#barstaffthegame

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BStG #08 - Just Cre8

Hey All!

As I mentioned yesterday, I just want to give you a quick run-down of the Just Cre8 exhibition where Bar Staff the Game was demonstrated.

Just Cre8 is a small, in-house exhibition for games and animation, for students of SAE Qantm in Perth, Western Australia. The exhibition focuses on productions within these categories that are complete and full productions, to strive for professional representation and a way to expose work to an audience.

This Just Cre8 featured several serious games, including BStG, and a couple of serious board games, as well as a few other games and a couple of animation productions. The first half of the night was focused on the serious games, and saw a diverse audience sit down and play and experience each of the games.

The other serious games were created by my peers, and were of very high calibre. It was a great experience to showcase my work alongside them, and we were all very proud of the work we had achieved. There was very positive feedback on all of our productions, and we were met with a lot of enthusiasm to extend our games and consider proper marketing and release of the games.

BStG was met with a lot of very positive feedback, which was a bit of a shock as I was quite ill for the entire week leading up to the event and hadn’t had much of a chance to work on finishing the game beforehand.

The mechanical systems of the game received much of the strong, positive feedback, including some great feedback from lecturers and staff with programming backgrounds. This was great news, as it was definitely a relief to receive commendation on an area that I enjoy and have a deep knowledge and understanding of.

The overall gameplay and experience both received wonderful feedback, and I could see people enjoying the game whilst they played it. This was a major confidence boost, and great to see. That is what all projects aim for, and to see it come to life is always a great experience.

Much of the feedback and reflection on the game came with amazement and gratitude, as many player’s, especially those with no background or knowledge of bar service, learned a lot within the small game time they got with the game. This was the final piece of the puzzle. Being a serious game, this was the most integral and critical element of the entire project, from start to end (and even further). Being able to get players to learn about the RSA and bar service is exactly what the game is about, and when this is coming from persons not currently going for, or looking into, RSA certification, it truly is a positive piece of feedback.

There, of course, was some feedback that suggested improvement. This was not a shock and not at all deflating either. The major suggestion was aesthetics. The game had some nice assets from Kenney (available at Kenney.nl), and was laid out well, and looked the part. However, there was definite room for improvement. Animations were suggested, some background happenings and some nicer lighting were some of the suggestions. These are things that I would have liked to include, but did not have the time to implement. Moving forward from this feedback is positive though, as I have a better understanding of what people would like to see included, as well as what I would like to add to it, so with some revision and updates, I think the game can get to a polished and beautiful state.

The Just Cre8 exhibition was an absolutely excellent experience. The feedback that was collected from the event was undoubtedly invaluable, and extremely insightful. Further from that, it was great to showcase my work, right next to the superb work of my peers. To see an audience sit and play my game, experience it and learn from it, is definitely wonderful to see, and a giant boost to my confidence, both personally and professionally.

Now, as I mentioned yesterday, Bar Staff the Game is at a release status at the moment, with the closing of the trimester of study. However, it will be rolled-back to a beta status soon to allow more work to be conducted, and to get the production to a fully-fledged, polished and robust release version later in the year.

So stay tuned, the updates will be a bit less often, but work will continue on BStG, and I look forward to bringing you a full and ready version of the game.

For now, have fun, have a good one, and cheers for staying up to date with the game!

[barstaffthegame-blog]

BStG #07 - It’s Been a While

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the massive delay. There was so much work going on, and I have been quite significantly ill the last 2 weeks, that I just haven’t got on here to update you all.

Basically the last few weeks have been the finalisation of game systems, last minute asset creation, getting ready for the Just Cre8 Exhibition and organising and finalising all of the documentation behind the game. This was made more intense by being so crook over the week prior to the exhibition, and now the week after as well, which just happens to be the deadline for the final version of the game.

Overall I am very happy with the product that I have created. The game is fully functioning and all the mechanical systems are absolutely brilliant. The systems are solid, robust and ready for assets to be plugged in, to be extended and to even have additional content and extension to the game added in. The systems that I created for this game are definitely the highlights of the production, and definitely worth the time invested in them.

Ultimately the aesthetics weren’t what I had hoped, and are a bit lack lustré. The aesthetics aren’t too bad, and there were many positives reviews from the exhibition, but I would have liked to have seen that little bit extra included. A huge credit goes out to Kenney. I utilised some assets from Kenney, which are listed under the CC0 license, meaning that they are free for me to use how I want, and they are truly amazing assets. I thoroughly recommend everyone checking out Kenney.nl!

The game is ready to go, but looking forward, passed the end of this unit of study, I would like to roll-back the status to beta and work on the game to bring it to polish and ready for a proper release later this year. I think adding some content, some polish and some more educational information that this game could become quite a good product and a great experience and reference piece for myself professionally.

I want to update you on how the exhibition went, sometime tomorrow I think, but for now I want you all to know that the game is currently at release version, but will be rolled-back for revision to a fully-fledged game production later in the year.

It has been a great experience and a wonderful journey so far, and I hope you have all enjoyed it too.

Until next time, Have fun!

[barstaffthegame-blog]

BStG #06 - Code Curation

Hi All!

The last thing I mentioned was testing and tutorial development. I am glad to say that the first round of testing went well, and that I was able to get some data to reflect over and take on board. I am also glad to say that the tutorial is ready and work on implementing the full game is ready to be undertaken!

Today I am working hard on curating the code, adding in extra comments to ensure the project will stand the test of time, and allow myself, and potentially others, to look back at the scripting and have a solid understanding of what is happening, and the processes I went through to reach the final version of the scripts.

Code curation is important and it ensures proper work flow processes, storage and archiving, and represents the work and thought processes behind development and code. It is always a good idea to comment your code, and it is a habit I am really trying to get into properly.

During this process I am also placing scripts into appropriate folders and sub-folders, to make finding the correct script files easier, accurate and recognisable. During the process I am also going over my code and looking for any text items that can be re-worded or reworked in some way.

After the curation is complete I will look further at the tutorial and at defining how to implement the gameplay into the full game.

By the end of this week I hope to get the Beta build completed and some additional and formal testing completed. So keep an eye out, as I may look at opening up the testing to anyone who is interested!

Have fun now, and I hope you look forward to the upcoming Beta build!

[barstaffthegame-blog]

BStG #05 - Alpha Testing

Hey there!

Another post today, how about that? This is just a heads up that I was delayed today with sorting the tutorial out. But it is all good because it was for testing and feedback!

All of the guys in my class are going to take the time to give some valuable feedback on the Alpha version of the game. We are all doing a good batch of Alpha testing today, and we are all trying to help each other out as much as possible.

Over the next few days I may organise setting up a short round of public open-access alpha testing via the website www.barstaffthegame.com so I can get some early, outside feedback on the project.

The tutorial is still going get some serious work today, and hopefully the full tutorial will be available over the weekend!

I hope you are all enjoying the journey so far, Have a good one now!

[barstaffthegame-blog]

BStG #04 - Tutorial Dev Today

Hey All!

Just here to drop in and let you guys know that today I will be working through the Tutorial and trying to implement a full cycling and functioning tutorial level that is more polished and extended from the one included in the Alpha build. Today will mostly be about scripting and organising everything to ensure that the tutorial functions properly, is bug-free and accomplishes the goal of introducing the player to the game.

The benefit here is that once the tutorial is completed and functioning, most of the full game systems will be ready to be transplanted and function properly. Completing the tutorial and the systems it uses is one of the biggest aspects for this game, as it is the linchpin of the core gameplay systems.

Today will see some revision and adaption of the documentation for the game as well. This is to ensure that the game is on track, check that in-scope and out-of-scope elements are still where they need to be, or to be revised further, and ensure that the documentation that I am working from is as accurate and substantial as possible.

I hope you guys are excited for the beta build next week - Friday 17th - because I am, and I look forward to getting it ready to go and tested!

Have fun now!

[barstaffthegame-blog]

Happy Snaps of the Alpha Build!

[barstaffthegame-blog]

BStG #03 - Conversion to Unity 4.6.4 and Alpha Screenshots

Hi All!

Today’s update is all about the last couple of weeks and the work on the Alpha build.

I told you that the Alpha build would be ready soon, and it is indeed! It was done on the 1st of April and the only reason no screenshots were taken was due to a need to roll-back to Unity 4.6. Although the my work environment has Unity 5, which is nice and pretty, the campus where I have my classes does not have a single PC with 5 installed. Therefore I needed to roll-back to 4.6 to ensure that I can work freely between locations. I wanted to get the rolled-back version up and running before uploading screenshots. The shots are from the 5 version, but I wanted to ensure that I could get the 4.6 version to the same point before posting gameplay images.

I had some issues with access issues for some files and folders that aren’t built out by Unity which ultimately delayed the Alpha version, however once I located and understood the issue it was an extremely quick fix, and I got the version out no problem.

I included a screenshot feature as well, which is what I have used to get the images to you today. Ctrl+F12 takes screenshots, this is not a critical function to the game and I don’t want to advertise the hotkey, so only those of you that have read this post will know about it, that is because you guys are special!

There is not much of a difference between Unity 4.6.4 and 5 that will impact the build of this game. It is general Editor, lighting, shading and camera changes, which can be worked around for the project. I will likely build the release version out to 5 anyway, so that you have the best possible experience at the end of it all.

Enough talking for now, I will throw up another post with all the screenshots for you.

I hope you enjoy them all!

[barstaffthegame-blog]

BStG #02 - Alpha Version Soon!

Hello All!

 This week’s update looks at the progress towards the Alpha build.

 First things first, we had a progression meeting looking at where we were, and where we are going, the other day. All our documentation was finished last week, and as we move on to the Beta version we will be adding a lot more to this documentation. In short this means that we have a solid understanding of where we are going, what we are doing, and when we are doing it.

 The conversation system is being implemented at the moment, which is great! This is one of the most integral systems within the game, so implementing it is a major step for the project, and will feel amazing once it is done. The conversation draws conversation items from a dialogue system and allows a cyclical process, where the player feels like they are chatting with the customer.

 This text based conversation system will be simple, and easy to use, and really get the idea of bar service and RSA application across effectively.

The player will always be given 3 random options to pick from, and across the top of their dialog window will be 3 ever present options to ask for ID, serve the customer, or to refuse the customer service.

This simple system means that the player is never confused or overwhelmed by an unnecessary user interface or excessive dialogue options, whilst still being dynamic, interesting and accurate.

 Today I am finishing off the Alpha version, which is wonderful, and an awesome step towards testing and ultimately the final product. I am currently finishing off the Alpha level of the conversation system, the tutorial level, which is what the Alpha is, and ensuring that there are no bugs so far.

 Later this weekend I will hopefully have the chance to upload some screenshots of the game and a bit of a run-down of the final systems implemented in this build.

 Have fun now, see you soon, and thanks for dropping by!