Heist at the Museum

Blog for IAT 410 Group Team Members: Abe, Hans, Jashan, Justin

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Week 12

For this second to last week, our team is slowly putting everything together for a complete presentable, playable game. The visual team have been working on finalizing, polishing, uv mapping, and texturing the game level and its assets within, as we have already have enough models and in game assets in our environment, given the limited amount of time and week we got to work on our game, we had to adjust and prioritize what are the most important tasks, in order to make our game as finished as possible and playable, instead of incomplete levels. In order to smoothen the experience of the players, we adjusted values for movement and controls according to the stress of the playtesters. Our team firmly believes that the finer details like movement and game feedback makes the game better to play.

We also focused on user playtesting and feedback sessions from a wide variety of games since our deadline is near. They were amazed, and taken away by the extra amount of polishing done in our game, they said elevated immersion was huge, based on more complete levels and proper texturing, therefore the gameplay experience more believable and enjoyable.

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Week 11

For the Beta code submission, our project made improvements in the user interface and and level design. For example, we added inventory icons, tooltip to switch between thief modes, texturing on models, more furniture, and implemented split screen over multiple displays. The goal this week is to add more visual cue and hints to the objective of the game without having a member of the group in person to explain the mechanics of the game. We received great feedback from Eric, Shubhra, and some of our classmates, suggesting us to add in some form of navigation system: a world map, in game meta component guidance pathing, and / or mini-map notification and navigation. We will also be spending our final weeks polishing up our in game assets, texturing and scaling proportionally to have a finished game for showcasing. By the playtesting results, we can see that these changes have resolved some of the issues our players were experiencing from the previous playthrough: not knowing the character’s abilities from looking at the HUD. For next week, we will be improving navigation methods for our players through a map based system that is to be decided. 

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Week 10

This week we worked on HUD designs, minimap and inventory displays to better our gameplay experience and bring it to a higher finish. We are also realizing our level designs, for level two and three, along with the in game assets that will go into these environments, the modeling / designing team discussed and shared the ideal level of finish in detailing, that is achievable within our time constraint but also presentable. Continuing from last week, we may be taking away some of the original idea (to have our environment be rich in detail and in Victorian, classic styling), as furnitures and such in this styling (time period) are very difficult to model, and we have a lot more objects than we expected to be modeling in the first place (because of the minimum level requirement, and due to the size of our game and the engine we have decided to work with), we are very aware of the difficulties we are facing, however we will do our best to make our game as great as possible.

In the upcoming week we are to finish as much as possible and put all our assets together into a presentable and playable Beta code, as required, we are to have playtest sessions and to update our game design document also. We will focus on the core of our game if we happen to run short on time.

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Week 9 - User Interface

After the first prototype showcase, we understood the next steps in our projects is to refine our current game play mechanics while adding more user interface elements to add visibility for the players to understand the mechanics available to them. Furthermore, we are required to build out a few more levels and so more consideration has to be done for the round based scoring system in our initial brainstorming.

This week, the team again split up to work on their respective assets: blocking out more of the level design, finishing the meshes and materials, improving AI interaction, and adding user interface elements such as a mini map and an inventory. The current prototype lacked UV mapping onto the meshes of the level, breaking the immersion of distance or depth. In addition, we have been modeling more in game rooms and assets to enrich our level environment, we plan to add a variety of different styles of furniture within our game. Lastly, this week we created a basic mini map and inventory concept to be implemented into the prototype. The mini map is currently a camera that follows the character around but will be changed to a texture based map to optimize for loading. The inventory system is a static representation of the current amount of traps the user has left to use. Further considerations for a dynamically switching inventory will be discussed for next week.

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Week 8 - Alpha Code

Week 8 is the presentation of Team RainDeer’s alpha code and first prototype with all assets and mechanics included. The objective achieved this week is the consolidation of the efforts we have been making separately: character models and animations, level design and meshes, Thief player gameplay, and Security player gameplay with its AI’s. However, we ran into technical issues attempting to create a network based multiplayer game and made a team decisions to abandon that method in lieu of a split screen multiplayer to best demonstrate our project. Furthermore, we had to identify the flow and obstacle decisions of the players within our game. In our game, the two types of players have different decision trees and our type of world map has a free flowing bubble diagram to demonstrate how players may approach our game.

In addition, more playtest sessions were conducted to get feedback from players of different types. For this iteration of the prototype, we were focused on the mechanics of the game and did not implement any UI or tutorials into the game. Our playtesters needed a lot more prompting and explanation to understand the tools available in their character’s arsenal which we took into account for the next iteration. Overall, the playtesters who have seen the previous iteration felt there were significant improvement and polish to the mechanics and found it exciting to explore different ways to utilize the mechanics of the game.

Plans for next week is to be modelling more in game assets, trophies, objects (chairs, tables etc) and further levels, and to work on the thief’s blending with environment mechanics, also realize more trap variations and in game balances.

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Week 7

In week 7, the team further iterates on the gameplay experience and level design for the alpha code / prototype due next week. For the gameplay, the models we have created are being imported and tested over from Maya, and we are working on applying the texture and finishing up our character design for the upcoming alpha code. As the game involves two players, progress has been made to setup a game server for both players to spawn in. The server will update the positional data of the players and AI while the two predetermined clients are given the role of security or thieve. In terms of level design, a working blueprint has been modelled in Unreal Engine for the presentation next week. The level has a subtle comedic theme as some of the modelled objects are intentionally scaled out of proportion as compared to the characters. Only the interior has been modelled currently in order to focus our efforts within a defined scope. The team’s plan for next week is to complete a playable level integrating the two players, AI, with our self made models textured.

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Week 6

This week we revised and implemented our proposed gameplay for the security player, based on feedback from our playtesting session and counsel of the TA, we have also began to map out level designs for our environment (rooms: terrain, objects, possible interaction) and the revised in progress character design modeled in Maya (auto rigged and animated on Mixamo). We have tested third person avatar switching mechanic for the security guard player, previously we were unsure of how difficult it would be to implement it, but now we have found out that it is definitely possible and it seems like a much engaging gameplay when compared to what we had originally. We have also decided to add some aspects of comedy (unexpected surprises) into our game, so that it would not only be more entertaining, but also more fitting to our character models and environment and its gameplay style (the fact that security can switch between controlling 3 characters is fantastical, hence may clash with a game that is more on the serious tone), hopefully adding another layer of fun into our game. The comedy aspect of our game would be through mechanics such as: hiding behind paintings, hiding in a box or a large plant vase and sneaking around with it, or resourcing dramatic animations.

Next week, we plan to solidify the character designs, at least one level design, and attempt to implement all of these created assets into a playable playtest session, we hope to include and complete as much of the thief and security gameplay as possible. We will clarify and improve on game mechanics if needed.

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Week 5 - Initial Prototype

This week marked the beginning of the first prototype of our game. We had already decided on using Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) as our game engine and proceeded to use it for our first prototype since we have two experienced programmers on the team. The programming team focused on learning the game engine and creating the core loop of the game while our artists turned to Maya to construct the map artifacts and basic characters. For the initial prototype and playtesting feedback, we constrained the scope of our game to only include the thief player’s perspective. In this way, we were able to polish the core game loop of the thief player as we have imagined it: the AI interaction and the wide range of mobility. The AI were security guard NPCs, which the security player will be able to control later on, which responds to the presence of the thief player and attempts to apprehend them on sight. On the other hand, the thief player is able to make use of the environment and ability to run, roll, and crouch to evade the security guards.

From the prototype, we invited several playtesters to give us feedback on the game and suggestions to add onto the next iteration. We were surprised to discover that although the premise of the security player is interesting, it does not appeal to our playtesters after a session of the thief. For this reason, our group’s plan for the next iteration before creating the security player is to re-evaluate the core loop and brainstorm different mechanics to improve the “fun” factor.

Next week we plan to have our security gameplay ready to be playtested, and to also have the gameplay mechanics to be as clarified as possible.

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Week 4

Our team continued to iterate our game design and decisions for the initial pitch. After the presentation, we received the good feedback from the professor and peers about some potential changes to the game mechanics but an approval on the game concept. Since we have locked down the game concept, we proceeded to create an initial prototype using Unreal Engine 4(UE4). UE4 was chosen for its robust rendering capabilities as well as the built in support for multiplayer that can alleviate the development process for our short timeline. In the few days after the game pitch, we have created a working movement based avatar in first person, a key-lock based door system, and a functioning security camera object. These assets were created to test out and familiarize ourselves with the development process in UE4. While we are missing skins and a map level, the designers of the team are working to construct them in Maya. Meanwhile, the goals of the initial prototype are to include a point scoring system as well as functioning NPCs that can help disguise the thief player and guards that will react to the thief player.

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Week 3

In week 2, Rain Deer continued to iterate on the gameplay interactions, taking the new information from lecture to define the game modes, functional flowboard, and start working with the game engine. For gameplay interactions, we introduced two defining game modes for both players, adding another layer of complexity to the game that will keep the users entertained when there is no interaction between the players. Although we each have an concept of the game in our heads, we came together and fleshed out more details when creating the functional flowboard for every step of the game. For example, we finally settled on the defining winning play of each character while considering the imbalances between the power of each player. The round based rotating character gameplay mode allows us to experiment with more power towards a character than it is usually deemed enjoyable in other multiplayer games. For next week, the group will split the task of learning different components of the game engine and 3d modeling for creating the first prototype of Heist at the Museum.

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Week 2

Rain Deer used the time after lecture to define more parts of the game. From player mechanics to the setup and win condition which were poorly defined. Taking the feedback from the greenlight presentation and making several changes to our game. For example, we are adding more interactions between the two players through adding more dynamic mechanics that will require more reactive decision making instead of only setting traps (passive) before the game begins. In addition, we will be including more gameplay mechanics that make use of game AI to make the downtime between player actions interesting.

Our plan for next week is to finalize on game features and gameplay, and begin from the basic foundations: core gameplay of security and thief, and settle on what can the players actually do as these roles. We will also decide on how the NPCs’ will behave (realizing the purpose of these NPCs’ instead of mere visuals). On the other hand we will research unreal engine and maya compatibilities, potentials, and try to understand how polished could we make our game to be (how doable would it actually be). It would be ideal if we could come up with game room floor plans, designs, objects, game interface and mood (that have to be achievable with our timeline and skills) also.

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Week 1

We began by familiarizing ourselves with the MDA framework and Yee’s model of motivation in games, in order to narrow down what type of game we all wanted to create. Consensus was that we wanted a game focused on competition, fellowship, challenge, and discovery, with a hint of roleplaying. We wanted a game that people would be able to drop in and enjoy without a lot of backstory and buildup. This led to one of our major decisions to make this game a two-player game (1v1). The addition of fellowship/social aspects to our game would allow us to create unique fun situations everytime that wouldn’t be dependent on a short premise. We wanted to go with a unique gameplay, that wasn’t simply button mashing/fighting/shooting, and so we iterated till we ended up with a 1v1 puzzle game, a challenge between the two brains rather than on muscle memory and reactions.

Next week, we plan to further iterate on our base narrative and core mechanics to come up with a feasible starting point for our entry into the game engine. By deciding the necessary features that define our game, we will be able to choose the best game engine for us, so that our team can begin learning the necessary skills to develop our game.