Experimental Games

Overview

This is my blog for the experimental projects.

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Week 1 - Organizing

Our group got the first theme for the experimental game for the next 4 weeks which is controls so we decided on creating a game where you play as a fish where you use a controller's gyros to turn the fish and shake it to make it flop along, the base gameplay will be a platformer.

As the lead programmer I was tasked with creating the mechanics for the I did some research and testing to try get gyro controls working but I wasn't able to so we decided to change the control scheme to holding down 'A' & 'D' and it would charge up so that the player could control how powerful their flop forward would be. I also added a charge meter so the player can visually see how much they have charged the jump.

I also added that when the player flops it costs water and depending how much the player charges their jump.

We also had a meeting to discuss any progress and made sure everyone was still keeping up with what needed to be done.

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Week 2 - Creating Key Mechanics

This week I created some different mechanics for the player that will be in the environment, I first created a water refill zone that when the player enters it refills their water meter.

I also created a death zone where if the player enters they will die.

Then I needed to make a checkpoint system that the player can walk through and set their respawn to that place so that they don't lose progress in that section if they die.

The group also had a meeting to talk about the games progress and planned that we were going to have more meetings this week as we feel like we could make more progress this week.

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Week 3 - Polishing Mechanics

This week our group started with a meeting on progress, we talked about the different features the game has and where the level design and assets are at. at this time we started to import the majority of the assets into the editor for the level designer to place into the level block out, we are happy with our progress and plan to continue to have regular meetings over the next week as we close to the end of this game.

This week for mechanics I created a Roomba enemy that roams on the kitchen floor, when the Roomba sees the player they will chase the player and if they touch then it kills the player. This adds some danger if they player falls and also adds some life to the level.

I then created an scripted event where the player jumps onto a door handle and then the door swings open allowing the player to continue through the level.

I also created a game won menu that occurs when the player reaches the end of the game and makes Fred the fish do a little dance to celebrate which I thought gave him a bit of life.

I also added a timer so the player can see how long it takes them to complete the level which also helps make the level replay able for anyone that wants to try beat the level faster.

I also tried to experiment with physics to make the fish interact more with the environment but it ended up break the movement system and the physics didn't work properly so we had to go back on that and just have the default movement that has been in the game.

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Week 4 - Putting it together

This week we got together in a meeting and looked at what we needed to do to finish the game and any tweaks that any assets need. We also agreed to meet a lot during this week to make sure we get everything finished and also to work on the presentation for the game and the next game we have to make.

During this week I finished off making the main menu and a simple pause menu for the game, it's nothing fancy but it functions. We also did a lot of play testing to ensure the game works smoothly, we tested to mainly make sure all the different jumps are doable but not too easy for the player.

I also created a jump boost for the player that when you enter a certain area the player gains a boost to their jump when charged.

Overall I really enjoyed working on this project as it was something different than what I've worked on before, as a group we got together in a call and talked about things we could've or should've done differently. we definitely could have been more organised but that could be just because we were learning how to best communicate within our group and things will definitely go smoother during the next game.

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Week 5 - Planning

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Week 6 - Creating mechanics

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Week 7 - Playtesting

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Week 8 - Finishing off

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Week 9 - Refining the idea

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