The theory lecture about designing for others raised a lot of interesting discussion points, the most valuable to me being about following a brief. As I have already been able to see in my GAM140 projects, I tend to get carried away with ideas, which can sometimes stray outside of the bounds of the brief. It is important to frequently check your project against the brief given to you to ensure you are not creating something that ends up outside of a clients desires for the project.

This week’s workshop introduced us to the ‘3D Game Kit Lite’ (Unity Technologies, 2021), the tool we are recommended to use in the production of our annotated level design assignment. After just two hours of experimenting with it, I can see that it will be a powerful tool in the construction of my level. Combined with the use of ProBuilder, it is possible to very quickly mock up a level, with many of the package’s objects such as crystals and doors being able to stand in for potential quest objects and pick-ups, as they have broad functionality.

I took some time outside of the lecture to follow an in-depth tutorial for the package on Unity Learn (Unity, 2020), which reinforced a lot of the knowledge I had gained from the workshop. By the end of the tutorial I was able to use the PolyBrush to create natural craters for acid to sit within, attach moving platforms, doors, and counters to crystals, implement checkpoints, and tinker with enemy AI (fig. 1).

(Above) Figure 1: Screenshot. The test area I used to experiment in and follow along with a tutorial for the 3D Game Kit Lite.

Building on from my proposal within the worldbuilding lecture we had last week, I have sketched up a potential level that fits within the world (fig. 2), as well as fleshing out the quest that it sits within (fig. 3).

(Above, top) Figure 2: Picture. The initial sketch for my level design done on paper. (Above, bottom) Figure 3: Screenshot of a word document. The plan for my level and the quest it features in.

The quest involves clearing out an abandoned outpost and placing a quest item in a Spirit Tree at the end of the level to either kill or catalyse the surrounding plant life, dependant on the player’s alignment. The player must stealth their way through this area to avoid being killed by patrolling drones.

The overall shape of the level is circular in its topology, taking great inspiration from Skyrim (2011) dungeons and Dark Souls (2011) areas. This was a conscious decision, as I feel it reinforces the feeling of having actually ‘cleared’ the area that you are moving through, something that may not have been as prevalent if the level had taken on a more linear layout. When sketching out the different spaces that the player moves through, I tried to adhere closely to what was discussed in a Gamasutra article about designing levels around basic human instincts (Totten, 2011). I want the player to be typically alternating between narrow and prospect spaces, with refuge being found in cover and hiding spaces. This will be done to create tension and anticipation in the narrow corridors, before a feeling of awe and potential at the larger areas they will be met with.

Within the Fungus project, I have finished up the dialogue for another character, Memory. The topology for this is still braided but has many branching points, making a lot of the dialogue missable (fig. 4). Having reduced the scope of the game, this now means that I have just one more character to write for, so hopefully I will be able to finish up all of the dialogue next week.

(Above) Figure 4: Screenshot. The topology for Memory’s dialogue.

I have also made some small visual tweaks and quality-of-life fixes. Initially, the transitions between dialogue and menus were quite jarring, as it would abruptly jump from the character portraits to a blank screen which would often break immersion. To negate this, I added some brief pauses of 0.5 seconds between the say dialogues and menus. Although a very simple fix, it goes lengths to make the gameplay smoother. After this, I decided that I would like to give the player some more visual feedback regarding the effect that their decisions have on the state of the game, particularly the ‘baggage’ stats. To achieve this I used the ‘lean tween’ command, to briefly expand and retract the box whenever a stat increases or decreases, alerting the player and drawing their eye to the corner of the screen. I think that this does a much better job at giving the player feedback than what the game did previously.

The Soul Slug encounters have been moved from a prototype stage, and are now fully implemented into the navigational sections. They work as a semi-random event (semi-random because they are actually hand-placed) that the player can stumble upon. When the player comes across one of these the flowchart briefly diverts to another section (fig. 5) that contains the interaction, where they can choose if they want to alter their statistics, before being taken back to the main portion, containing the navigation.

(Above) Figure 5: Screenshot. A portion of the navigation flowcharts holding a Soul Slug interaction.

References:

Dark Souls. 2011. FromSoftware.

Skyrim. 2011. Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks.

TOTTEN, Christopher. 2011. ‘Designing Better Levels through Human Survival Instincts’. Gamasutra [online]. Available at: www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134779/designing_better_levels_through_.php [accessed 20 March 2021].

UNITY. 2020. ‘3D Game Kit Lite.’ Unity Learn [online]. Available at: https://learn.unity.com/project/3d-game-kit-lite [accessed 18 March 2021].

Unity Technologies. 2021. ’3D Game Kit Lite.’ Unity Asset Store [online]. Available at: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/tutorials/3d-game-kit-lite-135162#version-current [accessed 16 March 2021].

Within my Fungus project, I have made some small tweaks that have helped enhance the overall ‘game feel’ of the piece. To start, I have replaced the default Fungus font with a pixel-style one found on DaFont (Tyler, 2010). I really like this look as I think it has a nice cohesion with the pixel art used for the characters and backgrounds (fig. 1), as opposed to the previous one which stood out too much and felt incongruous to the rest of the game.

(Above) Figure 1: Screenshot. The new font used for the dialogue. I think it fits much more with the aesthetic and world of the game.

After that, I spent some time fleshing out the navigation sections, as I felt they were somewhat lacking. Going over my initial GDD for the game, I saw that the main emotion I wanted the player to feel was disorientation. While I think that this feeling is definitely conveyed in the dialogue portions, I wanted it to be more prevalent while traversing the dungeon. To achieve this, I have greatly increased the size of these sections to have more snaking and separating pathways that confuse the player, with the flowcharts topology being much more complex as a result (fig. 2). I have also added dead-ends, meaning that I had to find a way to implement backtracking. To achieve this I have created a simple menu which sits below the navigation buttons, containing a ‘back’ button. Clicking this button simply directs the flowchart to go to the previous block – a simple solution but effective as it feels like you have more agency over where you go, rather than each navigation section being ‘on-rails’.

(Above) Figure 2: Screenshot. The updated navigation with increased size to create confusion, and accommodate for dead-ends and backtracking.

I have now also implemented some colour-coding to my flowcharts (fig. 3). Red and green represent stat increases and decreases, respectively, while blue denotes the beginning and end of a flowchart. I have also added comments under relevant blocks to detail how the player’s statistics will be effected, and where certain events are triggered. All of this means that it is now much easier to understand my flowcharts at a glance, something which I have found to be beneficial with balancing the game. In the future, I will make sure to begin colour-coding my Fungus flowcharts from the outset of a project, to help with clarification.

(Above) Figure 3: Screenshot. Ego’s dialogue flowchart, now with colour-coded blocks.

Our GAM140 theory lecture for this week was focused on worldbuilding. I have always enjoyed getting lost in fictional worlds, regardless of the medium they are found in, but it was particularly interesting to think of them through the lens of games, where the world can be used to facilitate particular elements of the gameplay, and be effected by the choices of the player. Using superstructures and infrastructures as theoretical tools for building better worlds, gives the creator some good groundwork that once laid down can be built upon exponentially.

Following this lecture, we had a workshop in which we were able to use what we had learnt and apply it to our own ideas. We were taken through each stage of the superstructures and infrastructures found in fictional worlds, slowly fleshing out the ideas we had. I ended up creating a world set on a distant alien planet colonised by humans. See below for the document created during the process (fig. 4). Considering that I started without any idea for a world, I am happy with what I was able to create during this workshop. I also feel that, with some refinements and additions, I may even be able to set my level within this world.

(Above) Figure 4: Screenshot. The document written in Notepad during our worldbuilding workshop.

Following this lecture, I went down to the library and picked up Jeff’s book on quest design, Quests (Howard, 2010). While this part of the assignment is marked purely on our application of level design, I want to improve my understanding of the quest that it takes place within as that will greatly feed in to my design decisions. I have not yet finished the book, however I have already gleamed some interesting information from it regarding symbolic objects to obtain, spaces to navigate, characters to meet and challenges to overcome. With all of these working in harmony to reinforce the symbolic nature of the quest, a game’s theme and deeper meanings can be explored through the acting out of a quest’s objectives. I will ensure to take this into account when creating my own quest.

References:

ANDREW, Tyler. 2010. ‘PixelMix’. DaFont [online]. Available at: https://www.dafont.com/pixelmix.font [accessed 17 April 2021].

HOWARD, Jeff. 2008. Quests. Massachussets : A K Peters.

This week we had a lecture on quests. I enjoyed considering quests as the bridge between the ludology vs. narratology debate. The intrinsic meaning and action found within their framework makes them well suited to ensure that narrative and gameplay can complement each other.

I enjoyed going through the steps of conceptualizing a quest in the GAM140 workshop. It was great to take the concept from initial idea, being represented as a flowchart (fig. 1), through to actually drawing up the spaces that the quest would take place in, and how each narrative beat would fit in spatially and temporally. By the end of the workshop I had a relatively fleshed out idea for a quest and level design, that I feel has potential to be the basis of my annotated level design.

(Above) Figure 1: Screenshot. The flowchart made to represent my quest idea in this week’s workshop.

This week I have fully implemented the navigation system within my game. While it is very simple, I think it is effective in creating the feeling of progression and disorientation within the player, as well as serving as a small palette cleansers in-between dialogue sections (figs. 2 & 3). It works by fading to different ‘views’ when a button is pressed, using Fungus commands, with each view having it’s own block in the flowchart (fig. 4). Essentially, the game will cycle between different PNG images, dependent on which paths you choose, which works surprisingly well. I have also created a separate custom menu for these navigational sections, placing the buttons at the bottom of the screen, taking up some of the blank space left by the floor.

(Above, top) Figures 2 & 3: Screenshots. The navigation system in-game. Simple button inputs to advance / choose which direction to take. (Above, bottom) Figure 4: Screenshot. The simple flowchart used to enable navigation.

I have also included most of the dialogue for The Pallid Giants, the second character that players will meet. As someone interested in philosophy and metaphysics, the dialogue has been very enjoyable, and challenging, to write. A big aspect of this character is the fact that they attribute colours to emotion, and are able to tune into the ‘aura’ that emotions give out. To aid me with this, I read an article on ‘colour psychology’ (Swarnakshi, 2021), which detailed the different psychological attributes and effects of particular colours. I understand that there are issues with this, as colours can mean vastly different things across cultures, so I have tried to be as accurate to Western culture as possible, with this being an issue to look into if I were ever to develop the project further.

I have also implemented the possibility to encounter the Soul Slugs that were made last week (fig. 5). Currently, when encountering them, you get the choice to increase or decrease particular statistics. I think that they help to give the player a sense of agency, as they are able to affect their statistics in a more direct way than outcomes from dialogue choices. It also means that players will have more unique play experiences, as the slugs are missable, and only found on particular routes.

(Above) Figure 5: Screenshot. An encounter with a Soul Slug, following this dialogue you get a choice for how to affect your stats.

References:

For GAM140, this week was the introduction of the second part of our assignment; the annotated 3D level design. The theory lecture touched on many interesting concepts, particularly relating to the design of 3D space from an architectural standpoint. Through effective use of intimate, narrow, prospect, and refuge spaces we can evoke particular emotions within players by tapping into our own evolutionary psychology and how we subconsciously navigate spaces. When used in tandem with form, void, light, and shade the effect that a level’s design has on a player can be huge. I took time to fully read the article that we touched on in the lecture (Totten, 2011). It was also interesting to think of levels in terms of labyrinths, mazes or rhizomes and how each framework can work for or against the player, dependant on gameplay style.

Within the workshop, we got to be more hands-on and put what we learnt about 3D spaces into practice with modular assets. By using a free modular asset pack (AurynSky, 2019), I created a rough layout for a generic dungeon room (fig. 1). As you can see, I have used narrow space with the corridors, which contain traps to pass through, heightening the sense of danger that this type of space gives the player. I have also employed a sightline – from either end of the corridor the chest is visible to the player, enticing them to risk entering at the prospect of a reward. In this sense, the prospect/refuge loop has also been employed. I really enjoyed this practical application of our theory, and it will surely help in my development of my 3D annotated level design as part of my assignment.

(Above) Figure 1: Screenshot. The dungeon room example made with modular assets.

This week I have also fully finished writing and implementing the dialogue for Ego, with the final word count reaching 1000 words for the finished script. After playing through the full encounter with a timer, it seems that it takes roughly three minutes to get through (somewhat dependant on which choices you make). This is much longer than I initially anticipated, meaning that with my current plan the entire game could take upwards of fifteen minutes to finish, with the navigation sections included. Because of this, and how much time it has taken to include just one encounter, I have decided to scale back my scope slightly. There will now be five characters in the game, rather than seven. As much as I would love to have all seven characters in the finished project, I have to think realistically about how much workload I can manage, especially with the other projects I have running concurrently. It also means that I can focus on making the dialogue for each character high quality, with good pacing and decision-making. Additionally, thanks to the modularity of Fungus, if I wanted to develop this project further down the line, I could add these characters in my own time.

Due to this reduction in scope, I understand that there will be less room for meaningful choice during navigation, with the majority of pathways leading you to the same outcome. In an attempt to negate this, I have decided that I will include pickups to be found while traversing the labyrinth (fig.3). Taking the form of ‘Soul Slugs’, finding one of these will grant you a stat boost or reduction of your choice, making different dialogue options and outcomes accessible further down the line. By having these in the game, I’m hoping that each player will be able to finish the game with very different stats and feeling like they had a unique experience.

(Above) Figure 3: Screenshot. The Soul Slug sprite made in Aseprite.

Next week, I am going to focus largely on getting the navigation portions of the game working, as well as starting to write the script for Emotion’s dialogue.

References: