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[snrgorilla]

Final Blog #9

The class overall was a refreshing experience; getting to know the development process of video games was really enlightening. I really enjoyed the process, which is what I would say if I had a team member for the video game portion of this project. One thing I learned throughout the latter half of this project was the benefit of working as a team. I noticed that a majority of the solo devs, such as I, worked with limited resources; some forgoed the art style to tighten up the code, while others focused on only one level of a game and polished only that one. I'll be honest, my work could have benefited from having someone else working on it with me. For one, I am not a coder, that much I can tell. There are a lot of times I struggled to get a function to work right or to ensure I had the correctly named CS file. Seeing all these final projects, I can tell working with someone could be supremely beneficial to the game development process. However, I can not deny the fact that I had freedom of control as a solo dev, so if I were to continue this path, I now know how I would like to tackle the next project. With all that said I am still really proud of what I've made, and I defiantly see myself working on this game further in the summer

[snrgorilla]

Blog 7

Jack Box is a game built for parties, and with the gameplay, it shows the games we played were TEE K.O, Trivia Murder Party 2, and DoDoReMi. In the first game, I was able to play as a main participant and could be active in the rounds of TEE K.O with my drawings. In this gamemode, we were given time to make three sketches, following that, we were tasked to write them out. Players then got to combine a drawing and a phrase to make a shirt. Participants then voted which one they liked best, and here the audience can augment the vote as well. However, out of the games we played, this one in particular feels like the audience was able to participate as much as the other three. In TEE K.O., the audience can only cast their vote without participating in the actual gameplay of the game, apart from tapping a button that would trigger a small animation. In the last game, DoDoReMi, I played in the audience, yet despite not appearing as one of the main participants, I felt I was no different from them. Their gameplay was my gameplay, unlike TEE K.O or Trivia Murder Party, where the audience had a different role. In this game, we played a rhythm game not too different from Guitar Hero, while the main players fought against a rhythm-eating plant monster, the audience still played the same way as them.

[snrgorilla]

Blog 6

The title of the game is called Xeno Dash

Credits

Art Director: Christian C

Lead Programer: Christian C

Game Director: Christian C

Known Bugs include the Health system not properly detecting hits and thus no lose condition can be meet. The Alien creature no long can maintain upright position, HOWEVER I will leave it in due to being comical. Another bug is that the time counter won't appear to signify the end of the game, and thus also won't trigger end game.

The main objective is to survive as long as the timer goes on for. While at first the alien doesn't move fast at all, but movement is erratic and unpredictable.

So far the game of the state is still not quiet there yet, I mean the ending of the game still isn't. But compared to the version 1 Alpha it is leagues better than pile of scrap code. The orginal's code was really broken and nothing really worked. The Alien would escape the bounds I set, the player characters movement was weird. Overall it didn't truly feel like a game, just assets. Now though that Identity is coming trough, but I still need that refinement in the game. The alien though it now bounces around when touched by the player has physical presence in the game and not a ghost who goes beyonf the walls. I want to get people to have fun with my game and I can feel that this game get to that state.

[snrgorilla]

Blog Post 5

The name of my game is called Xeno Dash. This game is about survival though the direction of the game is still in development, for I got several pieces of advice from other students. I am assigned to the art, programer, director, and taking care of everything essentially. Since I took a bit to get the programing done as I am not well versed in the game so there is no end game yet. Another thing is I haven't added any way to contain the alien creature from leaving off screen. Lastly from the feedback people were unsure how to get play the game. These are issues I need to fix and fast, from my initial scope of the original idea, I need to downsize. From fixing the escaping alien to actually applying the blaster mode, I need some major rework from the game. I think I’ll still keep the overall asthetic in place, but I need to reel back on my intial idea. I think i’ll add a timer to survive and instead of creating an escape theme. The Whole idea that the creature cannot be killed is intergral to my inital insperation Alien Isolation. Rather than running away I think having to hurt it to slow down rather than die was actually an idea given to me during the inperson play test.

[snrgorilla]

Blog 3: Prototyping Game

My game is called Three-Card Duel, and the basic description of it is that it is a race to the finish game, where the gameplay loop involves two things, which include:

Drawing cards, placing them face down, and the value of one selected card determines the winner

Board movement where one player races across the board, while the other player stalls them with traps. 

The core mechanicswould be Card Play Conflict Resolution, which, according to BoardGameGeek, is;

 “Each player simultaneously or sequentially plays one or more cards. These modify the base outcome of a conflict and allow various special abilities to apply. This can function similarly to Area Majority / Influence, but with a discrete resolution or award of the conflict target, rather than by dynamic/shifting control of a fixed asset. It is also similar to Force Commitment, but that mechanic presupposes a more liquid resource where the quantity can be chosen.”

The game has a few alternative win conditions for both players, but the general gist is to be the first to make it to the end board. 

This concept that my first partner Miguel and I generally drafted up in the first session, some of the main rules we came up with include:

The players must draw from a deck of cards that is split in half, which gives both players 26  cards

Three cards are then drawn and used for combat, with the card's value determining the winner. 

To keep things semi fair, we didn’t allow the players to choose their cards but rather had their opponetes chose their cards

This ensures a level of fairness since it would be up to the luck of the draw to determine the winner of that battle. 

To progress in the game, P1 rolls a die and moves along spaces towards the end

P2 must stall P1 from progressing to the end by placing blocks along the paths, which can only be done by beating P1 in a duel. 

The only win condition we had for P2 was to beat P1 in a duel three times in a row 

However, in order to keep going longer, P1 has to lose a duel in a space that is blocked. 

To balance it a bit more for P2, every consecutive win in a duel that is in a normal space allows P2 to place an additional space (i.e., win 2x in a row, you get to place two blocks, if you win 3x, you get three blocks, etc.)

This was done to add a figurative clock to the game and force P1 to push their luck

Ultimatly I felt we succeeded in making a very engaging game, one that adds a fun factor to the game. 

Following that session, I played the game with my family and had them try the game out got to see them try out the game. Immediately, however, they had a complaint after the first game, which included:

The game seems to balance favorably to one side in the beginning, then shifts that balance to the other

It seems that if P2 gets lucky, then they can immediately block out player 1 by placing blocks in an absurd amount.

And if P2 is very Unlucky then they give the win to P1 without much effort. 

So to address this complaint, one rule I addressed this situation was to get rid of the build-up rule for P2 and limit their blocking to just 1 per win.

A comeback mechanic was added for P1 should they reach their final life. They initiate a final duel where each player shuffles their individual set of cards and draws 5 cards randomly. The players place them face down and would have their opponent choose three cards. The total value of the cards is then used to determine the winner.

Another thing that came up is what happens in a draw, so I added a rule that if players draw in a duel, then the opponent player chooses another card. A draw never came up in the original session, so I never made a rule for it. 

After this session, I had another partner try out this refined version of the game it went more soothly but we felt there could be adjustments that would make it better. 

One thing was more win conditions for the players, as it felt that the loop would be more engaging if there were multiple ways to win for both players, or to enhance their winning potential 

One thing we thought would be interesting is to add special conditions, just like if P1 loses three times in a row, they should get something if they win three times as well.

If P1 wins three times in a row, they get to roll their dice three times, which would push them closer to winning or even win, since the max die value could be 24 spaces.

Note this only happens in normal spaces, not blocked spaces, as that would conflict with P2

We felt that it would be redundant if we gave P1, and an instant win like P2 would be boring so by doing this, we also gave them a more fun and engaging win versus the P2

Another fun thing that we added is a way for P2 to get a chance at the board run, and made it a rule that if P1 lands on block spaces and survives more than three times, then players would swap roles.

Now P2 starts at the beginning, must race to advance beyond P1's last location to win, instead of racing to the finish. 

Of course, P1 gets P2’s old role and must block their path. 

To initiate this new role swap mechanic, we added a change to the duel rules. Originally, if players reached the last two cards of their deck, then they would shuffle their cards and draw a new set of three cards

Now, if the cards reach the last two cards, then the roles would be swapped rather than being shuffled again. 

This added role swap rule adds a new level of engagement and adds more win cons to the game  

[snrgorilla]

Blog 2 - Session Report

The game we played tonight was Secret Hitler, and we were able to play two rounds. In this game, we have two parties Liberal and Fascist parties. There was a group of 10 players in the first round. From my point of view, I was given the part allegiance role of a fascist, at least in this group, there 3 other people who were fascists as well. Within the fascist group, one of them would be selected to become Hitler. Along with the Professor, we had one of the group members read off the rules of the game. The two groups Liberal and Facists must make plays and votes on legislation that are presented by two other special roles: The President and the Chancellor. At the beginning of the round, the professor suggested making noise so that those who were in the fascist party reveal themselves, and it is where I saw who my teammates were and who wasn’t. Due to our group size, we had adjusted the game boards for the two opposing factions. For us, the fascists, we needed to pass 6 fascists legislation to win, while the Liberals only needed 5. The first round went smoothly, and I kept my cool and never revealed what my party affiliation was. I helped pass the new chancellor, who went ahead and passed liberal legislation. In the following round, we had the next president choose the next chancellor, which was the first time I voted yes, since during the round of revealing the factists, we learned that this chancellor was the Secret Hitler. The vote did pass, and they were able to get them to bring up legislation for the fascists. Since this is the first legislative, the president-elect was given the power to find out the party affiliations of anyone they choose. In this case, they ended up choosing the chancellor, much to my dismay, so now I know they know that the chancellor was a fascists but do not know if they are Hitler. The next round comes, and with it, a new set of leaders is selected. This time around, I needed people to keep on guessing, so regardless of who I knew, I was going to vote no, and lo and behold, the first failed vote for a new chancellor since not enough people voted yes to them. Then came my turn to become the president, and I immediately locked eyes with my teammate and decided that I needed to make them a chancellor. When I was given three pieces of legislation, two were fascist, and one was liberal, so I gave them the two fascists piece, thus forcing a point for the fascists. There was another event where I get to ask the pary affliatino to anyone, I took a risk and checked the chanslor themselves in order to clear them. Following that the next two round played out similarly with a chancellor being voted in and a liberal leglstion passing, then Next round we had a new chancellor  that voted in another fascists law. This time since its the 3rd one which lets the president kill anyone they choose. They chose a liberal party member unkowninly and allows us to move on to the next. The following round we had two rounds where the chancellor was voted in and ultimately failed to pass. The next time we had a new chancellor we got another piece of legislation for the liberal party which if the liberal faction passes one more liberal legislation would win. Yet the next chanlcer that was voted in was one of my fascists teammate and we passed a fascists legislation and  giving us another chance to take someone out of the game. We got another liberal taken out, however this wan’t enough because when the next chancellor was voited in they passed liberal legislation and thus giving them the Victory.

[snrgorilla]

Blogging for College

On the Internet Archive, there were several arcade games available to experience and enjoy. The one that stood out to me the most was Metal Slug 3. I’ve played several times, and here's what I’ve experienced so far. Metal Slug, for those who don’t know, is a side-scrolling shoot’em up where your character fights against waves of enemies. There was a character select screen that offered unique characters that don’t change gameplay. I played well into the game, and I was going against the first boss, where I encountered a big problem with the original controls. First off, the archive doesn’t tell you what the controls are; for example, while directional inputs were clear, what wasn’t so clear were the other inputs. The original inputs had shooting the gun with control, and to jump, press the option button. On mac the issue with the shooting control being set to control is that I kept paging out of the emulator constatly, it was resolved by changing the key mapping, but even that was an adventure and a half to figure out. Compared to a physical arcade cabinet, I feel that emulators don’t compare to how it was originally played. I felt this while playing the game; the game was designed to be played via the cabinet. Though the one thing emulation does do is allow me to play this game in a form.