Diel Musgrove IGB220 Blog

[dielmusgrove]

Assignment 3 playtesting

Each of the group members split up to conduct their own playtesting. I was assigned two players to test. Harry M and Harry W. While conducting the playtest, both participants seemed to have similar views on the game. They found it fun and engaging, stating that they particularly enjoyed the control system and the aesthetic of the game including the character design and animations. A couple of negative points were brought up and they were revised in order to create the best possible final product. The playtesting experience was very inciteful and allowed me to spot details in the game that went unnoticed to me as a developer of the game rather than a player. 

[dielmusgrove]

Assignment 3 Development Progress

For assignment 3, five of us were added into a group. This consisted of Mark, Jesiah, Emma, Hamish and myself. We completed part one of the assignment where we gave the elevator pitch of the game, an overall summary, team members and roles as well as the sell sheet for the game. While completing this, we discussed roles of each of the members, and are getting started on part B. Right now we are in the process of playtesting our game with five naive users. The assignment is going well and we are on track to do well. 

[dielmusgrove]

Asteroids Post Mortem

The idea of Chaos-Teroids was to create a more thrilling and enjoyable version of the basic arcade game, Asteroids. I decided to incorporate the arcade style to keep it simple and familiar for most players. The idea of adding different upgrades as you progress, was to make the ship more powerful and keep the game action packed and new for maximum engagement. In the Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton, in chapter 11, she mentions fun killers and explores how many things can lead to players not having that much fun with the game. One point she made was the idea of stagnation, which is when it seems like nothing new is happening in the game. I really tried to combat this by adding new upgrades and new abilities so it always seemed interesting. 

If I were to change anything about the game, I would include a more user friendly and inciteful UI. The UI was very basic and there was no way to view important things like the controls of the game or what the overall goal was. 

Sources:

Fullerton, T. (2018). Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. ProQuest Ebook. Retrieved from: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/qut/reader.action?docID=5477698

[dielmusgrove]

Racing Game Development

The development for Supply Run was the most enjoyable out of the three games. My goal was to create a simple game that felt like it there was danger. I created this by simulating moving hazards that spawned every 2 seconds and created two different types of hazards. Throughout this process I learned and used balance to create an engaging game. I wanted to make the game skill level fit that of the target audience (7 years +) but also create a game that was challenging enough to be fun. I had to get the safe zone timer to be possible to achieve but easy to miss if you messed up a couple of times. This idea was shown in Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton in chapter 10. This chapter gave me a good inside into the functionality, and balance of games and how they should be used. 

Sources:

Fullerton, T. (2018). Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. ProQuest Ebook. Retrieved from: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/qut/reader.action?docID=5477698

[dielmusgrove]

Asteroid Game Development

The development for Chaos-Teroids went a lot smoother than the Rooftop Escape did. There were less sprites used throughout the game and allowed me to focus on getting the gameplay right rather than focusing on bugs in the platform systems and player animations. For this game, I was trying to develop a simple arcade style game that would be easy to follow and play for hours. For this game I focused to UI more. For example keeping track of the lives, scores and number of upgrades that the player has. GDevelop has a very simple and intuitive way of displaying, and counting points for games I found. Through this development process, I learned many features of the GDevelop software and how to make a more engaging game. By creating more immersion in the game such as sound effects and visuals, the game seems more fun to play than with only the functionality. Also by creating a high score system and destruction of sprites, I found that the player had more a goal and it became more enjoyable to play. This concept is explored in chapter 11 of Tracy Fullerton’s “Game Design Workshop” where she goes in depth into what makes a game fun - for example: reaching and exceeding goals as well as construction and destruction.  

Sources:

Fullerton, T. (2018). Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. ProQuest Ebook. Retrieved from: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/qut/reader.action?docID=5477698

[dielmusgrove]

Assignment 2 Final Designs

The final design of the one page and sell sheet for the asteroid game “Chaos-Teroids”

[dielmusgrove]

Racing Game Elevator Pitch

Supply Run is a top down post apocalyptic racing simulator that will be available on PC and console. After the world as we know it has ended due to nuclear war, the outside world has become unsafe to live in. However, to gather supplies and save humanities, you must brave the wasteland and drive your car before the air becomes too toxic. The object of the game is to drive and get the safe zone before the timer runs out. Players can get speed boosts and time bonuses to help them as well as extra equipment and supplies. The post-apocalyptic action game is aimed at teenagers and young adults.

[dielmusgrove]

Platformer Post-Mortem

Conceptualising the Rooftop Escape idea was inspired by cartoons that I would watch as a child. I like to watch ninjas and vigilantes that would come out at night and traverse along the rooftops of the urban jungle, like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I read many chapters of the Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton to design the game but Chapter 6 helped me develop the idea as much as I could. She listed many helpful ways to optimise brainstorming such as not following a specific plan and using a whiteboard to visualise the idea. Chapter 8 helped inspire what would be added to the prototype. I used the prototype to really dial in the logic of the game, physics and the animations.

If I had to redevelop the prototype, I would change some of the elements of the map to fit the scene more. The prototype really only showcased functionality and gameplay, however more relevant assets would have simulated the feeling that I was trying to portray in the prototype. For example, the player and enemy assets were too colourful and playful for the overall vibe of the game.

If I had to redesign the prototype, I would create a larger environment that showcased more functionality and more tools to use. The prototype used one enemy type, one jump and one special ability to real goal. By adding more for the user to test, there would be more to improve upon for the real game.

Sources:

Fullerton, T. (2018). Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. ProQuest Ebook. Retrieved from: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/qut/reader.action?docID=5477698

[dielmusgrove]

Asteroids Elevator Pitch

"Chaos-Teroids" is an asteroid game that starts out as any other asteroid game, however becomes more chaotic towards the end as the name suggests and will be available for PC and Mac systems. As the game progresses, players can add upgrades to their ships. These upgrades include adding extra turrets, rapid fire and other other abilities that make the player more powerful. The aim of the game is to survive for as long as possible, passing waves of enemies that get more and more difficult to destroy after each wave.

[dielmusgrove]

Creating the game, Rooftop Escape, and using GDevelop for the first time has proven to be more difficult than originally intended. I found found that some mechanics and animations are very temperamental. For example, I started by using a default character to use as the main character and didn’t realise that adding a whole new character design would effect the overall game as much as it did. Another issue was the collision feature. One object used the game at this stage is a trampoline that allows you to jump to the next building. This however only works when you land on it at the right angle, but with more work, I’m sure it can be fixed. Overall, the whole process has been challenging but is coming along slowly.

[dielmusgrove]

Rooftop Escape Elevator Pitch

Rooftop Escape is an action platformer game primarily designed for console, however a PC version will also be available. The game depicts a man running, climbing and jumping on the rooftops of a city scape during the night where he must make his way to the end goal in the fastest time possible using tools and weapons you find along the way. While also, picking up money bags and powerups, dodging security and evading various obstacles. There are multiple maps that increase in difficulty and the main goal is to complete all the maps.

[dielmusgrove]

About Me

My name is Diel Musgrove and I am currently in my first year of the Bachelor of Games and Interactive Environments course. I have always had an interest in playing games as a kid but it wasn’t until making my first piece of code in html, where I managed to get text on a screen, that I decided I wanted to get into the world of programming. From there, it only felt natural to develop games so I learned and became proficient in python and am now looking to further my programming skills and develop games.