FoF weekly update #8

This week has been extremely busy but also extremely productive for our game

• Peter and I had talks with TA and Magy early in the week about an AI problem we were having (AI animations weren't running and we couldnt duplicate them)
  
• We've now solved that problem, and found a whole new one! We can add in as many AI and different kinds as we want, but they do not seem to want to swim up. For now, we've turned up the water density as a decent temporary solution
• Now that the AI issues are dealt with, I am adding enemies into the game, which makes it more difficult to test because they keep killing me! I think I need to shorten their range.
• A problem I'm running into is that Torque doesn't hold on to the sizing scale that I give the bad guys once you quite. So when you load they are all tiny!
  
• I have written up the 5 page document and collected reflections from each team member to include at the end
• I am currently making a little trailer for our game ... go iMovie!
• We've finally gotten rid of the crossbow!!! We couldn't just delete it b/c it is needed to attack, so we got Kick to make us a cube scaled to zero that we swapped in for the weapon model ... good as new!
• Doing lots of little things to fix up for tomorrow, tweaking the gui, image files, adding in more plants, tweaking player/ai properties, etc

Stay tuned! This next week we will continue to haul ass so our game is ready for the Game Fest! The most important issues (that will hopefully be resolved by tomorrow when we hand in the nearly complete game)

• Have the AI check their z value so they swim up and down (not just x and y plane)
• Have the models swap life stages
  

FoF weekly update #7

This week, on Fins of Fury ...

• I met up with Angie on Tuesday and did sound recording for baby Tad's voice.
• Had a 'reading' session with Peter on Wednesday with the Torque books in the TA section
• We had a few "wish we had known that" moments
  
• Compiled and sent out a 'next priorities' list to the team based on our prototype testing and feedback
• Had work session with Peter on Friday
• I Created a new terrain environment that has building and stuff to explore
• We used a model pack for these buildings (they are Aztek temples and the like)

Our game has made good progress since the digital testing, but still has quite a bit to go! The terrain is now fluffed out and the models and animation are all done, but the fighting still needs some work. I will hopefully be doing casual game testing once the fighting is working so that we can continue to get feedback and to make sure the game is fun.

FoF weekly update #6

This week focused mostly on the digital prototype

• I had a meeting with the team during lab on Wednesday 14
• We worked on the prototype
• I discussed with the TA on some collision issues
• I had a work session with Peter on Friday 16
• We worked on combining files and general prototype goodness
• I worked on the GUI, so that it is more fitting to our game (more fins, less orcs!)
• I worked on getting the terrain setup for testing (lots of stars)
• This takes a lot longer than expected, will need some more work
• I tested 4 people on the digital prototype
• I wrote up and submitted the testing doc
• We learned alot from testing, mainly how much work we have left to do

For this coming up week there is lots to do!

• We need to incorporate the feedback from our testing
• The terrain needs fluffing out (pretty looking at elements, more stars to collect, more enemies to fight)
• Fighting needs to be refined, its pretty rough right now and isnt very fun

Prototype Critiques 4.0

The same framework is used for the following as for the last critiques.
Note: I was not present for these presentations (I had a coop interview during class), so these critiques are based on their powerpoints, and brief discussions I had with people about what they saw during the presentations.

4.1 Aquila

Balance: Looked to be a fairly well balanced player vs player model
Model: Digital prototype played by two players over the internet (player 1 vs player 2)
Art: Simple artwork, nothing over the top, but definitely got the game across.
Mechanics: This is a player vs player internet strategy game.
Originality: Not an overly original idea (but how many are?), but still seems like it would be fun to play.
Translation to paper: Didn't have to deal with this, they had a digital prototype.

Some other notes:

• good feedback from testers on good and bad (need to improve navigation)
  
• some bugs turned out to be useful, so they don't have to take them out!
  

4.2 The Legend of Chopstick Chung

Balance: Looks fun, but will need some more balancing (difficulty, hit boxes, etc)
Model: Digital prototype of one of the mini games; the players goal is to grab flies with chopsticks.
Art: Decent looking artwork. I'm guessing they will be using it in the final game as well.
Mechanics: Simple, fun mechanic. In first person view, you use a pair of chopsticks to catch flies.
Originality: Looks really fun. I like the idea of mini games, especially ones you can play with friends.
Translation to paper: Didn't have to, they jumped right into digital prototype.

Some other notes:

• lots of feedback on how to improve
  

4.3 Deep Field

Balance: Looked to be fairly well balanced; will be interesting to see a physical prototype changed into a digital one.
Model: Simplified and removed the original story to avoid complication and confusion. Used props to test out the mechanic.
Art: Simple, clear, hand drawn artwork.
Mechanics: You are being punched by game AI. Try to escape, and take out the games gates to stop the attacks.
Originality: Nothing overly original. They player is trying to escape from the game AI which is punching them.
Translation to paper: Used props and such instead of a paper prototype because it was more feasible to test their mechanic.

Some other notes:

• refined game concepts as they tested
  
• the team played the part of game AI
• clear feedback to incorporate into production
  

4.4 Dynasty

Balance: Looked well balanced, but likely to need alot of tweaking when they introduce elements that were not in the prototype.
Model: Paper prototype, but also use a computer to enter URL's that are received as clues.
Art: Hand drawn artwork good for testing.
Mechanics: It is an RPG. They tested people that were familiar with this genre. Players got to collect clues, complete puzzles, fight monsters, and run into dead ends.
Originality: It is an educational game (I believe the only one is this class?) which is a less used genre. RPG is more common, and this is the style of their game.
Translation to paper: Translated well to paper-ish prototype.

Some other notes:

• very well documented testing (took a peak at testing report)
  
• lots of feedback on how to proceed
  

FoF weekly update #5

• The entire team met during the lab on Tuesday, Nov 6 and we worked on the game together. We were discussing sound and trying to get animations to import.
  
• I had a work session with Peter and Kick on Thursday, Nov 8 in the open lab. We worked on the game for several hours.
• Animations are now importing properly (thanks to Peter and Kick)
  
• I created a Game Design Document at http://www.sfu.ca/~kduda/FoFgdd.pdf to make sure that everyone is on the same page with the game. There are a couple sections that need to be filled in, but it is done for the most part (though I'm sure it will change :P ).
  
• I got score keeping to work in the FPS (we were having problems with it during the week). Now we can keep track of player points and when the level/model should be upgraded.

Goals for this week

• We need to test the digital prototype by the end of this week so that we can hand in the report on Monday.
  
• Proper fighting and upgrading the level/models are the most crucial for the digital prototype.
  

Prototype Critiques 3.0

The same critique template was used as for the previous prototype presentations

3.1 Stick Ninja

Balance: Lots of game play elements (characters, categories, weapons, etc)
Model: Paper prototype with red and white dice for enemy and player odds. Simple layout.
Art: Quick sketches, nothing over the top, which is good for a prototype.
Mechanics: You can only see your own item card, and must make a judgment on whether or not you should fight your enemy.
Originality: Seems like a fairly original game. I like that there are alot of game play elements to keep it interesting.
Translation to paper: Translated well to paper prototype.

Some other notes:

• clear goals for proceeding
• gives player option to change their character and weapons
  

3.2 Zodiac War

Balance: Looked to be fairly balanced, but I don't know how much this will help them since the prototype did not closely mimic their game.
Model: Similar to street fighter.
Art: Simple, elegant artwork. Blue for player, red for enemy.
Mechanics: Turn based. One of the team members simulates game AI.
Originality: Not overly original, as it is similar to arcade style fighting games.
Translation to paper: Had a tough time translating to paper. Ended up with a turn based board game.

Some other notes:

• Players got the hang of the game quickly
• Got good pointers on what to improve for gameplay (attack variation, controls, pace)
  

3.3 Crack Quest

Balance: Ok, but needs a bit of work to keep it challenging.
Model: A digital prototype. I am not sure what engine they are using, but they appear to be modding an iglue game?
Art: Appears to be mostly what came with the game they are modding, with some of their own subbed in.
Mechanics: Run and shoot (needles are a nice touch).
Originality: Not overly original in mechanics, but the idea/story of the game is original.
Translation to paper: They did not have to deal with this since they built a digital prototype.

Some other notes:

• comicy art feel
• got loads of feedback from their testers about how to add to the game.
  

FoF weekly update #4

• This week was a little bit slower for progress because we ran into problems exporting and importing our models into the engine. We think the problem may rest with nurbs ....
• Peter and I worked in the open lab on campus
• I created basic terrain and added some new textures. This will more than likely not be the final terrain layout, but it will work for our prototype so we can see how everything fits together.
  
• I am currently creating a more formalized game design document to make sure everyone is on the same page.
• Our artists have created a few more fabulous models for the game (bad guys)
  

Goals for this week

• Get the kinks out of importing models
• Build a quick and dirty prototype that we can test game play elements with
• Hopefully import some animations
• Get sound further refined

Prototype Critiques 2.0

The same critique template was used as for the previous prototype presentations

2.1 3rd Cloud

Balance: it looks like they learned alot about how to balance out the interactive part of their game from what their testers tried to do.
Model: rpg style game; the prototype is digital using rpgmaker engine.
Art: feel good art style with an angry main character! This is how they described it. The art style at the moment appeared to be what the engine provides; it looks very Zelda SNES.
Mechanics: go up to objects to find out what they are/pick them up (the club). Explore the game environment; fight enemies using objects you collect and equip.
Originality: It seems like a fairly standard genre/style of game; it seems like they will be developing a very original multi linear plot to differentiate it.
Translation to paper: they didn't have to deal with this because they were able to build a digital prototype so quickly. This would good because it helped them see how their players would respond within the actual game; went beyond mimicking the game to an actually scaled down version of the game.

Some other notes:

• questionnaire given to testers to get feedback
  
• 17 yrs. - 23 yrs. old: rpg players, familiar with genre: appropriate for user group; people with different personalities and what they wanted to do within the game
• were told brief synopsis of story
• user explores the room/house and finds objects
• discovered that taking the club was not intuitive
• found out that not enough interaction in the prototype
• had the users fill in what they would expect characters in the game to say
• found out what disappointed testers and fixed it (mostly, they wanted to be able to explore EVERYTHING
• lots of space to explore already in the game (house, outside, shamans hut)
• Good at getting results from the users and taking their feedback into account

2.2 Food Fight

Balance: appeared straight forward; they received a lot of feedback to incorporate on how to balance out their game further
Model: paper prototype very similar to battleship; most people familiar with how to play
Art: nice looking original artwork displaying the different characters
Mechanics: very similar to battle ship; analogous to a cafeteria food fight
Originality: fairly original idea for a game (food fight); not so original mechanic; they learned from testing that they will need to differentiate their game more.
Translation to paper: translated very well; the majority (all but one) of their testers were familiar with the mechanic from playing previous games

Some other notes:

• similar stats among the testers
• tested a lot of people
• most people familiar with their mechanic (battleship)
• mechanics similar to battleship: but analogy to a cafeteria food fight
• lots of results from testing in terms of balance, learning curve, complication level
• changed prototype based on this
• recognized that they need to differentiate their game a little more; make it more interesting

2.3 Drive Thu Tycoon

Balance: it looks like they will need to incorporate some more elements into the game to keep it fun for the player (ie varied prices, appliances)
Model: they made both a paper prototype and a flash prototype (tested with the paper). Same artwork for both, plus monopoly money for pp. The pp allowed for real time gameplay to be more realistic representation.
Art: original color artwork; nicely done.
Mechanics: the artwork was movable to allow for real time play. Players try to sell the most burgers and fries to make the most money.
Originality: original spin on the tycoon style game.
Translation to paper: good. They got a lot of positive feedback from their testers.

Some other notes:

• simulation game: direct staff, manage cost, efficiency
• Testers age 20 - 23 students
• Tester must go through three 3 scenarios, they tested for difficulty and learning curve
• Highly ranked by their testers
• Good and varied feedback on what they should improve (variety, intuitiveness, aesthetics)
• Suggestions to add more features
• Plan to incorporate collect revenue to add appliance and increase efficiency; micromanaging mini rushes

2.4 Circular Strife

Balance: issued demerits to compensate for time constraints; found they need to stress the importance of controls.
Model: demolition workout hired to destroy ruins that you fly and bomb; real time playtesting.
Art: no artsy work necessary; used toys and some paper objects to simulate players and pieces.
Mechanics: player used a remote control car (to simulate plane) to drive around and 'bomb' (encircle) objects. Attaching bombs and such was done manually.
Originality: original prototype; action type 3D game.
Translation to paper: fairly accurate, mcguivered simulation of their gameplay.

Some other notes:

• Torque 3D engine (woot!)
  
• remote control car to simulate the plane, paper objects laid out on the ground to simulate the rest; bombs are lined rubber balls that the car drags
• looks like it fairly accurately simulated their game play
• Issued demerits to compensate for testing time constraints (less is better)
• Alot of things done manually during play-testing (attaching bombs)
• 3 testers, all siat students
• They tested standard game play as well as a time trial to compare
• Got good feedback from their testers
• Found their game intuitive, easy to play understand

FoF weekly update #3

• I've done a boatload of research on the Torque engine
• I've been doing research to understand the engine in general
• I've been researching and finding solid links and articles and giving them to the team so that each member has information that is helpful and relevant to what they are working on
• I had a meeting with Angie on Friday Oct 26. We further discussed the sound design of the game.
• We went through a series of environmental and action sounds that will work for our game
• We looked around for theme music for our game. We've decided to go for a jazz fusion sort of style; we think it will be refreshingly different for this genre of game, and won't be irritating to the player (no words, not too repetitive, and something that they likely have not heard)
  
• St Germain seems to be in the running for this; jazz fusion with ALOT of variety in terms of calm, uptempo, and intense music sans lyrics - lots to choose from for general gameplay and fighting
• We want to have different music for each of the four life stages (which I should probably just start calling levels - so I will) to keep the game consistent with the idea of growing up/evolving
  
• In terms of what he will say, we are leaving that until a bit later when we see how the game looks/feels so we can keep consistent
  
• I had a meeting with Diana and Kick on Tuesday Oct 23 (I think this got put into the last update so I wont discuss it again)
• Magy helped us find a document on exporting models and animation from maya to torque, so that really helped us out alot; the modeling and animation is well under way.
• Peter and I worked during lab time to get familiar with the engine; we are modding the fps
  
• Had a meeting/work session with Peter on Thursday Oct 25 in the open lab. We worked on the fps; its baby steps right now because we are just figuring out how the engine ticks, but I am confident that we will learn very quickly; Peter has already figured out how to work with gravity under water, so thats wicked
• I am working on creating the terrain and texturing it for the game. Odds are this will evolve greatly after testing.
  
• I think we should implement gourad shading to make the graphics suit our game better. There doesn't seem to be a ton of info on this, so I'll keep looking.

The wiki is still down; borrowing server space from a friend was a bad idea. I'll post more up on the blog for now to compensate, but I will have to get something else up and running for us to more easily store info. In the following week we hope to

• have basic terrain completed
• imported a model into torque/ possibly animation if we find ourselves at that stage
• begin working on a basic prototype so we can user test the week after

Prototype Critiques 1.0

The framework I used for the critiques was to look at: balance, model, art, mechanics, originality, and translation to paper. I also added some notes that didn't quite fit into those categories.

1.1 ANTLION prototyping

Balance: it seems they set it up with 2 different perspectives in mind: the player can either be the ant or the ant lion (good guy vs bad guy analogy?); seems like a fun idea to let the player choose which they are.
Model: good minimal design of the prototype: only included what is necessary (simple board and instructions).
Art: clean and simple artwork to display the necessary aspects of the game.
Mechanics: turn based and rolling of the dice to play.
Originality: an educational game featuring a little known 'bad guy' seems like a good idea. I like the idea of combining a strategy game with educational content.
Translation to paper: It seems like their testers got a good grasp of the game from the testing sessions.

Some other notes:

• good at recognizing what is feasible for the course
• strategy game: ant vs ant-lion (ant-lion is trying to knock it into a pit to devour it)
• simple prototype layout (board and dice and piece)
• sat next to subjects to observe and record; direct feedback
• good feedback and recommendations on what the testers liked/disliked
• good: used feedback to find that player would prefer to be ant (over ant-lion)
• well thought out goals (ant-lion for education purposes over anteater for fun)
• a little brief with what they are going to change in their game ... but good overall

1.2 us!!!!!!!!!!! no critique necessary because we rule!!!!

1.3 MIZU: saving the world one droplet at a time ...

Balance: It looks like they put a lot of effort into balancing out their game
Model: Scrolling action during gameplay and turn based during fighting; artwork to show the different characters of the game.
Art: very good, pretty artwork; it looks like the put a lot of time into it.
Mechanics: splash attacks; dice rolls - different numbers result in different attacks that are also based on your droplet size. Fighting is based on proximity to a 'bad guy'.
Originality: Very original, I like the idea of using elements and being water.
Translation to paper: It seems like the paper prototype didn't completely mimic the game concept and what it will be digitally (but I think that just happens sometimes - some mechanics are really hard to translate)

Some other notes:

• find four elemental gems by exploring different elements of the world (air, earth, fire, vs water)
• i like the idea of charging your splash attacks
• got their level and art concept solidified
• a little vague on the feedback from the testers
• good feedback on how realistically their paper prototype mimicked the game

1.4 Testing 1...2...3... (untitled)

Balance: incorporate different characters and skills into the prototype.
Model: paper based on D and D map; allowed them to easily incorporate feedback during testing.
Art: basic bare bones artwork (my preferred style for prototyping) that is easy to scratch out and redo (little time would be wasted); some good plastic figurines to represent the characters of the game.
Mechanics: combat; turn based; extensive use of puzzles.
Originality: it seems like a reasonable common genre of game.
Translation to paper: Seems like it translated fairly well; the identified areas where the prototype was lacking (ie pickups).

Some other notes:

• real time schoolyard fight game gone medieval
• plat-forming, puzzle solving
• stripped out large open level design (realistic goals)
• good goals for testing
• good variety of testers
• good versatility for changing the paper prototype based on immediate feedback from testers (using dd map)
• nice... tested different characters to compare
• excellent feedback from testers
• good conclusions based on feedback
• hurray for changing characters/sheets while testing

wiki no!!!!!

It seems the server that hosts our wiki is down ... hopefully it will be back up soon!

FoF weekly update #2

This week, on FoF ...

• Our team has switched back to Torque 3D. Peter (lead programmer) and I felt that Half Life 2 was getting to complicated with the different modding tools necessary to make it work
• This took place during an msn conversation on Monday Oct 22.
  
• I am currently working on a level diagram for our game
• Our game will be a single level consisting of 4 life stage 'zones'
• Another way to look at it is 4 levels that are seamlessly connected (no flashy obvious start and finish points)
• Each 'zone' will gain in difficulty to stop the player from moving too far ahead without taking the time to find points and grow up
• I've updated the wiki to include some new scope, and timeline
  
• I had an msn conversation with Angie (sound designer) where we began to discuss character and element sound. She will be gathering sound over the next few days, we have a meeting planned for this Friday, October 26 to go through and start picking what is appropriate.
• I had a meeting today Tuesday October 23 with Diana and Kick (animators) where we discussed what modeling and animating will be done next. Details of this meeting can be found on the wiki under "Meeting Notes" category.
  
• we are trying to stick to the essentials so that the game is realistic for the time that we have
• I have a meeting planned with lead programmer tomororw Wednesday October 24 to begin programming our engine, deciding what comes first/has priority, diving work, etc
  

FoF weekly update #1

The past week has been mostly about paper prototyping:

• I set up a wiki at http://www.abstract-science.com/kate/ where project info and team progress are kept nice and organized
• I met with Angie on Friday Oct 5 and we came up with layout and rules for the prototype.
• I tossed those ideas together using fabulous dollar store supplies over the weekend, and put the prototype rules up on the wiki
• I met with the rest of the team on Wednesday Oct 10 and we had our game testing session on campus
• On Friday Oct 12 I tested one more friend b/c we only had time to test 2 people on campus
• Over the weekend I put together the testing document and presentation slides and sent them out to the team for their input and approval
• We had previously decided to use the Torque 3D game engine, but during an impromptu meeting on Oct 9 we decided to use the Half Life 2 engine instead
• I defiled my mac and installed windows parallel so that I can run the source engine

Note on prototype testing: I'm not going to post up the nitty gritty details and observations here because I've written them up way too many times! Full documentation of our testing sessions (observations and comments from each individual tester) can be found on our wiki under the 'paper prototype' section, as well as info can be found in the testing document and seen during our presentation next week. We got great feedback from our testers.

The team has been working hard on this game, and I'm really excited about our progress so far.
Modeling is well under way and things are looking good for our engine choice (so far ... dun dun dun)

Coming up we will continue to work on modeling, begin sound design, and dive face first into the source engine to start developing our beta.

we meet again ... jerk

To my complete and utter astonishment (seriously, what were you guys thinking ?!!??!), Tadpole Soup was chosen as one of the top ideas! It has since been reborn as ... Fins of Fury!! aka FoF aahaha

what - you mean like a puma?

So I took a few pointers from chapter 6 and had a mad brainstorming party with .... you guessed it .... me! go me go

I don't exactly fall into the gamer category, I tend to like games to be short, sweet, and to the point, and in no way an all consuming excavation into the depths of my soul (seriously, its scary in here), or even your soul (ewwwwww cooties). For those of you reading this that just think I suck at games and am looking for excuses (I shake my fist at you), you're partially right! But in the end I find I have more fun with the simpler games that I can pick up and play whenever. Think the bugs life game ..... thats how I roll .... as you'll see from my creature based ideas below.

mwahaha

So right now I have 2 malnourished ideas:

Scurvaliscious idea 1: Tadpole Soup!

The story: You are the oldest of your tadpole siblings. While out one day, all of your brothers and sisters and kidnapped by (insert evil genius here) who plans to make them into tadpole soup (mmmmmm you can almost taste it). Because your frog parents are old and decrepit, it falls on you to rescue your tasty siblings.

There's potential for alot of fun levels here:

Obviously you'd start out in a pond as a tadpole (I think running into some sort of chemical that makes you mature into a frog early is a good idea)
Swamp terrain level
Land level (you're a frog with legs now ...... mobility~!!!!)
In a kitchen level (you all remember the crab scene from the little mermaid ... don't pretend you didn't love it, we all know your lying)
Possibly a level inside a giant pot of soup (wtf? why not?)

I realize not all levels are within the scope of the 3 months we will have to implement the game, but they are ideas if the game is ever expanded on outside of class.

As a tadpole, your special power can be tail whipping
As a frog, you can slap people with your tongue, jump up and down on them, some kind of tequila sunrise move (this is a little up in the air)


Scurvaliscious idea 2: Hamster Tube City! (whoa spell check just alerted me that there's no 'p' in hamster ... i need to go cry a little)

So you know those little clear tuby homes you can get for your hamster to live/play in? Picture that, but as a city.

The story: The great wheel of the city has been stolen! You have been charged (by the lazy hamster king) with the mission of finding it. While you do not know who took the wheel, there are those in the city who do not want it to be found. They believe that the wheel is a symbol of hamster oppression (clearly, these defiant hamsters must be destroyed).

Levels will start our relatively short and maze-like, but will progressively become longer and more complicated. You will probably be searching for objects (clues, pieces of the wheel) and for people (what do you know? where's my money man???)

Your power: Throwing hamster balls! (made up of compressed wood chips), as well as gnawing and scratching (sounds classy don't it?)

There could be little one on one battles with the defiant hamsters!



Anyway, these are just ideas I came up with while my bread was being turned into toast. I will look more into whether these games already exist (hope not) and what type of engines would be best to implement them.


now leave me!

The migratory patterns of a coconut

Test post!