortem
As I alluded to in the QA results, this system was a resounding success in delivering on
its intended gameplay experience. Not only did all the testers find the game physicallychallenging, but also found the game to feel physical, which were the two core pillars of myintent for the system. Proper timing to hit the targets was a huge part of the experience for thetesters, and the manual pumping mechanic as well as the recoil and aiming modes of the
shotgun managed to deliver the intended physicality based gameplay.
What Worked:
1. The controls for pumping the shotgun as well as all the other shotgun operations
worked exactly as I had originally intended. They were streamlined, simple tounderstand, and satisfying to use.
2. Operating the shotgun actually felt like operating a shotgun. Testers described theuse of the shotgun as physical and kinetic, with those that have used shotguns inreal life describing it as realistic. This is mostly a result of the next point…
3. Gameplay feedback to the player was abundant and successful on both visual andaudio levels. The use of particle effects for the pellet impacts, muzzle flash and gun
smoke managed to go a long way in making the game feel be perceived as physical.
Including shattering on clay pigeons when they were hit was a good choice for
feedback, as hitting the clays was described as satisfying by the testers. Creating apunchy and powerful sound effect for firing the shotgun paid off, as some testers
said the audio was realistic and added to the physicality of the game feel. Lastly,even though I struggled with programming the vertical mouse recoil, it was a hugepart of getting the game to feel physical, as it provided actually kinetic feedback toplayers to indicate that the gun was moving without their input.
4. Using clay pigeons as targets made the experience much more physical than it
would’ve been with large stationary targets. Since the clays moved in predictablearcs, it also allowed players to become skilled with lining up their sights in these arcs

and firing at the precise moment the clay entered their sights. Additionally, having
multiple clays spawn at different times and in different spots at one of the stations
provided a nice physicality challenge, as players had to move their mouse quickly to
get combos on clays in different locations
What Didn’t Work:
1. The pumping speed of the shotgun didn’t seem to matter to most of the testers.
Originally, the pump was supposed to respond exactly to the speed at which themouse was being moved by the player, meaning the faster the mouse was moved,
the faster the pump would engage. In its current iteration, moving the mouse below
or above a certain threshold cause the pump to move towards its target. While thisstill feels good, it doesn’t offer a certain physical resistance that the pumps have inreal life that I would’ve liked to convey.
2. While this is not an issue with the system itself, I spent far too much time trying to
get the recoil on the mouse to work. While in the end it was worth it, programming
this type of feedback was far beyond my mathematical knowledge of rotations inUnity. The time spent on this feature would have allowed me to focus my efforts onother areas that needed improvement, such as extra sounds for the shotgun andmovement as well as a scoring system based on accuracy on the clay birds.
What I Learned:
Perhaps my biggest takeaway from the experience of designing this system was thatgame feel plays a significant part in making a player feel physically connected to their actions.
The amount of time spent tweaking the feel of the shotgun, from the screen shake and recoil
when shooting it to the sound of the shells falling in the correct direction after pumping, waswell worth the effort and without a doubt one of the most substantial factors in making thissystem a success in terms of physicality. I also learned that a game can have very streamlined
controls and still remain a physical experience. Many of the physicality based games that I
play, from action games to shooters, often feature rather complicated control schemes toachieve physicality in their game play (e.g Dark Souls, Squad). When designing this experience, I
wanted to make sure that my pumping controls would feel natural to use and would eventually
become second nature to the players. I believe I succeeded in that regard, as the testing results
indicate the players not only found the pumping to be an additional physical challenge in the
gameplay but also enjoyed using it. Overall, this experiment taught me that perfecting thefeeling of a game’s core mechanics is key to the entirety of the experience. If the shotgun didn’t
make any sound, visibly recoil after firing, have no movement on the pump, etc, I think that
players would’ve felt very differently about the experience.

Annotated Bibliography
Peljha, Z., Michaelides, M., & Collins, D. (2018). The relative importance of selected physical fitness
parameters in Olympic clay target shooting. Journal of Human Sport and Exercise, 13(3), 541552. doi:https://doi.org/10.14198/jhse.2018.133.06
This article discusses the different physical parameters that are required to be successful in the
sport of skeet shooting. Most of the article focuses on the sport itself and how factors likepostural stability, gun kinematics, and “Quiet Eye” influence an athlete’s performance in the
sport.
The paper beings by introducing the sport of skeet shooting and providing a clear and detailed
explanation as to what it entails. It then goes on to detail 4 separate physical parameters thathave been studied in relation to the sport: postural stability, strength, Quiet Eye duration, andmaximal oxygen consumption (VO²max).
Key takeaways:➢ Postural stability focuses on the correlation between physical steadiness andmarksmanship➢ Strength examines the correlation between shoulder and forearm muscular control and theability to stabilize a firearm➢ Quiet Eye is the idea of the “final fixation gaze to a target” before firing the weapon, or theperiod when the target has lined up perfectly with the gun sights during its flight arc

This article provided me with a lot of valuable information for designing the skeet shooting
aspects of my system. For example, the idea of the “Quiet Eye” is reflected in the gameplay, as
the best way to shoot and hit the targets is by waiting to fire until the “Quiet Eye” period has
occurred. I learned more about the physical aspects of skeet shooting and how to reflect thatexperience in a game system.

Rust LTD. Hot Dogs, Horseshoes, & Hand Grenades. Rust LTD. 5 April 2016. Video Game
Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades (H3VR) is VR sandbox gun simulation game currently
available in Steam Early Accessfor the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows Mixed Reality. The
gameplay revolves around experimenting in shooting ranges with hundreds of different
realistically modeled and operated firearms through purely physical & kinetic interactions.
Key takeaways:➢ Streamlined control scheme allows for natural feeling loading and handling of weapons➢ Kinetic gameplay feedback, or “game feel”, makes the experience feel extremely physical➢ Target shooting challenges involve both precision and timing to successfully hit targets➢ Limitless experimentation and immersive game feel induce flow
The highly kinetic game feel as well as the timing and precision based target shooting
challenges are what influenced the design of my system the most from H3VR. The physicality
involved in both loading/operating weapons (especially the shotguns) and the proper timing tohit moving targets in the shooting ranges is especially unique to this game, and I really aimed totranslate that physicality to a non-VR game. I learned the importance of game feel in regards tophysicality while deconstructing this game, as a huge part of the game’s physical attributes
come from the kinetic feeling of every interaction.
Swink, Steve. “Game Feel: The Secret Ingredient.” Gamasutra , 23 Nov. 2007,www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130734/game_feel_the_secret_ingredient.php.
This article describes the phenomenon of game feel and design techniques and processes toimprove the game feel of any game. It is both an informative and instructional article, as theinformation defines the concept of game feel and breaks down in detail some good game feeldesign practices.
The article begins by describing what game feel is and how powerful it can be to a player
experience. After this, most of the rest of the article breaks down a 6 step process for achieving
optimal game feel for any system. The article concludes by asking the user to consider theaesthetic qualities of game feel and how it can truly make or break an experience.
Key takeaways:➢ Input is how players express their intent to the game system➢ Response is the way in which the system processes and modifies this input➢ Context determines the meaning behind the systems. Without it, even the best feelingsystems have nothing➢ Polish is what creates the physicality of the system’s feel; animations, sounds, and input
driven effects➢ The “Metaphor” of the experience ties emotion to the motion of the system and helps
prevent frustration➢ Rules provide additional challenges with the tweaking of variables
I found this article extremely useful when creating my system and designing my intended
experience. The kinetic feeling I aimed to achieve was influenced largely by the information
provided in this article about input (manual pumping), response and polish (audio andanimations), while the timing and precision challenges (shooting the clay birds) came frominformation related to the context and rules sections. I learned the basic steps to achieving
optimal game feel, and I will be using the information in this article quite a lot in the future.

“What Is the Role of Reloading as a Game Mechanic? .” Medium.com, Medium, 22 Aug. 2018,
medium.com/rock-milk/what-is-the-role-of-reloading-as-a-game-mechanic-10f9e67ccc42.
This article discusses the idea of a reloading mechanic in shooting games, researches thevarious types of reloading in these games, and considers whether the mechanic is essential or
not to the shooter experience. The article also establishes the idea of “needs vs wants” inrelation to game mechanics; needs are mechanics that are essential for the game to be fun
while wants are simply desired because they’re interesting.
The article begins by introducing the concept of reloading in games and with an anecdote abouta game jam shooting game that added reloading simply because it was a shooter. This
prompted the author to want to research if reloading is a “need or want” in shooter games. In
the research section, the article examines various types of common reload systems found ingames, such as simple button press reload, no reload, active reload, and more. The article
concludes by declaring reloading as a needed mechanic in shooters, as it complements shooting
by creating extra tension and also fits thematically.
Key takeaways:➢ Plain, button based reloads exchange a period of vulnerability for increased battle
readiness to limit the duration of encounters➢ No reloading makes a shooter feel more fast paced and encourages constant encounters➢ Heat gun reloads strike a balance between plain and no reloading➢ Active reloading makes reloading into a player skill that can be learned and mastered,increasing interaction and reward potential
This article was important in helping me identify ways in which reload mechanics contribute tothe overall experience in a shooting game. This article taught me that the shotgun pumping
mechanic in my system is a part of the active reloading category, as it allows reloading tobecome a skill that can be mastered in tandem with shooting and aiming.

Additional Sources➢ Clay pigeon parabola arc script by “DitzelGames”:
https://gist.github.com/ditzel/68be36987d8e7c83d48f497294c66e08➢ Wood materials on shotgun by “Mezanix”:
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/textures-materials/wood/high-quality-realisticwood-textures-mega-pack-75831➢ Metal materials on shotgun by “Yughues”:
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/textures-materials/metals/yughues-free-metalmaterials-12949➢ Shotgun shell samples from Audiokinetic Wwise 101 Tutorial➢ All other audio source samples used when creating sound effects found in the Public
Domain