Yesterday's Meeting

I'm posting (what I remember of) what we talked about yesterday.

Work Accomplished:

• Gina has done the idle and walk animations for the robots
• I think everyone else who was at the meeting has done some stuff, but I don't know the specifics.

Items Discussed

• On Design and Creative Freedom - Gina asked about this, but I also wanted to talk about this. Anyone should feel free to think about the design of the game. Of course, our group will still decide the final outcome, but I hope it doesn't deter anyone from making suggestions, discussing ideas, or taking the initiative to try things first and then present it to the group. Some related points I want to make follows:

1. Generally, don't rely on someone else to specifically detail the area you're working on. It's usually better that you take the initiative by thinking and designing the intricate details of what you're working on or alternatively discuss the general idea first with the group; maybe provide a primitive sketch or outline of the idea. (e.g., when I'm working on programming attacks, I will tweak the values or specifically animate the movement of the characters programmatically just because I think it's better; generally, I don't mind if it needs to be changed later.)
2. Consider the other aspects of the game and how what you're working on will fit with the game as a whole (based on the current up-to-date design decisions).
3. Discuss your design decisions (i.e., what did you consider and think about?) so that everyone can have a good idea of what the game is becoming (either via the blog or in-person; both is better, but I think the blog can be more useful for receiving more thoughtful feedback because it'll give people time to think).
4. Think in detail when you're designing something. Create and write down a list of topics/items to consider if you need to; I do this. Consider looking at other games or work for inspiration. If you can create something really unique, that's even better than derivative work. When you're working on something (e.g., designing the entities, such as the environment), think about the mood, personality, cultural society, movement/feel, physical laws, past events/history/story , etc. Also, consider thinking about how things can be integrated with or impact the game-play (e.g., if you're designing an environment that makes use of light in an interesting manner, consider how it might contribute to the game-play such as maybe how glare or shadows might impact game-play; to repeat an important point, remember to discuss all these considerations and design ideas with the group if you think about them).

• On Achievements - We talked a bit about achievements and unlockables. Thomas suggested achievements that can be "equipped" on a character, where the achievements may give a boost in one attribute (to allow the player to customize a character), but overall handicaps the character. I prefer this approach over achievements that boosts the character overall (in a competitive game), since chances are if they can "achieve" it, then they're likely better than someone who hasn't.
  
• On Robot Animation - The character is quite bulky and it's less work to not have to deal with modeling weapons. Also, the characters will appear rather small in-game. We're considering just having the robot shoot from his hand.
  
• On Story - we still don't have anything concrete yet. But we did start discussing some ideas about locality, like arenas in space, or a gladiator coliseum. In previous weeks, I think we were considering a generally dark theme with cute characters (e.g., much like Zelda); I just wanted to remind you guys about this, but of course we can change it if it turns out this direction doesn't work for us.
  
• On Games we may want to look at - we looked at power stone I & II. They used an auto-targeting system. Still not sure how well manual aiming will work out for us yet (but that's partially why we're prototyping).

Gameplay Elements

• Pacing: The player needs to receive meaningful and immediate feedback for interactive choices in addition to any potentially delayed feedback. Even if the player's choices affect events that occur much later in the game, there needs to be an obvious immediate effect. Time spent during non-interactive sections should be minimized (such as unskippable cutscenes, needlessly long door opening animations, menu transition animations, and unskippable scripted events in which non-player characters are doing everything). Players need to be able to get from the title screen to actual interactive gameplay very quickly. Players should be able to navigate any menus quickly to access any required options or information.
• Player Initiative: Players should be able to set their own goals and create their own solutions to problems to a significant degree. The game should establish overall long term objectives for the players, but not lead them around by the nose down a linear sequence of sub-objectives. Potential sub-objectives that may aid in completing the long term objectives should be chosen by the player after observing the situation and coming to their own logical conclusions (if a player is supposed to retrieve an item from inside a building they should be allowed to realize for themselves that they have to look for a way inside first). Situations in which the game prompts the player to make choices by answering multiple choice questions have their place, but should be replaced by unprompted player-driven choices when possible. Examples of games that fail to meet these criteria (but are immensely successful anyway) are the rhythm games like "Dance Dance Revolution" and "Rock Band," in which players thoughtlessly follow step-by-step instructions.
  
• Dynamic Challenges: The challenges the players face are capable of adapting to the player's behavior. This can be through competing against real people or good artificial intelligence when in combat, but also requires enough variety in the kinds of options available to the enemies for them to choose from for the situation. This is related to having immediate feedback for the player's actions. An enemy that changes tactics to protect is "weak point" differently after being struck by the player makes the player feel effective and important, because that enemy is now "worried" about the player, but also forces the player to react and change tactics as well. This exchange effectively creates a "dialog" or a "dance" between opponents, which is a form of communication and connection.
• Earnings: Players earn score or expendable resources through their actions in the game. This provides a measure of achievement, and in the case of expendable resources may act as a means of gradually unlocking game features. This is also a form of player feedback, which is immediate in terms of the points gained, but also delayed because points may have to be accumulated significantly before they become meaningful. Alternately, players may simply earn new abilities and options directly through their actions, rather than resources to spend on abilities. This option reduces the sense of gradual progression and anticipation, but still produces a powerful rewarding feeling.
  

Game-play Elements that Makes or Breaks a Game

To help with detailing or fleshing out the design of the game, I believe we should create a list of game-play elements that are considered important to us.

So, the question is: what are the major/important game-play elements that makes or breaks a game for you? (Alternatively, what are the major elements that you identify a game with?)

The following is a list of elements I came up with (based on my own personal thoughts/opinion) that are categorized and defined at a level of detail in accordance with my preference. There's possibly categories that I haven't yet considered or thought of yet. If I don't have something on my list that is an important part of a game to you, then you should share it, so that we can consider it for the design of the game. Alternatively, you can share your own model of major game-play elements.

• User Interaction / User Input / Controls - easy to use and feel right.
  
• Ease of Accessibility/Comprehension - that is, easy to get into and play. For example, something that can be understood by simple observation is probably something that is easy to get into. (Game Example: Resonance of Fate's 15 or so tutorials at the beginning resulted in me quitting).
• Atmosphere / Ambience - (Game Example: I thought Shadow of the Colossus created a variety of very nice atmospheres through their design and execution of visuals, camera and sound. Note its use of tension during a boss battle where tension is built up during the puzzle phase where the player has to figure out how to make the boss vulnerable for climbing while being attacked, which is followed by a release of tension during the climbing phase with the aid of music and again there is a release of tension after reaching the top where there is less difficulty for moving about.)
• Comprehensible or Likable Characters/Entities - does the entities' personality, motives, history, etc. resonate with us? Are we able to empathize with the characters? Consider all entities from the protagonist to antagonist to inanimate objects such as the environment (since we tend to personify things).
  
• Story / Exploration - in essence, these are concepts / ideas that are presented or communicated to us through the author / designer.
  
• Logic / Puzzle - is there some (seemingly) comprehensible logic or rule system that incites me to ponder and think?
• Physicality / Power - I'm referring to the pseudo tactile feeling that we get a sense of when using an agile character that moves around or using a powerful character that smashes something solid. (Game Example: just try the characters in Street Fighter 3 or 4.)
• Personalization / Customization / Influence / Control / Building - does our choices matter? Can our decisions lead to unique or different outcomes?
• Experimentation - are there mechanisms in place that allows us to experiment (to satisfy our curiosity)? (Note - this is somewhat related to choices and personalization.)
  
• Intrinsic Rewards / Benefits - does playing or experiencing the game personally improves me as a person in some way? For example, gain a new insight/idea, or improve reflexes, etc.
• Challenge / Achievement / Accomplishment - are their mechanisms for me to test my ability?
  
• Social Elements - anything that promotes social interaction. It can be a controversial topic that provokes social communication, or the support of multiplayer in games, or etc. (Game Example: In Pokemon, part of the motivation for collecting and leveling up is due to the assumption that the pokemons will be used in a battle against another person).

grid wall idea

here's the grid wal idea. It can start off being a regular pipe, but once the game starts or something special happens the wall color reacts accordingly?

Tile render and texture

Website update