#Assignment 2

[lavphire-games]

Week 8 - Assignment 2 Game Development

Going along with the pitch I've done in week 4, I have decided to add on to the asteroids prototype I've done in that week.

My new idea is that you are a helper around the Extraterrestrial Tavern, where you’ll complete quests from the different residents of the tavern.

To start off, all of the assets used for this project are all drawn by me.

I have made a beginning area that serves as a hub for all of the missions the player will encounter. There, the player will meet a bartender that tells you what to do.

The player will then be told to interact with the billboard, which will bring them to their first mission: destroying 10 asteroids.

The player will be given a brief introduction to how the controls work, and then they will begin their mission.

Once they're done with the mission, they can talk to the bartender again. He will give the player the expected reward as said in the quest paper and will then be acting as the shop for the players to upgrade their stuff.

My idea for the shop system is for the player to be able to upgrade their ship health, speed, and gun damage, though it is currently unavailable in the prototype.

And that's pretty much it for my idea of a project! Future ideas include more levels, enemy types, and maybe even some boss fights. The player will also encounter many different NPCs that tell them more about the world they're in, and some might even give them special jobs to do.

[raegunblastart]

Artist: raegunblast

[wheeledspy55]

Week 12:

What Follows.: Assignment 2 - Updated

The main issue for my first version of my Assignment 2's One Sheet and One Page was the size of the text and, as a result, it's readability. To fix this I resized the test to make the document more readable without the need to zoom in.

One Sheet:

One Page:

[skylerch]

Assignment 2 Final Design

I finally completed the concept for my game Shadowy Friend. It is a puzzle platformer focusing on placing and swapping with a Shadow of the player.

I hand drew all the game elements in this assignment, mainly because I had a specific style in mind and I wanted to keep the design to it. I chose a quiet, dark color palette with soft gradients. It still took me some time to do the arts though it isn’t a complicated art style, but in the end, I liked how it supports the game’s lonely, dreamlike atmosphere.

I have included a sample level with labeled mechanics in my one sheet. In the final design, the player can leave behind a Shadow and swap positions with it at any time. I have added some more features to enrich the mechanics of both characters. There will be enemy ghosts that can only detect the player and spikes that only harm the player. The Shadow can pass through them unharmed and it can also walk through thin walls. It however cannot interact with objects, like boxes and levers. There are lamps that can be used to cast shadows, which can be used as portals for the Shadow, if there is an object blocking their light, like a wall for example. In the later levels, the player will need to rotate the lamp to create shadow portals at the correct locations in order to reach them. I also introduced a blue flower that acts as a tutorial guide to give information and hints to the player and help them understand new mechanics in each level.

Finishing the one page and one sheet for Shadowy Friend helped me understand how the early stages of game design works. It forced me to think about the player’s goals, the mechanics, the puzzle design and the arts and story of a game. In the end, I really started to like the idea of being able to place and swap with a Shadow. I think it has a lot of possibilities, for example, the player can swap in midair if they accidentally fall. My ability probably is not enough to fully explore its depth. Given the chance, it would be nice to develop a prototype based on this game in the future.

[jordan-glover--game-design]

Week 9:

Racing Game Post Mortem:

The Game Design Workshop by David Conroy helped influence my game design process. The chapters 3, 4, 5, 6 and 9 helped me think about what I should add to my Racing game prototype. I started to develop my prototype in the workshop by following the simple tutorial as a basis for my game, then to start developing this into my own i looked for sprites that i could implement into my game, like asteroids as obstacles, energy lights as the outline of the edge of the track and a space themed raceway to implement the feeling of the game being set in space. I then made the asteroids that spawn several different sizes and they can spawn anywhere on the top part of the track to make the game harder and less predictable as the original prototype I had had the cars spawning in lanes making the game very predictable and easy to survive for extended periods of time. Then I also made a mechanic where if the player were to fall off the map by going past the energy lights they would also immediately lose and the same would go for if they hit an asteroid. I decided to keep the point system of the game as I believed for a prototype this would be the best way to portray the style and visuals of my games the best.

If I had to change the design of my prototype I would first design a space themed racing car that would fit the genre of the game instead of just a standard car. Then following this I would implement different spawning obstacles like small sections of the tracks on the right side and left side being cut out so the player can't sit on one side of the track forcing them to attempt to dodge the asteroids instead of staying in one corner.

If I had to redesign the prototype I would first make the game a full track and make it a time trial that kept all of the time scores in a leader board that would be portrayed in a menu screen that would have settings for sounds, a start button, and high scores. Regarding the full track I would make it so that it would have bends and turns and it would have stationary objects like holes in the road and asteroids shooting across the map at a certain section that would blow your car up and stop force you to respawn, and finally I would make it so that the player had to complete 3 laps before they win and their total time is recorded. 

Assessment 2 Final Design

My assignment two final design is as follows:

The one sheet is the A4 portrait image and I decided to add the descriptions at the bottom to inform the player about what type of game it is without directly explaining everything in the game to increase their curiosity, making them want to read the one sheet (A3 Landscape Image). I also added on both pages my contact information and the version of the prototype to the bottom of each page.

Then for the One sheet I went into a lot more detail with a description of how the game actually works below the title in the top left, then to further describe the game I took photos of the game itself including the game screen where the player is defending the planet and then the upgrade screen where the player is able to choose from certain upgrades and upgrade their ship, which are the two main components of my game.

[imslightlyproblematic]

Assignment 2 final product

I have kept all the ideas presented I the intermediate stage of assessment 2’s construction. You will play as a soldier in the immune/roman defence against corona virus with the two goals of repelling the attack and being awarded the corona muralis for valour in combat. I’ve called the larger enemies ‘worthy opponents’ as they are a similar stature to the player character which is comparatively larger than both fellow and enemy soldiers. I added the concept of ranged enemies that were worth very little in the progress to achieve the corona muralis. This means the player is best incentivised to leave the archers alone and chase higher value targets, causing more chaos and tension. This was originally going to be a rain of arrows coming from nowhere but I decided giving players the option to get rid of it if they really wanted to give more of a feeling of agency. Now if players do choose to make the siege defence objective easier, they are sacrificing their chances of fulfilling the second objective.

[kantokutot]

Week 10

Last week after finalizing the one-page, I effortlessly identified three unique selling points for my game. After careful consideration, I confirmed that the slogan incorporating "dream" resonates most powerfully with players - this warm expression perfectly captures the journey from a street-side stall to a five-star café, evoking far stronger emotional connection than hardcore-oriented taglines.

In the final phase, I polished the game's overall atmosphere and details to fully deliver this coffee-and-dreams story, ensuring players feel both a sense of unique accomplishment and heartwarming satisfaction throughout their café management experience.

[igb120-weekly-update]

Week 9 Racer post-mortem and Assignment 2 Finale

Racer Playtest:

Within the playtest, I received reviews that the game was a little boring due to its singular gameplay loop, which didn't offer much to the player. That the idea and the art where good concepts but felt a little too much like an old-school arcade machine, which was the goal to aim for while remaining simplistic, however playtests were a little disappointed that the game had no way to track progress or record high scores.

Racer Post-mortem:

Overall, I felt that more could have be added to "Simple Driver' if I were to use this prototype for Assignment 2, as in its current prototype stage, I personally see it more as a passive, offline game, like 'Chrome Dino' which appears when you have no internet on google chrome. I would like to add a Leader board, but that would require a loading screen to pause in-between games, for the player to play multiple games within the same load of the game, or a dedicated server to check people high-scores. In this being said, I believe the game has more that could be added, however it is fairly limited as a game itself as it only utilizes a singular core game loop concept and doesn't offer much to the player.

Assignment 2 Finale:

After finishing the sell page, I moved on to the A3 game design page, of which I felt that the design of the page (besides the information that informs the developers about the game) should also have the same or similar art style used in the sell page to draw people towards it, as it could help developers properly understand the art-style of the game.

[isaachaworthgamesdesign]

Week 9b- Assignment 2 Progress

With a week of work on this assessment, it was time to pitch everyone in on how the onesheet and onepage are going.

Onpage/Mockup

After a bit more spriting, this was what I ended up for a mockup image for Hell Riders including spring up another enemy for the game- the tormentor. It did not actually exist in the game as of yet and simply was a sprite that existed for this mockup.

From there, it was transformed into the following:'

Onesheet

As for the onesheet, this is how its going:

As you can see, there is a lot more present now in this image with all four characters drawn up for it. Then with the remaining details it comes to this

All in all, I am pretty happy on how it ended out.

[igb120-n10746358]

Last Bell

Building upon the initial platformer elevator pitch from back in week 2, I have decided that for Assignment 2 I will be further iterating upon the grapple as a core gameplay mechanic of Assignment 2. Here is my initial elevator pitch of Last Bell.

Last Bell — A gothic 2D sidescroller where time is your greatest enemy. Wielding a razor-sharp sword, powerful spells, and a versatile grappling hook, you ascend the haunted towers and shadowed depths of an ancient castle. Battle monstrous foes, master arcane magic, and swing through treacherous ruins with acrobatic precision. The final bell is approaching, stop the dark summoning ritual before it tolls and all is lost.

[maeveuniblog]

Assignment 2 Progress

I had a bunch of other assignments that took up the majority of my time the past few weeks, plus a 20 hour work week, plus family coming over so I haven't had much time to actually work on the racing game or assignment 2. But! I do have actual progress for my assignment 2 in general.

This is what I've got so far. The general idea of this one sheet is that the left side of the screen is the general and overall descriptor, labelled on a medical chart to fit the theming of the game. The right side of the screen is then filled with smaller bits of information on how the game works.

I've for a section for enemy/friendly types and a description on how the descriptions of these types work. I want to include a bit in there about game mechanics as well, and then I'm not sure what the last little bit will be.

[owlpero]

free will is all about headcanoning your faves as autistic

[embodiedfool]

Assignment 2

Sensory Intelligence

The goal of this assignment was to define the environment/ecosystem and the behaviors of a hypothetical intelligent creature. 

ENVIRONMENT: Our being lives in the branches and roots of large expansive trees

This network of branches and roots is expansive, and almost maze-like, as the root of one tree connects to the roots of another. The environment also has harsh weather, with heavy rains and intense heat waves that force the being underground. 

The main threat is aggressive, tree-eating creatures that are slightly larger than our being and come in larger groups than our being (smaller number of the being in the overall ecosystem). These tree-eating creatures kill the tree in a relatively short time, about a week. They stay away from BRISTLE TREES as they have little wood (thin bark and hollow interior) and poisonous sap. This is the natural habitat of our being.

When a tree in this hypothetical environment dies, it doesn’t only fall, but also severs its root system from the main body. The roots alone will regrow the tree

BEHAVIORS: For the behaviors, we wanted to take the keywords CURIOSITY, CONNECTION, and INSTINCT and apply them to our tree root environment. The creature relies heavily on instinctual behaviors. Like, for example, it naturally moves into the root systems and underground in moments of harsh weather. These root systems lead it to other trees, as it actively ventures out to learn more of the larger root system. It’s able to recognize patterns of these new discoveries, actively mapping multiple tree branch and root systems after only one venture, as well as forever avoiding areas where it felt threatened by other creatures, or threatened by potential tree death. It makes the connection between excessive damage to a tree (or its roots), and death of tree which is frequently caused by a threat (presence of termite creatures) and also frequently lead to a threat (being crushed as the trunk falls to the forest floor).

[wheeledspy55]

Week 9:

Assignment 2: What Follows.

For my Assignment 2 we had to choose a base idea to further develop and pitch by making it a One Page and One Sheet. I decided to expand upon my racing game idea: "What Follows.".

One Sheet:

The purpose of a One Sheet (Sell Sheet) is to sell the game to its potential audience. It only displays key information, such as: the game's title, an X statement, the developer's contact details, and a brief description and the game's core mechanics, features and selling points.

One Page:

The One Page Takes the One Sheet and expands upon it. It's purpose is to explain the game to the developers who would be working on the project, going into further detail and describing the mechanics and game play and how they would work and interact with each other. It essentially acts as a sort of blue print or instruction manual.

[skylerch]

Assignment 2 Progress

For this assignment, we were asked to come up with a game concept and make a one sheet and one page for it. My understanding is the one sheet is basically a poster for advertising the game, and the one page is like a design blueprint. When I brainstormed ideas for the game, I considered the three types of games we explored in this unit, which are platformers, asteroids shooters and top-down racers, however, I don’t usually play any of them. But then I thought about a type of platformers that I used to like a lot. Back in the Flash game era, I’ve played my share of 2D webpage puzzle platformer games, so I just decided to explore this idea.

One game that immediately came to my mind was a very old game called The Company of Myself. At the beginning of this semester, I thought of it in one of the in class discussions. It is a game I really liked. The art is very simple, the mechanics look very straightforward, yet as the game progresses, it is presented in a very profound and interesting way that really blew my mind when I first played it. In that game, the player can leave behind copies of himself that will repeat his exact actions in the previous loop when pressed a restart button, and the player can move on. These copies have a physical collision and can be interacted with by standing on them, etc. The player then needs to use this mechanic to solve time-based puzzles. I found this mechanic extremely smart and was amazed by how well it reflects the story.

I was inspired by this game and wanted to design a game with this kind of shadow-based mechanic, and thus came the idea of Shadowy Friend. Its mechanics are a lot simpler though, instead of recording past actions, I just let the player create one Shadow at a time. The player can swap places with the Shadow and also switch to its perspective. Each of them has distinct interactions with different objects and respective obstacles. For example, there will be platforms only the Shadow can step on and only the player can use a lever, etc. The two will collaborate to solve puzzles.

It does sound much less exciting, to be honest, and I’m not even sure if this mechanic will be possible to implement in GDevelop, but since the assignment is only about the concept, I just wanted to do it as my heart desires. Visually, I intend to use dark tone, minimalistic cartoon style. I’ve started drawing a sample level layout for the one page so that I can show how all the mechanics work. Hopefully I can refine this idea by next week.

[jordan-glover--game-design]

Week 8

Racing Game Development Post:

I have created a simple driving game with traffic coming from two directions as a starter base for the game. The game works so that when a car leaves the game screen you are rewarded with points and that happens infinitely unless the car crashes into the oncoming traffic and or the trees that line the outside of the track.

I have now implemented a different style of Track as well as border to more fit the space theme of the game, however, I decided to still go with a point system that revolves around dodging cars and asteroids. I have changed the “enemy's” / obstacles to other cars and asteroids to make it harder for the player to dodge objects as they range in hitboxes from small cars, to large asteroids, forcing the player to think strategically and play around the randomly spawning obstacles.

Assignment 2 Progress:

I have started assignment 2, by using an AI to make the background image of the One page as i wanted the catch the reader's attention so that they read the small descriptive information that will be on the on the bottom part of the One page, However, At this current stage I have only added the title and genre of game to the one page.