As of this week, I have finished up the majority of the character portraits in Aseprite (2016). In line with my initial artwork for Ego, I have employed a grayscale aesthetic. I also took great care to have their design be reflective of their what they represent. For instance, Emotion (fig.1) is represented here as large, imposing renditions of the comedy and tragedy masks of theatre, reflecting the dramatic impact our leading emotional responses have over our lives, as well as the multi-sided nature they exhibit. Similarly, Memory (fig. 2) is a CRT TV with amorphous on-screen static. A product of a bygone era, with unclear, fuzzy picture, much like our recollections of the past. Id (fig.3) is the slovenly counterpart to Ego’s thoroughly kempt look. In psychology, the Id is theorised to be our ‘unconscious psychic energy that works to satisfy basic urges, needs, and desires,’ (Cherry, 2020), hence his sluggish, hedonistic design.

(Above, left) Figure 1: Screenshot. Emotion’s portrait. (Above, middle) Figure 2: Screenshot. Memory’s portrait. (Above, right) Figure 3: Screenshot. Id’s portrait. 

Another big addition to the project this week has been the inclusion of a functional ‘stats’ box on-screen (fig. 4). I titled the box ‘baggage’ as a reference to the weight that our emotions and characteristics have on our daily life, and as an effort to make more of the UI feed into the narrative, as touched on in a previous lecture. I have also changed the dialogue sections to take place against a black backdrop now, to draw more attention to the characters (fig. 5). This was done by using the ‘fade to view’ command, and fading the camera view into a blank screen. Initially, I was concerned about how I would be able to present the statistics to the player, as I am not particularly fluent with programming. Luckily, thanks to the online forums, I learnt that by using the ‘Set Variable’ and ‘Set Text’ commands, I am able to update the text component of this panel through Fungus (fig. 6). This means that I will be able to be update the stats easily on the fly, while the player is engaged in dialogue. I have plans for certain dialogue options to be available depending on your stats, so this is a great foundation to work on and means that the player will always be aware of what their current stats look like. As you can see in the command box, I have also utilised the ‘Wait’ command at the top of the block. This is in attempt to slow the pacing a little, as it seemed easy to accidentally click through text too quickly. I have also used the colour tag to accentuate the text denoting a stat increase or decrease. Hopefully this will signpost its significance to the player, as well as differentiate it from the character’s spoken dialogue – letting the player know that this piece of text is not being spoken by the character.

(Above, top left) Figure 4: Screenshot. The look of the stat box, with some example statistics. (Above, top right) Figure 5: Screenshot. The new aesthetic of the dialogue sections, this feels much cleaner, and somewhat breaks up the navigational sections. (Above, bottom) Figure 6: Screenshot. My use of the ‘Set Variable’ and ‘Set Text commands to change the stat box through Fungus.

This week’s GAM140 lecture on the laws of UX presented some interesting theories. I particularly enjoyed checking out the ‘Laws of UX’ website (Yablonski, 2021), and reading up on the different ways in which player experience can be streamlined with these different models. Of particular relevance to my Fungus project, I zoned in on Jakob’s Law and Hick’s Law. I feel that my UI design is already quite evocative of other choice-based narrative games, however if I make any updates or additions, I will remember to keep in mind that players will subconsciously be expecting a certain presentation and layout. I also am making effort to ensure that the player does not get overwhelmed with choices while they play. Currently, none of the choice intervals exceed three options at any given time, but I can easily see this increasing as the game progresses, so I will make sure to carefully consider these at each stage. I think that in general, I want the difficulty of choice to come from the choices themselves, rather than choice-paralysis due to overwhelm.

References:

Aseprite. 2016. David Capello, Igara Studios.

I have been busy writing more dialogue for the game this week. Already, I am noticing how time-consuming it is to write branching dialogue. You can spend a long time writing pages of dialogue, which the player may only see a small portion of. It’s a lot of work but I’m very much enjoying the challenge, and chance to flex my creative-writing muscles! To aid me with my writing, I have checked out some interesting Gamasutra articles. I read a fascinating article on how developers approach the design and writing of their characters (Bradley, 2018). It seems that there is no one set way to approach this – with some developers moulding their characters to fit into the world and narrative, whereas others shape the narrative around the characters and their abilities. As my project is very much led by the characters you interact with (to the extent that their reactions to you directly impact your stats), I chose to employ the latter approach. I also read an article about the role of a writer in within a game development team, and how it is often important to keep them in the loop at all stages of design (McDevitt, 2010). While I am not in a team for this project, it was interesting to consider, and will certainly benefit me in my team projects moving forward.

This week I have made a custom Say Dialog to hold each character’s speech, name, and icon (fig. 1). As you can see, it uses a similar colour palette to the backgrounds and character portraits, fitting in with the aesthetic style of the game. The character’s portrait has also been moved to sit in the centre of the screen, drawing more attention towards them. I am really happy with how this looks and think it is a big improvement over Fungus’ default Say Dialogs. I originally wanted to present the stats within the ‘say dialogue’, but the interface quickly became too messy, negatively affecting the user experience. I think I will have them visible in the corner of the screen instead, to be less obtrusive to the player. Keeping Jeff’s previous theory lecture on UI and UX in mind, I still think it would be a great idea to have the UI look ‘fleshy’ but this would have to be in such a way that it does not detract from the legibility of the text. Perhaps I could employ a grayscale look similar to the character portraits. I will make sure to look into this once I am further along with the script and art assets.

(Above) Figure 1: The new custom say dialog made to better fit in with the game’s aesthetics.

This week’s theory workshop was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed going into the breakout rooms with fellow designers and creating some speedy concepts. The combination of a time limit and certain constraints made for a highly creative environment in which we were all bouncing ideas off one another. For this reason, I can understand the popularity of game jams, and would love to take part in one in the future. It was also interesting to think of games as constantly moving between different states. I’ll make sure to consider this for my current project.

Next week I will continue to write for the script, and make some more art for the characters to be implemented into the Unity project.

References:

I made some good progress on the overall story structure this week. Using diagrams.net (2021), I made a flowchart representing the top-level flow that the game will take, as well as giving a good impression of the narrative topology. As you can see, I have gone for a braided narrative, as I feel that will allow for a good amount of choice and player agency, while still funnelling the player through certain story beats. I also think that this model is realistically achievable with my skillset and time frame available to me.

(Above) Figure 1: Screenshot. The narrative topology for the game. I imagine much of this will be tweaked and moved around during development, but this serves as a good framework to work from.

I have also written a large amount of dialogue for the first character the player will meet: Ego. As well as this, I went into Aseprite (2016) and created a portrait for him (fig. 2). My goal is for each character to be a physical manifestation of how we regard each mental construct that  ‘resides’ within our mind, hence why Ego eyes the player with a condescending look. He also has devil horns, representing the general belief that egotism and vanity are bad and to be discouraged. I have implemented these features into a Unity project to see how the dialogue flows in-engine and I’m mostly happy with how it feels (fig. 3). Of course, I will update the UI to fit in more with the narrative and desired aesthetic of the game soon.

(Above, left) Figure 2: Screenshot. The portrait for my first character, Ego. Made in Aseprite, using a grayscale palette. (Above, right) Figure 3: Screenshot. The dialogue in-game, with Fungus’ default dialogue boxes.

This week’s theory lecture was all about UI and UX. It was helpful to consider the differences between the four main types of UI (diegetic, non-diegetic, spacial and meta). Each bring their own feel to a game, whether it’s increased immersion, or greater understanding of a game’s playspace. Whether intentional or not, their implementation and aesthetic also feeds into a game’s narrative, so it’s always important to carefully consider your UI. The information gained in this lecture will help me greatly when designing the UI for my assignment.

I have made some basic mock-ups for the UI in MS Paint. I think that my current goal is to keep in line with the grayscale colour pallet of the character portrait, to keep aesthetic cohesion, as well as bringing the character into the centre of the frame, as they are the focal point of each interaction. I think that next week I will try to make the dialogue boxes to be implemented in-engine and I can start to iterate and refine them to best serve the player experience.

(Above) Figure 4: Screenshot. My current mock-up for the look of the custom say dialog.

References:

Aseprite. 2016. David Capello, Igara Studios.

2021. ‘Flowchart Maker & Online Diagram Software’ [online]. Available at: app.diagrams.net/ [accessed 12 February 2021].

The GAM140 lecture on interactive narrative covered some interesting points. It was good to see some examples of effective embedded and environmental stories in games. It is evident that marrying the two within a game’s narrative can make for great outcomes, however they are often at odds with gameplay systems which often lend themselves to more emergent stories. Balancing these factors, and knowing what to emphasise is essential to crafting a great game narrative. The GDC talk on environmental storytelling was fascinating – conveying the unique ability of videogames to convey narrative through exploration and ‘mise-en-scene’ (Smith and Worch, 2010). I also liked the case study of Fallen London (2009), with heavy importance laid on building a world first, and then ensuring that all elements of the game are made to be in service of that world and narrative. I will aim to do the same for my assignment, taking particular care to make sure the UI reinforces my narrative.

At the beginning of the week, I made some more artwork for my initial idea based around a haunted island (figs. 1, 2 & 3). However, following the GAM140 workshop, in which we discussed the assignment brief for the Fungus game, I have decided to pivot from this idea to something more manageable and fitting of the assignment. The reasoning for this is that, while I would love to make a classic point and click adventure game, the structure is more limiting for a branching narrative when compared to a more traditional visual novel style game. I would also be putting significant time into creating gameplay which, while fun, wouldn’t fall within the marking rubric for this assignment. I think I will shelf the idea for now, perhaps to return to for a later project. As I’m very happy with the look of the art, I have decided to carry over the monochromatic aesthetic into my new idea.

(Above) Figures 1, 2 & 3: Screenshots. Art made in Aseprite to be used for the point-and-click game idea. I’m really happy with how it looks, and have decided to carry over the monochromatic style into my new idea.

The new idea I have landed on takes the form of a “dungeon crawler”, in which you traverse the labyrinth of your own mind, meeting interesting and eccentric characters on your way. These characters will be physical manifestations of your own mental constructs, such as Ego, Guilt, and Memory. The majority of gameplay will stem from the conversations you have with these characters, and depending on your choices, you will gain stat increases/decreases. You will also have choices on which direction to take, which will determine who you meet on your journey. This is an idea that I am really excited about as I think it has a lot of potential. I have created some pixel art to represent the environments the player will move through, likely to be updated and refined later down the line (figs. 4 5 & 6). As the game will be largely focused on the dialogue system, I wanted the environments to serve as an abstract backdrop to these conversations rather than taking centre-stage.

(Above) Figures 3, 4 & 5: Screenshots. More pixel art made in Aseprite to represent the different intersections that the player will encounter. I like the abstract representation, alluding to the ‘fleshiness’ of a brain without it being obvious. I have also carried over the monochromatic style of the last idea.

Other than the above, this week has been largely spent learning how to use Fungus, as I feel that I will be able to more confidently jump into my project and begin experimenting with different ideas when I have a better idea of what the tool is capable of. I picked up another great course on Udemy (McGrath and Gregan, 2017), by the creators of Fungus itself, and worked through the entirety of it during the week. It covered most of the major aspects of Fungus, and took me step-by-step through the creation of a simple point and click game with a branching narrative. One of the key things I took away from it is the ability to create custom dialog boxes and menus – something which will be key to creating a UI that feeds into the narrative of my game. The ability to create draggable / target sprites also intrigued me, opening up the possibility to implement an item system.

Next week, my goal is to begin writing a story outline and topology, as well as writing dialogue for the various characters. I would also like to start making the art assets for the characters too.

References:

Fallen London. 2009. Failbetter Games.

MCGRATH, Paul and Chris GREGAN. ‘Make Unity 3D interactive games with Fungus – no coding!’. Udemy [online]. Available at: www.udemy.com/course/make-interactive-games-with-fungus-unity3d-no-coding-required/ [accessed 02 February 2021].

SMITH, Harvey and Matthias WORCH. 2010. ‘What Happened Here? Environmental Storytelling’ [online lecture]. GDC Vault. Available at: https://gdcvault.com/play/1012647/What-Happened-Here-Environmental [accessed 03 February 2021].