NEXT-GEN Nescot week 15 - Game Design Document

Game Design Document

Game Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
High Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Unique Selling Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
Platform Minimum Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .       5
Competence Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
Synopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Game Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    6
Game Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
Game Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    6
Game-play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
    Game Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
    Game Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
    HUD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
    Player Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
    Player Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
    Player States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
    Player Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
Character Line-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
NPC Enemies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . 10
    Enemy: Outlaw (human) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
    Enemy: Outlaw (Alien) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
    Enemy: Target(bounty) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . .10
    Enemy: Police . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
    Enemy: Police (Swat/Army) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
    Enemy States . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
    Enemy Spawning . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   11
NPC Allies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   11
    Civilian (neutral) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
    Ally Spawning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   11
Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
    Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
Level Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
MVP (Minimum Viable Product) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .       14
Wishlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   14

Idea:

Futuristic bounty-hunting/mafia.

Large sky-scrapers
Flying cars/ spaceships
Aliens
Police/crime
Death
Multiple worlds/maps

Game Overview

Title: Sky-Line: Mafia
Platform: PC + PS4 + Xbox-one
Genre: Futuristic bounty-hunting/mafia 3.D shooter.
Rating: (18+) ESRB
Target: Casual gamer (aging from 18 - 35)
Release date: (unknown)
Publisher: (unknown)

Sky-Line: Mafia is a first or third-person open world 3.D shooter game where the is both a bounty hunter and part of a large mafia

High Concept

Sky-Line: Mafia sets the Player in a futuristic cityscape where he/she acts as a bounty hunter to take down outlaws and rival gangs for the law enforcement while also covering up the deeds of your own mafia group by living a double life of being an agent of the law and covering up your own dark intentions.

Unique Selling Points

• Multi-platform.
• Unique story.
• Multiplayer.
• Futuristic technology.
• Multiple planets/maps.
• Alien languages that are relatively easy to understand.
• Customizable character.
• Can switch between first-person and third-person.
• There can be mutinies against you and betrayals within your mafia.

Platform Minimum Requirements

PC, MAC, LINUX, PS4 AND XBOX-ONE.
OS: Windows XP SP2+, Mac OS X 10.8+, Ubuntu 12.04+, SteamOS+ .
Graphics card: DX9 (shader model 2.0) .
capabilities; generally everything made since 2010 should work.

Competence Titles

Red Dead redemption series: Rock-star games
GTA series: Rock-star games
Mafia series: ____ (don't know publisher)

Synopsis

In a futuristic city, you act as a bounty hunter, taking down gangs and outlaws while hiding your own dark intentions and criminal activities.

Game Objectives

The objective of the game is to make your mafia take over all the areas and become the most powerful mafia in the game

Game Rules

The game level is a open environment set in a futuristic city where the Player is a newly emerged mob boss while also hiding from the authorities by hiding as a bounty hunter to kill rival gangs and mobs. The Player can move around and attack Enemies with (currently 4) different Weapons (see Weapons).

In this level, there are different spawn points from which the Enemies originate. Each Enemy has a different behavior and will try to defeat the Player (see Enemies), usually depending on what they do.

The Player scores points by killing Enemies during missions: the number points earned depends on the Enemy type. After the level/activity ends, score from the mission is decided by the score and given to the player in in-game currency.

Game Structure

Menu > character selection/creation > Story mode/ multiplayer (endless) > pause menu/quit > repeat.

Game-play

    Game Controls

PC controls

W - move forward.
A - move left.
S - move back.
D - move right.
E - interact.
C - crouch (hold prone).
Shift - sprint.
R - reload.
Tab - switch weapon (weapon wheel).
Mouse Left Click - fire.
Mouse Right Click - aim.
Mouse movement - look/rotate.
Spacebar - jump (hold climb).
Q - show objective.
F - grenade.
Esc - pause menu.

Xbox controls

L2 (left trigger) - aim.
R2 (right trigger) - fire.
L1 - switch weapon (weapon wheel).
R1 - Grenade.
A - jump (hold climb).
B - crouch (hold prone).
X - interact.
Y - show objective
L3 - sprint
R3 - melee
left joystick - move in the direction the left joystick is moving.
right joystick - Look/ rotate in the direction the right joystick is moving.
Start - pause menu

Ps4 controls

L2 (left trigger )- aim.
R2 (right trigger) - fire.
L1 - switch weapon (weapon wheel).
R1 - Grenade.
X - jump (hold climb).
O - crouch, (hold prone).
☐ - interact.
  ⃤   - show objective
L3 - sprint
R3 - melee
left joystick - move in the direction the left joystick is moving.
right joystick - Look/ rotate in the direction the right joystick is moving.
Start - pause menu

    Game Camera

When the game starts, the camera will focus on the two characters the Player can choose from. The camera will remain still while the Player chooses a character to play with. After the selection is made, the camera will turn 180 degrees and will continue following him/ her from a 1st or 3rd person point of view. The camera will rotate with the Player’s movement.

    HUD

Player Health: Indicates the amount of life the Player has.

Ammunition: Displays the Weapon's Ammunition (if it shoots physical ammo) or a slider (if it shoots lasers) to show when the gun will need to recharge (time depends on Weapon).

Mini-Map: Displays an overhead (less detailed) example of the map.

(Image taken from Battlefield 4 and is not my gamertag)

Player

    Player Characters

The Player character (can be boy or girl) can have an age between 20 - 45 depending on what the Player chooses. They are the leader of a newly emerging mob. Problem is, they can only build their empire slowly, this means they must be discreet with their actions. The Player acts as a bounty hunter to destroy rival gangs and mobs while also staying under the police's radar. The Player's final goal is to create the most powerful mob in history and rule the three in-game worlds!

    Player Metrics

Speed: 6
Max Health: 100
Attack Damage: Dependent on weapon
Time to attack: Depending on weapon

    Player States

Idle: The idle state is a cycled animation where the Player is looking around, it plays back when the Player remains still.
Crouch:
Prone:
Move: The movement animation will be triggered while the Player character is moving and will cause the character walk/run depending on if sprint is activated or not.
Jump: The death animation will make the character fall into a rag-doll state when their life reaches zero.
Climb:
Death:

    Player Weapons

The Player has a multitude of different weapons to fight their enemies. Each gun has different stats and effects, for example the "Colonial Laser Pistol" is a weapon that you can collect from common police officers and the "L.A.P.D2019c" which is used by lower teared Outlaws and thugs.


Below is some draft ideas for weapons.

Weapon	Description	Type of Enemy to use gun.	Cool-down/ delay	Reticle	Damage per shot
Colonial Laser Pistol	Fires a small bolt of plasma with a medium accuracy and close range.	Average (common) Policeman	cool-down: 2 delay per shot: 0.75	none	body shot: 12.5 head shot: 20
L.D2019c	Fires physical ammo (10mm rounds) with medium accuracy and close range.	Average (common) Outlaw	cool-down: n/a delay per shot: 1	Iron sights	body shot: 17 head shot: 27
Colonial Combat Rifle	Fires physical ammo () with medium accuracy and medium range.	Swat (uncommon) Police	cool-down: n/a delay per shot: 0.25	Red dot sight	body shot: 8 head shot: 13
Colonial Rail-gun	fires a large beam of plasma that (without aiming) has very low accuracy but greatly high range.	Swat (uncommon/rare) Police	cool-down:  4.5 delay: 2.15	Sniper Scope	body shot: 120 Head shot: 150

Character Line-up

NPC Enemies

Enemy Type	Speed	Weapon used by Enemy	Max Health
Outlaw (human)	4	The L.D2019c	100-140
Outlaw (alien)	4.5	The L.D2019c and the Colonial Laser Pistol	100-120
Target(bounty)	5	The L.D2019c and the Colonial Laser Pistol	100-170
Police (human)	4	The Colonial Laser Pistol	120-150
Police (alien)	4.5	The Colonial Laser Pistol	120-150
Police (swat/army)	3.5	Colonial Rail-gun and the Colonial Combat Rifle	150-200

    Enemy States

All Enemies possess similar behavior and states, as described below:

Idle: The Enemies play the Idle state, only when the Player is not spotted or they are not hostile to the player. this also activates when the player escapes the enemies.

Move: While the enemies move, they will be in the Move state, heading in the direction of the Player, cover (something to hide behind while shooting) or an Ally.

Death: Death happens when the Enemy sustains too much collective damage or too much damage from an attack.

    Enemy Spawning


Each Enemy has its own spawn point (see Level Design) and will spawn at a certain rate. An Enemy will only spawn if there are fewer Enemies of that particular type than others in the scene at that moment.

ENEMY	SPAWN-POINTS	SPAWN RATE 1-5 (1 lowest/5 highest)	MAX ENEMIES (per mission)
Outlaw (human)	run-down areas/ poorer regions.	3	20
Outlaw (alien)	run-down areas/ poorer regions.	3	24
Target	wealthy areas/ poorer regions depending on side of the law or wealth/ height of authority.	1	3
Police (swat)	wealthy areas/ poorer regions (depends on wanted level).	2	24
Police (human)	wealthy areas/ poorer regions (everywhere but more common in wealthy areas).	4	20
Police (alien)	wealthy areas/ poorer regions (everywhere but more common in wealthy areas).	3	18

NPC Allies

Allies are characters the Player character has in their mob (other than the civilians which are neutral).

They are in the game to help the Player fight against their enemies. After the Player accumulates the required progression in the story, the Player may be able to spawn a group of outlaw allies.

Once spawned, they activate a cool-down and the outlaw Allies will assist the Player until they die or the Player dismisses them. When spawned, the Enemies will begin  to attack the Outlaw allies. This allows the Player to be able to attack the Enemies without being attacked in return as well as the allies attacking the player's enemies for them.

    Civilian (neutral)

SPEED	DURATION	COST
4/4.5 (depending on if they are alien or human).	Until death or the Player moves too far away.	No cost or ability to be summoned, the Civilians will spawn naturally because they are Neutral.

    Outlaw (ally)

SPEED	DURATION	COST
4/4.5 (depending on if they are alien or human).	Until death or the Player moves too far away.	Cool-down of 7mins and Player must reach a specific level.

    Ally Spawning

When the Player reaches a specific point in the story, a button will appear in the GUI with the shape of the Ally. When clicked, the Ally character will be spawned (other than the civilian) from a nearby  area or spawn point.

Art

    Setting

The game takes place in a futuristic city with large skyscrapers and flying (and non-flying) cars. Because this is far into the future, there are lots of aliens that are living on earth alongside humans as well as multiple visit-able planets with different aesthetics.

Level Design

The levels consist of three large maps that are on separate planets with aliens and humans living in sophisticated buildings, skyscrapers on higher levels and aliens and humans living in urban slums and alleyways in the lower levels. In the slums (dispersed around the floor) there are obstacles and trash to hinder the Player and the Enemy's movement (this is more commonly populated by outlaws). In more sophisticated areas the streets will be more clean and will more commonly be patrolled by police. Characters will spawn randomly (civilians) and their appearance will depend on the area they spawned.

Audio



MVP (Minimum Viable Product)

• Two Player characters to choose from (Boy/Girl)
• Built for the PC platform

Wishlist

Add More Allies: possibly in future DLC or updates, this would allow the Player to choose from a variety of different battle strategies.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 14 - rotoscoping

During week 14 we were tasked with creating a Rotoscope (animated video that is drawn over the top of a live action video) of any video of our choice. For mine I chose "The star-wars kid" video because I think it is very funny and it is one of the oldest videos on youtube.

After getting the video, I used Photoshop (using the timeline window) to draw over each frame using a draft-like style which gave the final video a scruffy and morph-like appearance.
Each second of the video was a total of 24 frames and my video lasted about an estimate of 5 seconds which added up to a total of 120 frames or more.

Originally I wanted to have a static (non-moving) background but I scraped that idea because it didn't appear well with the scruffy affect I was trying to create.

My Rotoscope can be seen below:

Overall I believe that my Rotoscoping was a success because it flows very nicely and has a (somewhat) detailed image of movement made by the image.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 12 - Software in game production

Software is essential in the video-game industry, this is because everything in the video-game industry must be digitally created and stored for use in the creation or designing of the full game.

A flow chart describing the sequence that is taken to create a video game is on the right. It starts with the ideas for a game being created, they are usually presented on pen and paper or in a Game design document on the computer.
Once the setting and contents of the game are further developed, artists and designers are tasked with creating designs and drawings that tailer to the game. This is usually created on the computer using "Photoshop" or possibly "Gimp". This is also done inside of 3D modeling software to create characters, objects or environments within the game.
Finally the game is coded in a programming software or game engine software (sometimes they include both in one) which is used to create the game world and determine how the game works. It does this by adding the characters and items and then coding interactions and actions for each item.

Personally I would use Photoshop to create a design then import the design to MAYA and model it before using the model in a 3.D or 2.D programming software such as Unreal Engine or Unity.

Below are a series of lists describing different softwares alongside some of my personal opinions (not on all items).

Design/Thought processing:

designs (drawings)/notepads - baisic way of jotting down ideas and designs.

Photoshop - graphics editor - drawing/ animation software - multiple uses -lots of useful and extensive tools.

Gimp - drawing/ animation software. (don't personally know much about this software)

Modeling Software: 

Maya - easy to learn - large amount of uses - lots of tutorials online -

Programming Software:

These are used to code and create the game environment using the models and animated (or non animated) rigs given from the modeling software. Some programming applications don't need coding because it has set code already there and some also have modeling software inside of the programming software.


Scratch - can be used directly off of a browser - 2.D only - no programming (coding) required

R.P.G maker - 2.D only - incredibly basic - very small amount of tools or help - no programming required - can only make R.P.G games -

MonoGameDev - 2.D and 3.D - programming required - Exports to Desktop, Mobile, Web - Available for Windows, Mac, Linux -

Unity is used to create both 2.D and 3.D games and animations in a somewhat easy to learn manner. This can be helpful when wanting to make a 2.D game because it allows the developer to have a quick and easy setup for creating their 2.D game, as well as this, the 3.D aspect is also very helpful despite the drawbacks of the programme.
For example the coding application that comes with the program doesn't tell the programmer that there is an error until the programme is run. And it doesn't show the programmer the placement of this error, which can be annoying.
However, the assortment of tools and effects available to be added are incredibly easy to find and to understand, making Unity incredibly friendly towards starting programmers with easily accessible tutorials and free(or paid) assets on the internet.
Unity is available on Windows and Mac and exports to desktop, consoles, mobile and the web.

Unreal engine can be used to create games and animations in incredibly detailed 3.D graphics and is much more easy to use than Unity. However, Unreal engine doesn't have a set 2.D setting, this makes it harder to create 2.D games or animations but also makes it possible to add depth to 2.D games by making them in 3.D using flat images/surfaces in-front or behind each-other.
In order to create games in unreal you need to program the games yourself, but it is much easier to do as it will auto correct your code if you missed a capital letter and will immediately tell you if you have incorrectly spelled a word.
This application is used to create games by not only coding, positioning models and creating a level design but also for modeling and rigging within the application itself. This allows the program to overtake other positions in game production.
On the other hand however, the program can be harder to learn especially in the modeling aspect  due to the large amount of options and tools as this can lead to beginning users of the program being unable to find tools and effects they need.
Unreal Engine is available on Windows and Mac and exports to desktop, consoles and mobile.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 14 - Exam game

For our programming exam we were tasked with using unity to create a slingshot game which involves the player shooting a spaceship through multiple targets before hitting the finish line.

Firstly I created a unity 2D project and added a space background with a spaceship (the player) and series of planets set up in an obstacle course.

I did this in 2D because it made it easier to maintain the forces acting on the ball (spaceship), this way it allowed me to make sure the player has one direction to move in and it made the map easier to create borders around by adding 2D colliders around the sides.

Secondly, I began adding the slingshot for the player next, I did this by creating a "Ball" script that would allow the player (spaceship) to be dragged around a set anchor point when the mouse is pressed down and to launch the spaceship (in the opposite direction that you dragged) you stop holding the mouse click.

Thirdly, The goal was added, this allowed the player to win because I created a script called "goal" that (once the player entered the trigger) would delete the player game-object (the spaceship) and show text of the player's time, high-score and telling the player that they have won. The player only wins the game when the player collected all of the targets and reached the finish-line.

Then, I started to add numbers onto the planets in order, this was used to show the order the spaceship would need to go past the planets to collect the targets that were going to be added.


Next, I added targets so that the player would have to pass the planets in a specific order, I did this by creating an array and counter that (depending on the number in the array) would spawn the target in different positions, if the counter went above 10 however, the targets would no longer spawn and would allow the player to win once they reached the goal.

The player would loose the game if they touched a planet or got to the goal without collecting the targets beforehand, when this happens text appears on screen telling the player that they lost and the scene restarts so the player can try again.