Week 11 - The GDD

We have submitted the Games Design Document and I am reasonably happy with what we have done.

It was a mad scramble to get everyones sections together and to standardize the format and look of it all but I feel we can be pleased with what we managed to do.

My own overview and management sections were well done and funtional.  Though perhaps lacking the excellent images and flair of the other members of my team.

Ben really outdid himself with some of the artwork.

Overall I am very happy with how everyone did on the GDD.  

Week 10 - The Sense of Impeding Doom

Today marks a week until our deadline and we have finalized who will be doing what in the game design document :

Kevin (Myself)- Overview and Management - I took one of the easier to do sections (Overview) along with one no one wanted (Management).  I feel it balances out.
Ben - Concept Art and Story - Ben is the most artistically gifted of us so the Art section really had no where else to go.  He also had some of the best ideas during the meetings regarding story.
Liam - Technical/AI/Level Design - Most technical among us. Has spent of his time in the past doing custom map creation for various games which gives him a leg up on level design.
Callum-  Mechanics and Gameplay Balancing-  Two sections that seemed married to one another and Callum took them on happily.

I spent the day doing a first draft of my game overview section and helping the others with questions on their sections.

Week 9 - The Who, The Where and The Why

We met today to finally hammer down the story elements we have so far been too unhappy with to finalize.

We came up with a complete cast list of major characters:

Protagonist - Richard/John Bachman.  Still needs to be properly discussed.  Richard Bachman was the pseudonym of Stephen King and I feel the reference is too blunt and too irrelevant.  I prefer John as it embodies the everyday working man vibe the character should portray.

Main Antagonist - Charles Quahagan

Antagonist's Henchman - Baron Von Kape

Daughter- Amelia

Wife- Michelle

Mentor-  As yet still nameless.  Perhaps that adds something to him.

The following is the synopsis we have come up with:

The story will start with player enslaved and forced to race. There are 3 beginner races before the character breaks out of enslavement. The goal is to reach the safe haven. Character reaches safe haven to find his house ransacked, wife dead and daughter missing. Charles Quahagen announces that it was he who had ordered baron Von Kapé to comit the ransacking and has kidnapped his daughter and is told that if he does not return that they would kill said daughter. Main character then makes his way back. Charles then offers the main character a chance to earn his freedom by winning a tournament. If the player wins then he will be given his freedom. If the player loses then he will be forced to race until death. the player then returns and takes part in the tournaments.

Week 7 - The Emotion

We took several questions from the lecture slides today and decided to use them to provoke discussion.  Though the questions required no written answer we decided to provide them with one anyway to show how our discussion worked.  The following is our combined notes from this session as I think it helps show our method :

1. Does my game have emotional dimension? What emotions will my game world include?

Yes, the game will have emotional dimension. The main character of the game's daughter has been kidnapped, and a major aspect of the game is finding and rescuing said daughter. This would include the emotional values of sadness, anger, fear of being caught.

2. Where does emotion fit in the entertainment value of the game? Is it a big element?

Emotion is a secondary part of the story. It is not an important feature of the game.

3. Do emotions motivate characters in the game and/or the player?

The emotions motivate the character because the main character is driven to save his daughter. There is an emotional bond between the main character and the daughter that drives him forward.

4. What emotions is the game going to inspire in the player? How will we accomplish this?

The game will inspire the emotions of sadness, anger, and fear. Sadness will be portrayed with the capturing of the daughter, the reactions of the main character will sadden the player. The main character will then seek revenge, which will anger players. There will be a main villain that the player can focus all of this anger towards. Fear will be portrayed from the fear of getting caught. Most of these emotions will be reflected from the main character to the player. We will attempt to make a bond between player and character.

5. Will the player have fun in the game world? How will we make sure they have fun from the start?

We believe that the player will have fun. Things such as cutting out the tutorial and having an integrated hint system within the game play. The player will have basic instruments and abilities from the start and will unlock new abilities as the game progresses, this will keep the player motivated to play the game.

6. If your game includes conflict between opposing forces are their capabilities symmetric or asymmetric?

Most characters are equal with equal capabilities except special characters. There will be other runners that will be sent after you late in the game who have other capabilities which makes the game more challenging, but not to the point that the game becomes annoying.
The main boss will have special abilities to challenge the player. You will meet the main boss more than once and each time will have more abilities to challenge the player.

7. Will the starting conditions in the game be symmetric of asymmetric?

The game will start off symmetric. This will insure that the player is not too challenged to the point where s/he cannot finish a part due to lack of skill.

8. Are the relationships in the game mostly transitive or intransitive or a mixture.

 The game doesn't really have any of the relationship balancing problems.

9. Are your games challenges solvable only by predefined means or can some/all be solved by emergent means?

The games challenges are solved using emergent means.

10. Does your game include positive feedback?  If so, how will you prevent runaway victory for the first player who gets ahead?

The game does include positive feedback. The unlock able items will not affect the players abilities and strengths. It is merely for show so that players can show off their accomplishments. Things such as hats, clothes and shoes.


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I felt this method helped focus our otherwise very distracted brains and helped us fully discuss areas of our game we would have not thought of.

Week 6 - The Interface

We met and discussed the interface.  We also discussed various game modes for a possible multiplayer.  These involved standard multiplayer game modes such as Sprint Race and Capture the Flag.

We have come up with a basic preliminary menu structure.  I will include the diagram as follows.

As well as menu structure this diagram also includes the concept drawings for the health/stamina bar and the compass HUD items.  As well as HUD icons showing various game modes.

Week 5- The Control

The following is a preliminary button map that we have come up with based on the standard Xbox controller. We have decided to release to Xbox.  Later ports based on popularity is always a possibility. 

A button - Jumping actions.  The nature of which will be based on button combinations or game context.

B button - Interacting with the environment.  This will be highly contextual. Eg.  Flipping a switch.

Y button - Compass.  This helps keep the direction of objectives clear.

X button - Parry incoming attacks.  

Right trigger - Sprint

Left trigger - Crouch

Right bumper - Move modifier -  Used to perform combinations with other inputs to modify the outcome into a more complex move. 

Left bumper- Quickturn - A very rapid 180 degree turn.

Directional pad - Inventory selection

Right stick - Camera movement

Left stick - Player movement

Back - Map

Start - Pause menu

Week 4- The Challenge

We met and discussed the game-play aspect of our game and the challenges the player will face.  The following are our combined notes taken from the meeting as I feel they show our process best:

Spatial awareness-  Need to navigate between platforms in a safe and speedy manner.

Logic and Inference- Need to choose between different routes to maximise speed and safety.

Memory- Race courses and other stages take place on the sandbox map.  So the greater the player memorises the environment the better off they will be.

Morality- Various decisions made throughout the game will present moral dilemmas

Co-ordination- The pace at which the game is designed to be played will force the player to perform multiple calculations to solve the various challenges at the same time.

Reflex/Reaction time- The pace at which the game is played will reward those with higher reflex and reaction time capabilities.

Genre- First person platformer with RPG elements

Gameplay is altered by story in the second act.  After the slave pen escape the game play changes from being a racer to being a chaser, in which the character is hunted by his former captors.  This changes the game from course driven to more open environment driven

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Able to customise and upgrade the character in game play.

Challenges are related and it is clear to the player why they are doing what they are doing.

Challenges offer a visually and mentally stimulating experience that will appeal to and engage a wide audience.

The player will be expected to display capability in spatial awareness and reflexes at almost all times.  As well as this there will be situations that call for logic and memory challenges to be completed in order to optimise the route the player takes.

Week 3- The Idea

We have settled on an idea for the concept of the game.  The idea is number two of our previous (very) shortlist.  It is a first person based freerunning parkour game.  We came to this decision due to the fact that this idea has a greater niche in the market as opposed to a racing game which would be hidden within an already saturated marketplace.  A driving based game would also make it very hard to develop any plot or characterization.

We met again today.  After confirming our game choice we set about fleshing out the story we had come up with on Tuesday.

So far the story is as follows:

Set in 2153, a city is divided into two distinct factions.  The downtrodden poor and the rich in their ivory towers. A number of the wealthy keep physically fit slaves which they then race against each other in a horrific bloodsport.  The races are filmed and broadcast as entertainment.  Those who compete are known as runners.  The opening act of the game will take place in these races.  The character will learn his trade from an elderly mentor during this time.  He will then escape and be forced to flee from the assembled might of his former owner who is hell bent on making an example.

Week 2 and a half - The Shortlist

After another brainstorming session we decided to mull over two shortlisted ideas for a couple more days.

Idea one is a racing game in which the track was procedurally generated in the distance as the race unfolded.  This overcomes a major flaw in such games wherein track memorization becomes more of a factor than actual skill at operating the mechanics of the game.

Idea two is a free-running parkour style game that was set in a dystopian  future.  This would be part of a very small market of competitors. 

Week 2 - Brainstorming the Concept

This week we arranged a meeting to discuss various ideas on the concept of the game.  We discussed a large amount of eclectic game ideas including:

Niche appeal sports game, i.e Darts or Tiddlywinks - (Rejected due to the overall small market).

Inconvenient- An action/puzzle game in which situations in the world conspire to inconvenience the player at every turn.  (Ben and Liam were very happy with this idea.  I however do not see why as it would have mearly been a frustrating inside joke that was not very funny to begin with.)

Killer-  MMO wherein a city populated by player characters were terrorised by a knife in the dark.  Each player would have a role within the story (Rejected as it would be tedious unless the player rolled an exciting role).

Pirate Simulator- (Been done before.)

Week 1 - Start of the project

Day one of the project.  We have formed a team to come up with a game design and pitch it to a panel.

Our intial meeting involved talking about and assigning preliminary roles.

The team is as follows:

Team name-  "Threatening Bearded Festival"

Ben Chapman - Enviroment and Level Design
Callum Nisbet - Game Mechanics Design
Liam Fisher - Lead Designer
Kevin Small - Documentation Leader