Friday, 13 December 2013
Week 11 in Game Design
Since there was no lab in order for everyone to get ready for the presentation or perform them, there was no lecture either and no classes to attend, the game idea was basically finished but we polished up a few aspects that weren't essential for the presentation.
Week 10 in Game Design
During this week me and Gregor were busy getting prepared for the pitch and were gathering our materials into a constructive and understandable presentation along with our games design document.
We also added in the finishing touches to the game such as what controls were to be used, the basic system would include a champion which was controlled by a mouse click indicating where the champion was to go, a spell or ability system which is numbered 1 2 3 and 4. The tab button would display the scoreboard.
Esc brings up the menu to change options or exit the game. There will be an option to program extra commands in game with hotkeys that are editable in the options menu.
The scroll wheel or home / end will scroll the camera in and out.
S key stops the character where they are and B accesses the nearby shop.
Players who access the shop will be allowed to buy weapons and armour depending on what their character would need, allowing them to increase their combat ability.
The stats are not final but will follow the basic fantasy RPG style.
Strength - Increase physical attack
Agility - Increase range attack
Arcane - Increase magic damage
Defense - Increase amount of damage that is absorbed passively
Shortsword: +10 Strength
Mask of Shadows: +15 Arcane / + 30 Arcane penetration / Activate to cloak the user for five seconds.
Battleworn Shield: +100 Health / + 30 Defense
Battle Stompers: + 150 Health / +10 Strength / Allows user to walk through enemies while dealing damage.
Pristine Gemscope: +10 Agility / + 10 Armour penetration
We also added in the finishing touches to the game such as what controls were to be used, the basic system would include a champion which was controlled by a mouse click indicating where the champion was to go, a spell or ability system which is numbered 1 2 3 and 4. The tab button would display the scoreboard.
Esc brings up the menu to change options or exit the game. There will be an option to program extra commands in game with hotkeys that are editable in the options menu.
The scroll wheel or home / end will scroll the camera in and out.
S key stops the character where they are and B accesses the nearby shop.
Players who access the shop will be allowed to buy weapons and armour depending on what their character would need, allowing them to increase their combat ability.
The stats are not final but will follow the basic fantasy RPG style.
Strength - Increase physical attack
Agility - Increase range attack
Arcane - Increase magic damage
Defense - Increase amount of damage that is absorbed passively
Shortsword: +10 Strength
Mask of Shadows: +15 Arcane / + 30 Arcane penetration / Activate to cloak the user for five seconds.
Battleworn Shield: +100 Health / + 30 Defense
Battle Stompers: + 150 Health / +10 Strength / Allows user to walk through enemies while dealing damage.
Pristine Gemscope: +10 Agility / + 10 Armour penetration
Week 9 in Game Design
Today in our lecture we were looking at game balance and how difficult it is to make an effective and fun game balance. We looked at multiple tried and tested ways of game balancing including:
Static balancing, this class involves building the game so that the game is fair and that nothing can break the rules of the game or interact with it in ways that the programmers didn't design. This is most often used to prevent one dominant strategy from arising since it would be unfair to punish players who want to be different by giving them a disadvantage.
The easiest way of achieving static balance is by making sure that all plays, and AI start and play with the same equipment, conditions and abilities. This ensures that nobody is left with an unfair advantage but it can make the game seem very boring if done incorrectly. Another way of achieving this kind of balance is by giving players equipment and abilities that are the equivalent to the other side.
Transitive relationships is a form of balancing where one entity (Weapon, armour, ability) is useful in a wide variety of situations and this will usually cost more currency / time to acquire ensuring that you have to work for the better gear.
The flip side to this is Intransitive relationships, where elements are effective against another element, but each to a certain element. An example of this would be the classic game Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Rock beats scissors, scissors beat paper and paper beats rock.
This ensures a fair play between all three elements depending on the situation, and is used for real time strategy games and RPGs. An example for how it would work in a strategy game would be having three unit types. For example, Infantry, Air and Vehicle. The infantry would be effective against air, air would be effective against vehicles and vehicles would be effective against infantry.
Something the developers might not be able to prevent is emergence. Emergence occurs when a player finds a combination of certain elements and can create a completely new style of playing that wasn't foreseen during production of the game.
If emergence is handled well, it can make a game that is quirky and fun to play since you can develop your own style of game play, however if it is done badly the nit could lead to there becoming a dominant strategy which we have already identified as a bad point to a game.
Difficulty levels are another thing that is hard to balance during game design, since players with different skill ranges will be playing the game. If you have only one mode of difficulty then it can lead to players either being bored or frustrated depending on their skill level.
One way to avoid this is to include difficulty levels in which the game can be played, but this can be seen to be the lazy option since players that have to play on the easiest option will feel pressured to play on a higher level.
Another way of developing skill level is by allowing the AI to grow and level up depending on how well the player is progressing skill wise. Intelligent AI design allows them to adapt strategy depending on how good the player is which can lead to enemies growing in level, being smarter, more tactical and a number of things.
All of these things attribute to making a balanced game and will be important to look at when making a game
oba games typically have three lanes connecting the bases with a "river" running perpendicular and we thought it best to continue this trend. Below is the map Summoner's Rift from League of Legends.
http://static1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130131074330/leagueoflegends/images/archive/4/49/20131205125131!Summoner's_Rift_jungle_map_with_monsters.png
Our map layout will be of a similar style with slight alterations. Traditionally the middle lane is a straight path between the bases. We feel it would be good to have some sort of feature in the centre of the map with the lane going past it.The map is asymmetrical to a point, each important point on the map is mirrored and flipped in order to maintain a sense of balance while keeping the map interesting.
The area in between lanes in Moba games is known as the jungle. Within the jungle there are a number of enemies for the player to slay for experience and gold.
Jungle Monsters:
Giant Bear - Large bear and cub, Bear gives a buff granting extra health and resource regeneration in addition to gold.
Serpents - Grouping of 3 snake like creatures, one of which grants more gold and experience and is stronger than the other 2.
Sylph - Group of 5 air spirits.One of which is stronger and grants more gold and experience when slain.
Cyclops - Single enemy, strongest of the above enemies excluding the Giant bear.
In addition to the jungle creatures, each faction has an epic creature on their side that resides in the jungle. In order to slay the enemy epic, the central crystal must be in their factions control.
The Holy Order:
Gabriel is an angelic being that is seen as a messenger for the Sky Empire. With wings as white as snow, this being wards off enemies with waves of pure energy.
Energy ward: Gabriel is immune to all debuffs.
Heretic's Curse: The nearest enemy takes increased damage from all sources.
Blinding Light: All nearby enemies are blinded for 2 seconds.
Lights Binding: Snares all nearby enemies for 1 second.
The Shadow Sect:
Old Oak is a giant gnarled treant that channels natures spirits through it's leaves. It swings it's it's branches violently to defend against attackers.
Old Oak has a number of abilities it uses when being attacked by the Sky Empire.
Tough Bark: Old Oak is immune to all debuffs.
Thrashing branches: Old Oak lashes out with his branches smashing the nearest enemy for a lot of damage.
Seedling's Aid:Old Oak summons a seedling that runs a short distance away, taunting all nearby enemies for 2 seconds.
Force of Nature:Old Oak knocks back all close range enemies with a sudden gust of wind from his branches.
This is the layout of our map with the key showing each important area and enemy.
.
Static balancing, this class involves building the game so that the game is fair and that nothing can break the rules of the game or interact with it in ways that the programmers didn't design. This is most often used to prevent one dominant strategy from arising since it would be unfair to punish players who want to be different by giving them a disadvantage.
The easiest way of achieving static balance is by making sure that all plays, and AI start and play with the same equipment, conditions and abilities. This ensures that nobody is left with an unfair advantage but it can make the game seem very boring if done incorrectly. Another way of achieving this kind of balance is by giving players equipment and abilities that are the equivalent to the other side.
Transitive relationships is a form of balancing where one entity (Weapon, armour, ability) is useful in a wide variety of situations and this will usually cost more currency / time to acquire ensuring that you have to work for the better gear.
The flip side to this is Intransitive relationships, where elements are effective against another element, but each to a certain element. An example of this would be the classic game Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Rock beats scissors, scissors beat paper and paper beats rock.
This ensures a fair play between all three elements depending on the situation, and is used for real time strategy games and RPGs. An example for how it would work in a strategy game would be having three unit types. For example, Infantry, Air and Vehicle. The infantry would be effective against air, air would be effective against vehicles and vehicles would be effective against infantry.
Something the developers might not be able to prevent is emergence. Emergence occurs when a player finds a combination of certain elements and can create a completely new style of playing that wasn't foreseen during production of the game.
If emergence is handled well, it can make a game that is quirky and fun to play since you can develop your own style of game play, however if it is done badly the nit could lead to there becoming a dominant strategy which we have already identified as a bad point to a game.
Difficulty levels are another thing that is hard to balance during game design, since players with different skill ranges will be playing the game. If you have only one mode of difficulty then it can lead to players either being bored or frustrated depending on their skill level.
One way to avoid this is to include difficulty levels in which the game can be played, but this can be seen to be the lazy option since players that have to play on the easiest option will feel pressured to play on a higher level.
Another way of developing skill level is by allowing the AI to grow and level up depending on how well the player is progressing skill wise. Intelligent AI design allows them to adapt strategy depending on how good the player is which can lead to enemies growing in level, being smarter, more tactical and a number of things.
All of these things attribute to making a balanced game and will be important to look at when making a game
oba games typically have three lanes connecting the bases with a "river" running perpendicular and we thought it best to continue this trend. Below is the map Summoner's Rift from League of Legends.
http://static1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130131074330/leagueoflegends/images/archive/4/49/20131205125131!Summoner's_Rift_jungle_map_with_monsters.png
Our map layout will be of a similar style with slight alterations. Traditionally the middle lane is a straight path between the bases. We feel it would be good to have some sort of feature in the centre of the map with the lane going past it.The map is asymmetrical to a point, each important point on the map is mirrored and flipped in order to maintain a sense of balance while keeping the map interesting.
The area in between lanes in Moba games is known as the jungle. Within the jungle there are a number of enemies for the player to slay for experience and gold.
Jungle Monsters:
Giant Bear - Large bear and cub, Bear gives a buff granting extra health and resource regeneration in addition to gold.
Serpents - Grouping of 3 snake like creatures, one of which grants more gold and experience and is stronger than the other 2.
Sylph - Group of 5 air spirits.One of which is stronger and grants more gold and experience when slain.
Cyclops - Single enemy, strongest of the above enemies excluding the Giant bear.
In addition to the jungle creatures, each faction has an epic creature on their side that resides in the jungle. In order to slay the enemy epic, the central crystal must be in their factions control.
The Holy Order:
Gabriel is an angelic being that is seen as a messenger for the Sky Empire. With wings as white as snow, this being wards off enemies with waves of pure energy.
Energy ward: Gabriel is immune to all debuffs.
Heretic's Curse: The nearest enemy takes increased damage from all sources.
Blinding Light: All nearby enemies are blinded for 2 seconds.
Lights Binding: Snares all nearby enemies for 1 second.
The Shadow Sect:
Old Oak is a giant gnarled treant that channels natures spirits through it's leaves. It swings it's it's branches violently to defend against attackers.
Old Oak has a number of abilities it uses when being attacked by the Sky Empire.
Tough Bark: Old Oak is immune to all debuffs.
Thrashing branches: Old Oak lashes out with his branches smashing the nearest enemy for a lot of damage.
Seedling's Aid:Old Oak summons a seedling that runs a short distance away, taunting all nearby enemies for 2 seconds.
Force of Nature:Old Oak knocks back all close range enemies with a sudden gust of wind from his branches.
Week 8 in Game Design
Today's lecture was about defining fun and how to inject that into our games without it feeling forced or passing the majority of players over, however defining what "fun" is is a difficult process.
If we define fun we find that to some extent it is the enjoyment and want to engage in an activity for pleasure.
The problem arising here since what is fun for one person would not be fun for another person, and even within certain genre of games the way in which the game is delivered can vastly effect how enjoyable the game is.
Some people say that fun arises from making a series of choices to suit how you would approach a situation, others say that fun comes from working out the pattern in a game since humans look for patterns in everything.
Even so, if we do manage to find a game that is "fun" we also come across problems. If we say "fun" is excitement, enjoyment and being happy, what if we play a game that is deliberately scary or sad? fun isnt the only emotion that is craved for in games and as such it would be very hard to base a game entirely on fun since it would not be very engaging. In fact games with other themes such as horror or psychological or even games that make us sympathetic for the character who is going through something sad are considered some of the best games. You could not say that while watching a character die or suffer would be considered fun (at least not in most circumstances) but you could still say that you enjoy the game.
You could say that learning in a game, whether emotionally, skill wise or other is where the fun comes from in games, since humans are constantly striving to learn. Experimentation and learning how to use things in a game that you would not be able to use in real life is what some people consider to be fun.
Overall, it is difficult to define what "Fun" is and how to inject it into a game. Creating something which will make someone smile for a short while but then also get bored and move onto something else is very easy, whereas creating something that makes players sad or frustrated but gripped in the seats until they advance story or gameplay wise is difficult and another matter entirely.
If we define fun we find that to some extent it is the enjoyment and want to engage in an activity for pleasure.
The problem arising here since what is fun for one person would not be fun for another person, and even within certain genre of games the way in which the game is delivered can vastly effect how enjoyable the game is.
Some people say that fun arises from making a series of choices to suit how you would approach a situation, others say that fun comes from working out the pattern in a game since humans look for patterns in everything.
Even so, if we do manage to find a game that is "fun" we also come across problems. If we say "fun" is excitement, enjoyment and being happy, what if we play a game that is deliberately scary or sad? fun isnt the only emotion that is craved for in games and as such it would be very hard to base a game entirely on fun since it would not be very engaging. In fact games with other themes such as horror or psychological or even games that make us sympathetic for the character who is going through something sad are considered some of the best games. You could not say that while watching a character die or suffer would be considered fun (at least not in most circumstances) but you could still say that you enjoy the game.
You could say that learning in a game, whether emotionally, skill wise or other is where the fun comes from in games, since humans are constantly striving to learn. Experimentation and learning how to use things in a game that you would not be able to use in real life is what some people consider to be fun.
Overall, it is difficult to define what "Fun" is and how to inject it into a game. Creating something which will make someone smile for a short while but then also get bored and move onto something else is very easy, whereas creating something that makes players sad or frustrated but gripped in the seats until they advance story or gameplay wise is difficult and another matter entirely.
Week 7 in Game Design
During this weeks discussion as a group we decided to focus on fleshing out the character aspect of the game, drifting slightly off of the 'holy trinity' of RPGs we decided to follow the typical MOBA style having two archtypes of character classes. Damage and support. Support characters will include various subtypes within such as utility characters, healer characters and tank characters, their main focus is to suppor tthe damage characters and ensure they will get kills/ stay alive. The damage class is the class main focused on getting kills, and they will split into three different subclasses too, Ranged (with weapons) Melee (With swords) and Magic.
Some examples of characters for the different factions:
Mercenaries:
Mara the Shield-maiden.
A grizzled war veteran of numerous battles, Mara is a mercenary in the very essence of the word, traveling from one blood soaked ground to the next, seeking out commanders to parlay her next war wage from.
She has no affiliation with either side in the belief war, simply making her ends meet from her excellent skills as a warrior. The victory rate of this mercenary in particular, and the amount of seemingly impossible battles she has held back at the forefront of her spiked shield ensures that she will always be sought after by wise tacticians.
Shield Impale - Mara impales the spike on her shield into the armour of the opponent, locking both characters in place and stunning the impaled character while dealing damage over time, the bleed continues after disengagement for a short while.
Hooked Shot - Mara utilizes her favourite spoil of war, her trusty grappling hook, to attach and pull an enemy champion to her position.
Jagged Bulwark - Mara raises her shield, reducing her movement speed but increasing her defense. Enemies who attack her during this time will lose health.
Banner of Victory - Mara drops her house insignia on the battlefield and yells a battle cry, inspiring all friendly champions inside the banner range to gain huge boosts to health and defense for a short while.
Passive - Spoils of War - Mara loots her defeated opponents, gaining extra money per second and increasing nearby champion's gold acquisition.
Matias the Chanter
Matias grew up in the outer slums of the great empirical city, the decrepit town long being abandoned by the Holy Empire in lieu of the war. He lived most of his life in poverty, believing that his life was worthless and that he had no purpose in life. One day Matias came across a person dying of a stab wound and would not last long, Matias despaired that he could do nothing to save him. In his moment of despair he realized that through his own thoughts, there was someone else singing alongside his thoughts, chanting a solemn song. Matias felt the need to repeat the chant, and soon the victim's wound began to close up, healing perfectly.
Shortly afterwards Matias left the city with new purpose in life, to utilize his new found power to heal any and all that needed aid.
Mantra of Protection -Matias summons extra will from the champion with his chant, giving the champion a shield that prevents damage to health while it lasts.
Song of Restoration - Matias chants a short verse that invigorates a champion, increasing their health and mana.
Order of Silence - Matias shouts words laced with command, forcing enemy champions to stop spellcasting and interrupting them.
Focused Projection - Matias enters a focused state, preventing movement but increasing his chanting potency and range.
Passive - Whispers of Faith - Nearby friendly champion health regeneration is increased.
The Shadow Sect:
Lilith the Darkflame
Lilith is a melee fighter who uses fire to assist her in battle. Taken in at an early age by a group of evangelists for the Holy Empire. Lilith spent her youth learning to hunt down and eliminate those who opposed the Holy Order. When she was 19 years old she was caught reading a religious text taken from one of her targets. She was taken and tortured for her betrayal. When she could take no more her heart gave out her life slipped away. However, Inferus, a spirit of the fire god, saw fit to bring her back from death. For this she is grateful and vowed to fight for her new fire god against those who turned against her under her new name Darkflame.
Flaming Charge: Lilith dashes in a line leaving a trail of fire in her wake.
Heart of Fire: Lilith gains additional health regeneration per level.
Blazing Blade: Lilith ignites her sword in fire adding a damage over time affect to her attacks.
Phoenix Rebirth: Upon death Lilith will revive in a burst of fire. This fire remains for 5 seconds and increases
Lilith's damage while she stands in the area. Lilith will revive with quarter of her maximum health plus a percentage based on the amount in her Inner Flame meter.
Inner Flame: Lilith's Inner Flame meter fills over time.
Mog'ra the High Shaman
Mog'ra is the title of the leader of a particular village deep in the valleys of the border mountains. The chief of the village must be well versed in communicating with the spirits of nature and the elements, while the current Mog'ra was the leader, a sortie from the Holy Empire had finally found the hidden village and set it aflame.
Many of the village had been slaughtered when the Mog'ra had finally turned the flames against the attackers. Infused with the rage of the elementals the Mog'ra set out to contact the Shadow Sect to aid in the ruination of the Holy Empire.
Flame Burst - Mog'ra fires a bolt of magma from his hand, smashing into an enemy and dealing burn damage over time as well as initial magic damage.
Air Slice - Mog'ra harnesses the power of the wind and sends a blade of air in a straight line, silencing and dealing damage to all enemy champion's it passes through.
Earth Shatter -Mog'ra causes an area to crack and shake as the earth rages, dealing damage and slowing champions inside the area of effect.
Elemental Ascension - Mog'ra takes the form of a pure elemental, fusing with the spirits of nature, amplifying his abilities, health, and defense for a short time.
Passive- Totemic Rage - Whenever Mog'ra uses a spell, he drops a totem related to the spell he used to give additional benefits.
The Holy Empire:
Davros the Dedicated
Davros had been a street urchin until he was conscripted by the Holy Empire, serving under the Holy Order, the military sect of the empire, he was trained as a common footsoldier until the priests realised he was more pious than the average conscripted soldier. Taking him under their wing, Davros was taught the ways of the Celestials, harnessing their holy power to help him on the battlefield.
Celestial Strike - Davros smashes his weapon down with holy power, dealing damage to the champion and a small area of effect around the hit.
Infused Power - Davros infuses his weapons with holy power, dealing additional magic damage per strike.
Hilt Strike - Davros slams his hilt town onto the crown of the enemy, stunning them for several seconds.
Blade of Light - Davros calls down righteous blade from the heavens to strike the enemy, dealing huge amounts of damage.
Passive - Shield of Faith - Davros gains a shield when he is out of combat for a short time, preventing him from taking damage to his health.
Val the Enlightened
Val has been the backbone of the religious military leaders for generation in the Holy Order. Originally a priestess of the Celestials, she devoted her life to upholding their tenants so selflessly that the Celestials granted her immortality and an evolved form. Now in the image of an angel, and with the power of one, she carries out her holy duty, cleansing the heathens and protecting the just.
Bolt of Light - Val shoots a powerful celestial shot, dealing magic damage in an area around the target.
Glaring Law - Val flexes her wings, releasing the pure light that shines from them, stunning all champions in a line for several seconds.
Blessed Word - Val either heals a friendly champion, or silences an enemy champion, dealing damage.
Holy Explosion - Val sacrifices a portion of her health to do huge AoE damage around her character, dealing damage and applying burn damage to all enemy champions around her.
Passive - Val's wings allow her to fly faster when out of combat, increasing her movement speed.
Week 6 in Game Design
During this week's group discussion we decided to focus on expanding
the story so that the players would feel more immersed in the
environment, should they choose to do so. We decided that each faction
should have fleshed out 'lore' which is the term for backstory in
fatansy games, as well as having character biographies that would fit
into each of the factions lore as a whole, and possibly have relations
with other characters. Character bios would have to be created when new
characters were created, and also many bios will have to be completed
for the finished game, however the faction lore can be thought out
pretty easily.
In order to separate the sides there has to be a difference in style and feel, so the best way to describe each faction would be:
The ‘dark’ side. Japanese building style and culture. Shinto shrines, temples, important buildings and
areas dedicated to the worship the earth and nature spirits that are deemed holy. worshiping air, earth, fire, water. Themes: Shamanism, druidism, animism.
The Nature/Earth side.
The ‘light’ side. Greco/roman architecture and culture. Temples, churches, worshiping the celestial beings. Priests, preachers, enlightened people.
Very spiritual. Themes: Celestial worship, Christianity, Buddhism.
The Celestial/Sky side.
The very basic story between the two factions would be that the 'light' side is the dominant religion in the universe, however it is oppressive and extremely harsh towards those that do not believe in their values, and as such they attempted to eradicate any follows of nature, which spurred the shamans and druids to join together in their common belief to defend their culture against the empirical 'light' side.
More lore could be added/changed and implemented depending on how the testers or the game react, and could even be changed post-release.
In order to separate the sides there has to be a difference in style and feel, so the best way to describe each faction would be:
The ‘dark’ side. Japanese building style and culture. Shinto shrines, temples, important buildings and
areas dedicated to the worship the earth and nature spirits that are deemed holy. worshiping air, earth, fire, water. Themes: Shamanism, druidism, animism.
The Nature/Earth side.
The ‘light’ side. Greco/roman architecture and culture. Temples, churches, worshiping the celestial beings. Priests, preachers, enlightened people.
Very spiritual. Themes: Celestial worship, Christianity, Buddhism.
The Celestial/Sky side.
The very basic story between the two factions would be that the 'light' side is the dominant religion in the universe, however it is oppressive and extremely harsh towards those that do not believe in their values, and as such they attempted to eradicate any follows of nature, which spurred the shamans and druids to join together in their common belief to defend their culture against the empirical 'light' side.
More lore could be added/changed and implemented depending on how the testers or the game react, and could even be changed post-release.
Week 5 in Game Design
In our group discussion we decided to change the idea of our game into something more sustainable and easier to change/impliment. Before our game was largely story based whereas now our game ill be more mechanics and gameplay based.
The idea for the game is in a general Multiplayer Online Battle Arena style, or MOBA as they are known. Two teams will square off against each other in order to reach the enemies based and destroy it, while also defending their own base from the enemy. There are multiple lanes of attack and this will enable/force teams to split up (for at least some of the game) to hold all possible routes with 1 or 2 characters. Minions are small and low level NPCs that will spawn in a base and make its way towards an enemies base, their main purpose being to distract the players with attacks, give the players gold and experience for killing them, and for taking down the defenses that players can't defeat without dying. As the player gains more gold and experience he will level up and be able to purchase equipment that will further improve their combat / utility.
Before the game starts each side will be allowed to choose from a pool of characters that all have indicidual playstyles, but roughly originating around the 'Holy Trinity' of games in that there will be Damage classes, Healer classes and Tank classes. Games will usually last from half an hour to an hour, with a 15 minutes being the lowest time in which the game is won. Fantasy style setting, two aesthetically different sides, one side is the 'dark' side and the other the 'light' side.. Different heroes will be available depending on which side you pick.
Week 4 in Game Design
Today in class we were learning the importance of story in video games and how to immerse players in our game environment, which has a lot to do with how a story is portrayed and explained to the player. The player should be able to experience the story with as little obvious interruption to the gameplay as possible in order to keep them in the flow state.
Stories with good messages or interesting plots stick well in players heads and could let them think about issues that affect real life as well as simply playing a game.
When meeting up this week our group discussed changes and features for the game. We decided that instead of having 2 playable characters we added in an extra one and re worked our two previous characters.
We now berserker that fills the role of the lower class in the previous build. Our high class remains largely the same but is reclassified as an enchanter and our previous warrior class was worked into a mix of both magic and melee.
We also discussed adding in game mechanics such as auto saves or manual save checkpoints, along with playing with the idea of controlling some sort of time element/resource.
Stories with good messages or interesting plots stick well in players heads and could let them think about issues that affect real life as well as simply playing a game.
When meeting up this week our group discussed changes and features for the game. We decided that instead of having 2 playable characters we added in an extra one and re worked our two previous characters.
We now berserker that fills the role of the lower class in the previous build. Our high class remains largely the same but is reclassified as an enchanter and our previous warrior class was worked into a mix of both magic and melee.
We also discussed adding in game mechanics such as auto saves or manual save checkpoints, along with playing with the idea of controlling some sort of time element/resource.
Week 3 in Game Design
In the week 3 lecture we were looking at character archetypes and how stereotypical adventures are handled which lets there be some kind of template to base a story on. Having character archetypes helps solidify the role the hero or his companions/people he meets will fulfill and these will be useful to get ideas on how to make a good character that isn't completely perfect or completely detestable.
Also after the lecture Me and Gregor met to discuss the ideas for our game, I had came up with lots of ideas for a game I wanted to develop so we discussed and agreed on the game before honing some of the ideas I had came up with, with Gregor adding some ideas to the mix as well.
The game that we settled on eventually was a story based action adventure game with a fantasy setting.
We thought that a morality based game like Bioshock and Fable. In order to give a good setting in which to have a moral compass we decided to have two factions in the game. One faction is of the nobility whose blood enables them to use magic, the other are the lesser class that can't use magic and are being suppressed.
Having two factions with different combat abilities allows us to have interesting playable characters with different styles. We envisioned one character being a melee fighter with little to no magic, and the flip side there would be a magician with little melee abilities.
You would be able to play as both characters at different points of the story, or through different playthroughs, while the other character you weren't playing as would still be central to the story as an NPC.
Also after the lecture Me and Gregor met to discuss the ideas for our game, I had came up with lots of ideas for a game I wanted to develop so we discussed and agreed on the game before honing some of the ideas I had came up with, with Gregor adding some ideas to the mix as well.
The game that we settled on eventually was a story based action adventure game with a fantasy setting.
We thought that a morality based game like Bioshock and Fable. In order to give a good setting in which to have a moral compass we decided to have two factions in the game. One faction is of the nobility whose blood enables them to use magic, the other are the lesser class that can't use magic and are being suppressed.
Having two factions with different combat abilities allows us to have interesting playable characters with different styles. We envisioned one character being a melee fighter with little to no magic, and the flip side there would be a magician with little melee abilities.
You would be able to play as both characters at different points of the story, or through different playthroughs, while the other character you weren't playing as would still be central to the story as an NPC.
Week 2 in Game Design
Week 2
During the lectures we learned about the origins of bioshock and how much it changed during its game development which was interesting as it showed that even successful triple A games don't start off perfect.
Looked at the importance of style and atmosphere in games like bioshock which help make it so unique, along with moral choices which make the player think.
Music and the artstyle in particular were focused on in this lecture which helped me understand how important the envoriment has to be in order to be fully immersed.
Our group met up to discuss possible ideas, I personally was thinking along the lines of doing a roleplaying game or a space themed shooter, since those were my favourite themes. I would rather do something science fiction or medieval based as the main setting.
I wanted to make a sci-fi bullet hell game, like an arcade shooter where you progress through levels while avoiding bullets, adding in some interesting boss battles and a mechanic that would let you change shield type depending on what bullet was being fired at you, so that you could absorb the shot instead of being damaged. It would be a 2d shooter game but with highly detailed models and high quality music to immerse the player.
Gregor had ideas along the lines of ' A Third person shooter set in a space environment, on other planets and moons. Differences in gravitation field allow larger jump heights with more a manoeuvrability. Set ion near future so some futuristic designs with modern feel. Include a possible grapple like Lost Planet in order to climb and move about the field. Online multiplayer.'
as well as
'Tower defense game set in a city. Place buildings to act as towers. Some buildings do things like giving power to other towers or divert the enemies down a specific path to channel them. Classic tower defense gameplay but in 3D,'
During the lectures we learned about the origins of bioshock and how much it changed during its game development which was interesting as it showed that even successful triple A games don't start off perfect.
Looked at the importance of style and atmosphere in games like bioshock which help make it so unique, along with moral choices which make the player think.
Music and the artstyle in particular were focused on in this lecture which helped me understand how important the envoriment has to be in order to be fully immersed.
Our group met up to discuss possible ideas, I personally was thinking along the lines of doing a roleplaying game or a space themed shooter, since those were my favourite themes. I would rather do something science fiction or medieval based as the main setting.
I wanted to make a sci-fi bullet hell game, like an arcade shooter where you progress through levels while avoiding bullets, adding in some interesting boss battles and a mechanic that would let you change shield type depending on what bullet was being fired at you, so that you could absorb the shot instead of being damaged. It would be a 2d shooter game but with highly detailed models and high quality music to immerse the player.
Gregor had ideas along the lines of ' A Third person shooter set in a space environment, on other planets and moons. Differences in gravitation field allow larger jump heights with more a manoeuvrability. Set ion near future so some futuristic designs with modern feel. Include a possible grapple like Lost Planet in order to climb and move about the field. Online multiplayer.'
as well as
'Tower defense game set in a city. Place buildings to act as towers. Some buildings do things like giving power to other towers or divert the enemies down a specific path to channel them. Classic tower defense gameplay but in 3D,'
Week 1 in Games Design
This week we were given an introductory lecture on the process of games development and were issued reading during lab time, which included the original pitch for Bioshock, a look at a student made project Windswept adventure, and various websites explaining the process and mindframe of what makes a good games developer.
We also were grouped up into teams in order to work on the development process more efficiently, my partner is Gregor Dendy who I have known previously before this class so the grouping should be sufficient and not cause any problems work wise or communication wise. No extra precautions will need to be taken to ensure the group is in constant contact since we talk daily. Our group was named "Scruffy Wolf" although the name is temporary and could be changed at a later date.
Workload wise our group will discuss jobs and issues that need to be covered daily so nothing is set in stone.
There was no lab work apart from the supplementary reading so I have nothing to cover in that regard.
We also were grouped up into teams in order to work on the development process more efficiently, my partner is Gregor Dendy who I have known previously before this class so the grouping should be sufficient and not cause any problems work wise or communication wise. No extra precautions will need to be taken to ensure the group is in constant contact since we talk daily. Our group was named "Scruffy Wolf" although the name is temporary and could be changed at a later date.
Workload wise our group will discuss jobs and issues that need to be covered daily so nothing is set in stone.
There was no lab work apart from the supplementary reading so I have nothing to cover in that regard.
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