Prototype

Animated animals

Image here

This week I've been continuing with the animation and illustration aspect of our game. We are creating this game with a specific design so it's important that we get it right. Through a series of multiple illustrations I designed a couple more backgrounds for our game.

Firstly I finalized the background design for the main menu I included the main architecture in this background. The second background I created was a background for one of the levels where the player must use addition to count and add up the amount of hay bales on the trailer. The player will help the farmer with this task. The third background that I created was an overview of all the animals and architecture. The player can click on certain animals and play a math game involving this animal. These backgrounds can be seen below. 

Alpha

For the duration of this week I've been trying hard to further develop my game with Unity and fix some problems that I had in the previous week. Firstly after a lot of trial and error I finally fixed the red scene. Last week my entire game magically turned itself red as I was applying a grass texture and I didn't know how to fix it so this week I focused on that and eventually solved it! My scene appears normal once more. 

I further developed my game this week by creating a variety of old style houses. As my game takes place in a town on an island I had to create a lot of these houses to compose a town type of setting. This took awhile as I've to make an entire town and add windows and doors to the houses. I also created a fog setting which I'm very happy about as I think it turned out very well and adds the creepy effect that I wanted my game to have. It took a while to perfect the fog and get it to the consistency that I wanted but I got there eventually and I'm happy with the outcome. I created more landscape too by adding shrubbery, bushes, creating a different variety of trees and another mountain range. My first person controller is now able to walk freely through the wisps of fog and collect gems. 

My plan now is to continue creating and finishing off my town with more houses and to try add in another sub-character or two. I'd also like to try and find how to create or add in streetlamps so I'll do my research on that this week and hopefully find an answer on how to do it. Below are screenshots of my progress, notice the red scene is fixed! 

My game

First Playable

This week using Unity I developed my game further. So far I'm finding Unity a bit difficult as some of the simpler aspects have stopped working since I updated the Unity software to the latest version. Despite this I still tried my best to further develop my game as I'd like to at least make it look how I envisioned it in my game design document.

This week I further developed my game this week by creating a couple of gems which will be hidden in the tall grass and trees within my game. I also successfully added in my chosen background music which I'm fairly proud of as not many things in Unity have worked for me this week! I chose a calm, mellow piece of background music that will loop throughout my game while it's being played.
The textures, materials, music and structures are working well for me.

The main problem I had with Unity this week is unexplained really somehow my game scenery has turned red. This happened as I was adding textures so it might have something to do with that.
My plan for the future week is to hopefully create and structure some more houses on the island as I mentioned in my previous post Unity crashed many times and erased my building structures so I plan on recreating them in the coming week. I also plan on adding some bloom aspects and some sound fx.

This is what my game looked like before it suddenly turned red.

Game image

Prototype

This week I attempted to create my game as laid out in my game design document. I began by creating some hills and coating them in a rough grass texture that I carefully chose to represent the creepy feel of my game. I then began to create a small forest of pine trees to surround the left side of the island that my game will take place on. From there I added in a wind element to make the grass and trees move gently to create a more realistic effect. I then downloaded my selected skybox from the assets store, I chose a darker toned sky that contained colours of red. black and purple. From here I edited the colour of the skybox until I was satisfied with the outcome. I also added in thick grass patches to random parts of the island, this is where the gems containing the clues and riddles will be hidden. I also created a single row of 3 houses, a path through the town and a small lake however Unity crashed multiple times after that and erased certain elements of my game despite me saving as I went. I found this to be very frustrating as I spent a lot of time creating the houses to look how I envisioned in my game design document.

Overall I find Unity slightly difficult as it's very tedious and the software tends to crash whether it be on my PC or on a MAC in the college labs. I met a few of my targets with the scenery apart from the houses and the lake that were erased. From here on I hope to improve my Unity skills and have the software cooperate with me as I create my desired game.

Screenshot of my game on Unity

Final GDD

This week I finalized my Game Design Document. I put a lot of effort into my GDD this week and improved on what I was lacking this week. Although I found in some sections that I was unsure of how to answer, I tried my best to provide all content in all relative areas. I enjoyed using Dundoc to create my GDD as it provided templates and sections which indicated what I should answer and what I should write about. I found Dundoc to be extremely helpful in allowing me to produce the Game Design Document for my game and I'd definitely use it again if Ii ever create another game.

For the rest of the semester I plan to work hard on creating my game and making it to the best of my ability. I hope to be able to create the game that I've spent so much time developing and designing as I do encounter difficulty with Unity sometimes.

Dundoc link

Being positive
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Game design document

I found that using Dundoc to create my game design document was very helpful. I appreciated how the site already has various game sections ready so you can just add in your own game information and answer the questions. At first I became slightly confused on how to use the site after I signed up however I quickly figured it out and began to create my game design document.
Some sections of the game design document template were difficult to answer but I answered everything I possibly could to the best of my ability.
I enjoyed creating my game design document as it allowed me to get more creative with my game and develop it further by adding in the characters, their descriptions, storylines, the game controls etc.

My Dundoc projecthttps://www.dundoc.com/project/4785/game-design-document

Character style inspiration
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Game Vision Statement

My game will be called The Mysterious Island and will be available to play on the PC. The main first player character named Detective Craine will venture on a journey to a mysterious island known for it's creepy reputation and suspicious locals in order to try and help solve the disappearance of one of it's local residents named Jane. There's also a large dark mansion that sits on the edge of town where nobody dares to visit. This is where Detective Craine will eventually explore and uncover the truth about her disappearance.

It's an adventure game suitable for audiences between the ages of 12-20. It's a mind-racking game at best as its demanding to the player mentally as they try to solve all the riddles/puzzles and reach the end goal of the game. Detective Craine embarks on this journey by himself through the little town located on the mysterious island. He must search for clues which will then present him with a riddle or puzzle. In order to progress and continue on through the game he has to solve each riddle and talk to some of the locals for clues.

Once he completes all the riddles and puzzles Detective Craine will come to the end of the game where he reaches the final riddle. Once this is solved the missing girl is found and the game is completed.

The idea of this game is to teach players that once they overcome obstacles in their lives they can move on to bigger and better things like the Detective Craine is doing in this game. This game is definitely suitable for anyone who loves a challenge and those who have a heightened sense of curiosity about them.

The key features of this game include the undirected exploration as the player has the ability to roam freely while they look for clues and hints. Another key feature is the riddles and puzzles. An example of one of the riddles would be something like "I'm often running yet I've no legs. You need me but I don't need you. What am I?" (The answer is water!). To help the player solve each riddle they'll be able to type in an answer and suggest it to see whether it's right or wrong. If it's wrong the player just has to keep trying until they succeed! Other key features include the specific storyline, the background music, it's an adventure based platform game and the challenge aspect of the game.

There'll also be some background music possibly inquisitive/curious sounding music throughout the game. As for the setting the game will be centered in the little town on the island so the background will likely contain houses, street lamps and some greenery. There will also be a large forest on the edge of the town.

I think this game will stand out with it's deep background story and unusual gameplay. This game gives off an inviting and curiosity driven vibe which I think will attract players and encourage them to take a look at it and hopefully give it a go!

Some links to sources
Kotaku
Packt

Game Concept
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Game Idea Research

The game idea I chose to research is my first game idea which is a problem solving adventure game. The game play for this game would be to have the first person character go on a journey to solve the disappearance of another character. On his journey the character has to solve riddles and puzzles to progress through the game. The character also has the ability to roam freely around the game and find clues to solve the riddles.

Game mechanic 1 - Undirected exploration is one of the game mechanics in this game. The first person character has the opportunity to walk around and explore the town setting, interact with the local characters in the town and discover more clues in order to solve the riddles and progress through the game to solve the final mystery.
Link to article here. 

Game mechanic 2 - Riddle repeats until the character can solve it/difficulty increase. As the character tries to solve each riddle the level of difficulty goes up. If the character is unable to solve the riddle the first time they can continue to try until they succeed. Once the riddle is solved the difficulty level of the next riddle will increase slightly and continue with each of the following riddles as the character goes up a level.
Link to article here. 

Game mechanic 3 - Time. Some of the bonus riddles may have a limited amount of time on them. If a bonus riddle is solved the character gains another instant clue. If the character doesn't solve the riddle in time then the opportunity of the bonus riddle is no longer available for that level. Another bonus riddle will appear on each level despite this.
Link to article here.

I think these game mechanics are suitable for my game as my goal is to create a sense of mystery within the game. This will be portrayed through the riddles and puzzles. These game mechanics also give a good idea of what I hope my game will be like to play.

Detective game.
Image here. 

Game brainstorm

Game idea 1 - My first game idea is to create an adventure game. An adventure game is a type of video game that involves problem-solving, exploration and puzzle aspects. It's a single player interactive story in which the player takes the role of the protagonist. It usually follows a story line and includes a narrative voice over.
I'm interested in creating this type of game as I've previously played many games in this genre as a kid. I think these games are very fun and addictive to play. They usually aim towards a target audience of 7 - 14 year olds due to the level of problem solving and puzzle aspects the player would need to have basic problem solving abilities and a basic understanding of game controls.
I'd tackle this by firstly researching some adventure games for inspiration. From there I'd plan out my visual ideas, characters and game play.
My idea for an adventure game would be to have the main character go on a quest possibly to save another character that's gone missing but to do so he has to solve riddles, puzzles and tasks.
  Link to article here.

Game idea 2 - For my second game idea I thought I could do an action game. I've previous experience in playing action games and would be interested in creating one myself. An action game involves a lot of running, jumping and shooting/punching etc depending on the game play. Most action games have an option of one player/2 players and usually provide the player with a series of weapons such as guns, knives and arrows. They focus on the players ability to attack, reflexes and hand-eye coordination. The player must also possess good reaction time in order to achieve the game objectives.
I'd be interested in creating an action game as I think they're one of the most popular types of games and have a larger target audience.
My action based idea would involve a war scene where the player has to get through while battling an enemy force. Power ups and extra lives would also be included to help the player live.
 Link to article here.

Game idea 3 - My third game idea is to create a survival game. A survival game is a sub-genre of an action game. The aim of the game is for the player to stay alive throughout the night or mission with a limited amount of resources/strategies. The player is usually the protagonist and has to survive against the antagonist(s) in order to complete the game level.
I'm not a fan of survival games myself however I admire the idea of the game as I think it's a very interactive type of game that puts the player to the test as they try to complete the game.
My survival game idea would be a zombie based game. The main character would be a human trying to survive the night against the zombies by using tactics and weapons of choice. If they survive the night they get a level up.
Link to article here.

Game idea 4 - My fourth and final game idea is to create a first person shooter game. I've done a lot on research on this genre and from that research I discovered that this is a very popular genre with a lot of aspects to it. A first person shooter game is exactly as it states, it's played from the point of view of the player as they shoot the antagonists/enemies or objects. These games are also a sub-genre of action games as the player is involved in a lot of attacking, running and jumping. The control movements allow the player to move left, right, backwards and forwards as they move around the enemies.
I'm interested in this game genre as I've played a first person shooter before and found it to be really engaging and interactive. It's a genre that grabs the players attention from the very beginning to the end. It can also be addictive as the genre contains a lot of objectives and missions for the player to complete to achieve new weapons/power-ups.
My first person shooter game idea would be to have the player as a sniper character in an apocalyptic scene, the antagonists would be a zombie invasion. The objective of the game would be to survive all the zombies and finally reach a safe zone where the game ends.
Link to article here. 
I'd like to learn how to create a successful game of my own based on one of these genres. At the moment I'm leading more towards my first game idea.

Adventure game.
Image here.