The year that was Games Project 2009 – Part 2

So, semester two rolled around and, unfortunately we lost one of our team members. Sonya who had worked for us in first semester had respiratory issues, which meant she had to stay at home and take care of her lungs. This left us without a programmer…

I’m pretty sure you guys know what happens when you have two artists and no programmers.

Several truckloads worth of art without anywhere for it to go. So we decided to do the only thing, as students of media, we knew how to do. Steph started storyboarding a trailer. And, I think, four weeks into the semester that we finally sat down and had the long talk of what we were going to do.

Due to our lack of technical expertise it was decided we would come out of this semester with two things to show:

1. A trailer that appropriately created the context and thematic style behind the,
2. Proof of concept demonstration of gameplay, which basically was a tiny miniscule part of the game, that gave a user the idea of “oh yeh! So that’s how it’s sposed to work”. I mean… seriously… the game we were thinking about making could have been a full length movie… It had 46 scenes.

That there was our “Sticky Note Wall of Doom” that we created in semester one as a way to work out the incredibly complex storyline. As you will probably never see the rest of this story line a quick summary is… Mum did it. I think, the thing is, during this year, having Christian as our supervising lecturer thingymajig, we were exposed to different ways of developing, such as this sticky note wall of doom, creating documentation organically through a blog (which is AWESOME!), and using a cyclical iterative production lifecycle, as opposed to standard production lifecycles that we tried to commit to during Games Lab in 2008 (I’ve never said it, but thanks Damo! The angry man that motivates, its a fine line to straddle ) , and we weren’t afraid to branch out into other technologies, so, instead of using 3DS Max and the UT engine we went with Flash.

Oh boy… Then this happened:

So, basically, the story was, in semester one we had been working on our project using ActionScript 2. This we had inhereted from Sonya, who had pretty much mastered Flash (even creating visual content in flash… I know! I KNOW! ITS REDICULOUS). In semester two when I took over the bulk of the programming, using CS4, the default had become ActionsScript 3, which, stupidly I must now add, I decided, “Sure. New generation of script, must be more user friendly, right?”

HOLY SHIT! It was another programming language!!!!!

Programming Language + Artist =! anything coherent

It took me a week to figure out how to get mouse clicks to work! Compounded by the issue that the Flash Compiler was the buggiest thing to ever come out of a human orifice (I spent half a day trying to figure out why my project wasn’t compiling, only to close Flash to get a drink, come back, and it worked perfectly… INCONSISTENCY MUCH), I think the biggest issue at this time, and we were halfway through the semester, was the fact that we had to relearn ActionScript. You’re probably wondering why didn’t we just scrap that project and start again in ActionScript 2, and, my answer to that is:

“In retrospect… Yes”

Anyways, back to the project, we, at first decided to follow the style we had created with our final prototype in Semester 1, that of dark, gritty colour ( or as dark and gritty as we could manage in Flash).  I started creating a new HUD for the prototype, while Steph was still working on the trailer.

We pretty much kept at this for about three or so weeks, just nutting out the assets, what functions needed to be completed and creating prototypes of these functionalities. I think we ended up with about 6 required functions, which were a GPS function, which allowed a user to move between scenes, an inventory for evidence, a media player to view certain peices of evidence, a mobile phone that was demoted from being central to gameplay to merely aiding the story progression (i.e. you would get phone calls and messages subtly indicating what you were supposed to do next) and a log that would automatically fill up as you began interviewing suspects (again, another aid to story progression).

And, when we finally got together after this bout of furiously working we had a look at it and went… Oh yeh? Hmmmmm maybe not. I think this was about the time that every other game out there decided that changing art style by adding some lines to characters was a good idea (OK by every game I’m probably only talking about Borderlands).

So after 8 months of work, we decided to go Black and White with colour splashes, going to film noir dated look using Madworld as an inspiration.

(Yes… I know… copyright pfft)

At this point, I think, it stopped becoming about the functions and more about the aesthetics – the visuals and the audio feedback. We had very little time to do a backflip and redraw everything in black and white. Cutting down again, we settled on creating one new theme and rehashing our original final prototype in semester one as a good starting point as well as redrawing the trailer in black and white with flashes of colour.

I’ve always been a pretty organized fellow and usually, things like this, I have sorted well before the event occurs even if it still requires all nighters before the deadline, and this was a whole new ball game for me (I’m not sure about Steph). Like running after someone with pants that are too big for you, I was pretty much “winging it” from this point. And, after handing in the materials yesterday, on time, I think it was the most valuable lesson I learned this year out of this subject.

It wasn’t the reminder of how sucky flash was to work with. It wasn’t how not to follow a production schedule in every way. It wasn’t even about this blog (even though it was an awesome idea). But, I think it was learning how to cope with massive change on the fly.

So, 43 blog posts, a trailer, a two flash files later and it’s just like the end of high school graduation all over again, that was how we laid to rest Games Project 2009, Mums the Word and our undergraduate education.

Heres the timeline of our production schedule I forgot to incorporate earlier

The year that was Games Project 2009 – Part 1

So guys. We come to the end… Or have we (I have an interesting idea for an alternative game based on the assets created here. It goes along the lines of populating a local area with all manner of intractable people and creating the story out of their stories… no its not really your typical pew pew game… But who wants them nowadays?! They’re freakin everywhere )? This here be a transcript of the Pechu Kucha schpeel I did tomorrow:

The story of Mum’s the Word was that it was, originally, supposed to be a text-based murder mystery game. And, in the beginning, I thought, and this probably due to my overly philosophical head, that this could be an incredibly immersive game like MUD’s used to be.

However, I kind of forgot about the human factor. The immersive-ness of these types of games was only limited by a player’s imagination. Right, sounds like an advert you would find on the back of just about every shiny next-gen game. The problem with that, and the reason that MUD’s are now a facebook oddity, is that the imagination of the average Joe was that of a small, and sadly demented gerbil.

I think, the first thing we learnt was that there was a reason for the liberal application of “Shine-ination” (texturing for those not used to industry jargon). Unless something shiny was thrown in an audiences face, they would frown profusely, a little wheel would spin inside their head and, eventually, like all things, the mouse running the wheel would expire, without anything fruitful to show for it. What a waste…

So, after two weeks of being killed by an ogre in The Hobbit (yes… It was just the one ogre… For some stupid reason, despite all of the commands I smashed into the command box I always ended up at this particular ogres clearing (the one with the path to his cave house behind him) and then, subsequently dying to a club in the face), we decided… maybe we should go for some proper well good visual feedback after all.

We decided that we could hybridize the two genres. Using text based commands to activate visual elements on the screen i.e. our awesome stick house. And, I think, our will to maintain creative integrity meant we developed like this for at least a four to six weeks. Firstly experimenting with how to produce meaningful visual feedback from text based commands. Then coming up with the library of text commands and the parameters for them to be used and then sticking the two together.

After a fairly fruitful month of production we found another thing out. As a consequence of having not been popular for at least 15 years no one had any idea of how to use text based commands.

Was it, “Open Door”, or was it “Open the Door”, or was it “Door Open”, or was it “enter <this> room” etc. People had not used such commands for a long time. It was like trying to get an oompaloompa fresh from oompaloompa land to use DOS (the most commonly used commands in our prototypes were expletives including “wtf”, “goddammit” and, none other than the oft used “F&$K YOU!” (heh looks like fask you)).

So, the last few weeks of the first semester came around and we relented. So it was “point and click murder mystery here we come…”

All-nighters, coffee shortages and musical sobfests

And so, we come crashing to the end of our production, or as much of it we could safely complete with being sent to an infirmary. At the end of a hectic last 6 months of our officially required undergraduate studies we have emerged from the dark tunnel of education with a 90 second trailer, proof of concept flash game demonstration and a redrawn Prototype from semester one.



(Remember this scene kids?)

So. Interested readers out there. I suppose you are wondering:

a.) Why did it take 6 months to create approximately 5 minutes of gameplay with approximately about a third of that being interesting?
b.)  Why did we decide to have a dramatic art direction swerve
c.) What has this to do with the heading

To answer these three FAQ’s firstly, in reality, we were probably only effectively working for about 2 months considering we threw out or redrew the majority of the assets when (and this leads onto answering the next question) we decided to go film noire black and white. The reason for the change in art direction was mainly, despite the effect created with the existing art, due to two factors, including the creation of the original trailer entirely in Flash, as well as a brainspark I had while outlining all the art assets. The resultant ambiance can, we believe, can create tension all by itself.

Lastly, the heading has everything to do with our production cycle. Firstly, due to the fact that we no longer were relying on production gateways (Christian! That was a terrific idea! Do it again!) attention skipped from the project to sometimes more or less pressing matters in other subjects and our day to day lives (Steph has a notoriously busy work schedule), and, probably most dastardly, the implementation of ActionScript 3, we often spent long nights either at home or living in the library basement pulling our hair over Flash CS4. For the love of god! ActionScript 3! What were we thinking?! Although I was previously comfortable working in Flash, despite it’s moronically often hiccups, ActionScript 3 threw a whole new curveball at us and required us to learn what was essentially a complex programming language in a month (we didn’t actually start putting assets within a canvas until the latter half of the semester), coupled by the fact that our ex-programmer was out of action with respiratory issues, it was mighty slow going (OMG! Stop saying Error  #1009, it gives me no idea what is going wrong!!).

Subsequently, tonight, (mainly) I ran out of coffee, and, after opening and closing the same cupboard several times just to make sure I hadn’t missed it, I had to settle for weak green tea (how’s that going to keep me up). This doesn’t help trying to coax two massive flash project files to merge together, with all the added cursing (I found out that it was something wrong with Flash itself later, i.e. I had to restart flash and there was nothing wrong with the files =_=)

To tie in with the last thing in the heading, I was singing along to mellow music simultaneously to keep me from completely blowing my top (you know… when you’re in the shower or home alone and absent mindedly singing… What… You don’t do it as well… OK now I feel stupid)

So, comes the hand in deadline, a slight respite and then the finalizing of our Pecha Kucha speech for the Friday presentation. 6 minutes right?

P.S. I hope to never see Flash again, but common sense is telling me some idiot will make me use it again. Also, Steph sends her regards for Friday due to personal matters.

This is CHUM signing out for, possibly the last time.

(Unless I decide to place the Pecha Kucha speech online as well as something a little more coherent to finish the documentation for the semester… Hm… Time for a post mortem? let’s lay this thing to RIP)

Making of HUD

Following on from the earlier post of “In search of HUD” (son) I felt it was appropriate, after all the dust has settled from the major shift in design we have embarked on, to elaborate on the intended function of each of the actions a user can perform with his or her UI. Granted, the UI is supposed to be self explanatory, and, in most cases (66% of the population, in fact), the functions will be familiar.

So! It has decided this game will be almost like Oblivion without so much of the giddying movement, slashing of swords, shiny graphics, medieval setting or proverbial gnashing of teeth when your companion gets stuck on a rock and you cannot possibly finish the next quest. Imagine that it has been crossbred with Sin City (…what a mongrel).

Now that you have an idea of the kind of world that the player will be stepping (or more correctly, pointing and clicking) into, how he, she or it may interact with it becomes the next question, that is where the UI comes in (I think I’ve already elaborated on this earlier, it being the conduit, suit, mask, rubbery glove that the user uses to fully interact with the world as he, she or it would do so in reality. Providing similar experiences that would be familiar to the player, while still retaining the atmosphere and glamour of the game, through the UI is the hurdle, really… I mean, you can’t possibly put every single thing into it… Do you really want an interface function that allows you to relieve your character from the pains she must be feeling in her bowels?).

So, the functions I have outlined already, but have yet to explain are:

- A Basic Menu System
- An Inventory System (housing evidence)
- Including and Inventory Analyzing system (i.e. when you click on evidence it will open another window explaining its function etc)
- A mode that allows the user to view the character
- A logging system with current missions or to-do lists
- A phone and messaging system (send and receive phone calls and sms’s) including contacts
- A viewing system, which identifies suspects explicitly
- A media viewing system (i.e. to open saved audio files and video files inhabiting the inventory)
- A help system (i.e. on mouse over it explains function)
- A conversing system (allowing the user to interact with NPC’s)

I have also decided to include a rudimentary GPS function, which featured prominently in the trailer, and, despite this, I completely overlooked earlier.

P.S. Screen shots to come! For now, amuse yourself with these

The Basic Menu:

Indicated by the button in the top right of the screen with a computer on it. Every game has one, even if it’s not so obvious as this. The basic menu will allow a player to perform all the usual tasks such as exiting the game, loading a previous saved version or saving their current play state, as well as options to modify sound (which reminds me… I need some of that), graphical quality (although on flash… if you need to lower the quality (which is possible) in order to fully appreciate the game… go get a new computer) and other sundry items. Next to the Basic Menu system is a rudimentary help function (this is currently low on the priority of functions to complete). This will allow a user to mouse over buttons to discover their function and, in the odd instance, give hints as to where to go if stuck, hopefully, this isn’t needed too much.

The Inventory System:

Identified by the  button with a kind of round top half of a person with a magnifier, this will allow a player to take and store evidence to use later, a storage place for the knowledge about a case the player may have acquired. Within this system, a player will be able to select an item and view its intimate details on a screen on the left of the storage bank. While nothing is selected the player will be able to view the vital statistics of his, her or it’s avatar (proverbial stoking of the ego).

The Log:

Indicated by the button with a writing pad on it, the Log contains all the details and scribbles of each still open case the player is working on at the time. Not only will information be added to each case file as suspects are interviewed and evidence analysed, but it will also allow a player to scribble (type, really… very few computers allow a user to scribble coherently) any extra information the player may come across, that is not explicitly added, or to remind him/her/itself to do something, etc. You know how diaries and notepads go, god…

The Phone:

A major part of the game earlier in the year, the phone has been scaled back to fill a role on par with the log and inventory. It will allow a player to phone their relevant police headquarters for possible further information. But, it’s main use will be to prompt the player to follow an optimal play through. It will allow the user to receive messages and calls from the headquarters, which will give the user important clues as to how to solve a case.

The Point of View:

Pretty self explanatory, it’s what the player sees on the screen behind all of the menu buttons and screens. In the point of view a player will be able to mouse over people, and, if that person is a suspect listed in the Log, that person will be explicitly identified with a halo (I am thinking yellow) around them with a little side window showing all the information the player currently has on the concerned suspect, and, consequently, allow you to question them, which can lead to further clues and, if you’re lucky, an arrest!

The Conversing:

Which leads me to conversing. Once a suspect is selected, a dialogue box will open showing the respondents face in the screen above his responses followed by your options for reply. The screen will display a suspects emotions, whether it is fright, anger or curiosity, it can provide great insight into a case.

The Media Viewer:

Similar to the inventory, this allows the player to store surveillance footage and audio and view them later to squeeze what little information you can get out of them. Within some of these media files will lie important hidden clues, which, if found, will further an investigation considerably, consider these easter eggs.

Basic Interface Rehash! Black and White

In dicussion with Steph we decided, due to the showy nature of the upcoming Ludo fest, we had to do something with the art style to differentiate ourselves from every other flash game out there. We decided to go for a black and white almost film noir look to not only add a unique aspect to the project but further concrete the murder mystery experience.

Similar to Madworld

Semester 1 Wrapup – 2009

Ahhhhhhh, sighs of relief.

The first semester of year 2009 is finally coming to a close (and none too soon) and students everywhere are cramming for exams or drinking copious amounts of coffee attempting to stay away to finish that one last assignment due the next morning (as I have done… Oh, I’m still doing).

From a glorious beginning to a problem plagued ending, the Mum’s the Word project me, Steph and Sonia have embarked on has, all in all and at the very least, left us all with a sense of having learned group work, both the highs and lows, in a “unstructured and unleashed” environment (I hope we have done better than last years cohort Christian ).

While we have accomplished what we set out to do, that is an introduction and first scene accompanied by open documentation (in the form of a Blog, bwahahaha), and have checked all the boxes we set ourselves when we started, I cannot help thinking, there was so much more that could have been done and, it is my personal belief and a belief that the other members held as well (based on the regular banter we engaged in hyuck hyuck) this project had the potential to be really special.

Nevertheless, we have accomplished what we set out to do, granted it wasn’t a high bar to set (and I believe we did go higher, with many of the resources completed for use in the next semester).

One thing that did impede us was the absolutely chockablock schedules each of us held. Me, I was studying two courses simultaneously, which working (which won’t be the same case next semester), Sonia had her own commercial work to worry about and Steph had two of her own newly opened shops and a musical to worry about.

Sadly, Sonia won’t be joining us next semester (as she recently informed me), due to a prolonged respiratory illness.

So comes a bittersweet end to this semester, I hope we can continue with the production of this project.

NEVER LET THE PROJECT DIE!!!!

Lets see… What to do?!

So! Save for completing a timeline for everyone (I have yet to find MS Project amongst my mountain of unlabeled DVD’s) there are a couple of questions I must answer!

Firstly, who are we? Sonia is a mysterious 3rd year games student from Swinburne. She can occasionally be seen around the campus rushing to her next appointment, she works way too hard and she possesses skillz… Like 3D artistry, flash, programming and nun chuck skillz (chick’s dig skillz – where’s that from?!). She is working on creating the interface, the backbone and implementing all the shiny stuff we like.

Steph is also a 3rd year games student who is often considered far too good looking to be considered a true gamer by all those jealous of her but, underneath that somewhat blotchy skin (stop drinking milk luv) is a pimply, pasty gamer like all of us. Yes, if you have decided to read this, you are one of us. She will be creating objects and an assortment of other pretty things to place in our gaming environment.

Finally, my name is Chum (no, I won’t tell you my real name… and if I do it is because I am about to kill you), a 4th year games student made angry by over exposure to high brow philosophical theories on the hopelessness of reality. /wrist, you /facepalm. I will be writing for this project… Like… now.

Process/Methodology

Random…

Basically, that’s the gist of it. Mixing the intelligent use of a wall of sticky notes and several instances of “ding” light bulb brain waves, we have concocted a somewhat viable game design. The randomness of our efforts has meant 1.) built in disorganisation 2.) innate organic complexity (which is uber cool).

Because we have decided to make the game predominantly a mouse click game, it completely changes the experience, which was previously… hair pullingly frustratingly shit, to… hmmm kool. Murder mysteries have tended to be point and click adventures anyway, think: Myst, Nancy Drew, CSI and Carmen Sandiego (I Loved that game!). The thing that all these games have in common apart from their interface is the way they instantly force a player to engage in high level problem solving, not just instinctual or habitual motor action as is the case in most of todays smash, crash and bam instant gratification action games, beatemups, RPG’s and FPS’s. Like porn, it gives you a high then its over… Like that… No really, in the space you have read this… It is over. It is much harder to build in high level problem solving in these sort of games 1.) because it is not part of the game mechanics naturally 2.) if it is overdone it will frustrate a player, especially those with an attention span of an otter with ADHD 3.) if it is under done it will feel superfluous and slapdash, players are unlikely to use it at all (Mass Effect Inventory management anyone? Yay lets engage in problem solving… finding where that pesky lazer pew pew cannon was… oh there it was, buried beneath over 9000 levels of menu interfaces).

Because we have moved towards a more tactile interface (mouse > point > click … Hmmmm we have to play with that) the verb list is basically out the window (at least for the first deliverable phase).

In terms of putting this into practice each of us has been assigned a definite role, which enables us to have direction into what our goals are for end of semester deliverables (which I beleive are unbeleivably easy to acheive. Good one! Set the mark low enough so that if we fail we fall a total of 10 cm. Granted its on your face, but its better than being on your face after a 20m fall.) I would say we are about 75% completed… and we have like 5 weeks left. How awesome.

Obligatory Marketing Namby Pamby

Intended Market: Tweens (and people who really like murder mysteries… yeh! Sherlock Holmes?). Believe it or not, from experiential questioning and uncomfortably sorting through the mampedia (http://www.mamasource.com/mamapedia/kids-by-age/tween-11-14/tween-electronics/tweens-and-video-games) the games that boys and girls of between 6 – 12 play are not, in fact, GTA 4, Manhunt and Doom 3 (yes… they are not bloodthirsty hedonists that look to quench their blood lust with games… in face, no one in their right mind is…). Due to parental guidance and inherently juvenile wants, they play games such as Bratz and Avatar, games, which focus on highly colourful cell-shaded graphics and basic puzzle solving with a hint of more adult themes. Granted our underlying story is very adult, the problem solving required to find that out is always a learning experience for youngsters.

Potential Publishers: Not designed to be a triple A title our publishers will probably be limited to those who concentrate on flash based games e.g. Popcap games (man, those games are addictive). However, due to its small nature it is entirely possible we will self publish it online.

What game is it like: REFER ABOVE… if you were reading…

Finally, if there is anything anyone would like to bring up feel free to comment!

Quick n Dirty Week 8

prototype 11 is up
NEED TO CREATE LARGER AND MORE USABLE VERB LIST
basic gameplay is down PAT NICE ONE SONIA
Once objects is imported into the scene and integrated we will have a complete scene.
Last thing to do is to polish it to a shine
Need to refine intro.

WE ARE ALMOST DONE GJ!

TO create:
- Timelines x3
- Personnel
- Process and methodolody
- Iterative Rapid Prototyping (Really rapid)
- INSERT PLOT HERE
- Create a verb list
- Marketing:
- Intended market
- Potential Publishers
- What game is it similar to?

- TEAM SUGGESTIONS!!!!!!

NEVER LET THE PROJECT DIE

Weekly Report – Edition 4

Who dunnit?
The guy with the axe – Dimitri Stavros
why? – motive
Dude with the glass of whiskey – Geoff
• Geoff is Dimitri stavros assistant.
◦ Wallet > Business Card, drivers license
• Dimitri Stavros is a high powered businessman. Dimitri stavros family is an important part of the city. Dimitri Stavros is a mumma’s boy.
◦ mother is the most recently called and most regular.
◦ old man watching Dimitri Stavros on telly talking about banking finance
• Geoff is is involved in Dimitri stavros personal life.
◦ Geoff’s notes, info on Dimitri stavros schedule, address and timetable/meetings.
• Geoff gets involved with Dimitri stavros mum (Dimitri stavros mum is a widow). Secretly they are planning to kill Dimitri Stavros.
◦ the glass is a custom design and is only found in mothers house.
◦ sms’s, emails and stuff – computer and mobile phone.
◦ find passwords etc in papers on floor.
◦ ARG ?
• Dimitri Stavros gets suspicious (letters, overheard phone calls, messages, sms’s, emails) and hires a private eye, who manages to take these pictures of Geoff and the mother.
◦ letters, phone messages, emails (computer and outside area including mailbox – apartment floor)
• Geoff being Dimitri stavros PA, bribes the PE to not release the photos.
◦ photos (blurry black and white, hi res version)
• The PE gives the pictures to both Geoff and Dimitri Stavros.
• The PE is involved with mother.
◦ List of phone call bills. A lot of calls from mother to PE (unexpected)
• Instead of giving the photos to Dimitri Stavros the PE then releases the photos to the media for heaps of money.
◦ newspapers, magazines etc. TV
• Dimitri Stavros blames Geoff because he has finds out Geoff has bribed the PE and goes to kill him.
◦ e.g. Dimitri Stavros reads an sms from PE to Geoff while Geoff has accidentally left his phone on his desk
• PE kills Geoff before Dimitri Stavros does. And Dimitri Stavros is blamed for the murder.
◦ CCTV footage of Dimitri Stavros going into Geoffs apartment complex visibly distressed
• PE runs away with mum, with lots of money.

Conclusion: Dimitri stavros mum comes away with all the money and lays blame on everyone else – PE and Dimitri Stavros. Geoff is dead.
The team wants to link it to Dimitri Stavros and get it over and done, but Stephs Lady wants to find the real murderer. Goes undercover to find out clues.
INTRO DONE LOL

Anticipated Player actions/dynamics
player arrives at the apartment/crime scene
player knows: time of phone call by old woman, location/apartment, where person worked

STEP 1: assume player clicks everything they will find, the wallet, paper, decoy papers, fire axe, wine glass.
Means: the fire axe
Identity of victim: Geoff Young
Where he works
how he was killed
wine glass and papers are unknown

what will the player do next?
picks up business card -
reads address
calls police, they advise to go to address
player goes to address via GPS in phone
player is greeted at place, but needs warrant to search place.
sees magazines and newspapers with “breaking news” that Geoff is having it with Dimitris mother.
Player sees and clicks on magazine to find out more info.
Player phones HQ to obtain warrant.
Gives the player impression that this gives Dimitri the possible motive to kill Geoff.
HQ calls back no warrant.
The player knows that the mother is involved.
Player goes to mums.
First time player goes to house, the maid answers and asks whether the player is the nurse.

BRIEF NOTES
player is supposed to find evidence of mother and geoff at mums house(wine glass).
player finds out mother is sick with HIV from unknown source.
also finds evidence of PE but is not linked.
player has hard evidence that dimitri could have a motive to kill geoff.
searches dimitris office, finds more evidence of PE.
PE is linked to suspect.
PE is linked to dimitri and mum. has HIV as well.
————————————————————
player searches HIV records and finds PE gets treatment at local hospital.
player tracks down PE.

HELP/HINT – introduces player to getting help/hints.
player has to call the Police Head Quarters to find out whats next.
HQ will give appropriate info depending on the issue at hand.

his or her mobile phone will come up with an upcoming task – goes to office.

Player goes to office
Link to dimitri

motive, means, opportunity ( Dynamics > Aesthetics
Start thinking about developing:
GUI. Including interface, mouse and keyboard (typing) controls. FOR EACH SCREEN – What can be clicked on? What needs to be typed in? What feedback does the player get from participating in these actions? E.g. Feedback of a mobile phone call, msg etc.
Intro Frames are blergh!
What we are constructing this semester:

STEP 1: assume player clicks everything they will find, the wallet, paper, decoy papers, fire axe, wine glass.
Means: the fire axe
Identity of victim: Geoff Young
Where he works
how he was killed
wine glass and papers are unknown

We are constructing Intro, First Scene are possible Second Scene with transition
First Scene:
Isometric view of the floor. Body lying on the floor with blood pooled beneath. Items Strewn on the floor – Fire axe, Broken glass mug with Dimitri’s family crest on it, Papers strewn across the floor, within these papers is a paper with the account and password details to Geoff’s computer in his office, Mobile phone and wallet is on Geoff.
The scene. Tv still on in background. Brown drab carpet. Laz-y-boy is nearby on the edge of the frame.

Weekly Report – Edition 3

Week 3 – Seminar
Notes

Sonia’s Assessment Requirements
Game Assets

Character:
Clothes – made to be separate from each other; for example, three skirts, three shirts and three jackets to choose from.
There must be an image of the character in each of these sets of clothes.
And a picture of the character in each of the sets of clothes but mixed up, to cover each randomised selection that the player may choose.
I think it would be better if we stuck to a single playable character throughout the game.
That character can consult other characters throughout the narrative, but the players should have no choose whom they choose to play.

Additional:
Hair – different hair styles, each separate. Pony tail, loose, wavy etc.
There must be a picture of the character with each of these hair styles.

Environment:
Inside house: cupboard where clothes are kept
Office: desk, paper, books, computer, printer, photocopier, fax, etc.
Outside: backgrounds – grave yard, city, trees, etc

Equipment:
GPS
Computer/mouse etc
Internet
Etc.
Verbs and movement
Verbs

Overall usage:
Help – provides help
Look – provides information about current situation
Can have a string of more than one word, for example “look at the book”, and that could give another response entirely.

Game usage:
Open / open door – opens doors, obvious hey!!
Yes, we can have multiple words for the same thing, like “open” and “open door”, and they can give the same reaction.

Words in and words out.
Words not used in game format should not give a positive response , for example if the player types in ‘fish bones” the response should be along the lines of “Apparently your hero doesn’t understand what you are asking. Maybe you should try something else.”
Or if someone typed in something like “dog chicken eats grass” the game could give a “cheat” response.

Mouse over/ click/ double click/ right click

These can all be used to provide the user with different actions. For example: A piece of paper on the desk, the player can choose to read it, by clicking on it and the paper will enlarge to fill the screen; the player can mouse over particular sections of the writing on the paper to obtain additional information; double click to put it back down on the desk; right click on the paper on the desk to bring up another menu of options, that can either “send to (another person on the team)” or find out background information, or could be used to supply basic information in a pop-up menu form.
Mouse over can be used for extra information, the player mouses over an object/asset/item and a thought bubble or coloured box appears and gives extra info to either progress, confuse or stall the situation.
Right click menu can be used for alternative options not necesarily available in-game. For example, “send/give/hand document to ” or reply/forward/cc as email to , depending on what options become available during game design.
Double click can be used to put down pieces of paper, books, etc, it is best used as a release function,where a single click is to collect the item and double click puts it back to its original position.
And of course, there are many variations to these functions.

Sonia’s don’ts – most, if not all, are pretty obvious

Do not rely on score or time.
Score is easy enough to achieve, but I think that to base this game on scores, would supersede the effort the player has to go to by just “watching and listening”.
Time, where to start. Personally I hate timed games, especially where you have been given a small amount of time to achieve something only the pros can do in that given time. Also, timed events are easy enough to accomplish but I feel that that would break away from the entirety of the story.
Don’t have too many alternative endings/story lines.
Where the story twists and turns to bring more into it. I think by having a simplistic story, following a CSI episode, or equivalent (even Sherlock Homes) we would achieve more in a faster amount of time.
Don’t get too complex.
Imagine something basic and simplisitc, get that done/complete/achieved, then and only then should we consider making it more complex. I don’t want to jump in at the deep end, and I surely don’t want to push you both off the deep end too.

Week 3 Meeting Notes
Setting: Modern Day
Style: Stylized animations, think Sam and Max
(http://www.telltalegames.com/community/comics/samandmax/)
The interactive Roll-over effect in the comic online is interesting. Consider doing a virtual book using InDesign. Is this easier? Will the end product be what we want?
Look at:

Comics (i.e. Sam and Max, link provided) & Dragons Lair

Sam and Max Comic (Above, Flat)
Stage 1:
Create Introduction – Mastering the animation and art before adding interactivity
Storyboard
Scene 1: Dark Hallway entrance to an apartment, Fire axe case on the left
Frame 1 – (CU) Hand Breaks Fire Axe Glass of a case (Sound – breaking glass, punching noise – Animation)
Frame 2 – (CU) Hand slowly withdraws Fire Axe from Case (Sound – axe sliding out, Animation)

Scene 2: inside concerned apartment. Dark, Filthy bachelor pad
Frame 3 –(CU) Shaky Hand holding glass of whisky on ice (Sound – shaking glass – Minor Animation)
Frame 4 – (CU) Shaky Hand raises glass to a pair of lips (Animation – Sound increases in Volume)
Frame 5 – (CU) Pause Frame 4 – Sound, Door Knock
Frame 6 – (CU) Glass smashes to the floor (Sound – breaking glass and liquid – Animation)
Scene 3: At the door of the apartment
Frame 7 – (CU) Character walks in, axe hanging by his right leg (he is RH) – Close up of his right leg and the axe head – (Sound – heavy footsteps – Animation)
Frame 8 – Pause Frame 7 – Sound, other character whimpers, begs etc.
Scene 4: Apartment across from apartment where murder is occurring
Frame 9 – (MedLongShot) Silhouette of an elderly man on a low back armchair watching television in dark light. Flashes of lightning (Sound – television, rain, thunder, gusting wind)
Frame 10 – (MedLongShot) Same scene, silhouette of old man getting out of chair to close window (Sound – creaking, groaning of an old man – Animation)
Scene 5 – Open Window, which is looking through to apartment where murder is occurring
Frame 11 – (MedLongShot) Silhouette of old man pauses as he goes to close the window. Rain and lightning outside (Sound – television (faint), loud rain, wind and thunder)
Frame 12 – (LongShot) Zoom in on the window to witness the murder occur in silhouettes behind draped blinds (Sound – Same as Frame 11 but softer, add faint screams and meat hacking noises – Animation, Silhouettes of one man hacking another with a fire axe. The man with the axe MUST be on the left side of screen; the victim MUST be on the right).
Intro fade to black (1.5 sec)

Remember to:
- Look up references for assets (Fire axe, door, jeans, boots, sounds, televisions, clothing, murder scenes etc)
- To make art assets reusable (it’s a crime mystery, consider the assets as evidence you need to keep)
- Storyboard – decide on style
- NEVER LET THE PROJECT DIE!

Reference Sites:

http://www.fmvworld.com/games.html

http://www.sega-16.com/feature_page.php?id=149&title=The%20Rise%20&%20Fall%20of%20Full%20Motion%20Video