year1fmprvpart2

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Dialogue in my game

This is something that i really wanted to have in my game. It would have been really cool to have a narrator or having the character talking to himself while he explores, but i didnt have enough time or the knowledge to do it.

alternatives : I could have done something that is similar to what Undertale does. There will be a box with the characters face, and it will make a repetitive noise while typewriter text follows the screen. This is a great idea and is something I will most defiantly keep in mind heading into future projects.

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Development Update - Cinematic Shot

Prior to this project i had never experimented with cinematography. I always thought it would have been very difficult, but now that i’ve done it, it’s quite an easy process which improves games infinitely.

You need to use a ‘cine camera actor’ this will give you the camera which is used to do the cinematic shot. You also need to make a level sequence, which will open the timeline that is displayed below. Drag the camera actor from the details window and use to keyframes while moving around the camera to make a smooth cinematic sequence.

I will definitely be using this again, not only was it extremely easy to learn and understand, it also made my game a lot less bland and gave it the opportunity to have an opening when a player opens the game.

With the cinematic sequence, i wanted to add more to the cinematic opening to make it look better, and what better way to add to it than to add text informing the player in their objective to complete the game. 

To do this, i used a substring and string variables to add text to the screen. It looked nice how it was but something still felt off, so i decided to attempt to make it typewriter text but using a delay and an event tick plus some other nodes and with the example above is how it turned out.

I’m really happy with how this turned out. It compliments the cinematic beautifully.

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Development Update - Notes

I made the notes to enhance more of a storyline into the game. I did this because from my personal experiences I think games flow better with a story.

My storyline -

My storyline goes along very well with my tagline. My tagline being “6 plants, 6 dead biologists” this mean, there are 6 plants to find, but there are 6 dead biologists. This “ adds “ to the story as there is actually not a reason to why there are random notes lying around on trees or on the floor. They are from past biologists who have also tried to leave the observatory to find the plants to they can all survive in the post apocalyptic world. 

Yet, it’s not that simple. All of the previous biologists died. And no plants were left behind, but there are clues. Other biologists have found these clues prior to you, and done what they say meaning you don't have to do what all of them say.

The goal of the game is to find all of the plants. That is all.

The code that it took to create the notes was actually surprisingly simple. You mainly just need a reference which you could select multiple times on one blueprint, which would change the text on every note. Here shows how it works. All i need to do is paste text onto the note png, then give each of these a reference which will be either note_1, note_2 etc. And when i click on the blueprint, i am able to change whatever the text is from 0, and change it to 5.

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Game storyline research

Information from 30 of the Best Video Game Storylines - Howchoo

One cure for loneliness is the solitude of nature, or so Henry, the protagonist of Firewatch seems to believe. Setting off into the Wyoming wilderness, he is in search of the chance to rest his weary heart and figure himself out among the expansive and empty vistas of the great Wyoming mountain range. Only those vistas are not as empty as they first appear. There is a mystery at the core of Firewatch, a dark and paranoia-inducing exploration of fear and the consequences of our decisions.

The game’s poignant story is backed by gorgeous stylized visuals and a wonderful ambient audio track that really makes you feel immersed in the 1980's wilderness. You can almost feel the cool dew of the early morning on your face. There’s subtle humor, too, and the flow of dialog between Henry and his supervisor Delilah (heard over a walkie-talkie) brings an intimacy to the setting that really drives the energy of the game forward.

There’s more interaction here than with Gone Home, so while there are some walking simulator vibes at play, the way the narrative is driven through the dialog, the present sense of mystery, and the type of landscape being explored all conspire to create a game that feels far more immersive than others in this genre.

The storyline for the firewatch goes without a doubt one of the best.

I enjoyed reading a summary of the story, it was very engaging. following information is my favourite part of the story from Firewatch: Story Explanation and Analysis (press-start.com.au)

PART ONE: FIRSTLY, WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED?

Firewatch’s story wraps up quickly, with lots of little narrative pieces hidden in the brief instances of dialogue or in notes scattered throughout the game map. As a result, you might finish the game a little confused, as I initially did. Therefore, let me try to quickly summarise the basic plot as I understand it. Of course, this is my reading of the plot; yours may well differ, so don’t be afraid to share your thoughts in the ongoing discussion in the comments below. (UPDATE: Countless others already have.)

The game begins with an introduction to Henry, drunk in a bar, as he meets a college professor, Julia. (As you play as Henry throughout the game, I will use ‘you’ and ‘Henry’ interchangeably.)  The two start dating, fall in love, get a dog, talk about kids, struggle with their relationship and drink a lot. There’s a lot of drinking in this game — remember that, that’s important.

Anyhow, Julia develops early onset dementia and her memory starts failing. As Henry, you make the choice to put her in a care facility or to try and look after her yourself. Ultimately, the decision you make doesn’t matter (that’s kind of the point, again we’ll get back to it) but either way she ends up with her family back in Melbourne, Australia.

Unable to deal with the situation, Henry takes a job working as a fire lookout at the Two Forks lookout in the Shoshone National Park with supervisor Delilah, whom you talk to via radio.

Delilah has had it rough too. She kind of abandoned her boyfriend when his relative died and he rightly dumped her, but she blamed the whole thing on him. (Notice the theme of abandonment yet?) Julia’s troubled as well – the poor soul – and is somewhat of a regular at the Shoshone.

Progressing forward, you run into some mischievous teenage girls who later go missing. Naturally, you suspect this scary looking figure you ran into soon after seeing the girls, who eventually turns out to be Ned, but we’ll get back to him. He’s very important.

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Development Update - Poison Air

The poison air if a key mechanic within my game. Previously i have made countdown times similar to this, but not for this same reasons. Making it so you die at the end of the timer was slightly more difficult to figure out, as well as making it so the timer ticks down as you go outside and goes up when you back inside of the observatory. 

The timer acts as how long you have left outside, until the character runs out of breath. You need to manage the time that you spend outside looking for the plants and making sure that you are able to come back. I would have made it simpler by adding as you leave the observatory it will give you a message saying “don’t forget to come back to get air back” or something along those lines. The reason that i didn't go through with this was just because i couldn't find out how to make it work. After using custom events and many other types of nodes, i left it up to the player to remember that they have to go back themselves without being told, and with that little bit of information not being given to the players. Makes the game, that much harder. How does it work? By using timelines and custom events, you are able to set an amount of time that it takes for the countdown to deplete. The custom events are used with a flip flop, which sets the countdown to go up or down depending on whether you are inside or outside of the observatory 

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Development Update - Observatory

1) the sphere is default with 20 sides - I reduced this down to 8 sides so its more “real” in the game setting.

Selected the sections and set an inset of 0.025 to get the metal beams i was looking for in the design.

once the is was selected I used the same 0.025 to extrude for depth

2) while building the lab, I came across a problem in which when you extrude something it leaves the inside hollow, so when you go on the inside of the structure, everything is hollow. to fix this I had to go on the inside and manually cut and fill in across each of the hollow areas.

3) Here I encountered an issue when trying to make the 

airlock door. The inside and outside were both reversed and it made my job 10x more difficult when it came to completing the build. 

It became fixed by extruding the airlock the opposite way, so the inside was fine, but the outside was hollow, this was an easy fix as i could just fill it in with multi cut and target wield.

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Development Update - Landscape

Here is the landscape for the game as of now.

I used a multitude of different things to make it come out like this, i would still like to change some things but i will do that another day.

The main tool i used was called foliage. This tool makes placing grass and trees extremely easy. All i had to do was select a tree or multiple trees, change the density and size of the placement and then click and there would be about 3-5 trees placed down randomly.

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Landscape Official Design

This landscape design i really like, it may look a lot plainer than my sketch, but i like the simplicity of this landscape as well as the secret area is a nice touch and adds difficulty. I like the forest in the middle of the map as well as the pathway leading into the middle of it, I could defiantly make that a clue for help finding a plant or something similar to that.

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Art station 3 - Kazi Masrur Mazhar Arbhi

ArtStation - Kazi Masrur Mazhar Arbhi Kazi Masrur Mazhar Arbhi His summary reads : Creative, hard working 3D visualizer who stands out. I am confident in my creativity, time management, problem solving and technical skill. I think a design should always be practical.

Likes : The water in the bottom image, overtime looking at it more i actually quite like it, along with the trees and the little sheep. Everything goes together quite nicely. I like the arch in the top picture but it is a little too high detail for me. Dislikes : in the bottom picture I don't like the amount of colours used in the landscape they clash sometimes, and maybe it would have been best to add some grass potentially. Overall : I really like both the images, if i ever think about adding a river i will refer back to the bottom image.

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Art station 2 - Drew Mac

ArtStation - Drew Mac Drew Mac Creates 3d models, low poly landscapes and more. Likes : I really like the landscape, especially the mountains. Not too complicated, simple looking and great looking. The trees and also really nice in the top picture. Dislikes : In the bottom picture, im not a huge fan of the amount of sides on the seal, and the water looks out of place. Overall : I love the landscape in the first picture and i am defiantly going to include it in my thought process when designing my first draft for my landscape

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Art station 1 - Aimé TRIBOLET

ArtStation - Aimé TRIBOLET Aimé TRIBOLET creates digital illustrations, 3D animations and VR content.

Also does incredible low-poly artwork i am inspired by. Likes : I love the style of the trees and the buildings, they look like something I would love to have in my game. Dislikes : I am unsure about the landscape and the water shown in the top and bottom right picture, it looks odd and out-of-place. Overall : I Think Aimé Tribolet is a fantastic designer and i will defiantly take into account the nature in his artwork for my own game.

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Landscape research

art station ( Next 3 posts will be research on art station artists who make low poly landscapes )

I chose to make the game in low poly as its the easiest for my in a short time period, it also in my opinion looks really good.

[Unity] Lowpoly Environments �� polycount These pictures looks incredible. I love the landscape design, everything looks well placed, and there is almost nothing bad to say about these images. I will say that my map will defiantly not be this large, and it will be in an enclosed area, but i really like the solid colour ground and the mountains in both pictures give for a really nice backdrop.

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Landscape sketch

This is the first sketch.

I do like the sketch, but i have a few issues with it.

I don't like how ive made all of the zones together, i would much prefer if all the plants were spread out in a large area

It would take a long time to make, as each zone would represent a different plant. Each zone would require different assets and i don't have that much time to do all of them.

I will say that i liked my thinking and the different hills/mountins that are spread around and well placed. Overall, this landscape is a no from me, ill be making a new one.

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Landscape moodboard

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Game Research 10 - World War Z

Information from - https://store.steampowered.com/app/699130/World_War_Z/

Humanity is on the brink of extinction. From New York to Moscow and Jerusalem, the undead apocalypse continues to spread. As the end looms, a hardened few band together to defeat the horde and outlive the dead.

World War Z is a heart-pounding coop third-person shooter for up to 4 players featuring swarms of hundreds of zombies. Based on the Paramount Pictures film, World War Z focuses on fast-paced gameplay while exploring new storylines from around the world.

- Battle swarms of hundreds of zombies – the Swarm Engine™ seamlessly renders hordes of zombies in incredible firefights. Advanced gore systems offer gruesomely satisfying action. - Coop story-driven campaigns – survive around the world, as unique groups tell their stories of perseverance. - Fight other players for survival – several intense Player vs Player vs Zombies game modes complement the coop campaigns. - Grow stronger – unlock powerful weapon upgrades and level 8 character classes to take on greater challenges.

This game highlights environmental issues to me, and a deeper insight on the post apocalyptic genre. Personally, I would like to steer away from the realism of real-life like environmental issues and make my game look happy and fully of greenery while also having it be either post apocalyptic or pre apocalyptic. Realistically i should have my game pre apocalyptic as it makes the most sense regarding the way i would like to build me game, and i may just consider it.

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Game Research 9 - Resident evil 2 - herbs and healing

The following information is from : https://store.steampowered.com/app/883710/Resident_Evil_2/ The genre-defining masterpiece Resident Evil 2 returns, completely rebuilt from the ground up for a deeper narrative experience. Using Capcom’s proprietary RE Engine, Resident Evil 2 offers a fresh take on the classic survival horror saga with breathtakingly realistic visuals, heart-pounding immersive audio, a new over-the-shoulder camera, and modernized controls on top of game play modes from the original game. Im more interested in the herb/healing side of this game.

The following information is from : https://www.gamerevolution.com/guides/477179-resident-evil-2-how-heal-herb-mixtures-recipes-re2-remake

Figuring out how to heal in Resident Evil 2 remake is a bit more involved than most games. There are multiple items that you can use to heal, but due to their limited amount, you’ll want to make sure you wait until the right time to use them. Below we’ll discuss all the Resident Evil 2 remake herb recipes, how much each herb combination heals, and any additional effects they may bestow. We’ll also cover the health system in RE2 remake, as it’s a bit vaguer than the health bars or percentages most games use.

How to Heal in Resident Evil 2 Remake: All Herb Recipes

There are two types of items that you can use to heal in RE2 remake: herbs and First Aid Sprays. First Aid Sprays are simple, they heal you to 100 percent health every single time. Herbs, on the other hand, are more complicated to use and are also much more plentiful than the relatively rare First Aid Sprays.

Herbs come in three varieties:

Green Herb: Heals a small amount of health upon use.

Blue Herb: Cures poison when used.

Red Herb: Cannot be used by itself. Has an enhancing effect when combined with other herbs.

The usefulness of herbs really becomes apparent when you begin mixing them. By themselves, Green and Blue Herbs can help you in a pinch, but when you start combining them together and bring Red Herbs into the mix, you can start producing some powerful healing items.

There are a number of different herb mixes you can make in-game. Some will be familiar to Resident Evil veterans, while others are making their first appearance in the series with Resident Evil 2 remake.

The possible combinations are:

Mixed Herb (G+G): A mix two Green Herbs will heal you by around 50 percent of your total health.

Mixed Herb (G+G+G): Three Green Herbs mixed together will restore 100 percent of your health.

Mixed Herb (G+B): By combining a Green and a Blue Herb you can restore around 25 percent of your health and cure poison

Mixed Herb (G+R): This combination of one Green and one Red Herb will completely restore your health.

Mixed Herb (B+R): This herb mixture is new to the series. By combining a Red and a Blue Herb you’ll cure poison status, gain immunity to poison for a short time, and any damage to the player will be reduced for a short period.

Mixed Herb (G+B+R): By mixing all three varieties of herbs you’ll produce a combination that heals you completely, cures poison, and grants immunity to poison and reduces damage for a short time.

It seems as if there are different colour herbs which you can put together to make healing more efficient. I will say that the amount of mixing you can for only 3 herbs is actually quite alot if you do maths. So i decided to maybe cut down on the amount of plants i have in the game. Which i had originally decided at 10 but i may cut it down to something like 6.

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Game Research 8 - No Man’s Sky

All of the following information come from - https://www.nomanssky.com/?cli_action=1684334371.389

EXPLORE

In an infinite universe Be the first to land on beautiful, unknown planets teeming with life. Survive hazardous environments, where alien civilizations seek their fortune and outlaws take it by force.

BUILD

Base building, anywhere, on any planet Team up to build anything from small outposts to complex multi-planet colonies. Farm for resources, hire helpers, or build a mobile base in your freighter.

MULTIPLAYER

Explore, Build and Survive Together Experience up to 32 player multiplayer when you summon the social hub, the Space Anomaly, from anywhere in the universe. Form a group, go on inter-galactic missions together or visit each other’s bases.

What did i learn from this? I learnt about landscape building and potential decorating/building similar to alchemy garden gave me ideas of. I also really like the low poly in this game it looks fantastic and similar to what i would want in my head but i may go for something a little bit less as i am not so experienced in 3d modelling.