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ARCANE WRITER by “VERY GOOD GAMES” - Post Mortem

ARCANE WRITER by “VERY GOOD GAMES”

Arcane Writer is a first person, role playing game featuring turn based combat and typing interaction mechanic, result of the combined effort of the members of our team Very Good Games.

The game is tells the story of Purwin, a young girl imprisoned for being the daughter of a witch during the Medieval Ages .

https://16t1studio2.itch.io/acrane-writer

Background

<Programming (Combat System)> Owen Cannings

<Game Design and Sound> Jacob Macdonald

<Game Design, Level Design> Jarrah Holt

<Game Design, Animations> Chetah Pangestu

<Programming (AI, Environment Interactions, Player Management)> Stefano Deflorio

Tools

Unity 5:

Unity was well equipped enough to handle what we had the project we had proposed and pitched. Our previous experiences in other project would provide the foundations for the Arcane Writer game. All members have had thorough experience with the software so it was quite beneficial. In a contrast if you had used the Unreal software it would not have been that successful as not all members are proficient.

Also all the designers are familiar with the Playmaker Unity tool, which is a visual scripting which allows for scripting with the coding. This tool was very beneficial towards to the progress of the project as it allowed for designers to swiftly script events into the game without taking time from the programmers. One negative about Playmaker is that the programmers were not familiar with the Unity tool at all. The work around for this was to completely separate playmaker scenes with the traditional coding scenes so there was no conflicts with each other. This work was around was successful but it was unfortunate that designers could not use playmaker for all scenes but it was not worth the risk. Reaper / Audacity: used to create and edit all sound effects and music tracks seen in the game.

I personally created and modified most/all the music and sound effects with the project, the software I did use was Reaper. Reaper is a very useful audio creation software and it proved to be very beneficial towards the audio aspect of the project. While my audio skills are somewhat limited at this time it did provide enough resources for me to complete audio related tasks. Hopefully in the future I am able to use the software again so that I can improve my skills further.

Project Management Tools, (Communication)

Trello:

Very Good Games inc used Trello as form of project management for the game. All task were posted and tracked on the trello and examples were posted as screenshots. Trello very was useful to not only track personal tasks but other members tasks and their progress. Overall Trello was extremely beneficial towards the progress of the project. It also allowed for everyone to get a handle on things so they weren’t overwhelmed by task and so they know exactly what they are doing.  Also outside members like Geoff were able to post and send feedback to the entire team. Next time I would try to upload more detailed and consistent screenshots to show the slow progression of the project but also encourage other members to do so.

Slack

Slack is a person to person chatting software design for team projects. Initially Slack was very usefully as it allowed for us to track task progression but also to provide general feedback, but this was slowly moved over to over to the Trello software. While Slack was useful to a point the activity on Slack did fall off a bit towards the end because the team proferrred face to face meetings over online communication. While this is good next time I would encourage the use of both methods just so no member loses their way while not meeting face to face. It would extremely beneficial it we as a team took full advantage of the Slack software. Also as a note a certain member's contributions to Slack could be unpredictable and so face to face proved to more effective overall.

Github:

GitHub was essential in the overall completion/progress of the game was a whole. Basically it allows for members to work on the same Unity games files from multiple sources. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that that we were going to use a Git software as it allows for multiple people from multiple sources to contribute to the project files. One negative would be the uploading speeds/commits. Australian internet speeds (upload), especially at home where upload speeds are limited and so committing audio files or large files could take a long time and are somewhat unpredictable. Another point is that sometimes members would forget to sync before hand and then commit changes to the same level thus creating dodgy merging which deletes other members works. While this only happened a couple times it is annoying having to redo your work for the second or third time. Overall GitHub was extremely beneficial and I would definitely use the software again but advise members to regularly to avoid losing work.

What Went Well

Aesthetics and Theme Development

Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the Aesthetics of the game. The aesthetics really work well with the emotional theme of Anxiety. The games dark dank environment which we based purely around lighting and the darkness. During playtesting we did find that players were anxious while playing  “Is something going to jump out at me”, “I’ve never been so stressed in a game”. This really shows that what we designed is working to a certain degree and completes the objective of achieving the theme.

Project Planning

I really felt that the project planning was quite successful with this project. We stuck to the Trello board religiously and we discussed regularly about problems and issues and then documented those on the Board. Surprisingly not many tasks were pushed back and because of this we were able to complete various stretch goals like cutscenes and voice acting. Project planning went well because team members encouraged and pushed each other to meet those goals, this really helped the completion of the project.

Problem Solving

As can be expected our game encountered many bugs throughout production and patch weeks. These ranged from small things like music/audio not looping to game breaking bugs like having the ability “take” walls, which completely broke the game. These were a couple during production where combat was completely not functional. But we thoroughly documented each bug and found various workarounds and fixes for each of the bugs.

What Went Wrong

Initial  Broad Vision

Initially when we were brainstorming ideas and coming up with game ideas we had a really broad vision. Initially we planned to have a huge library of words to use as interactions but we soon realised that we could not complete this within the time given. So shortly afterwards we had to rescope the game so that it DID fit into the production and that we complete aesthetic and theme goals.

Environment Interaction (Over-scoped)

Our game has fairly interesting environments to roam and explore and as a player it is an expectation that you can interact with most or all objects in the game world. But within our game actual world interaction is somewhat limited. It is an expectation of RPG games that you are able to interact with the every item and our game does not reach this expectation. I feel this was mainly due to Over-scoping in the initial planning but after a rescoping we settled with a limited version.

Research Blogs

The research blogs “Anxiety: Darkest Dungeon, Evil Within”, “The Psychology of Horror Games” were quite beneficial towards aesthetic development of the games. I drew major inspiration from games like Evil Within, Dead Space, these games were famous for their emphasis on their emotional development. They mainly develop it through audio, environment design and lightning design. I’ve attempted to recreate my own environments with the same techniques, it was fairly successful.

Reflection on Initial Game Design

When looking back again on the initial game design the game is very similar or close to how we originally envisioned it. Aesthetically I feel that it completes all the goals like Audio , environment design and of course the theme of anxiety. Mechanically it does complete most goals but falls a little short in some areas such as combat and environment interactions but besides that the mechanics are quite solid in the current state. Playtesting also reveals that we have also achieved making some players feel anxious while playing the game but it is unrealistic to say ALL people will feel the same emotion so results will vary.

Team Thoughts

“Hey, that's pretty good” - Jarrah Holt 2016

“Yeh I guess that's alright, I guess….” - Chetah Pengetsu 2016

“Wow, that actually worked...I think ” Stefano Deflorio 2016

“The game is too dark…...great now it's too bright ” - Jake Mac 2016

“Combat is not working again…...” Owen Canning 2016

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Arcane Writer: Playtest 1

Arcane Writer has been through a lot of development of late but it has finally reached the point of play testing. Initial play testing can always be a little unpredictable but should provide valuable feedback on the current status of the project.  So recently we had other fellow designers and programmers play a recent build of the game, initial reactions to the build was quite positive, the general aesthetic was praised, the typing was well received. What really fascinated me the most the game was the varying pace at which they played the game. Some of them would basically speed run the game as quickly as possible bypassing most of the environments but still fulfilling the level objectives but other players would explore the level top to bottom inspecting each object and room. We did discover multiple bugs/fixes from the play test they we will/are endeavouring to iron out so that the game can be released.

I also had a chance to player the other team’s games which I found to be a very beneficial experience. One of the games that did peak my interest was the survival game called “_________”. The game takes place in a office building after a devastating natural disaster that has left the city in ruins. The game follows the experience of 5 characters as they endeavour to survive. The game itself at the moment is pretty raw but most of t he systems are in fairly playable state but it was very fascinating top hear the design decisions behind the development of the game. It provided much needed perspective for my own project but hopefully it be beneficial for my own project.

We have another play test session coming up with different people (person) and it will be interesting to see if the fixes we have implemented to the game will be beneficial or negative but I will be looking forward to it either way.

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Dark Souls: Engaging AI

The Dark Souls series is praised as being a difficult game containing challenging enemies and monstrous bosses. Dark Souls as a whole is learning experience and players will find themselves dying over and over again just to progress a tiniest amount in the game. One aspect that I feel “makes the game” is the AI. The AI within the game is quite engaging and without it wouldn’t be Dark Souls.  It is the range of AI difficulty within the design that makes the game a very compelling experience. For example the series contains the simple fantasy giant rat with a simple attack that does damage, alone any player should be able to tackle this enemy but then the player will encounter more complex monsters such as a Black Knight, a highly advanced enemy which will uniquely react to the player and will devastate the player with monstrous attacks.  The enemies are designed to react to what the player is doing, so if the player is blocking the enemy will try to break their stamina or if the player is attempting to attack the enemy will block. This is the most basic level of AI but attack sequences/behaviour will depend on proximity, stance, and health.  Many Designers should learn from “Fromsoftware” and try to implement more complex AI systems into their games to make it more compelling experience.  

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Fallout 4 Tutorial

The fallout series has always highlighted the sense of freedom you have in each of the games. Tutorials within games have always been isolated and alone when compared to the rest of the game and are generally designed to introduce mechanics to a player one by one just so they don’t get overwhelmed. This reduces the risk of player frustration and makes them understand individual games before letting them out in the big bad world. The way that the modern Fallout games do it is to present the player with a very limited environment and slowly introduce the “main” mechanics that they will use the most in the game e.g. moving, shooting, interaction etc.

In Fallout 4 when you hit New Game you are presented with a somewhat dramatic overview of the narrative world and sets the premise for the game, this allows newer players to understand what the fallout universe is all about. After that seamlessly you are planted into the game and are forced edit the appearance of your character. After that is completed you are able to explore your limited environment but all you can really do is walk around. This sequence is purely for narrative purposes, this sequence of game play could easily be replaced with a cut scene but the developers what to get the player immersed with the world as soon as possible. So you run through the cinematic experience, the bombs drop, you enter the vault, your husband/ or wife is shot by bald man oh dear. The player then finds themselves in a vault, alarms going off, character talking to themselves (what is going on, must get out of here etc) this immediately sets the mood of urgency but at the moment the player can only move around so naturally you proceed into the next room. After walking down a few hallways to develop the overall aesthetic of the vault the player is spots a “Radroach” through a window which is opposite the door you walk through. I thought this was quite clever, a radroach is essentially a giant cockroach, a creature almost everyone considers hostile so when the player sees the radroach they are like “oh an enemy”. Then they look directly below the window and see a (police) baton and the walk over and click on it, the game auto equips and it is revealed it is a weapon, yay. In the next room you are face to face with an enemy and after a quick pop tool tip telling you how to attack you kill your first enemy, cha-ching you get exp how rewarding. Almost the exact situation occurs with a ranged projectile weapon. These sequences effectively tell the player what type of weapons they are in the game (ranged, melee), adventurous players are also presented with terminals that have narrative notes, healing items, bullets etc. This is quite a cleaver way to encourage explorations early on. After a short walk the player finally picks up the pipboy and they leave the vault and presented with a wonderful vista.

I really love the simplicity of this Tutorial and how effectively introduce various mechanics to the player. And by presenting the player with the entire world at the end it is there way of saying “ok we taught you how to walk, do what you want, big baby”. I love how the game teaches you the most basic mechanics, walking and shooting, and then abandoning them to the wilderness forcing them to think for themselves and how they can creatively use the mechanics to benefit them  in the game world.

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Development Tools

Playmaker is a visual scripting tool that used within the unity editor. Playmaker provides an alternative to traditional scripting methods. Playmaker uses various state machines to create game situations for players. As a designer this tool is extremely useful in a sense that provides a handy alternative to scripting. As I myself am not adept in scripting the visual scripting interface is very effective in the game development process. The tool itself does have some limitations with integrating outside scripts and other actions but it does provide an effective framework for both beginner designers and veterans.

“Within each of these states, you can include animation actions, raycasting/shooting actions and movement actions. You transition between each state using events, i.e. within the idle state, you would add an action that waits for a left mouse click. This left mouse click triggers a transition event to the shooting state. Each action in a state is essentially a pre-made piece of code that you can tweak and fit together to create a state machine, and eventually an entire game. “

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/182860/suck_at_coding_but_make_games_.php?print=1

Reaper is freemium sound editor software with is compatible with both OSX and windows. My experience with reaper but sound creation is limited at the current time reaper does provide the necessary tools for an introduction into the field. The free version does have limitations with rendering formats and other capabilities but I seriously do consider buying this software to use in my future development projects.

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The Psychology of Horror Games

Recently I read the article titled The Psychology of Horror Games on psychologyofgames.com. It was a very curious read and it generally compared Horror games to other horror related media like film. What really got me thinking was when the article asked; “What scares you”, I realise that everyone reacts differently to situations and each person does have their own fears. But if this is the case why is the horror genre so popular in video games. The article does provide some vague broad and sometimes questionable answers but I did have a good ol think about horror games and came up with some of my own answers. One thing that makes horror games so successful is the atmosphere building within each game. This could be completed in various ways but in particular it is the synergy of the environmental design and the audio design. One game that does this particularly well is the dead space series. The extremely eerie environments, the brooding ambient music creates a very suspenseful experience which makes the game very immersive to play.  Sometimes it is the lack of sound and music which really makes the game the for me, it makes the atmosphere really tense and keeps the player on edge and anxious about upcoming events.  Even though I feel anxious and sometimes terrified when playing horror games I can’t help but find myself smiling while white knuckling my way through a play-through. Horror games are very peculiar but some great lessons can be learnt for my own game development journey and my up-coming game.

http://www.psychologyofgames.com/2015/10/the-psychology-of-horror-games/

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oh gawd

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Anxiety: Darkest Dungeon, Evil Within

The emotion that our team has decided on is “anxiety”.  It is quite an odd emotion in terms of video games but overall anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome. Many games portray this emotion in various ways but games that distinctively portray anxiety are Darkest Dungeon and Evil Within.

Darkest Dungeon is a unique game in relation to anxiety as it uses the game mechanic of stress. Darkest Dungeon is dungeon crawler where characters must battle hoards and hoards of enemies to gather loot and progress the game. While physical wounds heal outside of dungeons and battles each character has stress levels that constantly increase inside and outside battle and cannot decrease without help. The game itself is very punishing and the combat is quite challenging, every action could mean life or death for your characters. I found it interesting that while I was in a very intense battle as the stress of the characters increased my own stress level was increasing. One of the strong points of Darkest Dungeon is its music which is constantly playing throughout the game. I would describe the music as loud and brooding which helps to develop the atmosphere greatly. The of the games rogue-like mechanics each time a character is damage or even killed it makes the player nervous and make them question their every actions, which builds a great sense of anxiety for the player.

Evil Within is a call-back to the traditional survival Resident Evil with a highlight on horror. Evil Within is a survival horror game where the player is plunged into the mind of psychopath and must find a way to survive. Evil Within produces anxiety with its strange and disturbing story and with its survival mechanics. While the player does have various weapons such as pistol, shotgun and utility crossbow, ammunition and health is an extremely limited commodity and player must think carefully about their surrounds to get through a level. So you can imagine the feeling of the player when presented with 5 enemies and only have 2 pistol rounds.  The Evil Within’s character and environmental design aids itself greatly when creating anxiety for the player. Also the music for the game is fantastic and produces a brilliant atmosphere.  The games narrative is bizarre in nature and there is a lot of room for interpretation but displays quite disturbing scenes that will unsettle the player. A trend that Evil Within plays on constantly is presenting the player with seemingly undefeatable foes such as a large Boss and then making you defeat that enemy later on. I found myself saying “oh god, I’m going to have to fight that thing soon” and then dreading that inevitable moment which made me very anxious.

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The Evil Within - Meet Laura

Well there goes my pants..

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