hrose40 - Tumblr blog

[hrose40]

Oh Hey There,

Hi, my name is Hannah Rose and currently I'm an undergraduate at QUT studying my bachelor's in Games and Interactive Environments!

The career I'm hoping to get out of my bachelor's it to hopefully one day be a lead game designer. But truly I'd be happy to just make it into the industry first :D

This year is my first time developing the skills I'll need to pursue a career in gaming and I'm excited to learn and expand my portfolio of work

P.s. If you're one of my tutor's reading this, if you let me pass the course I'll get you a nice box of chocolates. (if I don't pass you'll still be getting those chocolates...)

[hrose40]

Racer Elevator Pitch

This week I will be conceptualizing a game design for a racer type video game.

#needs to be worked on further

[hrose40]

Asteroids Post-mortem

As previously stated in my elevator pitch for my asteroids prototype game, I wanted to focus on the premise of my game to create player intrigue. I found a lot of fun out of designing the unique player character, enemy types and setting. However once again I ran into issues of not being able to implement mechanics such as the interactive dialogue throughout the game, multiple levels and boss characters. In my play tester session with one of my fellow peers I gave an example of what one of the dialogue scene could have looked like in game

Play Tester Feedback:

The play tester remarked that they found the premise of the game very engaging and were excited to interact with the characters and enemies. I was happy to see that my approach to game design through an interesting hook was able to give the prototype player intrigue. However the lack of the sci-fi and narrative content the game contained, the play tester reported they did not feel the full enjoyment of the premise and that the game felt empty because of it. In the Game Design Workshop reading, I was able to recognise from chapter 1 how my prototype needed much further iteration, where my gameplay system is properly conceived and executed for an intriguing game premise to be properly executed.

Things I Would Change Moving Forward:

Clearly moving forward with this prototype I should either scrap the more narrative focused elements of the game such as cutscenes and dialogue for a more fleshed out movement or combat system that the player could engage with. Otherwise I should consult knowledgeable coders who could help me implement these narrative elements and fully realise the sci-fi fantasy I was going for.

Sources:

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

[hrose40]

Asteroids Development

So far in my asteroids prototype development, I've managed to implement the art style and feel of the game I wanted. Using Gdevelop 5's in game pixel editor I drew rough designs for the Player Cat-racter's (hehe) space ship, and the enemy dog's space ships.

The player character's ship

and the enemy dog ships.

I wanted to colour code the ships so that they looked distinctive from one another on screen, and made it easier for players to intuitively understand enemy types.

I made a rough first level design that implemented the enemy dog-ships and some of the environmental hazards like asteroids and space debris

Currently I'm trying to figure out how to add dialogue and cut scenes to the game, however I'm finding this quite difficult

[hrose40]

Asteroids Elevator Pitch

Now in week 4, our class has been shown how to build a simple asteroids shooter game. While trying to brainstorm some possible game concepts, I found myself going back to the Game Design Workshop reading for inspiration. I found it in Chapter 2, where it was discussed how a games premise can create player engagement. And thus I tried to come up with an engaging scenario and world over a focus on mechanics this time.

Title:

Galacticats vs Spacemutts

Pitch:

You play as a daring kitty cat pilot living a post apocalyptic space empire. Humanity has been dead for centuries and the war for the milky way rages on, in this galactic cats vs dogs brawl. This game features a simple pixel art design that harkens back to classic asteroids games. Your player character is a orange tabby space pilot, fighting off the Empire of Mutts for your faction the Coalition of Kitties. Your spaceship is fitted with missiles used to destroy enemy cruisers and environmental hazards such as asteroids and space debris from desolate space.

Genre:

asteroids shooter

Mechanics and Modes of Gameplay:

The movement mechanics of the asteroids prototype are a simple mouse point and click steering system, with the right mouse button being the ships missile shooter. A unique aspect of the game that I wanted to add was multiple levels that after destroying enough enemies would then introduce a boss type enemy such as a battle ship or dreadnought. This would create a moment-to-moment gameplay loop of enter level, destroy required amount of enemies, defeat boss enemy, move on to next level. I also thought of attempting to add a narrative element to the game to make up for its simple combat mechanics. This could be small bits of dialogue that play while the player is fighting such as the player's character talking to their commander, or vice versa and bantering with the enemy Empire of Mutts.

Setting/style:

I'm think the overall style of the game to be a light hearted satirical take on the sci-fi war genre. Dialogue should reflect this as well, with humour in a similar vane to the Undertale series that has mainly comedic moments with a side of drama and heart. The design of the world could take a cyber-punk aesthetic to emphasise the post apocalyptic nature of the world.

Audience:

Mainly teens to young adults, who are interested in cartoonish sci-fi epics.

Concept Art for Inspiration:

cartoonish sci-fi pixel art design for cat pilot character

retrieved from: https://www.freepik.com/free-photos-vectors/pixel-cat

inspiration for what the background of the game could look like

retrieved from: https://aamatniekss.itch.io/sci-fi-space-background-set/devlog/206354/new-asset-pack-scifi-space

Sources:

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

[hrose40]

Platformer Post-mortem

Chapters 1, 2, 6 and 7 in Fullerton's Game Design Workshop reading inspired me through my development of my platformer. Overall I was happy with the digital prototype game I was able to create from my elevator pitch.

Playtesting Feedback:

In class workshops I was able to have one of my fellow peers playtest the platformer and gives their feedback on the game. They stated that the concept idea and style of the game was very enjoyable and they intuitively understood that the main mechanic of the game was movement. The play tester enjoyed jumping off of mushrooms and using vines to scale platforms and found the simple level design engaging enough that they desired to move around and explore.

They critiqued some aspects of the game including the lack of an engaging combat system with enemies, as in the prototype enemies could only be defeated by jumping on top of them. They also wanted a larger and more diverse level design so they could interact with the level design more. This suggest that I may need to revisit chapter 5 in Fullerton's reading and reconsider the system dynamics within the platformer, so players gain better enjoyment out of the game. A big failure of my platformer prototype was that I was unable to implement the end goal of finding a safe place for the axolotl player character, so the moment-to-moment gameplay was incomplete and left the play tester unsatisfied.

Things I'd change moving forward

After my first experience prototyping, I will hence forth take a different approach to designing games. I will be more cognizant of my coding limitations and lack of knowledge with the Gdevelop 5 game engine, and how I should conceptualize idea and gameplay with this in mind. Expanding upon this I should aim to make up for these deficits and perhaps use youtube or ask my fellow peers about coding advice. Things I would change about my platformer prototype would be a more dynamic map, so that players feel they could use their movement mechanics to the fullest potential. I would also implement a more interactive world with more complex enemy types and even friendly npc's that the player could talk to. I would also change the end goal of the game to something simpler such as perhaps finding your lost son, as this would make the game more conclusve.

Sources:

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

[hrose40]

Development Post

Whilst consulting with my prototype game design concepts I experimented creating it in Gdevelop 5. Things that I found easy to implement were the style that I wanted the game to have as I used Gdevelop's in game pixel editor to create the axolotl player character with a few rough animations, terrain and simple enemy designs.

However I found coding the movement mechanics I had planned very difficult. In my first prototype I was unable to adapt the air bubble mechanic I had discussed in the my elevator pitch, along with some of the environmental hazards. I went back to the Game Design Workshop reading and was inspired by chapters 6 and 7 to brainstorm workarounds in my coding deficits. Instead of the air bubble as a double jump mechanic I came up with mushroom props that allowed the player to gain a jump from them that allowed them to get to higher platforms. I also created vine props that could be used as ladders or objects to grab onto mid-jump.

Sources:

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

[hrose40]

IGB120 Game Development Blog Posts

Hello, my name is Hannah Rose and throughout this blog post I will be describing my design process in my QUT university course for IGB120

Platformer Elevator pitch

In the first few weeks of my course I was introduced to essential design concepts in the Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton. In Chapters 1 and 2, Fullerton discussed how as game designers we are an advocate for players. As such we must strive to design fun and interactive player experiences, and avoid monotonous distractions that could take away from players enjoyment of the game. Game designers should also incredibly aware of the structure of their games, or otherwise known as the moment-to-moment gameplay. Game designers need to understand the fundamentals of what their gameplay loop involves to expand and add depth to their games.

I was also introduced to Gdevelop 5, the main game engine I would use going forward in my course. My first prototype game I would create was a platformer.

Elevator Pitch

Pitch:

You play as a mother axolotl whose home was destroyed and you must traverse the world with your egg to find a new safe haven. But the jungle is perilous. Deadly beasts and treacherous environments will test your resolve. The moment-to-moment gameplay will involve using movement mechanics to traverse the map, defeating enemies, dodging environmental hazards and finally finding a safe checkpoint.

Genre:

side scrolling adventure platformer

Mechanics and Modes of Gameplay:

Because the nature of platformers is so movement focused I wanted to try and make it my main gameplay feature that all other mechanics would be dependant on. I concepted dynamic movement options such as sliding on your belly to dash, blowing a bubble around you to float to higher and act as a sort of double jump mechanic. I wanted the enemies to play off these mechanics. For instance ground enemies could be defeated by dashing through them, and airborne enemies could be knocked away using the air bubble. The environmental hazards in the game could be designed to limit players movement options and force them come up with clever solutions to overcome them. Perhaps some platforms have thorns on sections of them that players must avoid, or planks of wood have tree sap on them that slows the players down making them an easier target for mobile enemies.

Game controls (traditional left-right)

D - move right

A - move left

Space bar - jump

Shift + space - belly slide (dash)

Double jump - bubble floating

Setting/ Style:

I was intrigued in using a pixel art style for the prototype, as a nostalgic call back to retro platformer games. I wanted the style of the game to be atmospheric to make the player feel like they were really in the jungle. However I also wanted to implement a bit of whimsy in the design of the world to suit the fantastical nature of the concept idea.

Early concept art:

A possible design concept for the axolotl player character, which depicts an anthropomorphised axolotl which adds a bit of charm and relatability to the character. Retrieved from: https://es.pixilart.com/art/axolotl-sprite-8a2fb9c959d56d3

A possible design concept for the background art which depicts a lush green jungle swamp. Retrieved from: https://opengameart.org/content/swamp-2d-tileset-pixel-art

Sources:

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