Magical Vine

Up until now we just had it so that when you jumped out of a level you phased into the next one. We needed something more obvious so we added a vine to climb up into the next level. After being told that this still wasn't obvious enough we added a glow animation around it. Then we added a glow sound that would activate when you got close and louder the closer you got to it.

Death Animations!

We really wanted something that would make our game stand out and keep people playing. By adding different death animations for each enemy in the game we bring in some originality while at the same time also adding a semi-reward for dying. Here are a few we have already.

Double Jump Animation

As I mentioned I can put in the last post I have coded in a double jump animation. There is a gust of wind coming from his leaves so it gives an actual reason to boost upwards.

Take off and landing animations

We thought it would be cool if the were animations for taking off and landing during the jumping cycle. After attempting to code this in for the better part of a day I am calling myself defeated on this. I almost had the landing working but it looked really odd so wasn't worth pursuing. While the take off just straight did not work. I did find that I could code in a double jump animation from this so all was not lost.

A fair few changes...

So since last time we have made a big leap. There is now new backgrounds for the first few levels as you start in a crater. The mushrooms spore now impacts and splatters on tiles as well as you can see below.

As you can also see in the above image there is a large rune etched rock. This will be at the start of each level and is the resurrection stone. It has a vine hanging down from it as climbing up vines is the way to progress in levels. And below is the resurrection animation.

New Sliding Animation

Jordan has just created a new animation of our character sliding. I have coded this into the running behaviour so that when you change direction while running you will slide, temporarily blocking the controls for running.

Ideas we had in class

So we have the idea of plants and tiles moving as you run past them and we have also moved to a theme of these runes on all the characters, enemies and plants. Anything corrupted by the smog will have its runes glowing green, whereas the glow of the seed is blue representing the mystic power of the ancient tree. From this we want to add the touch of as you pass corrupted plants their runes go from glowing green to glowing blue as you technically heal them. This will build on our subtle animations and will hopefully look quite impressive.

Audio tracks that we need to source

The following are the sounds that we expect to hear in game and that we need to source.

Jump

Double Jump

Walking (Rustling Sounds)

Death Sounds – Thorns, smog, spore projectile

Mushroom spore shooting

Landing

Ambient Track

Subtle sound for movement activated animation

Reseach into bouncing paint

So I found a walkthrough on how to get the bouncing paint effect on a sub woofer for a photo shoot. While this is not what I am going for it is the precedent for my research and is very close to what I want to achieve.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1006056

They discuss how they use plastic over the sub to get the bouncing surface so I will be starting there with my experiments. Also that they watered down the paint so that it bounces enough and is easy to clean. For these reasons I will need to get water soluble paint.

The megaphone arrived today so once I get some batteries the experimentation can begin.

Megaphone for sale

So I found a megaphone on trademe today this will be perfect for my experiment.

Though a bit more than I would like to spend it is exactly what I need for this project to work. Once it arrives I can begin testing.

Latest Version of Game

Below are the links to the current version of the game
Play
Download

Hanging now works!

The solution turned out to be really simple and just came to me randomly. I just put an invisible tile at each end of the vines that slants your movement downwards. Then I coded in that when hanging and you move down you automatically let go. Problem solved!

Double jump complete and Hanging almost...

Got the double jump working in about 10mins so I'm happy I've got something working. This seemed to get my flow going and the hanging code problem is almost solved. The problem with the freezing was it was trying to load 2 animations at the same time. So now that's solved I just need to solve the problem of the seed floating in space next to the "vines".

Hanging code more trouble than first thought...

So I have the seed disable gravity when he hits a ledge he can hang onto however I have run into a number of problems with it. First off when the release button is pressed he falls ridiculously slowly. The second is he doesn't when he moves to far left or right of what he should be holding onto, he just floats in space. And then when I had fixed all that the game would freeze when trying to load the hanging animation. I think I'll just code the double jump and come back to this as that should be easy.

Sensory Experiments

So I decided to carry on with skateboarding as my base action. I feel that skating is losing the rebellious status that it once had especially here in Wellington and so I have chosen to try and invoke a sence of rebellion in these experiments.

Experiment 1: Graffiti
What's more rebellious than graffiti? By putting spray can on the back of the board you are now "tagging" the street as you skate down it. The sound of the spray cans is notorious and I believe its works very well with the existing sounds of the wind and the wheels. It is also a constant reminder of what you are doing and so grants a sense of daring that should result from rebellious acts.

Experiment 2: Fireworks
Fireworks in New Zealand have always been a rebellious activity. With the legal age to buy going from 15 to 16 to 18 and the time span to buy them dwindling to to a single day. Therefore setting off fireworks from your board as you are hurtling down a hill invokes a definite sense of danger and rebellion.

Experiment 3: Smoke
And finally there is the act of burnouts. Boy racers have always been a major front for rebellious behaviour in New Zealand and doing burnouts is right at the heart of that. I wanted to emulate that with skating so I have taken smoke bombs and attached them the the board so that when you skate around in a tight area you get a very good "burnout" going.

500 Word response

 

From these the main feedback I had was that I needed to get the results form the experiment into the writing and to even add the photos from the experiment as they wanted to see them after reading about it.

Coding the different move functions.

So to start with the basic run, jump and fall code is done as it is the same as the game I made from project 1. The first thing I will tackle is the hanging stance. I need the seed to hold on to overhanging vines when he jumps up into them and then release when a certain button is pressed later on. After this I will move on to the double jump.

Group Meeting 1

Group meeting 1: 

Discussing game goal, environment, movement, enemies. 

We discussed on several new and different ideas to help improve the base of our game idea by changing different game characteristics.

Game Goal:

- Changing the original linear game into a game that has 6 zones and has 5 levels per zone each with ways different ways to interact with objects in game

-changing the character to collect resources by completing the jump puzzle and getting to the ideal planting spot. 

- the layer of polluted smog will be placed only on certain levels where the level design will be a horizontal layout rather than horizontal + vertical as it would have been far too difficult.

Enemies:

additional enemies that can be added to game.

- Polluted air bubble

-snails and slugs

-birds

-venus fly trap

-thorns

-quick sand

Environment:

-We have decided to change how each level will be, as the game is now going to be in zones, we though each zone should have an independent theme when say zone 1 is underground and zone 2 is in the morning and frosted over. 

- current consumables that we have come up with for the seed to collect and oxygen/carbon dioxid bbles, water droplets and sunlight. These are resources required for the seed to continue to the next level before planting itself. 

- on certain levels the seed will need some power ups to advance through the level, some of these are oxygen bubble shield that will deflect 1 hit from a monster, arms that can be lashed out like vines to swing over pits.

Movement:

Movement is a huge part of a game and really depicts how a user thinks of a game, if the character is hard to control then it can be very frustrating, especially in a game similar to ours. We have come up with a variation of movements for the seed to do to enhance the interaction of user to character.

Group Meeting 2

Discussing game mechanics, aesthetics, individual roles.

Game Mechanics: 

- Player Lives:

deciding on whether or not to have player lives. As some levels may be very difficult to complete and require many tries before succeeding. But still have not decided on whether if you die ‘x’ amount of times you will have to restart the zone, rather than the whole game. Or rather you have an unlimited amount of lives and you just restart the level when you die.

-Point system:

seems irrelevant for a game like this and will most likely not be included. instead of this we will just use a count for how many resources the seed has collected.

- End level

Still a tricky thing to decide, overall the character will be a full size tree at the end of each zone, rather than the end of the game, so it seems as if the seed has reached its maximum potential and has successfully saved that particular zone. But whether or not to choose if the seed plants itself and progressively becomes a larger tree at the completion of each level, or just to continue each level until it will plant itself at the end of the zone.

Current Individual roles :

- Jordan Shand - Character, art design

- Zac Bird - game mechanics, coding

- Chris Hughes - animation, level design

Game Mechanics

Final Character in Setting

Here is my character complete on his fast disappearing tropical island. Haven't been able to get the water to show up yet (for some reason it just won't).

https://sites.google.com/site/zacsflashanimations/Rising%20Tides.swf?attredirects=0

A4 Stills

Idle Animation

And here is the Idle animation. I wanted him to seem edgy and anxious to keep moving as the water level is constantly rising therefore his Idle pose is quite bouncy.

https://sites.google.com/site/zacsflashanimations/Idle.swf?attredirects=0

Falling animation

..... and falling

Right
https://sites.google.com/site/zacsflashanimations/CharRightFalling.swf?attredirects=0

Left
https://sites.google.com/site/zacsflashanimations/CharLeftFalling.swf?attredirects=0

Jumping Animation

As promised here is the jumping animation

Right
https://sites.google.com/site/zacsflashanimations/CharRightJump.swf?attredirects=0

Left
https://sites.google.com/site/zacsflashanimations/CharLeftJump.swf?attredirects=0

Running Animation

Here is my completed run animations. The jump right animation will follow shortly as will the idle and falling animations.

Right

https://sites.google.com/site/zacsflashanimations/CharRightRun.swf?attredirects=0

Left

https://sites.google.com/site/zacsflashanimations/CharLeftRun.swf?attredirects=0

Background setting and tiles

Above is my background image and below is my tile set.

          

Alternate colour schemes

Here I was playing around with the colour scheme of the mask to see how it would look. While quite striking I feel that the more natural wooden look is much better suited.

Character in Illustrator completed

Here is my character completed in Illustrator now ready to be motion tweened in flash.

Character on Illustrator

Here is the front view of my character having gone from pen and paper to illustrator.

Still need to add some more war paint to the upper left eye area. Will follow with that shortly.

Level Concept

This is the basic layout for the first level of the game. The idea is to have anything that looks like it can be jumped on to be able to be.

Auto-Ethnography

Skating down a hill

The taste of nerves runs through your mouth just before you push off and it's gone in an instant. There is the familiar sound of the wheels rolling on the tar seal, almost grinding by the sounds of it. The rough road sends vibrations up through the board and into your feet as you begin to build speed. By now the wind is whistling past your ear and flowing through your hair and its cold, bitingly so, but also refreshing. By now you are full of excitement as you hit the bottom and your feet feel tingly now from the vibrations.

Listen to the sounds.

Playing Fooseball

You feel the hard smooth texture of the ball as you put it into play. The sound it hitting the ground is loud and sharp but this only lasts half a second as it is now being hit all over with a clack, clack, clack. The ball wizzes so fast that it becomes reaction rather than trying to follow with your eyes. Nerves are quickly replaced with excitement and back again as the game progresses. Your lower back starts to ache and your right thumb is sore from constant rubbing. There is a smell of fireworks now as the powder on the ball explodes from multiple hits and this triggers more excitement.

Cooking Porridge

There is a faint fresh smell from the oats as you pour them into the pot. The sound of the water joining is one great slosh. All the oats are just spinning around now with a little bit of white oozing from them. When the pot is put on the element there is a ticking, groaning noise. Steam starts to wash upwards and hit your face making it feel warm and then cool as you back off. The water starts to boil and making bubbling and popping sounds and the smell is now being released. The steam is flowing thick now and the oats have all gone white and formed into one mass as the water has disappeared.

Character Development

A scan of some of the concepts for my character. I like the idea of him being faceless so that he represents more than one person. The top mask I quite like for this with the grass skirt poking out the bottom and these big black eye holes that give nothing away. Also from the side view which is where all the motion actions will take place doesn't show any more of him than the front.

Pocket Gods Referral

I was advised to have a look at this game as it is very similar to the style of my proposed idea

Precedent Images

Here are some images I found to base my masks off of. I really like the idea of making it look like its made from wood.

Actual Sinking Island

I found an actual island called Kirabati in the pacific that is effectively "sinking" because of global warming which is exactly what my game is trying to portray.

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/thinking-tech/global-warming-causes-island-nation-to-sink/10632

Game Idea 1

Rising Ocean Levels

Have this idea greatly exaggerated with the player character having to constantly move upwards to avoid drowning. The water will be rising quicker and quicker with the only way to slow it being to either.
Flick off switches
Unplug cords
Destroy coal factories
Knock ice into the water
etc.

Consider the setting as a tropical island that is going under.
Character is a native tribesman of the island with a giant voodoo mask taking up the majority of his body.

Path of Exile - Erik Olofsson (Producer, Lead Artist)

Erik is the lead artist on the upcoming game Path of Exile. He is an Industrial Design Graduate
from Sweden who has completed work on an arcade machine, a clothing label and level design and
concept art for games and other purposes.He also wrote "Design Sketching" which is used in many
universities around the world.

www.grindinggeargames.com

Path of Exile is set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world where the player character is exiled to
continent of Wraeclast. You are thrown off a ship and wash up on shore where you are immediately have to fight against drowned undead exiles who had come (and failed) before you.

You must fight your way back to the mainland for any chance to survive.
The aesthetic theme for the game is a gritty realistic art style, which as they quote "goes against
the current industry trend of cartoony RPGs." The game is an over the head action RPG of the style
that was made famous by Diablo. They wanted a really dark and gritty game that made you feel like
you really were exiled and that there wasn't much hope.

 I really feel this comes across in the game as you get the sense that the area is smaller than it really is as you cannot see all of it. This brings with it a sense of fear as you don't know what's in the darkness.
The biggest advantage of the game is its character customisation. With a large skill system, randomized
loot and an enourmous level system truely no two characters are the same.

www.pathofexile.com