PHASE 3
Friday, November 1st - Friday. November 29th
In Phase 3, we are to come up with 3 ideas for games/products, each being accompanied by a prototype that shows the idea would work. At this stage, Adam advised us to start teaming up, combining theme ideas, links and interests. I think this is a good idea, since different minds bring greater ideas and outcomes and also - making a game on your own is stressful.
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After researching the topic of Human Migration for more than two weeks, I realised it's really difficult to address it, because there are many interpretable issues and things that could go wrong if an expert isn't involved. I don't think I have the necessary skills to do this sensitive subject justice in terms of telling the story of a child affected by migration. However, I want to take elements from it and design a game idea from there. I believe there are many opportunities to do that. I'm considering teaming up with Rylan, since both of us are interested in making a simple mechanics 2D, but meaningful game.
Tuesday, November 5th
Today, after having 1 to 1s with Adam and James about what I should do in terms of my topic and teaming up, I've taken the decision to team up with Chenhao (Rylan) Li and Daryl Acquah-Robertson. All three of us agree we want to make a small, but meaningful and polished game. While Rylan says he doesn't necessarily want to put his theme, Taoism, in the games, we want to focus on my theme, Migration, and maybe take certain elements from Daryl's topic as inspiration for our game ideas.
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While we were discussing today, we came up with a very rough idea about a possible game: you are playing on the top of a train, and you are trying to survive and avoid obstacles. The game would have many sensory related assets, such as the sound a train makes, the coal smell, the speed. It is very rough, but if we could find a good core mechanic and story around it, it would be great. We also liked the 'gambling with life' concept (see Sketchbook Phases I & II, page ). We decided we would do more research on this tomorrow, and then come meet up on Thursday before the lecture to talk about what we found about gambling, and how we could use this for the train game idea.
Thursday, November 7th
Yesterday I did some research on gambling (see page Gambling Research). While I was able to find interesting things, I'm not sure to what extent that would be useful for coming up with a good mechanic.
Today we had a team meeting at 11am, and we tried to come up with things and mechanics for the train idea, but we found ourselves stuck. There wasn't much more we could do, and ithe idea we had come up with was also pretty literal to my research: children crossing the border on the top of a train called 'The Beast'. Too literal, in fact. Adam always taught us to stir away from initial ideas, since these are the most obvious and there are better things we can come up with beyond them.
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After the lecture and workshop, we decided to do some brainstorming: to put everything we personally want in the game, on paper. This way, we can make sure nobody's ideas are ignored and everyone is happy with the ideas we have (see Brainstorming I)
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So today I also researched some Starting Points I liked from the columns we made at uni (see page Starting Points Research). I gathered a rich collection of information, and there are quite a few mechanics and concepts that I like and I will present to the team tomorrow. Hopefully, making use of this and what the guys have come up with, we will soon start coming up with game ideas that we can develop.
Friday, November 8th
Today, in the morning, we shared and had a look at what we each researched the last night, and we agreed we had enough content to make something good out of it. But when we started thinking about how to use all these and put them together, we found ourselves stuck. we had too many random things and we had no idea how to go about connecting and linking them together.
That's when we decided we should talk to Adam about what we should do. He told us we shifted from our topics, which are supposed to be the starting points of the game ideas, and we should go back and have a look at the Phase 2 research, after which, brainstorm very quick mechanics ideas, and try to develop more elaborate game ideas from there (See Brainstorming II)
After we did this, we felt much better about the project and where we were at this point. Before, we felt like we had nothing, but now we definitely have good starting points from which to start coming up with ideas. I don't really know how we shifted from this before, but I'm glad we talked to Adam now, rather than later and he got us on the right track. We decided to meet up tomorrow at Rylan and Daryl's flat to work on the ideas.
We also decided to make a timeline of this phase. We gave ourselves 10 days to ideate, research, and design the three game ideas and then 8 days to prototype. Then, we put this on Trello to make sure we keep track of it.
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At the end of the day, we had another talk with Adam, to see if we did the exercise right, and he told us what he though about each mechanic, and then he said that it might we worth doing this again later on.
Saturday, November 9th
Today we tried doing the exercise Adam told us to do, again, but we kept thinking about the mechanics we already had. So we decided to give this exercise a few days, until these ideas leave our brains. Then, taking in consideration Adam's opinion about the mechanics and what we though might be worth looking into and developing further, we marked the ideas that we liked on the paper.
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We chose the Antelope mechanic to start developing first, and we came up with a great game idea (see Page Game Idea no. 1, [Version 1.0]). When thinking about developing this game idea, we thought about migration. Just like humans, animals are sometimes forced to migrate and adapt to other environments unknown to them. This happens, many times, due to human activity. Deforestation, pollution, global warming, all have a huge impact on animals, but we rarely think about their point of view. The first game idea is strongly influenced by this. We want to put animals in unusual environments for them, to raise awareness about what human activity does to them. We know it's a problem, but we don't directly see it, so it would be a great way of communicating this to people. Plus, using animals to show what forced migration is, and the difficulties encountered in the process is a good metaphor for human migration as well. Telling such a story of forced migration with human characters could be very tricky and complex, but with animals, the approach is different, and people are probably more open to understand the story of migration from the point of view of animals, rather than people, since the latter is more difficult to comprehend and address.
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I really like this idea, and I think it would make for a great little but impactful mobile game. I am really happy about how today went, and how our team works together. Keeping up good work, we should have no problem in coming up with three strong game ideas and prototypes in time for our 29th of November deadline.
Monday, November 11th
Today, we decided to try to develop another idea from the brainstorm exercise we did on Friday. Since all three of us believe the Energy mechanic would make a very interesting experimental game, we chose this one for further development (see Game Idea no. 2, [Version 1.0]).
Tuesday, November 12th
Today I did some research for the first game idea (see Wildlife Threats Research).
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I have gathered quite a good amount of information, which I can propose as game mechanics. I also tried to come up with something more specific, visually, in my sketchbook, but that didn't go as well (see Sketchbook Phases III & IV, page 5-7). I tried taking Saola's personality traits and postures (from the moodboards) and translating them into game mechanics, but what I came up with was very simple. I will, however, show this in the next team meeting too, as maybe they can develop the ideas further, more than I can.
Thursday, November 14th
Today we came up with the third game idea, which, unlike the first two, isn't taken from the brainstorms we did initially. For this game idea we decided to focus on two things. The first one is a quote I came across in my research in Phase II: "We write our own stories. For the first time, in another language." I think this is a very powerful quote, given that there are so many difficulties one will encounter when migrating, and finally being able to express yourself is very important. A second focus we have is a sensory focused game. We want to make a game for blind people to be able to play and have fun, not just some game that makes them feel excluded or designed for their special needs. The game we want to design is designed for everyone. Not specifically for the visually impaired, but will allow them to play it just like a person who can see (see Game Idea no. 3 [Version 1.0])
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This afternoon I decided to look into the types of energy that we will need in order to develop the second game idea further. I spent a considerable amount of time looking at YouTube videos, just like I used to in high school (see Types of Energy Research). This helped have a better understanding of the subject, and how the energies work, and how they might translate from one to another. Now what we need to do for this game idea is have a team meeting and see what we all have and try to see where we can take the game idea to.
Friday, November 15th
Today I had my Formative Feedback with Adam and he helped me understand what I need to do further (see Formative Feedback).
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Today, we finally got to sit down and develop the second game idea further. Over the week, we had time to do some research and think about it, and today we managed to refine and write down what we want from the game idea, and how we want it to go if we are to choose this one as final and develop it in semester II (see Game Idea no. 2 [Version 1.1]).
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Again, this game is pretty straight forward, it is a fun game that people can use to learn about physics, but it also has a deeper meaning. It is simple and fun, not too ambitious, but certainly interesting that we could develop. Personally, I don't find it the most exciting game, but it has potential.
Saturday, November 16th
Today I did some research on video games that allow blind people to play and have an engaging experience (see Games for the Visually Impaired Research). I found out that the game we wanted to design already pretty much exists. The Papa Sangre series uses the same concept we were thinking about developing. On the screen, you only have the buttons to walk and touch things, and the rest of the game is played by the audio part. You need to listen to the things happening around you in order to get to where you need to be. This is very much like what we were thinking, and it's a shame that it already exists, because we were really excited about the game idea. Unfortunately, Papa Sangre is not available on the AppStore anymore and we won't be able to play it.
Monday, November 18th
Today, Rylan and I talked about what we found in our research about the visually impaired games, and we decided we had to stir away from Game Idea no. 3, because it already exists.
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He also said he had come up with something new, a 'vertical migration' game idea (see Game Idea no. 4 [Version 1.0]). The idea he had was a bit complicated and I couldn't really follow through. After some discussions and idea generating, we came up with a slightly different version of the game idea, that is a bit more clear to me (see Game Idea no. 4 [Version 1.1]).
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There's definitely more work to be done for this game idea. Unfortunately, Daryl couldn't join us today in the team meeting. Maybe his ideas would have helped us simplify the game idea further.
Tuesday, November 19th
Today, Rylan and Daryl came to me and said that they had come up with a new concept for the forth game idea: instead a diving game, an abseiling game. The game keeps the concept of vertical migration, but is located in a cave instead (see Game Idea no. 4 [Version 2.0]).
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After some discussion, we were able to develop the game further and now the game idea is clear to all three of us. It is an interesting concept, and if we are careful with our design, this could be a beautiful indie game.
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I feel like everything happened so quickly in these past few days, as we were pressured by our internal deadline: We must start prototyping on Thursday, and that stressed us out as we did not have a solid third game idea. Now that we do, and that all three of us like, we can finally start working on the prototypes and get ready for the presentation that is at the end of next week.
Thursday, November 21st
Today, as we scheduled a few weeks ago, we started prototyping. We decided to take the ideas one by one, and for each one of them, we identified what questions we might be asked by our peers, about where the games could fail, and from there, we decided what prototypes would answer those questions and in what format.
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Game Idea no. 1
The first game idea, which is pretty straight-forward, takes quite a lot of time to explain everything we have on our minds, so we decided to make it visual instead: to show the animals in the environments. I will be creating the backgrounds for this prototype.
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Game Idea no. 2
This game is also quite simple, but we are still thinking we will have problems with the game becoming somewhat boring, if the only thing you need to do is walk around and transfer energy. For this, we decided that we should use Markov Chains to make the game less predictable and more random, so the player is kept in a more exciting environment. I will make sure we have this done by the Friday presentation. We will also have a 3D scene created, to show what we mean and how we see the game.
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Game Idea no. 3
For the third game idea, which has become quite complex, and which we are thinking of taking forward, we want to have the most prototypes, so we can show our peers exactly what we mean. As it's become more rich, we need to make sure people understand it. To do this, we need something interactive, so I will be making the Jump mechanic in Unity, and we will also have music, animations, and concept art.
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I decided I should start with the first game idea prototype (see Game Idea no. 1 Prototype).
Saturday, November 23rd
Yesterday, Adam told us that we don't need to have a prototype for each game idea, but make sure that the one we want to develop further is understood by the others. Therefore, today I wanted to focus on the Abseiling game prototype. I managed to do everything I wanted to so I consider today a very productive day (see Game Idea no. 4 Prototype). I am very happy with the outcome, even though I know I took a shortcut.I believe it explains our idea fairly well, so we will present this on Friday for the interactive prototype.
Monday, November 25th
Today we carried on making prototypes for the game ideas. I started the last background for the Animal Game, the desert (see page Game Idea no. 1 Prototype). The only thing I can say is that this art style is taking ages, and that there should be an easier way of doing it, because there's no way we could potentially make the whole game in this art style.
Tuesday, November 26th
Today we were supposed to carry on making prototypes, and I was supposed to talk to James about the Markov Chains prototype for the Energy Game, but before we got to that part, we had a group meeting with James about the Abseiling Game. During the meeting, as we were explaining the game to him, he started asking questions we haven't thought about, or we have and forgot what we wanted to do with the thing. Some of these commentaries were:
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Why do we have a camp that we have to go back and forth to? Isn't that going to make the game too complicated and confusing? He described this as a book, and when you finish a chapter, instead of flipping the page to go to the next chapter, you go to the contents page and look at what page the next chapter is. This is terribly true and I haven't thought about it this way before. I guess it would be very confusing for the player when you put it this way. We decided a main camp is not, in fact, necessary.
Why do we have letters? If you have letters, and the player reads/listens to the story, how is it different from a book? Suggestion: have the story/parts of the story hidden in the environment instead. This is, again, true.
An abseiling rope doesn't end. It doesn't make sense. Great.
Why do we have monsters? The player is already being challenged by having to properly abseil, adding monsters would just make it unnecessarily complicated and frustrating.
Why does the player have to adjust their equipment? How is that going to work if you decided not to have a main camp anymore? What's the point of it? Trying to answer this question, we wasted the rest of the day. To us, it was pretty simple. We wanted the player to adjust their equipment, so their sound experience of the game would be different and personal. But now we realised that that doesn't make sense in the story. It's a design point of view, but not story. We tried to answer this and come up with a good reason, but we got stuck.
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At this point, we started getting extremely worried and discouraged and we didn't even know why we are stuck. We didn't change anything from this morning, when everything was fine, but we were not able to go forward with this game idea that we liked so much. We tracked down when we made this decision and why in the last weeks, and we remembered we started from the idea that we wanted the player to write their own story with music, but that was from a design point of view.
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In the end, we decided to start from the beginning, this time making sure we have an Essential Experience written down that we can see and make sure all our decisions are in line with it. We don't have time to do this by the Friday deadline, but we still have enough time before Hand-In. We decided we will present what we had so far this morning for the Abseiling Game, and then start working on a new idea.
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I feel terrible about this, because I really liked the concept of the Abseiling Game, but we are stuck and we have already wasted a significant amount of time trying to fill in this gap. I think the problem was the fact that we kept throwing things at the game, making it increasingly and unnecessarily complicated, as James also said. In the future, I will keep this in mind and try to question a decision five times before adding it to a concept.
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Plus, I didn't even manage to speak to James about the Energy Game due to this issue we had. Not a good day.
Wednesday, November 27th
Today I finally finished my part of the prototype for the first game (see page Game Idea No. 1 Prototype). It took a long time, as I expected, and I'm not sure this art style is the way to go for this game. I think we should look at this decision again and try to pick a more accessible art style that can portray all the details we want to have in the game.
Thursday, November 28th
Today I went through all kinds of feelings. In the morning, I went to talk to James about our Energy Game prototype, and I've been told that what we have is not a game, since there are no rules, and there is no need to have a coded prototype. Then, I've been told that the idea is so weak, there's no point in having a prototype at all. Which, I guess, makes sense. We haven't really spent too much time trying to refine this idea, since we considered it's pretty straight-forward, but we didn't think it wouldn't be viewed as a game at all (see page Game Idea no. 2 Prototype)
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Then, at 12.00, we went to the guest talk and I kind of forgot about the Energy Game disappointment. After lunch, Rylan showed me what he came up with since Tuesday. After changing a few thoughts, we came up with a new game idea we were both pretty excited about (see Game Idea no. 4). And just in time to talk to Jasmine Idun Isdrake about it. We explained we just came up with it, and she said that it's a great concept, and gave us some suggestions, one of which being: if the pitch is higher, then the second player will know the following obstacle is higher, so it will have time to prepare for it. This was great, as we were wondering what happens if the second player isn't able to overcome an obstacle. This feedback for the player will help avoid getting stuck.
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Then, I told Rylan and Daryl about my talk with James, and they agreed the game idea is weak. So, since we came up with this new great concept, we decided to present this instead of the Energy Game tomorrow. During the rest of the evening, we made the presentation and rehearsed it to make sure we have enough time to go over all the details we needed.
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I feel ten times better now than in the previous days. I am glad we came up with this idea that I really like. I believe it's really simple, but very strong. Now, we need to make sure we don't over complicate it like we did with the Abseiling Game.
