Assignment 3: Postmortem

Assessment 3 has been submitted! I'm really proud of my team for what we were able to end up, especially because a lot of us were beginning to feel quite burnt out towards the end of semester. Some improvements that I think could be made to the development process would be to allow everyone to maybe try and work on a mechanic each, and then get one person to copy all the details in, instead of just relying on one person to suffer through making the entire game with little support.

Overall, I believe the entire team would have liked to create a more finalised and polished game than what we ended up with, but I think we were a great team regardless. Guy, Michael, and Jacob were wonderful to work with and I would love to work with them again sometime, especially after learning how we could have improved on our overall development structure .

Until next time :)

Assignment 3: Iteration and Changes

Due to some poor planning and time management, our game was not able to change much as our playtesting occurred so close to the deadline. In terms of what we would have liked to iterate on, decreasing the amount of confusion that players felt (whether that be from the controls or the platform placement) would definitely be high priority.

Another aspect that could be worked on is the combat system. At the beginning of development we had high hopes for a really fleshed out and exciting range of attacks. This is what Guy had come up with:

I'm not sure to what degree we'll be able to add these in, but it would be cool if we could get a couple working.

Game Discussion (Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice)

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a popular soulslike from FromSoftware and in my opinion it is their best game. The combat system of Sekiro is so unique in the way that you use your prosthetic hand to grapple and use a variety of ninja tools, from shurikens to eventually igniting your sword with a flame vent. I believe my favourite part of Sekiro is that it genuinely tests the players skills, unlike the other FromSoftware games. For example, in the Dark Souls series if a boss is giving you trouble you can just leave and go farm souls so you can crush the boss with ease. However in Sekiro, that is much harder to do and the player must learn the bosses attack patterns and know when to dodge or parry. I believe that this provides a far greater feeling of satisfaction and achievement/triumph when beating a boss compared to Dark Souls. One downside that I've found in the game is the lack of variety. There is no real option for different builds (unlike the Dark Souls games) which can kind of hinder the replayability of the game. Despite this, I still believe that Sekiro is the best game FromSoftware has made.

Image Source: https://www.uhdpaper.com/2019/03/sekiro-shadows-die-twice-fighting-4k-33.html?m=1

Interesting Mechanic

A game mechanic I have found interesting and that I love is the nemesis system from the Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War games. The way the systems works is that if you were to die to a grunt orc, it would be promoted to captain and then you could keep dying to that orc until it became one of the strongest. Additionally, whenever dying to an orc it would open up many lines of dialogue between the orc and player. The system was originally rather simple in Shadow of Mordor but was then expanded greatly in Shadow of War with the inclusion of Fortresses, bodyguards, betrayals, different classes and tribes. Overall it is a system that makes the game feel more alive as it almost creates an orc ecosystem which helps keep everything fresh and interesting.

Image source: https://www.altchar.com/game-news/warner-bros-games-patent-shadow-of-wars-nemesis-system-aqTlC9j1bsgE/amp

Assignment 3: Playtesting

In playtesting our game, Kitty Krusade, we found a lot of bugs with our game. Since our game utilises the arrow keys to move side-to-side, instead of WASD, many players had to take a few moments to figure it out. Although it wasn’t high priority, it could still be improved by implementing simple instructions at the start of the game.

Another piece of feedback that could easily be fixed is that there were a few platforms in strange places. Some players were under the impression that these platforms would lead them somewhere new, however once reaching them, they discovered that they were unable to return to previous platforms. By removing the unnecessary platforms or ensuring that players are able to access all platforms, this issue can be fixed.

This was not the only issue with platforms though. Most of the playtesters found “invisible walls” on a couple of the platforms, which actually just turned out to be uneven ground. Due to this, players weren’t able to run smoothly across some of these platforms, which ruined the flow of play.

Some positive feedback that we received on Kitty Krusade were that the enemy sprites were nice, and that the background was also very cool.

Assignment 3: Development Post

In terms of development, Michael has been progressing with our prototype. I've already shared a bunch of free assets for him to use, so I feel like I don't really have too much to do at the moment.

Also, with the way GDevelop operates, Michael is handling the programming of the game by himself. It's quite frustrating that GDevelop doesn't allow for team sharing or anything like that, so this assignment is a real challenge.

I guess this is just a small update? I don't really have much to say until we get started on the playtesting.

Assignment 3: Team Formation

For Assignment 3, myself and three of my peers (Guy, Michael, and Jacob) had formed a team. In our first team meeting we chose a game idea that we wanted to work on, which ended up being Kitty Krusade. We also discussed the roles that we believed we would be best suited towards. As a result of this discussion, I was dubbed the artist of the group as well as one of the notetakers for the play testing sessions.

Considering I am not the best artist and that I am quite slow when I do draw, I decided that I would draw what I could for our game, and would seek out appropriate assets for sprites that I am not able to complete in time. With the main focus of this unit being the design and mechanics of the game itself — which all team members will be working on — I believe the play testing and reiteration of the game will be much more crucial (not to say that art and assets aren’t important, they just aren’t the core focus of the unit).

Assignment 2: Final Design

Here are the finalised designs for assignment 2, which were the one-page and the one-sheet for my game idea, Kitty Krusade. Overall, I wasn't super fond of the final product, but I did think that the colour scheme and font were nice (though I may have gone a little bit overboard with the amount of colours in the one-page). I think the annotated diagram in the one-page wasn't bad, though the image that I used has a lot of open space, which kind of takes away from the focus on the player. I should have changed some of the camera settings to fix this.

Another aspect that I regret not changing are the content of the images themselves. I feel as though they don't accurately represent the game as the level becomes more interesting later on. I think my initial thought process was to demonstrate the game mechanics as simply as possible, but in hindsight it really makes the game seem quite boring.

Game Mechanic

A game mechanic I found cool was the settlement building in Fallout 4. If I remember correctly, this mechanic was inspired by a mod from Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas and I think it's a really neat addition to the game. Settlement building means that there is more to do in the game apart from just: go to location, kill person, go to next location, and repeat. It also increases the audience that it can bring in, such as people who enjoy base building. Overall, I think the addition of base building in Fallout 4 was very much needed to set it apart from the other games. This was shown by the fact that most of the DLC's released for Fallout 4 also expanded the settlement system.

Image source: https://amp.theguardian.com/technology/2015/dec/11/fallout-4-guide-how-to-build-perfect-settlement

Racing Postmortem

In retrospect, I really wasn't a huge fan of my racing game. I thought the concept could be pretty neat, but my execution just didn't live up to what I wanted. Upon playtesting, players had also mentioned that there was something missing from it, with someone stating "maybe something more of a challenge, I think that could be a bit cool".

I think this game in particular could have benefitted a lot from more frequent playtesting, especially because I don't often play racing games. In regards to playtesting, chapter 9 of Fullerton's book, Game Design Workshop, different types of playtesters are discussed. Fullerton states "Later in the design process, you might want to bring some of your most articulate testers back in to gauge how they feel the game has progressed", which is important as it allows for players to see whether their feedback has affected the game and improved it. I think if I had incorporated even just a couple more playtesting sessions, even with some of the same people, my game would be a bit more interesting and I would have gained more insight on what I could have improved.

Overall, I think this was a valuable experience in development and playtesting, and I'll definitely be implementing what I learned in future endeavours.

Fullerton, T. (2018). Game design workshop : A playcentric approach to creating innovative games, fourth edition. CRC Press LLC.

Assignment 2 Progress

I have started progressing with Assignment 2, where I've decided to follow through with one of my earlier elevator pitches, Kitty Krusade. This is super basic, but I've started off by creating a title image for it. I did attempt to find fonts that could replicate a sort of 'bubble letter' aesthetic, but I eventually gave up and made my own.

Other features of the game that I've started thinking about include: the overall aesthetic, and extra features of the game like crates, items, points and coins. Considering most of the other features like enemies and attacks had already been talked about in the initial elevator pitch, I'm unsure whether I should change them at all. Either way, some further testing on GDevelop is required.

Another aspect that I needed to consider was the overall aesthetic of the game. At the moment I'm leaning more towards a pixelated game, which should be nostalgic to people. It is also the same aesthetic as the platformer that I had built, so I probably wouldn't need to find too many more sprites.

Racing Development Post

In developing my racing game, Late for School, I was unable to fully realise the initial elevator pitch that I had made. However, I had managed to follow the racing game instructions from the workshop, and get a very basic prototype of the game done.

To begin, I started with getting the left and right movements of the fish down, which I found to be pretty simple. Then moving forward I was also able to have traps spawn in and stun the fish. This was a little more difficult but still doable. I had to ensure that the spawning of traps was not too frequent as it would make the game far less enjoyable if the player was dying constantly. However, on the flipside, it would also be extremely boring without a challenge. So finding that balance is quite difficult.

Racing Elevator Pitch

Late for School is a single-player underwater racing game, where the player controls a fish who is separated from their school. As the player swims through the ocean, they must avoid colliding with other fish as well as making sure that they don't run into any threats, like sharks and traps.

Late for School will use the left and right directional keys to move the fish between currents. The player will also be able to swim faster by collecting bubbles. The more bubbles that they possess, the faster they will swim, making the game more difficult as it decreases the amount of time to react to obstacles. If the player collides with an obstacle, they lose some bubbles and are also briefly stunned.

Fullerton Exercise (4.5: Player Types)

"For each player type described above, list a game you know that appeals to that variety of player. What type of player do you tend to be?" Fullerton, T. (2018). Game design workshop : A playcentric approach to creating innovative games, fourth edition. CRC Press LLC.

Competitor: Mortal Kombat 11 Explorer: Outer Wilds Collector: Dishonoured 2 Achiever: Tetris Effect Joker: League of Legends Artist: Hollow Knight Director: Age of Darkness: Final Stand Storyteller: The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim Performer: Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun! Craftsmen: Space Engineers

When gaming, I tend to fit into the Explorer or Artist player archetype. This is due to the fact that I just seem to get the most enjoyment from exploring and discovering what a world has to offer, as well as appreciating the visuals and design of a game.

Asteroids Postmortem

After completing my Asteroids prototype, Comet Strike, I have identified some changes that I would make if I were to do this again.

The first aspect that I would change is the asteroid spawning position. To make the game more realistic, I would have the asteroids spawn off-screen and slowly float into the player's field of view. Another feature that could have been implemented is items. Although I did mention the inclusion of items in the elevator pitch, this concept did not come to fruition as I lacked the skills to implement them smoothly.

Through playtesting I learned that players were not very interested in the game. This was due to the somewhat muted and bland colour scheme of the asteroids and lack of background. This could've been an easy fix, however I simply didn't get around to it as the mechanics were my core focus. Despite this, I did cave and include a little explosion animation because I thought it made the game a bit more enjoyable than just having the asteroids disappear (I mean, come on, who doesn't like mini explosions?).

Game Discussion: Wizard of Legend

Image source: https://www.keengamer.com/articles/reviews/wizard-of-legend-review-pc/

Wizard of Legend is a dungeon crawler with roguelike elements. The main goal of the game is to beat/collect all the arcana, relics and rare chaos arcana that can only be gained by beating the final boss. My favourite part of this game is probably how unique each spell feels and the art style of the game is also very pretty. The game also offers a large variety of builds which increases the games ability to be replayed while still finding enjoyment. The only downside for the game would be that there is no custom mode, a feature which is present in many other roguelike games. However, aside from this fact I think that Wizard of Legend is one of the best roguelikes that is available.

Fullerton: Chapter 6

Throughout chapter 6 of Tracy Fullerton's Game Design Workshop, the topic of conceptualisation is discussed. I found this segment of the book to be incredibly useful as it demonstrated a huge range of ways to brainstorm ideas, as well as showing how to refine and edit them. Fullerton also provides a myriad of suggestions to assist the reader in practicing and exercising their conceptualisation/brainstorming skills.

I think one of the things that resonated with me the most in this chapter was when Fullerton stated that ideas shouldn't be censored or edited in the brainstorming process. Instead, value quantity over the quality of ideas. I really struggle with doing this as I am quite the perfectionist, however, I will definitely be setting aside time so I can exercise and improve this skill.

Another aspect that I found to be a key takeaway for this chapter was the 'Feature Design' paragraph. In this section, Fullerton states "Rather than trying to come up with an idea for an entire, original game, you can do a focused brainstorm on improving a specific area of an existing game". This exercise is quite simple, yet also extremely useful, since it would also be a task that beginner designers would be assigned at game companies.

Fullerton, T. (2018). Game design workshop : A playcentric approach to creating innovative games, fourth edition. CRC Press LLC.