This thursday, we're going to show off our prototypes. I believe our players will run around and have a lot of fun :D
Oct 21, 2014
Desert Noir Paper Prototype UPDATE
This thursday, we're going to show off our prototypes. I believe our players will run around and have a lot of fun :D
Oct 14, 2014
Paper prototype of Desert Noir, space shooter extraordinare
Now we've begun on our final assignment for the game design introduction course. The group seems good, we've got a nice concept, what more could you ask for?
The goal is to make a game concept document based on two words and some restrictions. The restrictions of no gravity, a projectile present and powerups basically makes it a space shooter.
The game is shaping up good. Today we made our first paper prototype, and it's... special. Our game's combat is focused around shooting enemies who dies in one hit while they are running at you trying to melee you.
The first idea was to have a piece of cardboard with the player controlling a paper dot while trying to avoid other paper dots controlled by us, the designers. But we realized that wouldn't capture the fast paced action the game offered, so we changed paths.
The second idea was this: The player runs around freely in the current room while the designers (us) tries to walk towards the player. The player can form his hand into a gun and with a "Bang" sound shoot the designers, which will then become inactive for 3 seconds. Shooting each designer 3 times results in a win, and faster designers next round.
It still needs a bit of tweaking, like the inactive time and win condition. The core experience is there, we just need to fine tune it a bit.
Shout-out to my team for being awesome and making this possible. I think we can make an awesome concept since we've gotten so far in such a short time.
The goal is to make a game concept document based on two words and some restrictions. The restrictions of no gravity, a projectile present and powerups basically makes it a space shooter.
The game is shaping up good. Today we made our first paper prototype, and it's... special. Our game's combat is focused around shooting enemies who dies in one hit while they are running at you trying to melee you.
The first idea was to have a piece of cardboard with the player controlling a paper dot while trying to avoid other paper dots controlled by us, the designers. But we realized that wouldn't capture the fast paced action the game offered, so we changed paths.
The second idea was this: The player runs around freely in the current room while the designers (us) tries to walk towards the player. The player can form his hand into a gun and with a "Bang" sound shoot the designers, which will then become inactive for 3 seconds. Shooting each designer 3 times results in a win, and faster designers next round.
It still needs a bit of tweaking, like the inactive time and win condition. The core experience is there, we just need to fine tune it a bit.
Shout-out to my team for being awesome and making this possible. I think we can make an awesome concept since we've gotten so far in such a short time.
Oct 13, 2014
Concept Challenge - Lady Lovelace and the mystery at sea
A chance to test out our skills and prepare ourselves for future assignment, the random narrative concept challenge had us pick a narrative randomly and then make a concept pitch about it.
Your main character is a fun-loving 50 year-old woman. The story begins in a boxing club. Someone is haunted by a traumatic experience at sea. It's a story about prejudice. Your character approaches the situation extremely carefully.
We really liked the potential of this character. Our first focus was on the 50 year old woman and the traumatic experience at sea. This screams horror/puzzle game and we went from that.
Aesthetics
The aesthetics becomes:
Narrative: Story engagement
Discovery: Investigation
Challenge: Logic Puzzles, Stealth
The perspective is third person.
Story
We loosely defined the story, a woman looking for her husband in a spooky environment. It starts at a boxing club with a patron having a accident at sea and knowing something about Lovelace late husband. It the game, the lady will go trough rough city blocks and uncover something much larger than she expected.
MechanicsThe mechanics are:
Key Features
No inventory - only one object may be carried at a time. This enhances the puzzle-solving aspects of the game and encourages players to think about the challenges before them, rather than simply hoarding items and using trial-and-error
Feedback
Adam really liked the no inventory feature which also made sense on context of what we're trying to do with the game.
Takeaway
I noticed something doing this analysis. Firstly, it is a pretty boring format. I am mostly analyzing the system and not features in the system which makes them work. I think this is a pretty big mistake which I realized doing this post. In the future I will be more focused on features rather than the MDA.
Your main character is a fun-loving 50 year-old woman. The story begins in a boxing club. Someone is haunted by a traumatic experience at sea. It's a story about prejudice. Your character approaches the situation extremely carefully.
We really liked the potential of this character. Our first focus was on the 50 year old woman and the traumatic experience at sea. This screams horror/puzzle game and we went from that.
Aesthetics
The aesthetics becomes:
Narrative: Story engagement
Discovery: Investigation
Challenge: Logic Puzzles, Stealth
The perspective is third person.
Story
We loosely defined the story, a woman looking for her husband in a spooky environment. It starts at a boxing club with a patron having a accident at sea and knowing something about Lovelace late husband. It the game, the lady will go trough rough city blocks and uncover something much larger than she expected.
MechanicsThe mechanics are:
Walking around
Talking with NPCs
interacting with objects
picking up objects
Using picked up objects
Death by enemies
Dynamics
Sneaking around enemies (Investigating, stealth)
Solving Puzzles (Logic puzzle, investigating)
NPC social puzzles (Investigating, logic puzzle)
decisions based on story (story engagement)
Core Loop
Solve Puzzle -> Story Progression
No inventory - only one object may be carried at a time. This enhances the puzzle-solving aspects of the game and encourages players to think about the challenges before them, rather than simply hoarding items and using trial-and-error
Feedback
Adam really liked the no inventory feature which also made sense on context of what we're trying to do with the game.
Takeaway
I noticed something doing this analysis. Firstly, it is a pretty boring format. I am mostly analyzing the system and not features in the system which makes them work. I think this is a pretty big mistake which I realized doing this post. In the future I will be more focused on features rather than the MDA.
Oct 6, 2014
Game Jam with Mayesrunner
Game Jam with the GAME crew. What an amazing experience. I'm happy with my amazing teammates and the 6 hours we put into our game. And we even won a reward, how wonderful isn't that?
We had a game jam last Friday. It was called "My first jam" and was centered towards building relationship between new students and older students as well as creating the opportunity to be making games.
The team was really nice. The seniors helped us when we needed it and let us actually be a part of making the game. I did the player controls as well as the collision and I felt that it was a job well done. Maybe it wasn't much, but it made me really happy to be a part of.
The game we made was Mayesrunner. The seniors on our team made a game parodying Ulf last year, and they wanted to make something similar this year. The theme of the jam was Addiction X which but we didn't look at it too hard. We wanted to make something fun. I like Adam, and the seniors does too so no hard feelings were meant. There is a running joke between the seniors that Adam doesn't like grading papers and we based the game on that.
The game is an endless runner with Adam Mayes running from students trying to get him to grade their papers. On the way you can pick up coffee to run faster. If you touch a student you die and if you run into a block, you get slowed down. After dying the player can see how far he/she got.
It was awesome to see everyone's creation after the deadline. There were so many creative games. And even if some of them were bad, they all had something interesting which could be made into something great with time.
I'm really hyped for the next game jam. It feels great having completed my first game! And it feels like I really can make games. Now I just need to make better games.
Backlog on the previous weeks
So somewhere along the lines I forgot about blogging about school stuff and went on the do my own analyses of games. Here are some snippets and thoughts behind the recent weeks.
In the recent 3 weeks we've actually had quite a lot work done. Assignments to be presented the day after receiving them, writing of essays. So I'm just gonna write about the recent happenings and my thoughts/reflection on them.
Sissyfight
We played Sissyfight and then we added a new mechanics to it. Our group actually forgot to play test which we learned later was a really valuable experience to keep in mind. We thought our mechanic was pretty solid, instead of life you have walls, and when the walls are lowered you can 'Assasinate' an opponent. This mechanic didn't change even after play testing.
Then we got the memo telling us to add collectibles to the game. This confused us since we didn't know if it meant TCG collecting or game mechanic collecting. We went for the latter and added coins to the mix. When attacking another player, you get coins equal to the damage dealt. We didn't have enough time to come up with good ways to use coins, so we just added a bribe mechanic, tested it out and said that it works. I would really like to go back to the coin mechanic and change it. I feel like I have much more experience and could make something much better now.
Earnets Adams Workshop
Earnest Adams, author of "Fundamentals of Game Design" arranged a workshop where all students were divided up in teams and made a game concept based on a dream. Our group got "I want to be a real cowboy (not a gunslinger). We also had roles. I was the mechanics designer which I still don't really get how it works. It felt like I decide mechanics, then the UI designer translates them into buttons, then the level designer does the implementing. But there is a discrepancy on the way. For example when the UI designer decides the whip is controlled by circling the right control stick.
It felt like a slow process where no one really had a grasp on what the others were doing and I didn't see it go in a good direction. During the presentation there were some mixed results from the other groups. Some had really interesting ideas while others just went for the standard approach. It made me wish I had gotten something more interesting than cowboy. I also think me and others interpreted the assignment as serious business sine it talks about dreams and then really wanted to replicate a simulator type game.
The game with trolls and steamroller was the most interesting imo.
Adam Mays spontaneous assignment
Next Monday after the workshop: "Make a game, come back tomorrow."
New assignment. Make a paper prototype of a digital real-time game which captures the core experience of that game. Our group chose Skyrim.
This was actually the most fun assignment yet. It was the same group as the workshop and we were all very motivated to succeed. The group: Me, Anders Hagström, Erik Starander and Emil Nyström worked hard on our board game version of Skyrim. I made most of the mechanics and balanced the monsters powers, Anders helped a lot with the overall design of the game and came with good opinions and changes along the way. Erik made a beautiful world map which perfectly captures the Skyrim feel. And while Emil missed most work time because of an appointment, but he made one of the most important touches on the game before it was finished, he made the player avatar out of his snusbox, and it fit perfectly. After sleeving the cards with padding of magic cards, the game looked and felt really good and fluid. I was happy.
Essays
We've had two essays recently, with the creeping doom one in game design. I think the thing I learnt here was that if you stop and really think about it, you can come to a good conclusion. If you look at fear and what situations can arise, then think of how to represent that in a game, the assignment is easy. Though it still meant correct writing, which went fairly well in my case. Interesting topic this one.
In the recent 3 weeks we've actually had quite a lot work done. Assignments to be presented the day after receiving them, writing of essays. So I'm just gonna write about the recent happenings and my thoughts/reflection on them.
Sissyfight
We played Sissyfight and then we added a new mechanics to it. Our group actually forgot to play test which we learned later was a really valuable experience to keep in mind. We thought our mechanic was pretty solid, instead of life you have walls, and when the walls are lowered you can 'Assasinate' an opponent. This mechanic didn't change even after play testing.
Then we got the memo telling us to add collectibles to the game. This confused us since we didn't know if it meant TCG collecting or game mechanic collecting. We went for the latter and added coins to the mix. When attacking another player, you get coins equal to the damage dealt. We didn't have enough time to come up with good ways to use coins, so we just added a bribe mechanic, tested it out and said that it works. I would really like to go back to the coin mechanic and change it. I feel like I have much more experience and could make something much better now.
Earnets Adams Workshop
Earnest Adams, author of "Fundamentals of Game Design" arranged a workshop where all students were divided up in teams and made a game concept based on a dream. Our group got "I want to be a real cowboy (not a gunslinger). We also had roles. I was the mechanics designer which I still don't really get how it works. It felt like I decide mechanics, then the UI designer translates them into buttons, then the level designer does the implementing. But there is a discrepancy on the way. For example when the UI designer decides the whip is controlled by circling the right control stick.
It felt like a slow process where no one really had a grasp on what the others were doing and I didn't see it go in a good direction. During the presentation there were some mixed results from the other groups. Some had really interesting ideas while others just went for the standard approach. It made me wish I had gotten something more interesting than cowboy. I also think me and others interpreted the assignment as serious business sine it talks about dreams and then really wanted to replicate a simulator type game.
The game with trolls and steamroller was the most interesting imo.
Adam Mays spontaneous assignment
Next Monday after the workshop: "Make a game, come back tomorrow."
New assignment. Make a paper prototype of a digital real-time game which captures the core experience of that game. Our group chose Skyrim.
This was actually the most fun assignment yet. It was the same group as the workshop and we were all very motivated to succeed. The group: Me, Anders Hagström, Erik Starander and Emil Nyström worked hard on our board game version of Skyrim. I made most of the mechanics and balanced the monsters powers, Anders helped a lot with the overall design of the game and came with good opinions and changes along the way. Erik made a beautiful world map which perfectly captures the Skyrim feel. And while Emil missed most work time because of an appointment, but he made one of the most important touches on the game before it was finished, he made the player avatar out of his snusbox, and it fit perfectly. After sleeving the cards with padding of magic cards, the game looked and felt really good and fluid. I was happy.
Essays
We've had two essays recently, with the creeping doom one in game design. I think the thing I learnt here was that if you stop and really think about it, you can come to a good conclusion. If you look at fear and what situations can arise, then think of how to represent that in a game, the assignment is easy. Though it still meant correct writing, which went fairly well in my case. Interesting topic this one.
Oct 1, 2014
Analysis of Sushi Go!
Collect sushi with cute anime faces. Dip them in wasabi and triple their points!
Every round in Sushi Go! you collect sushi of different kinds, then you count points based on what you picked. Often you need a collection of the same dish to get the required points, but some cards combos with another card.
Every round, each player starts out with X cards in their hand. Based on the number of players in the game, this is around 7-10 cards. Then each player picks one card and lays it face down on the table. At the same time all the players reveal their chosen card and then pass their hand to the player on the left. When all cards are gone, you count points based on the types of cards you picked. 3 Rounds and then you count the point total and the player with most points win.
I'm not gonna list all the cards and their effects. The game is really simple and should be picked up if you like cute games with lots of fun.
Analysis
The aesthetics of Sushi Go! are:
The competition is the wish to win over other players, which is exactly what the game is about. This is also evident since everyone has the same opportunity to pick the cards in the pool, making the choices you face every turn based on when the opponents are picking.
Planning comes in when you open the first hand. You see what your options are and must choose carefully. If someone is taking the same thing as you are, the chances that you are getting those pieces are diminishing. And for every card reveal, the planning must be altered which keeps the game fresh and interesting.
The social understanding comes from what I wrote above. You must not only think about what you want to take, but also what others want to take. You could alter your own strategy to pick the pieces no one's taking. Or you could pick the pieces others want before they get them to disturb their planning.
Core Loop
Pick card -> Get points
This is what you do all game. The theme of the game helps immensely when taking on this mechanic. Picking cards feel good because they are so cute. It's helps the player relax when thinking about what cards to pick. It also helps that many of the cards are flavored in such a way to make the understanding of the game easier. Dipping nigiri in wasabi gives triple points. Dumpling gives more points for each individual you pick. Getting the points is also satisfying since at the end of each round, you really feel content with what you got. Since every player at least finds some pieces which made him/her happy.
Mechanics and Dynamics
Mechanics:
Dynamics:
Takeaway
The best thing Sushi Go! does is how good it's core loop is. Picking cards is easy and feels good to do. The faces add a nice atmosphere to the game which also helps players understand the rules to the game. Since sushi have become widespread in the western world, even kids will have an easy time figuring out how the mechanics are represented through the theme.
tl;dr a good theme makes mechanics easy and the game fun to play.
Every round, each player starts out with X cards in their hand. Based on the number of players in the game, this is around 7-10 cards. Then each player picks one card and lays it face down on the table. At the same time all the players reveal their chosen card and then pass their hand to the player on the left. When all cards are gone, you count points based on the types of cards you picked. 3 Rounds and then you count the point total and the player with most points win.
I'm not gonna list all the cards and their effects. The game is really simple and should be picked up if you like cute games with lots of fun.
Analysis
The aesthetics of Sushi Go! are:
- Fellowship: Competition
- Challenge: Planning, Social Understanding
The competition is the wish to win over other players, which is exactly what the game is about. This is also evident since everyone has the same opportunity to pick the cards in the pool, making the choices you face every turn based on when the opponents are picking.
Planning comes in when you open the first hand. You see what your options are and must choose carefully. If someone is taking the same thing as you are, the chances that you are getting those pieces are diminishing. And for every card reveal, the planning must be altered which keeps the game fresh and interesting.
The social understanding comes from what I wrote above. You must not only think about what you want to take, but also what others want to take. You could alter your own strategy to pick the pieces no one's taking. Or you could pick the pieces others want before they get them to disturb their planning.
Core Loop
Pick card -> Get points
This is what you do all game. The theme of the game helps immensely when taking on this mechanic. Picking cards feel good because they are so cute. It's helps the player relax when thinking about what cards to pick. It also helps that many of the cards are flavored in such a way to make the understanding of the game easier. Dipping nigiri in wasabi gives triple points. Dumpling gives more points for each individual you pick. Getting the points is also satisfying since at the end of each round, you really feel content with what you got. Since every player at least finds some pieces which made him/her happy.
Mechanics and Dynamics
Mechanics:
- Hands are passed around
- Players pick cards
- Players reveal their picked cards
- Cards gives points based on other cards (combo based)
Dynamics:
- Players wanting to pick certain cards which they think will works well together in the future (Comptetition, Planning, Social Understanding)
- Players picking cards based on what the other players are building (Competition, Social Understanding)
Takeaway
The best thing Sushi Go! does is how good it's core loop is. Picking cards is easy and feels good to do. The faces add a nice atmosphere to the game which also helps players understand the rules to the game. Since sushi have become widespread in the western world, even kids will have an easy time figuring out how the mechanics are represented through the theme.
tl;dr a good theme makes mechanics easy and the game fun to play.
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