Ideation
This game was based on the theme "One" I did as a learning exercise. I played on this theme by naming it "One Too Many".
This game is different from my other games because of the older european town style and this was also my first time adding a map that the player could use as well as an objectives menu that could be toggled. Below are some snippits of code and documentation of my ideation process.
Emotions
This game is supposed to be a bit more lighthearted. The storyline is humorous and the player is supposed to explore, tend to the objectives, and enjoy the dialogue from the other characters.
Environmental Design
I wanted to create a decently large map that took place in an older, possibly european town, with gentle snowfall. For lighting, I wanted the street lights to be the main source of illumination and the sky light to be pretty low. I was envisioning the time to be around 5am, when the sun is just starting to come up, but the townspeople have yet to start their day.
Timeline
The timeline for this game was one week
For each of my one week prototypes, the timeline typically includes ideation, greyboxing, environmental design, and delivery. However, since the timeline is so short, the number of days I work and the day each phase is assigned to varies.
9/29: Ideation, Designing map and story
9/30: Environmental design, Programming, Scene changes
10/1: Environmental design, Writing dialogue and inserting into gameplay
10/2: Audio, Lighting, Polishing
10/3: Game deadline
Goals
The primary goal of this game is to find your keys, so you can go home and sleep off your hangover. You have to go to different locations around town to find clues as to where your keys are.
The secondary goals are to deliver flowers to a bartender you pissed off, pick up a hangover cure, and find your wallet. All of these goals are optional, but great for the completionist.
Map
This was the first game I'd ever made where I added a map that was accessible to the player as a tool they could use during gameplay. I was careful to add some kind of important location or point of interest to every corner of the map, so there were no empty areas that the player would have to move through unnecessarily.
The points of interest or important buildings also were illuminated and/or had an an npc placed nearby so the player would know that this was an area to pay attention to.
Responsibilities
All assets are not my own
Team size: 1 (solo project)
- Utilizing yarn for dialogue and gameplay
- Designing map layout
- Programming regarding scene/objective list change triggers when items are collected, navigation around scene, and controls for map and objectives
- Environmental design including placing models to match map, collectibles, characters, lighting, and particle systems
- Writing npc and character dialogue in addition to creating primary and secondary objectives
- Adding all audio components in the game
Playtest Notes
We have a playtest day in class where we go around to different groups and let them play what we have at that moment. It was difficult to get a good read on which critiques were due to the gameplay or were a result of the playtesting environment. When we test our games in class, everyone puts their computer on their desk and walks around, playing everyones games.
The main critiques I got were about the controls. The game was difficult to navigate if you started halfway and missed the instruction screen. Those who read this screen were able to navigate through the map and storyline with ease. Because of this, it would be a nice addition to add a button on the top right corner where you can click to the menu, exit, start over, or view the instruction screen again.
The players that did experience the entire game appreciated the map design and found it to be a very useful tool. I was pleased with this comment because I put a lot of thought into an effective layout.
Challenges
The biggest challenge of this game was building the environment. I have never made such a detailed, large scale environment and it took several days to get it where I wanted. Since the ease of navigating through the map was so crucial, I alloted plenty of extra time to ensure it wasn't going to frustrate or hinder the player in any way.