On 10th September, Game Dev Essentials – an event supported by Double Eleven took place at The Baltic in Gateshead. Michela Vilinskis has summarised the insights shared by Andrew Willans (Design Director) on his presentation on “flow state and following the fun” on DeathSprint 66. At the time, Andrew was Game Director at Sumo Digital Ltd (Newcastle) and currently the studio Design Director of a mystery start up.
The event formed part of the Game Republic programme of 2025 supported by Red Kite Games, Barclays Games and Creative and Xsolla.
At the start of the session, Andrew highlighted the meaning of Flow.
“Flow, is a state in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement and enjoyment”
How DeathSprint 66 supported flow state gameplay
Following the definition Andrew emphasised to support fast, fluid, flow-state gameplay, the team focused on minimizing unnecessary mental overhead while still allowing for meaningful skill expression. Three design decisions were vital and a key focus for the team:
- Smart auto-attachment to traversal elements. Replacing the need for a manual “hold-to-stick” input with a soft magnetic snap. Allowing players to automatically connect to traversal ingredients like ziplines, rail grinds, and wall runs without needing extra button presses.
- Automating non-core inputs. Inputs that didn’t contribute to the core gameplay challenge were removed. providing the example of punching which Andrew explained, had an extremely tight timing window coupled with forcing a dedicated button press, only overloaded players without adding any real skill.
- Intuitive genre aligned control mapping matching controls to established player expectations, allowing players to instantly understand simple mechanics which meant they were easy to learn with practically zero friction.
By making adaptations within the games mechanics/gameplay the team were able to help solidify experiences that helped “support flow-state gameplay and reduce mental strain for players.”
The Importance of An Original Concept Deck
DeathSprint 66’s original concept deck showed a bold vision that the team chased. Breaking these down Andrew shared how they were able to deliver on nearly everything they had initially outlined back in 2018.
- Unapologetic violent spectacle. Leaning in to over the top violence, despite knowing that this could limit audience reach.
- Dual celebration of performance. Celebrating player popularity through in game reward tracks alongside rewarding race position.
- A world actively trying to kill you. Through the use of hazards, traps and chaotic moments players were placed in a hostile environment, leaning into making it feel like it wanted players to fail etc.
Lessons Learned
“An idea in your head is worthless until it exists in a real, playable form”
With the games success and teams overall aims achieved, Andrew took the final few minutes to discuss what truly mattered from the project, that being the key takeaways from DeathSprint 66’s journey from paper to playable.
Having one single, consistent voice or vision holder ensure clarity and helps to drive the vision in the right direction. Strong pillars can become a compass and are always there for inspiration, alignment or even justification if needed. He emphasised the importance of communication and sharing the vision. Trusting your team and making sure everyone understands why the game exists.
Equally important, was the inevitability of disagreements and even though these do happen, it’s important to commit and move forward with decisions on the back of these. He also highlighted the importance of being flexible with shifting constraints, business pressures or gate reviews, advising they will come but that flexibility is key to being able to deal with these. Lastly, the importance of acting fast with your creativity and above all, Andrew stressed “An idea in your head is worthless until it exists in a real, playable form” driving the message that if you have an idea, work on it, shape it, create it and share it.
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