Week 13 (Practice Game Design Document)

Asteroidrage

Game Design Document

Jackson Coll – Asteroids Roguelike

Index

Index

1. Index
2. Game Design

1. Summary
2. Gameplay
3. Mindset
1. Technical

1. Screens
2. Controls
3. Mechanics
1. Level Design

1. Themes

1. Ambience
2. Objects
   1. Ambient
   2. Interactive
3. Challenges
1. Game Flow
1. Development

1. Abstract Classes
2. Derived Classes
1. Graphics

1. Style Attributes
2. Graphics Needed
1. Sounds/Music

1. Style Attributes
2. Sounds Needed
3. Music Needed
1. Schedule

Game Design

Summary

Your ship is stuck in space in a vacuum trapped with hundreds of asteroids that will destroy your ship if they strike you.

Gameplay

The goal of the game to avoid the asteroids and destroy them with your ships lasers. As you kill more asteroids you will become a more powerful ship and level up to take on larger and larger asteroids. Asteroids will drop powerups and items that you keep until you die.

Mindset

The player needs to be quick witted and have good reaction times to survive. Very quick atmosphere.

Technical

Screens

1. Title Screen

a. Start Game, Instructions, Multiplayer, Unlockables

2. Level Select

2. Game

1. Open Inventory (I)
2. Skip Level (N)

2. End Credits

a. Skip Credits

Controls

W(Up), S(Down), A(Left), D(Right), Space(Fire), Escape(Menu), I(Inventory)

Mechanics

The mechanics in this game will be avoiding and aiming at obstacles and collecting powerups that drop from asteroids. Collecting random items from asteroids until you die will add replayability.

Level Design

Themes

1. Space

1. Mood

1. Dark, foreboding, creepy, isolated
1. Objects

1. Ambient
   1. Suction
   2. Bright light from stars
   3. Rocks
2. Interactive
   1. Asteroids
   2. Pickups

2. Future Space Levels

1. Mood

1. Suction increased, light getting brighter, creepy, isolated
1. Objects

1. Ambient
   1. Stars in the background
   2. Rocks getting larger
   3. Suction increased
2. Interactive
   1. Larger and larger asteroids
   2. Pickups that get more powerful
   3. Special powerups after particularly large asteroids

Game Flow

1. Player appears in space
2. Suction appears to pull player forward
3. Asteroids “Warp” into view
4. Player is given an example of how to kill an asteroid and pick up a powerup
5. Powerup is demonstrated
6. Practice asteroid appears and flies towards player
7. Game begins

Graphics

Style Attributes

Colors palette

The colour style that will be used is space like and futuristic. Player ship will be dark and sleek. Start menu will be futuristic.

Graphic style

Futuristic and pixel styled.

Feedback style

The feedback given will be pixel like and all particle effects will be pixel-driven.

Dark colours will be used. Grey, black, white, and other shades. The only bright “colours” we’ll be using are Neon Cyan and Neon Green. Thick outlines of the pixels will be given to make the objects easier to understand and most objects including asteroids will have smooth curves.

Collecting items and all other positive emotes will be rewarded with a nice particle effect that corresponds to each. Hopefully the way the game is designed, the feedback will be enough to help the player learn how to play the game without adding a long tutorial.

Graphics Needed

1. Player ship

1. Alien ship or Human ship design

1. Ship (idle, hovering, thrusting forward, backward)

Sounds/Music

Style Attributes

8Bit noises will be used using Audacity and freesounds online. The tempo of the game is fast so sfx will need to be fast paced. Electronic music will be added and space-like laser effects will be used for shooting. The mood of the game will be fast-paced shooter style.

We are learning more towards the realistic side of the scale when it comes to how the sounds actually feel. We want to increase immersion to the game rather than make it feel cartoony or unrealistic. The music will be a good way to help the player get into the groove of the game.

A volume control for each type of effect will be added; Player sfx, enemy sfx, and music.

Sounds Needed

1. Effects

1. Laser, 5 different types
2. Weapons(bombs, lasers, rockets)
3. Attachments(shields, mines, fog)
4. Pickups
5. Destroy enemy, destroy player, destroy asteroid

1. Win, loss, end game, start game,
2. background music

Music Needed

1. Fast pace electro music
2. Dark theme for menu
3. Space theme for credits

Week 12 (Scripts I've worked on in Tri 3)

I didn't do nearly as much scripting this tri compared to last tri but I believe I've still done enough to count as efficient practice. I've done a little bit of scripting for all the games I've worked on but none that actually got used in the game. For the final game however I decided to work on some scripts to get this part of the tri-requirement completed.

For our game I created scripts that did the following.

I worked on creating a script that kept the cursor of the game inside the screen when played in fullscreen or when the build was pushed. I tried doing this in a few ways but I settled on using a Screen.lockCursor function.

I also created a script that would allow the credits to move rather than just sitting there doing nothing and I scripted our start menu so that it would link correctly between the scenes using Unities GUI system. These also came up as buttons.

On top of this I linked our credits scene and start screen properly so that the game was playable.

In other games I had created movement scripts and and action scripts for interacting with things but as we didn't actually use them in those games, I don't count them.

Here is a screenshot of the scripts I created for our game. You know they're mine because I was the only person on the project using the "s_" tagline for each of my scripts. I would show screenshots of what each of these do but since the assignment was uploaded on GitHub, I believe the scene files have been deleted somehow meaning I am unable to open the actual game anymore.

I believe these are sufficient evidence of my ability to script in C# and I hope they are sufficient to help me pass the subject this tri. Over the period of this Tri I believe I would've spent 1-3 hours scripting per week in total.

Thanks for reading.

Week 11 (2D and 3D asset creation)

So during this term I've spent time doing scripts, audio and games design, but not any actual original 3D or 2D assets. This is because I personally feel that I am not particularly good at drawing or creating physical things so I end up leaving it to people who are better suited. But as it turns out, I am required to do 3D and 2D assets to pass this trimester so I have spent this afternoon making the best assets I can. They are horrible but they are about as good as I can do with the resources I have at my disposal.

First I tried creating lava and stone so I figured I'd put them together and make a hideous furnace.

Here's the actual texturing on the furnace.

Then I tried creating a roof and a wall texture. The roof is triangular and the walls have a 2D print on them that I created.

The last thing I made was the outhouse which I feel shows that already, albeit a small improvement, over time my ability to create nice looking 3D assets will get better.

This particular one shows off the end of the house which looks smooth and also an addition I added to the outhouse to make it more obvious as to what it is.

Finally here is an overview of the entire area. I believe in time my art skills could be improved upon because this is honestly my first actual attempt at making art probably in the last 8 years and I hope to work on making my own assets over the holidays. I believe I could easily do better than this with a little bit of training.

I hope these assets pass the 2D and 3D asset part of the grade.

Week 10 (Documentation)

I'm finally starting to understand why documentation is so important. In our current group we've got the documentation down pat and we're making the most progress of any group I've been apart of. There is no confusion about what exactly what everyone needs to do and I often find myself completed my list of tasks and helping out others with things they have left.

Having a fully written design document is great help on projects and having it be well written is even better. In class recently we learned how to write them up properly and our group got right on getting it done. In the future I will definitely be using documentation for assignments and even future projects to make sure that everything is done smoothly and efficiently because it seems that it was all that is needed to get a group to flow together. I'm glad we learned this.

Week 9 (Attendance)

Lately I've been having a lot of trouble getting to college. My work isn't giving me the most favourable hours and I've been sick twice in 3 weeks. I've missed 4 days of classes due to being sick and another 3 due to not being able to afford the trip. I'm trying to keep up with what we're doing in class on the classes section of the website but things aren't always uploaded there. When it's not I ask classmates if I missed anything important.

It's demoralizing because I feel like I am falling behind a lot and there isn't much I can do about it. I'm considering talking to a tutor about a quick catch-up session to make sure I at least understand the gist of what we've been learning but overall I just think I need to focus on attending class and passing my subjects for this term. Then I'm going to save money over the holidays to make sure I can afford class for the entire term. I'm going into class this week for sure so I will see what I can do.

Week 8 (The Term "Game")

What is a game?

I've been thinking a lot lately about what a game actually is. I've done some reading online after a few quick searches and a lot of people disagree about what a game actually is. A lot of people argue that it is a hobby that people do for fun. Some argue that it is something to pass the time, others that it is a way to distract themselves from their real life. Sure, all of these things are 100% accurate, but they do not define what a game is.

In my opinion, a game is an expression. It is someone else's expression of something. Like art. Like a piece of art that someone poured something that was in their mind onto a moving portrait that is our pixelated screen. Game designers, programmers, animators. All of them are artists in their own right. They, you, we, me. We are all expressing ourselves through our choices, thoughts, and ability to put what we're thinking onto the screen.

No matter how much effort is put in, it is an expression of who we are. Putting no effort in shows on the screen and that, in itself, is an expression of who you are. Putting lots of effort in and being creative is also an expression. People working, learning or living in the creative medium of games are all artists and I'm excited to see what things I will be able to share with people when I go out into the world.

Week 7 (Game Atmosphere)

This is an interesting topic to me. I've been playing a lot of different games lately and one thing I've noticed is that they actually make me feel different. Metro: Last Light made me feel sad, Far Cry 4 made me feel oppressed, and Evolve made me feel gritty. As I switched between these games I got to thinking about how I felt. Why do I feel this way while playing these games?

One huge reason that games make me personally feel the way I do tends to be the music and audio in the game. For example, the music on Far Cry 4 gave me the feeling of being oppressed and being shackled. In a word, shackled. Here is a link to the music from Far Cry 4. The slow build up and intense singing is great for creating that kind of atmosphere. Another example is Evolve making me feel gritty. Here's one of the tracks from Evolve. You can perhaps see what I'm getting at.

I've been able to take this understanding and use it in my groups current game that we're working on to help give the game the feeling that we want it to have. I've learned that audio has a much larger impact on the atmosphere and feel of a game than any other part of the game and having that much control over our game is invigorating.

Week 6 (Post Mortem 2)

Process Post-Mortem

1. Important/significant events
● what were they
Completely recreating the game from scratch, twice.
Finally completing the core mechanics of the game so that we could officially "test" the feel of the game.
Deciding that we needed to change the way the movement worked.
Procedurally generated targets.

● what caused them
Lack of forethought about how the game would end up if we pursued the ideas we originally thought of.

● what have you learned from them
To think about the end of the project rather than what's right in front of me.

● what processes or procedures would you enact to manage them in the future projects
Would enforce a proper leader for the group so that nobody felt unsure about what they should be doing. Also thought more about what exactly we wanted the game to "feel" like.

2. How has your choice of production style affected the project quality and quantity?
If we'd spent more time setting out jobs for each member of the team we would've been more effective.

● How much time was spent in each project phase?
Different roles spent different amounts of times. The programmer spent the most amount of time on the game by far. Each phase lasted around the same amount of time.

3. How has your choice of software affected the project quality,quantity and style?
Unity is a great program and 3DS Max was an effective tool for creating the map.

Blog

1. Document all the assets (scripts, art, audio, etc.) you have contributed
Same jobs as my last blog in "Week 4 (Post Mortem)" which can be found here: http://jacksoncoll.blogspot.com.au/

2. How has the work you’ve contributed help you achieve your professional goals?
Designing a level is definitely something I will be doing in the future although I cannot say the same for a rhythm based game. As I want to go indie I honestly doubt I'd ever decide to do a musical game in my life. This may be naive but that is just how I feel.

● if it hasn't how will you change this in the future
In future I will speak with the group about what genre / type of game will benefit us all mutually. Even in this group, nobody was particularly fond of a musical based game, we just got carried away with doing something different.

3. What are 3 important things you’ve learnt from developing this project?
The team needs a leader.
The team members need to understand what exactly their job is.
The type of game decided on needs to be relevant to the future of all group members.

Week 5 (Motivating A Team)

Of all of the things I've learned in this term is that staying motivated in a seemingly "fake" environment is quite difficult. By fake I mean a staged environment meant to feel like a workplace. Our duty so far has been to create and perfect a in a group. Theorising has become easy enough, I've learned that to get everyone on board with an idea all you need to do is start small and build off of it rather than thinking about the complicate intricacies at the very beginning of the project.

The most effective thing that motivates a team I've found so far is when everyone knows exactly what they are doing in the group. One person does music and games design, the other does art, the other does programming and the last helps with one of the latter. In my experience, when a person feels like they are going to have a true impact on the groups success, that is when they put in their best effort and feel motivated, after all, nobody wants to disappoint their peers. So far this has been working in our group but I feel like after some more clarification on our roles, this could be the most effective group to date. I'm looking to understand more about how to motivate my team but this is what I've learned so far.

Week 4 (Post Mortem)

Post Mortem

Important/significant events

● what were they
We had to recreate the entire assignment after deciding that some of the key elements of the game weren't properly thought out.

● what caused them
Lack of understanding of the project. We got so caught up in theorising a good game we forgot all about practicality and it got the best of us in this case.

● what have you learned from them
That thinking ahead is extremely important when thinking of concepts for games. You may think it is the most fantastic game in existence, but how can it be if you're unable to create it?

● what processes or procedures would you enact to manage them in the future projects
I'd make sure that the group has an official team leader and if nobody is willing to step up, I will do it myself. I would also make sure that all work was shared equally among the group rather than some doing particularly hard work and others doing easier work.

How has the work you’ve contributed help you achieve your professional goals?

● if it hasn’t how will you change this in the future
I was not able to do any programming to the level that I wanted and in the future I would make sure I think ahead and get myself a role that I feel will help me in the field I want to practice in.

Document all the assets (scripts, art, audio, etc.) you have contributed
A script, and I did a lot of actual level design rather than creating content. I contributed audio files and sound effects to the project as well.

How has your choice of production style affected the project quality and quantity?
We really should have had a leader managing the group rather than people being relied on to take the incentive. I felt a lot of the time like I wasn't able to contribute properly to the game because we didn't have much face time due to the classes being split. Also the one group meeting we did have I was unable to attend due to only finding out about it the night before.

● How much time was spent in each project phase?
I probably spent 5-6 hours in each phase of the project which was not as much as some other group members but again this is due to job allocation not being distributed fairly which I would indeed change in the future.

How has your choice of software affected the project quality,quantity and style?
I like Unity a lot and I do not think this prohibited our ability to make the game at all, in fact I believe it inhibited us. I did have a few issues with Unity due to my version doing strange things with my game objects but I believe that would be an easy fix if it became too much of a hindrance.

What are 3 important things you’ve learned from the playtesting session, about your game
specifically or game design/production in general.
The game needs to be faster paced.
It also needs to be less complex controls wise (remove left and right click)
The movement scheme needs to be severely changed. (Perhaps block movement rather than smooth.)

Week 3 (Leading)

Throughout our lives we learn many things about ourselves. We are learning new things about ourselves all the time. For example, this week I learned something new about myself, and that is that I am a leader, not a follower. Forgive me for sounding arrogant or stuck up, I do not mean to. By this I do not mean that I am unable to follow people's directions, or that I do not respect others. By it I mean that I feel my work ethic whilst being in charge, (solo assignments, when I am leading a group,) is far superior to my work ethic when I am in a group and do not have creative control. 

I am a very creative person and sometimes it gets the better of me. If someone is to explain something to me, my mind often races off in many different directions about what exactly they mean. I have trouble taking things for what they are and my mind often warps what I am hearing into something that it isn't. This is especially frustrating on creative group assignments such as this one. My feelings towards this are that if I am in creative control of the project, I cannot misinterpret what needs to be done as I am the person creating it. 

I don't feel like this blog would have made a whole lot of sense to anyone who isn't me, but I gave it my best shot. Thanks for reading.

Week 2 (Game theorising)

Of all of the things I've learned this term I think the understanding that creating ideas for games isn't quite as simple as the general population seems to think.

This week we were asked to think of an idea with the subjects, "No violence/nobody gets hurt," "3rd person," and "Indoors." At first I thought of the idea to have an assassin who doesn't like hurting people so instead of doing so, tickles them onto the floor and puts them to sleep but after a little bit of  discussion our group decided that this wasn't tackling the subjects head on. The entire point of the subjects is to sway us away from violence completely, not finding a replacement for it and making a game that would otherwise be violent.

After some discussion we decided to go with a button sequence strategy game similar to this. The idea is that a mage is running up some type of tower / pipe and has to dodge obstacles using his spells and he will be prompted to use whatever spell corresponds with the key is on the block. Hopefully this goes well.

References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTdmYqgLa7Y

Week 1 (Prototyping)

If there's anything I've learned about prototyping is that it is time consuming and also a broad subject to grasp. What exactly is a prototype? Well to my understanding it is a very quick and simple version of a part of a game. The difficulty comes in when trying to make sure that there is a visible difference between the prototype and an end-state game.

For our particular prototype I feel like it wasn't exactly "prototype level" and was perfected far too much. I feel like, (in all honesty,) we should have spent less time on the code for it. Sure, it wasn't perfect within the first 3 hours but isn't that the entire point of a prototype? I feel like in future we need to focus on the idea of the game and not the actual polish of the mechanics and game itself. If the prototype is distinctively showing characteristics of the game we are wanting to make, then there is no need to continue working on it. I assume this can lead to bad habits, for example when we go to make the real game we may have spent too much time on the prototype code to throw it away and borrow from it, (or use it entirely.)