Final GDD

Final GDD

My Final GDD can be found HERE.

As i did not get a chance to start my GDD last week I tried my best to fill out my dundoc GDD with as much information as i could based on the topics. I did not completely understand some of the topics but I have tried my best to create an in-depth GDD for my final design. I look forward to adding all the design elements i have mentioned into my game design and hope to get a good start on creating the foundations for my game. I think using this Dundoc is a great way to really structure what one plans to include in their game and it then allows me to begin thinking about how i will go about the process of creating the game. Outlining things in this way is especially good as design changes or additions can be made freely without having to go back on work you've already done, i plan to use this Dundoc as the wire frame for all my additions to design and development as i construct this game.

Games Decisions

Games Decisions 

I really enjoyed reading Daniel Cooks Blog on 'cozy Games' as it gave me a new way of thinking about game design. The idea of a Cozy game is that instead of basing design and game play around battle, survival and immanent threats, cozy games allow the player space to breath while playing, instead of playing to improve battle skills for example their aim could be to gather abundant resources, develop relationships with characters or other players. Cozy games are synonymous with abundant resources, warm colors, small worlds, changing seasons and other elements to inspire nostalgia and a feeling of safety and comfort for the player. visuals play a big part in cozy games. warm, soft and natural colors all add to the cozy feeelig of a game. Audio is another medium that can be implemented to add to the coziness of a game design, using familar, natural sounds to relate to the player. The use of Natural and familiar materials can add to the coziness of a game such as the woolen aesthetic of the game 'LittleBigPlanet '.

                                          LittleBigPlanet image taken from flikr

The way the characters communicate in a game can greatly affect the emotions the player will feel while playing, having long, unimportant or meaningless conversations between characters can add to the safe, familiar feeling of relationships we enjoy in real life. Harsh commands and dominating, asserting characters would be avoided in a cozy game and the interactions with this character would always be an unpleasant and undesired experience for the player. creating vulnerabilities and weaknesses to characters such as old or young age, disabilities, roles ie priests or peaceful monks and maternal or paternal characteristics can all add to the coziness of a character in a game.

Unity Tutorial 05

Unity Tutorial 05

As I work through the tutorials everything is becoming easier to manage and work through. Each tutorial is giving me more and more ideas for details I can incorporate into my game to improve player experience. I like the idea of including the weapons and I believe i could use this in my game but include tools rather than weapons such as torches, maps, compass etc. That can aid the player in navigating through the map. One thing I still find difficult is working through the windows visual studio to allow the physics to be assigned to game objects and working through the errors I encounter with case sensitive words and ensuring brackets are in the right place. I think adding audio both as game object sounds effects and background music really adds to an immersive player experience and gives another layer of interaction with the user. I also think adding layers gives a much more professional look to a game by preventing clipping which shows that a lot of effort has been put into realistic graphics within the game.

                      Layers added to prevent clipping of objects-Screen grab from Jimmy Vegas Video

                      

unity tutorial 3

Unity Tutorial 3

This is the first tutorial i have have come into serious difficulty with, I struggle a lot with web design mainly as i find it difficult to work with code and the way it has to be written, for this lab I was able to  build the clock in less than ten minutes, just by scanning over the scales and positions given in the instructions, my problems arose when the visual studio c# coding came into play. I understand it is inevitable that i will have to become efficient with the C# coding to add vital physics and mechanics into my game and it is frustrating when i can easily sail trough the design part of unity only to be stumped by the styling and coding necessary to get the game working correctly. As with Dreamweaver and other programs we have used, it will take me some time to get used to being able to work through code and be able to identify problems and solutions when needed ad be able to get that done quickly and efficiently. Other than these set backs, I feel like I am starting to get used to the process of creating assets and game objects and being able to make them work together nicely. In the next few lab tutorials I hope to tie in the C# into my design and hopefully start to understand it more clearly.

                                         A screenshot of my completed Clock

Games MDA

Week Four Reading Notes

Mechanics are the 'rules'

Dynamics describe the 'play' of the game ie what emerges from rules etc

Aesthetics relate to player experience

Models must be:

Formal(well defined)

Abstract(widely applicable)

Proven(known to work)

kinds of fun:

1. sensation
2. fantasy
3. narrative
4. challenge
5. fellowship
6. discovery
7. expression(self discovery)
8. submission(game as pastime)

-Mechanics examples include: shuffling cards, water hazards in golf, spawn points in FPS 

-dynamics and mechanics are different views of the game.

- dynamics as a result of mechanics

Gamification Model canvas from MDA Slides Vimeo video

designer --> mechanics - dynamics - aesthetics <-- player

-simple changes in aesthetics introduce many changes in mechanics

" By moving between MDA's three levels of abstraction, we can conceptualize the dynamic behavior of game systems. Understanding games as dynamic systems helps us develop techniques for iterative design and improvement - allowing us to control for undesired outcomes, and tune for desired behavior. "

Quote taken from MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research

Workshop 01 unity tutorials

Workshop 01 unity tutorials

A the tutorials are progressing I am becoming more confident in developing a complex game. Initially I was worried that my sub-par coding knowledge & extremely sub-par gaming knowledge would really hold me back and I would be left behind, desperately trying to figure out the errors in coding and bugs in the game design. After working through the first few tutorials and looking into existing unity attributes that could aid my design, I am becoming much more confident that I will be able to create a game design that I'm proud of and that that can work really well. By following steps on different object actions I have also come up with lots of new ideas that I am going to try to include into my final design. I think details like the center cursor and adding object sounds can make a simple game seem very professional and also add to a better user experience. I have been practicing and playing around with the unity program a bit now and I am starting to become much more comfortable with the program and the process of quickly editing and adding objects, editing the environment and tweaking details etc. I am still to hone in on a definite game theme & idea but i feel the more i learn from practice and following tutorials, the easier it will be to develop my story and theme.

                                         Screen grab from Jimmy Vegas tutorial video

game brainstorm of 4 ideas

Brainstorming Game Ideas

Using the unity engine i would like to create a game that can have multiple different variables to a similar outcome. In my opinion, a game that can be played multiple different ways will result in much more returning players rather than a 'story mode type game that can be completed by moving through the steps and will be no more enjoyable or intriguing to a returning player. I really like the idea of using the first person perspective in unity to give a different take on game ideas that would be played in a completely different way like arcade games for example.

My four initial game ideas are:

1. Adventure Quest

In this game idea I would like to have the player trekking through a world with different variations in realism, terrain and conditions, the player would complete the game by traveling through this world collecting riddles which in turn would give insight to the player on where to travel and which paths are best taken for the player to most efficiently arrive in their final destination. The complexity of the game would come from the different stages the player would go through which could include real world scenarios such as deserts, mines, forests, mountains etc and also could include taking 'out of this world' paths like space travel, alternate dimensions etc.

2. Maze

In this game idea I would like to have the player travel through a maze with different obstacles on each path, the maze could be 2D, ie. on same x plane with the terrain in 3D, or 3D, with the maze path on different levels. this game could be made in levels, which difficulty increasing on each maze or as a continuous path that gradually expands into multiple extensive paths, increasing difficulty.

3. Obstacle course

For this game I would like to have a first person obstacle course. Taking inspiration from sonic / crash bandicoot / Mario type games, I would like to create a game in which the player has to advance through an obstacle course. Similar to the maze and adventure quest ideas, there are a few ways the course could be designed, on either 2D or 3D levels, advancing levels or multiple courses with varying difficulty etc. unlike the adventure quest, this would not be designed or styled as a real world course and more like a traditional obstacle course like what would be seen in ninja warrior.

4. first person arcade

My final brainstorm idea is for a first person arcade game(s) in which I would create one or more arcade game that could use 3D design in unity so that instead of using, for example, a coin in coin drop or a ball in skee-ball, the player would be a part of the game and would aim to hit targets/ score points etc. this could be expanded into a simulation life size arcade in which the player can travel around to different games. one way to improve player experience could be to incorporate easter eggs for each game and include mini games in unexpected areas.

skee-ball game - image taken from this website