Day Seven - Making Checkers Dramatic

Today, we were given the task of making checkers dramatic. In our group were myself, Andrew, and Joe. We did the following:

Backstory

The game of checkers is an epic battle between two warring alien clans, the Crimson Hatchets and the Blackened Souls. Each clan believes the other stole a very vital artifact from their home world, fueling the war. There is a bittersweet love between a member of the Crimson Hatchets and a member of the Blackened Souls. In the end, only one clan will have supremacy.

Special areas on the board

• The center 2 lines of the board are an asteroid field, as well as all the squares not in use.

• The “king me” lines are each clan's homeworld.

Names of pieces

• Romiette is on the Crimson Hatchets side, and Julio is on the Blackened Souls side. These are the characters involved in the bittersweet love.

• King Tesotgzlatx from the Crimson Hatchets and Overlord Ryzyzigy from the Blackened Souls.

• The remaining pieces are the military forces of each clan.

The other groups came up with ideas of world domination, clan wars, and Heaven vs Hell.

Response to prototype response

In order for the power-up to work we would have to tell the player at the start that they, for example, can only walk. Once they collect the hidden run power-up item they may move faster. For the hidden area, maybe a "key" item can be found that unlocks the hidden area. This area can just be a section in which we tell the player they cannot look in unless they unlock it. Any items collected in this area will be a bonus since these items will not be included into the "total items" but will increase the "collected items". Collecting these extra items can throw a positive multiplier into the formula (ex: 20 /15 = 1.5 ) boosting points even more.

Expansion of prototype

To expand on the prototype idea that Andrew posted, another way for the player to get points would be by finding power-ups and going through a different route.

Say we take a stack of CDs and make that a power-up that lets you walk faster than usual, even run. The power-up would be worth 100 points in addition to that. The player would then have to make it through a closing door to get to another area where we would hide more items.

For getting the power-up and going through the door, they would find more items and also another ending. This ending may give bonus points for getting to it. The bonus points would offset the extra time taken.

A new prototype

We need to improve on our prototype so that it conveys the concept of the game better.

This is my idea thus far:

Whoever is playing must hide their eyes or step out of the room while someone else hides various items around the area. The items can be just about anything, but there should be some groups of items that are the same. For example a few poker chips, a few pencils, a few golf balls, or anything else of the sort. The items will have an assigned value. In this case poker chips will be worth 25, pencils will be worth 50, and golf balls will be worth 100. After the items have been well hidden the player will be asked to look for them as quickly as possible. The player will be timed as they look for the items. The player will not know how many items are hidden. They will be informed of the point values that are available, but not what the item is that happens to be assigned to that value. The player will decide when they would like to turn in their items and receive their score.

The scoring will work like this:
(non whole numbers will be rounded)

((Point values for items collected * (items collected / total items)) + (time bonus)

The time bonus will work like this:

(total items * 30) - (time taken in seconds)

Here is an example final score:

3 poker chips collected
5 pencils collected
2 golf balls collected

thats 10 out of a total of 15 (5 of each type of item)

thats 425 points for collected items
and that equates to 281 points after the items missed penalty.

and it took 300 seconds.

Lets calculate...

time bonus: (15*30) - (300) = 150

Final: ((425*(10/15)) + 150 = 431

Thats all for now.

Theme idea

We have come up with a possible theme for our game:

An explorer travels back in time to retrieve precious artifacts from an ancient advanced civilization that may help the future prosper. He / she explores a vast network of structures riddled with treasures along with the aid of their time traveling machine and a collection of useful relics that have been found along the way. The explorer is not alone, though. A handful of other explorers are after treasure as well, but their intentions are not good. The explorer needs to collect the treasure as quickly as he/she can in order to keep it out of the hands of evildoers. You will be rewarded by your superiors for a job well done.

This is just a brief idea for a possible theme, but we feel this is at least a good start.

Expanded Formal Elements

Here is our game's formal elements, expanded with what we have worked on during the week:

Players

• Single player.

• No multiplayer, but has high score list.

Objectives

• Beat the game as quickly as possible.

• Get as much money as possible.

Procedures

• Collecting items of various monetary value.

• Navigating the maze.

• Items gained in a new game that were gained in a previous game will be worth less.

• Some items give immediate money while others must be sold or will be cashed in at the end of the game.

• Money that is collected won't respawn in a new game but items will.

• Player has no map until they buy one.

Rules

• Race against the clock.

• If the player quits before hitting a save point, their time is saved but they start at their last save point.

• Enemies do no damage, and the player cannot die.

• Pausing the game will stop the timer.

Resources (in this case, mostly powerups)

• Money

• Higher Jump

• Wall Jump

• Destroy Walls

• Destroy Enemies

• Swimsuit

• Speedy Shoes

• Super Speedy Shoes

• Grappling Hook

• Random non-powerup items

Conflict

• Enemies can't hurt the player, but could affect the player.

• Certain areas are blocked without having collected a certain item/powerup.

• Certain save points may be easy or hard to get to.

Boundaries

• The player cannot go past most walls (except certain walls destroyable by the Destroy Walls powerup).

• The maze is entirely enclosing with no gaps.

Outcome

• Player gets a score at the end.

Day Four - Research

We needed to research other games already made that may have been similar to our idea. Here's what we came up with:

http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA457215

The above article talks about a concept related to a real-time game that rewards players who beat the game in a certain time. Although it talks about two players with one getting positive points and the other getting negative points, it is conceptually similar to our idea due to the goal for beating the game in a certain time.

http://cbgames.net/platformmaze.php

The above game is somewhat similar to our idea, although our idea involves platfomers similar to Mario and not a bunch of platforms floating around. Also, our idea involves a maze of different screens while this game is a maze of numbered platforms. However, this game is a casual game and can be stopped at any time as well as be played in a short amount of time. Also, unlike our game, you must beat it in a certain amount of time, while ours will not constrain the player to a certain time frame.

http://golden-clock-s-space-speeder.action-games.games1234.net/playgame.aspx

While not the same kind of game we are coming up with, it is a race against the clock. You are given a set amount of time and must get as far as possible before the timer runs out. It is still fun to play and can be considered a casual game. Conceptually, it is similar to our game in that you get more based on the amount of time you spend getting to the end. Different from our game is that you get more for going farther in the set time, where our game doesn't constrain you on a timer but gives you a reward based on the time taken.

Day Four - Possible Unused Game Mechanics

Our instructor, Kim, showed us a website with 20 unused game mechanics:

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2007/11/opinion_20_underused_game_mech.php

Looking at the list, there was one that stood out as one we could possibly use in our own game: Annotating Maps. At first, the player won't have a map, but can buy one. We figure that once the player buys a map, they can annotate it with their own notes as to what they may have found out about it. It would be a good way for the player to keep track of areas they have found or things they may suspect is there if they are going around.

Day Three - More game brainstorming

Andrew and I took our ideas from last week and narrowed down what we were planning to do for our game concept. Based on the genres we listed, we decided to come up with some sort of maze platformer game. At first, the idea didn't sound that great, because it's an odd mixture. We also came up with an idea where the player gets money on completing the game and they use that money to replay the game with more stuff. That also sounded like a weak idea at first, but we worked on it. At the end of class, we had the following:

Objectives

Beat the game as quickly as possible to get more money to replay the game with more stuff which helps you play the game faster.

Procedures

• Collecting items of various monetary value.

• Avoid obstacles.

• Navigating the maze.

Rules

• Race against the clock.

• Each item gives a certain amount of money at the end of the game.

• Items gained in a new game that were gained in a previous game will be worth less.

• Certain areas are blocked without having collected a certain item/powerup.

• Player has no health and enemies are just nuisances.

• Some items give immediate money while others must be sold or will be cashed in at the end of the game.

• Money won't respawn in a new game but items will.

• Player has no map until they buy one.

• (unwritten rule) Sequence breaking (if a player can reach an area that requires a powerup without having that powerup, they broke the sequence, and the player gets a bonus for that).

We talked this over with our instructor, Kim, and she said it sounded more like a casual game than an adventure game. She wanted us to do more research into casual games and that we should lower the number of rules and maybe move some of the rules as procedures.

Day Three - Squidi

Today, Andrew and I went to http://www.squidi.net/three/entry.php?id=28 and reviewed the game mechanics talked about in the article. Our thoughts:

The basic premise of the mechanic is a Sim-MMORPG, where the player will take the role of a game designer that is creating an MMORPG and running the company that will keep the MMORPG going. The objective of the game is create a successful MMORPG. This is done by creating the world, setting the requirements of the area, and hiring the employees to run the MMORPG. In a way, the entire game is a paradox, where you are creating a game within a game, and possibly creating another game within that game. The only thing that sets this game mechanic from the mechanics of most other simulation games is that it is a bit confusing. As a simulation, it is a solid idea for a game. The main idea includes even the creation of "attractions" (or what would be dungeons/events in most other MMORPGs) and towns complete with NPCs. Whether a game made using this mechanic would be successful or not is questionable.

Day Two - Brainstorming

This is the list brainstorming that Andrew and I did for coming up with ideas for our game.

Genres

• Beat 'em up

• Maze

• Platformer

• Text adventure

• Graphical adventure

• God game

• RPG

• Puzzle

• Educational

Environments

• School(yard)

• House

• Park

• Basement

• City

• Mindscape

• Virtual reality

• Forest

• Caribbean

• Mansion

• Castle

• Japan

Main Characters

• School girl

• Child

• School bully

• Writer

• Teacher

• Random artist dude

• Random artist chick

• Magical girl

• Squire

• Samurai (pen is mightier than the sword)

Support Characters

• Police officer

• Old lady

• Teacher

• Principle

• School dean

• Janitor

• Lunch lady

• Conscious

• Talking bear (not Yogi or Smokey)

• Pirate

• Rich people

• Butler

• Hunchback (not of Notre Dame nor is his name Igor)

• Knight

• King and/or Queen

• Magical sushi

This is a brainstorm web for the game idea naram and I are working on.

Day 2 - Another Blue Sky

The following is a list of ideas me and joe came up with for the mechanic "balance".

Climbing game:

• Goal is to get to the top of whatever you are climbing. Don't lose your blance when confronted with obsticles. Evasive manuvers needed to avoid falling objects and tom cruise.

Circus game:

• Transport items across a tightrope. The player interacts with the balancing act. Don't drop that elephant, sally.

Racing game:

• Crazy flying rockets that characters stand on. Wild courses. Player has to keep the character on the rocket while also steering. Steering is less responsive when losing balance. One control for balancing, another for controlling the rocket. Too slow or too fast in some situations causes a loss of balance.

Management game:

• Keep different groups of people happy. Maybe one group likes triangles and the other likes squares and you have to find a shape they both like. (not a literal example)

Chemestry game:

• Pattern game that creates substances. The player needs the correct balance of substances to make a product. Different substances mix together to make new things. Substances are lower quality if mistakes are made in the pattern game. The substances when mixed together can have unexpected outcomes based on the quality of each. The final products can be used for something. It is possible to implement this into another idea. This would work for the management game. The different final products might appeal to different people, etc.

Day Two - Blue Sky Activities

Today we had quite a few Blue Sky activities. For the first one, as soon as I walked into class, I was given a rice cake, which to me seemed more like a Styrofoam coaster than food. The assignment was called "Not for Breakfast" and we had to come up with game ideas, mine are as follows:

• How many rice cakes can you eat in 30 seconds?

• Make a rice cake!

• Stack the rice cakes without knocking over the stack.

• Throw stale rice cakes at the enemy.

• Roll the rice cakes to the goal.

• Make a car out of rice cakes.

For the next blue sky activity, I got together with Marshall, Andrew, and Joe with the task of trying to find a way to reduce homelessness if we were one of three people. We chose Barbara Walters and came up with the following:

• Everyone she interviews, she would ask for a donation.

• She knows how to talk with a group of woman about current events.

• She'll ask for donations on her talk show.

• She will interview homeless people about their way of life.

• Get the homeless problem lots of television time.

• She will sway the populous to help the homeless.

• She will become a professional wrestler (not sure what this has to do with the homeless).

• She will create a television special for the homeless.

• As a professional wrestler, she will hire all the professional wrestlers to promote helping the homeless.

• She will wrestle “homelessness”.

• She will make a telethon for the homeless.

The final Blue Sky activity was done with Chaz, and was to take a single topic and come up with a game idea from that topic. We chose the topic of Gravity and came up with the following:

You will pick an object and a height. The object will drop from that height. There will be obstacles in the way, and the player will have to avoid them. The goal is to try to avoid the obstacles so the object can reach terminal velocity. At the end, a parachute will come out of the object, regardless of the object. The lower the terminal velocity of the object, the more obstacles there will be. There will be an item that randomly spawns that will speed up the object's velocity so it reaches terminal velocity sooner. There will also be an item that randomly spawns that will allow the player to collide with an obstacle without losing, but you will lose speed and the game will take longer. After the object reaches terminal velocity and the parachute appears, the player must guide the object to a certain spot. A variety of different gravities can be chosen. The player will have the option to make their own objects. Aerodynamics will have to be taken into account in order to determine the terminal velocity of the object.

Afterwards, I got together with Andrew to come up with ideas for the game we will present. I will post the details of that in the next post.

Day One - Blue Sky

The following is one of the assignments that Andrew and myself did together. We were told to do something called "Blue Sky", which involved taking a topic and coming up with any random ideas that come to mind from those topics. Here is what we came up with, along with the topics:

The smell of spring & a chewed-on pencil

• End of the school year

• Springtime testing

• Annoying teacher

• April showers

• May flowers

• Pilgrims

• Thanksgiving

• Turkey

• Stuffing

• Hunger

• Lead poisoning

• Headaches

• Trees blooming

• Teeth

• British people

• Austin Powers

• Shrek 2

• Donkey

• Donkeylips

• Nickelodean

• Terrible people playing Nick Arcade

• Mike O'Malley

• Agrocrag

• Athletics

• Pointless obstacle courses

• Legends of the Hidden Temple

• Shrine of the Silver Monkey

• Pendant of Life

• New TV shows

• Warmer weather

• Michigan's crazy weather

• Potholes not fixed

• Construction

• Destruction

• Power transformer explosions

• Horseback riding

• Hey Dude

• Eraser marks

• Main reason pencils are sold instead of borrowed

• Disgusting habit

• Tastes like yellow paint

• #2

Someone's red leather journal & a crooked umbrella

• Rainstorm

• Windy rainstorm

• Hitting people with umbrella

• Blogging about the rainstorm

• Doug

• Clarrisa Explains it All

• Stolen journal

• Angry journal
  

• Apples

• Apples don't become leather over time

• Michael Jackson wears red leather

Removed a crooked umbrella, got the smell of fresh mint

• Coins

• Listerine

• Scope

• Mouthwash in general

• Candies at restaurants

• A garden of mint in spring

• Smell of spring = smell of mint

• Red leather journal buried in the garden with the chewed-on pencil in the journal

• Journal contains blue sky of all of the above

• Puzzle game with items to collect in journal, the pencil in the journal

• Treasure map in the journal

• Collect journal pages

• Game which causes the journal to fill up

Day one - My three strengths

Since we will eventually be working in groups larger than two we were asked to go over some of our strengths. I am most confortable working with 2d artwork such as concepts, textures, and other various 2d graphics. I also find level design to be one of my strengths and would not be opposed to working with any type of toolset. I can also compose music to an extent and can provide background tracks.

Day One - My 3 strengths

I'll admit, this is my first time blogging, ever. We were told that we needed to decide what our 3 strengths were are far as game design goes. The following are what I consider my 3 strengths:

1. Programming
2. Animation
3. Idea brainstorming

I would consider Programming (both real programming and scripting) to be my strongest point. Animation and idea brainstorming are really only secondary skills that are not as strong.