Below is the final version of my dissertation proposal that was submitted on Friday 9th November
Action Adventure Platform Game Development: Rusty & the Cog Bots
by
Philip Rozier
Brief Outline of the Work
For this dissertation module, I plan on developing an action
adventure platform game with a user-friendly interface. The success of the project will require
creative design work, sound mixing and the coding of characters, objects and
levels within the Unity game engine. The coding within the game will be
completed by using Playmaker; a plug-in for Unity.
I am working with a fellow student on the same project and we will
contribute equally to the entire project, demonstrating as much technical and
creative skill as possible. My personal input will be to implement code into
various parts of the game and assist in level design and the creation of small
graphics for use throughout the levels.
The tasks that I have selected to undertake are an honest reflection
of what I believe I can both achieve and be challenged by throughout this
semester. I am combining my knowledge of
the essential elements of core game design with my understanding and
appreciation of what constitutes an enjoyable and achievable gaming experience.
Rationale for the Project
The game we have designed has been given the working title ‘Rusty and the Cog Bots’: an action and
adventure platform game that can be targeted at all ages. It was decided to select
this style of gameplay as, through my previous studies of genres, I understand
it to be a recognised favourite; popular across gender and culture groups and
very adaptable for the mobile and on-line markets. It will also provide great scope for challenging
our own ideas and interpretations.
The project will be managed in such a way as to allow for
opportunities to add or remove components that we may find manageable or too
taxing. Being new to this style of development, I believe it is crucial to
adopt a positive, creative and open-minded approach for the success of the
module.
Managing enemy movement and behaviour will be an integral part of
the development, as it will determine how a player is challenged throughout
each level. It will be imperative to balance the increase in difficulty at each
level with the manageability of completion, whilst avoiding any frustration or
dissatisfaction from the player.
Initial work on Artificial Intelligence will take place within a
tech demo and by completing the coding duties in this level first, it will be
possible to test the outcomes for suitability and success and make any
necessary modifications at this early stage.
Completing this process will allow for player tests and feedback
processes to take place.
To allow the enemy to interact more frequently with the player, each
level will require more challenging code. This will ensure my coding abilities
are stretched and developed, as they will be with the coding for the player
pickups. Within the game, a number of
pickups will provide the player with the opportunity to improve qualities such
as health, game speed and jumping ability. This will be repeated for all the
power-ups and boosts within the game.
Special consideration will also be given to the pickup placement and
accessibility, the success of which will be reviewed following numerous player
tests.
For the game to appeal to all audiences, each level will feature
multiple difficulty levels. It is intended to incorporate three strands of
difficulty per level, thus allowing both inexperienced and seasoned game
players to enjoy the game equally. It is accepted that this will be challenging
to complete, as it will require multiple enemy difficulties. However, it will be a necessary element to
enhancing the enjoyment and challenge for the player.
Level design will be the cornerstone of success for this project:
creative and imaginative design will make for an enjoyable experience whilst
uninspired or dated features will make for a tedious and uninspiring player
experience. Therefore, consideration will be given towards entertaining those
players who are playing through on the earlier levels and stimulating and
challenging the advanced players who win through to the more tricky levels.
As with all good games, our game will make full use of player
testing and user feedback in order to refine and modify the game to a high
standard. A number of avenues will be
explored to achieve a balance of age, gender and ability amongst the focus
groups.
The personal challenge of this task will demonstrate my current
skills for the development and design of in-game objects whilst at the same
time develop new skills and extend my own learning boundaries. I will be fully utilising my acquired
abilities in creative design as well as undertaking new and more advanced
challenges in coding. This will give me an opportunity to display as many
talents as I can throughout the project, allowing me to develop into a more
complete, all-round game designer and a strong candidate for future
employment. The finished game will sit
alongside earlier, successful examples of my work, providing a major
contribution to my professional portfolio.
Career opportunities presently advertised for which this work would
prove valuable include a post with FULLFAT Games based in Coventry, West
Midlands. The
position involves designing and creating 2D Artwork and Graphics for the UI
Interface as well as other 2D items on various mobile applications. Two Junior Developer posts are also
advertised: one with Feral Interactive, a publisher and
developer of both Mac and iPhone based games
and another with AVM, an entertainment company making games for social online &
mobile platforms. These companies seek
new graduates with knowledge and creative ideas. My work lends itself fully to this type of
role in the industry.
In conclusion, this project proposal aims to demonstrate the level
of acquired knowledge and firm understanding of the elements that go towards
the successful development of an action adventure platform game. It not only incorporates the professional
theories and tested practice that exists as success criteria for such games but
also recognises the pitfalls and shortcomings that can come about as a result
of the inexperience or lack of knowledge and understanding on the part of the
developer. Ultimately, the intention of
the entire project is to showcase my own learning, skills and development for
the purposes of achieving a successful academic goal and future employability.
Timeline
for Action Adventure Platform Game Development: Rusty & the Cog Bots
End
of August 2012 –
·
Idea for the game to be finalised.
·
Begin work on learning Playmaker
·
Create tech demo
End
of September 2012-
·
Begin work on coding the pickups and AI.
·
Research articles for use in development.
·
Full review meeting with partner before start of
semester
Early
October 2012 – Begin work on dissertation proposal: first drafts.
End
October 2012 - Complete work on:
·
enemy movement
·
following the character
·
looking at the character
·
first dissertation proposal
November
5th 2012 – submit proposal for advice
November
9th 2012 (or before) – Hand in final proposal
End
of Nov – Complete work on pickups and enemy navigation
Mid-December
2013 – Meet with specialist tutor
End
of December 2012
·
Have a playable level that has been play tested and
polished.
·
Work on presentation update for January
Wb.January
21, 2013 – PowerPoint presentation (date to be given)
End of January 2013 –
·
Complete work on a further level
End
of February 2013 –
·
Have multiple working levels in place.
·
Broaden scope of playtesting (possibly with school
pupils)
·
Use feedback to modify game
End
of March 2013 – Have a number of polished levels completed
End
of April 2013–
·
Have a finished game with polished levels,
·
Have evidence from finished and complete playtest
sessions on the final game from as wide an audience as possible including
Suffolk University Waterfront Games website.
Early
May 2013 –
·
Present work to specialist tutor for review and advice
before final submission
·
Modify/final adjustments to be made
Mid-May
2013 (by 17th May) – Final Submission
Regular
events throughout the project:
·
Weekly meetings with partner
·
Making 2D assets
·
Creating sound
·
Play testing new features
·
Tutorials for Playmaker and Unity
·
Research articles for use in development
·
Meet with specialist tutor when required
Annotated Bibliography
1. Various Authors &
Contributors, Difficulty Level, Giant
Bomb.
This webpage information details
reasons why game developers use difficulty levels
as a way of allowing a player to make choices.
In my own game I recognise that if the player is to get the maximum
enjoyment they need to have some control over the amount of challenge they want
to feel as they play through a game. By adding difficulty levels to a game it
offers multiple choices to a player so that they can choose a level that is
close to their level of skill, or just choose a level that suits their playing
style best.
2. Various Authors &
Contributors, Difficulty Level, Giant
Bomb.
The advice given
here on changes to difficulty levels matches my own understanding about why
these are necessary. Changes to the game
that different difficulty levels make are different in every game, but some
common characteristic elements include those already detailed in my
dissertation such as the amount of health or the speed a player has. Others quoted include the
amount of enemies encountered and the amount of damage enemies deal.
3. Jack Arnott, (June 17th 2009), Take 5: Platform Game, Guardian News Agency plc.
This Guardian news article champions the platform game genre. It is because of the very reasons given in
this text that our own game development chose a platform style. It is because a platform game offers such
simple, controllable fun that any gender, age or ability can easily access
it. Despite technology taking massive
leaps the platform genre remains a winning favourite and for that reason it has
been selected to represent our ideas.
platform-games
4. FlipC, (February
24th 2011), Video Game
Collectables: notes for designers, Blogspot.
This
article on video game collectables explains why these are so necessary to
gaming. In developing Rusty and the Cog Bots the inclusion of
Pick-ups mirrors what is suggested in the article: that they are to extend the
playing time of the game and to add variety to the whole experience. It is recognised that of the two main
categories of collectables mentioned in the article, we have selected what is
termed here as ‘World difference’ only, as it is felt that ‘No world
difference’ collectables do not generate the same level of satisfaction to a
game.
5. FlipC, (February 24th 2011), Video Game Collectables: notes for designers, Blogspot.
The details in this article provides a number of excellent
suggestions about the use of collectables and how best to utilize them to best
advantage for the game.
From the suggestions made here our own game development was modified
to include risk taking, placement for exploration, positioning, marking and
numbering. This was useful advice and
helped to redirect some aspects of our decision making.
6. Laura
Parker, The Science of Playtesting: UK
Gamespot.
This webpage article outlines clearly the reasons why play testing
is so important to game developers. It
was already an important feature to be included in our own game development but
this article confirmed our thinking and also reminded us to test at regular
intervals with a variety of testers. It
also taught us that with testing comes subjective opinions that can alter the
course of a game considerably. The
article also reminded us that testing will be important to prevent us, as
developers, losing sight of how the game will play to the gamer as opposed to
the developer.
7. Ed
Fear, The Top 10 Game Engines, No. 4:
Unity 3D.
This article confirms my understanding that Unity is a recognized,
well respected and well-used game engine amongst game developers. Its compatibility with a range of devices is
particularly useful, saving time and money when developing for a variety of
platforms.
Accessed 4th November 2012. http://www.develop-online.net/features/516/THE-TOP-10-GAME-ENGINES-NO4-Unity-3D
8. Blake
Snow, Why Most People Don’t Finish Video
Game, Finishing Video games.
The evidence presented in this article is a timely reminder about
the need to respect the interest level of the player. It lists a number of reasons as to why
players abandon games e.g. difficulty, repetitiveness, duration, lack of
time. It is important to pay attention
to this article in order not to forget how important player testing is in the
successful development of games. Games
must be worth players’ time and money to be rated well.
Accessed 27th September 2012.
9. James
Wexler, (May 7th 2002), Artificial
Intelligence in Games
This interesting article details how AI has evolved over many years
from ‘Pong’ ‘Market simulators, logic systems, and economic
planners’ are listed as some of the different fields of
computer software that rely heavily on elements of artificial
intelligence. It then explains that as
video games have become more complex, interesting and engaging AI now shapes gameplay in a major way.
One game in particular, “Black and White” by Lionhead
Studios is exampled as how advanced and complex video games can now be with the
use of AI. I found this article
particularly interesting in view of the fact that this area is one I am
involved in developing for my own project.
10. Julie Weed,
(November 6th 2012), Video
Games for All Ages, Seattle Times.
In
understanding of how to make my own game as appealing to as wide an audience as
possible I was interested in reading this latest article about games and
families. I was astounded at 20 million
players playing simple games such as ‘Words
with Friends’; a version of Scrabble and Draw Something which is like Pictionary. It reminded me that to be accessible to the
audience I am targeting I need to keep my game fun, simple to understand and
relatively easy to play without losing the thrill and excitement of challenge
and humour.
Word Count without Annotated Bibliography
or timeline: 1032
Word Count without
Annotated Bibliography: 1323
