http://toshnak.com/giflash/start_menu_1.html
Here's an update of what I have so far.
I may need one of the artists to redraw the gate in the beginning of the animation since it is pretty low res.
I think once you click on start, there should be another "lobby" type of screen before you start the game.
Under the "options" menu it should be things like FX volume, BG volume, display quality, etc. The technical stuff.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
On Weapon Design
Note - Didn't mention this at the meeting, since I didn't think of it then. However I did mention a similar approach months ago.
Approach:
The approach is simple. Just define all of the important/relevant properties and considerations (Note - this should be a list that is built up overtime. And ask others for points/things that you may have missed). Then use them when designing something specific, so that you can hit all of the points you've listed.
Example for Weapon Design (for our game):
(Note - if I'm missing something, then consider mentioning it by commenting)
(Weapon/Projectile) Properties:
(Note - remember to consider what I'm calling as meta-properties, such as the static/dynamic nature of each of the following properties.)
Approach:
The approach is simple. Just define all of the important/relevant properties and considerations (Note - this should be a list that is built up overtime. And ask others for points/things that you may have missed). Then use them when designing something specific, so that you can hit all of the points you've listed.
Example for Weapon Design (for our game):
(Note - if I'm missing something, then consider mentioning it by commenting)
(Weapon/Projectile) Properties:
(Note - remember to consider what I'm calling as meta-properties, such as the static/dynamic nature of each of the following properties.)
- Entity Damage (i.e., damage to an entity/robot)
- Status Effect (e.g., stun)
- Projectile Damage (i.e., damage applied to colliding projectiles)
- Size/Volume
- Speed
- Health
- Multitude (i.e., # of projectiles)
- Life Duration
- Flight Path
- Other Special Conditional Effects (e.g., splitting up an opposing projectile into multiple projectiles, where the # depends on the size of the opposing projectile)
- Momentum imparted upon killing a robot
Considerations:
- What role/stereotype does the weapon make the person feel that he's playing? (e.g., the turtle, tricker, damage dealer, phantom, etc.) (Note - a list of possible roles/stereotypes should probably be written out and kept tracked of)
- What does the weapon feel like? What will generally be people's perception of the weapon itself? (e.g., a weapon may feel powerful due to the explosive impact, or unwieldy, slow, floaty, etc.)
- Is the design relatively unique (compared to other games)?
- Is it deeply designed? What are the possible pros/cons of using this weapon in each possible scenario/situation/condition?
Specific Example Weapon:
Consider a phantom bullet that phases in and out on certain time intervals. (Note - during the initial conception, it's not always necessary to define specific values for each "property". And the design approach listed above is intended more for thinking rather than writing out everything with each item designed, because it would be too tedious otherwise; but it's important to mention at least a couple of considerations and to mention the non-obvious considerations.).
- I can't think of the vocabularies to exactly describe what role/stereotype the player will feel like they're in when using this weapon, but it's certainly considered (and I hope it's obvious, given the "phantom" name).
- The projectile will give off an aura of phantasm/ghostliness to emphasize the type of role/stereotype that the player should sense.
- An example case when this would be useful is that it can bypass a single dominating projectile.
- A case when this would not be so useful is going against a head-on beam (or rapid series of head-on projectiles) that can dominate it.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Ideas Discussed Last Meeting
1. Player gain a movement speed boost when walking onto enemy glow trail or onto the player's own tiles. This allows a player increased mobility when directly chasing down an enemy as well as when fighting from an area mostly under that player's control.
2. Environment has energy/elemental fields that modify the properties and characters and projectiles that pass into them. Possible changed properties include size and velocity.
3. Player picks up materials to craft weapons and expends all carried materials to craft an item by pressing the craft button. The type of weapon crafted depends on the proportion of material types in the player's inventory at the time of crafting. The quality of the weapon depends on the quantity of materials carried.
4. Player has reserve weapon slot. Player can press button to swap active weapon with reserve weapon. Moving over a weapon on the map will swap the reserve weapon with the weapon on the ground.
5. Player picks up materials to craft weapons and chooses which materials to use by inputting a button sequence, with a button assigned to each material type. The order and number of materials used in the sequence determines the crafted weapon. Each match, the sequence that qualifies to craft a each weapon is randomized, so players have to experiment with each new match to figure out what sequences will create each weapon. Forcing players to relearn with each match allows new players a fair chance against players who play the game a lot.
6. Create single player campaign levels selectable from a menu or a world map. Each level is a challenge in which the player much accomplish some objective in the arena. The objective may be collection, survival, defense, killing, or others. Each challenge is a re-enactment of some historical conflict in the game world's history and is named for a historical figure connected to the conflict. Performance on each level is scored, and sufficient total score from all levels combined will unlock subsequent sets of challenge levels.
2. Environment has energy/elemental fields that modify the properties and characters and projectiles that pass into them. Possible changed properties include size and velocity.
3. Player picks up materials to craft weapons and expends all carried materials to craft an item by pressing the craft button. The type of weapon crafted depends on the proportion of material types in the player's inventory at the time of crafting. The quality of the weapon depends on the quantity of materials carried.
4. Player has reserve weapon slot. Player can press button to swap active weapon with reserve weapon. Moving over a weapon on the map will swap the reserve weapon with the weapon on the ground.
5. Player picks up materials to craft weapons and chooses which materials to use by inputting a button sequence, with a button assigned to each material type. The order and number of materials used in the sequence determines the crafted weapon. Each match, the sequence that qualifies to craft a each weapon is randomized, so players have to experiment with each new match to figure out what sequences will create each weapon. Forcing players to relearn with each match allows new players a fair chance against players who play the game a lot.
6. Create single player campaign levels selectable from a menu or a world map. Each level is a challenge in which the player much accomplish some objective in the arena. The objective may be collection, survival, defense, killing, or others. Each challenge is a re-enactment of some historical conflict in the game world's history and is named for a historical figure connected to the conflict. Performance on each level is scored, and sufficient total score from all levels combined will unlock subsequent sets of challenge levels.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Some Thoughts
Weapon Spawns
People seem to like being able to choose the weapon to pick up on the field, but I think it's awkward if characters automatically pick up weapons under certain conditions and walk through weapons when they already have another equipped. Here's a couple of solutions I considered where each introduces some Pros and Cons of their own. (Note - I'm intentionally leaving some details unspecified, since there are several possible options for them and these details are irrelevant to the main idea):
People seem to like being able to choose the weapon to pick up on the field, but I think it's awkward if characters automatically pick up weapons under certain conditions and walk through weapons when they already have another equipped. Here's a couple of solutions I considered where each introduces some Pros and Cons of their own. (Note - I'm intentionally leaving some details unspecified, since there are several possible options for them and these details are irrelevant to the main idea):
- Objects on the field are basically crafting materials. Players need the necessary ingredients to craft the weapons. There should be some method to clearly show what items the player can craft; one example method is showing the recipe on screen. (Note - if recipes are shown, then it's possible to procedurally generate recipes or decide which weapons can be produced during the match, which can give a bit of randomness/uniqueness to each match as the players' tactics/strategy may need to change.)
- Weapons belong to equivalence classes such that they disappear once one (within the same class) is taken. (Note - a class corresponds with a team/player color)
What if the player also has to consider if it's better to stay within his colored tiles?
What if the player is more vulnerable when playing aggressively (i.e., taking over tiles)? The player is challenged to consider and decide when it's better to be defensive or offensive. For example, characters standing on enemy or glowing tiles take 1.0x damage, whereas characters standing on their own non-glowing tiles only take .5x damage. (Note - The logic/rules for the glowing tiles would be tweaked/modified to support this concept).
Other Ideas that was considered in unison with the above ideas:
- Suppose what if under normal circumstances fired projectiles don't take over tiles. Instead, players must activate their "supers" for this to happen. This adds additional choices/decisions for the player to make and can add a psychological element to a battle as the player must predict the opponent's next move in order to best utilize the effect of taking over of tiles.
- Suppose that Hp and Energy are one and the same. What if firing shots (including the use of "supers") or taking damage both cost energy/hp? ( this can be compared to gambling in a way as the player is paying a cost for potential benefits).
Some concerns which arises from the above ideas:
- HUD/Screen space
- buttons for player input
Monday, October 17, 2011
Stealth Design 2
Prototype for redesign of the stealth system. Upon activation, the player becomes invisible until he chooses to deactivate it. Upon deactivating stealth, the player also deals large damage to all nearby enemies. After 2 seconds of invisibility, stealth automatically ends and damages enemies as if the player had chosen to deactivate it.
In this prototype, stealth activation is on a cooldown timer rather than requiring pickup of a 1 use stealth item as was intended. I may modify the prototype later to incorporate the pickup. At the moment, the "E" keyboard button is pressed to "use" a Kismet trigger and activate/deactivate the stealth. This doesn't replace the fire button, so for now the player can still use other weapons during stealth.
The activation can be buggy and unreliable. I'm not sure if this has to do with some lag in Kismet or if it's some flaw in my scripting method.
Another inaccuracy of this prototype is how the invisible player continues to create a color tile trail that gives away his position. It's hard to precisely gauge how difficult it would be to navigate during stealth without the trail.
Stealth only functions for one of the players (player 3, yellow).
The AI bots are clearly aware of the stealthed player.
The video also shows some of Trenton's sound effects in-game. Strangely, I wasn't able to replace the landing sound, and I'm not sure why.
The fire sound is Trenton's "Basic Fire 6" but randomly pitch-shifted +/- 10% and mixed with a copy of itself with each firing. I think the effect is rather neat, but fairly subtle.
In this prototype, stealth activation is on a cooldown timer rather than requiring pickup of a 1 use stealth item as was intended. I may modify the prototype later to incorporate the pickup. At the moment, the "E" keyboard button is pressed to "use" a Kismet trigger and activate/deactivate the stealth. This doesn't replace the fire button, so for now the player can still use other weapons during stealth.
The activation can be buggy and unreliable. I'm not sure if this has to do with some lag in Kismet or if it's some flaw in my scripting method.
Another inaccuracy of this prototype is how the invisible player continues to create a color tile trail that gives away his position. It's hard to precisely gauge how difficult it would be to navigate during stealth without the trail.
Stealth only functions for one of the players (player 3, yellow).
The AI bots are clearly aware of the stealthed player.
The video also shows some of Trenton's sound effects in-game. Strangely, I wasn't able to replace the landing sound, and I'm not sure why.
The fire sound is Trenton's "Basic Fire 6" but randomly pitch-shifted +/- 10% and mixed with a copy of itself with each firing. I think the effect is rather neat, but fairly subtle.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Gameplay Test with Blinking Stealth
Here's a gameplay video of the blinking stealth mechanic. At the last meeting, we decided we're likely to do the stealth differently, and have 2 seconds or so of total invisibility rather than the longer duration blinking, since it will be more intuitive to players.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
A Different Stealth Slash Weapon Possibility
Today we tested out the "periodic visibility" stealth mechanic as described in the design post for the "Stealth Slash Pickup Weapon."
The stealth feels controllable, and it's not very confusing for the hidden player to estimate where he is. While in stealth mode, the player alternates between .8 seconds of invisibility and .5 seconds of visibility, with the total duration of the stealth mode being several seconds long (between 5-10 seconds). However, we discussed an alternative design to the stealth that is also interesting:
Upon activating the stealth weapon, the player turns invisible for 2-3 seconds. If the player walks within close range of a valid target during this time (enemy player or turret) the player automatically ends stealth mode and attacks any targets within range. The most significant difference is that the player gains stealth mode for a much shorter period, but gains complete invisibility during this time, rather than blinking. This gives less time for the player to reach a target during stealth, so it must be activated shortly before striking. This also means the player does not have to learn how to anticipate walking with the blinking system. The shorter overall duration on the stealth-mode is necessary because the player will quickly lose track of his own location otherwise. Either way, having the player automatically activate the melee attack upon coming into range may be good to have even if we also allow the player to manually trigger the attack.
One concern I have with the shorter duration alternative is that an opponent is more likely to walk away and wait out the brief stealth period, since it is so easy. It then becomes difficult to use the stealth to actually attack unless approaching enemies who are too occupied with one another to realize someone is turning invisible. This is not necessarily bad. In contrast, the longer blinking stealth gives the user more time and opportunity to use the attack portion, or use it to gain concealment while moving around the map.
The stealth feels controllable, and it's not very confusing for the hidden player to estimate where he is. While in stealth mode, the player alternates between .8 seconds of invisibility and .5 seconds of visibility, with the total duration of the stealth mode being several seconds long (between 5-10 seconds). However, we discussed an alternative design to the stealth that is also interesting:
Upon activating the stealth weapon, the player turns invisible for 2-3 seconds. If the player walks within close range of a valid target during this time (enemy player or turret) the player automatically ends stealth mode and attacks any targets within range. The most significant difference is that the player gains stealth mode for a much shorter period, but gains complete invisibility during this time, rather than blinking. This gives less time for the player to reach a target during stealth, so it must be activated shortly before striking. This also means the player does not have to learn how to anticipate walking with the blinking system. The shorter overall duration on the stealth-mode is necessary because the player will quickly lose track of his own location otherwise. Either way, having the player automatically activate the melee attack upon coming into range may be good to have even if we also allow the player to manually trigger the attack.
One concern I have with the shorter duration alternative is that an opponent is more likely to walk away and wait out the brief stealth period, since it is so easy. It then becomes difficult to use the stealth to actually attack unless approaching enemies who are too occupied with one another to realize someone is turning invisible. This is not necessarily bad. In contrast, the longer blinking stealth gives the user more time and opportunity to use the attack portion, or use it to gain concealment while moving around the map.
Weapon Ratings
This is an assessment of the roles and values of the current weapon designs. Weapons have traits rated from 1 to 3, with 3 meaning a weapon is most useful when used for that purpose.
Boomerang Shield:
3 Kill Player
2 Kill Turret
3 Survival
1 Tile Gain
1 Negate Enemy Gains
Dash Trap:
2 Kill Player
2 Kill Turret
2 Survival
2 Tile Gain
2 Negate Enemy Gains
Ground Worm:
1 Kill Player
3 Kill Turret
1 Survival
3 Tile Gain
3 Negate Enemy Gains
Hijack:
1 Kill Player
3 Kill Turret
1 Survival
2 Tile Gain
3 Negate Enemy Gains
Auto Turret:
1 Kill Player
1 Kill Turret
1 Survival
3 Tile Gain
3 Negate Enemy Gains
Stealth Slash:
2 Kill Player
3 Kill Turret
3 Survival
1 Tile Gain
3 Negate Enemy Gains
Boomerang Shield:
3 Kill Player
2 Kill Turret
3 Survival
1 Tile Gain
1 Negate Enemy Gains
Dash Trap:
2 Kill Player
2 Kill Turret
2 Survival
2 Tile Gain
2 Negate Enemy Gains
Ground Worm:
1 Kill Player
3 Kill Turret
1 Survival
3 Tile Gain
3 Negate Enemy Gains
Hijack:
1 Kill Player
3 Kill Turret
1 Survival
2 Tile Gain
3 Negate Enemy Gains
Auto Turret:
1 Kill Player
1 Kill Turret
1 Survival
3 Tile Gain
3 Negate Enemy Gains
Stealth Slash:
2 Kill Player
3 Kill Turret
3 Survival
1 Tile Gain
3 Negate Enemy Gains
Monday, September 19, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Boomerang Shield Pickup Weapon
This pickup weapon allows the player to rapidly fire projectiles out to a medium range, which later fly back to the player and create a shield.
- When activated, the player files a projectile and gains the energy to rapidly fire more similar projectiles
- The projectiles may be continuously fired as long as energy remains
- Each projectile consumes energy, and the energy also depletes over time
- While the player has energy to fire the projectiles, a particle aura surrounds the player
- The particle aura changes color and flashes when critically low on energy for this attack
- The projectiles damage enemies they strike, but pass through without being dissipated
- Each projectile may only damage a given target one time during its flight
- The projectiles have significant spread for low accuracy
- After a projectile travels for a certain amount of time or strikes a wall or level edge, it stops moving
- While a projectile is stopped, enemy players can walk through it, but takes damage per unit time while in contact
- The projectiles do not damage the player who fired them
- After a certain amount of time passes after a projectile stops, it will rapidly fly back to the player who fired it, homing in with perfect accuracy and much greater speed than when it was fired outward
- The return flight has no range limit and will reach the firer regardless of distance between them (we should consider whether the return flight can pass through level geometry or if level collision destroys the projectile)
- During the return flight, the projectile passes through and damages enemies as before, except the higher speed makes it harder to avoid and it is aimed toward the firer
- When a projectile strikes its firer at the end of the return, it creates a special shield around the player or adds health to an existing shield, and then dissipates
- The amount of shield health granted by a projectile is a percentage of the damage it dealt after being fired by the player
- When a projectile strikes is firer upon return, an explosion occurs centered on the player, dealing damage to enemies, knocking them away, and claiming tiles within its radius
- When a shielded player would take damage, the shield is damaged instead, with the damage lowering the shield's health
- While the shield has very low health, its appearance reflects this
- The projectiles from this weapon do not have very much health, and can be reliably destroyed by contact with enemy weapons during flight or when stopped
- If a player picks up a replacement weapon prior to firing off all this weapon's projectile energy, all remaining energy is lost, but previously fired projectiles will still return after the normal amount of time and shield the player
- The shield only protects from damage, and does not stop other effects like knockback, hijack, or tile loss
- The shield slowly loses health over time
- The shield may be built up to be very healthy with multiple uses of the boomerang shield weapon, but there is a maximum amount of shield health possible, and its appearance changes to indicate that it is near its maximum
- The enhanced version of boomerang shield has a higher rate of fire, projectiles with faster outward flight, and more energy to fire the projectiles with
- The boomerang shield is the one of the most reliable weapons for straight-forward combat, providing sustainable offense for a time along with defense
- When activated, the player files a projectile and gains the energy to rapidly fire more similar projectiles
- The projectiles may be continuously fired as long as energy remains
- Each projectile consumes energy, and the energy also depletes over time
- While the player has energy to fire the projectiles, a particle aura surrounds the player
- The particle aura changes color and flashes when critically low on energy for this attack
- The projectiles damage enemies they strike, but pass through without being dissipated
- Each projectile may only damage a given target one time during its flight
- The projectiles have significant spread for low accuracy
- After a projectile travels for a certain amount of time or strikes a wall or level edge, it stops moving
- While a projectile is stopped, enemy players can walk through it, but takes damage per unit time while in contact
- The projectiles do not damage the player who fired them
- After a certain amount of time passes after a projectile stops, it will rapidly fly back to the player who fired it, homing in with perfect accuracy and much greater speed than when it was fired outward
- The return flight has no range limit and will reach the firer regardless of distance between them (we should consider whether the return flight can pass through level geometry or if level collision destroys the projectile)
- During the return flight, the projectile passes through and damages enemies as before, except the higher speed makes it harder to avoid and it is aimed toward the firer
- When a projectile strikes its firer at the end of the return, it creates a special shield around the player or adds health to an existing shield, and then dissipates
- The amount of shield health granted by a projectile is a percentage of the damage it dealt after being fired by the player
- When a projectile strikes is firer upon return, an explosion occurs centered on the player, dealing damage to enemies, knocking them away, and claiming tiles within its radius
- When a shielded player would take damage, the shield is damaged instead, with the damage lowering the shield's health
- While the shield has very low health, its appearance reflects this
- The projectiles from this weapon do not have very much health, and can be reliably destroyed by contact with enemy weapons during flight or when stopped
- If a player picks up a replacement weapon prior to firing off all this weapon's projectile energy, all remaining energy is lost, but previously fired projectiles will still return after the normal amount of time and shield the player
- The shield only protects from damage, and does not stop other effects like knockback, hijack, or tile loss
- The shield slowly loses health over time
- The shield may be built up to be very healthy with multiple uses of the boomerang shield weapon, but there is a maximum amount of shield health possible, and its appearance changes to indicate that it is near its maximum
- The enhanced version of boomerang shield has a higher rate of fire, projectiles with faster outward flight, and more energy to fire the projectiles with
- The boomerang shield is the one of the most reliable weapons for straight-forward combat, providing sustainable offense for a time along with defense
Dash Trap Pickup Weapon
This pickup weapon allows the user to rapidly dash forward in straight line while leaving harmful traps in a trail.
- Upon activation, the user dashes forward in a straight line for moment, with no steering control during the dash
- The dash ends after a short time duration or when the player collides with an obstacle like a wall, level edge, or player, or turret
- The player may be struck by projectiles and explosions during the dash, but this does not disrupt the dash unless they kill the player
- During the dash, the player may attack and claim tiles as normal, with the added speed making it easier to gain highlight tiles by movement
- The dash speed may be faster than many of the game's projectiles
- For every given number of units of distance traveled during the dash, the player creates an energy trap behind him, building a trail of traps in a line over the course of the dash
- The traps are floating orbs of energy that do not collide with or harm the player that created them, but damage enemies that collide with them
- Traps are colored to represent the player who owns them
- The traps also do not collide with, harm, or get harmed by the player's attacks
- After damaging an enemy, a given trap dissipates
- If a trap exists for a time without damaging an enemy, it selects the location of the nearest valid enemy, and flies toward that location as a projectile
- The traps only select a target location at the moment they change from trap to projectile mode, and do not change targets or flight direction after beginning flight
- The traps have no range limit for targeting, and have sufficient flight speed and duration to reach anywhere on the map
- The traps will not target anything that has too great of an elevation difference from them, such as enemies on a higher or lower floor of the map
- The traps prioritize targets in order of nearest to farthest enemy player, and then nearest to farthest enemy turret
- Whether in trap or projectile mode, the traps will deal damage to enemies they collide with and claim a tile upon which a struck target is standing
- A collision in trap mode deals far more damage than a collision in projectile mode
- Traps may be damaged in either trap or projectile mode, and lose a percentage of their remaining health when entering projectile mode
- The enhanced version of this attack grants the user invulnerability to damage and negative effects during the dash, and deals damage to any damageable object collided with, along with significant knockback
- The enhanced dash will destroy any turret it collides with
- The traps created by the enhanced dash gain an explosion radius on impact, whether in trap or projectile mode, and the explosion claims tiles within that radius
- The role of the dash trap is to allow a quick evasive or escape move combined with an attack that forces the enemy to be more defensive, while also helping the player build up a highlighted tile trail (combining this with the primary activation of stealth slash can be a very good way to highlight a trail)
- Upon activation, the user dashes forward in a straight line for moment, with no steering control during the dash
- The dash ends after a short time duration or when the player collides with an obstacle like a wall, level edge, or player, or turret
- The player may be struck by projectiles and explosions during the dash, but this does not disrupt the dash unless they kill the player
- During the dash, the player may attack and claim tiles as normal, with the added speed making it easier to gain highlight tiles by movement
- The dash speed may be faster than many of the game's projectiles
- For every given number of units of distance traveled during the dash, the player creates an energy trap behind him, building a trail of traps in a line over the course of the dash
- The traps are floating orbs of energy that do not collide with or harm the player that created them, but damage enemies that collide with them
- Traps are colored to represent the player who owns them
- The traps also do not collide with, harm, or get harmed by the player's attacks
- After damaging an enemy, a given trap dissipates
- If a trap exists for a time without damaging an enemy, it selects the location of the nearest valid enemy, and flies toward that location as a projectile
- The traps only select a target location at the moment they change from trap to projectile mode, and do not change targets or flight direction after beginning flight
- The traps have no range limit for targeting, and have sufficient flight speed and duration to reach anywhere on the map
- The traps will not target anything that has too great of an elevation difference from them, such as enemies on a higher or lower floor of the map
- The traps prioritize targets in order of nearest to farthest enemy player, and then nearest to farthest enemy turret
- Whether in trap or projectile mode, the traps will deal damage to enemies they collide with and claim a tile upon which a struck target is standing
- A collision in trap mode deals far more damage than a collision in projectile mode
- Traps may be damaged in either trap or projectile mode, and lose a percentage of their remaining health when entering projectile mode
- The enhanced version of this attack grants the user invulnerability to damage and negative effects during the dash, and deals damage to any damageable object collided with, along with significant knockback
- The enhanced dash will destroy any turret it collides with
- The traps created by the enhanced dash gain an explosion radius on impact, whether in trap or projectile mode, and the explosion claims tiles within that radius
- The role of the dash trap is to allow a quick evasive or escape move combined with an attack that forces the enemy to be more defensive, while also helping the player build up a highlighted tile trail (combining this with the primary activation of stealth slash can be a very good way to highlight a trail)
Stealth Slash Pickup Weapon
This is a weapon that can be picked up on the level.
- When this weapon is activated, the user turns invisible for a time, and is able to activate the weapon once again to actually attack
- The primary and secondary activations together constitute a single use of the weapon for purposes of ammo expenditure
- After the primary activation, the user instantly enters stealth-mode and only exits this mode when killed, using the secondary activation to attack, using some other attack, or after a time duration expires
- While in stealth-mode, the character cannot be seen by anyone, except for periodically becoming visible briefly (appearing for about 0.5 seconds once every 3 seconds)
- While in stealth-mode, the character does not claim new tiles by walking, but the game keeps track of the tiles he would have claimed by walking
- When stealth-mode ends, all the tiles that would have been claimed by walking during stealth-mode are now claimed and highlighted as if the player had just walked over all of them (this is likely the most reliable way to build a long highlight trail, since they are all highlighted in an instant)
- An unseen character may be affected by attacks as normal, but being damaged does not disrupt the invisibility in any way aside from the obvious clue of a projectile exploding when it strikes the invisible character
- While a character is unseen, any particle effects on the character are also invisible, but become briefly visible during the periodic moments when the character becomes visible
- While in stealth-mode, a character cannot be targeted for attack by anything besides a player (turrets cannot target this character)
- The secondary activation is an attack, which appears as a circular spinning slash with an energy sword, striking all enemies within a certain radius of the user
- Any enemy players struck by the slash lose all their claimed and highlighted tiles, with the tiles reverting to unclaimed status
- The user also claims any tiles within the slash radius
- Stealth-mode ends when the slash is used (the player appears and then slashes, and then tiles are claimed by the end of stealth-mode)
- The slash instantly destroys any turret or projectile it strikes
- A player struck by the slash does not lose ownership of tiles occupied by his turrets
- A player struck by the slash does lose ownership of tiles ignited by his ground worm, although these tiles remain ignited and thus cannot be claimed by the player's enemies
- If a player uses the primary activation to enter stealth-mode, but picks up a replacement weapon before activating the slash, then the player retains the normal benefits of stealth-mode, but the new weapon replaces his ability to use the slash
- Using enhanced attack on this weapon will improve both the stealth-mode and the slash with a single enhance usage
- Enhanced stealth-mode will let the player run faster (which likely results in a much longer highlighted tile trail for the player when the stealth-mode ends)
- Players struck by the enhanced slash will take more damage, and all their turrets, ground worms, and ignite effects are destroyed (any tiles that would have been protected from loss by an occupying turret are lost when the turret is destroyed)
- The role of the stealth slash is to destroy the leading player's tile and turret advantage without having to kill him, as well as reliably building up a trail of highlighted tiles and providing some safety from attack
- When this weapon is activated, the user turns invisible for a time, and is able to activate the weapon once again to actually attack
- The primary and secondary activations together constitute a single use of the weapon for purposes of ammo expenditure
- After the primary activation, the user instantly enters stealth-mode and only exits this mode when killed, using the secondary activation to attack, using some other attack, or after a time duration expires
- While in stealth-mode, the character cannot be seen by anyone, except for periodically becoming visible briefly (appearing for about 0.5 seconds once every 3 seconds)
- While in stealth-mode, the character does not claim new tiles by walking, but the game keeps track of the tiles he would have claimed by walking
- When stealth-mode ends, all the tiles that would have been claimed by walking during stealth-mode are now claimed and highlighted as if the player had just walked over all of them (this is likely the most reliable way to build a long highlight trail, since they are all highlighted in an instant)
- An unseen character may be affected by attacks as normal, but being damaged does not disrupt the invisibility in any way aside from the obvious clue of a projectile exploding when it strikes the invisible character
- While a character is unseen, any particle effects on the character are also invisible, but become briefly visible during the periodic moments when the character becomes visible
- While in stealth-mode, a character cannot be targeted for attack by anything besides a player (turrets cannot target this character)
- The secondary activation is an attack, which appears as a circular spinning slash with an energy sword, striking all enemies within a certain radius of the user
- Any enemy players struck by the slash lose all their claimed and highlighted tiles, with the tiles reverting to unclaimed status
- The user also claims any tiles within the slash radius
- Stealth-mode ends when the slash is used (the player appears and then slashes, and then tiles are claimed by the end of stealth-mode)
- The slash instantly destroys any turret or projectile it strikes
- A player struck by the slash does not lose ownership of tiles occupied by his turrets
- A player struck by the slash does lose ownership of tiles ignited by his ground worm, although these tiles remain ignited and thus cannot be claimed by the player's enemies
- If a player uses the primary activation to enter stealth-mode, but picks up a replacement weapon before activating the slash, then the player retains the normal benefits of stealth-mode, but the new weapon replaces his ability to use the slash
- Using enhanced attack on this weapon will improve both the stealth-mode and the slash with a single enhance usage
- Enhanced stealth-mode will let the player run faster (which likely results in a much longer highlighted tile trail for the player when the stealth-mode ends)
- Players struck by the enhanced slash will take more damage, and all their turrets, ground worms, and ignite effects are destroyed (any tiles that would have been protected from loss by an occupying turret are lost when the turret is destroyed)
- The role of the stealth slash is to destroy the leading player's tile and turret advantage without having to kill him, as well as reliably building up a trail of highlighted tiles and providing some safety from attack
Ground Worm Pickup Weapon
This is a pickup weapon on the map. It fires a projectile that claims and ignites on fire any tiles it passes over, and shields them from being claimed by enemies.
- The player fires a low projectile that travels along the surface of the tiles, below the elevation of most other projectiles
- The projectile travels in a straight line until it dissipates when it cannot travel any further over tiles in that direction (because it meets a wall, the edge of the level, or a surface that cannot be ever claimed like the current elevators)
- If the projectile's path is unblocked, it continues to move forward for a very long time
- The projectile claims any tile it passes over for the user's color, and also ignites those tiles on fire that is of the color of the user, creating the effect of a flaming worm crawling across the ground
- The projectile will not claim a tile occupied by an enemy turret, but will ignite the tile on fire
- Flaming tiles deal damage per unit time to any enemy within a given distance above them, such as enemy players, enemy turrets, and enemy projectiles that pass over their space
- Each tile remains flaming for a certain amount of time after it first ignites
- While a tile is on fire, it cannot be claimed by enemy players, and new enemy turrets cannot be created on it
- While a tile is on fire, the ground worm user may still lose ownership of the tile's color, such as when the player dies
- The owner of the flame effect and his projectiles and turrets are not damaged by the flame
- The fired projectile that bestows the flame effect may be damaged and destroyed, but this does not quench any previously ignited tiles
- The ground worm projectile moves too close to the ground to be struck by the hijack projectiles, and cannot be hijacked in any case
- If a player fires the ground worm while hijacked, the projectile along with any tiles it claims and ignites are owned by the hijacker, and deal damage to the hijacker's enemies as if the hijacker had fired the worm
- The projectile passes through players and turrets without dealing damage, but its tile ignite effect will deal damage
- If the projectile passes over a tile currently occupied by an enemy player, it claims and ignites the tile just as it would an unoccupied tile
- If the projectile passes over a tile that is protected by an enemy ground worm's ignite effect, it will claim the tile and override the enemy ignite, but take damage from doing so
- The enhanced version of this projectile does not stop and dissipate when there is no more ground in front of it, but instead changes direction to move away from the obstacle at an opposite angle, as if reflecting off a mirror
- The role of the ground worm is to be one of the most reliable ways to control space, being less sustainable than a turret, but also having the ability to quickly destroy stationary targets like turrets
- The player fires a low projectile that travels along the surface of the tiles, below the elevation of most other projectiles
- The projectile travels in a straight line until it dissipates when it cannot travel any further over tiles in that direction (because it meets a wall, the edge of the level, or a surface that cannot be ever claimed like the current elevators)
- If the projectile's path is unblocked, it continues to move forward for a very long time
- The projectile claims any tile it passes over for the user's color, and also ignites those tiles on fire that is of the color of the user, creating the effect of a flaming worm crawling across the ground
- The projectile will not claim a tile occupied by an enemy turret, but will ignite the tile on fire
- Flaming tiles deal damage per unit time to any enemy within a given distance above them, such as enemy players, enemy turrets, and enemy projectiles that pass over their space
- Each tile remains flaming for a certain amount of time after it first ignites
- While a tile is on fire, it cannot be claimed by enemy players, and new enemy turrets cannot be created on it
- While a tile is on fire, the ground worm user may still lose ownership of the tile's color, such as when the player dies
- The owner of the flame effect and his projectiles and turrets are not damaged by the flame
- The fired projectile that bestows the flame effect may be damaged and destroyed, but this does not quench any previously ignited tiles
- The ground worm projectile moves too close to the ground to be struck by the hijack projectiles, and cannot be hijacked in any case
- If a player fires the ground worm while hijacked, the projectile along with any tiles it claims and ignites are owned by the hijacker, and deal damage to the hijacker's enemies as if the hijacker had fired the worm
- The projectile passes through players and turrets without dealing damage, but its tile ignite effect will deal damage
- If the projectile passes over a tile currently occupied by an enemy player, it claims and ignites the tile just as it would an unoccupied tile
- If the projectile passes over a tile that is protected by an enemy ground worm's ignite effect, it will claim the tile and override the enemy ignite, but take damage from doing so
- The enhanced version of this projectile does not stop and dissipate when there is no more ground in front of it, but instead changes direction to move away from the obstacle at an opposite angle, as if reflecting off a mirror
- The role of the ground worm is to be one of the most reliable ways to control space, being less sustainable than a turret, but also having the ability to quickly destroy stationary targets like turrets
Hijack Pickup Weapon
This weapon can be picked up on the map.
- The player fires a single spread of multiple projectiles (perhaps 5 or 7)
- Any player struck by one of the projectiles is damaged and also hijacked, and claims tiles for the hijacker with any action that would normally claim tiles for the hijacked player (such as walking and attacks)
- The projectile also claims the tile that a struck target is standing on
- The hijacked status lasts until a certain amount of time passes, the hijacked player dies, or the hijack is overridden by another player's new hijack
- Turrets struck by the hijack projectile are also damaged and hijacked, but the without time limit, so the status lasts until overridden by another hijack or the turret is destroyed
- A hijacked turret is considered owned by the hijacker, and tries to shoot the new owner's enemies and claim tiles for the new owner, and may be healed by the new owner
- The tile occupied by a hijacked turret is claimed by the hijacker
- If a hijacked player creates a turret while hijacked, the turret is owned by the hijacker and acts as if the hijacker created the turret
- A hijacked player's attacks still damage enemy players and turrets as normal, and heal his own turrets as normal
- A hijacked player's turrets that were created prior to the player being hijacked continue to attack and claim tiles for the hijacked player rather than the hijacker
- The projectiles from the hijack weapon have little health compared to most other attacks, and can be easily destroyed by projectiles from other weapons
- The death of a hijacker does not remove any hijacked status on targets
- While a player is hijacked, a particle effect indicates the hijacked status
- If we implement an enhanced version, the enhancement will fire a spread that includes more projectiles, projectiles with more health, a denser pattern, and travels faster, and if it strikes the killing blow against a player, it claims all that player's tiles and turrets for the hijack user to own
- The role of the hijack is to force enemies to carefully consider when to attack and move, and it is one of the best counters to the auto-turret's ability to dominate the map
- The player fires a single spread of multiple projectiles (perhaps 5 or 7)
- Any player struck by one of the projectiles is damaged and also hijacked, and claims tiles for the hijacker with any action that would normally claim tiles for the hijacked player (such as walking and attacks)
- The projectile also claims the tile that a struck target is standing on
- The hijacked status lasts until a certain amount of time passes, the hijacked player dies, or the hijack is overridden by another player's new hijack
- Turrets struck by the hijack projectile are also damaged and hijacked, but the without time limit, so the status lasts until overridden by another hijack or the turret is destroyed
- A hijacked turret is considered owned by the hijacker, and tries to shoot the new owner's enemies and claim tiles for the new owner, and may be healed by the new owner
- The tile occupied by a hijacked turret is claimed by the hijacker
- If a hijacked player creates a turret while hijacked, the turret is owned by the hijacker and acts as if the hijacker created the turret
- A hijacked player's attacks still damage enemy players and turrets as normal, and heal his own turrets as normal
- A hijacked player's turrets that were created prior to the player being hijacked continue to attack and claim tiles for the hijacked player rather than the hijacker
- The projectiles from the hijack weapon have little health compared to most other attacks, and can be easily destroyed by projectiles from other weapons
- The death of a hijacker does not remove any hijacked status on targets
- While a player is hijacked, a particle effect indicates the hijacked status
- If we implement an enhanced version, the enhancement will fire a spread that includes more projectiles, projectiles with more health, a denser pattern, and travels faster, and if it strikes the killing blow against a player, it claims all that player's tiles and turrets for the hijack user to own
- The role of the hijack is to force enemies to carefully consider when to attack and move, and it is one of the best counters to the auto-turret's ability to dominate the map
Auto-Turret Pickup Weapon
This weapon can be picked up by players on the level. When activated, it creates a gun turret in the center of the user's current tile.
- Upon creation, the turret displaces players out of the tile it occupies
- The turret's tile remains claimed by the player who created the turret, even if the player dies, and cannot be claimed by enemy players while the turret exists (we may consider having the turret self-destruct if the owner dies)
- The turret periodically fires a 3-round rapid burst of projectiles at a target within a maximum range
- Turret target priority is in order of nearest to farthest enemy player, and then nearest to farthest destructible enemy object (such as enemy turrets), and then nearest to farthest tile not claimed by the turret's owner
- If there are no valid targets within range (no enemies or unclaimed tiles, the turret is idle until a valid target becomes available)
- The turret only fires at targets on the same elevation on the level as itself
- The projectile deals damage to targets with health and claims the tile that the target is standing on for the turret's owner
- The projectile claims any tile it strikes for the turret's owner
- The turret has health and may be damaged
- The turret rapidly heals back to full health if not damaged for a certain amount of time, similar to player characters
- The turret owner's standard attacks heal the turret by some amount proportional to the damage the attacks would normally deal (we may consider allowing the pickup weapon attacks to also heal the turret)
- When the turret is at critically low health, this is indicated by a flashing colored material effect on it
- If we implement enhanced attacks, the enhanced turret may have increased maximum health and fire rate
- The role of the auto-turret is to be one of the most reliable weapons for controlling space, and being able to build and sustain many turrets is a sign of progress and advantage
- Upon creation, the turret displaces players out of the tile it occupies
- The turret's tile remains claimed by the player who created the turret, even if the player dies, and cannot be claimed by enemy players while the turret exists (we may consider having the turret self-destruct if the owner dies)
- The turret periodically fires a 3-round rapid burst of projectiles at a target within a maximum range
- Turret target priority is in order of nearest to farthest enemy player, and then nearest to farthest destructible enemy object (such as enemy turrets), and then nearest to farthest tile not claimed by the turret's owner
- If there are no valid targets within range (no enemies or unclaimed tiles, the turret is idle until a valid target becomes available)
- The turret only fires at targets on the same elevation on the level as itself
- The projectile deals damage to targets with health and claims the tile that the target is standing on for the turret's owner
- The projectile claims any tile it strikes for the turret's owner
- The turret has health and may be damaged
- The turret rapidly heals back to full health if not damaged for a certain amount of time, similar to player characters
- The turret owner's standard attacks heal the turret by some amount proportional to the damage the attacks would normally deal (we may consider allowing the pickup weapon attacks to also heal the turret)
- When the turret is at critically low health, this is indicated by a flashing colored material effect on it
- If we implement enhanced attacks, the enhanced turret may have increased maximum health and fire rate
- The role of the auto-turret is to be one of the most reliable weapons for controlling space, and being able to build and sustain many turrets is a sign of progress and advantage
Enhanced Attack by Expending Highlight Tiles
At the last meeting we discussed the possibility of an enhanced version of each pickup weapon's attack that can be used by expending a certain number of highlighted tiles:
- When a player claims tiles by walking, the tiles change to the player's color and become also highlighted (we should discuss whether to allow tiles gained from attacks to gain the highlight)
- Highlighted tiles grant the player points over time just like normal colored tiles, but may also be expended to fire enhanced attacks with the currently equipped pickup weapon, and after expenditure will revert to normal colored tiles
- There is no maximum number of highlighted tiles the player may have at one time (we may want them to revert to normal colored tiles if enough time passes after they are gained however)
- The player may re-claim a currently owned colored or highlighted tile to highlight it, and this replaces any old highlight with a new one
- When a player fires a pickup weapon, if the player has more than a certain number of highlight tiles, that quantity of them is expended, and revert back to normal colored tiles (reverting in order of oldest to newest acquired)
- When highlight tiles are expended to fire a pickup weapon weapon, an enhanced version of that weapon's attack is fired (we may also want the improved attack to not expend the weapon's single use ammo, and allow consecutive shots as long as highlight tiles are available) (we may want to implement a cooldown between improved attacks to avoid a player gaining too much advantage from attacks with disabling effects)
- It will be difficult to build up a large number of highlighted tiles because other players can claim those tiles by walking or with attacks
- If a player's highlighted tile is claimed by an enemy player, all the player's remaining highlighted tiles gained prior to the one just lost will lose their highlight status and revert to normal colored status
- Highlighted tiles or the player should show some visible display that there are enough highlighted tiles to fire an enhanced attack
- Highlighted tiles should show some visible display that they are being expended for an enhanced attack rather than simply being lost without purpose
- It should require sufficient time and effort to gain enough highlight tiles for the enhanced attack that they cannot be fired frequently, and gaining enough for two enhanced attacks should be nearly impossible unless opponents are totally ignoring the player
- When a player claims tiles by walking, the tiles change to the player's color and become also highlighted (we should discuss whether to allow tiles gained from attacks to gain the highlight)
- Highlighted tiles grant the player points over time just like normal colored tiles, but may also be expended to fire enhanced attacks with the currently equipped pickup weapon, and after expenditure will revert to normal colored tiles
- There is no maximum number of highlighted tiles the player may have at one time (we may want them to revert to normal colored tiles if enough time passes after they are gained however)
- The player may re-claim a currently owned colored or highlighted tile to highlight it, and this replaces any old highlight with a new one
- When a player fires a pickup weapon, if the player has more than a certain number of highlight tiles, that quantity of them is expended, and revert back to normal colored tiles (reverting in order of oldest to newest acquired)
- When highlight tiles are expended to fire a pickup weapon weapon, an enhanced version of that weapon's attack is fired (we may also want the improved attack to not expend the weapon's single use ammo, and allow consecutive shots as long as highlight tiles are available) (we may want to implement a cooldown between improved attacks to avoid a player gaining too much advantage from attacks with disabling effects)
- It will be difficult to build up a large number of highlighted tiles because other players can claim those tiles by walking or with attacks
- If a player's highlighted tile is claimed by an enemy player, all the player's remaining highlighted tiles gained prior to the one just lost will lose their highlight status and revert to normal colored status
- Highlighted tiles or the player should show some visible display that there are enough highlighted tiles to fire an enhanced attack
- Highlighted tiles should show some visible display that they are being expended for an enhanced attack rather than simply being lost without purpose
- It should require sufficient time and effort to gain enough highlight tiles for the enhanced attack that they cannot be fired frequently, and gaining enough for two enhanced attacks should be nearly impossible unless opponents are totally ignoring the player
Endgame Super-Mode
As Tony wrote in his email, we now have a new win condition for the game:
- The player with the most tiles by the a certain time no longer wins
- Players gain points per unit time for each tile they currently own
- When a player reaches target point total, this activates the endgame mode
- Each player's progress toward reaching the point total is displayed in a meter that fills up
- The first player to reach the target point total gains a super-mode with increased abilities
- Super-mode abilities may include:
--- no ammo cost for any attacks
--- increased movement speed
--- increased fire rate
--- increased damage
--- quicker activation time for healing
--- a more devastating replacement for the main weapon
--- a particle effect aura around the character
- It is possible for multiple players to be the first to reach the point total and activate the super-mode
- After the endgame is activated by the first player to reach the point total, players stop gaining points from tiles and cannot attain super-mode
- During the endgame, death is permanent, the goal is killing, and the victor is the last player left alive
- It is possible for a player to be victor without gaining the super-mode from reaching the point total first, but this should be very difficult since players with super-mode have significant combat advantages.
- When a player gains super-mode, the game freezes for a moment while the camera zooms in for a closer view of the super character in an animation that shows the transition to super-mode. If multiple players gain the super-mode at this point, then they animate one at a time and the camera zooms to them one at a time. During this transition sequence, players have no control over the characters, and both characters and any attack effects are frozen. After all the animations end, the camera returns to normal, and normal character control and weapon effects resume.
- The player with the most tiles by the a certain time no longer wins
- Players gain points per unit time for each tile they currently own
- When a player reaches target point total, this activates the endgame mode
- Each player's progress toward reaching the point total is displayed in a meter that fills up
- The first player to reach the target point total gains a super-mode with increased abilities
- Super-mode abilities may include:
--- no ammo cost for any attacks
--- increased movement speed
--- increased fire rate
--- increased damage
--- quicker activation time for healing
--- a more devastating replacement for the main weapon
--- a particle effect aura around the character
- It is possible for multiple players to be the first to reach the point total and activate the super-mode
- After the endgame is activated by the first player to reach the point total, players stop gaining points from tiles and cannot attain super-mode
- During the endgame, death is permanent, the goal is killing, and the victor is the last player left alive
- It is possible for a player to be victor without gaining the super-mode from reaching the point total first, but this should be very difficult since players with super-mode have significant combat advantages.
- When a player gains super-mode, the game freezes for a moment while the camera zooms in for a closer view of the super character in an animation that shows the transition to super-mode. If multiple players gain the super-mode at this point, then they animate one at a time and the camera zooms to them one at a time. During this transition sequence, players have no control over the characters, and both characters and any attack effects are frozen. After all the animations end, the camera returns to normal, and normal character control and weapon effects resume.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Arena Base
So here's my attempt at the Arena's base. The first image is a reference shot to what I was working with. The second is to showcase how this piece can be mirrored. Hope it helps. I emailed the Max file and augmented texture to Brett. Thanks you guys. I'm sorry I can't stick around to help out any more. Best wishes to all with warmest gratitude.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Design Thought
After Momo's post on the blog, I started thinking about the current overall design plan...
In our case (a competitive multiplayer game), I'm thinking "collecting" is only fun if collecting is unrestricted and clearly gives sufficiently great benefits (like in Bomberman). In other words, I think the current design plan which involves collecting 1-time use weapons, where you can't pick up additional weapons is entirely missing the point of using the "collecting" mechanism. I might be wrong, but I think it has the following design flaws:
1) you get in situations where you have to avoid "situationally bad" weapon drops since it may be at a good position to fire ( but you'll pick it up if you fire your current weapon there),
2) having to constantly run around to pick up 1-time use weapon drops can feel like a drag and can conflict with claiming/coloring new tiles, and
3) the weapon drops (or icons) can visually clutter the level, since they can't be all picked up right away.
We can still have "collecting" be a part of the game-play (e.g., power-ups, enhancements, buffs, etc.), but I don't think 1-time use weapons work.
Anyways, right now I'm thinking what if the player can have up to 2 weapons at a time (Note - "2" so that they can make a meaningful choice between which to use), but they obtain it automatically (like the puzzle blocks in Tetris). After using a weapon, it takes some short duration to obtain a new one that fills the slot. The only thing that greatly disturbs me is how to elegantly display the weapons that each player has. Currently, I'm thinking a visual icon will temporally pop-up right above the player character's head to indicate which weapon that character just obtained, but a more permanent display of the weapon will be somewhere more out of the way; also, if the player has no weapons (i.e., used both weapons almost simultaneously), then maybe only 1 weapon is recharged at any one time so that there is only 1 temporal visual icon at any one time. (I've also thought about achievements that can skew the chance of obtaining certain types of weapons. The chances can maybe also be skewed based on situational context.)
What do you guys think about all this? Any criticism or different ideas you'd like to share?
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Just a thought
Hey guys. Just a thought.
What do you guys think if we add another extra button for sheild? I'm thinking this shield is able to use any time and however many times you want. It will protect you from any attack. But the draw back is, while you're using it, you won't be able to attack. Also, there is a few second recharge time once it's used. This may solve the problem of not being able to dodge the shots... Just a thought.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Design Focus of the Week: Game-play Complexity
From our Network Multiplayer session, game-play merely involved straight-forward shooting. As it stands, the current game is too simple.
What do you believe should be implemented into the game to add more complexity and/or fun to the game-play? (Try to adhere to some Key Design Goals mentioned here: http://sites.google.com/site/gridirongamedevelopment/game-direction-overview, such as a frenetic game-play experience).
You can respond however you'd like, but you may want to consider the following guidelines:
1) If you come up with any solution(s) then succinctly explain what it is and how does it solve the above problem.
2) Remember to elaborate on what you actually like about the idea.
(An example solution may be, what if the character had a charging dash ability that can negate up to a # of bullets. What I like about this idea is that it creates a sort of mind-game; that is, the shooter needs to consider how many bullets they should/can unload at once, while the defender needs to consider when to use this dashing ability, since if the attacker unloads too many bullets at once, then the dash will fail.)
We will discuss this at the next meeting and start implementing some of them as we continue prototyping.
Edit:
Some Questions/Cases to Consider:
How does the idea/concept address some of the following (and/or other unspecified aspects)?
"Visuals"
- Ambience/Atmosphere and the dark/gritty nature of the environment. (How does the concept complement and/or contrast with certain details of the game?)
- Basic Properties (i.e., Texture/shape/size/etc.)
- Highlighted Tiles
- Temporal Aspect of the Visuals
- Power/Smoothness/Other Feelings as an inherent part of the Visuals
- If the concept has any relation to any actor in the game, then how will it shape the identity of the actor/character?
"Physical Input Controls"
- tap/charge/release? (There are several interesting possibilities; e.g., see how the bow and arrow works in Bastion).
- Complexity
- Involved actors, including inanimate actors (e.g., an attack involves at least the attacker and the target. How will the target avoid/defend/negate/dodge/counter/reflect the attack? How will the attacker trap/restrict/manipulate/impact the target with respect to temporal, spatial, and other aspects?)
- Relevant Properties (e.g., each projectile from a weapon has a movement pattern/behavior, damage, speed, applied effect upon impact, volume, etc.; note that the 2nd bullet from an on-going firing action doesn't even have to have the same properties as the 1st)
- How does the concept enhance/complement currently implemented game-play elements?
- How may the currently implemented game-play elements/logic be modified to create a better fit for the concept?
What do you believe should be implemented into the game to add more complexity and/or fun to the game-play? (Try to adhere to some Key Design Goals mentioned here: http://sites.google.com/site/gridirongamedevelopment/game-direction-overview
You can respond however you'd like, but you may want to consider the following guidelines:
1) If you come up with any solution(s) then succinctly explain what it is and how does it solve the above problem.
2) Remember to elaborate on what you actually like about the idea.
(An example solution may be, what if the character had a charging dash ability that can negate up to a # of bullets. What I like about this idea is that it creates a sort of mind-game; that is, the shooter needs to consider how many bullets they should/can unload at once, while the defender needs to consider when to use this dashing ability, since if the attacker unloads too many bullets at once, then the dash will fail.)
We will discuss this at the next meeting and start implementing some of them as we continue prototyping.
Edit:
Some Questions/Cases to Consider:
How does the idea/concept address some of the following (and/or other unspecified aspects)?
"Visuals"
- Ambience/Atmosphere and the dark/gritty nature of the environment. (How does the concept complement and/or contrast with certain details of the game?)
- Basic Properties (i.e., Texture/shape/size/etc.)
- Highlighted Tiles
- Temporal Aspect of the Visuals
- Power/Smoothness/Other Feelings as an inherent part of the Visuals
- If the concept has any relation to any actor in the game, then how will it shape the identity of the actor/character?
"Physical Input Controls"
- tap/charge/release? (There are several interesting possibilities; e.g., see how the bow and arrow works in Bastion).
- Complexity
- Involved actors, including inanimate actors (e.g., an attack involves at least the attacker and the target. How will the target avoid/defend/negate/dodge/counter/reflect the attack? How will the attacker trap/restrict/manipulate/impact the target with respect to temporal, spatial, and other aspects?)
- Relevant Properties (e.g., each projectile from a weapon has a movement pattern/behavior, damage, speed, applied effect upon impact, volume, etc.; note that the 2nd bullet from an on-going firing action doesn't even have to have the same properties as the 1st)
- How does the concept enhance/complement currently implemented game-play elements?
- How may the currently implemented game-play elements/logic be modified to create a better fit for the concept?
Friday, July 22, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Concept Power Ups 1
So here's a few ideas I had for the weapon power ups. I'll have a few more up with in the week.
-David
Monday, July 18, 2011
On Weapon Design
Since we're starting to look at weapon designs, I think it'll be beneficial to list weapon properties and considerations to facilitate the design process. This is by no means an exhaustive list, so if there's something missing, then it's a good idea to respond with a comment.
Properties
Possibly Relevant Questions
Properties
- rate of fire
- # of bullets
- speed of bullets
- spread of bullets
- collision volume(s)/area/locality or other requisites for triggering the bullet impact
- area/locality/time or other requisites for receiving the bullet impact
- potential/possible effects of the bullet impact (e.g., damage, slow-down, stun, flinch, push-back, knock-back, etc.), based on some requisite conditions
Possibly Relevant Questions
- How does this incorporate or extend the importance of highlighted tiles? (Note - currently, highlighted tiles provides a speed boost, but it certainly can be changed to include other benefits/disadvantages)
- How does this contribute to the importance of spatial awareness?
- How does this complement/contrast with other weapons or concepts in the game?
- What are some ways to avoid/dodge/negate/counter this attack? (Note - 'avoid' refers to being in a position that can not be impacted by the attack)
- What are some interesting ways to utilize the attack?
Saturday, July 16, 2011
gridiron
here's a little gridiron char i've done paint over for. I'm no sure if it's D2k worthy though.....have work on it a bit more.
gridiron cocept
gridiron concept
Hey guys, so here's the concept I've done. May not fit everyone's vision, but I thougt it may be cool to use for pause screen or title screen or something.
environment concept
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| working out composition, it's still rough.. but thinking the stage is inside of a dome-like factory with lots of windows.. (like brett's reference photos) Large machines can act like buildings around the stage, so the factory is relatively big compared to the stage.. large conveyor belt that can animate things being carried during game play. Stage is attached to a machine (so maybe it can move up and down during play to change scenery?).. |
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Some Game Design Thoughts
1) Tiles with different visual materials to indicate unique properties or categories of properties. (e.g., properties like enhancement/reduction of types of attacks, defense, or effects).
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On use of colors for tiles, I think colors like Cyan and Orange (which are in Momo's previous art concept) looks better than plain Blue; Blue to me just doesn't look as vibrant. I'm not sure how this may have repercussions for the color of weapon particles though.
- Pros: Once developed, it's highly reusable to create a variety of environments/levels; can give more purpose to choice of weapons/power-ups; adds another layer of depth/complexity that the player has to consider
- Cons: (Not sure what it would look like, whether simple or highly detailed, but) the visual indicators on the tiles may restrict art direction
- Note: I have no detailed examples in mind; however, in other games the types tend to be elemental types (e.g., fire, water, grass, etc.)
- Pros: Allows manipulation of the game atmosphere depending on the layout design of the environment; adds another layer of detail that the player has to consider
- Cons: No visual cues may be frustrating for players, so some form of approximate visual cue may be necessary.
- Pros: adds another layer of depth/complexity that the player has to contend with
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On use of colors for tiles, I think colors like Cyan and Orange (which are in Momo's previous art concept) looks better than plain Blue; Blue to me just doesn't look as vibrant. I'm not sure how this may have repercussions for the color of weapon particles though.
(Implemented) Trail Logic Explanation
Currently, highlighted tiles give characters a speed boost when they are running across it. There's 2 types of highlighted tiles (which are not mutually exclusive): Trail tiles and Bonus Trail tiles. A tile can both be a Trail tile and Bonus Trail tile.
A tile becomes a Trail tile when a character initially walks on the tile. Currently, each 'pawn' or character can only own up to a max of 4 Trail tiles that each lasts for 4 seconds. That is, a highlighted tile becomes unhighlighted either after 4 seconds, or the owner has taken over a 5th trail tile.
Highlighted tiles can be stolen by opponents, and these are called Bonus Trail tiles. The highlighted tiles are stolen when a character walks on to an opponent's highlighted tile or through weapon attacks. A character can own an unlimited # of bonus trail tiles. Upon being stolen, the Bonus Trail tile expires based on the max remaining time duration between that of the tile as a Trail tile or Bonus Trail tile. When a Bonus Trail tile is also a Trail tile, then the remaining duration of the Bonus Trail tile is temporary frozen, until it is no longer a Trail tile.
A tile becomes a Trail tile when a character initially walks on the tile. Currently, each 'pawn' or character can only own up to a max of 4 Trail tiles that each lasts for 4 seconds. That is, a highlighted tile becomes unhighlighted either after 4 seconds, or the owner has taken over a 5th trail tile.
Highlighted tiles can be stolen by opponents, and these are called Bonus Trail tiles. The highlighted tiles are stolen when a character walks on to an opponent's highlighted tile or through weapon attacks. A character can own an unlimited # of bonus trail tiles. Upon being stolen, the Bonus Trail tile expires based on the max remaining time duration between that of the tile as a Trail tile or Bonus Trail tile. When a Bonus Trail tile is also a Trail tile, then the remaining duration of the Bonus Trail tile is temporary frozen, until it is no longer a Trail tile.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Website update
Website update
http://toshnak.com/gridironv1/index.html
Contents needed:
Gameplay videos (at least 4)
Gameplay Screenshots(2 or more)
Game description (About 3 long paragraphs)
portrait pix if we want to. (I'll do that)
profile info. Name, position, website, email, etc. for possible future connections.
http://toshnak.com/gridironv1/index.html
Contents needed:
Gameplay videos (at least 4)
Gameplay Screenshots(2 or more)
Game description (About 3 long paragraphs)
portrait pix if we want to. (I'll do that)
profile info. Name, position, website, email, etc. for possible future connections.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Environment/Prop ideas..
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| Took Brett's sketch and am playing around with textures/colors and shapes.. still roughing it out. I'll gather some more reference over the week and work it out. |
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| Some thumbnails of props that will be in the environment. |
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| ...more thumbs |
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Ideas/Thoughts on Trail Tiles
Terminology
Focusing on "Simplicity" (of design and work), there's a few ideas I want to bring up, that we may want to prototype (if we like it).
1) Steal Highlighted Tiles -
- Explanation: What if characters can steal highlighted tiles through weapons or through walking. That is, highlighted tiles owned by someone else can be converted to yours. Of course, stealing highlighted tiles would be useless if it didn't give any benefits, so suppose it does. Then this concept should cause the opponent to think about how their highlighted tiles can be used against them, or the reverse case (i.e., how can they use other opponents tiles). Also, they'd have to think about whether it would be wise to create highlighted tiles in certain situations. Etc.
- Questions to Think About:
2) Highlighted Tiles Increases Speed -
- Explanation: This is just 1 possible benefit of highlighted tiles, where the character's speed increases by running on a highlighted tile. I think this can add a bit to the mind-game element, where there's a clear benefit of a speed boost by being on the highlighted tile, but the highlighted tiles only exists at limited locations, which would make it easier for the opponent to shoot the target if the target only moves on the highlighted tiles.
- Questions to Think About:
Edit: just so I don't forget. I also want to talk about the "Hook/Cool Factor" (see the google site). I'm thinking some sort of EX/super move that uses up the highlighted tiles; maybe the move allows the character to counter the opponent somehow...
- Mind-Game - involves predicting what the opponent will be doing (in the future), and tricking the opponent (into believing and doing something that would be advantageous for you).
- Depth/Complexity - refers to the number of distinct, relevant possibilities/choices/situations that exists in the game.
Focusing on "Simplicity" (of design and work), there's a few ideas I want to bring up, that we may want to prototype (if we like it).
1) Steal Highlighted Tiles -
- Explanation: What if characters can steal highlighted tiles through weapons or through walking. That is, highlighted tiles owned by someone else can be converted to yours. Of course, stealing highlighted tiles would be useless if it didn't give any benefits, so suppose it does. Then this concept should cause the opponent to think about how their highlighted tiles can be used against them, or the reverse case (i.e., how can they use other opponents tiles). Also, they'd have to think about whether it would be wise to create highlighted tiles in certain situations. Etc.
- Questions to Think About:
- Upon ownership change, how is tile expiration time preserved/changed (based on varying situations, factors, weapon/armor types, etc.)?
- How many and what are the "valid" tactics that would be introduced?
2) Highlighted Tiles Increases Speed -
- Explanation: This is just 1 possible benefit of highlighted tiles, where the character's speed increases by running on a highlighted tile. I think this can add a bit to the mind-game element, where there's a clear benefit of a speed boost by being on the highlighted tile, but the highlighted tiles only exists at limited locations, which would make it easier for the opponent to shoot the target if the target only moves on the highlighted tiles.
- Questions to Think About:
- How many and what are the "valid" tactics that would be introduced?
- What if the type of benefit for being on the highlighted tile depends on some factors (e.g. armor type, traits, combat situation, environment, etc.)?
- Other Benefits or Restrictions imposed by being on the highlighted tiles?
- Alternative/Better Solutions (than what I discussed that would add more depth/complexity to the game or include other game elements that we want)?
- Other design ideas/concepts that would enhance this concept?
- Other ideas to add to the mind-game element? (Note that the existence of multiple "valid" tactical choices is an important ingredient for creating mind-games. Now, for example, consider how temporal and spatial aspects may come into play; what if moving towards a projectile allows the character to negate the push-back effect if the character has enough stats to withstand the impact, but moving backwards reduces the damage? How about moving left or right? To come up with these questions/considerations, realize that I focus on exploring the available freedom of control or choices first before injecting in rules/logic to support their "validity".)
Edit: just so I don't forget. I also want to talk about the "Hook/Cool Factor" (see the google site). I'm thinking some sort of EX/super move that uses up the highlighted tiles; maybe the move allows the character to counter the opponent somehow...
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