MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

Finalised, feedback, thoughts and other things..

Week 1-6:

Group work sessions attended out of 4

Jay 4

Ethan 4

Tamati 1

Tammy 1

Week 7-8:

Group work sessions attended out of 3

Jay 3

Ethan 3

Tamati 1

Tammy 0

Week 8-10:

Group work sessions attended out of 3

Jay 3

Ethan 3

Tamati 2

Tammy 0

As you can see from the meetings and group sessions we had, Ethan and I were there every single time. I was really disappointed that one person from our group did not show up at all and contributed nothing to our game. Tamati our group leader had created good maps in the end and I'd have to say makes up for his contribution and absence during the first 6-8 weeks of this project. Ethan by far has been the most helpful person during this whole experience, since him and myself were always the ones cracking down on the game every single night that we were at my place. He has done well with the coding as it was his first time using Stencyl as well, and was glad that he was in the team with myself to create a game that we had finished in the end on time.

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

To finish our game off, I made the end of the prologue screen. I made a broken shard that glows then the words come up and hit you with the name of our game, Nibiru. 

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

For the 3rd level, we have breakable objects that are also interactive that we needed to create animations for. We had grates in the sewer level which would break when the barrel touches it, which would also break. We also had Tamati's original enemy that needed a death animation which I quickly created a simple one that worked just fine with one frame.

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

With every hero, comes an enemy. So i decided to create an enemy that would be part human and part mutant. I came up with a silhouetted bad guy that has 4 arms that are all sharp and monster like feet. It screeches throughout the darkness and strikes when it gets close. I've also added at the bottom the death animation of this enemy since the only way to kill it is to crush it by an object, so I've done this which looks cool.

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

Beta presentation

This time around, the turn out for our team was a bit better. Our game has come a long way since our last presentation. So all of us were there today and out of the 4 of us, 3 of us have so far done work on the game. The game does still have some improvements to be made and we still need to create 2 more levels. So the plan is from now on, Ethan will do all the code the same as usual and we will upload all of our files to him, Tamati will create all the maps since he has created the first and second level for our beta stage. This is because we still wanted the same artwork style throughout all of the game. For myself, I will be creating and finishing off the final touches for the character. And on top of that, I have been handed all the sprite work now too since the rest of my group are very disappointed on our last team member who has yet done nothing for the game after 8+ weeks now. It is such a let down but is a good learning experience on group work. So, the final road ahead..

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

Once again just like the last presentation, I was forced to do a sprite which was our main sprite in the game which was the shard. I pictured it to look like a crystal like object that had a glow to it with the same colour as our sun. In it's idle form, it floats there on the level glowing occasionally. Once the character picks it up it explodes into a several shard like pieces.

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

Now that we've figured out the code for the gravity, it was time for me to create the animation for where the character flips upside down and starts walking on the ceiling. This is what I have designed and it looked pretty cool too so I was quite happy with it. The only thing was we couldn't figure out how the character could be facing left on the roof, since the animation was forcing it to look that way. Another speed bump on the highway to our goal..

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

After creating all the animations for idle and walking for my character, I put this together which showcases the character at it's main form. In his idle form, I made him blink once every 3 seconds which gives a sense of life to the character. Also as you can see, the character is now completely black which looks great with the maps that we have redesigned. 

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

After a long session of working mainly procrastination, I have finally come up with the final character that I will be using for the game. This is currently his idle form at the top and the walking form of his first frame on the bottom. At this stage of the game, we are working towards the beta stage and we have veered towards the idea of the game of Limbo as our main inspiration. It does kind of look like the character from Limbo but I gave him less scary features and added spiky hair. 

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

 So onwards, towards the creation of the new character, I wanted to fix up the walking animation along with the design itself. I found this image below of a basic character and it's walking cycle. I tried to portray this as well by creating the same character and hoping to make it more cartoonish. But half way through I decided to can it and start all over from square one again just because it looked rubbish to me.

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

Alpha stage presentation

Showing up after doing a very late night/early morning work on our game, it was only myself and Ethan who showed up to present with the absence of the other 2 people in our team. We did alright though and had a playable game. I started the second map before we had to present the alpha stage of our game. So far I only got the admin desk sorted but with the feedback we had received on our game we had a lot to change. First of all, the main one that affected me was that the character was too scary. But of course I knew that already but they wanted me to create something more child friendly and cartoon like. Which I didn't mind actually and thought would be fun. We also had to make the game itself less scary but we argued this fact that the game was fine the way it was. 

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

So for our alpha stage this is the first level that me and Ethan came up with. The map was redesigned to an extent, with the creation of our own sprites as well. I added a picture of the admin chick down below as well and gave her admirable feature assets. We added the character in to the map on the bottom level where the toilets are. He walks to the right passing all these signs on the wall sending him messages. Once he gets into the elevator he teleports to the top level. We did not have time to do anything for the middle floor because it was only us 2 and we simply ran out of time. The character continues to the left side of the top floor into his bedroom where we will continue the game to the second level. 

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

The maps that I uploaded are the maps that Ethan and myself have redesigned. The top is Ethan's and the bottom is mine. Ethan has changed the layout a little bit and has added the elevators on the right hand side of the map with different exit signs on the left compared tot he last map that Tamati originally designed. Although this was a bit better, I had to change it again to the design on the bottom since because the spacing between each floor. I knew the original would be too thin for our tiling set up on our game, so I made every tile exactly 100x100 so it would be more efficient. I also made them plain black so the tiling can be simple to use and add, plus it made the map higher so the players can't see too much of the map from their screen bounds.

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

This is the map design that Tamati created for us for the first level. He has stuck to the template which I was glad he did but the map was too short, and I mentioned that the sky would not be seeable. So once again I had to redesign the map and change the height of it, but leaving the artwork the same. This was done the night before the alpha stage presentation and it was only yet me and Ethan again present, doing work. Ethan and I also had to create the sprites as Tammy did not come to us with anything at all not even contacting us. I guess you could say, bring not he all nighters. 

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

Teamwork Update

So our class presentation is coming up for all the group's alpha stage of their games. We have had a few team meetings so far but unfortunately, only myself and Ethan have made all of them. Both Tamati and Tammy have only made it once to our groups sessions so far and it is already week 6 into the project. But at least Tama has created the basics of the first map and have given us the file to work on. The sprites we are still waiting for Tammy to create. The other set back I have forgotten to mention is that Tamati is the only person who's game was chosen that didn't have a Stencyl file already created from the previous project, so he wasn't too experienced at Stencyl either but myself and Ethan reassured him we would handle the program work, we just need their files. 

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

This is the level template that I created that I said I was going to upload previously. The size was originally 2400x1600 pixels for the map and I also added a couple of things to the photoshop file. As you can see down below there's a red outlined box. This is the view mode of the player's screen, this is what they can see, everything else is out of view. The black box is 100x100 pixels and will be used to layout the map for our team. All they have to do is copy and paste that square to layout the map design.

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

Finalising this character set, I have created the individual frames that the character walks through. We will put import these files into Stencyl and finally have a character to use for a start. We had to tweak the frames that each step of the character took as well as the sound for he footsteps that it made.

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

After designing the idle forms for the character in its left and right position, it was time to create the walking animation for it too. So I quickly sketched out what I thought it would look like sideways and decided to go with what I sketched at first. Then I put it through the same process as I did with the idle form and shaded it to a finish as well.

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

After doing the main outlines for the character, it's time to work on the main shading on the character so it gives it a shadowy effect whenever the character is walking around. Doing this will also uplift the silhouetted theme of our game. I started with his face first shading out half of the mask and seeing where I went on from there. The bottom picture is the finished shading of the character.

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

From the first character I created, I went through the same process and drew over it again on photoshop because this would have been easier for me in the end. Surprisingly it did not take that long to do, and was very efficient using the pen tool.

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

Developing from the previous post, we had a team meeting and Tama decided that he wanted a character to be silhouetted and to have some narrative to him. Since he was in a mental asylum he said to give him a straight jacket and a mask over his face which to me sounded quite scary especially for a kids game but it's his game so I went with it for now. So I sketched a few things and came up with this as a character in his idle form. All I have to do now is put it through photoshop and animate it.

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

So I had a look at what Tama had created in his previous project for his character design and tried to create something like it. I tried to take on of the images and drawings that he had for that character and draw over it on photoshop using my tablet. The character was looking right and I thought I could easily create and turn this into our idle form for the character. As you can see I created a new layer and drew over the main outline of the character with a red brush to make it easier on myself to see what I'm doing. Smart right..? 

MDDN 243

Introduction To Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis


After meeting up, we decided on the plan for our project which will work as a schedule for us. We also worked out what each of us will be working on.

Myself: I will be working on all of the animations for the game but mostly working on the character itself. I will have to create several designs of the character based on Tama's game and to have the animations of walking and gravity flying etc.

Ethan: He will be working on our code for the game since he has the most experience with coding out of all of us. So all the files the rest of us create and all of our designs will be sent to him since he will be the one mainly on Stencyl.

Tamati: He will be creating our levels since myself and Ethan decided that we want to have the same artwork style between each map, instead of all of us creating one map each between ourselves. Tama will also be working on the sound for our game since he is a musician and has the most experienced with sound.

Tammy: We decided for her to do the rest and fill in the gaps and to work on the sprites for our game, which we will include in all our maps/levels. Also if there is anything that we miss out on and forget to do or don't have time for, she will be the one to see and help us sort out.


Here is what we came up with:

Week 1:
Our plan for the first week was to work out the code on the program we are using which will be Stencyl. The code will be the foundation for our project as it will help us work out how the gravity will work amongst all the other essential mechanics on our game. Also during this first week, we will design the layout for our first level which will be in the asylum. I have created a template for all the levels as well on photoshop to make it easier on my team to design, which I will upload in the following post.

Week 2:
This next week we plan to have the character created, along with the enemies as well. I put my hand up for the character straight away because I know it'd be my strongest field involving several styles of artwork.

Week 3:
During this week, we will be creating the gravity shards for our game, which Tammy will hopefully be doing for us along with the animations of the glow and the blowing up/or pick up animation for it. Also along with this week, we will be doing the sounds and finding the effects we need for such things like the walking for the character I create, the pickup and explode sound effects and other sounds like the background ambience. We also had planned to create a HUD for the player so it'll be easier to navigate around the map, but we are still thinking about that since it will be a black and white game similar to limbo, which didn't use anything like that. 

Week 4:
For this week we will work on the aesthetics of the game and the interactive objects for the maps which will hopefully be all done by this time, since our time frame is quite narrow. Also the sounds integrated in the map so they're all worked out perfectly and runs smoothly.

Week 5:
This week we plan to debug our game so we give ourselves room to breathe. Also if we have time we might create a tutorial level to make it easier for the player to learn the controls. This is also under discussion since once again limbo does not have a tutorial and the movements are pretty basic and easy to learn.

MDDN 243

Introduction to Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis


This is what we've decided for the progression of the levels and narrative in the storyline, although it is subject to be changed throughout our project. Tamati has written it all out below:


1st level:


Our unnamed character makes his way back to his room. He walks down a long white corridor, only dressed in a straight jacket and a gown. He moves slowly back into his bed room and rests upon his bed. It is apparent he lives within a mental Asylum. As the night progresses he spirals into a seizure where flashes of destruction and screams of horror sound out until he wakes up to the sound of ringing in his ears.

2nd Level:

Our unnamed character has woken up in the same environment as the first level, but it has been demolished by falling meteorites and earthquakes. The earth's core is failing and gravity has become somewhat unstable. The unnamed character must make his way past crushed dead bodies and try to escape the asylum. The character finds the first gravity shard in the bathroom which he uses to break him through the floor and free him of the straps in his straight jacket. He falls through into the sewers.

3rd:

This is the first map where the player gets to use the mechanic of the game. Our unnamed character must make it through the sewers to escape the asylum. The sewers are still stable so the gravity shards cannot move the pieces of the environment around. The player must move smaller objects like grates and barrels to move through the level.

4th:

The player falls upward out of the sewers and into a green house made of overgrown brick and glass. The player must move pieces of the environment around to make it through the level. Once the player reaches a fountain or some other milestone in the map. The level ends and the map falls toward the center of earth/nibiru. The map falls for a bit and lands on different parts of the planets crust. Creating the next level.

5th: The player is 2km underground and is trying to make his way upward to avoid the earth's core. The player must use the mechanic to climb the map. Avoiding enemies that are after his gravity shards. The player reaches the uppermost part of the map which becomes unstable when the walls of the corridor he started in, falls to surround him again.

6th:
The map begins to fall at high speeds toward the center of the earth. The player must make his way down the corridor once again to get to his bed. Pieces of the floor are crumbling away as he walks. The unnamed character climbs into bed and there is a black out.


The end is yet to be continued.

MDDN 243

Introduction to Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

As I mentioned in the last post I have joined Tamati's group to succeed in making his game called Nibiru. His game takes the theme and the storyline similar to the legend and tales of "Nibiru". The ancient tales say that Nibiru is what our planet will be called, after in the distant future when it collides with a planetary object. Kind of like an Armageddon, the end of humanity as we know it. Our game has a strong narrative which means our level progression will be very important. The main mechanic for our game is gravity shift, where the player is able to change the gravity and move on the ceiling, and also moving obstacles at the same time. This will be used to unlock new areas to finish the level and also to kill enemies since he is not able to physically kill anyone as he has no attacks. The level progression and plans will be written in the next blog post.

CCDN 231

Experimental Design Ideas

Project 2: Sensory/Emotion Experiment

Final Video

CCDN 231

Experimental Design Ideas

Project Two: Sensory/Emotion Experiment

Rationale and Final Presentation

MDDN 243

Introduction to Computer Game Design

Project 3: Symbiosis

For project 2, the tutors chose the top games that they thought had potential to be made further and better. My game wasn't chosen unfortunately but that doesn't count me out just yet. The previous project leads onto our last project where we have to get into a group of 4 with one of the student's who's game was chosen. I got into my friend Tamati's group who had the idea of a game called "Nibiri" which has the main game mechanic of gravity. I can't wait to start this project and see what the outcome of it will be..

MDDN 243

Introduction to Computer Game Design

Project Two: Prototype

This is the final game prototype that I have created using Stencyl. Unfortunately, it wouldn't let me publish my game which was definitely a let down, so I decide to create a video documenting myself play the game and show it's main mechanics. The game is called Bunz's Quest. It's about a bunny who gets his family captured by evil poachers, and his mission is to save them. This game has a similar style to Mario but incorporates problem solving as well where the player needs to think about which jumps they need to do. The basic mechanics is walking with jumping as the main mechanic of the game. 

MDDN 243

Introduction to Computer Game Design

Project Two: Prototype

I decided that with my game, the poacher will not be moving as such and will just sit there big and powerful with its net in his hand with the wind blowing it. I wanted to animate just the net and also gave it a squashed look after being hurt and jumped on.

MDDN 243

Introduction to Computer Game Design

Project Two: Prototype

I played around with the colours a little bit and have come up with this combination. I chose these colours because my game is a children's game which is very colourful. So I wanted to continue the theme and apply a purple and orange mix to my Poacher.

MDDN 243

Introduction to Computer Game Design

Project Two: Prototype

I had to design a bad guy for the game that will work with the narrative and have created this mysterious no face poacher. This is just a basic design I made on my tablet but till need to colour it in now to suit the game.

MDDN 243

Introduction to Computer Game Design

Project Two: Prototype

The sheep was the first bad guy that I had with my idea and was the most common enemy. The sheep on the top is the normal version, which only takes a simple stomp from a jump to kill. Their animation will be that their feet are moving and that is simply gets squashed when it is stomped on. During the progression of the game, the sheep eventually turn into zombie sheep and are on fire. It has the same animation as normal sheep.

MDDN 243

Introduction to Computer Game Design

Project Two: Prototype

The main mechanic of my game will be jumping, and I took the idea from Mario that when my character jumps he only has on animation for it. In this case it will be his feet pointing downwards and his ears lowering a bit. 

MDDN 243

Introduction to Computer Game Design

Project Two: Prototype

Bunz's Is the main character in my game that I have designed. Below is the main and simple frames that I have created for his walking animation that I'll use in Stencyl.

CCDN 231

Experimental Design Ideas

Project One: Sensory Ethnography

Final Video

CCDN 231

Experimental Design Ideas

Project One: Sensory Ethnography

Final Findings Slide