Week 4
Progress Update
This week was a hectic one. While we had planned on challenging the next stage of development last week, certain circumstances forced us to wait one more week. Fortunately, we have gotten past those circumstances, and should be ready to challenge for real this week.
Team Disagreements
The start of this week was not a very good one. As the team met up to discuss how we would go about working on our reverse stealth game, one of our team members spoke up in disapproval of our ideas. And not just one of our ideas, but all of them. They claimed we should scrap every game we had been working on in favor of a new idea. We didn't do that, of course - but it still highlighted a big issue, in that our team was not as agreed on our ideas as we had thought. To that effect, our team met and hammered through any preexisting issues. It was a long and difficult meeting. Opinions were heard. Ideas were crushed. But by the end of it, we had brought all of our ideas back to the point where we were excited about them all.
Changing the Game
One of the end results of our meeting was that we changed which game we wanted to go forwards with. Now we have decided to work on DJ Clone (working title) - a 3D beat-em-up game with rhythm game mechanics mixed in. I admit, I was reluctant to stop working on our reverse stealth game - that game was my baby, after all - but I can see now that this is the better game for our team. It has something for everyone of us to get into, be it AI, Music, or Particle Effects.
A Race to the Finish
Of course, with a change in direction comes a huge increase in workload. On the design side of things, I spent a lot of this week getting new VDDs in order, as well as putting together a lot of producer-based documents (our team has no producer, so that role has unfortunately fallen onto me). I spent a while looking into some new design ideas for our prototypes as well, though at the moment that hasn't manifested itself in any sort of document.
Moving Forwards
As I mentioned, we are for certain going to challenge the next stage of development this week. So all that can be said is that going forwards, we have to hope that we'll make it through, and once that hurdle has been overcome, the floodgates will finally open and we get really start getting deep into development.
Until next time!
Friday, September 30, 2016
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Game Development Blog - Week 3
Week 3
Progress Update
For this week, we continued work on our prototypes. We're hoping to challenge the next stage of development tomorrow, but it's been a struggle getting here. I'm not sure how things will go, but with luck all should go fine.
A Decision Reached
At the beginning of class last week, our team sat down and started arguing over which idea we thought we wanted to focus on for the next stage of development. The debate was lengthy and grueling. I wanted to do my game. Dustin wanted to do his game. Ryan wanted to do his. Tom stayed neutral. But finally, after talking of particle effects and AI, I convinced the programmers to switch their favor to my idea - the Reverse Stealth game.
Prototyping Problems
With the decision made, we returned to working on the prototypes. However, a new set of flaws showed up, many in number and few in solutions.
1. The Stealth Prototype was updated with the assistance of the programmers. However, the transition removed some features and altered others. This is a minor setback, of course - merely requiring some minor code tweaks - but a setback nonetheless.
2. The new focus on the Stealth prototype meant that the other two ideas had their prototypes virtually untouched. This left them in a state that was very poor for testing, although they were technically "testing ready."
3. Dustin brought up that, in testing and coding the prototypes, he found the reverse stealth game to be the most tedious to code, as well as the least fun. Personally, I believe that the engagement will become more apparent as the systems are refined and tweaked, but it is an early red flag, so to speak.
These issues will need to be kept in mind as we prepare to challenge the next stage of development.
Moving Forwards
If all goes well tomorrow, then we will officially begin working on the reverse stealth game. I'll need to work a bit more closely with the programmers (and our artist) to ensure that all goes smoothly, but hopefully we'll be prepared and ready for what the rest of the development cycle holds for us!
Until next week!
Progress Update
For this week, we continued work on our prototypes. We're hoping to challenge the next stage of development tomorrow, but it's been a struggle getting here. I'm not sure how things will go, but with luck all should go fine.
A Decision Reached
At the beginning of class last week, our team sat down and started arguing over which idea we thought we wanted to focus on for the next stage of development. The debate was lengthy and grueling. I wanted to do my game. Dustin wanted to do his game. Ryan wanted to do his. Tom stayed neutral. But finally, after talking of particle effects and AI, I convinced the programmers to switch their favor to my idea - the Reverse Stealth game.
Prototyping Problems
With the decision made, we returned to working on the prototypes. However, a new set of flaws showed up, many in number and few in solutions.
1. The Stealth Prototype was updated with the assistance of the programmers. However, the transition removed some features and altered others. This is a minor setback, of course - merely requiring some minor code tweaks - but a setback nonetheless.
2. The new focus on the Stealth prototype meant that the other two ideas had their prototypes virtually untouched. This left them in a state that was very poor for testing, although they were technically "testing ready."
3. Dustin brought up that, in testing and coding the prototypes, he found the reverse stealth game to be the most tedious to code, as well as the least fun. Personally, I believe that the engagement will become more apparent as the systems are refined and tweaked, but it is an early red flag, so to speak.
These issues will need to be kept in mind as we prepare to challenge the next stage of development.
Moving Forwards
If all goes well tomorrow, then we will officially begin working on the reverse stealth game. I'll need to work a bit more closely with the programmers (and our artist) to ensure that all goes smoothly, but hopefully we'll be prepared and ready for what the rest of the development cycle holds for us!
Until next week!
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Game Development Blog - Week 2
Hey there!
So... let me clear up a few things right off the bat. First of all, what is this? Well, if you don’t know already, I am a college student. Specifically, I’m studying Game Design. I’m in my final year right now, and in one of our classes, the students are all getting together to help make games. This blog is a part of that - for this game, I’m supposed to make blog posts every week or so about what we’ve done with our games in that past week. Neat, huh?
Second: where’s Week 1?
...there isn’t one. I forgot to make a blog post last week.
...
On with the blog post!
~~~~~
WEEK 2
Overview
Since there was no Week 1 update, I’ll take this space to give a quick overview of what you missed in that first week.
Our class, prior to the semester starting, was split up into teams of four. My team, for references sake, consists of the following:
Tom [Artist]
Ryan [Programmer]
Dustin [Programmer]
Connor [Designer] [Me!]
Once we got through that first class session, we were tasked with coming up with a number of game concepts that we could turn into games going forwards. A lot of ideas were discussed among the group - a parody game where you work the register a mini mart, a game where one person gives directions to a driver who is unfamiliar with the area... even a game where you play as a bird and shit on everything.
But eventually, three ideas rose to the top: A 2D RPG Platformer game where you can fuse elements together as attacks, a Reverse Stealth Game where you try to attract attention, and a 3D Beat-Em-Up based around musical concepts. I’ll explain these ideas in more detail at a later point.
Now we get into this past week, and the progress we made since the pure concept phase of development!
Progress Update
This week, our goal is to begin prototyping our games - we need three prototypes to move on to the next stage of development, so it seemed only fitting that we make one prototype for each of our game ideas.
Designer’s Prototype
At this point in the game development process, there is very little design work for me to do - the bulk of that comes once the idea has been solidified and full-scale development begins - so I spent this past week working on my Prototype for the Reverse Stealth game.
I should mention one thing: the three ideas we have were all created by a different team member. I came up with the Stealth game, Dustin came up with the 2D platformer, and Ryan came up with the Music Beat-em-Up.
I bring this up because, naturally, when it came time to decide how to make prototypes, the programmers immediately jumped at the idea of making prototypes for their own game ideas, leaving mine a bit in the dust. Nevertheless, I powered through and (after some coding assistance from a friend) I managed to pull together a digital prototype with all of my game’s core mechanics in place.
To explain my idea in a bit more depth: in a typical stealth game, you want to try and avoid being detected at all costs. In this game, you do the opposite. You goal is to run around attracting the attention of as many guards as possible. Why, you might ask? Well, a second character (which could be either a computer or a second player) is trying to do the normal stealth thing, getting through undetected. You have to distract the guards so that he can go through unseen by anyone.
Anyways, my prototype: currently, the prototype has all the primary functions - player movement, “stealth guy” AI movement, and two guards that see the player when you step within their line of sight, chase the player while in their line of sight, return to their post when you leave their sight, and capture the stealth guy if he enters their line of sight. It’s all very simple and crude at the moment, but functionally, it’s all there.
Moving Forwards
Our team was hoping we could get all of our prototypes to a playable and testable state by either the end of this week, or the end of next week. While it looks like this week will be too close to shoot for, next week should be an easily attainable goal. We will need to organize testing sessions for our prototypes, and once our games have been tested, we’ll need to decide once and for all which idea we want to move forwards with. We’ve discussed this briefly already, but the debate raged on exactly as you might expect. I argued for my game, Ryan for his, and Dustin for his (Tom stayed neutral, as to not hurt anyone’s feelings). We will need to obtain feedback from our fellow classmates and professors before we can reach a final decision.
That is all I have to say for this week. Until next time, take care, all!
So... let me clear up a few things right off the bat. First of all, what is this? Well, if you don’t know already, I am a college student. Specifically, I’m studying Game Design. I’m in my final year right now, and in one of our classes, the students are all getting together to help make games. This blog is a part of that - for this game, I’m supposed to make blog posts every week or so about what we’ve done with our games in that past week. Neat, huh?
Second: where’s Week 1?
...there isn’t one. I forgot to make a blog post last week.
...
On with the blog post!
~~~~~
WEEK 2
Overview
Since there was no Week 1 update, I’ll take this space to give a quick overview of what you missed in that first week.
Our class, prior to the semester starting, was split up into teams of four. My team, for references sake, consists of the following:
Tom [Artist]
Ryan [Programmer]
Dustin [Programmer]
Connor [Designer] [Me!]
Once we got through that first class session, we were tasked with coming up with a number of game concepts that we could turn into games going forwards. A lot of ideas were discussed among the group - a parody game where you work the register a mini mart, a game where one person gives directions to a driver who is unfamiliar with the area... even a game where you play as a bird and shit on everything.
But eventually, three ideas rose to the top: A 2D RPG Platformer game where you can fuse elements together as attacks, a Reverse Stealth Game where you try to attract attention, and a 3D Beat-Em-Up based around musical concepts. I’ll explain these ideas in more detail at a later point.
Now we get into this past week, and the progress we made since the pure concept phase of development!
Progress Update
This week, our goal is to begin prototyping our games - we need three prototypes to move on to the next stage of development, so it seemed only fitting that we make one prototype for each of our game ideas.
Designer’s Prototype
At this point in the game development process, there is very little design work for me to do - the bulk of that comes once the idea has been solidified and full-scale development begins - so I spent this past week working on my Prototype for the Reverse Stealth game.
I should mention one thing: the three ideas we have were all created by a different team member. I came up with the Stealth game, Dustin came up with the 2D platformer, and Ryan came up with the Music Beat-em-Up.
I bring this up because, naturally, when it came time to decide how to make prototypes, the programmers immediately jumped at the idea of making prototypes for their own game ideas, leaving mine a bit in the dust. Nevertheless, I powered through and (after some coding assistance from a friend) I managed to pull together a digital prototype with all of my game’s core mechanics in place.
To explain my idea in a bit more depth: in a typical stealth game, you want to try and avoid being detected at all costs. In this game, you do the opposite. You goal is to run around attracting the attention of as many guards as possible. Why, you might ask? Well, a second character (which could be either a computer or a second player) is trying to do the normal stealth thing, getting through undetected. You have to distract the guards so that he can go through unseen by anyone.
Anyways, my prototype: currently, the prototype has all the primary functions - player movement, “stealth guy” AI movement, and two guards that see the player when you step within their line of sight, chase the player while in their line of sight, return to their post when you leave their sight, and capture the stealth guy if he enters their line of sight. It’s all very simple and crude at the moment, but functionally, it’s all there.
Moving Forwards
Our team was hoping we could get all of our prototypes to a playable and testable state by either the end of this week, or the end of next week. While it looks like this week will be too close to shoot for, next week should be an easily attainable goal. We will need to organize testing sessions for our prototypes, and once our games have been tested, we’ll need to decide once and for all which idea we want to move forwards with. We’ve discussed this briefly already, but the debate raged on exactly as you might expect. I argued for my game, Ryan for his, and Dustin for his (Tom stayed neutral, as to not hurt anyone’s feelings). We will need to obtain feedback from our fellow classmates and professors before we can reach a final decision.
That is all I have to say for this week. Until next time, take care, all!
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