Hey all,
The fifth and final round of rapid prototyping for the semester is upon us. This round our goal is to polish a game we created in a previous round. Our team from round three enjoyed working together and created an all around fun game in Arcane Furor so we reformed our team. We had a lot of design ideas were weren’t able to get into the game on the first go around along with various challenges we simply did not have time to fix.
Our programmers jumped strait in and refactored the code. This fixed a big memory issue we had during round three that restricted us from adding some additional features. The programmers have also added in the ability to select the number of players. They have also added in game states including menu, game, and pause states allowing us to add in GUI system which is one of our main goals for this round.
Our artist has also done some fixing of his own. He has expanded the number of character models from one to four and the models are currently being tweaked to have more contrast with each other. He is also working to create two additional levels. Each level will incorporate its own unique feature such as level deterioration.
Our producers have done their share of work as well. We did initial design work to find what features would add to our current game and were within our scope. This round is about polish so we are making some minor additions while still focusing on making the game look and play at its best. Tom has already upgraded all the particle effects associated with the various spells. I am in charge of organizing the team including scheduling meetings, recording meeting minutes and maintaining team communication. I have been working primarily on the GUI including designing the menu structure and functionality and developing the assets for the GUI. I have also done some minor coding including adding additional controller functionality and creating additional build configurations.
Things I have done:
Designed menu structure and functionality
Minor code changes (additional controller functionality, added build configurations)
Created team schedule
Recorded meeting minutes
Until next time,
Reid
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Final polish round for Cohort 5
For round 5 we're polishing a previously created game and our programmer Darrell convinced us to continue work on his round 2 project, Dick Squirle: Private Investigator.
The original gameplay relied heavily on audio clues to tell you what was going on and the mechanic was to explore the rats' hideout and retrieve the diamond without being caught by the rat henchmen. You could walk normally or use a sneak feature that allowed you to pass by the rats at a closer radius without them being alerted to your presence. The level began on the rooftop where you listened to dialogue between two rats, then you climbed down an airduct and traveled through the duct maze until you dropped out into the warehouse. From there, you snuck around crates of TNT, avoiding drawing the attention of the randomly placed rat henchmen, and eventually you'd find the stolen diamond, pick it up, and the exit door would unlock to end the level.
The flaws we found were that the sneak mechanic was a bit tedious and didn't offer any alternative way to navigate the level. So our first addition to the gameplay was to add a throwing mechanism where we could throw two different projectiles, cheese (to lure enemies) or acorns (to stun them on impact). Also in the original version the nut diamond was just sitting out in the open and once you picked it up, an alarm would sound and you had to get to the warehouse doors. We wanted to actually include Big Ratsy as a "boss" character, so we're making the doors lead to his lair rather than the game over screen.
The game originally started with the newspaper scene telling the Nut Diamond was stolen, Dick Squirle is on the case, etc. and then just dropped the player on the roof with little to no direction. We decided to remove the ambient dialogue of the two rat henchmen on the roof and replace that all with a mouse informant standing near the air duct.
Kait's mouse model, complete with jaunty cap
Upon approach he'll tell Dick the first part of the boss' password and tell him what to do next. This will lead the player down the air duct maze and eventually down into the warehouse.
The original level design
The warehouse was determined to be too bland and needed some variety, which upon analysis was seen to be too much of a linear maze - something we already had in the air duct area. So we're working on retexturing some of the crates and walls to make them pop a little more, some additional objects (barrels, signs on the walls), and improving the lighting. The diamond will also not be just sitting out in the open, but rather once the player finds the other 3 mice with the pieces of the password to the boss' office, they will enter the office door and confront Big Ratsy who holds the diamond.
I've taken up the task of redesigning the menu screens and doing the credit reel, using a Film Noir motif for it all to keep the theme of the game. I'm also going to work on the sound design a bit more as well as modeling some of the warehouse items.
The original gameplay relied heavily on audio clues to tell you what was going on and the mechanic was to explore the rats' hideout and retrieve the diamond without being caught by the rat henchmen. You could walk normally or use a sneak feature that allowed you to pass by the rats at a closer radius without them being alerted to your presence. The level began on the rooftop where you listened to dialogue between two rats, then you climbed down an airduct and traveled through the duct maze until you dropped out into the warehouse. From there, you snuck around crates of TNT, avoiding drawing the attention of the randomly placed rat henchmen, and eventually you'd find the stolen diamond, pick it up, and the exit door would unlock to end the level.
The flaws we found were that the sneak mechanic was a bit tedious and didn't offer any alternative way to navigate the level. So our first addition to the gameplay was to add a throwing mechanism where we could throw two different projectiles, cheese (to lure enemies) or acorns (to stun them on impact). Also in the original version the nut diamond was just sitting out in the open and once you picked it up, an alarm would sound and you had to get to the warehouse doors. We wanted to actually include Big Ratsy as a "boss" character, so we're making the doors lead to his lair rather than the game over screen.
The game originally started with the newspaper scene telling the Nut Diamond was stolen, Dick Squirle is on the case, etc. and then just dropped the player on the roof with little to no direction. We decided to remove the ambient dialogue of the two rat henchmen on the roof and replace that all with a mouse informant standing near the air duct.
Kait's mouse model, complete with jaunty cap
Upon approach he'll tell Dick the first part of the boss' password and tell him what to do next. This will lead the player down the air duct maze and eventually down into the warehouse.
The original level design
The warehouse was determined to be too bland and needed some variety, which upon analysis was seen to be too much of a linear maze - something we already had in the air duct area. So we're working on retexturing some of the crates and walls to make them pop a little more, some additional objects (barrels, signs on the walls), and improving the lighting. The diamond will also not be just sitting out in the open, but rather once the player finds the other 3 mice with the pieces of the password to the boss' office, they will enter the office door and confront Big Ratsy who holds the diamond.
I've taken up the task of redesigning the menu screens and doing the credit reel, using a Film Noir motif for it all to keep the theme of the game. I'm also going to work on the sound design a bit more as well as modeling some of the warehouse items.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Airfoil with lift
Fluid flow past an airfoil.
Any ideas for how to use this in a game?
Maybe a puzzle game where you have to get a paper airplane to strike a target...?
Final Thoughts on Wall E
ASSIGNMENT
Wall E:Eve's Garden was made in exactly 2 weeks time by a team of five people. There were two producers, one programmer, and two artist's working on this project. The goal was to use an existing intellectual property(IP for short) to make a game that utilizes indirect control. Using indirect control, developers can give players the illusion that they have lots of freedom to explore,when really they don't.
OVERVIEW
Our IP assignment was Wall_E. We decided to design our game around both the IP and the demographic it targets. Specifically, the demographic we targeted was children ages 10 & up. Thus, our controls & puzzle's were only as complex as the demographic required. Once Steve and I finished the level design we separated into two teams to complete the game. The programming team consisted of Victor and myself. Victor designed the games architecture and then delegated me programming task's. Steve, Carlos and Katie made up our art team. Katie did all the character modeling while Carlos and Steve did the environmental modeling.
MY CONTRIBUTION
For this round, I played the role of both a designer and programmer. As a designer, I collaborated with Steve to create the core mechanic's and level design. Our level design was challenging because we had to implement indirect control. The two tools we used to create indirect control was orientation and line of sight. By starting the player off facing a specific direction, we were able focus their attention toward the first important location in the level. Using boxes to block the players view, we directed them in direction's we wanted them to visit.
As a programmer, i learned how to use XNA's audio authoring tool [called XACT] to create sound files called "cue's". I them implemented the code that allowed the engine to read the "cue's". I also wrote the code that allowed our roach character [Hal], to travel through cracks in the walls. I accomplished this by using collision sphere's as "triggers" to let me know when Hal was about to collide with a crack; then i reset Hal's position to the corresponding crack. Lastly, I created spatial sound triggers that allowed certain sound's to be played when the player is at a specific area of the level.
AGILE MANAGEMENT
Just as i did last round, i again implemented agile management techniques using SCRUM. Since RPP is very short on time with very small teams, i tailored SCRUM so that it would be most beneficial to my teams situation. The heart of SCRUM is the daily meetings during which each team member answers three questions. These questions are meant to "synchronize" the team so that everyone knows what each other is doing. Every day at noon we held our 15min daily meetings.
CONCLUSION
Wall E was warmly accepted as our IP on day one, and we all embraced it during the two weeks. The end result was a polished game with a fun mechanic and enticing sound. We were fortunate to have such a talented, well balanced team. Carlos, Katie, and Steve worked very diligently on the art assets. Our characters and environment not only look great, but they truly capture the feel of the IP. Victor is very talented and extremely determined; he accomplished everything asked of him and more. I would happily work with any of them again. Great job Victor, Carlos, Katie and Steve.
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