Thursday 22nd November 2018
Research Visit to V&A
Today we went on a trip to the V&A, a museum in London that exhibits 2.27 million objects of decorative arts to look at the different production stages of different games.
When looking at the game The Last Of Us, I saw the different concept arts for one of the main characters; Ellie.
For The Last Of Us, NaughtyDog used many different materials during pre-production.
In 2006 they started writing the script, all the way up into 2011. It went through different changes like how the original script was altered for one of the characters Bill whose sexuality was left quite unclear so they changed it to further express sexuality of the character Bill.
In 2009-2013, they started character designs and Colour Scripts. Colour Scripts are atmospheric illustrations made by concept artists that are used as a reference for the lighting and colour for some environments.
In 2011, NaughtyDog started their Pre-Visualization Concept Art for The Last Of Us. Pre-Visualization Concept Art is where the game developers get some people to film a short scene. This is then used to refer back to when animating cutscenes.
In 2006 they started writing the script, all the way up into 2011. It went through different changes like how the original script was altered for one of the characters Bill whose sexuality was left quite unclear so they changed it to further express sexuality of the character Bill.
In 2009-2013, they started character designs and Colour Scripts. Colour Scripts are atmospheric illustrations made by concept artists that are used as a reference for the lighting and colour for some environments.
In 2011, NaughtyDog started their Pre-Visualization Concept Art for The Last Of Us. Pre-Visualization Concept Art is where the game developers get some people to film a short scene. This is then used to refer back to when animating cutscenes.
One of the tasks we had was to sketch out the artwork we saw on the trip. I decided to sketch out different positions of a character from the game Journey made in 2012. I believe that I did pretty well with it. The reason why I chose to sketch this character out is that the style is simple but expressive with the poncho that its wearing showing that is blowing in the wind.
This trip also helped me generate ideas I could incorporate in any future game I make.
Ellie Concept Art:
When looking at the different iterations of her design and how they each give a different impression of her character, I had an idea of a game where the main character has split personalities and each one has a different character design.
The Graveyard:
In this game, you play as an old woman who realistically walks slowly through a graveyard until she eventually dies. This is an interesting idea as not only does it get the player to properly feel a character but also gets them to be shocked as they bring a specific event to happen to the character. This gave me the idea of a game where there are times where the movements correspond to the narrative.
Wednesday 28th November 2018
Unrealistic Face Drawings
We started off drawing character faces from a sheet we were given. I didn't find drawing them too bad as I previously did some face construction practice.
Realistic Face Drawings
We practised drawing realistic face drawings, I was given 2 pictures from magazines and I had to draw them out.
At first, I found it difficult as I didn't find realistic drawing as easy as cartoonist drawing. But then I managed to break it down into different steps that helped me with them. The steps I made was
1) Draw a circle as the cranium
2) Make a line down the circle, where the symmetric point would be on the face
3) Use the line to help draw the jaw
4) Draw out the face features, e.g eyes
5) Add Shading
Observational Drawing
We used the object to use it as a reference to draw a character's face. I chose a copper still to draw. While drawing, I saw how I could make it into a mask when it rotated the drawing.
Afterwards, we then decided to draw out our face again with a body.
We used the character we drew, to come up with the scenes that would be in our Zoetropes. Zoetropes are old fashioned spinner used for stop motion animation. You put different illustrations on each so when it spins, it creates the illusion of movement.
We drew out our character again with changes that will be put on them.
After we were happy with them, we planed on what the scene for the Zoetrope would be. I made this storyboard with a stick-man. My scene was going to be a ninja bowing and then throwing a smoke pellet that was on his chest.
Then I drew out my final character on 8 pieces of paper in the position I planned for it to be in, using tracing paper to make sure the drawing is coherent.
Colour Experiments
As the outline of the character was done, we started to experiment with different colours using different equipment.
First I tried using watercolours. I didn't like this method as they would bleed out in a way that made it look messy and less define.
Then I tried using colour pencils. I preferred this more than the watercolours as I was able to use different techniques like crosshatching and merging different colours. However, with the colour pencils, it was difficult to fill in the character properly, as there were many white patches that I didn't find pleasing.
Lastly, I did a couple of Photoshop experiments. Using tools like the paint bucket for filling in colours, paint brush for filling in gaps, a magic wand to select particular parts of the image to edit and filters to imitate the crosshatching I used with colour pencils.
I decided that the Photoshop designs where the best as they look the neatest and using my skills with the program, I can generate better illustrations with the look. I picked the second one as I believed I used more proficient colour juxtaposition with it, and purple is my favourite colour.
Next, I printed all the frames of my chosen design and laid them on the zoetrope card.
Then I constructed the full zoetrope by using a glue gun to stick the card around a cardboard circle.
After it dried, I put it on the spinning board and then watched all the frames juxtapose each other.
Now my zoetrope is compleated.
Overall, this task has been quite fun. My initial idea was to draw a ninja doing a backflip. This is people I'm interested in them and I thought it would be effective imagery. But then I realised it would be difficult to draw, so I settled with something more simple.
I went through different colours and medians. I tried watercolours to give a less tangible view of the ninja which would link with stealth with it. However, it looked messy as the pain spread more than I wanted it to. Then I use colour pencils and used a cross-hatching style to give the design more detail. But there were still many white spaces that I couldn't fill so it also looked messy. Eventually, I tried using Photoshop. This proved to be better as all of the colouring can be neat as I wanted it to be. I used dark colours for the body alongside light colours for the hands, eyes and legs. This made for a nice contrast that brought attention to those areas.
What I have learned from this task is that it's very important to try out many different ideas before you come to a decision.
Monday 3rd December 2018
Learning Construct 2
Today, we were introduced to Construct 2, an engine that is used to make 2D games. We first learned about the different windows (User Interface) in it.
Layout:
The layout is where you do all the visual work. The main parts of it are.
Canvas: The page that the game will be laid out on.
Properties: A panel in which you can manipulate the features of an object.
Projects: A panel where you can organise all objects in different folders to help with navigation in a project.
Objects/Tilemap: A panel that shows all the objects that are currently on the canvas.
By using the properties panel, you can change the Behaviour of an object. Behaviours are when you give different characteristics to objects that manipulate how it acts. For example. if you give an object a Solid behaviour, it will act as a solid object. You can give each object more than 1.
The Event Sheet is the screen where all the coding is done. When coding, there are 2 main parts that all of it needs.
Events: Giving the engine a way of commanding for an Action to happen.
Actions: The outcome the coder wants to come from the Event they assigned to it.
We then did some QA testing on a 2D games made 2 years ago called Street Wanderer. We labelled the Visual, Audio and Coding errors.
Visual
When the purchasing screen pops up, it fails to display any prompt on how they can exit it.
When the player collects 5 currency, the money counter no longer goes up.
Coding
When you crouch, the character switches between its idle and the crouching animation.
If you press the jump button (without holding it), the animation for it starts late.
When you entered the buildings, the currency count goes to zero.
We did this QA testing as it showed us how it's easy to make small errors when coding a game, regardless of how simple or complex it is. When doing this, I felt quite interested as it was my first time playing a game purely for testing purposes and I found it fun deciphering all the bugs. What I found good with this exercise is that now I know more how important it is to test games as many mistakes may go unnoticed by you. In future, I will use this when I make my games by testing them consistently and getting others to do, also to make sure there aren't any issues. What I could have done is QA another game with a different genre to get used to analyse different types of mistakes in games. If this task rose again, I would attempt to fix the issues in order to practise using problem-solving when coming across coding difficulties.
From the talk we had with David Gaffe, I can see some of what he said about QA testing is prevalent when I gave it a try. He stated how QA testing was a good way of getting in the gaming industry. I agree with this, as when I was doing it, I felt it was a very useful way to see how games work. As a beginner (like me at this point) can study the fundamentals of game creation in a more practical way.
Tuesday 4th December 2018
We learned more about Construct 2, more precisely, the variables. We learned about Global and Instance variables.
Global Variables: A number or factor that affects the whole project.
Instance Variables: When you manipulate the factors of a particular object.
An example of a Global Variable that we used was to code 2 counters in the game that tracked different actions when you play it.
Journey Through Infinity
After using the platformer template, I decided to practise more by making a simple Up And Down Shooter at my own leisure. I decided to do this to get more used to Construct 2 as it is a very complicated software and as we already did practice on Platformers, I thought it would be good to work with a different genre would be useful. I also did this as I knew that soon we would have a group assignment on working on a game, so having more experience would be very helpful.
I started out making the background on Photoshop using the brush tool on a black background. But when I looked at it from the perspective of the game, I felt like the background was too messy and didn't look very detailed.
I then redid it, using filters and more organised illustrations with the colours. I believed it better illustrates that the atmosphere is supposed to be in space.
I then designed the ship using various colours.
I gave the ship the 8 Direction behaviour, allowing the player to have full ability to move in all directions. It worked fine at first, however, the problem I had was that at the ship is a still object, when the player goes left, it stays in the same position as if it was going right.
To fix this, I edited its animations. Animations in Construct 2 allows different objects to go through different frames when coded in. I used this to make a Right animation for when the ship goes right and a Left animation where I flipped it horizontally flipped to help with the illusion for when it goes left.
But then I had a problem with one of the controls, I coded for the ship to follow the cursor wherever its clicked. But it had the problem of not responding to both the left and right animations I made. I tried to fix this by experimenting with the Compare X code which made the ship play whatever animation I want to depend on the X coordinates of the mouse. This managed to work however it then wouldn't allow me to go up or down with the mouse. So I did the same thing again with the Y coordinates, this didn't work as it made the controls very finicky.
Ultimately, I decided it would be better to redesign the ship so it would be a top-down shooter as its submetric design would make coding the movements much simpler.
This decision helped as now I no longer had any problems with the movement.
Then I made pellets, in the shape of a circle, for the ship as it will be shooting them in the game. By adding the Bullet behaviour to it, makes the object go in a set path like a bullet would, allowing the coder to code in variables to let it Destroy other objects.
At first, it could shoot an unlimited amount of them, but I wanted it to be limited to give the player more of a challenge. So I experimented more with instance variables to make there a limit to how much the player can shoot. I also coded the system so that the internal counter for the bullets regenerate by one every 2 seconds.
Although, when I held the space bar(the button I assigned to it) it would shoot the
pellets rapidly without any delay.
To try to fix this, I changed the Event for it from Pressed Down to Key Pressed. This made the control only respond to each press and doesn't record if the button is held down. However, the problem is that I still wanted the player to be able to shoot consistently if the button is held down.
When trying to work out how to solve this, I thought I could use a similar method to how I codded for the pellets to revive over time. So I added the every x seconds event to the code to make it happen every 0.2 seconds. This managed to work, so now I was able to shoot with both the mouse and the space bar and both have delays before each shot.
Then I needed to confine the player to the layout. I wasn't sure how first so I artificially did it by placing blocks around the canvas and adding the solid behaviour to them. However, due to the collision box of the blocks, when the player goes to the end of the canvas, they will sometimes glitch out.
But then I stumbled upon the Bound To Layout behaviour. This automatically prevents the player from leaving the layout.
You can change the grid size of the caves and the tilemaps, although it's generally recommended to have them to the same scale.
Tuesday 11th December 2018
Furthermore, I also developed my second idea that I got from the V&A about a game where there are times where the movements correspond to the narrative. Originally this idea was very vague but now I have much more of a story with it. The one I came up with now is; a horror mystery game, of a scavenger hunt to find out something. What helped further inspire my original idea was learning about Instant Variables, as they made me think of the idea of having a game where the player has to pick up many different pickups that have different riddles that lead the player to different places.
2D Game Project
We were set a new assignment in groups of 3. We have the task to create a game from scratch. It can be of any genre and have any gamely style. We have about 3 weeks to complete it.
I have done quite a lot of preparation for this. As I started making my own game in my own time prior to this task in order to get more used to Construct2. I also was thinking about possible plots for a game since the V&A trip.
After I was put into my group, we all decided to make a shared Google Drive folder so that we can all view each other's work and can edit them if we have to. We also exchanged mobile numbers so we could make a Whatsapp group chat so we can always stay in contact with each other if we needed to update any of us about something or to let everyone in the group know if someone won't be in so we can plan around it.
We had one initial idea, a puzzle side scroll game where the player has to go through different areas that leads to the end. We came to this idea as the other person in my group had a similar idea. She had the idea of a horror game where a player is trapped in an area and has to complete a mysterious task. I suggested my idea of a horror mystery game, of a scavenger hunt to find out something. This was an idea that I developed from V&A trip from playing The Graveyard. Though we had different variations of what kind of narrative we would have.
Hunted house or a school: where a group of friends get trapped inside and have to find a way to escape at night.
In the woods: where animals are starting to evolve to the same intelligence to humans and are taking over, so you play as a hunter to find the leaders of the animals and kill them before they reproduce more.
A Town: Where the player will investigate murder cases and other crimes around the streets.
A Hospital: Where a Detective has to investigate the rumours held against a hospital about them doing illegal experiments on the patents.
Ultimately, we decided that a hospital would be the best setting as we believed the plot we had for it was the most grounded and believable.
We also discussed the types of player we wanted to appeal to. We are mostly Lown Wolf types of player and we prefer Investigation rather than Building types of games, which what helped inspired our ideas.
I remembered my player acting on games like Big Little Planet that taught me to look at the different appeals of games besides my own. And it helped show me that games don't have to be difficult to be fun. So that influenced me to make the game really player friendly.
After we discussed the narrative of the game, we then started .different tasks for this week's planning stage.
I started by writing out the Script On Celtx. I wrote out what the player will experience and do so when we start production, we can always refer back to it.
After I worked on the script more, I and another one of my teammates drew out a map link plan. This is a visual representation of how the game's map will be like. This will act as a reference when we are juxtaposing all the locations together.
We then talked about what art style we will use for the game. It was in between clean and neat lines, or a style where everything is sketched out. I suggested that the sketchy style was a more fitting option. As the plot of the game is supposed to be that the Hospital is a non-trustworthy place, which can be described with the word "Sketchy", thus I thought a sketchy art style would be a nice fit.
We also decided to have only the characters have a more clean style in conjunction with the background, would make them stand out more.
When drawing this as a test, I used inspiration for when we did practice on 2D perspective drawing and when we used that to sketch out a hallway in units Units 1 & 2
An example of a Global Variable that we used was to code 2 counters in the game that tracked different actions when you play it.
Journey Through Infinity
After using the platformer template, I decided to practise more by making a simple Up And Down Shooter at my own leisure. I decided to do this to get more used to Construct 2 as it is a very complicated software and as we already did practice on Platformers, I thought it would be good to work with a different genre would be useful. I also did this as I knew that soon we would have a group assignment on working on a game, so having more experience would be very helpful.
I started out making the background on Photoshop using the brush tool on a black background. But when I looked at it from the perspective of the game, I felt like the background was too messy and didn't look very detailed.
I then redid it, using filters and more organised illustrations with the colours. I believed it better illustrates that the atmosphere is supposed to be in space.
I then designed the ship using various colours.
I gave the ship the 8 Direction behaviour, allowing the player to have full ability to move in all directions. It worked fine at first, however, the problem I had was that at the ship is a still object, when the player goes left, it stays in the same position as if it was going right.
To fix this, I edited its animations. Animations in Construct 2 allows different objects to go through different frames when coded in. I used this to make a Right animation for when the ship goes right and a Left animation where I flipped it horizontally flipped to help with the illusion for when it goes left.
But then I had a problem with one of the controls, I coded for the ship to follow the cursor wherever its clicked. But it had the problem of not responding to both the left and right animations I made. I tried to fix this by experimenting with the Compare X code which made the ship play whatever animation I want to depend on the X coordinates of the mouse. This managed to work however it then wouldn't allow me to go up or down with the mouse. So I did the same thing again with the Y coordinates, this didn't work as it made the controls very finicky.
Ultimately, I decided it would be better to redesign the ship so it would be a top-down shooter as its submetric design would make coding the movements much simpler.
This decision helped as now I no longer had any problems with the movement.
Then I made pellets, in the shape of a circle, for the ship as it will be shooting them in the game. By adding the Bullet behaviour to it, makes the object go in a set path like a bullet would, allowing the coder to code in variables to let it Destroy other objects.
At first, it could shoot an unlimited amount of them, but I wanted it to be limited to give the player more of a challenge. So I experimented more with instance variables to make there a limit to how much the player can shoot. I also coded the system so that the internal counter for the bullets regenerate by one every 2 seconds.
Although, when I held the space bar(the button I assigned to it) it would shoot the
pellets rapidly without any delay.
To try to fix this, I changed the Event for it from Pressed Down to Key Pressed. This made the control only respond to each press and doesn't record if the button is held down. However, the problem is that I still wanted the player to be able to shoot consistently if the button is held down.
When trying to work out how to solve this, I thought I could use a similar method to how I codded for the pellets to revive over time. So I added the every x seconds event to the code to make it happen every 0.2 seconds. This managed to work, so now I was able to shoot with both the mouse and the space bar and both have delays before each shot.
Then I needed to confine the player to the layout. I wasn't sure how first so I artificially did it by placing blocks around the canvas and adding the solid behaviour to them. However, due to the collision box of the blocks, when the player goes to the end of the canvas, they will sometimes glitch out.
But then I stumbled upon the Bound To Layout behaviour. This automatically prevents the player from leaving the layout.
Thursday 6th December 2018
Udemy Course
We started to learn more about the fundamentals Construct 2 by starting the course on Udemy by Jeremy Alexander.
We started to learn more about the fundamentals Construct 2 by starting the course on Udemy by Jeremy Alexander.
First, I learned about tilemaps. Tilemaps are when you embed a PDF on a grid to which you can select any box on it and you can copy that box on any box on the canvas. This is only for visuals, thus none of them will be solid.
The tool used was the Sprite tool. As this allowed you to import a PNG in it. And the tilemap panel which can be toggled viable or invisible.
The tool used was the Sprite tool. As this allowed you to import a PNG in it. And the tilemap panel which can be toggled viable or invisible.
You can change the grid size of the caves and the tilemaps, although it's generally recommended to have them to the same scale.
Bibliography
Jeremy Alexander. (18 Sep 2015). Learn Construct 2: Creating a Pixel Platformer in HTML5!. Available: https://www.udemy.com/learn-construct-2-creating-a-pixel-platformer-in-html5/learn/v4/content. Last accessed 13/5/2018.
We studied more on Construct 2. I learned more about programming Characters and enemies in Platformers.
The tools I used were:
Platformer Behaviour- The enemy needs the properties of the Platformer Behaviour for its movements to be coded.
Instance Variables- By adding one and naming it enemy_state, I was able to control what and when the enemy acts. In this case, by coding the enemy_state variable to go right or left when it's at certain values, and by coding the values to change when the enemy meets a wall, I was able to make the enemy move back and forth upon contact with the walls.
One thing new I learned was that you can collaborate properties of a character with independent variables, such as the max speed. This gives you more control over the properties of an object, as by using the many ways to change the value of an independent variable, you can change the features instead of them being set.
For making the player, we just imported the PNG of the character. To create the full illusion of their movement, you have to create different animations of them in different positions and then you code when the player starts this animation.
When doing this, I didn't find it difficult due to the fact I already had some knowledge at the time with coding player animations and enemies that I got from when continuing the game I'm currently making in my own time. Though, when I finished coding it, it didn't work even though I went through the event sheet to check for any clashing code. Eventually, I realised (again when continuing the game I'm currently making) that it was because when you make new event sheets, they don't automatically assign themselves to the project. But you have to press the Event panel and then press Include Event Sheet in order for it to be read. This now showed me more how you have to be very specific when it comes to Construct 2, as even very minor things like adding new event sheets have more steps to them.
When doing this, I didn't find it difficult due to the fact I already had some knowledge at the time with coding player animations and enemies that I got from when continuing the game I'm currently making in my own time. Though, when I finished coding it, it didn't work even though I went through the event sheet to check for any clashing code. Eventually, I realised (again when continuing the game I'm currently making) that it was because when you make new event sheets, they don't automatically assign themselves to the project. But you have to press the Event panel and then press Include Event Sheet in order for it to be read. This now showed me more how you have to be very specific when it comes to Construct 2, as even very minor things like adding new event sheets have more steps to them.
The 2 new things I learned from this will help me in future projects and I will be using them:
I may use the feature of linking properties of objects with Independent Variables to help create N.P.Cs or secondary playable character that follows the main one as I could decide when it moves or jumps.
Learning how to create new event sheets and allow them to be included in a game now allows me to make my codes more organised in the future. As instead of making multiple groups to put the codes in, I can organise them in different sections as different event sheets. E.g have a Player and an Enemy event sheet.
Ideas For 2D Games
In a few weeks, we will start to make our own games in groups. So recently, I've been thinking of many different ideas on the kinds of games I may want to make that came from different factors.
First, the ideas that I had from the V&A trip have developed as I learned more about Construct 2's tools and features. One of the ideas I had, that I got from concept art in The Last Of Us, was a game with a character that has split personalities and each one has a different character design. However, through learning more about animations, movement controls and tilemaps, I decided to merge my original idea, with one that I had a while ago. That idea was of a platformer beat 'em up of a Christian inspired tale of angels and demons. I recently had the idea of instead of a game where the character has split personalities, I can have them switch between a demonic and an angelic design.
Furthermore, I also developed my second idea that I got from the V&A about a game where there are times where the movements correspond to the narrative. Originally this idea was very vague but now I have much more of a story with it. The one I came up with now is; a horror mystery game, of a scavenger hunt to find out something. What helped further inspire my original idea was learning about Instant Variables, as they made me think of the idea of having a game where the player has to pick up many different pickups that have different riddles that lead the player to different places.
2D Game Project
Tuesday 11th December 2018
We were set a new assignment in groups of 3. We have the task to create a game from scratch. It can be of any genre and have any gamely style. We have about 3 weeks to complete it.
I have done quite a lot of preparation for this. As I started making my own game in my own time prior to this task in order to get more used to Construct2. I also was thinking about possible plots for a game since the V&A trip.
After I was put into my group, we all decided to make a shared Google Drive folder so that we can all view each other's work and can edit them if we have to. We also exchanged mobile numbers so we could make a Whatsapp group chat so we can always stay in contact with each other if we needed to update any of us about something or to let everyone in the group know if someone won't be in so we can plan around it.
We had one initial idea, a puzzle side scroll game where the player has to go through different areas that leads to the end. We came to this idea as the other person in my group had a similar idea. She had the idea of a horror game where a player is trapped in an area and has to complete a mysterious task. I suggested my idea of a horror mystery game, of a scavenger hunt to find out something. This was an idea that I developed from V&A trip from playing The Graveyard. Though we had different variations of what kind of narrative we would have.
Hunted house or a school: where a group of friends get trapped inside and have to find a way to escape at night.
In the woods: where animals are starting to evolve to the same intelligence to humans and are taking over, so you play as a hunter to find the leaders of the animals and kill them before they reproduce more.
A Town: Where the player will investigate murder cases and other crimes around the streets.
A Hospital: Where a Detective has to investigate the rumours held against a hospital about them doing illegal experiments on the patents.
Ultimately, we decided that a hospital would be the best setting as we believed the plot we had for it was the most grounded and believable.
We also discussed the types of player we wanted to appeal to. We are mostly Lown Wolf types of player and we prefer Investigation rather than Building types of games, which what helped inspired our ideas.
I remembered my player acting on games like Big Little Planet that taught me to look at the different appeals of games besides my own. And it helped show me that games don't have to be difficult to be fun. So that influenced me to make the game really player friendly.
After we discussed the narrative of the game, we then started .different tasks for this week's planning stage.
I started by writing out the Script On Celtx. I wrote out what the player will experience and do so when we start production, we can always refer back to it.
Wednesday 12th December 2018
After I worked on the script more, I and another one of my teammates drew out a map link plan. This is a visual representation of how the game's map will be like. This will act as a reference when we are juxtaposing all the locations together.
We then talked about what art style we will use for the game. It was in between clean and neat lines, or a style where everything is sketched out. I suggested that the sketchy style was a more fitting option. As the plot of the game is supposed to be that the Hospital is a non-trustworthy place, which can be described with the word "Sketchy", thus I thought a sketchy art style would be a nice fit.
We also decided to have only the characters have a more clean style in conjunction with the background, would make them stand out more.
When drawing this as a test, I used inspiration for when we did practice on 2D perspective drawing and when we used that to sketch out a hallway in units Units 1 & 2
Thursday 13th December 2018
Then I worked on another location design and also added me detail to the script.
Friday 14th December 2018
I started to think about the design of the locations more. I thought that it would be better to use solid colours for it, as colouring it by sketching may give the impression that it's messy rather than a design choice
But then I thought that the solid colours don't express what the objects are. As the floor and walls can sometimes appear to border depending on how you look at it. So I experimented with the Oil Paint and the Crystallise filters by adding them to the colours and this was the result.
Afterwards, I believed that this style was an improvement. As it still has the benefits of regular solid colours of looking clean but also makes each part more defined and adds more atmosphere to the surroundings.
I showed my teammates and asked what they think, they all agreed that this style was better so I added it to the previous background art
I then continued working in the background art, using the new style that we agreed was better.
Monday 17th December 2018
First I worked on making a table where I will put my plans and objectives for each day of the week while we do this project. We decided to format it with simple tables, labelling what week it is, what day of the week it’s being done and then the task. This was our chosen format as its very simple layout yet detailed information on what we are doing. Also, it being a table, we are able to add more rows as we plan for more tasks.
Then I finished the GDD off
Tuesday 18th December 2018
Today, I worked on audio planning. First I made a checklist of all the current sounds that the game will need and put it on my teams shared google drive so that when we get to production, we know what we need to record.
Then I went on a website for non-copyright music to find some that would create an excellent juxtaposition for the gameplay and the music. I managed to find 3 tracks that I believed that is good for the different types of music that we need. For each, I got my teammates to listen and they also agree that the tracks are good and that we should use them.
Later, I then decided to experiment by recording some of the generic sounds to get an idea of how we will record it in production to save time. I used the built-in microphone inside the recorder as it being omnidirectional means it’s better for picking up echoes, which would fit as the location in a hospital with wide rooms.
1) We needed a sound of a beep, as we were going to have doors that open using key cards. To make this, I thought about using my ID card on one of the card scanners to make the beep. As it was a very minor sound and because it was clear, I decided to leave it with the first take.
What I also could have done was get a sound of a door's lock, and then mixed it with the sound of the beep. As this will help it give more of a feel as if a door is being unlocked.
2) We need sounds for footsteps. So I decided to try it in two different ways. First I recorded myself walking on the spot a few times. Then I recorded myself banging a shoe on a table to also simulate walking.
Then I thought about making 2 more, but as if the character was going to wear shoes with heels just in case we decided he would during production. To make it, I used a soft material to hit a table in a certain rhythm.
Afterwards, I went through all the sounds on Adobe Audition and I edited the good ones by cutting out any unnecessary gaps.
When I showed my team, they gave their feedback. They exclaimed that the flat shoe footsteps were good however the ones for the heels sounded strange, like if they would cater to a horse. They liked the beep sound, so we decided to keep only that sound as a final asset.
Going forward, what I will do differently is planning on what objects I will use before I start recording for sounds. It will save time and make it easier.
Bibliography
Epidemic Sound. (2009). Epidemic Sound. Available: https://player.epidemicsound.com/. Last accessed 18/12/2018
Wednesday 19th December 2018
Because our game will have various things like items you can pick up off the floor, I decided to practice doing this in Construct 2. I made a sprite that when it goes near another, a prompt comes up and when you press the button it says on the prompt, the sprite appears on the screen in a large size.
At first, to make it, I made a sprite for the character, the pickup and for the large pickup. I used the Line Of Sight behaviour on the pickup so when the character goes near the prompt comes up. And I coded that when you press the button that is prompted, a larger version of the pickup would appear. It worked, however, it wouldn't let me close it as I coded it to close when I press E again.
Then I tried adding instance variables to it, making one called "on" and "off" to describe what I want to be to make it more specific in what I want the close to do. This still didn't work.
So I tried taking off the Line Of Sight and replacing it with the over object code so that you can only see the prompt and see the large pick up if you are over the object. I then assigned the button to close it to D just in case making it E effects with the other code.
At first, to make it, I made a sprite for the character, the pickup and for the large pickup. I used the Line Of Sight behaviour on the pickup so when the character goes near the prompt comes up. And I coded that when you press the button that is prompted, a larger version of the pickup would appear. It worked, however, it wouldn't let me close it as I coded it to close when I press E again.
Then I tried adding instance variables to it, making one called "on" and "off" to describe what I want to be to make it more specific in what I want the close to do. This still didn't work.
So I tried taking off the Line Of Sight and replacing it with the over object code so that you can only see the prompt and see the large pick up if you are over the object. I then assigned the button to close it to D just in case making it E effects with the other code.
Monday 7th January 2019
As this was the day we started the production stage, I and my team had a discussion on what we plan to do during the week and the deadlines for each of them.
Afterwards, I went straight in designing the HUD for the game, mainly the pause menu. Mainly the start menu. I started off by making all the assets for it, such as the buttons and the background for it.
I used the Spaceship game I was previously working on as inspiration as I started to make on then so I used it as a template for this one.
Afterwards, I went straight in designing the HUD for the game, mainly the pause menu. Mainly the start menu. I started off by making all the assets for it, such as the buttons and the background for it.
I used the Spaceship game I was previously working on as inspiration as I started to make on then so I used it as a template for this one.
After I finished making all of the assets, I decided to start coding it on Construct 2. As it wouldn't have taken long and because it's best to get most coding out of the way. I played out all of the objects to how I wanted.
I also used inspiration from this picture of a User Interface of the game Last Habitat: Deep Sea Defense
I liked how instead of having the regular type of a UI that has all assets in a list, this has them laid out with icons. This makes it look much more visually interactable.
Bibliography
GAMES ACADEMY STUDENTS. (JANUARY 7, 2018 ). Nice Nine developer team presents Last Habitat: Deep Sea Defense. Available: http://www.gamesacademy.fi/uncategorized/last-habitat-deep-sea-defense/. Last accessed 07/2/2019.
Then I worked on the event sheet to asinine a prompt button for the viability for it.
Using the keyboard object, I was able to make the start screen appear only when I press S. Also, using the mouse tool, I was able to code for the screen to disappear when I click on the object that says Resume.
Then I had the idea of making the shape of a magnifying glass. I thought to use it as a visual selection tool so whenever the cursor is over any clickable buttons, you see the magnifying glass over the text. I believe this minor detail would add to the game as it helps to breathe life to the game and keeps up the mystery and investigating theme.
I consulted this idea with one of my teammates and they agreed that it would make an interesting feature.
So then I coded the buttons to change its animation to the magnifying glass version u when the cursor is over them. I showed my team, and they all gave a positive response.
Overall, I didn't have any trouble making the design of the pause menu. As it wasn't hard to think of a colour that would match the game and the buttons just consisted of making shapes. And the coding part I also found no issues, as I already did practice making a start screen when I was working on my Journey Through Infinity game.
Then I started to think of what illustration to add to it. Eventually, I thought to add a raining animation. I chose this as it helps to make the ambience more grim and dull. This integrates with the plot of our game as it’s supposed to be set in a terrible place.
I made the animation of rain on Construct 2 and then stretched it to fit the windows size. I showed it to my team after. I used a YouTube video to help me make it.
They liked it however they stated that the rain looks too solid and the lines are too big. I agreed with them, so then I lowered the opacity and made the rain smaller. However, because the rain was a sprite, when I made it smaller, I couldn't fill out the whole screen. So I copied it a few time and placed them on the screen.
The size change made it look much better. However, due to the fact that it’s made up of copies of the same image, you can see the parts where they connect. This makes it look quite awkward to look at from a short distance.
I decided to just draw the rain on Photoshop so I can make it the size I want and makes the individual raindrops look smaller. I looked at the different brush types and I found one that was really helpful in drawing the rain as it draws in small individual lines, rather than a sold stroke.
So then I exported it as a PNG and used it in Construct.
My team agreed it was a big improvement and we decided to stick with is.
Creating this rain effect was a lot harder than I thought it would be, due to having to make it look the right size while also filling the whole screen. However, this did show me how important it is to make sure every visual work you make should be at cohesive dimensions.
Then I started to work on more Foley sounds. This time, I decided to make sounds for when a player hovers the cursor over buttons when they click them and I also needed sound for the rain. I choose 3 different sound for particular reasons.
I made a clicking sound by recording myself press the enter button on a keyboard. I choose this sound as the enter key tends to be a button normally used to import commands for selected items.
I made the button hovering sound using the scroll wheel in a mouse as it can be used for selecting different items.
And then I made the rain sound by rustling a paper bag. I got this idea from when I was doing my last animation in Units 1 and 2 when I used a paper bag to create the sound of wind and then realised it would also be good for making the sound for rain.
Like before, I used the built-in microphone inside the recorder as it being omnidirectional means it’s better for picking up echoes, which would fit as the location in a hospital with wide rooms.
Bibliography
AROHA MEDIA. (23 Nov 2015). Flash Animation Tutorial - Animate Rain in Flash. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HREkeOlnVyI. Last accessed 17/1/2019.
Edited Version
Then I imported the sounds that I had. Although I had a problem when I imported the cursor over button sound. Because of the code I had, the sound would repetitively play rather than just once.
I tried to use an instance variable to add a value when the cursor was over the object and to stop the sound when I reach the value. This didn't fix the problem.
Eventually, I saw my mistake within the code. As instead of saying when the instance variable =1, it should be more than or= to 1
And by setting the value to be 0 anytime the cursor is off the object.
This managed to work, now I will use this as a baseline for all buttons in the game.
So far, I believe that I and my team have done a realistic amount and I'm happy with what I have done as I'm ahead with my schedule.
Using the keyboard object, I was able to make the start screen appear only when I press S. Also, using the mouse tool, I was able to code for the screen to disappear when I click on the object that says Resume.
Then I had the idea of making the shape of a magnifying glass. I thought to use it as a visual selection tool so whenever the cursor is over any clickable buttons, you see the magnifying glass over the text. I believe this minor detail would add to the game as it helps to breathe life to the game and keeps up the mystery and investigating theme.
I consulted this idea with one of my teammates and they agreed that it would make an interesting feature.
So then I coded the buttons to change its animation to the magnifying glass version u when the cursor is over them. I showed my team, and they all gave a positive response.
Overall, I didn't have any trouble making the design of the pause menu. As it wasn't hard to think of a colour that would match the game and the buttons just consisted of making shapes. And the coding part I also found no issues, as I already did practice making a start screen when I was working on my Journey Through Infinity game.
Tuesday 8th January 2019
On the plan, I said I would be continuing the HUD (for the start screen), however, I managed to finish it early and my teammate finished designing the title screen. So I decided to fill in the time I was going to do the HUD by putting the title screen on Construct 2. I decided to add visual effects to give it more atmosphere and to start coding it so it has clickable buttons.
I started off by adding the filter that we all agreed on for the game's design. Then I separated all of the assets into their own PNGs and put them in Construct 2.
I took out the "Options" text as I thought we didn't really need it based on the plot of the game.
I took out the "Options" text as I thought we didn't really need it based on the plot of the game.
Then I started to think of what illustration to add to it. Eventually, I thought to add a raining animation. I chose this as it helps to make the ambience more grim and dull. This integrates with the plot of our game as it’s supposed to be set in a terrible place.
I made the animation of rain on Construct 2 and then stretched it to fit the windows size. I showed it to my team after. I used a YouTube video to help me make it.
They liked it however they stated that the rain looks too solid and the lines are too big. I agreed with them, so then I lowered the opacity and made the rain smaller. However, because the rain was a sprite, when I made it smaller, I couldn't fill out the whole screen. So I copied it a few time and placed them on the screen.
The size change made it look much better. However, due to the fact that it’s made up of copies of the same image, you can see the parts where they connect. This makes it look quite awkward to look at from a short distance.
I decided to just draw the rain on Photoshop so I can make it the size I want and makes the individual raindrops look smaller. I looked at the different brush types and I found one that was really helpful in drawing the rain as it draws in small individual lines, rather than a sold stroke.
So then I exported it as a PNG and used it in Construct.
My team agreed it was a big improvement and we decided to stick with is.
Creating this rain effect was a lot harder than I thought it would be, due to having to make it look the right size while also filling the whole screen. However, this did show me how important it is to make sure every visual work you make should be at cohesive dimensions.
Then I started to work on more Foley sounds. This time, I decided to make sounds for when a player hovers the cursor over buttons when they click them and I also needed sound for the rain. I choose 3 different sound for particular reasons.
I made a clicking sound by recording myself press the enter button on a keyboard. I choose this sound as the enter key tends to be a button normally used to import commands for selected items.
I made the button hovering sound using the scroll wheel in a mouse as it can be used for selecting different items.
And then I made the rain sound by rustling a paper bag. I got this idea from when I was doing my last animation in Units 1 and 2 when I used a paper bag to create the sound of wind and then realised it would also be good for making the sound for rain.
Like before, I used the built-in microphone inside the recorder as it being omnidirectional means it’s better for picking up echoes, which would fit as the location in a hospital with wide rooms.
Bibliography
AROHA MEDIA. (23 Nov 2015). Flash Animation Tutorial - Animate Rain in Flash. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HREkeOlnVyI. Last accessed 17/1/2019.
Wednesday 9th January 2019
I started off with editing the rain sound I made on the previous day. I needed to make it sound more like it's coming from outdoors by adding a reverb effect.
I use the Large Auditorium as it gives a nice open echo effect. Then I altered the Pre Delay Time that makes it sound more spaced out, imitating the way sounds bounces off walls in large areas.
Original Audio
Original Audio
Edited Version
Then I imported the sounds that I had. Although I had a problem when I imported the cursor over button sound. Because of the code I had, the sound would repetitively play rather than just once.
I tried to use an instance variable to add a value when the cursor was over the object and to stop the sound when I reach the value. This didn't fix the problem.
Eventually, I saw my mistake within the code. As instead of saying when the instance variable =1, it should be more than or= to 1
And by setting the value to be 0 anytime the cursor is off the object.
This managed to work, now I will use this as a baseline for all buttons in the game.
Friday 11th January 2019
Quite ironically, I started off having trouble with one of the button codes I put on the previous day. As I said, I used the code to make the clicking and ext. sounds I made yesterday as a baseline. However, it would only ever make the sound once. I identified the problem which was the fact that the instance variable I used would keep going up nonstop. I couldn't find out why it was doing this, especially with the code working for all other buttons.
I started to get quite frustrated, and I was staring and looking out the code for a while trying to see if I messed up any parts of it, but I couldn't figure it out.
I started to get quite frustrated, and I was staring and looking out the code for a while trying to see if I messed up any parts of it, but I couldn't figure it out.
Fortunately, I discovered a new line of code that I have never used before, the "Trigger Once When True". This code allows whatever action it’s triggering to only happen once for whatever condition you have. Using this, I managed to get the sounds to work the way I wanted it to.
I was relieved to make this discovery, as this new code was a much more easy way to trigger sounds and doesn't require any instance variables. This can also be used to have more control over any other actions or circumstances. Now I will be using this type of code instead.
I was relieved to make this discovery, as this new code was a much more easy way to trigger sounds and doesn't require any instance variables. This can also be used to have more control over any other actions or circumstances. Now I will be using this type of code instead.
Monday 14th January 2019
Now that the pause menu was done as well as the pause menu, I started coding the scenarios in the game. The first part of the game is quite dialogue heavy.
I thought to make an icon to entice the player to press the key they need to press to continue the dialogue. I used the Flash behaviour to make it pop in and out to draw the player’s attention
I copied it to the other textboxes I wanted it to appear on. However, the text would never pop up. I wasn't sure why and then I was advised to not copy the objects as it’s better to limit the amount there are. Instead, I should tell Construct to reposition the object in and out of the layout. This way I can use the object for whatever I want and It doesn't require me to copy it.
This method proved successful, I plan on using this method for objects that will be reused throughout the project.
I then started to work on it at home and changed the code for all of the text boxes and text to change their position instead of making copies as well in order to make all of the code neater. It took a while as other code that was working were getting affected and it was stressful making every work like it did originally, however, I managed it.
I thought to make an icon to entice the player to press the key they need to press to continue the dialogue. I used the Flash behaviour to make it pop in and out to draw the player’s attention
I copied it to the other textboxes I wanted it to appear on. However, the text would never pop up. I wasn't sure why and then I was advised to not copy the objects as it’s better to limit the amount there are. Instead, I should tell Construct to reposition the object in and out of the layout. This way I can use the object for whatever I want and It doesn't require me to copy it.
This method proved successful, I plan on using this method for objects that will be reused throughout the project.
I then started to work on it at home and changed the code for all of the text boxes and text to change their position instead of making copies as well in order to make all of the code neater. It took a while as other code that was working were getting affected and it was stressful making every work like it did originally, however, I managed it.
Tuesday 15th January 2019
At the start of the day, I was planning on continuing working on coding the levels of the game. However, I realised that when working on the file at home, it got converted to a newer version of Construct 2.
As currently, the computers didn't have the recent version of Construct 2, I wasn't able to work on it and have to wait till a later day for it to be updated. This was very annoying to see, but then I decided to take advantage of this time to work on something else.
I looked at my teams GDD and remembered that we planned on having system mechanics like a Save/Load system, and possibly cut scenes. So I and my other teammate decided to spend the day trying to learn how to do this.
To start with, we scrolled through the system codes and eventually found 2 that said Save and Load. For saving, all we had to do was make an event for it to happen and decided what we would call the save slot. And for loading, we just tell it when to load and what save slot to load.
I tested this out using simple shapes, and it surprisingly worked well first try.
I looked at my teams GDD and remembered that we planned on having system mechanics like a Save/Load system, and possibly cut scenes. So I and my other teammate decided to spend the day trying to learn how to do this.
To start with, we scrolled through the system codes and eventually found 2 that said Save and Load. For saving, all we had to do was make an event for it to happen and decided what we would call the save slot. And for loading, we just tell it when to load and what save slot to load.
I tested this out using simple shapes, and it surprisingly worked well first try.
Then we tried to work out how to import and present videos in Construct 2. I got a random video from my USB and imported it. We looked for different codes under the Video tool however we couldn't work out how to get it
So then we watched a Youtube video to help us. I followed the steps of what they showed but it didn't work. But then I noticed that they were using an MP4 video and mine was not. So I used another video that was an MP4 and then it worked.
I also tested it out with it being on its own layout and telling it to trigger when I press G.
I then questioned where does the save data get stored to. As I wondered if it was a local save so the save data doesn't disappear if they refresh the page or something. So I exported this test file and uploaded it to a site called Itch. Itch is a site where you can upload various forms of creative work for various purposes.
After I put it on Itch, I tested the save data by saving and then refreshing the page. And the save data indeed work still. I even tried it on different PC's and had equal results.
I and my teammate were really surprised at how simple it actually was to make a Save-Load system and importing videos. It was a satisfying discovery which in a way made me glad my file didn't open as it got me to learn 2 mechanics that will be useful for the game.
Then near the end of the day, when all my teammates left, I discovered another new thing. I found that you can copy the code from one Construct 2 file to another, as long as anything it’s referring to is present in the file. This was a very important fact as this means both me and my teammates can work on different sections of the game and thus speed up production.
Overall, this day I made many leaps by learning 3 new things that will be very useful in the future.
So then we watched a Youtube video to help us. I followed the steps of what they showed but it didn't work. But then I noticed that they were using an MP4 video and mine was not. So I used another video that was an MP4 and then it worked.
I also tested it out with it being on its own layout and telling it to trigger when I press G.
I then questioned where does the save data get stored to. As I wondered if it was a local save so the save data doesn't disappear if they refresh the page or something. So I exported this test file and uploaded it to a site called Itch. Itch is a site where you can upload various forms of creative work for various purposes.
After I put it on Itch, I tested the save data by saving and then refreshing the page. And the save data indeed work still. I even tried it on different PC's and had equal results.
I and my teammate were really surprised at how simple it actually was to make a Save-Load system and importing videos. It was a satisfying discovery which in a way made me glad my file didn't open as it got me to learn 2 mechanics that will be useful for the game.
Then near the end of the day, when all my teammates left, I discovered another new thing. I found that you can copy the code from one Construct 2 file to another, as long as anything it’s referring to is present in the file. This was a very important fact as this means both me and my teammates can work on different sections of the game and thus speed up production.
Overall, this day I made many leaps by learning 3 new things that will be very useful in the future.
Bibliography
AniMotion TM. (2 Aug 2016). Construct 2 Tutorial (فارسی): Add Video to Game. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7PiHzjNwds. Last accessed 17/1/2019.
I also added the code my teammate did to the project. As he worked on the sprites and changes the player's buttons for movement from directional buttons to W, D, S and A as this gives more distance between both of their hands thus makes it more comfortable to play.
AniMotion TM. (2 Aug 2016). Construct 2 Tutorial (فارسی): Add Video to Game. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7PiHzjNwds. Last accessed 17/1/2019.
Wednesday 16th January 2019
First, I told my teammates about my new discovery of being able to copy codes over project files so we proceeded to work on 2 different parts. I started the second part of the game and he worked on the organisation of the folders.
While doing this, I started to see how confusing and stressful it can be with working on different files. As I realised that every change either of us made will need to be remembered otherwise when copying over anything we did, it could all get messed up.
So then I thought of a way to circumvent this issue. I decided that we should make another plan on google doc to break down on all the things we are going to work on. This plan will also act as a set of rules, meaning that whatever we put on the plan for ourselves is the only thing we will do. This way, we know exactly what changes we made making the process of combining the documents a lot more organised.
At this point, I do feel a little bit anxious about finishing this game. As there is only over one week left and it just feels like it all going very fast.
While doing this, I started to see how confusing and stressful it can be with working on different files. As I realised that every change either of us made will need to be remembered otherwise when copying over anything we did, it could all get messed up.
So then I thought of a way to circumvent this issue. I decided that we should make another plan on google doc to break down on all the things we are going to work on. This plan will also act as a set of rules, meaning that whatever we put on the plan for ourselves is the only thing we will do. This way, we know exactly what changes we made making the process of combining the documents a lot more organised.
At this point, I do feel a little bit anxious about finishing this game. As there is only over one week left and it just feels like it all going very fast.
Thursday 17th January 2019
I started on the Second part of the game. I didn't find it difficult as I already finished with the first part so it was more of a copy and paste
Code For The Second Part
Code For The First Part 
I also added the code my teammate did to the project. As he worked on the sprites and changes the player's buttons for movement from directional buttons to W, D, S and A as this gives more distance between both of their hands thus makes it more comfortable to play.
Friday 18th January 2019
While I was doing the finishing touches from yesterday, I thought about how I would get the pause to work for all layouts. I found that I would just have to put all of its objects on each layout and include the event sheet. However, that would also mean I have to put all in the same position each time which I would have found very taxing.
But then I thought to use Global Variables to tell the text when and where to appear. So I tested this method with the dialogue objects. I made the code on a separate Event Sheet.
And it appeared to be working.
Eventually, I encountered a problem, everything else worked beside the first part of the game. It the dialogue worked, however, it didn't stop the player’s movement like it was supposed to.
But then I thought to use Global Variables to tell the text when and where to appear. So I tested this method with the dialogue objects. I made the code on a separate Event Sheet.
And it appeared to be working.
Saturday 19th January 2019
As my global variable idea worked for the dialogue, I decided to now do it for the pause menu objects so that way when I put them on different layouts, I won't have to put them in the same position every time.
Eventually, I encountered a problem, everything else worked beside the first part of the game. It the dialogue worked, however, it didn't stop the player’s movement like it was supposed to.
Sunday 20th January 2019
I cycled through the code to see where the problem with the code it, and I couldn't see it. So I decided to get help with the issue the next day and instead, do more organization of the project. As now that I changed the code, I need more tidying up.
Overall, I believe this week went well. I have found week 2 to be much more fun and productive then week 1. As in this week, I have actually started the code for the game and also I have learned new useful features with Construct 2; how to add a Save/Load feature, how to import and play videos in the game and how I can share codes with different project files. With the work I've done, I am semi-satisfied with the results. This is mostly due to how I have strived away from the schedule. As it has taken me longer to finish the first part of the game then I planned to. As I originally planned to complete it in one day. I do believe that this is due to how I got set back on Tuesday, and because I underestimated the time it would take to code these parts of the game, as I knew what types of code may be needed from before so I believed with wouldn't be that hard. However, due to the fact that now that I have the first 2 parts as a base, coding the rest of the game shouldn't be as long. What I believe I should have done differently this week was first, checked what type of Construct 2 I had at home so I wouldn't have had to wait for it on Tuesday (although it did benefit me) and to try to be very realistic when I set plans. Next week I will be working on the final details of the game with the new things I have learned such as coding the save system and making sure all sounds are added and working correctly.
Monday 21st January 2019
I started off with attempting to fix the issue that I had on the weekend. But when attempting to, another issue aspired. For some reason, in the first layout, the character wouldn't move. Even though it was included to the Event Sheet for the player’s controls, it still wouldn't move. For a long while, I was trying to find out why. Eventually I decided to look back on an earlier version of the project, however, I couldn't see what was different enough to cause a problem.
So I then thought that maybe all the global variables for the text was somehow interfering with the controls. So I used Instance Variables instead.
Because it wasn't working, I decided to code on an earlier version to see if the new code works so I could copy it over.
So I then thought that maybe all the global variables for the text was somehow interfering with the controls. So I used Instance Variables instead.
Because it wasn't working, I decided to code on an earlier version to see if the new code works so I could copy it over.
This made it worse, as now the code for the second part was no longer working even when it was originally was.
At this point, I was really stressed, I was at a roadblock.
I asked my teammates for help with it, they also weren't too sure how to fix it. So again, I got more and more frustrated and started to overthink and fear that if I don't fix it in time then we may be set back and not finish the game in time.
Then I tried again, this time using Global Variables again thought this time instead of using 3, I just used 1 that is used for the dialogue. It finally worked again.
So I copied it back over to see if it would fix the control issue.
But the block still wouldn't move, and then...........................................................................................
I found out that the layout was tied to the wrong event sheet which is why the movement wasn't working. After I changed it, I started to work again.
I felt quite bittersweet as I wanted a lot of time in a simple mistake, however, like last week Tuesday, I learnt from this stress. I know how to change what layout the event sheet is linked with and due to changing the code, I saw how having many Global Variables like I did before was overkill and made it more prom to affecting other codes.
Afterwards, I started working on the third part of the game, this part required the same layout as the first. I was going to make a new layout and just copy over all of the objects. But then I thought to use a Global Variable to determine what happens in each layout and when.
It worked first try, so I will be using this method for parts of the game where a layout will be visited more than once and to set objects and events to only happen once
Tuesday 22nd January 2019
I then worked on the fourth part of the game. Again, because I had the previous levels I worked on, I wasn't hard to make it. The only issue I had was that at one point, the dialogue that I coded didn't appear. But then I realised it was because I didn't transfer the objects to the layout.
I believe that recently I've made silly mistakes mostly due to the fact that I feel rushed, due to the fact that the time for production is almost over and I do fear that we won’t finish in time.
As this part of the game was the first part where the character obtains a collectable object, I decided to start coding the Inventory Screen to make the objects appear on it when they collect them. At first, I was going to do it by editing its animation.
I believe that recently I've made silly mistakes mostly due to the fact that I feel rushed, due to the fact that the time for production is almost over and I do fear that we won’t finish in time.
As this part of the game was the first part where the character obtains a collectable object, I decided to start coding the Inventory Screen to make the objects appear on it when they collect them. At first, I was going to do it by editing its animation.
But I thought this method would make it look all uneven and messy.
So I edited the Inventory Screen I made to make a separate PNGs that will be their own animations. That way I could tell it to set the animation to the one with the item collected.
Today, I and my team worked on the ADR for the game. We all took turns to say our part from the characters we decided we would do. To record it, we used a Shotgun Mic. We believed that this was the most appropriate microphone as it only has a 270° pickup-pattern, meaning it will mainly focus on what’s in front of it. We thought about using the reporter mic, however, it was less convenient as its range is far less, thus we would have to be much closer and this would affect our ability to look at our script as we read our lines.
Wednesday 23rd January 2019
Friday 25th January 2019
As my teammate finished coding 8 of the layouts in the game where the player is in the hospital rooms, I added them to the main project file. I didn't have any trouble with this as she was working on an up to date version when making them, so that made it more convenient when copying it over.
Saturday 26th January 2019
I then made the layout of a Lab. The only issue I had was that I accidentally left the file for the background for it on the college's computer so I couldn't use it. However, because I learned how to make different things happen in the same layout using Variables, I decided to use the Lab background my teammate drew and use the same method there. Allowing me to code it, and decreasing the number of layouts.
This was one of the final weeks we would get to work on the game
I started off with coding the doors to enter the hospital layouts that I previously added to connect them together.
Although I realised that the scaling of the door and the player was off. So I had to edit it
Wrong Scale
Right Scale
Afterwards, I decided to test how I would make a code for a keypad so I could make a scenario where the player gets locked in a room.
I made my own attempt, it was half successful. As I managed to get it to do an action when the right buttons are pressed, but I wasn't able to make it only work when pressed in the right sequence.
A few minor glitches through certain parts
That the player was able to walk on the walls and through objects.
After we did the testing, I went straight to adding collision boxes to bind the player to the floor. Which only required the Solid Behaviour with a Sprite. The only issue I had was finding the right placement for them as the objects stop the player from going past it but the players head hits the objects first. Meaning I had to put it at an appropriate placement above. But other than that it wasn't difficult.
Then I went through the game multiple times to iron out any glitches I could find.
Monday 28th January 2019
Week 4This was one of the final weeks we would get to work on the game
I started off with coding the doors to enter the hospital layouts that I previously added to connect them together.
Although I realised that the scaling of the door and the player was off. So I had to edit it
Wrong Scale
Afterwards, I decided to test how I would make a code for a keypad so I could make a scenario where the player gets locked in a room.
I made my own attempt, it was half successful. As I managed to get it to do an action when the right buttons are pressed, but I wasn't able to make it only work when pressed in the right sequence.
Tuesday 29th January 2019
On this day, I added 3 scenarios my teammate coded that has the player running from some N.P.Cs and the room where the player encounters the protagonist. It worked first try, so then I coded a fail screen for it.
Wednesday 30th January 2019
QA Testing
It came to the time where our games are tested by other people in our class.
Our response was quite positive the things that they liked were;
How the art style is consistent for all characters and the design of the locations.
That the game worked well and admired how we used text to create a story.
That we implemented a pause, save and load function.
The sound nicely juxtaposed with the games intended theme
The animation for the title screen
How the art style is consistent for all characters and the design of the locations.
That the game worked well and admired how we used text to create a story.
That we implemented a pause, save and load function.
The sound nicely juxtaposed with the games intended theme
The animation for the title screen
However, the problems that they had were;
A few minor glitches through certain parts
That the player was able to walk on the walls and through objects.
After we did the testing, I went straight to adding collision boxes to bind the player to the floor. Which only required the Solid Behaviour with a Sprite. The only issue I had was finding the right placement for them as the objects stop the player from going past it but the players head hits the objects first. Meaning I had to put it at an appropriate placement above. But other than that it wasn't difficult.
Then I went through the game multiple times to iron out any glitches I could find.
Evaluation for 2D Game Project
For this project, our initial task was (in groups of 3) to make any type of game in Construct 2. As I knew this task would eventually be coming, I was prepared and excited to get on with it. However, I was also anxious, as we only had 3 weeks to complete it and I wasn’t sure if that would be enough.
We brainstormed many different ideas that had a similar theme. We wanted to make a mystery/horror game and we went through ideas like kids trapped in a haunted house to a hunter trying to track down mutated animals. And then we eventually came to our chosen idea of a Detective in a hospital. We aimed our target audience at people who are more Lone Wolf and Investigator as that’s the kind of players we are and we thought it would be different and thus more interesting.
So when we were done with the plot, we started making a game about a Detective who has to investigate a hospital
Our Ideas didn’t really change before we started production, as this was a type of game that the rest of my team and I liked. And, for me personally, this was the type of game that I thought about since around the time of the V&A trip and when I was making the Spaceship game. I also thought this would be a good way for me to learn making different genres of games, as I have only practised with Platformers and Top Down games at this point.
In the production stage, I went through quite a few difficulties and issues. Practical issues I had were that many times where the code I used for the game either failed or didn’t work as well as I wanted it to. An example would be when the dialogue triggers stopped working and I spent a whole morning trying to fix it. The organisation problems were merely due to having to manage different project files. It did increase production time, as it was difficult at times to put all the work together. One logistical technicality I had was when I first worked on the project at home. This lead to finding out, that the college’s Construct 2 was outdated compared to my version at home. So on that day, I couldn’t work on it.
I overcame issues with the code, by continuously going over it, using the Debug feature to dissect the problems and then attempt to fix them. With managing between project files being difficult, I decreased the complication level, by putting them together very frequently to prevent large changes being made and increasing the amount I had to do. And when I couldn’t work on the project due to the version of the file, I took advantage to learn how to add a save and load feature.
Reflecting on the progress I made with my team on this project, I believe I have learnt and developed many different skills.
1
Teamwork Skills
As we all had to work together in order to produce this game. We had to consistently communicate with each other about what we are doing, what we will do, when we finished with our tasks and when if any of as is coming in or not.
A good example of teamwork skills was we mean and my teammate worked together to find out how to add videos and code a save/load feature. As we worked together to improve our knowledge of the game and sharing that knowledge with one another.
Patience
Making a game is a very taxing and takes a considerable length of time. Thus it requires a lot of patience and motivation.
Due to the many times where I had to consistently go through codes that didn’t work and use trial and error, I started to develop a lot more patience and tolerance in these situations.
I feel this is important because a big part of game design is trial and error so learning how to deal with these situations can go a long way.
Organisation
We had to manage different project files in order to complete different parts of the game.
I believe this helped with my organisation skills, as I had to be organised with the work or risk messing it up.
Construct 2
While doing this project, I have learned new things about the software such as
How to implement audio
How to code a save/load feature
How to implement videos
How to copy over code from one project file to another
I used my research when I was doing Player Acting to influence the gamely of the game.
I used my playthrough of Little Big Planet 2 as an influence for the controls of the game, making them simple and very user-friendly. Additionally, my experience with playing Abe's Oddysee influenced me to use different music to set different vibes as Abe's Oddysee was very good at setting moods.
Through the project, I personally didn’t use any references (besides the V&A trip) to help influence any part of the story or the design as I wanted to see what abstract ideas I could form by myself.
Like mentioned before, I and my teammate added a save/load feature in our game. But this came from our research of it, we were very surprised at how simple the process was so we decided to include it.
Our finished game is pretty much the same as what we planned but with just a few parts cut out.
Overall, I do believe that the outcome was somewhat successful. The game works, and has an understandable story and was mostly positively received.
My perception of what the strengths of the game are:
Audio
All the audio are all original and handmade (besides the background music). This to me, adds more authenticity to the game as it’s more creative and allows the majority of the games assists to be owned by you.
Many sounds like the rain I believe I did very well with as the editing I did to it really made it sound authentic and when I got people to listen to the sound loop, they didn’t even notice it finished.
The music we chose really fit the mood of the game, the juxtaposition between the music and the visuals really gives it more personality.
Coding
I’m impressed with all the different types of code we managed to implement. Such as:
Character Controls
NPC Control
Dialogue/NPC Convocations
Save/Load System
AI System
Codes such as the saving work really well, as anywhere in the game the player can save. The AI system also works well, as they chase the player and successfully creates a scenario where the player can fail or succeed.
Visuals
The characters and the background contrast with one another and this was the intention. I like how all our backgrounds have a more original style to it which also gives the game more authenticity.
It was also commented that all of the art in the game was consistent which I deem successful.
However, there are some shortcomings I believe the game has:
Coding
The saving system can lead to the player saving at a point where there may be a bug and this will lead to them having to restart the game.
The way the part where the player in a hallway was prone to many bugs with the Global Variables controlling where they player goes when they press the arrows in the game to leave certain layouts and where they are placed when they do. It had many bugs that I had to keep fixing.
Visuals
Certain animations such as the walking for the player had some problems. If the player held more than one button that controls the movement, it would either won’t move or play the wrong animation if any. I tried to solve this problem with different methods like using Inverted Events and Disabling/Re-Enabling other codes. But I haven’t managed to fix it yet.
Overall, through the project, there were many times where we would go off the plan, due to either finishing things early or plans changing due to surprise issues or impediment changes. But I have learnt from this experience, and in future, I will try to build any pre-production plans while keeping in mind of the time limit more to avoid getting overwhelmed. Also for other certain projects, I believe making plans based off weeks instead of what I’ll do each day will be more useful. As making it broader will circumvent the issue of plans changing and making organisation of work more difficult.
No comments:
Post a Comment