How tight deadlines led to a fun shopping cart controller in Grocery Trip
The 2023 Game Developers Conference will once again feature Alt.Ctrl.GDC , an exhibition dedicated to games that use alternative control schemes and interactions in new, exciting, and clever ways. Ahead of GDC 2023, Game Developer will be talking to the developers of each of the games that have been selected for the showcase.
In Grocery Trip, players run cooperative errands with a shopping cart controller: one person steers while the other grabs food and punches customers.
Sara Brugioli, one of the game's designers, took some time to chat with Game Developer about how they turned the misery of grocery shopping experience into something fun, how the shape and feel of a shopping cart affected the game's design, and how designing the controller and game in a short amount of time helped them hone Grocery Trip to its best form.
What’s your name, and what was your role on this project?
My name is Sara Brugioli, and I am the vision owner and one of the game designers of Grocery Trip. I initially conceptualized the first prototype of the game.
How do you describe your innovative controller to someone who’s completely unfamiliar with it?
When describing our controller, I usually tell people that the concept of the game is based on two things. The first is the near-universal experience of getting in a cart and being pushed around at breakneck speed by your friends (when young and stupid…). The controller is also based on the frustration that many people have felt when shopping when other people just stand in front of the items you need or want.
So, our controller allows people to replicate these experiences in a video game, while splitting the tasks between two players—one driving and controlling the trolley, the
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