PROJECT 72-2 (2020)
10th October 2020
Last year me and two other students from University of the arts London (Thomas Lam & Che Williams) made a video game called HazmatSam. The game took over 2 months to complete. This was our first video game project and it was of-course packed with challenges and obstacles to overcome.
The game was released in March 2020 with over 100+ downloads and over 2000 plays online with an overall positive rating of 80%.
Its clear from these stats that it was not a viral success however, we learnt a-lot from this project. All of the bug and animation fixes we had to address throughout has bettered out knowledge of the software and its limitations we also recognise how we could be more efficient with our planning and time-management and I think this has prepared us better for the next project.
Over summer we discussed how we could use the skills learnt from hazmat Sam to create a new game. One with more dialogue perhaps. We had talks of recycling code from HazmatSam and replacing the assets to make another Shoot em up style game; Although this would be a fast and easy option to creating a new addition to our portfolio we decided that it would not help us push further in our development as a team so we scrapped what we had and got the idea board out. This was the birth of “PROJECT 72-2”.
11th October 2020
We began our planning stages for 72-2. Thomas Lam suggested from the beginning that we should plan exactly how the game was going to be played in terms of style and mechanics so that he could better prepare code to fit with the game. This was advised as when we worked on HazmatSam we lacked preparation and began to add more mechanics to the game increasing bugs and wasted time rectifying issues. With this in mind we discussed the style and possible mechanics before creating a narrative to fit.
As we are starting fresh we had to think about what art style we would be trying to achieve … This is because art style can easily affect the deadline. As we are all experienced 2d artists our best choice for the 26 week deadline was pixel art, we chose pixel art over illustration mainly because using a tile system we can expand and manipulate levels whenever we want this also helps us design a game that we could leave open ended for later DLC and also to fit a narrative
13th October 2020
After some discussion we agreed we would proceed with an Adventure/Fighting game. The idea arose from a conversation about different video games from the 90s to today with in these talks we highlighted our favourite and most replayable games as Pokemon Red/Blue, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Skullgirls, Streets of Rage and Street Fighter. Made us think about how we could take these mediums and combine them to create something a little more exciting.
seen in fig. 1 are examples of mind-mapping
14th October 2020
It’s agreed that we will produce a TOP DOWN adventure game with enemy encounters that lead to a SIDE VIEW 1v1 fighting game using the top down view to create a world where we can find secrets and solve puzzles whilst also fighting to stay alive.
The Code list seen in fig.1 was sent over to Thomas to begin writing the scripts while myself and Che would begin designing a narrative and begin map and character dev.
17th october 2020
Myself and che have discussed our ideas and roles for this project over the past 3 days while tom had completed the mechanics for the game.
As the game is broken up into two styles of play to keep the workload even and style consistent I volunteered to take to the role of character and enviroment design for the top down view while Che had decided to work on the enviroment and character design for the side view.
We opened a discord server to discuss whilst working as lockdown restrictions and distance between us had made working in the same environment impossible.
20th october 2020
Over a few days we had discussed and decided on a storyline, planned out characters and enviorenment. We decided that we would not have enough time to create a full game but we would have enough time to show tease the mechanics and show enough of the level to get the player hooked on the story and characters Fig 2 shows the rough storyline for the Game demo
22nd october 2020
This storyline gives us room to design and change narrative in the future. As my job was to design the top down view we created a template map layout to decide where and what objects would be in and around the theme park. (Seen in fig 6.)
23rd october 2020
Using Procreate I designed the rough map visuals for ‘Candyland Car Park’ (seen in fig. 7)
24th October 2020
‘Car Park’ level design is completed and diagram has been produced to plan what parts will be the tile map on what layer and what will be a game object with a layered script. (Seen in fig.9)
25th october 2020
tile map design has begun. (seen in fig.10)
26th october 2020
assets have been placed in the scene with colliders and a functional layered script.
27th october 2020
next I used some pokemon ruby and saphire sprites to quickly fill the character animation script tom had created, this would give some life to the player while design work is underway. as we had also chose to make our character size 25×25 pixels pokemon sprites were a perfect fit.
fig 15 fig 16
we wanted the game to have its own alphabet as this could give us more options for puzzle type challenges and other secret quests within the game. below in figs 17-19 is the process i used to create my own font and import it into unity
fig 18 fig 19
as the text box script could only use one font we decided that bots our alphabet and the english should be on one font type (seen in fig 18) this meant however we could only use either lower case or upper. This may change at a later date but for now it will help us write the NPC responses.
28th october 2020
as the game is set in th evening it would be easier for us to design tiles for the day and use unitys 2d lighting tools to create a night time effect. this means later we can adjust the day/night cycle
1st november 2020
used prtal script that tom made to set up access for the new scene. The player will fight security guard to gain access to the turnstiles. (seen in fig 22)
2nd november 2020
the car park level is satisfactory for the time being as we can adjust the level later and or add new characters and element to the gameplay. next i created a rough design for what we were calling ‘lollypop lane’ and create tiles and objects based from this sketch (seen in fig 25).
3rd November 2020
just doing some fine tuning today I included a new fade to black transition when entering a scene and also made some asjustments to the shadow girl animation as I think this could highten the intensity of the scene (seen in figs 26 & 27). Aswell as this I made an aninmtion using the 2d box colliders to create a push effect when talking to the ghosts this is also seen in fig 27.
I also wanted to test out some new sound effects for the mechanic so I tried to create a sound using audacity and manipulate it to sound like something supernatural. However, i realised the script that plays the text sound plays when u exit text so i will have to find another solution. (seen in fig 28)
4th november 2020
Today I began work on ‘Lollypop Lane’ we decided that particle effects would be useful for adding a mysterious and sci-fi atmopsphere seen in fig 29 is an enxample of using particle effects to create starts in the tunnel.
I also adjusted the talkable NPC’s by creating two fonts with a very simular aestheic.
One set is english characters both caps and non caps with punctioation and an ‘ancient script’ used for the puzzle elements and secrets. (seen in fig 30).
12th November 2020
Taking time away from production as we have base mechanics complete and a level filled with assets and tiles that can be edited with ease.
in the next few weeks i will focus on research, character and story development. This time will also be spent designing side quests, secrets and other incentives to keep the player entertained between stages.
In the meantime Thomas will be adding in a grid system for the player walk/sprint, he will also produce a menu screen that will include a map, basic settings, difficulty level and a categorical inventory selection
We will also spend time preparing a presentation to offer 1st and 2nd year students in game arts, game design and sound the chance to work with us on this game as a way to gain experience working in a team.
After some time away to practice different mediums via the ‘Testing-Testing’ sessions. We attained new skills in programmes such as After effects, Agisoft and Maya. This opened up a unique opportunity for our project. We discussed using 3d software to perhaps create an inspection system within the game by creating 3d objects to inspect in an inventory screen this way the player could look closely for clues.
We chose to have this as an option as after researching RPGs and what makes them more enticing to play. We gathered that the more collectables and things to do on the side of the main quest, the better because it distracts the player from there main goal as at times RPGs can become repetitive and tedious, is the player has a reason to play other than complete the main quest it increases replayability. It also allows us to merge 2-d and 3-d animation in a new and creative way. We have left this for later in development as we have to cover a lot of stories, map building and character sprites.
We also took some classes on storyboarding and character development with Ryan Smith and Su-Lynn Tan. They helped us develop new ideas for the narrative. So after some talks with the team, we decided to create a final synopsis for the game and also give out characters and environments history and personality.
16th – 19th november 2020
After weeks of research and story development for the game, we felt ready to design and experiment a cutscene to not only introduce the story to the player, but also this is something we could use for presentation purposes to show students visually what the narrative is. Using what i taught myself throughout the testing workshop (vignette abstractions), i created a simple animatic from the storyboard attached to this post. I used the adjustment layer i created in after effects to make a pixel art effect. This way, it keeps the aesthetic for the game fairly consistent. (this is not a complete cutscene)
1st – 6th December 2020
Deciding on the game
As we are making a game in such a short space of time, decisions have to be made promptly. Because of this and other course priorities, we used what we had created so far to finalise our story. We chose a week to dedicate our time to discussing narrative and how we could fit our ideas with a functioning game.
we had previously decided on three main aspects for the plot which were:
- The main character is a Mother on a day out with her son at an amusement park.
- The son goes missing/gets taken.
- mother tries to retrieve the son (does she succeed?)
From here, we began to develop ways in which we could connect these points. Each idea created a whole new outcome for the game, however. There were our top 3 ideas.
Option 1:
- Mother and son leave amusement park at closing time. She looks away to light up a cigarette, and the child gets snatched back into the park. From here, the mother will ask the security guard to let her in. She is denied access and fights her way through beginning the journey.
Option 2:
- Mother and son are driving home from the amusement park when a bright flash of light causes a terrible car accident. The mother barely conscious, sees a shadow taking her child back towards the park before she falls unconscious. She awakens to find a spirit telling her that her son is okay and that he is in Candyland. The mother will search for her son in Candyland only to find at the end of the game she has been dead for 20 years, and her son is placing flowers at the scene of the crash.
Option 3:
- Mother and son are driving home from the amusement park when a bright flash of light causes a terrible car accident. The mother barely conscious, sees a shadow taking her child back towards the park before she falls unconscious. She awakens to see a trail of ice cream leading back to the park where her journey begins to find her son.
We decided from looking at these three options that we could merge aspects of them by taking the road accident and the child being taken.
From here the mother would go to find out whats happened to her child and fight to retrieve, but we would use NPCs and other clues to give the player an uncertainty as to what state they are in.
The Story
After a day out at the Candyland amusement park Yuri, and her son Bari exit the grounds when a terrible road accident occurs. Dazed and confused Yuri spots her young child being taken away by a shadow in the dark before losing consciousness. She awakens to find that her car stands alone in a ball of flames and a trail of her sons melted ice-cream leading back towards the Candyland entrance.
Research for Amusement Park
CandyLand
Candyland is owned by the Dupris family who is known for their lineage in Pharmaceuticals, and Genetic modification. The Dupris claim that they built this park in to give children and their parents a break they
deserve. However, rumour has it that the Candyland park is a front for an off the grid testing facility. Few
whistleblowers have spoken of this facility but have mysteriously gone missing soon after. They describe
grotesquely modified food products that are almost monstrous and the faint disembodied cries of anguish
and torment from the service tunnels beneath the park grounds. There has also been over a hundred cases of missing
persons last seen at the Candyland park, which raises some troubling questions as to whether these rumours
are indeed true.
15th – 17th december 2020
Taking another step back to see our progress, We noticed that I would have to produce many independent assets with sufficient detail. This would render most large assets unable to copy to other parts of the map, which would be an issue for a time. The cause of this is the amusement park itself. Our mistake for this story was combining a complex world with a large play area and interactable assets. As i stand alone on designing and creating the top-down world, this would be nearly impossible to achieve to a high standard without help from other students. Our offers for working with us did not seem to take up. So, we got together and figured out what we could change to progress with our mixed combat RPG.
Firstly, we decided to change Candyland itself from an amusement park into a community that is locked off from the world. In doing this, we can create more of a residential feel to the map areas, which is faster to produce at a high quality. We would still keep the commune’s history the same as the amusement park, this being that the commune is run by the ‘Dupris’ family who is heavily invested in pharmaceuticals and genetics modifications.
We still wanted to keep the character bio and story for the mother the same however there would be slight changes to the introduction of how and why she is after her son who is lost in this commune.
Down below is the new story introduction.
“The Dupris’ Family have opened the mysterious “Brighthaven Commune” to the general public with hopes to debunk recent rumors that had circulated about the community and what may be taking place beneath the surface.
a young widow by the name of ……….. aka ……….. had seen the opportunity to attend the event and promptly signed up for herself and her son ‘Bari’ to attend.
Once they arrive, the two enjoy all there is to offer… bottomless Ice-Cream, Games and greetings from the residents and modified beings of this reclused community.
However, the day takes a sharp turn for the worst when a gigantic …………. creature breaks loose from the base of the facility and begins to attack the visitors.
The giant marshmallow charges for ………. and Bari throwing it’s fluffy fists around in a fit of rage.
With a mighty swing, the beast knocks Yuri unconscious, leaving Bari alone and defenceless.
…….. awakens to find herself in emergency ambulance. realising Bari’s absence, she quickly begins to panic.
Clentched to the paramedic’s shirt, she desperatelt demands information about Bari’s location and wellbeing.
The paramedic informs ………. that the commune has entered a lockdown state since the incident and there would be no information until the lockdown is lifted… She is told to wait until the situation is under control .
unwilling to abide by the rules ……. exits to begin her quest to find Bari.
20th -22nd december 2020
After deciding on the new intro I began designing a new map this time considering the speed of which we had managed to produce assets previously.
As many elements of the map and story have changed I chose to research more on RPG maps and designed the area based upon the research
looking online for help I came across a useful guide on how to improve level making skills within your video games by ‘Benderwaffles’ these were the key points I took away from this guide
- Plan the Map on a grid (prefferably analougue material)
- The players camera must always have something of interest in view (eg. animations, assets, sprites)
- have an element of randomness to your maps (depending on style)
- avoid dead spaces
with this in mind i began sketching up a map design myself and the team could all agree on.
25th december 2020
below is a comparison of the old candyland map design to the new commune, The clear difference here is the size of the map. I chose to minimise the map into 5 reasonably sized sections with contrasting terrains and buildings the character can enter.
from here I got to work of the map design and building while tom would program the interactions with the world.
Benderwaffles, 2017. 5 TIPS For Designing Better Maps & Levels | Game Development Tutorial HOW TO. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoNUaqWJrcI> [Accessed 13 January 2021].
Tetreault, D., n.d. Maldin’s Greyhawk – A Guide To Mapmaking. [online] Melkot.com. Available at: <https://melkot.com/mechanics/map-guide.html> [Accessed 20th December 2020].