Weekly Summary: 4

18:59 BA2a , Interactivity , Research 0 Comments

At the start of this week, I blocked out the majority of my map to use as a basis for the game, building from the tutorial I'd followed on creating a 2D platformer from scratch.

I was introduced to the use of a construction script alongside the typical event script, both were used
in creation of the lift.




I'm unsure as to the use of the lifts in my actual game, but for now they're staying to playtest my level as I work on implementing the core mechanics. I now had the working bare bones of my prototype.

Lecture: Lean, MVP, and Playtesting

We had a lecture that covered a brief history of development models, ways of working to generate content, a game, in the most efficient way possible. There's the linear waterfall model...

The agile/scrum model...


The Lean method, brilliant for startup and smaller indie endeavors...the 5 whys are a way of tackling a problem, to keep drilling down by asking why, what is the root of everything?



And a break down graph that shows what this all really means


From a simple look, you can see the Lean method goes through the same process very quickly again and again, it fails faster to work out problems at much quicker pace, eliminating waste. The lean philosophy dictates that anything not adding value to the customer is  waste, waste can include unnecessary code and functionality, delay in software development process, unclear requirements, insufficient testing, bureaucracy and slow internal communication.



Amplify learning by testing the second something is done to change and alter and get feedback as soon as possible, this will get your product to where you want it to be much faster. Deciding as late as possible is another good factor of Lean, software development comes with a lot of uncertainty and making important decisions is best left until later, where you can make decisions based on fact rather than presumption.

An MVP, as Eric Ries Author of "The Lean Startup" describes, is a "version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort". So for my prototype, I need to create the core "game loop" which makes my game enjoyable and invokes flow, test it to see how it works and adjust accordingly. An Indie company would have very few developers, a few months to create their game and have a few mechanics to fine tune. To test the market with their MVP also.

Playtesting is imperative, but feedback must be valid, be it personal or from forms to gather metric data. Personal data can be good from a small pool of people, as it can illuminate issues that metric data might not be able to show you.

NPC BLUEPRINTS

I soon tackled blueprinting NPCs into my game, who I want to flavor my game world , I followed a tutorial to find a base but had to fashion my own set of nodes.


The basic components were a mesh or sprite, a text renderer, a box collision and a scene root. I wanted text to appear when you approach an NPC and leave when you left, and I could program text appearing when near, but couldn't make it leave, or more obtusely, text would already be present but coming close to the sprite would make it disappear.


However, I deferred from the tutorial and added variables, one to appear when close and another of blank text to appear when leaving, this got me exactly what I wanted.



I also wanted my character to feel uncomfortably quick, so experimented with the general character settings and ramped up max acceleration and max speed, however I may have to learn to remove the speed up and have my character sprinting straight away. Some brief feedback I received was that the fast movement felt like a joy, it was liberating to move so quickly. The NPCs were used as landmarks around the map and the boost offered by a fast moving lift, if a jump was timed correctly, would catapult you high, an anomaly as a mechanic! Enemies were also blueprinted, with collisions, that teleport the player back to the start if they reach you.




RESEARCH LECTURE

Within our first Research lecture, we were introduced to the topic of Creating Coherent Worlds, how fictional worlds are built and how we as people at a very young age imagine worlds to enter and interact in, from cardboard boxes to table tops with Lego sets. Whilst we're making games on a rather small scale, how can we think about our fabricated game worlds on a larger scale? Whats influenced us? And what are the origins of the game worlds many of us escape to today?

The game Circus Charlie, a rather old game now, took direct inspiration from the Circus and used its aesthetic and music  to translate into a game; people like going to the circus for entertainment, surely a game based around it would be appealing?

The game Kingdom hearts, a collaboration between Disney and Square Enix, has Final Fantasy characters intermingling with Disney characters, it works surprisingly well with a Pop aesthetic twist to the conventional Square Enix tropes. The character Pinocchio comes from Carlo Collodi 's story, written in 1881, which was translated into a Disney film which has then been blended into Kingdom Hearts, a whole world called Prankster's Paradise is present in the game and must be explored. The film AI takes a sci-fi approach to the tale, the wooden puppet becomes a robot child and the Blue Fairy is a strange projection from extraterrestrial beings.

Bioshock Infinite's world however  has roots in the "ideal America" and theme parks like Coney Island. One can see how all breathing, alive worlds designed and made to exist in games have strong links to other real life entertainments and how these have contributed to entertainment today, in the form of games. For my 3000 word research task, I'm to unpick game worlds and analyse what has fed into their creation.

Playboard and Sketches


Sketching out mechanics such as character interaction, use of the harp item and two movement modes, I realised  I didn't know exactly what I wanted my character to look like.

So I sketched out some silhouettes and began iterating.




I soon decided on an idea, and explored through sketches what I wanted from my simplistic design. The sun and moon no longer being your guides or helpers, I like this idea of an inanimate mask that when put on speaks through your mute character, and can give you hints and tips as to what to do next. Advice and her personality would change depending on what mode you would speak to her in.






I then sketched a side on view, painted in photoshop and began using the animation software Spriter to cut up my sprite to be animated for my game.


I've been learning to place down bones to rig my character, to animate a walk cycle. I hope to have a few animations in my prototype, if I can add them in the end!