bitmoostir

[bitmoostir]

Racer Postmortem

Despite my many gripes with the game, I am satisfied with what I managed to create in the short time I allocated myself. My main disappointment is I had hoped to add more objects apart from cars that the player could destroy for different effects. Something like animals or people even, to really highlight that you are playing as a monster. I would have much preferred to use more fitting assets for the theming of the game, but I did not even consider it while making the game. I also would have liked to spend a little more time refining the controls so they would not feel as sluggish. The main reason I did not make the car turn faster was to keep the game challenging, as the player has less time to crash into cars to keep their score up.

Playtesting Feedback

The feedback for this game was much more mixed than usual. While the game was generally praised for feeling intuitive and being quick to learn, some playtesters did not enjoy the controls, noting them as being sluggish, the reason for which I discussed above. I definitely feel like I could have improved it though. On the other hand, other playtesters actually noted that they enjoyed the movement but would have preferred if they could move vertically as well. While I understand the sentiment, I designed and balanced the game around only having horizontal movement. People also had gripes with the game's art direction, as the story and theming suggested a more horror oriented approach, while the game itself lacked those elements.

Suggestions people wanted to see included more control options, such as items similar to Mario Kart's shells you could use to throw at the cars. Other people wanted to see a boost of sorts as a powerup. While I'm not sure how I would implement it when the player can't move vertically, but I believe it could have made the gameplay feel more engaging. The most interesting suggestion was having Carthulu become stronger as you destroyed more things, changing its appearance and leveling up its abilities in some way. I really appreciated this suggestion and would definitely base a remade design of the game around showing the demented nature of the main character.

[bitmoostir]

Assignment 3 Postmortem

I wrote the discussion of additions and changes section of the part B report. While writing it, I realised this section in itself could be considered a postmortem of the game itself, so I will use some of my notes for the overall postmortem.

I believe my team did a very good job with bringing the vision we had for Recyclathon to life, as we added way more than I thought we would manage. The only real cut content was only 2 levels out of over a dozen that were designed, and I believe that is a pretty impressive achievement in itself. While I do not think everything was implemented the way I or my groupmates envisioned, such as the wall jump being quite unreliable, I believe we still reached the original goal we set for ourselves.

In terms of working as a team, I think our group had good chemistry going in that helped us democratically decide on any changes without any significant conflicts. Although there were some periods that lacked communication, in the end we managed to complete everything to a satisfying degree.

[bitmoostir]

Asteroids Postmortem

As I was in quite a rush, I did not do nearly as much as I would have liked otherwise. I only implemented 3 basic weapons, allowing the player to use all 3 simultaneously. Ideally, I would have not only liked to add movement options like I originally wanted to, but I would also only allow the player to choose between one of them, rather than having access to all of them. It trivialises the gameplay loop on top of not allowing for build variety. Not only that, I struggled to properly implement the shotgun, so in its current state it is much weaker than the other weapon options.

Playtesting Session

Playtesters provided valuable feedback for all aspects of the game. The main positives were the game was very easy to learn thanks to its simplicity and was enjoyable for all the playtesters for a couple of minutes. However, the game quickly gets stale and is too easy, due to the previously mentioned ability to use all 3 weapons at once. Players did not enjoy the shotgun, but some playtesters found some fun by juggling between the sniper and pistol. The controls made sense for everyone, but some people preferred if the ship was fully controllable, rather than the current tank controls.

Main suggestions included adding more enemy variety and increasing the difficulty as the game progresses, which I did want to add but did not have time. Other ideas included adding roguelike elements with more items such as bonuses similar to Call of Duty Zombies maps (extra lives, double points). I would definitely consider all of these ideas if I were to remake the game, as all of them could blend together to make for a far more interesting take on an Asteroids game

[bitmoostir]

Racer Progress Update #2

I decided to change my vision for the game from winning a race to reaching a point goal, where you gain points by crashing into cars and lose points if you miss them. Not only was it easier to implement the mechanics, I believe it fits the theme of the being a monster much better, and is pretty fun to boot.

[bitmoostir]

Racer Progress

Implemented all the basic mechanics for a racer. I find it to be much more challenging to create this prototype than the other two. I am not sure exactly why, but it may have to do with the genre simply requiring more parts to implement properly. Regardless, I feel like I will struggle to implement my intended gameplay loop because of how unfamiliar I am with this genre of game.

Other than that, I would like to add a variable that randomises where cars will spawn within their lane to make the game feel less static and one-note like it is now, but that will come after I can implement destruction as a mechanic.

[bitmoostir]

Racer Elevator Pitch

This IGB120 prototype is going to be based on a racer. The name I went with is Road Rage. The idea is to make a racer similar in objective to the game Carmageddon, another racer where your main goal apart from winning the race is destroying as many things as possible along the way. The catch for my game is that you HAVE to destroy objects in order to win the race. Various objects you destroy will give a speed boost depending on the severity of the destruction. Without destroying anything, the other cars in the race will move faster than you.

My high-concept statement for the game is:

What is your gameplay?

The gameplay is a typical top-down racer with the twist that you gain speed by destroying objects around you, like trees and other racers. As you gain these speed boosts you are able to surpass the cars that are faster than you originally.

Why will it be compelling?

The focus in Road Rage shifts the player's predetermined ideas of a racing game from staying on the lane to instead finding objects to hit and gain speed, which could seem counterintuitive at first. Having the reaction speed to notice which objects are worth going for will be a challenge for most players at first.

Who is the target audience?

Ages 13+

What is the players role?

The main character is a sentient otherworldly beast that decided to take on the form of a race car to wreak havoc on unsuspecting racers. It does all this just for its own amusement as it is not hungry.

How will you motivate the player? How will you reward them?

The reward will be completing the race and learning which objects give the best speed boost.

What genre is the game?

Racing Game

What is the setting of the game?

The setting is a race track in the middle of the city.

Elevator Pitch for Road Rage:

In Road Rage, take on the form of Carthulu, an otherworldly beast that took on the form of a race car to terrorise races for its own amusement. Destroy the environment to give yourself a much needed speed boost to reach 1st place. Destruction is not an option, it's the solution.

[bitmoostir]

Asteroids Progress

Implemented all the basic mechanics for an Asteroids game, as well as a score system. Just need to add other weapons, I am considering getting rid of movement options as I am not sure what I could implement.

[bitmoostir]

Asteroids Elevator Pitch

My next prototype for IGB120 is a Asteroids style game called Asteroid Core. While its core is a simple Asteroids game, the main selling point will be the ability to choose between a variety of different weapons and movement types to use within the level. I intend for the game to retain Asteroids' original arcade feel, with endless gameplay and a score counter. I will also not focus on the story or visuals, as addicting gameplay is my top priority.

My high-concept statement for the game is:

What is your gameplay?

Classic Asteroids gameplay where you have to shoot incoming asteroids, with the twist of being able to choose a weapon and movement ability before starting a run.

Why will it be compelling?

Having several combat and movement options not only adds replayability, but also allows for skill expression.

Who is the target audience?

Ages 7+

What is the players role?

The player controls a highly modifiable ship that was sent out on a rescue mission galaxies away from their home. During the expedition the ship gets caught in an asteroid storm that seemingly has no end.

How will you motivate the player? How will you reward them?

Player expression through gameplay options, reaching a high score

What genre is the game?

Arcade Game

What is the setting of the game?

The game takes place in space in the middle of an asteroid storm in an unknown galaxy.

Elevator Pitch for Asteroid Core:

In Asteroid Core, control a rescue ship lost in a never-ending asteroid storm. Choose between several types of weapons and movement options to fit a playstyle you desire, while fending off an oppressive asteroid storm to rack up a high score and hopefully save yourself from certain doom.

[bitmoostir]

Assignment 3 Progress Post

As of today, we have implemented all the levels and mechanics successfully. Although my team has concerns that some of the levels are too challenging, we are waiting until we hold a playtesting session to implement any big changes. The prototype we will be giving out includes the entire game, but still lacks other aspects like polished sound effects and visual effects, as well as proper collectibles. Currently they are just placeholders, but we intend for them to have lore about the world similar to Dark Souls item descriptions. Other than that, the main goal for the playtest is to get info on the difficulty of the levels, particularly the later ones, as well as the clarity of the map structure.

What I expect to encounter in the playtests is the aforementioned difficulty of the levels being too much for casual players. I also still feel like the movement is floaty and will be mentioned multiple times in playtests as a negative, but as I said before I don't think will be able to meaningfully improve it. However, I do think people will enjoy the level design particularly of the earlier levels and combining several abilities to succeed.

[bitmoostir]

Assignment 3 Development

I have been slacking off on my posts, however my team and I have been very productive when it comes to developing our prototype for assignment 3. We quickly decided on basing the project off my platformer game Recyclathon, keeping the name, aesthetic and general vision of the game mostly similar to my original prototype. This would mean the game would still be a platformer-focused metroidvania with a pixel art aesthetic set in a factory. The game did gain a much larger scope, including adding 2 new abilities, several new stage obstacles and hazards, as well as a much larger and clearer progression in level design. I took on the role of lead designer, creating the structure for the game and all of the levels. Here are the sketches for the map overview as well as the tutorial room. I am a real artist, I know.

I made similar sketches for all the other rooms as well, making sure to note important considerations such as ability requirements or level scale, and more subtle features like guiding the player in a certain way.

New Additions

These were the mechanics we decided on adding:

Abilities:

Spiked Boots - allow the player to jump on enemies and wall jump.

Plat-O-former - a gun that allows the player to spawn a platform wherever they are located. Interestingly, this mechanic was taken from one of my groupmates' games. We felt that it would make for an additional selling point for the game to have a puzzle-like ability.

We also opted to remove the dash ability, as we felt the overall complexity of the moveset would be too much for the scope of the game.

Obstacles:

Spikes and Saws - these would replace the Tesla Towers from my prototype as stationary hazards.

Enemy Spawners - enemies were properly implemented, with spawners added to make them more of a threat.

Conveyors - platforms that change the speed of the player, making for interesting level design opportunities.

[bitmoostir]

Platformer Postmortem

My finished game prototype for Recyclathon included most of what i originally intended to implement. However, a big missing mechanic was functioning enemies. While I did follow the workshop and implemented the first enemy, I could not figure out a way to make them respawn after resetting to any checkpoint, so I opted out of adding any more enemies.

Personally, I believe the most significant problem with the game is the lack of sound effects or music, which I did not consider a priority while making. Another thing I would have liked to add apart from making the level longer would be some form of collectibles to incentivise exploring the preferably larger levels. Another issue I faced was the double jumping not working as intended. Originally, the player was supposed to flip whenever a double jump was activated, but in the prototype the player gets stuck in a diagonal position. I will definitely spend more time fixing up animations in my future projects.

Playtesting

The playtesting session was very helpful in identifying other smaller issues I did not consider. The main point of feedback was the lack of cooldown meter for the dash, which has a 2 second cooldown to avoid spamming it. In hindsight, this is a very important quality of feature feature that I will definitely consider for all my future projects. An interesting suggestion I heard is that the double jump should have been the first unlockable ability, rather than the dash. While I did not consider this while designing the game, as my main inspirations were metroidvanias where the dash is generally unlocked first, I can see why someone unfamiliar with the genre could find the double jump easier to get accustomed to. On this topic, everyone that playtested Recyclathon noted the uncomfortable controls and control scheme, but I do not think I can improve on this point much due to the limitations put in by GDevelop. The main other point of feedback was the lack of variety in the obstacles, which I also agree with.

On the positive side, people said the challenge level of the game felt fair, with balanced checkpoints and increasing difficulty. Several people noted that the final climb to the end goal also felt tense and satisfying. Suggestions for mechanics included a rising lava gimmick that would act as a sort of timer for an ever more challenging experience. Other people suggested more movement options like a wall jump/slide, which I decided against for the prototype to avoid scope creep but would definitely want to add if I were to update the game.

[bitmoostir]

Platformer Progress

Implemented both double jumping and dashing properly, as well as started on adding tiles and basic level design. The only issue I have run into is for some reason the double jump animation does not work properly, so I'm considering leaving it as is since it's not a priority. Hoping to get around 30 seconds to a minute of level design done by Friday.

[bitmoostir]

Platformer Elevator Pitch

The first game prototype I will be working on for IGB120 is going to be a platformer.

After reading the first few chapters of The Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton, I learnt how important it is to look at the games I play through the lens of the designers and being able to discern what exactly makes any given game good. For most games, that would require a focus on the gameplay aspects that hook the player. Without an enjoyable gameplay foundation, the player will get bored even if the music or graphics are great. To this extent, I have decided to base my game on fluid-feeling movement that progressively gets more complex, starting with simple running and jumping and eventually unlocking double jumping and dashing. I would like this progression to feel akin to a Metroidvania game, where you have to loop back to areas you have already been in after you unlock a certain ability that lets you progress through inaccessible areas. As is described in A Framework for Metroidvania Games by Bruno Pinheiro Oliveira et al., a usual Metroidvania game also includes a large interconnected map, combat and bosses on top of what I mentioned. For this prototype however, I want to mainly prioritise platforming to keep the scope of my game reasonable.

My high-concept statement for the game is:

What is your gameplay? My game will focus on movement (running, jumping) that is developed through unlockable abilities (double jumping, dashing) that allow access to previously inaccessible areas.

Why will it be compelling?

Players will be challenged through puzzle-like platforming segments where they have to use all of their abilities to proceed. Who is the target audience?

Ages 7+ What is the players role?

The player will be taking on the role of the main character - the robot Jio - trying to escape the factory where he was going to be recycled for scrap metal. How will you motivate the player? How will you reward them? • Satisfying sound/visual effects, unlocking abilities and new areas.

What genre is the game?

Metroidvania (with a focus on platforming)

What is the setting of the game?

The game is set in a modern factory riddled with malfunctioning machinery and alien specimens.

Elevator Pitch for Recyclathon:

In Recyclathon, take on the role of Jio the robot as he tries to escape the factory from which he was created. After dissatisfying his creators with his lack of combat prowess, they intended to recycle him for spare parts, but Jio managed to escape from the recycler just in time. Now, you have to help him get out of the factory for good by upgrading his maneuvering abilities along the way. Using these abilities you will go through platforming challenges that will test your timing and precision.

The game will be based on a royalty free pixel art set I found online:

Sources:

Fullerton, T. (2018). Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. ProQuest Ebook. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/qut/reader.action?docID=5477698

Oliveira, B. P., Franco, A. D. O. D. R., da Silva, J. W. F., Gomes, F. D. C., & Maia, J. G. R. (2020). A framework for metroidvania games. Proceedings of SBGames 2020, 10. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jose-Maia-4/publication/346540910_A_Framework_for_Metroidvania_Games/links/5fc67deda6fdccfea3f0770d/A-Framework-for-Metroidvania-Games.pdf