We were well ahead of schedule and managed to get everything printed, bound and burnt on to disc on time for the lesson where we would present our progress to the rest of the class. I was happy with how the GDD turned out, I missed out on my target of 25 pages and only managed to get 24 done. However, I wasn't too worried about it, I feel that it contained everything that was required so should meet the standards needed to get a good grade.
We also handed in the TDD and the Art Bible. Harry had managed to get it all done and after some alterations from Simon we felt it was as good as we were going to get it. Due to it not being ready for the personal deadline we had set ourselves to review everything, we didn't have enough time to make it any better. Simon had the TDD well under control so no worries there.
The presentation went well, we let a member of one of the other groups play our demo and we talked them through the differences from the first prototype. It was in 2D Toolkit this time rather than the 3D version using the regular Unity package so it looked a lot different. Not to mention the tiles and backgrounds we had created for this deadline. Artistically it is fairly close to the final version of the game and this was noted by a number of our peers in the group crit session afterwards. I then talked the group through the design changes since the last milestone. The main focus was on the narrative of the game and we talked about our narrator and the way we'd be using a rhyming narration style along side still image/story board style cut scenes. Phil (as he will play the narrator) gave the group a preview by reading out an extract. In terms of gameplay there hadn't been many changes, the main change in this aspect was the new collectible/ game progression system we have implemented. The player will have to accrue a certain amount of collectibles from a certain number of levels to unlock the next set of levels. We wanted to avoid the whole 'complete a level, unlock a level' style of progression.
We spoke about the evolution of our art assets and about the future of our project as we hit the start of production. Feedback was generally positive and we answered plenty of questions. Our tutor's remarks were also positive and he said that we had given ourselves a good platform to build upon for the rest of the project. I was pleased with this because this is something that we had spoken about and something we had aimed for.
I learned a lot during this milestone and put in a lot of effort to make sure my contributions to the game were good enough. We've learned a lot about ourselves as a team too which has been massively important and could be detrimental if we want our game to be a success.
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Tuesday, 7 May 2013
Review, Re-do
Once we had ironed out the issues we were having as a team, the work just sort of fell into place. Me and James spent some time at Futureworks just working through what needed to be done with the GDD and most importantly talking story. It went well, James wrote up his pages, I read through them, edited them and added them to the document. It was easy going as James was in the mood to get things done. Since the whole background drama, James had come into his own and was fully focused until his work was complete. This was great, I got the whole GDD pretty much finished on the day of our personal deadline. I was just waiting for a little bit of work from Phil and I had to finish writing up the story but we still had plenty of time until the official hand-in. We had a meeting on the day of our personal deadline to review all of the work, even our sound designer Darren (who isn't on our course) attended. The only person that didn't show up was Harry and he was the only person who's work we were yet to see.
It's safe to say that the first thing everyone wanted to do was to play the game. Simon brought a new build with him, where he had added the backgrounds and the tiles so it was as 'arted up' as could be at this point. I was the first to play through and I was blown away at how good it all looked in-game. I was extremely proud of the team because even though we don't have much artistic ability between us, it actually looked really well presented.
Next, we sat down and discussed any changes we had to make to any of the documents or anything else that needed doing. There wasn't too much that needed changing but there were a few small things. There wasn't anything in particular that I needed to do, just to finish the GDD.
After a few high five moments and some bro hugs, we went to the closest bar and had a quick pint to celebrate the progress we had made over the last couple of months. Simon and Phil did a great job getting all of the game into 2D toolkit and doing some art assets. me and James did a good job with the art assets that we had to do, especially James with his beautiful backgrounds. We were proud of the game and proud to be part of Lab Rat Games.
My next post will be the last for this milestone and will be all about deadline day and the presentation.
It's safe to say that the first thing everyone wanted to do was to play the game. Simon brought a new build with him, where he had added the backgrounds and the tiles so it was as 'arted up' as could be at this point. I was the first to play through and I was blown away at how good it all looked in-game. I was extremely proud of the team because even though we don't have much artistic ability between us, it actually looked really well presented.
Next, we sat down and discussed any changes we had to make to any of the documents or anything else that needed doing. There wasn't too much that needed changing but there were a few small things. There wasn't anything in particular that I needed to do, just to finish the GDD.
After a few high five moments and some bro hugs, we went to the closest bar and had a quick pint to celebrate the progress we had made over the last couple of months. Simon and Phil did a great job getting all of the game into 2D toolkit and doing some art assets. me and James did a good job with the art assets that we had to do, especially James with his beautiful backgrounds. We were proud of the game and proud to be part of Lab Rat Games.
My next post will be the last for this milestone and will be all about deadline day and the presentation.
Thursday, 2 May 2013
The Lab Rat Jigsaw
It was a weird time to be a member of Lab Rat Games. We had but a few days until our personal deadline and everyone was getting irritable. However, when I stopped to think and remembered that the real deadline was over a week away, we were actually well ahead of schedule. This didn't stop people from bickering however. Harry was nowhere to be seen and hadn't uploaded any of the animations he had been working on for the best part of two months. He also wasn't answering any of us on the Facebook page when we were asking for a progress report. This was just the first sign of the problems we were about to have. James had started his work late and was really feeling the pressure of completing the game backgrounds on time and to a high standard. After all, the backgrounds required a lot of technical skill to make look as good as he got them to in the end, and he has no intentions of becoming an artist. I don't want to go into too much detail here out of respect for my team, but words were exchanged between members of the group, including myself. It was heated and certain people's frustrations were clear to see. It is safe to say that our team is like a jigsaw with some important pieces missing and we have had to fill the gaps with pieces that don't quite fit. Although they have done the job so far, they don't particularly feel comfortable there. We all felt like this in one way or another.
It felt bizarre to me that even though we were ahead of schedule and pretty much ready to start reviewing our work that we had such a substantial break down in communication. After many discussions on how to tackle the backgrounds and just generally chilling the hell out, James got the backgrounds for the game finished. They were also above any sort of standard we were expecting. In just a few days he really mastered Photoshop and we have these backgrounds to show for it.
The mechanical Dimension
The Void
The Doodle/Sketch Dimension
The Biscuit/Candy Dimension
These were great and this left James with just some pages to do for the GDD. Remember, that I took full responsibility for the GDD, so if James didn't do the pages then It'd be me that took the blame. I knew he'd get them done though so I wasn't worried, even if my balls were on the line.
In terms of the issues we were having with Harry, at this point they were still unresolved. However, our tutor Ben told us that animations weren't that important for this deadline and that we should really get started on the Art Bible. This is all well and good but we wanted to see what Harry had to show for the time we had been nagging him about the animations. It became clear that Harry was struggling with them and wasn't finished so we told him to get started with the Art Bible. At least from this point onward he started communicating with the team again. I appreciated the work Harry did for the Art Bible, he got it all finished and we were able to hand it in.
This was a crucial time in development for Lab Rat Games. We had really been tested as a team and really pushed to the point where we were at each other's throats. We were over the worst of it now though and things were well on track for the next deadline. I think the team now have a better idea of where they fit into the Lab Rat jigsaw and how important it is that we play to our strengths.
It felt bizarre to me that even though we were ahead of schedule and pretty much ready to start reviewing our work that we had such a substantial break down in communication. After many discussions on how to tackle the backgrounds and just generally chilling the hell out, James got the backgrounds for the game finished. They were also above any sort of standard we were expecting. In just a few days he really mastered Photoshop and we have these backgrounds to show for it.
The mechanical Dimension
The Void
The Doodle/Sketch Dimension
The Biscuit/Candy Dimension
These were great and this left James with just some pages to do for the GDD. Remember, that I took full responsibility for the GDD, so if James didn't do the pages then It'd be me that took the blame. I knew he'd get them done though so I wasn't worried, even if my balls were on the line.
In terms of the issues we were having with Harry, at this point they were still unresolved. However, our tutor Ben told us that animations weren't that important for this deadline and that we should really get started on the Art Bible. This is all well and good but we wanted to see what Harry had to show for the time we had been nagging him about the animations. It became clear that Harry was struggling with them and wasn't finished so we told him to get started with the Art Bible. At least from this point onward he started communicating with the team again. I appreciated the work Harry did for the Art Bible, he got it all finished and we were able to hand it in.
This was a crucial time in development for Lab Rat Games. We had really been tested as a team and really pushed to the point where we were at each other's throats. We were over the worst of it now though and things were well on track for the next deadline. I think the team now have a better idea of where they fit into the Lab Rat jigsaw and how important it is that we play to our strengths.
Wednesday, 1 May 2013
Rhyming Design
Whilst creating the Game Design Document there were certain design choices that had to be made. The game play aspects of the game were set and we weren't planning on changing them very much. Due to the GDD being more detailed and containing everything needed for development of the game; we had to finalise story, in-game menus and music and audio. This was good because it got us thinking more about the actual development of the game and we could start working towards that now. This mind set helped us to put ourselves in a good position at the end of this milestone and give us something solid to build upon.
So, one of the first things we started thinking about was the narrative of the game. The game's story takes a back seat to the game-play but it is still important to give the player a goal to work towards. I wanted the story to compliment the game in a way that it enhanced the enjoyment of the player but didn't steal focus from the game-play. The first question we asked ourselves is, how can we deliver the narrative to the player? We had already decided that most of the dialogue between characters would be delivered as on-screen text, accompanied by recorded chatter for each character so the player knows who's talking. This was fine and we agreed that this was the most economical way of doing things so that we didn't have tonnes of voice recording to do. We also decided to use still frame cut scenes rather than animated ones due to our lack of artistic talent. However, it was Phil that made the breakthrough when he suggested that we have a narrator who tells the story by using rhymes like a children's book. This fitted the themes and feel of the game perfectly but we knew that we needed to make the story more suitable for an older audience. This is when we decided to add a darker and more mature twist to the plot. Here is Phil's opening cut scene that he wrote to show me his idea. I made a couple of changes for the GDD but his original idea is mostly untouched and will be used for the final game.
Not too long ago, in a bedroom filled with joy,
There unfolds a story, of Edward and his favourite toy.
T’was his bunny named Hop, whom he’d swing and he’d spoon,
He brought jealousy to the other toys that lived in Ed’s room.
Especially wizard Walden, who devised a cunning ploy,
To get rid of little Hop, so that he’d be the favourite toy.
He cast an evil spell, meant to banish Hop forever,
Walden thought to himself, “Hahaha, I’m so clever!”
But when Ed came to notice, that his little Hop wasn’t there,
His other toys were no comfort, he really didn’t care.
So Ed searched and he searched, for days and then weeks,
All the while Walden’s rage, was about to reach its peak.
Meanwhile little Hop fell a very, very long way,
He felt he’d been falling, for an entire day!
Then he crashed into the void, where no-one laughs nor sings.
Hop now finds himself, in the realm of all lost things.
He awoke from his slumber all broken and sore
and frantically scooped his insides up from the floor
As he rises from the ground, without a whimper or a cry,
Hop then speaks his first words: “Where the bloody Hell am I?!”
That's all for now, I'll cover more design choices and wrapping up the GDD in the next post.
So, one of the first things we started thinking about was the narrative of the game. The game's story takes a back seat to the game-play but it is still important to give the player a goal to work towards. I wanted the story to compliment the game in a way that it enhanced the enjoyment of the player but didn't steal focus from the game-play. The first question we asked ourselves is, how can we deliver the narrative to the player? We had already decided that most of the dialogue between characters would be delivered as on-screen text, accompanied by recorded chatter for each character so the player knows who's talking. This was fine and we agreed that this was the most economical way of doing things so that we didn't have tonnes of voice recording to do. We also decided to use still frame cut scenes rather than animated ones due to our lack of artistic talent. However, it was Phil that made the breakthrough when he suggested that we have a narrator who tells the story by using rhymes like a children's book. This fitted the themes and feel of the game perfectly but we knew that we needed to make the story more suitable for an older audience. This is when we decided to add a darker and more mature twist to the plot. Here is Phil's opening cut scene that he wrote to show me his idea. I made a couple of changes for the GDD but his original idea is mostly untouched and will be used for the final game.
Not too long ago, in a bedroom filled with joy,
There unfolds a story, of Edward and his favourite toy.
T’was his bunny named Hop, whom he’d swing and he’d spoon,
He brought jealousy to the other toys that lived in Ed’s room.
Especially wizard Walden, who devised a cunning ploy,
To get rid of little Hop, so that he’d be the favourite toy.
He cast an evil spell, meant to banish Hop forever,
Walden thought to himself, “Hahaha, I’m so clever!”
But when Ed came to notice, that his little Hop wasn’t there,
His other toys were no comfort, he really didn’t care.
So Ed searched and he searched, for days and then weeks,
All the while Walden’s rage, was about to reach its peak.
Meanwhile little Hop fell a very, very long way,
He felt he’d been falling, for an entire day!
Then he crashed into the void, where no-one laughs nor sings.
Hop now finds himself, in the realm of all lost things.
He awoke from his slumber all broken and sore
and frantically scooped his insides up from the floor
As he rises from the ground, without a whimper or a cry,
Hop then speaks his first words: “Where the bloody Hell am I?!”
That's all for now, I'll cover more design choices and wrapping up the GDD in the next post.
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