Ryan Kelso

Game Designer - AIE

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Oxenfree

Just recently I played through Oxenfree a mystery adventure game developed and published by Night School Studio. Oxenfree was originally released in 2016 for windows,OSX and Xbox however it has also released on PS4, Linux, iOS, Android and Nintendo Switch later.

After playing Oxenfree I can see why it has received positive reviews and awards for its narrative. The way the game fleshes out its main story, back story and character development is great and gives a good amount of player choice into what happens. When I played Oxenfree I tried to pick the dialogue options I thought would both be what I would say and what my character would say. The dialogue is also mostly done well so that I would always have something to talk about when I was walking from one point to another although at some points I found myself at a point where I had to load a new scene but the dialogue had not finished. This resulted with me being torn on weather to continue the conversation or make progress.

The core loop of Oxenfree would be gaining an objective, moving to the objective and then playing out an event or conversation. In the moment to moment you decide where you are going as well as what you want to say. The mechanics of Oxenfree are simple since all you can do is walk, talk, open the map and tune your radio. Walking, talking and the map are quite simple and seen before but the radio mechanic was new. The ability to pull out your radio and tune it provides a lot of different game play options. It allows you to find secret radio signals, open portals to other dimensions and open some doors to buildings. These things greatly added to story and atmosphere while playing which was really good.

Overall I liked Oxenfree and found it an enjoyable experience. I would recommend others to play it who enjoy a good story and a bit of mystery. I can see this game may not appeal to everyone but for its target audience it does well.

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Post Mortem - Unit 6

This last unit at AIE has been really interesting. Moving away from doing class like normal and starting to work on games in a team has been such a change and an awesome experience.

Working in a team to make a game by ourselves has been such a different experience to what I first expected. There has been many different challenges that we have had to face that I never would have thought of and I am constantly being amazed by the quality and amount of work being done by my team.

So far I have learned a bit more about what I want to specialize in and I have learned more how it is to work with a team. Next time I would push myself more to take on some more responsibility so that my other designers had less to worry about.

To any others doing the same thing I would say that if you don't know your team well to work on that right away so you are better able to work and discuss with them.

I look forward to continuing my game and working with my team to create something everyone is proud of.

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Assault Android Cactus

Assault Android Cactus is a twin stick shoot em up developed and published by Witch Beam. The game released originally on windows, OSX and Linux on the 23rd of September 2015. It then released two more times in march 2016 for PlayStation and November 2017 for Xbox.

My experience playing assault android cactus was in all a good one. Although I got frustrated at points, the sense of relief when you beat a hard level was worth it. The only reason I found the game frustrating was that fact that levels can be long and when you fail you gotta do it all again but this also made me want to try harder and give it another go. After I finished the game I immediately told my friends how much I loved it and recommended it to them. I think the best thing I took out of the game was how you can have so many different and innovative levels in a game even if they are all still set in a small arena area.

Assault Android Cactus received generally good reviews when it was released getting mostly around 8/10 or 3/5 on internet review sites. The game was also planned to be released on the PS Vita and Wii U but never made it out.

The core loop of Assault Android Cactus is pretty simple, you enter a level and shoot until all the enemies are gone and the level ends. The overall game loop would be defeat the world levels then world boss and move to the new world. In the moment to moment loops the player is deciding where to go, which enemy to prioritize and if they need to use their secondary weapon. All of this together although quite simple creates fun and frantic game play that is both harsh and rewarding.

The community around Assault Android Cactus is like most games and has some following on social media and as all games do it also has a steam community page. The game has only been out for three years so it still may gain a bigger gathering and could still go on to influence more games in the future.

Overall I believe Assault Android Cactus is a really good game and an awesome example of a twin stick shooter and good level design.

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Post Mortem - Unit 5

Last unit at AIE was studied Testing and Quality Assurance. This unit was very different to others mainly since we were working with games that were not our own. This unit went pretty much how I expected it would go since for the main part it was just testing games and making documentation for that.

During the unit I also had the opportunity to have placement in a small game company working with them testing their game and reporting anything broken or wrong. The experience of being in a real game workplace was one of the best things I have done this year and I’m very grateful I was able to go.

From this unit my main takeaways and learning points would be just how important it is to do testing for your game and I learned a lot about how to test and all the different types of testing done in the industry. My advice to others learning the same thing or doing your own testing would be to have a extensive plan of what your going to do to make sure you get testing done in time and get the best results.

I look forward to now moving into the final units this year and working with a full team of people with specialized talents to make a game.

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Abzu

Recently I played a game called Abzu. The game was Developed by Giant Squid Studios and published by 505 Games. It was released for PS4 and Microsoft windows on August 2nd, 2016 and for Xbox One on December 6th, 2016.

I believe Abzu is a noteworthy game first and foremost because of its stunning visuals. Every part of the game is beautiful in its own way and there is always something new to look at. Other than this the way the narrative is told through the game play and environment detail is amazing although it leaves some ideas of the story for the player to work out. My experience playing Abzu was enjoyable from beginning to end. The game did a great job of splitting up areas with recurrent game loops that made me want to go a little further to get something done. The game also had me wanting to play more just for the fact of seeing more of the scenery.

When Abzu was released the reception for the game was overwhelmingly positive. In its debut week on steam it reached #9 on the platforming tag and was #18 on PS4’s best-selling titles chart. It also received scores of 7-9 out of 10 from many well known game reviewers like IGN and Game Informer.

The core loop of Abzu is:

Enter Area

Solve Puzzle

Activate Altar

The main mechanics of Abzu are your ping and swimming controls. Your ping is a small signal you can send out that activates certain objects and drones in the world. The controls are a bit different for Abzu than other games I have played. The controls include basic camera and movement, the ping button, boost button, dive/swim button, meditate button (Which can only be used in certain places) and the Ride button which allows you to hold onto sea creatures and swim with them. Although these controls are simple sometimes the movement can get frustrating.

So far Abzu hasn't clearly influenced any other games due to the fact it is only two years old. Although Abzu does take influence from other games that came before it like Journey. The developers also clearly got a lot of inspiration from the ocean and its nature.

The main community for Abzu exists on the discussion pages dedicated to it on Steam and Reddit. Other than these there is many other pages where people talk or write down their thoughts on the game. These places usually discuss the story of the game and what exactly is going on.

Overall I enjoyed the game and would recommend others to take time to sit down and experience for themselves. The main idea I would take away from this game is that you don't need realistic graphics and loads of mechanics to have a great game.

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Post Mortem - Unit 4

For this topic, we basically spent the entire time planning and building a Vertical Slice of our game. My game was set in a basement after a bushfire, the above is a screenshot. This unit at AIE we went through the narrative in games. When going into it I thought that it would be loads of writing and would require me to be really good at story writing.

At the begging of the unit loads of writing was true but I found I was able to conjure up some story to make into a game. This course I definitely learned the importance of being caught up on work in general but in relation to narrative, I learned a lot about how to build a character and then portray them and their world in a game without having to spell everything out. An example of this from the class was to give a person a name tag instead of telling the player their name. My advice to others from this topic would be to first make sure you have everything done on time and second to spend time getting the important things right and adding more after that.

For this topic, we basically spent the entire time planning and building a Vertical Slice of our game. My game was set in a basement after a bushfire, the above is a screenshot.

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Little Nightmares

Recently I played Little Nightmares and decided to write my next blog post on that. Little Nightmares was developed by Tarsier Studios and Published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It released on the 28th of April 2017 for Windows, PlayStation, and Xbox and then released again on the 18th of May 2018 for the Nintendo Switch. I believe that Little Nightmares is a noteworthy game because it does a really good job of telling a story, leading the player and teaching gameplay without having any dialogue or text. Apart from this the games visuals and audio are also amazing.

My experience playing Little Nightmares was, for the most part, enjoyable although I got a little frustrated sometimes with the controls which happened more when I played the DLC. Aside from sometimes irritating controls, the game was fun to play always keeping me in suspense and making me curious about the world and story wondering what is going on and what will happen next. The extent of my problems with this game is all with the controls. Most of the time controls where fine but every now and then I found the character not grabbing things or grabbing things I didn't want as well as not jumping when I wished. Although some of this may have been due to my human error not pressing buttons at the right times. Apart from this I thoroughly enjoyed the game and loved exploring the world that lay before me as well as the challenge of keeping away from the enemy. From this game, I believe I have learned more about how to lead the player and how to better show the story through the environment.

When Little Nightmares released the reviews were generally positive and it received mostly scores of 8-10/10 on most review sites. Between 2017 and 2018 it has been nominated for many awards but has not won any since 2016 when it won an Indie Award at Gamescom 2016.

The core loop of Little Nightmares would be:

Enter new area - Learn about the enemy - Evade enemy

The main mechanics of little nightmares include Running/Walking, Crouching/Crouch walk, Jumping and the Grab control which allows you to pick up items and grab ledges and such.

As of now Little Nightmares has not been influencing on many games since it is such a new release but while researching the game to find out more I learned that Little Nightmares was inspired by many other works similar one of which being works by Studio Ghibli which I can definitely see when playing.

Little Nightmares community is mostly seen on the normal steam community page and also some facebook community pages. The community there usually consists of things like reviews of the game, walkthroughs and when originally released there was a lot of discussion on the story of the game. Since sometimes what exactly is going on as the game's backstory can be a bit vague people took to discussing it and theorizing what exactly is going on. A theory that has been I think most successful is that the player Six is the daughter of the main boss The Lady and the lady hated Six because she was beautiful and The Lady was not.

All in all, I really enjoyed the game and would recommend it to others. I look forward to playing this game to completion.

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Post Mortem - Unit 3

This unit just finished at AIE was great. I learnt a lot about code and did things I didn't think I would have been able to. Learning code this unit was really interesting and although tedious and a bit boring in my eyes it was also fun and exciting when you finally get a code to work and do what you want. I want to go out and continue to learn more code after this because I know it will be invaluable when working in a team and will be useful in many things other than just games. Advise i would give others learning code is just to do trial and error and not give up when things aren't working. Out of the whole unit I’m proud of everything I have accomplished mainly in my game that I created.

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The game I decided to write on is Firewatch. It was made by Campo Santo and was originally released February 9th, 2016 and was released again later that year on more console’s and again in 2018 for the Nintendo switch. I think Firewatch is a noteworthy game because of the way it conveys its story through simple conversation between only two people you basically never see. Other than the story between the main characters other things about the world are also shown majorly through the environment. This is done with things like the Caches which have small bits of story spread across notes and other documents. It is also noteworthy to me for having stunning visuals and a very engaging story. My experience playing Firewatch was pretty good and I really liked the game although I did manage to break the dialogue a bit at one point early on where the characters had a conversation in a place I wasn't.

The general response to Firewatch when it came out was really good with most people who played it enjoying it and giving it good reviews. The core loop of Firewatch is to listen to the radio as you walk around and reply back. The main mechanics of Firewatch would be throwing, radio conversation and walking. So far Firewatch has not influenced many games I can find specifically since it is still only two years old. Although I’m sure there is little bits of its influence in games but nothing I could find. As all games do Firewatch has a good fan base on the steam community but also has good following on Reddit and before the game came out it also had a good following of people watching it as it was made.

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The Witness - Thekla, Inc - 2016

For my post this unit I decided to do a game analysis on The Witness. The Witness is a first person puzzle game where you solve puzzles over an island by drawing correct paths on consoles. The game has literally hundreds of puzzles in it and to do just the main story takes on average 17 hours to complete. Although if you wanted to do everything in the game on average it may take 46 hours. This means for around $40 your getting a lot of game but also you can beat the game in an acceptable amount of time.

I think this game is noteworthy because although it is extremely simple in game play there is still so much variation in puzzles. All you do is draw the same lines on consoles but how you are able to draw and how to find solutions its always changing and giving you new problems and solutions.

From my experience of the game I had a lot of fun and although I got frustrated sometimes I never felt that it was the games fault or not showing me something but my fault for not paying attention. From this I have learned to think more outside the box and to take a different angle literally when doing things. Although the game has some problems where I couldn't walk off even the smallest ledges which got frustrating having to go around things a lot.

The Witness was critically acclaimed right on release. And since then has continued to surprise and amaze gaining it many high scores for dependable game reviewers.

The core loop of The Witness is:

- Move to an area

- Learn a new puzzle mechanic

- Solve puzzles with mechanic

This loop works well because it allows the game to teach things well and keep increasing difficulty at a good rate. Then once you master something you can learn more.

The main mechanics of The Witness are walking and drawing although there would be many more if you count all the different types of puzzles. From my experience so far I have completed 2 sections of the game and they each had a main focus for their puzzles including Symmetry puzzles where what you drew was mirrored in another place and Light puzzles where the solution was shown through glare at the right angle.

So far I haven't seen or been able to find any games that take influence from The Witness but this is probably since it is pretty new. Although The Witness has taken influence from others before it.

I wouldn't say The Witness has a huge community or really even a main one but it has many community discussion groups around where people are usually helping each other with puzzles in the game and some talk about theories for the games story. The spaces for players to help each other mostly have a positive environment since it is for helping. There is also some places where people share pictures relating to the game and they connect through this.

Overall I had a great time with the game and want to play more and after some extra research The Witness has shown to be a great game that found something that worked and built its world around that and it worked amazingly.

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Level design AIE

This unit at AIE I have learned so much and come very far with my skills although there is still so much more to learn and I can still work on my skills more. This unit was level design which not only included how to design levels but also how to create models in Maya and Texture them as well. My expectations of the unit were that we would just learn designing level layouts but after doing it we did so much more and I’ve seen there is so much more to it. This unit I learned a lot of things like practical skills but also a lot about organizing a team and how to work with everyone to get things done on time. I advise anyone wanting to start work in a team of their own to learn how their team members work so they can easier work with them. Through this unit, we had to work on our own Hero Model to be put into our scenes and although mine was not the best at the end I am still happy with my final product which is the fruit stall here I made.

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Learning Games Design

The last 6 weeks of the AIE games design course has been awesome. The main thing I tell people when they ask about Uni is that its fun and I’m having a great time. This unit I learned a lot of things from skills to use in work to skills to help work at home.

The thing I found I learnt the most about in this course is that there is so much more behind games than I ever thought and its a lot harder to make even a simple game than I first thought.

At the begging of the course we learnt about board games. During this we had to design and make our own board games in a group. While doing this we first learnt the struggles of balancing a game. We tried so many different things to get the game balanced but they either made it worse or just didn't really fix anything. Through board games we also got taught to let go of our ideas and come up with new ones because sometimes things just don't work no matter how bad you want them to.

At the end of the unit we did our biggest assessment our GDD (Game Design Document). This was a lot more work that we first thought. When writing the GDD’s we had ideas that just kept growing and growing which meant we had to end up cutting it down because the more ideas we had the more we had to write. By simply adding one mechanic you then had to go and work that in with everything else and write out the details on how it worked which added 1 or 2 more pages of writing at least. This task taught me mostly that there is so much work put into the games I play than I ever thought and that every single little detail must be planned out.

These are the main things I’ve taken out of this course and they have been so much fun to learn. Learning about what goes on behind the scenes is an awesome experience and I can’t wait to continue with the next unit.

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Character Design

The topic of interest I have chosen to talk about is Character Design. I chose this topic because I am interested in designing characters since I find creating characters fun and I always love the new characters games bring to us. 

From all of my research I learnt what to ask myself when designing, steps to go through when I design and how others have done their designs.

So far in life I have done little character design. I have always tried to do it alone and written down ideas here and there for things I like but I've never really dug into it. This research has probably been the most experience I have had with character design and has taught me many things like I have said above.

Most of my references had ideas similar to each other but went about them in different ways. Like Pixar design majority of their work for movies not games which changes how they design compared to others. Everyone also does it differently since they have their own styles and ideas like designers should.

An example of Pixar design process through sketches

Apart from these things they all have similar ideas on designing characters like first finding something you like and you definitely want and then expanding on this by trying things out and seeing what fits.

One talk I watched also spoke about how you can get really inventive with your characters and don't have to stick to the cliches that already exist. They taught to make things new and see things in different ways.

The main ideas I took from my research were the following:

Questions to use when designing a character-

Where do they live?

Who are their parents?

What is their job?

Who is their best friend?

What foods do they like?

What's their favorite color?

Character Design Steps From Melody Nieves:

Pick a theme: Use one-word descriptions that are visually clear.

Develop the backstory: Know everything about your characters as if they were a dear friend.

Give them a name and personality: Pick a name that fits the style and personality of your characters.

Pick a species: Decide whether to use humans or animals, or even create your own species.

Determine the body type: Reinforce your character's personality by making them tall, short, thin, or husky.

Set the color scheme: Always pick colors that make sense.

Create dynamic poses: Not just front and back. Try to show your character in their everyday life.

Figure out their style: Laid back or corporate? Discover their fashion sense and experiment with style.

Make characters emote: Learn how to illustrate emotions to make your characters better!

And test alternative versions: If something doesn't fit, simply try something new. Always experiment until you land on the perfect design!

From the videos at Game Design Forge I learnt that you need to find something you really like and build the character off of that. Use whatever you can from the thing that is good to test ideas and work with it to design the rest of the character.

An Example from the Game Design Forge of testing ideas.

The key things I’m taking away from the research is to start with something you like, test many options and to follow a process that suits you to build your character.

I learned more about the process of making a character and how in the future I should go about designing the character.

Specifically picking something I like and then basing the rest of the character around that one thing. Also I learned to keep trying things and changing things till you find something that suits.

I wished that they would have spoken more focused on how to make the character who they are rather than how to put characters in the game and how they will work in the game like mechanics wise.

Knowing the characters mechanics is essential but I feel there wasn't enough on as I said making the characters who they are.

The artist here would have had something saying the character needs to punch and kick to then go and design the character with that.

References:

Character Design Forge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1JdiZBv47Y, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbeEtai-Mjc

PIXAR’s design porocess: http://pixar-animation.weebly.com/character-design.html

Melody Nieves: https://design.tutsplus.com/articles/10-top-tips-for-creating-unique-character-design s--cms-25966

GDC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bW2pw9jEto