This page is a write up on everything I do each day that contributes to this unit. My thoughts, feelings and actions will be here.
Glossary
For this unit, one of the main programs I will be using is an app called Construct 2. This is a program that allows people to make any kind of 2D game they want without having to write out code and instead uses many different things to help build a game. This will be an explanation for the terminology that may come up.
Events: These are conditions that are set to trigger an action.
Action: These are the result of the events set for it.
Instance Variable: An invisible value that is applied to an object. The value can be any number or any type of text. These are only applied to individual objects.
Global Variable: An invisible value that is applied to the project itself. The value can be any number or any type of text. These are applied to the whole project.
Windows Size: How much of the layout the player can see.
Layout: The canvas to which the game will be put on.
Events: These are conditions that are set to trigger an action.
Action: These are the result of the events set for it.
Instance Variable: An invisible value that is applied to an object. The value can be any number or any type of text. These are only applied to individual objects.
Global Variable: An invisible value that is applied to the project itself. The value can be any number or any type of text. These are applied to the whole project.
Windows Size: How much of the layout the player can see.
Layout: The canvas to which the game will be put on.
Week 0
Wednesday 7th February 2019
Initial Idea For FMP
We now have been told the theme, which is London: Then And Now. This will be us comparing different factors about London in the past to how it is now, such as fashion.
After being told this, we started to think about if we will make an animation or a game to establish a narrative related to the theme. I chose a game, as I really enjoy the process of making a game, and I believe it would be a more effective way to explore this theme
I currently have a concept idea of what the game I may make might be like. I may make a Side Scroller game where the setting is set many centuries in the future. Then the main character is in high school and as an assignment, has to use the liberties virtual reality simulator to enter the virtual construction of the past of London.
While he’s in the past, he will talk to and visit many different past real life and imaginary historic figures of different topics and they will teach the character how things were at those times.
What inspired me with the idea, was a Japanese animated show called Sword Art Online, made my author Reki Kawahara, where the characters enter a virtual world for their entertainment. Also in their virtual world, there are rules and a lot of world building to it. So this encouraged me to use that idea, but instead, make a real world that shows facts about the past
After being told this, we started to think about if we will make an animation or a game to establish a narrative related to the theme. I chose a game, as I really enjoy the process of making a game, and I believe it would be a more effective way to explore this theme
I currently have a concept idea of what the game I may make might be like. I may make a Side Scroller game where the setting is set many centuries in the future. Then the main character is in high school and as an assignment, has to use the liberties virtual reality simulator to enter the virtual construction of the past of London.
While he’s in the past, he will talk to and visit many different past real life and imaginary historic figures of different topics and they will teach the character how things were at those times.
What inspired me with the idea, was a Japanese animated show called Sword Art Online, made my author Reki Kawahara, where the characters enter a virtual world for their entertainment. Also in their virtual world, there are rules and a lot of world building to it. So this encouraged me to use that idea, but instead, make a real world that shows facts about the past
Wednesday 13th February 2019
Independent Work(1RJ)
Sid Meier Civilization V PA
For more ideas on the game I will make for the FMP I decided to do some Player-Acting. I looked back at my Empathy Blind Spots, and the first game I decided to play was Sid Meier Civilization V.
Thursday 14th February 2019
Independent Work
I continued working on my Player Acting for the Sid Meier Civilization V.
After I finished, I then started Player Acting on another game called EYE OF JUDGMENT.
Friday 15th February 2019
Independent Work(2RJ)
When told that the theme relates to London, I imminently thought about my high school. As I used to do Graphics for GCSE and London was one of the projects we studied on. We had to make London based posters and illustrations then.
I decided to take a trip back to my high school, on my day off, to have a talk with my old Graphics teacher, who I did the London project with, to tell her about the theme and if she has any ideas that I could use as she has experience with projects that have a London theme from teaching it for a while. I also did this for my audience research, as I wanted to get and adults/professional's perspective of what my game could be.
I found this nostalgic talk quite useful. It has given me the inspiration to think more about considering making an animation if I change my mind in the future. And she gave me ideas of Locations I may use in my outcome in the future. I will definitely consider things like having a notebook in a game that acts as a Wikipedia for it.
Week 1
Monday 25th February 2019
Introduction To FMP
Class Work
Class Work
As we now came back from half term, we went over the criteria for this unit. Then as a starter task, we went in groups of 3 to generate random game/animation ideas and themes.
This helped me generate a second game idea as it got me in a very imaginative mood. Now I have an idea of a game that could have the player play different characters and see the different perspectives of people in different eras.
Tuesday 26th February 2019
Class Work(5RJ)(6RJ)
We learned new terminology, semiotics. Semiotics is the study of symbols, interactions, likeness, metaphors and communication of how they interpret things.
We learned new terminology, semiotics. Semiotics is the study of symbols, interactions, likeness, metaphors and communication of how they interpret things.
Today we started Contextual Analysis on games that are based on or inspired by London. We first played the game demo Devil May Cry 5. We analysed its semiotics on how it portrays and integrates London in it.
Then we did the same thing with the game Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
This helped showed me how simple it can be to show that a game's location is in or based on London. This got me thinking on how I will use semiotics in my game. Such as researching historical transport and other things to help evoke what era him talking about.
Wednesday 27th February 2019
Class Work(7RJ)
We started off with more Contextual Analysis of London based games. This time we looked at ZombiU. For this game, its design showed a realistic side of London that isn't usually shown in media. This helped me to think about how I could make a game that shows a side to something that not much people see or think about.
Later on, we then went on a trip to the Museum Of London. We all looked at different exhibits that talk about many different ears. I took many pictures and read about the different pieces of information they had. The 3 key ones that caught my attention are the exhibits called Warm Adapted Humans, Roman Coins and Roman Sickness And Health.
The Warm Adapted Humans exhibit seemed very interesting as it explained how the environment and humans looked in 450,000- 300,000BC. It gave me the idea of a narrative where its set in these early times and show how back then, there were no buildings and humans were differently built.
The Roman Coins exhibit was interesting as I liked seeing how currency developed over time. This gave me the idea to have a currency feature in my game that could have the Roman coins and show how different they were worth then.
The Roman Sickness And Health exhibit was interesting and it was interesting to see how they handled with hygiene and health with a lack of facilities. This gave me the idea to have a portion in my game that explores this and how it developed through time.
By the end of it, it did give me a new game plot idea. As there were many different eras that had many interesting things, I thought to make a game where I'd be able to integrate a lot of information from the eras.
The Warm Adapted Humans exhibit seemed very interesting as it explained how the environment and humans looked in 450,000- 300,000BC. It gave me the idea of a narrative where its set in these early times and show how back then, there were no buildings and humans were differently built.
The Roman Coins exhibit was interesting as I liked seeing how currency developed over time. This gave me the idea to have a currency feature in my game that could have the Roman coins and show how different they were worth then.
The Roman Sickness And Health exhibit was interesting and it was interesting to see how they handled with hygiene and health with a lack of facilities. This gave me the idea to have a portion in my game that explores this and how it developed through time.
By the end of it, it did give me a new game plot idea. As there were many different eras that had many interesting things, I thought to make a game where I'd be able to integrate a lot of information from the eras.
Friday 1st March 2019
Monday 4th March 2019
Independent Work(8RJ)
I came in on this day off to do more Contextual Analysis. This time I analysed the game Gran Turismo5. A driving game with levels around the world.
This game was quite accurate in its depiction of Central London, and it's clear that they have done research with the locations. This has inspired me to do my own trips in the future to get pictures of different locations so I can have my own accurate depiction of London in my game.
Week Evaluation
Overall, throughout this week I have started brainstorming ideas, analysed games on how they depict London and went on a trip to the Museum Of London. I've taken relevant pictures of them and documented what I analysed and how the game uses semiotics and I looked at different eras in the museum. I felt quite captivated through the week as it to see how the different games express London in different ways and I kept thinking of the different eras that I found interesting. The good things about my experience are that I now have a lot more ideas that have developed my initial one more and I have enjoyed being able to play and analyze them. What I can make use of the situation more is to continue thinking about how to use what I got from my contextual analysis and how to develop my ideas more. There isn't much I can think of that I could have done differently besides have looked at more eras in the museum trip then I did.
Week Evaluation
Overall, throughout this week I have started brainstorming ideas, analysed games on how they depict London and went on a trip to the Museum Of London. I've taken relevant pictures of them and documented what I analysed and how the game uses semiotics and I looked at different eras in the museum. I felt quite captivated through the week as it to see how the different games express London in different ways and I kept thinking of the different eras that I found interesting. The good things about my experience are that I now have a lot more ideas that have developed my initial one more and I have enjoyed being able to play and analyze them. What I can make use of the situation more is to continue thinking about how to use what I got from my contextual analysis and how to develop my ideas more. There isn't much I can think of that I could have done differently besides have looked at more eras in the museum trip then I did.
Week 2
Class Work(9RJ)(10RJ)
We started the week doing even more Contextual Analysis of London based games. This time it was The Order 1886. This game showed a map that's supposed to be set in the 19th century. While it doesn't show any London symbols or have any locations from real life London, the buildings and structure of the world is very homogeneous to the way London looks and feels.
As I may have parts in my game set in the past, this game really helped get imagery of how it would look and be constructed, with the building design and the clothing that the characters wore.
After that, we analysed another game called The Getaway. This game was quite old, however (similar to Gran Turismo 5), the location design was very accurate and clearly was made through research in the areas.
After that, we analysed another game called The Getaway. This game was quite old, however (similar to Gran Turismo 5), the location design was very accurate and clearly was made through research in the areas.
This also inspired me to do analysis on locations in London to embed in my game.
Tuesday 5th March 2019
Class Work(3RJ)
We went on a trip to various places around London. Such as Central London. We saw the side of London that is very attractive and affluent. Then we saw the side that was very rundown and meagre.
After the trip, I got another idea of the narrative of my game. I now have the idea to have a story that shows the development of the divide between the different classes from the past to the present. As in the past, the difference between the classes was great, only really having the high class and the low class. But now was have more of a middle class. The game can show this by living a day in the lives of the high and low-class people.
What really gave me this idea was when we went to the fountain. When we went there, I saw clothes on the hole where the water sprouted from. And then I noticed a homeless man was using the fountain to wash his clothes and it really got me thinking how not much people really deeply think about all the forlorn things that the lower class/ homeless people have to do to get by. This hasn't been shown in media much at all.
After the trip, I got another idea of the narrative of my game. I now have the idea to have a story that shows the development of the divide between the different classes from the past to the present. As in the past, the difference between the classes was great, only really having the high class and the low class. But now was have more of a middle class. The game can show this by living a day in the lives of the high and low-class people.
What really gave me this idea was when we went to the fountain. When we went there, I saw clothes on the hole where the water sprouted from. And then I noticed a homeless man was using the fountain to wash his clothes and it really got me thinking how not much people really deeply think about all the forlorn things that the lower class/ homeless people have to do to get by. This hasn't been shown in media much at all.
Wednesday 6th March 2019
Class Work
The class got in pairs or in groups to talk about our initial ideas and how they developed. This was so that we can give each other new ideas and/or point out anything about the idea that may need more thought about.
I found this useful, as the people who I spoke to got me to think about something in my idea that I didn't think about.
If I make a game set in the past, I may have to import the different accents and mannerism of people at that time in order to make it truly realistic. This could be very difficult as not only will I have to find out how they talk but also be able to replicate it.
I found this useful, as the people who I spoke to got me to think about something in my idea that I didn't think about.
If I make a game set in the past, I may have to import the different accents and mannerism of people at that time in order to make it truly realistic. This could be very difficult as not only will I have to find out how they talk but also be able to replicate it.
Thursday 7th March 2019
Independent Work
Now with me having quite a lot of Primary Research, I conducted some Secondary Research.
I started off with researching on how to code a character picking up objects as I may need to use this for when I start coding my game. It was successful as I did learn how to do it first try.
I then did some art experimentation, I looked used an Instagram post of different body shapes and tried out drawing one of them. It was a little bit difficult getting the shape right on the graphics tablet, however, I eventually managed to pull it off.
Week Evaluation
Overall, through this week I have done more contextual analysis, went on a trip around London, got feedback of my ideas and tried out some secondary research. I feel much more confident in what my chosen narrative idea will be for my game and still thinking of a way I can present it. This week's experience was quite diverting, as like I said, I helped me chose another Idea that I believe is much better. With the player acting on The Order. I got me to consider making my game set in a time period like that, as the time is close enough to have buildings and location that are still here today but also further enough to be able to show their development. What I could have done more this week was more artist research as I only really did one drawing.
I then did some art experimentation, I looked used an Instagram post of different body shapes and tried out drawing one of them. It was a little bit difficult getting the shape right on the graphics tablet, however, I eventually managed to pull it off.
Week Evaluation
Overall, through this week I have done more contextual analysis, went on a trip around London, got feedback of my ideas and tried out some secondary research. I feel much more confident in what my chosen narrative idea will be for my game and still thinking of a way I can present it. This week's experience was quite diverting, as like I said, I helped me chose another Idea that I believe is much better. With the player acting on The Order. I got me to consider making my game set in a time period like that, as the time is close enough to have buildings and location that are still here today but also further enough to be able to show their development. What I could have done more this week was more artist research as I only really did one drawing.
Week 3
Tuesday 12th March 2019
In our art lesson, we had to use our characters from our Zoetropes to vector them in Adobe Illustrator so we could laser cut them. I decided to draw a different character for this task as I didn't really like my Zoetrope one. After drawing this character, I thought the style I used for it may be good for concept art so I kept it to a side for when I use it.
Later on, I had a talk with one of my teachers about my chosen idea, as I knew what narrative I wanted but wasn't sure how I would put it into gameplay. She told me that it would be useful to add a feature to it that would give the player an incentive to play.
This inspired me to think about how I can use that in my game. I first thought about how I could make it set in the 19th century and show a day in the life of a maid and how she needs to earn money in time before her illness takes hold.
Now that I have a template Idea of how to integrate my narrative into gameplay, I can develop my game idea further.
Wednesday 13th March 2019
I drew a character using the same style as I did for my laser cut character. I also took inspiration from a character design from Civilization 5.
After I was happy with how it looked like, I traced it with a fineliner, scanned it and then put it on Photoshop.
I added colour, and then I worked on its shading.
I did like the concept art I did here, and I will consider the design and/or the style for the characters in my game.
Thursday 14th March 2019
Monday 11th March 2019
Independent Work
I started to work on my Pecha Kucha for it to be presented next week. At first, I struggled to find a style of design to use for the slides but eventually, I managed to find one.
Then we started writing out our proposal. Writing out the proposal really got me thinking more about what I wish to aim with the project and about all the research I have done so far. This thinking time was very helpful, as it got me to chose which of the many ideas I had to go for. And I decided to go for the one that was inspired by the London trip.
I had to put a working title for it, I decided to make the first draft be Think About It. As my aim is to get people to think about things that they don't normally think about so I thought this was fitting. However, this may change in the future.
I had to put a working title for it, I decided to make the first draft be Think About It. As my aim is to get people to think about things that they don't normally think about so I thought this was fitting. However, this may change in the future.
Tuesday 12th March 2019
Independent Work
In our art lesson, we had to use our characters from our Zoetropes to vector them in Adobe Illustrator so we could laser cut them. I decided to draw a different character for this task as I didn't really like my Zoetrope one. After drawing this character, I thought the style I used for it may be good for concept art so I kept it to a side for when I use it.Later on, I had a talk with one of my teachers about my chosen idea, as I knew what narrative I wanted but wasn't sure how I would put it into gameplay. She told me that it would be useful to add a feature to it that would give the player an incentive to play.
This inspired me to think about how I can use that in my game. I first thought about how I could make it set in the 19th century and show a day in the life of a maid and how she needs to earn money in time before her illness takes hold.
Now that I have a template Idea of how to integrate my narrative into gameplay, I can develop my game idea further.
Wednesday 13th March 2019
Independent Work
I drew a character using the same style as I did for my laser cut character. I also took inspiration from a character design from Civilization 5.
After I was happy with how it looked like, I traced it with a fineliner, scanned it and then put it on Photoshop.
I added colour, and then I worked on its shading.
I did like the concept art I did here, and I will consider the design and/or the style for the characters in my game.
Thursday 14th March 2019
Independent Work
I worked on my proposal; more, mainly on the project planning section. I had to think about what I will do for the rest of the unit. This thinking time helped me to think of a type of pre-production that I never did before, which was animating a draft where I use non-detailed stick figures to visually see how an animation would look. I will be using this to help with planning in the future.
Week Evaluation
Overall, this week I have done much more art experiments than last week and I have started to solidify my ideas more. I feel a bit more confident what the plot of my game will be after talking too much teacher but my ideas are still developing.
Tuesday 19th March 2019
Week Evaluation
Overall, this week I have done much more art experiments than last week and I have started to solidify my ideas more. I feel a bit more confident what the plot of my game will be after talking too much teacher but my ideas are still developing.
Week 4
Monday 18th March 2019
As the presentation for my Pecha Kucha was done, I made a script for it for every slide and them I rehearsed it. I chose to make my lines natural by writing it out the first way that it popped in my head. After rehearsing, I felt somewhat confident about what I will say.
Tuesday 19th March 2019
Independent Work(4RJ)
I presented my Pecha Kucha to my class and the year 1 art students.
I am happy with the way I designed the PowerPoint. I made it very personalised, using Photoshop to create each slide, making each similar but unique. I talked about all the topics I had to talk about and added more of my own personal experiences. Completing it helped me to finalise my idea of my chosen theme as I had to talk about what Ideas I had on it and the one I went with the most we the one I got from the London trip.
When I presented it in front of 2 classes, I felt much more confident then I was leading up to it. I rehearsed all my words and made very visually self-expressing slides so I would always know what I was talking about. I projected my voice very loudly and clearly. So overall, I'm impressed with how I did.
The feedback I got was quite positive, with most people understanding clearly what my game idea is and one of the teachers complementing my idea. After presenting it, each viewer gave some constructive feedback. They did give me more insight and a new idea. They stated how I should do some research on social issues in the past, which I never thought about. Using research like that, I could expand my idea further from the theme just being about Class.
This expansion could be that instead of just playing one character and have it focus on class, I could have more than one character, each with their own story that explores a different social issue in that time.
I will be doing some research on past social issues, and see if I could make it into a game. I found making and presenting the Pecha Kucha very successful and helpful.
The feedback also helped me think of a new working title for the project. This time it was Social Class Is In Session. This name is a play with the phrase "class is in session" for when a school lesson starts and with the phrase "social class". This fits as the game is going to teach people about the social issues of that time as if it was a history class in school and the topic of the game is social class.
To me, this game is quite rememberable, as it's not too long while using two different known phrases. I really like this current name and I think that I will keep it this way.
Wednesday 20th March
Now that I have done primary research, I decided its time to start pre-production. I started working on my GDD
I am happy with the way I designed the PowerPoint. I made it very personalised, using Photoshop to create each slide, making each similar but unique. I talked about all the topics I had to talk about and added more of my own personal experiences. Completing it helped me to finalise my idea of my chosen theme as I had to talk about what Ideas I had on it and the one I went with the most we the one I got from the London trip.
When I presented it in front of 2 classes, I felt much more confident then I was leading up to it. I rehearsed all my words and made very visually self-expressing slides so I would always know what I was talking about. I projected my voice very loudly and clearly. So overall, I'm impressed with how I did.
The feedback I got was quite positive, with most people understanding clearly what my game idea is and one of the teachers complementing my idea. After presenting it, each viewer gave some constructive feedback. They did give me more insight and a new idea. They stated how I should do some research on social issues in the past, which I never thought about. Using research like that, I could expand my idea further from the theme just being about Class.
This expansion could be that instead of just playing one character and have it focus on class, I could have more than one character, each with their own story that explores a different social issue in that time.
I will be doing some research on past social issues, and see if I could make it into a game. I found making and presenting the Pecha Kucha very successful and helpful.
The feedback also helped me think of a new working title for the project. This time it was Social Class Is In Session. This name is a play with the phrase "class is in session" for when a school lesson starts and with the phrase "social class". This fits as the game is going to teach people about the social issues of that time as if it was a history class in school and the topic of the game is social class.
To me, this game is quite rememberable, as it's not too long while using two different known phrases. I really like this current name and I think that I will keep it this way.
Wednesday 20th March
Pre-Production
Independent Work
Independent Work
Now that I have done primary research, I decided its time to start pre-production. I started working on my GDD
Thursday 21th March
Independent Work
I started off doing some character experiments by drawing an original design with the style I used before. I tried out a full profile view( showing the side, front and back). I didn't find it too difficult although I found it hard to make all of them to the same scale.
I then worked on a moldboard of many different art styles to express the kind of mood and style I want in my game. Some of these styles I do like and I plan on doing experiments on them.
Saturday 23rd March
Independent Work
I did the same full profile view I did on Thursday with the same design, but this time, I used a different method. By making lines across the paper from the first profile I drew, I was able to use them to make all the profiles qual in scale by making lines distinct the length and size of the body parts. This proved quite successful, as the outcome ended them in the same height and proportion.
Then I decided to draw the full profile view on Photoshop, to see how it would look digitised. I also used the line method here. I used the same design but improved on it more with defining the blazer more. I also added filters to the character to add more detail. I believe that it came out quite well.
Sunday 24th March
Independent Work
I was going to do more concept art, however, I thought I should experiment with a different style and I have only really tried one so far. So I went back to my mood board from Thursday with all the characters I put on it, and I noticed that most of them some from the same artist, called Chris Mould
So then I drew my own character using his style, with also taking inspiration from clothing in the 19th century. I believe the outcome resulted in a very interesting design. Due to its thin but tall stature, it gives the character much more of a classy feel ( at least in my viewpoint).
Just like before, I then digitized the design on Photoshop. It also came out really well. It looked just like it did on paper with added colours and filters.
Week Evaluation
Overall, this week I have presented my Pecha Kucha and have started on Pre-Production. I feel like the feedback that I got from my Pecha Kucha was very useful and the 3 key points I will take into consideration. However, at this stage, I can't fully complete my GDD as I need to do more secondary research of the 19th century to develop my characters and plot more. I do like the new character experiment that I tried out for a variety of reasons and I will start experimenting with that more.
Week 5
Monday 25th March
Monday 25th March
Independent Work
I conducted some secondary research on the 19th century with social issues to help influence the plot of my game. I first looked at a video called 19th Century England: Society, Social Classes, & Culture which gave a lot of interesting facts about culture and class in the 19th century and then I used a blog about the Victoria era. I wrote down many notes.
The key ones that I was interested in are;
The key ones that I was interested in are;
1)Queen Victoria ruled over England through 1837-1901
2)People went to London to work in factories, especially in the textile industry
3)Industrial Revolution increased Skill Labour which helps develop a middle class.
4)If the father of the family died, the family may have had to live in public shelters or the street
5)Women were seen as people who were obligated to stay at home and work on the household until the revolution changed it.
After doing this research, I finally managed to come up with a detailed narrative that incorporates them within it.
The game will be about the life of a working-class woman called Abigail with a husband, Henry and 2 kids. One of her children will be working in Birmingham and the other, Burden, will be sick at home. Abigail will first be at home, having to clean the house and then look after the sick daughter. When Henry comes home, he says he is going on a business trip so Abigail as to make money for herself for a while. 2 months pass and you see Abigail has a job doing different things for a male widow, Arthur. She needs to earn enough money in time before her child dies of sickness. Eventually, she earns enough money but doing her last job for the man, she is robbed. This causes her to lose her job. She says goodbye to her child on his deathbed. She cries herself to sleep, where she is a different woman but in present London. She experiences how much more socially developed London became however still saw some people were still in similar positions as her. After she wakes up, she finds a note in the draw that says that Henry wasn't on a business trip but was instead out on an affair. With nothing else, she sells her house and lives on the streets. 2 months later, she has written a book about her experience and about her dream of the future. While she is asleep, a man takes her book and reads it. 1 year later, Abigail is now a rich woman. Her book got published and she has a new husband and home.
Tuesday 26th March
Independent Work
Later on, I started on concept art for a background. As I wanted to experiment on what kind of style the background would be drawn, and coloured in. As a reference, I used a book that shows pictures of London in the past.
I started by drawing a sketch of it on paper.
Afterwards, I attempted to digitise it. This is where I tried to experiment with the background clouring. I used the Kyle Rain Scatter brush which is one that I haven't used much since units 5,6 and 7. I discovered that it was a good brush for making the sky, as it has a very unique texture to it. I used more saturated colours to make the background seem duller and dimed to link to the older time theme.
I used this brush for the rest of the colouring and then I drew all the objects.
When I was done, I didn't really like it. I wasn't entirely sure why I just didn't feel like this would be a good design for the setting of my game and I didn't find myself motivated to explore this style more.
Wednesday 27th March
Independent Work
I decided to do another draft of the same location I was drawing on the previous day, but using a different style. This time I used a style called monochrome. I used 2 images that influenced my design.
And I also used the style that was used for the birds here, by creating their bodies through lines.
I also used a different brush, called Gouache ktw 3. This one was similar to the Kyle Rain Scatter however what I found with this one, is when you decrease the flow to 10, it's very good at making a transparent foggy effect which is great for mixing and blending colours. So I used that for the sky and the ground.
I used the line technique for all the objects by zooming in on them and drawing lines in the line art and then deleting the line art.
When it was done, I really believed that I was a big improvement from yesterdays. I believe that a black and white colour palette looks much better for my game, as not only is it neater and is more visually interesting, but it also matches the theme and mood of my game. As my game will be set in the 19th century, so a black and white style will further evoke that it's in older times more theme it would with colours.
I see that the problem I had with the first draft was that there were too many colours. As despite that they were more saturated, there were still multiple colours on the page which I don't really picture a 19th-century game to be colourful.
However, there are improvements that I could make to this style. Such as drawings buildings from different angles and not just a flat front view, as this would add more dimension to the view of the game. Also, it may be beneficial to decide on where my light sources will be in each area so I can make shadings appropriate and match. This would add more realism to it.
I will be working on this style more in the future, adding all of the improvements I can think of and taking more inspiration from different artists. I will also merge this style with my recent character style as if the game will be in black and white so will the characters.
When it was done, I really believed that I was a big improvement from yesterdays. I believe that a black and white colour palette looks much better for my game, as not only is it neater and is more visually interesting, but it also matches the theme and mood of my game. As my game will be set in the 19th century, so a black and white style will further evoke that it's in older times more theme it would with colours.
I see that the problem I had with the first draft was that there were too many colours. As despite that they were more saturated, there were still multiple colours on the page which I don't really picture a 19th-century game to be colourful.
However, there are improvements that I could make to this style. Such as drawings buildings from different angles and not just a flat front view, as this would add more dimension to the view of the game. Also, it may be beneficial to decide on where my light sources will be in each area so I can make shadings appropriate and match. This would add more realism to it.
I will be working on this style more in the future, adding all of the improvements I can think of and taking more inspiration from different artists. I will also merge this style with my recent character style as if the game will be in black and white so will the characters.
Thursday 27th March
Independent Work
I started and completed my game map diagram, labelling all the locations there are and how they are connected. This is so I can give myself a clear and detailed template on all the locations that I can always refer to when I'm making my game.
This is my first time doing it digitally as last time in units 5,6 and 7 I did it on paper.
Saturday 30th March
Independent Work
As I now have a chosen character art style( Chris Mould inspired), I did more concept art. This time, due to me having my story for the game, instead of just experimenting with a random one, I started on making designs for the actual characters for my game.
So I did a full profile view of a design for the main character, Abigail
Week Evaluation
Overall, this week has been very prolific. I've managed to come up with a story for my game, start and completed my game flow diagram, came up with the style for my background design, made my game map and started on the design for my characters. Most of which will be useful assistance during my production stage. Currently, I am somewhat confident in the speed of my productivity so far. As I have finished the majority of my per production items and old have to work on designs and audio. Next week, I will be doing more designs for characters and then start working on the improvements of my chosen background style.
Week Evaluation
Overall, this week has been very prolific. I've managed to come up with a story for my game, start and completed my game flow diagram, came up with the style for my background design, made my game map and started on the design for my characters. Most of which will be useful assistance during my production stage. Currently, I am somewhat confident in the speed of my productivity so far. As I have finished the majority of my per production items and old have to work on designs and audio. Next week, I will be doing more designs for characters and then start working on the improvements of my chosen background style.
Week 6
Monday 1st April
Monday 1st April
I started off by digitizing the drawings I did of Abigail.
Then I decided to see how the characters would look under a monochrome styled colouring. So after I finished the drawings, I coloured each of them. In my opinion, the monochrome looks really good on the Abigail, the texture adds more depth to her look and the different sheds on the different areas make her pop out more, even more than flat or filtered colours do.
Afterwards, I decided that the first character I did would be the design for Henry, the husband of Abigail. So I recoloured him using the monochrome style.
Afterwards, I decided that the first character I did would be the design for Henry, the husband of Abigail. So I recoloured him using the monochrome style.
I will be colouring in the same way for all my future character designs.
I then started on my second last character who will act as Abigail's son, Burden. His body shape is the same as Henry however he is shorter. I found it a bit harder to draw him due to to the clothing that I tried to draw for him. However, I managed to draw him out.
Then I coloured him like the rest.
I based his clothes off the child in the picture of the 19th-century fashion. I believe it was successful as the clothes match and look accurately of how they would be seen in each view.
Week Evaluation
Overall, this week has been quite successful. I've managed to finish the design for most of my characters and have made full profile views of them, which will help me out later.
Now that the holiday has started. I decided to review my productivity these past few weeks and comparing them too what I wrote on my action plan.
So far, I have completed most for the major parts of my Pre-Production. As I have completed my GDD and Game Flow/Map. Due to the character designs taking longer than anticipated, I haven't gotten to do audio planing or finishing off location designs.
But now that I have finished making my major characters in my game, I will be using the first week of the holiday to work on them. I do feel that overall, I have made good progress and I hope to start production before I come back from this holiday.
This game gave me quite a few assess that I can implant in the setting of my game. Such as;
1) Exterior Design Of Buildings
In the game, the majority of the buildings were made from brick, as this is how it was in the 1800s. So for any house or building that I draw for my game, I can make the exterior be made from bricks.
2) Interior Design Of Lower Class Buildings
In the game, the buildings that were representations of lower class types had a lot of exposed wood that was used to make up the walls and floors. This is likely to be realistic for the time as if people back then had less money, the quality of their homes would have been poor.
I can use this for Abigail's house for my game, as she is a lower class woman so a house with walls being made of exposed wood would really evoke the poor state of life she has.
3) Interior Design Of Higher Class Buildings
In the game, the buildings that were representations of higher class types had fully structured walls with very decadent designs, along with cretins and smooths wood objects.
These are features that I could include in the home of my character Arthur, as he has a higher class status himself and the contrast between the rundown design of lower class homes with his upmarket one would really help show the difference.
4) Olden Style Lamps
This game shows how streets lamps would have looked back then. So I can decorate the setting of my game with these designs. This could also cater to telephone boxes and any other London symbols.
5) Olden Styles Of Transports
The examples of transport in this game give realistic depictions of how it would have been at that time. Instead of cars, you have houses and the trains in the game are powered by steam engines.
I could add these trance ports in my game, either via background art or I could have it as an actual transport mechanic in the game.
6) Steam Pump Buildings
Due to many things being powered by coal at the time, a lot more buildings were releasing steam from their chimneys. This would be a great art effect to add in the background of my game. I could make smoke animations and add that to some of the buildings I will draw.
Overall, this game is very similar to The Order 1886 with its setting. Originally for my environment, I was going to go for how Gran Turismo 5 and The Getaway portrayed London, with accurate geographical London areas.
However, due to my game now being set in the 19th century, I would be very difficult to try that as the structure of the city would have been different back then. So I decided to go the rote from Devil May Cry, The Order 1886 and Assassin's Creed Syndicate of using different semiotics to evoke the London like setting rather than propper London locations.
So my game will be set in London, but I will also use semiotics like the things I mentioned above to help present the setting as London inspired.
Tuesday 2nd April
Independent Work
I started working on the design of the character, Arthur. Due to him having Abigail clean his house, I thought I would make the design show that he is a bit plump. This could help evoke his laziness more and I also took inspiration from Henry VIII.
This design took a bit longer to do as I had to experiment with a body shape that I haven't done before and a different type of clothing. However, I believe the outcome is much better than I thought I would be. having clearly the same style while also having a successful different body shape.
What I could do more is try out different alterations to the body with my style like I did here. The different body shapes could also help to evoke different aspects of the characters. I will consider doing this in future.
I based his clothes off one of the designs in the picture of the 19th-century fashion
What I could do more is try out different alterations to the body with my style like I did here. The different body shapes could also help to evoke different aspects of the characters. I will consider doing this in future.
I based his clothes off one of the designs in the picture of the 19th-century fashion
Wednesday 3rd April
Independent Work
Then I coloured him like the rest.
I based his clothes off the child in the picture of the 19th-century fashion. I believe it was successful as the clothes match and look accurately of how they would be seen in each view.
Thursday 4th April
Independent Work
I worked on the final major character design. This is the final character I will design with this much detail as he is the last character that's important to the story
His design was the simplest to draw, I also based it off a design on the picture I used.
Week Evaluation
Overall, this week has been quite successful. I've managed to finish the design for most of my characters and have made full profile views of them, which will help me out later.
Now that the holiday has started. I decided to review my productivity these past few weeks and comparing them too what I wrote on my action plan.
So far, I have completed most for the major parts of my Pre-Production. As I have completed my GDD and Game Flow/Map. Due to the character designs taking longer than anticipated, I haven't gotten to do audio planing or finishing off location designs.
But now that I have finished making my major characters in my game, I will be using the first week of the holiday to work on them. I do feel that overall, I have made good progress and I hope to start production before I come back from this holiday.
Sunday 7th April
Assassin's Creed Syndicate(11RJ)
Independent Work
Now that my characters are done, I'm going to start completing my environment art. But I thought it would be a good idea to do another playthrough of a game for more Contextual Analysis that may give me more ideas.
However, this time instead of seeing how they portray London, I decided to focus on how the London aspect of the game was shown through the setting in hopes that I can influence my environments.
The game I decided to analyse was called Assassin's Creed Syndicate. I chose this game in particular as not only it's set in London, but it's also set in the 19th century, just like the narrative of my game.
However, this time instead of seeing how they portray London, I decided to focus on how the London aspect of the game was shown through the setting in hopes that I can influence my environments.
The game I decided to analyse was called Assassin's Creed Syndicate. I chose this game in particular as not only it's set in London, but it's also set in the 19th century, just like the narrative of my game.
This game gave me quite a few assess that I can implant in the setting of my game. Such as;
1) Exterior Design Of Buildings
In the game, the majority of the buildings were made from brick, as this is how it was in the 1800s. So for any house or building that I draw for my game, I can make the exterior be made from bricks.
2) Interior Design Of Lower Class Buildings
In the game, the buildings that were representations of lower class types had a lot of exposed wood that was used to make up the walls and floors. This is likely to be realistic for the time as if people back then had less money, the quality of their homes would have been poor.
I can use this for Abigail's house for my game, as she is a lower class woman so a house with walls being made of exposed wood would really evoke the poor state of life she has.
3) Interior Design Of Higher Class Buildings
In the game, the buildings that were representations of higher class types had fully structured walls with very decadent designs, along with cretins and smooths wood objects.
These are features that I could include in the home of my character Arthur, as he has a higher class status himself and the contrast between the rundown design of lower class homes with his upmarket one would really help show the difference.
4) Olden Style Lamps
This game shows how streets lamps would have looked back then. So I can decorate the setting of my game with these designs. This could also cater to telephone boxes and any other London symbols.
5) Olden Styles Of Transports
The examples of transport in this game give realistic depictions of how it would have been at that time. Instead of cars, you have houses and the trains in the game are powered by steam engines.
I could add these trance ports in my game, either via background art or I could have it as an actual transport mechanic in the game.
6) Steam Pump Buildings
Due to many things being powered by coal at the time, a lot more buildings were releasing steam from their chimneys. This would be a great art effect to add in the background of my game. I could make smoke animations and add that to some of the buildings I will draw.
Overall, this game is very similar to The Order 1886 with its setting. Originally for my environment, I was going to go for how Gran Turismo 5 and The Getaway portrayed London, with accurate geographical London areas.
However, due to my game now being set in the 19th century, I would be very difficult to try that as the structure of the city would have been different back then. So I decided to go the rote from Devil May Cry, The Order 1886 and Assassin's Creed Syndicate of using different semiotics to evoke the London like setting rather than propper London locations.
So my game will be set in London, but I will also use semiotics like the things I mentioned above to help present the setting as London inspired.
Week 7
Thursday 11th April
Independent Work
I began on my art for my backgrounds as now I have a better vision of how I wanted it to be. I started designing the area that has the home of Abigail.
When drawing, I exercised the improvements I thought I could make to the style when I made my first draft of the monochrome experiment. Such as drawing more than one side of buildings to add more dimension to them, and applying tonal values to give the illusion that there is a light source. I also added a brick texture to the buildings and wooden ones to doors using different lines, this acts as my first semiotic for my game.
I started to think about what the size of the layout my game will be. I thought that I would have a very large one, as I want to avoid having to create multiple different layouts to contain different parts of areas as when transferring to different layouts, there is always a slight pause of the screen.
I decided that the size of the windows will be the standard HD size, which is 1280×720.
Friday 12th April
Independent WorkI started to think about what the size of the layout my game will be. I thought that I would have a very large one, as I want to avoid having to create multiple different layouts to contain different parts of areas as when transferring to different layouts, there is always a slight pause of the screen.
Because the game will have a town which is where they'll be when not inside buildings, the layout has to be quite long in width in order for the player to experience it as such. On Photoshop, I will keep increasing the width by doubling its size. So each section I draw of the town will be 1280×720. This will correspond with the size of the window.
Saturday-Sunday 13th-14th April
I decided to start adding gaps in certain parts of the background as these will be filled with separate decorations such as street lamps and possibly postboxes. The reason why I'll do them separately is so I can make them interact with the world. Such as having the streetlamp flicker on and off which I can animate on Construct 2.
Originally, I was going to continue this background by just adding more buildings, but then I started to think and I came up with an asset I can apply to the game. When I analysed game Assasins Creed Syndicate, I got the idea to add the transports that would be used and how they would look at this time, such as trains. And I thought about possibly making them a game feature. I thought Instead of different buildings, I could add a train station. As trains existed at the time so the train station would also. This would be a great way of integrating 19th-century trains in the game. I also thought about instead of having houses like Aurther's on the same layout, I will have two different ones. 1 being the lower class area where Abigail's house will be and the second will be the higher class area where Aruther will live. This will not only relate towards my primary research on London with having different parts of town that have different social class but also using the train as a form of transport to get to each area in the game would be a great way to integrate them.
So I decided to do some secondary research on train stations in the past. I wanted to find 2 that were around in the 19th century that I could draw. Eventually, the ones I came up with where Baker Street and King's Cross St Pancras station as both opened in the 1800s. I decided that I would use Baker Street for the lower class area as it makes a less annual profit and vice versa for King's Cross. However, Kings Cross used to be called Metropolitan Railway station.
So because of this design choice, the higher class area will be called Kings Cross and the lower class area will be called Baker Street.
I also did some research on Terraced houses as I wanted to know a day I could design the exterior of buildings in Kings Cross to be different from the ones in Baker Street. And because I myself live in a Terraced house, I thought to look upon it to see how they came to be. Quite interestingly, they became popular around the 19th century too. While these houses were more used by people in the working class, they were also used for people who needed to house a lot of people. So in the context of my game, I will make the people in Kings Cross have large families that warranted for them having Terraced houses.
Week Evaluation
I believe that I'm working at a good pace as now I have started on my background art. I managed to implement the improvements to the style that I planned to before and I do believe that they were very successful.
I plan on at least compleating the background art for the outdoor locations by the end of the holiday.
Next week, I will be adding more to the background art using the secondary research I did for the next buildings I draw. Such as train stations and houses
After doing the research on Baker Street and King's Cross St Pancras station, I continued drawing the background of the lower class area by drawing Baker Street. I looked at a drawing that showed how it looked in its early times, so I took inspiration from that.
Afterterwads, I drew the rest of the background, having a pathway that goes right about where there will be an animation of a train going past, and the end has a house where a man will be out with his horse. This will be an alternative way to transport to each area.
I started on the second town area by drawing King's Cross St Pancras station. I also used the original design for this as well. This is also where I decided on the font that I will use in the game, called Carnevalee Freakshow which was used in the 1800s. I will use this font for names on text boxes and sings for buildings, like the train stations. I then drew the Terraced houses and Arthur's
Week Evaluation
I believe that I'm working at a good pace as now I have started on my background art. I managed to implement the improvements to the style that I planned to before and I do believe that they were very successful.
I plan on at least compleating the background art for the outdoor locations by the end of the holiday.
Next week, I will be adding more to the background art using the secondary research I did for the next buildings I draw. Such as train stations and houses
Week 8
Monday-Tuesday 15th-16th April
Afterterwads, I drew the rest of the background, having a pathway that goes right about where there will be an animation of a train going past, and the end has a house where a man will be out with his horse. This will be an alternative way to transport to each area.
Wednesday-Thursday 17th-18th April
Friday 19th April
I worked on the final part for the Kings Cross area by drawing the shop that takes place in the game. For this, I used the older style and structure of how markets used to look like. Using smoothed wood and stained glass windows made in a curved shape.
Saturday 20th April
I did my audio plan on all the sounds I will need in my game. I labelled what microphone I will use for each and how I will make the audios.
Week Evaluation
This week, I made good progress. I managed to complete my goal of compleating both of my London areas by the end of the holiday. I'm impressed with both of them as well, as not only did I managed to improve the style, but I also managed to implement quite a few assets that came from my secondary research.
However, I do believe that drawing them took longer than I anticipated and I wish I got to do the art for the inside of all the buildings.
Tomorrow, I will be starting on Audion Production for the sounds that I don't already have, start for the interior background art for the buildings and starting the Construct prototype.
Week 9
Tuesday 23rd April
Production
Now I have begun on Production for the unit. I decided to code a the beginning of my game, where Abigail just arrives at Baker Street Station and has to walk all the way to her home.
I started off with my organisation of the different assets I will have in Construct. Such as making folders for all the objects and putting all my codes in groups with each having a different purpose. This will make it much easier for me in the future as with an organise workflow, it will be less complicated to manage the document.
This time, I decided to try a different type of textbox. Instead of a simple box with the tile of the character on them, I went for a black thin rectangle at the top of the screen and I will use pictures of the characters faces to define who is speaking.
I believe that this change is better, as I believe its more visually pleasing and the placement it's in doesn't require me to position it near to whatever character is speaking.
As usual, I like for my characters to not be able to move when text is on the screen, that way the player can focus on what they have to read and it avoids any issues with the player continuing the came with the text still up. However, this leads to my first coding issue.
Coding Issue(1)
I got the player to stop when the text is up by coding for their speed to set to 0 at the time. And when the text is down, this control would go back to the speed it was before. However, when the original speed reenables, the character remains unable to move.
I have had this kind of problem before with the last game project.
I was going to go back and see how I sorted it out before, but I decided to try to find a different way of doing it for I went back. Instead of changing the speed, I disabled the player's controls and reenable them when the text is down. However, doing this causes the speed and acceleration from before it disables to carry on when it's re-enabled. Causing the player to slide.
So I thought to change the speed to 0 just as the controls disabled. This managed to fix the issue, possibly because there is no speed to carry over when I remove it as the player is frozen. I will use this as a template for all the text I have throughout the game.
Then I made a Yes/No screen. This will be used for any part of the game that will ask the player to confirm an action, such as entering buildings or going to the main menu. I made the buttons separate so that the player can press each. Similar to the last project, I made the buttons blink while the mouse is over them just to add visual clearance to the player that they can press yes or no.
Wednesday 24th April
I began with making a Save/Load screen as I planned to start making the code for the save/load system as I want to get all the important and key features out the way so I can just focus on the game's events.
I used the same layout as the one I did before but designed it with the style I'm using currently.
Previous One
Current One
(12RJ)
The room I was working in was booked for an exam so I couldn't continue what I was doing for a bit. However, I decided to take this chance to research on how to code a certain asset that I was planning to add to my game.
I planned to add loading screens as they allow the next layout to load before it's finished and they will really make my project much more authentic.
I learned 2 different types of loading screens that you can make on Construct 2. 1 is linked with everything in the project and will load based on how much things are in it. The second is more of an illusion of a loading screen, as it doesn't actually load anything but does give you the visual representation that it does.(Skills Development-"SD1") (Bibliography-"5R")
I decided that currently, I will use the second method, as sometimes having the loading screen actually load the game, it can go by very quick to the point that you may not even notice it. Although, the more I add to my project, the more the game will have to load and thus could make it go on for longer. So I will review this on a later date to see how it changes then.
When I went back to the room, I began to make my pause menu so that I will be able to do the coding part of the save/load system as it requires a button for each.
Thursday 25th April
Due to the fact that I want to get some of the audio work done this week, I searched for music that I can possibly have in my game. I tried to find any royalty free music that was made in the 1800s as that would add to the authenticity.
Although, when I tried to find some, all had to be paid for which wasn't what I was prepared to do.
So I decided to use the website that I used for the last unit to get music, Epidemic Sound. But this didn't have any music that was made at that time at all. So I had to make a compromise on that.
So I decided to use the website that I used for the last unit to get music, Epidemic Sound. But this didn't have any music that was made at that time at all. So I had to make a compromise on that.
I understood that olden London music was quite classical and can vary in their mood. So I decided to search for Classical music from any point of time to see if they could fit in my game. I got a lot of results and I found quite a few that not only would do some on a theme level, but also the different feel each have could match the different points in my game. Such as parts here the mod is supposed to be casual, and parts where the moods get to a sad point, like where Burden dies.
Later on, I started coding the pause menu as I finished its design. This time it was much easier then I was from the last unit, as instead of altering the position for it to appear on-screen, I can just tell it when and when not to be visible.
As Friday is may days off, I decided to do some audio work for the day. I focused on my Foley. Like I put on my plan, I used a shotgun mic to record them as its 270 pickup range allows me to make the sound anywhere in front of it and because it doesn't pick up everything around it, there will be less background noise.
I first tried to make the sound of a steam engine train. A steam engine train consists of 2 different sounds, the sounds of it going across the tracks and the sound of the horn/whistle. So I decided to make each sound separately.
For the track sound, I used a metal chain like I planned to use. As its texture and shape resemble a train track.
I tried grinding it on a wooden windowsill. However, the sound was too flat to work. It really didn't have the imagery of the train's wheels scratching against the track and sounded more like gears turning.
Later on, I started coding the pause menu as I finished its design. This time it was much easier then I was from the last unit, as instead of altering the position for it to appear on-screen, I can just tell it when and when not to be visible.
Friday 26th April
As Friday is may days off, I decided to do some audio work for the day. I focused on my Foley. Like I put on my plan, I used a shotgun mic to record them as its 270 pickup range allows me to make the sound anywhere in front of it and because it doesn't pick up everything around it, there will be less background noise.
I first tried to make the sound of a steam engine train. A steam engine train consists of 2 different sounds, the sounds of it going across the tracks and the sound of the horn/whistle. So I decided to make each sound separately.
For the track sound, I used a metal chain like I planned to use. As its texture and shape resemble a train track.
I tried grinding it on a wooden windowsill. However, the sound was too flat to work. It really didn't have the imagery of the train's wheels scratching against the track and sounded more like gears turning.
Then I tried grinding it on a book. This one sounded too muffled and smooth and also didn't work. So I tried adding a metal bar to the top of the book and then grinding it. The scratch sound it added along with the sound if the bar hitting the book proved successful.
I struggled to find a way to make a whistling sound as I am currently not able to whistle. I thought to use a tube and make a honking sound through it.
After, I worked on the rest of my Foley sounds, like a sweeping brush sound, a toilet flushing, paper rustling and coins shaking.
When I finished them, I uploaded them on Adobe Audition and edited them. All of them sounded pretty good. However, the horn sound needs improvement, as there is something it is missing although I am not sure what it is. I will work on this later on.
Saturday 27th April
I now started on my design of the interior of my buildings. I started with the home of my main character, Abigail. I drew the passage first. This is where I started to implement another one of the ideas that I got from my Contextual Analysis on Assassin's Creed Syndicate. Which was to make the interior out of wood. This, in my opinion, would add an atmosphere to the home in a way that would evoke how its quite a lower quality place with poor quality material.
Week Evaluation
This week, I planned on starting audio production along with starting my Construct 2 project. I also set myself the target of getting at least all foley sounds done. I have managed to complete these tasks.
I production in this unit. I coded the first part of my game, learned how to make loading screens and have started with audio. I managed to make and edit all of the foley sounds with only 1 needing extra work. I was focusing on the important key features such as the pause menu and I will continue to do this next week.
With the rate I'm going at, I hope to have finished making all the key components in the game, like the save and load system and then continue coding the events in the game.
I started the week off by drawing the kitchen part in Abigail's home. To aid my art for this background, I looked at a blog that talked about how kitchens were back in the 19th century.
They had a few pictures on the page that showed an accurate depiction, and I use one of them as inspiration.
Picture From The Blog
Week Evaluation
This week, I planned on starting audio production along with starting my Construct 2 project. I also set myself the target of getting at least all foley sounds done. I have managed to complete these tasks.
I production in this unit. I coded the first part of my game, learned how to make loading screens and have started with audio. I managed to make and edit all of the foley sounds with only 1 needing extra work. I was focusing on the important key features such as the pause menu and I will continue to do this next week.
With the rate I'm going at, I hope to have finished making all the key components in the game, like the save and load system and then continue coding the events in the game.
Week 10
Monday 29th April
I started the week off by drawing the kitchen part in Abigail's home. To aid my art for this background, I looked at a blog that talked about how kitchens were back in the 19th century.
They had a few pictures on the page that showed an accurate depiction, and I use one of them as inspiration.
Picture From The Blog
What gave me the idea to use olden style objects to sell what era it was not only my Contextual Analisis but also from my visit to London. As there are many sophisticated buildings there that really let you know how modern they are. So I wanted to use that same effect but related to my era.
After, I worked on my saving system in my game. I decided that the page I made that asks the player if they are sure about proceeding with the action they pressed, which I call the confirming screen, would also be good for my saving/loading screens. This can help prevent accidental presses and enhances the authenticity if the game as this is what most games do.
Coding Issue(2)
I tried adding it to my first save slot. However, for some reason, it wouldn't pop up and I wasn't sure why at first. But then I realized that my code for making the confirming screen pop up for when the player tries to enter the house was clashing with my code for the saving code. So to try to separate the code, I added the event to the house code to tell it to only work when the global variable for the saving isn't active.
This managed to work and the confirm screen popped up just fine. But then I came across another problem when the game saves it save the exact state its in. So the position of the player to the objects on the screen will be saved exactly how they are. This means that it also saves the game being on the saving screen. So if the player loads the game, it will load back on the save screen. Just like here when to test it, I make the load happen when you press T and it ended up bringing the save screen up.
I tried preventing this by telling Construct to turn the saving screen invisible with the loading code. This didn't change it and the screen was still there.
I tried researching the problem however, I didn't direct me to anything related to mine. But in one of the videos, I saw a code called on load complete which allows you control what happens just after the game loads from last save point. So I tried using this code to make the saving screen invisible and It fixed the issue and now the game merely starts from the point the player was at.
Later on, I thought that I would be a good idea to add a sign to let the player know which slot is in use so they can prevent overlapping save data and so they know what part they can load from.
Tuesday 30th April
Now that my save system is completely done, I coded my loading system in. This was mainly a copy and paste job as both the save and load work in similar ways but with some changes.
Eventually, It managed to work and it was all up and running. Now my saving/loading system is completely done.
Wednesday 1st April
I started the day off with my daily playthrough test that I do to see if there are any bugs from the new code I put in from the previous days.
I tested my save/load system out and it appeared to be working just fine and everything along with animations and the signs for what slots are in use weren't glitching in any way.
The events I coded for that part of the game was working just fine too.
The only issue I found was one that I also discovered yesterday but didn't have any time to focus on it.
I coded for text to pop up 2 seconds after the game loads, and while the text is up, the player won't be able to move. The pause also restricts their movement.
Coding Issue(3)
Coding Issue(3)
The problem is that if the player should pause the game before or during when the dialogue appears, the 2 systems would clash with each other and this causes the pause to not respond to any commands as when I pressed the buttons, nothing happened.
So I tried to only allow the code for the dialogue to happen if the pause isn't active. But this made no difference.
Then I tried making the action of the pause event to turn off dialogue when the pause is active so that the dialogue couldn't interfere. This only half worked as it did allow me to pause, but it also doesn't,t continue with the code for the dialogue when I resumed the game. So if the player were to ever accidentally pause when reading the dialogue, they would miss out on it.
So I thought to fiddle with the group active code, where I can control what code in what group to happens and if they don't. So I coded for the group that has the dialogue code to be non-active whenever the pause is up. This however also didn't make a difference.
It was at this point I started to believe that the main problem is that I coded for the dialogue to appear on a timer as the layout starts. I think as it was made to do this as soon as the level begins has caused the action of the event to be almost inevitable. So I decided to change this.
Instead of making it timed, I used the same method that I did in my previous unit where I would use a block that will be invisible in the main game to trigger the text as the player collides with it. Which worked fine.
However, this time if the player were to pause with the text up, the pause wouldn't appear even though it's clearly reading my action as my pause number still went up.
So I tried using an instance variable on the text and tried to code that whenever the pause is activated when the dialogue is up, it sets the dialogue off and adds 1 to the instance variable. I did this so I could try to separate the instance when a player pauses normally and causes with text. This, however, resulted in a similar issue as before. Where the pause does work but it also doesn't continue the dialogue code, forcing the player to have to re-collide with the object just to see the dialogue again.
I didn't like this as this could confuse anyone playing it who may cause during dialogue before they finished it.
However, this problem did give me an idea. In most games, the player can skip cutscenes and dialogue-heavy parts. This problem in a way imitates that. So I thought to instead of trying to gain the ability to pause with dialogue up, I can make it that the pause button not pause but acts as a skip button when texts are active. This managed to work just fine.
This is a good alternative and I decided to leave it like this. So I quickly made another sign that will appear as a prompt for the player to know how they can skip dialogue parts.
Then I added it to my game, and it will appear whenever dialogue is up.
What I have taken from this issue is that I have to be very careful when coding things to happen from when the layout starts as I see it can lead to them happening at instances when you don't want them to and it would be very difficult to stop it without changing the code. Its also shown me how mistakes and issues can lead to good and useful design ideas.
I do believe that making the pause become a skip button for dialogue sections is a good alternative that works really well. It also has its own benefits. Such as;
When I was home, I was playing a game called Roblox. But then I noticed something, it was one of those games that had a custom cursor when it was onscreen.
I always thought that this was a very appealing feature in games. It may be a minor detail, however, I really it adds to it by helping the games theme to merge within the system and I believe that this can really give more of a potent experience and gives the game more personality.
This inspired me to try to see if I would be able to make my own custom cursor in my game. So I searched for it and quite surprisingly found out the answer pretty fast with a YouTube video I watched. The method was quite easy and managed to do it on a separate test project.
Regular Cursor
Custom Cursor
Because of this discovery, I will be designing my own cursor for my game later on. The method I used to do this also will allow me to have the cursor design change at any instant I want. So I may make multiple for different situations.
So I tried to only allow the code for the dialogue to happen if the pause isn't active. But this made no difference.
Then I tried making the action of the pause event to turn off dialogue when the pause is active so that the dialogue couldn't interfere. This only half worked as it did allow me to pause, but it also doesn't,t continue with the code for the dialogue when I resumed the game. So if the player were to ever accidentally pause when reading the dialogue, they would miss out on it.
So I thought to fiddle with the group active code, where I can control what code in what group to happens and if they don't. So I coded for the group that has the dialogue code to be non-active whenever the pause is up. This however also didn't make a difference.
It was at this point I started to believe that the main problem is that I coded for the dialogue to appear on a timer as the layout starts. I think as it was made to do this as soon as the level begins has caused the action of the event to be almost inevitable. So I decided to change this.
Instead of making it timed, I used the same method that I did in my previous unit where I would use a block that will be invisible in the main game to trigger the text as the player collides with it. Which worked fine.
However, this time if the player were to pause with the text up, the pause wouldn't appear even though it's clearly reading my action as my pause number still went up.
So I tried using an instance variable on the text and tried to code that whenever the pause is activated when the dialogue is up, it sets the dialogue off and adds 1 to the instance variable. I did this so I could try to separate the instance when a player pauses normally and causes with text. This, however, resulted in a similar issue as before. Where the pause does work but it also doesn't continue the dialogue code, forcing the player to have to re-collide with the object just to see the dialogue again.
I didn't like this as this could confuse anyone playing it who may cause during dialogue before they finished it.
However, this problem did give me an idea. In most games, the player can skip cutscenes and dialogue-heavy parts. This problem in a way imitates that. So I thought to instead of trying to gain the ability to pause with dialogue up, I can make it that the pause button not pause but acts as a skip button when texts are active. This managed to work just fine.
This is a good alternative and I decided to leave it like this. So I quickly made another sign that will appear as a prompt for the player to know how they can skip dialogue parts.
Then I added it to my game, and it will appear whenever dialogue is up.
What I have taken from this issue is that I have to be very careful when coding things to happen from when the layout starts as I see it can lead to them happening at instances when you don't want them to and it would be very difficult to stop it without changing the code. Its also shown me how mistakes and issues can lead to good and useful design ideas.
I do believe that making the pause become a skip button for dialogue sections is a good alternative that works really well. It also has its own benefits. Such as;
- It prevents me from having to worry about the pause and the dialogue clashing with each other in whatever way
- Its helpful for me whenever I do speed tests of my game as instead of having to go through all text I can just skip.
- It's also good for any players, as if they are doing second playthroughs, they don't have to sit through all of the text.
When I was home, I was playing a game called Roblox. But then I noticed something, it was one of those games that had a custom cursor when it was onscreen.
I always thought that this was a very appealing feature in games. It may be a minor detail, however, I really it adds to it by helping the games theme to merge within the system and I believe that this can really give more of a potent experience and gives the game more personality.
This inspired me to try to see if I would be able to make my own custom cursor in my game. So I searched for it and quite surprisingly found out the answer pretty fast with a YouTube video I watched. The method was quite easy and managed to do it on a separate test project.
Regular Cursor
Custom Cursor
Because of this discovery, I will be designing my own cursor for my game later on. The method I used to do this also will allow me to have the cursor design change at any instant I want. So I may make multiple for different situations.
Thursday 2nd April
First, I made a survey on Google Forms asking questions about the theme and 2D games in general. I did this so I so understand more about my target audience and to see if I could get any more ideas to form people. I shared it with different people and I will look and review it later.
This is the result of my responses
This is the result of my responses
Later on, I did my daily systems check, and everything was fine as far as I could see.
Now that the first part of the game was done along with most of my systems, I decided to start on the next part where the player enters the house.
I made lamps for the background from which I took inspiration from a picture I saw on Google.
I drew it in Photoshop so I would be able to add a glowing effect to evoke the fact that its releasing light.
I animated it on Construct and bow using it as decoration for the background.
Sometime after, I realised something that got me nervous. Things like my pause menu and save screen are all on my first layout. However, I will also need this in all locations as the player will need to access them at every part of the game.
This would mean I would have to do the same thing that I had to do on the last game project, where I had to copy every single object to every layout. This is a very tedious method and I takes a lot of time, with the added flaw of having to make sure all of the objects are in the correct Z order as some may end up being ordered to the top of the layer where they shouldn't be.
And Unlike objects, Layers didn't have the option to copy and paste them onto other layouts. But I decided to look up if there was a way that I was unaware of.
My search directed me the official Construct website where I watched a video that taught me about something called Global Layers. Apparently. each layer has the option to be global, where every layer in every layout with the same name would be overwritten to match the one you turned the one you made global.
I tried this out for myself on a separate project file with a simple block. For some reason, it appeared like It didn't work. As the block did not appear on the second layout despite the properties saying that it did.
But when I booted it and switched between the different layouts, I realised that it was actually working. I believe that when you make layers global, they may not appear on the edit page, however, when you preview it, it does appear.
It also seemed that the size of the layout didn't affect the placement of the layer, as I tested this in my game with my pause menu on the second section of my game that had a different layout size and it worked just fine.
I'm really glad that I have made this discovery, as this will save me a lot of time as this will allow me to transfer the many objects that I will need on all layouts in about a minute where it would normally take 10 if I did it manually. This is also useful from a more practical perspective, as if global layers don't appear on the edit page but still are active in the game, they will give me a lot more breathing room as I won't have too many objects on screen and I can just focus on the part of the game I am working on.
3) No Save Behaviour
This behaviour simply prevents certain object's state from being saved if the game is saved. This is the kind of thing I could have used for when I had the problem if the save screen being saved when I loaded the game. Instead of using the on load compleat code, I could have used this and thus the screen would have reverted to its default state when It was loaded.
I will be using this for future objects if I have to make sure their appearance on the screen doesn't get saved and I may use this on things like the background as they will always stay the same, this will keep the save files the lowest I can be and boost the loading speed.
4) Shadow Caster Behaviour
This allows objects to cast shadows for a light source, This can be used for when you want to express that a certain object in your game ( a sun or any light source) is casing light on objects.
I can use this as I have already started to add my own light source so this could be a great way to add to it.
5) Persist Behaviour
This is the direct opposite to the No Save Behaviour, instead of not saving particular objects, the Persist Behaviour saves the state of particular objects. When you return to the layout, it would no longer appear in its normal state and will appear to whatever state it was last in.
This can be used for when particular objects change in whatever way and need to stay like that for the rest of the game. I may use this for some of the mini-games I do as some consist of cleaning the house so I can use this to keep the house sate for when its clean.
Week Evaluation
So far, I believe this week has been one of the most enriching and productive. I managed to draw the kitchen part of my game and I learned a lot of things. Such as;
How to control what happens when a save file just loads
How careful you have to be when setting events to happen at the start of the layout
How to make a custom cursor in my game
And 2 of the most of all, Global Layers allowing me to copy layers to other layouts and how to use all behaviours.
I do believe I'm making good progress as I'm almost completely done with the important systems in my game, the save/load. And learning about Global Layers will really help me out with my time and knowing more about the behaviours will give me more ideas on how I can easily compleat different tasks that would normally take more effort with the use of coding. Because of this, I feel even more confident about my production.
Then I added another light source object for the other light, however, this created a double shadow effect that I wasn't sure worked or looked good.
So I decreased the shadow's hight (length). Afterwards, I believed it came out the best it can be. As the shape of the shadows were more or less correct and their tone was realistic.
Afterwards, I put in the kitchen layout that I drew a while ago. However, I will need to edit it as the scaling for the character with the stove is incorrect.
Then I coded the first encounter of the kitchen. Where Abigail will wonder where her husband is as they need food. This event will be optional as the player doesn't have to enter the kitchen at this point but if they do, they will get to see this dialogue.
I will be having more of these optional events through my game as I believe they help add reply value to it as It can encourage players to play it multiple times in order to experience everything. Also, allowing the player to experience more in the game in sections there don't have to be rather than just letting them know its the wrong way adds to my goal of making my game expansive and non-linear.
My other choices of the kind of optional dialogue I will have will involve N.P.C interactions. People in the lower class area will express kindness and neighbourly respect. But in the higher class areas, they will degrade and ridicule the character, making discriminating remarks. This, in my opinion, is a great way to express my theme in this game, as its being shown by the story, rather than being directly and non-subtly told.
Now that part is done, I got started with the next part where the player has to go up the stairs.
I tried to find tutorials on how to make a character interact with something like stairs as they are both separate objects thus couldn't me interact using animations. However, when I tried to search, all I got were videos on how to make character climb ladders, which isn't exactly the same.
So instead, I decided that a more practical way of doing it would be to have Abigail move along diagonally up the stairs, and when I start animating I'll put her in her walking one and when she reaches the top, It will fade/transition to the next layout. Although, I set my character to only be able to move in 4 directions, thus I could not simulate tried using the Pathfinder behaviour that I learned about before. I made it trigger when the player gets to the stairs. This managed to get the sprite to move diagonally, however, what I remembered is that when doing this, you don't have full control on how it gets to its destination. So this wasn't a good choice.
After I added the fade. I was personally happy with how it came out. I believe the redraw of the stairs looks much better and the transition works really well with good timing. My original plan was for the player to manually be able to go up the stairs themselves but this is an adequate alternative.
Later on in the day, I looked at one of my other teammate's projects. I saw that in his game, he had a typewriting effect with the text in his game, where each letter comes after each other. I thought that this was an interesting feature and I thought that would be a nice addition to mine.
So I did some research and learned how to do it myself, There were 2 methods but both were very similar.
I attempted to put this in my game, but it didn't work after a few tries. I decided to leave this for later as my main priority is the build of my games events.
I was really confused why this was happening as when I scrolled through my code, I couldn't see anything that would allow this to happen. I theorised it could possibly do with the cache on Chrome as I knew from before that even when I reload the page, the game is still able to load from save slots.
So I tried deleting the cache in Google Chrome in hopes it could remove any data from save games.
However, this didn't work.
So I decided to test if the same issue would happen on another computer. The result was that the problem did not happen on the other computer. This got me to think that it was the computer itself that was the problem. So I did some research on saving with Construct 2. I found out that when Construct saves data, it does it locally on the computer rather than on any browser. This is because the cache of chrome always gets deleted so the save data is stored on the computer so that the player can always come back and load their game. Meaning that every time I saved my game, the data has always been there and that's why I can load from slots on days I didn't save on. I never know this before. This is both a great feature, but also a problem.
It's a great feature as this would allow anyone who plays it to never lose their save data and doesn't require anyone to complete the come on their first try of the game.
It's also a problem as anyone could have the same issue I had with loading on parts that weren't saved on the day. While the player can just reboot the game, its something that I don't believe would be very attractive to players and it is something they have a high chance in encountering.
So I did more research to see if there was a way to remove the local store of Construct data. To do so, I have to add the Local Data object which allows me to use the code Clear Storage. This code is supposed to remove all local data of the game. So I tried this out.
For some reason, this didn't work and I want sure why. I decided that I will do more research and sort this problem out later as this may be something that will take a lot of focus and executive decision making. However, I'm glad I learned more about how the saving system works on Construct more and this reminded me that despite my good practise with the program, there's still a lot more for me to learn about.
I went to the Forbidden Planet, a Megastore in central London, where 2 of the creators of a book series called Spirit Of The Pharaoh. I thought it would be interesting to talk actually writers as they have a more professional/experienced knowledge. I talked to the co-writer/illustrator of the books called Chris Geary.
I told him about my unit and the game I'm proposing to make. He found it interesting and liked the idea of my game. I didn't get to speak to him for too long but he did give me a few ideas.
1) Try more methods to personalise the game. I've been trying to do this so far by making a particular theme for my HUD's and ext. But what he suggested was to maybe make a logo for the game and use it as its icon. I liked this idea and will try to do so when production is done.
2) He said to try different methods in showing information about the context in the game. As so far, I've been showing facts about the era of my game through the plot and interactions with everything. But this got me to think that maybe some information can be text-based. This can cater to more of an audience as some people are more visual/practical learners and some find it better to read information instead. I thought the way I could do this, is if I get to implement loading screens (that I learned how to make before) I could have information pop up on it until the screen is done. This is something most games do to tell the player more about the controls, but I can use this to tell the player relevant facts about the 19th century while they wait. I thought this would be interesting and I will consider it, mainly if I get to put loading screens in.
3) Last but not least, he said I could try to have a options menu in the game where the players can view my concept art, initial plot ideas and any other stuff. This is also something many games do. I personally thought this was the most interesting idea, as there a quite a few things I could do with this. I could show the first character I drew, explain how I came to to the current art style with characters and environments and explain how I came up with this game. These are already in my blog, but it could be a great addition to the game to have a more analytical and raw analysis of all of the different factors of my game. There could be different pages, focusing on different things. One can be about concepts, another can be the context of things in the game and others could be my thoughts and feelings through making it. I definitely believe I should do this and I really do like the idea.
I'm really glad that I got to speak to Chris and come up with these 3 interesting ideas that I really like. All of these will be considered and if I get time in the end, I will definitely work on them. especially the 3rd one.
Week Evaluation
This week has been productive. I managed to implement one of the behaviours I learnt successfully which will help add more realism to my game throughout, started making optional sections, came up with the idea with transitions for going to different layouts, learned more about how Construct stores data and got to speak to an actual writer.
At this point, I do have some nerves about if I will have a compleated outcome. I'm not entirely sure why I feel like this, but I believe this is just one of my natural reactions when deadlines are starting to come to an end as the deadline for the project is coming in the next few weeks. I am also anxious if I will get to the things that I have put off until the main game is compleated, such as the problem with the local storage.
However, I still do have confidence, as now because my system code is done, all I have to focus on in the events of the game. So as long as I make sure I spend my time on that priority and don't sidetrack with less important things that can be sorted out later, I can probably complete the game.
And I feel more and more confident about how much the ideas I have for the game is developing. As leaning more about how Construct works and getting to speak to Chris has allowed me to come up with even more things that are small details but I believe will enhance the game overall. If I manage to implement them all, I'm confident that they will all make the game feel personalised and authentic to how real games are today.
I animated it on Construct and bow using it as decoration for the background.
Sometime after, I realised something that got me nervous. Things like my pause menu and save screen are all on my first layout. However, I will also need this in all locations as the player will need to access them at every part of the game.
This would mean I would have to do the same thing that I had to do on the last game project, where I had to copy every single object to every layout. This is a very tedious method and I takes a lot of time, with the added flaw of having to make sure all of the objects are in the correct Z order as some may end up being ordered to the top of the layer where they shouldn't be.
And Unlike objects, Layers didn't have the option to copy and paste them onto other layouts. But I decided to look up if there was a way that I was unaware of.
My search directed me the official Construct website where I watched a video that taught me about something called Global Layers. Apparently. each layer has the option to be global, where every layer in every layout with the same name would be overwritten to match the one you turned the one you made global.
I tried this out for myself on a separate project file with a simple block. For some reason, it appeared like It didn't work. As the block did not appear on the second layout despite the properties saying that it did.
But when I booted it and switched between the different layouts, I realised that it was actually working. I believe that when you make layers global, they may not appear on the edit page, however, when you preview it, it does appear.
It also seemed that the size of the layout didn't affect the placement of the layer, as I tested this in my game with my pause menu on the second section of my game that had a different layout size and it worked just fine.
I'm really glad that I have made this discovery, as this will save me a lot of time as this will allow me to transfer the many objects that I will need on all layouts in about a minute where it would normally take 10 if I did it manually. This is also useful from a more practical perspective, as if global layers don't appear on the edit page but still are active in the game, they will give me a lot more breathing room as I won't have too many objects on screen and I can just focus on the part of the game I am working on.
Sunday 5th May
Upon reviewing the responses I have so far on my survey, I saw most voted that their favourite type of game was puzzle games. My game isn't exactly focused on that type of genre, however, it will have mini-games in it and they all will be different. The response with puzzle games inspired me to try broadening the types of minigames I can make and how I can make them challenging.
So I was trying to look at mini-games on YouTube to try to give me more ideas, but then I stumbled across a channel that made videos about Construct 2, explaining every single behaviour. I decided to watch all of them to learn more about the program, and to see if any of the behaviours can be used to help make a mini-game. I focused on the ones that I didn't already know how to use.
1) Drop Down Behaviour
This gives objects the ability to be dragged and placed anywhere. This made me think of how I could have a part where Abigail has to sort out a cupboard or closet and the player has to use the mouse to drag and drop them. This could also be a game mechanic like when the player is buying things from the store, they can drag it in instead of just selecting them.
2) Pathfinding Behaviour
This makes an object independently finds its way to a certain position on the layout. The only Idea I got from this was to have a mini-game about a pet like a hamster and maybe you have to guide it somewhere. Although I will have to do some research on pets on the 1800s.
1) Drop Down Behaviour
This gives objects the ability to be dragged and placed anywhere. This made me think of how I could have a part where Abigail has to sort out a cupboard or closet and the player has to use the mouse to drag and drop them. This could also be a game mechanic like when the player is buying things from the store, they can drag it in instead of just selecting them.
2) Pathfinding Behaviour
This makes an object independently finds its way to a certain position on the layout. The only Idea I got from this was to have a mini-game about a pet like a hamster and maybe you have to guide it somewhere. Although I will have to do some research on pets on the 1800s.
3) No Save Behaviour
This behaviour simply prevents certain object's state from being saved if the game is saved. This is the kind of thing I could have used for when I had the problem if the save screen being saved when I loaded the game. Instead of using the on load compleat code, I could have used this and thus the screen would have reverted to its default state when It was loaded.
I will be using this for future objects if I have to make sure their appearance on the screen doesn't get saved and I may use this on things like the background as they will always stay the same, this will keep the save files the lowest I can be and boost the loading speed.
4) Shadow Caster Behaviour
This allows objects to cast shadows for a light source, This can be used for when you want to express that a certain object in your game ( a sun or any light source) is casing light on objects.
I can use this as I have already started to add my own light source so this could be a great way to add to it.
5) Persist Behaviour
This is the direct opposite to the No Save Behaviour, instead of not saving particular objects, the Persist Behaviour saves the state of particular objects. When you return to the layout, it would no longer appear in its normal state and will appear to whatever state it was last in.
This can be used for when particular objects change in whatever way and need to stay like that for the rest of the game. I may use this for some of the mini-games I do as some consist of cleaning the house so I can use this to keep the house sate for when its clean.
Week Evaluation
So far, I believe this week has been one of the most enriching and productive. I managed to draw the kitchen part of my game and I learned a lot of things. Such as;
How to control what happens when a save file just loads
How careful you have to be when setting events to happen at the start of the layout
How to make a custom cursor in my game
And 2 of the most of all, Global Layers allowing me to copy layers to other layouts and how to use all behaviours.
I do believe I'm making good progress as I'm almost completely done with the important systems in my game, the save/load. And learning about Global Layers will really help me out with my time and knowing more about the behaviours will give me more ideas on how I can easily compleat different tasks that would normally take more effort with the use of coding. Because of this, I feel even more confident about my production.
Week 11
Tuesday 7th May
I started off by continuing with the Passage layout trying out the Shadow Caster behaviour I recently learnt. I added it on one of the lights in the passage of my characters house. However, the shadows were too strong and the shape didn't match
Then I remembered that the shape of the shadows is dependent on the collision points. So I decided to fit them better.
Then I changed the opacity of the shadows so they weren't as strong
Then I changed the opacity of the shadows so they weren't as strong
Then I added another light source object for the other light, however, this created a double shadow effect that I wasn't sure worked or looked good.
So I decreased the shadow's hight (length). Afterwards, I believed it came out the best it can be. As the shape of the shadows were more or less correct and their tone was realistic.
Afterwards, I put in the kitchen layout that I drew a while ago. However, I will need to edit it as the scaling for the character with the stove is incorrect.
Wednesday 8th May
I edited the kitchen background and added it in. It now looks correct
Then I coded the first encounter of the kitchen. Where Abigail will wonder where her husband is as they need food. This event will be optional as the player doesn't have to enter the kitchen at this point but if they do, they will get to see this dialogue.
I will be having more of these optional events through my game as I believe they help add reply value to it as It can encourage players to play it multiple times in order to experience everything. Also, allowing the player to experience more in the game in sections there don't have to be rather than just letting them know its the wrong way adds to my goal of making my game expansive and non-linear.
My other choices of the kind of optional dialogue I will have will involve N.P.C interactions. People in the lower class area will express kindness and neighbourly respect. But in the higher class areas, they will degrade and ridicule the character, making discriminating remarks. This, in my opinion, is a great way to express my theme in this game, as its being shown by the story, rather than being directly and non-subtly told.
Now that part is done, I got started with the next part where the player has to go up the stairs.
I tried to find tutorials on how to make a character interact with something like stairs as they are both separate objects thus couldn't me interact using animations. However, when I tried to search, all I got were videos on how to make character climb ladders, which isn't exactly the same.
So instead, I decided that a more practical way of doing it would be to have Abigail move along diagonally up the stairs, and when I start animating I'll put her in her walking one and when she reaches the top, It will fade/transition to the next layout. Although, I set my character to only be able to move in 4 directions, thus I could not simulate tried using the Pathfinder behaviour that I learned about before. I made it trigger when the player gets to the stairs. This managed to get the sprite to move diagonally, however, what I remembered is that when doing this, you don't have full control on how it gets to its destination. So this wasn't a good choice.
Thursday 9th May
To fix the stairs issue, I first decided to redraw them but from a different perspective that shows more sides of each step rather than just showing it flat from the side.
Then I tried using the bullet behaviour ( a behaviour that makes objects move in a straight line) but set it to move at different angles. After a bit of trial and error, I managed to find just the right angle and now the sprite moves along the stairs properly.
After I added the fade. I was personally happy with how it came out. I believe the redraw of the stairs looks much better and the transition works really well with good timing. My original plan was for the player to manually be able to go up the stairs themselves but this is an adequate alternative.
Later on in the day, I looked at one of my other teammate's projects. I saw that in his game, he had a typewriting effect with the text in his game, where each letter comes after each other. I thought that this was an interesting feature and I thought that would be a nice addition to mine.
So I did some research and learned how to do it myself, There were 2 methods but both were very similar.
I attempted to put this in my game, but it didn't work after a few tries. I decided to leave this for later as my main priority is the build of my games events.
Friday 10th May
Technical Issue(1)
I did my systems check through everything I did in my game. Everything was working fine and all the events happened with no problem. However, there was one issue I noticed. Whenever I tried to load my game from a save slot that I never saved on, It would load up on a different part of the game and sometimes keeps objects visible when they aren't supposed to be.
I was really confused why this was happening as when I scrolled through my code, I couldn't see anything that would allow this to happen. I theorised it could possibly do with the cache on Chrome as I knew from before that even when I reload the page, the game is still able to load from save slots.
However, this didn't work.
So I decided to test if the same issue would happen on another computer. The result was that the problem did not happen on the other computer. This got me to think that it was the computer itself that was the problem. So I did some research on saving with Construct 2. I found out that when Construct saves data, it does it locally on the computer rather than on any browser. This is because the cache of chrome always gets deleted so the save data is stored on the computer so that the player can always come back and load their game. Meaning that every time I saved my game, the data has always been there and that's why I can load from slots on days I didn't save on. I never know this before. This is both a great feature, but also a problem.
It's a great feature as this would allow anyone who plays it to never lose their save data and doesn't require anyone to complete the come on their first try of the game.
It's also a problem as anyone could have the same issue I had with loading on parts that weren't saved on the day. While the player can just reboot the game, its something that I don't believe would be very attractive to players and it is something they have a high chance in encountering.
So I did more research to see if there was a way to remove the local store of Construct data. To do so, I have to add the Local Data object which allows me to use the code Clear Storage. This code is supposed to remove all local data of the game. So I tried this out.
For some reason, this didn't work and I want sure why. I decided that I will do more research and sort this problem out later as this may be something that will take a lot of focus and executive decision making. However, I'm glad I learned more about how the saving system works on Construct more and this reminded me that despite my good practise with the program, there's still a lot more for me to learn about.
Saturday 11th May
I went to the Forbidden Planet, a Megastore in central London, where 2 of the creators of a book series called Spirit Of The Pharaoh. I thought it would be interesting to talk actually writers as they have a more professional/experienced knowledge. I talked to the co-writer/illustrator of the books called Chris Geary.I told him about my unit and the game I'm proposing to make. He found it interesting and liked the idea of my game. I didn't get to speak to him for too long but he did give me a few ideas.
1) Try more methods to personalise the game. I've been trying to do this so far by making a particular theme for my HUD's and ext. But what he suggested was to maybe make a logo for the game and use it as its icon. I liked this idea and will try to do so when production is done.
2) He said to try different methods in showing information about the context in the game. As so far, I've been showing facts about the era of my game through the plot and interactions with everything. But this got me to think that maybe some information can be text-based. This can cater to more of an audience as some people are more visual/practical learners and some find it better to read information instead. I thought the way I could do this, is if I get to implement loading screens (that I learned how to make before) I could have information pop up on it until the screen is done. This is something most games do to tell the player more about the controls, but I can use this to tell the player relevant facts about the 19th century while they wait. I thought this would be interesting and I will consider it, mainly if I get to put loading screens in.
3) Last but not least, he said I could try to have a options menu in the game where the players can view my concept art, initial plot ideas and any other stuff. This is also something many games do. I personally thought this was the most interesting idea, as there a quite a few things I could do with this. I could show the first character I drew, explain how I came to to the current art style with characters and environments and explain how I came up with this game. These are already in my blog, but it could be a great addition to the game to have a more analytical and raw analysis of all of the different factors of my game. There could be different pages, focusing on different things. One can be about concepts, another can be the context of things in the game and others could be my thoughts and feelings through making it. I definitely believe I should do this and I really do like the idea.
I'm really glad that I got to speak to Chris and come up with these 3 interesting ideas that I really like. All of these will be considered and if I get time in the end, I will definitely work on them. especially the 3rd one.
Week Evaluation
This week has been productive. I managed to implement one of the behaviours I learnt successfully which will help add more realism to my game throughout, started making optional sections, came up with the idea with transitions for going to different layouts, learned more about how Construct stores data and got to speak to an actual writer.
At this point, I do have some nerves about if I will have a compleated outcome. I'm not entirely sure why I feel like this, but I believe this is just one of my natural reactions when deadlines are starting to come to an end as the deadline for the project is coming in the next few weeks. I am also anxious if I will get to the things that I have put off until the main game is compleated, such as the problem with the local storage.
However, I still do have confidence, as now because my system code is done, all I have to focus on in the events of the game. So as long as I make sure I spend my time on that priority and don't sidetrack with less important things that can be sorted out later, I can probably complete the game.
And I feel more and more confident about how much the ideas I have for the game is developing. As leaning more about how Construct works and getting to speak to Chris has allowed me to come up with even more things that are small details but I believe will enhance the game overall. If I manage to implement them all, I'm confident that they will all make the game feel personalised and authentic to how real games are today.
Week 12
Monday 13th May
I started the week off by continuing with my main priority, my games events.
I first worked on the upstairs corridor section, where the bathroom and Burdens room will be placed. For this, I decided to make the style of having wooden walls with bricks. This is to help further indicate that the house is unfinished and unattractive. I also focused more on the shading, making the parts where the lantern is brighter and the sections around it much darker. This is supposed to make the lights much more distinguishable. It also helps add atmosphere, as if the house is poorly lit due to a lack of a good amount of proper lights. Further showing that the Abigal house is of a lower class.
Once that was done, I went to draw the bathroom part which the player will have a mini-game to play in it. I did some research first on bathrooms in the 19th century to see if they were around. And I found out that the flushing toilet was made in the late 1500s, meaning there were toilets back in the 1800s. Most toilet seats were made from mahogany, however, higher class people had different materials. Which encouraged me to add a wooden toilet for this bathroom, as another way of showing the poor conditions they live in.
So far, I'm starting to like the way I apply shade in conjunction with my in-game light sources. So I will continue to do this will the next backgrounds I draw and possibly edit the ones I already did.
I then started another one of the optional dialogue section where Abigail comments on the poor state of the bathroom appliances.
Once that was done, I went to draw the bathroom part which the player will have a mini-game to play in it. I did some research first on bathrooms in the 19th century to see if they were around. And I found out that the flushing toilet was made in the late 1500s, meaning there were toilets back in the 1800s. Most toilet seats were made from mahogany, however, higher class people had different materials. Which encouraged me to add a wooden toilet for this bathroom, as another way of showing the poor conditions they live in.
So far, I'm starting to like the way I apply shade in conjunction with my in-game light sources. So I will continue to do this will the next backgrounds I draw and possibly edit the ones I already did.
I then started another one of the optional dialogue section where Abigail comments on the poor state of the bathroom appliances.
Tuesday 14th May
I started off by drawing out the background design for the bedroom Burden would be in. For the walls here, I made them just out of bricks. This was so the player could further understand that the home has unfinished walls as only some are coved in the wood, some are only half and some aren't at all.
Originally, I was going to draw 2 separate rooms for Burden and Abigail. But I thought what would be a better was to draw a sleeping bag on the floor. This is to evoke the fact that Abigail and Henery gave up their bed for Burden, who does have his own room. Not only helping the lower class theme but also allowing the player to notice the detail themselves without the need for dialogue.
Then I did the first part of the coding here, which will prompt the player to go to the kitchen to get Medicine for Burden.
At the end of the day at home, I decided to make my custom cursor that I learned the other day. I did some because I believe it would visually help myself get into my own interface theme more, and it would only take a few minutes.
I made it very basic, just a circle with a dot inside. I made it this way for 2 reasons.
1) I believed a different shape would feel fresh to the player as they get an unexpected change from the usual arrow cursor.
2) A circle represents Abigail's life. A circle has no beginning or end, it goes on infinitely. This matches with Abigail as people live like her don't change much as they have very poor lifestyles, they don't progress much. constantly being subjected to non-ending experiences like loneliness or hunger.
At first, I coloured it just in black in order to match the monochrome style I had for the background. But then I realised that this would mean it would be less visible or not at all when over dark sections.
Having it white would have had the same effect.
So I thought to make it part black, and part white and making an almost equal amount of both. This allows the white to stand out on the white surface and for the back to stand out on white surfaces. And both would show up on grey. Meaning that the cursor will always be visible no matter where it is onscreen.
If I get time, I may make different types of it to correspond with different uses of it, such as when you are above a clickable object.
Then I did the first part of the coding here, which will prompt the player to go to the kitchen to get Medicine for Burden.
At the end of the day at home, I decided to make my custom cursor that I learned the other day. I did some because I believe it would visually help myself get into my own interface theme more, and it would only take a few minutes.
I made it very basic, just a circle with a dot inside. I made it this way for 2 reasons.
1) I believed a different shape would feel fresh to the player as they get an unexpected change from the usual arrow cursor.
2) A circle represents Abigail's life. A circle has no beginning or end, it goes on infinitely. This matches with Abigail as people live like her don't change much as they have very poor lifestyles, they don't progress much. constantly being subjected to non-ending experiences like loneliness or hunger.
At first, I coloured it just in black in order to match the monochrome style I had for the background. But then I realised that this would mean it would be less visible or not at all when over dark sections.
Having it white would have had the same effect.
So I thought to make it part black, and part white and making an almost equal amount of both. This allows the white to stand out on the white surface and for the back to stand out on white surfaces. And both would show up on grey. Meaning that the cursor will always be visible no matter where it is onscreen.
If I get time, I may make different types of it to correspond with different uses of it, such as when you are above a clickable object.
Wednesday 15th May
I began with continuing where I left off, where the player has to travel back to the kitchen to retrieve Burdens medicine for him.
While doing so, I came across many different bugs throughout. mainly with the dialogue. There were many instances where simple codes would clash. I had to constantly cycle through it and making small changes to fix the new issues that popped up. Some were made by me accidentally forgetting minor things I normally wouldn't.
Eventually, I got it to a point where I believed it was working fine. I got someone to playtest it for any more bugs and it seemed to work just fine. All the rooms are connected and one-shot instances only happen once like it should, making you feel like you are an actual person walking around in a house.
Originally, I was going to have Abigail do some minigames here before she left like I had on my Game Flow Diagram, however, throughout the day I was getting more and more were if I would truly be able to complete what I envisioned at the beginning with the little time I have left. After my self-evaluation, I realised that keeping every single detail may prove difficult and I wouldn't want to prevent myself from compleating it. So I decided that the mini-games would only take place in the Higher class area, and instead of actually playing the game in the modern time in a dream sequence, it may be a could seconds animation. These things aren't necessarily needed and in my opinion, not worth spending too much time on. If I end up having the time though, I will add them.
Another change I will make is that instead of the Yes/No screen popping up every time the player enters another room, I decided that I will use my fading transition (that I used for the stairs) instead. This is due to the fact that I believe the player being asked consistently may get ended for them and may cause them to lose their drive to play. Having them go instantly with a transition would keep up the paste and would be more helpful for me when I'm doing a Speedplay for testing.
Thursday 16th May
To begin with, I tried out the transition idea between the first layout to the second to see how it would look. I believed that it looked nice.
All I had to do was to copy the codes I had for the doors to my Player Transitioning Event Sheet and replace the action for them going to theYes/No screen with the fading transition.
Initial Code
New Code
All I had to do was to copy the codes I had for the doors to my Player Transitioning Event Sheet and replace the action for them going to theYes/No screen with the fading transition.
Initial Code
New Code
It Worked for the first door, but it didn't work for the second for some reason. Then I realised because this event sheet is applied to all of the layouts and both of the codes are very similar, they clearly clash stopping from, each from working.
I attempted to fix this by telling the different codes to only respond if the player isn't over the other doors to try to differentiate them between each other. However, this didn't work.
I tried to see if there was an event that could make actions only happen if on certain layouts, but there is no such code. I thought I could make a Global Variable that would change to match the name of the layout the player is on. But then I thought of an easier way. I edited the events and included that the doors only work when the player is overlapping the background of the layout the door is on. This is basically a different way of telling it to only happen on those particular layouts.
This proved successful, so I did this for all dors in the game. I believe that this was a good choice, as now to me at least, the game has a more attractive pace and it makes the layouts seem more fluid and connected. I will keep this feature and used it through.
Next. I decided to add more to my HUD. Mainly to add a tab on the screen that will label the amount of money the player has. This is from my primary research trip when I went to the Museum Of London when I saw different Roman coins through time and got the idea to have a currency in my game to show how money was like in my games era.
The point I was at the game is where Abigail is going to take money from her money box that she will use for the train to Kings Cross. So I made a Global Variable for the amount of money and linked the text to it.
But due to it being one of the HUD, I wanted it to keep the HUDS black and white theme. So I was wondering if there was a way to make parts of the text a different font as normally changing the font changes the whole text and there isn't an option to edit only part of it.
I tried to search if there was a to do so, however, most comments just suggested to make 2 different texts and edit them individually.
So I tried that instead, I made 2 different texts, made the number white, and then made a small background for them using the same brush I used for all of my HUDS.
I attempted to fix this by telling the different codes to only respond if the player isn't over the other doors to try to differentiate them between each other. However, this didn't work.
I tried to see if there was an event that could make actions only happen if on certain layouts, but there is no such code. I thought I could make a Global Variable that would change to match the name of the layout the player is on. But then I thought of an easier way. I edited the events and included that the doors only work when the player is overlapping the background of the layout the door is on. This is basically a different way of telling it to only happen on those particular layouts.
This proved successful, so I did this for all dors in the game. I believe that this was a good choice, as now to me at least, the game has a more attractive pace and it makes the layouts seem more fluid and connected. I will keep this feature and used it through.
Next. I decided to add more to my HUD. Mainly to add a tab on the screen that will label the amount of money the player has. This is from my primary research trip when I went to the Museum Of London when I saw different Roman coins through time and got the idea to have a currency in my game to show how money was like in my games era.
The point I was at the game is where Abigail is going to take money from her money box that she will use for the train to Kings Cross. So I made a Global Variable for the amount of money and linked the text to it.
But due to it being one of the HUD, I wanted it to keep the HUDS black and white theme. So I was wondering if there was a way to make parts of the text a different font as normally changing the font changes the whole text and there isn't an option to edit only part of it.
I tried to search if there was a to do so, however, most comments just suggested to make 2 different texts and edit them individually.
So I tried that instead, I made 2 different texts, made the number white, and then made a small background for them using the same brush I used for all of my HUDS.
Friday 17th May
Now with the game being done to the part where Abigail has to leave the house, I got started with the layout that will be my games interpretation of Kings Cross which acts as the more higher class area with a more prestigious illustration.
before I added my background, I decided to work on it more, mainly by adding more buildings and drawing some differently.
This was so I could bring more life to the area. I also decided to draw new buildings, in the end, using more unique designs as I want to show that this place if higher class have more developed and deluxe houses.
Original
Edited
Then I started on the coding for this point of the game. This is where I got to implement the idea I had of making Abigal experience discrimination for being a woman of the lower class. As she needs a job to get money, she approaches people to get an offer only to be sent away following criticism.
I don't know how people spoke at this time, however, as I do know this time had a big focus on class and status, I know they would have spoken very informally with sophisticated language. So I used that kind of language when writing the text. I will do some research later to see if there were any insults used back then that I can use.
While coding the N.P.C dialogue, I got the idea of possibly implementing situational/story influence dialogue sections. Where N.P.Cs will have different dialogue at different points of the game. This, in my opinion, would really help expand the world and make the characters seem more real and relatable. This will be one of the ideas that I will try to use if I have time in the end.
before I added my background, I decided to work on it more, mainly by adding more buildings and drawing some differently.
This was so I could bring more life to the area. I also decided to draw new buildings, in the end, using more unique designs as I want to show that this place if higher class have more developed and deluxe houses.
Original
Edited
Then I started on the coding for this point of the game. This is where I got to implement the idea I had of making Abigal experience discrimination for being a woman of the lower class. As she needs a job to get money, she approaches people to get an offer only to be sent away following criticism.
I don't know how people spoke at this time, however, as I do know this time had a big focus on class and status, I know they would have spoken very informally with sophisticated language. So I used that kind of language when writing the text. I will do some research later to see if there were any insults used back then that I can use.
While coding the N.P.C dialogue, I got the idea of possibly implementing situational/story influence dialogue sections. Where N.P.Cs will have different dialogue at different points of the game. This, in my opinion, would really help expand the world and make the characters seem more real and relatable. This will be one of the ideas that I will try to use if I have time in the end.
Saturday 14th May
I began to design the inside of Arthur's house where Abigail will be doing jobs for him.
As his house will be up to a much higher standard due to his class, the design will be very different from the design I made for Abigail's house. Due to my Contextual Analysis on the game The Order 1886, a game that uses many semiotics of a Victorian style London, I had a good idea of the elements I use for mine. The main things I decided to use were
Decadent Wallpaper
Decadent Rugs
Sophisticated Lights
Paintings On Walls
As his house will be up to a much higher standard due to his class, the design will be very different from the design I made for Abigail's house. Due to my Contextual Analysis on the game The Order 1886, a game that uses many semiotics of a Victorian style London, I had a good idea of the elements I use for mine. The main things I decided to use were
Decadent Wallpaper
Decadent Rugs
Sophisticated Lights
Paintings On Walls
I started with the walls. I browsed different Victorian-style wallpapers and I found one that I recognised as I have one in my house with a similar look and It reminds me of royalty so I believed it would be a good fit. I used it as a reference.
I drew the shape of it and then proceeded to copy it and connect them all together
Then I made a rug on the ground and used diamonds for the design.
Before I added any lantern, I did research to find out when light bulbs came around as I want exactly sure about it and if they were around in this era, I would use them for Arther's house.
I learned about the 2 main people that contributed to the discovery, one of them was an American-born British inventor called Hiram Maxim. He introduced carbon filaments for electric light bulbs and is mainly famous for creating the first portable fully automatic machine gun, the Maxim gun. He moved to London for the majority of his life.
I found this pretty interesting and I believed that this could be an interesting fact I could add to the game as not only does I have a part of London history but its an engrossing piece of information people can use to know more about how the things they use daily came to be.
I had the idea to make one of the paintings that Ill had to the walls one of Hiram Maxim. It can fit with the lore of my game as I could say that Arther works with him which is one of the reasons why Arther became high In class. And It can fit in an educational stance as when Abigail first enters the house, she will get a tore around it and Arther can show her the painting and introduce his work.
So I looked at how Hiram Maxim looked like and drew him in my character art-style. I drew him in a pose where he looks like he is holding a walking stick which made his posture appear more prestigious.
After I was happy with it, I drew the other assets that really made I look like a painting that would be on a wall.
Week Evaluation
I learned about the 2 main people that contributed to the discovery, one of them was an American-born British inventor called Hiram Maxim. He introduced carbon filaments for electric light bulbs and is mainly famous for creating the first portable fully automatic machine gun, the Maxim gun. He moved to London for the majority of his life.
I found this pretty interesting and I believed that this could be an interesting fact I could add to the game as not only does I have a part of London history but its an engrossing piece of information people can use to know more about how the things they use daily came to be.
I had the idea to make one of the paintings that Ill had to the walls one of Hiram Maxim. It can fit with the lore of my game as I could say that Arther works with him which is one of the reasons why Arther became high In class. And It can fit in an educational stance as when Abigail first enters the house, she will get a tore around it and Arther can show her the painting and introduce his work.
So I looked at how Hiram Maxim looked like and drew him in my character art-style. I drew him in a pose where he looks like he is holding a walking stick which made his posture appear more prestigious.
After I was happy with it, I drew the other assets that really made I look like a painting that would be on a wall.
Week Evaluation
Overall, this week has been quite accomplishing. I managed to finish a big portion of my game by compleating the interactions between Burden and Abigail and all parts of Abigail's house. So far, everything seems to be working with no bugs and all the layouts are cohesively connected. And now I have started the middle-final part of my game.
Next week, I will continue the game but I also will have to start the animations such as Abigails walk-cycle and N.P.Cs. Personally, this has got me a bit apprehensive if I will truly be able to finish it all at this point. As not only will I have to finish coding but also trying to compleat all animations which in itself can take a lot of time.
I will have to migrate between them both and plan my time wisely to try to complete as much of both of them as I can. I am not entirely sure if I will be able to complete as much as I want to and this will be a challenge, but I will try my best to do what I can.
Week 13
Monday 20th May
Today, I got started with the animations, mainly Abigails idle. I decided I was going to animate in Photoshop instead of Adobe Animate as it has the brush that I'm using for my art and is more comfortable with it.
However, animating In Photoshop proved to be much more complicated and frustrating due to its flaws.
1) The set up is too simplistic. While Animate has different tools like the onion skin and others, Photoshop doesn't have any specific tools that help with the animating.
2) Frames are not independent. In Animate, new frames are separate so whatever you do to objects, it will only happen for them. But in Photoshop, frames are simply just new canvases that have the same layers. This made it difficult for me as I had to duplicate any object that I wanted to edit on a different frame in order to no effect the ones before.
When I finished the animation in clour, I didn't really like it. It believes it's too simplistic and stiff. What I wanted was an animation where It looks like her chest expands and contract. However something like that may take a lot of time and detail, and in the interest, if the time I have left, I decided to just use the one I have.
When I finished the animation in clour, I didn't really like it. It believes it's too simplistic and stiff. What I wanted was an animation where It looks like her chest expands and contract. However something like that may take a lot of time and detail, and in the interest, if the time I have left, I decided to just use the one I have.
Tuesday 21th May
I began working on my walking animation for Abigail. I still animated in photoshop but this time, instead of using the timeline tool. I just made each separate frame side by side with each other. This not only made it a lot easier to manage between them, but also helped me make sure all were the same scale and looks accurate.
I struggled with this a bit as I haven't made a walk cycle for a long while so I used a generic template I found online.
It took longer than expected but I finally managed to complete it.
After that, I worked on the animations for when the player walks up or down. This was easier as they didn't require as many frames.
Throughout the day, I had a large fear build up about the rest of the production of my game. I took a deep thought of all the stuff I would have to do. Eventually, I came to the realisation that there is a high chance I wouldn't be able to completely finish the narrative.
After Abigail speaks to Arther, I was going to have her enter his house to where the player would do mini-games that relate to cleaning his house. Then she would go back home while experiencing envious comments from her neighbours. Then the rest of the plot would carry out with Abigail being robbed and fired, Burden dying ext.
Realistically, I thought making an entirely new section with Arther home plus coming up with mini-games would not only take some time, but they would also increase the risk out future coding issues as the more code there is, the more that can go wrong. So I decided that the best choice would to cut the part of entering his house.
This wasn't something that I wanted to do, as I believe seeing the house and viewing the difference between Abigails and Arther establishments. But its either lose that part or risk not being able to complete the project.
I started with the shop.
As my priority was to finish the narrative, I decided to not add any art assets or anything until it was all done. So I used no background and simple shapes for the shop. I made 3 boxes with each representing an item that would be in there. The only issue I had with this section is that for some reason when the layout starts, it triggers my pause menu. Even though when I debugged it, the pause variable doesn't go up. But as I said, my priority was to complete the narrative so I left this problem till later.
Then I got to the robbery part, where Abigail encounters to guys and they steal the money she has along with the items she bought.
I used the dialogue code that I used for all N.P.Cs. As I don't have the time or knowledge to animate them actually interacting with her, I circumvented it with the fade in/out screen I use for when going to different layouts. The problem I had was that for some reason, the box I used for the fade out stage wouldn't appear but the one for fading in did.
I first thought it was due to the default property of the fade behaviour, where it destroys the object after it fades. However, this wasn't enabled. So debugged it and saw that the object was still set to visible. So it was coming on the screen but it was just not visible.
I realised that this was because I already coded for the fade outbox to fade at the start of the layout, meaning that my code was working but because the box already compleated its fade, it appears as its invisible.
So I decided to create a copy of it and use it only for this instance as there wasn't any other way I could think of returning the fade back to its initial state. This managed to work.
Then I made it so Abigail has to admit to what happened but is not believed by Arther and is sent home.
I struggled with this a bit as I haven't made a walk cycle for a long while so I used a generic template I found online.
It took longer than expected but I finally managed to complete it.
After that, I worked on the animations for when the player walks up or down. This was easier as they didn't require as many frames.
Throughout the day, I had a large fear build up about the rest of the production of my game. I took a deep thought of all the stuff I would have to do. Eventually, I came to the realisation that there is a high chance I wouldn't be able to completely finish the narrative.
After Abigail speaks to Arther, I was going to have her enter his house to where the player would do mini-games that relate to cleaning his house. Then she would go back home while experiencing envious comments from her neighbours. Then the rest of the plot would carry out with Abigail being robbed and fired, Burden dying ext.
Realistically, I thought making an entirely new section with Arther home plus coming up with mini-games would not only take some time, but they would also increase the risk out future coding issues as the more code there is, the more that can go wrong. So I decided that the best choice would to cut the part of entering his house.
This wasn't something that I wanted to do, as I believe seeing the house and viewing the difference between Abigails and Arther establishments. But its either lose that part or risk not being able to complete the project.
Wednesday 23rd May
Now with the walking animations done, my only priority was to finish the rest of the narrative in the game. As I said, I cut out the part where Abigail enters the house and instead went straight to entering the shop as a task and then getting robbed.
I started with the shop.
As my priority was to finish the narrative, I decided to not add any art assets or anything until it was all done. So I used no background and simple shapes for the shop. I made 3 boxes with each representing an item that would be in there. The only issue I had with this section is that for some reason when the layout starts, it triggers my pause menu. Even though when I debugged it, the pause variable doesn't go up. But as I said, my priority was to complete the narrative so I left this problem till later.
Then I got to the robbery part, where Abigail encounters to guys and they steal the money she has along with the items she bought.
I used the dialogue code that I used for all N.P.Cs. As I don't have the time or knowledge to animate them actually interacting with her, I circumvented it with the fade in/out screen I use for when going to different layouts. The problem I had was that for some reason, the box I used for the fade out stage wouldn't appear but the one for fading in did.
I first thought it was due to the default property of the fade behaviour, where it destroys the object after it fades. However, this wasn't enabled. So debugged it and saw that the object was still set to visible. So it was coming on the screen but it was just not visible.
I realised that this was because I already coded for the fade outbox to fade at the start of the layout, meaning that my code was working but because the box already compleated its fade, it appears as its invisible.
So I decided to create a copy of it and use it only for this instance as there wasn't any other way I could think of returning the fade back to its initial state. This managed to work.
Then I made it so Abigail has to admit to what happened but is not believed by Arther and is sent home.
Thursday 24th May
I did the last section where Abigail goes home only to see Burden die from his illness which didn't take long.
After that, I have now compleated the basic narrative of my game. Now that it's done, I will be going through it all, making sure all objects are drawn, backgrounds are the correct scale and work on all issues that I decided to leave till later, which I will be working on for the next week.
Friday 25th May
The first task I did for my game proofing was to start making the Inventory screen that I left off as it wasn't as important as my save/load one.
I started by drawing the bottle of medicine that is used for Burden as I hadn't drawn it yet and it is the first object that the player will acquire. Do help with the design, I did research on how medicine was like back then and I found out there was something called Soothing Syrup. This was a practice that arrived around in 1800 that was used for children who were disobedient so parents could get them to quite and simmer down with the narcotics in it. It was also used for helping children with pain such as teething.
I thought that this was a good idea of what medicine could be in the game. This could also be a better reason why Burden dies, as this medicine was seen as useful back then but today we would know it wouldn't be safe in the long run. So I looked at the design of the bottle and imitated it.
Actual Bottle
My Drawing
Then I started with the inventory. I first made a screen for when nothing is on Abigals person.
Then I made the screen for the medicine now that I have drawn the object.
Week Evaluation
This week has been an eye-opener to me and has been, in my opinion, one of the worst. This is mostly due to a bad experience with animating in Photoshop with its limited feature with the task and the flaws I labelled for it, alongside the crumbling fear that I had throughout.
I believe I left the animations too late, which caused me to rush and end up with an outcome that I wasn't impressed with, due to how odd it looks as well as issues with the drawing itself. However, I have to stick with it as doing another from scratch would take too long.
I have come to realise how much I still have left to do and I came to the realisation that I most probably would end up not completing it on time. This week has made me realised that I didn't plan out my tasks well with the project. This meant I have to cut out sections in the game, in which I believe will devalue it but has to be done if I want to be able to finish.
The good thing is, that I have finished the trimmed down narrative now and now can focus on the minor details.
I have started to realise that I went wrong somewhere through this project that led me to this point where I have become disorganised and hasten with my actions. As prior to this week, I did feel confident and was happy how I was going while also taking care of my organisation, but then it became the opposite. I will try to take a lot of time reviewing everything I have done and try come to the conclusion that will let me know the flaws of my process so I know how to avoid this issue in the future.
I worked on the little bits of the game that was left.
1) First, I started coding the inventory screen. This was pretty much the same code for making the save/load screen pop up. I was contemplating if I even needed an Inventory screen, however, since it was already an option on all frames of the pause menu, removing it would waste time.
2) Second, I made the start-screen. Unfortunately, this was a task that I had forgot to go through the project and thus had to make it very simple. As my original plan was to have Abigail riding on a train, this would help lead to the start of the game outside the train station. This would require me to animate the train which would take too long. This is not at all what I aspired to but unfortunately there no time.
3) Then I drew the interior for the shop. The code was already done so there is only the background to do. I used a simplistic design with a desk and shelves.
Week Evaluation
This week, I have done my inventory screen, menu and the background for the shop.
During the week, I had started to be less and less keen with my game, as things like the Start screen and animations are rushed and not up to the standards I originally aspired. I was hoping to see if I could have the time to do something with the room I made for Arther's house, however, I didn't manage to get to so the narrative will remain how it is.
While thinking, I realised a bit more where I went wrong in the production progress. I see I haven't organised my tasks based on priority well enough. As animations and important features like the start screen should have been done much earlier.
Next week, I will start on my post-production where I will be getting people to QA test my game. Honestly, I'm not looking too forward to it as I really don't believe my game is up to standard and I'm afraid that the sections I had to leave out would cause the player to miss or not understand the overarching point of the game. However, I'm still going for it as there is no knowing what they would think about it and they may give me feedback/advice I could use for future projects.
Then I gave them to 4 people, each giving their own feedback.
The first one mentioned how they liked the transition I used with the stairs and doors in the game. However, they didn't quite like the look of the walk cycle and took notice of the incorrect scale of objects with Abigail. I agreed with this.
The second and third people stated they believe Abigal walks too slowly and suggested to add a sprint button. The third one also mentioned possibly adding an objective marker which will inform the player of what they have to do next.
The issue they pointed out was that sometimes the dialogue wouldn't trigger.
I agreed with all the statements and decided to work on them.
For the sprint, I thought to make a toggle button where the player can decide if they want their movements to be faster or at normal speed. This idea ended up working just fine. I managed to do it by making a global variable that triggers the normal/sprint speed when the player presses the CapsLock button. I believe that this will help with the player's attention span, as they aren't forced to endure a slow and tedious walk. I decided to make it an optional speed mechanic rather than adjusting the normal speed faster as some people like going through slowly in games to savour their experience, and some like to go through as fast as they can. I believe it came out well.
I decided to work on the objective tracker later as that will take longer to do.
For the issue with dialogue to triggering sometimes, I knew exactly the cause. I set them to pop up when Abigail's collision boxes come in contact with the invisible box in-front of the N.P.Cs. However, each of the animations was cropped to a tight fit, meaning that they were all different sizes. This means when the player stops walking, the size of the box changes and thus they are technically not overlapping the invisible box. I originally thought to just individually change the size of each of the frames to be equal. But this would have taken much longer. So I had the idea to make another box and attach it to Abigail. Then change the code to only respond to the box and not her. This worked as the box will always remain the same.
The last showed pleasant of the art style and agreed that it matched with the theme. The main issue they had was the lack of music. This was one of the things I forgot to add due to the stage when I had to rush. I will try and add some this week.
Overall, I do believe that this feedback has been somewhat useful, as it has given many points that I believe will make the game more enjoyable to play despite it's it not being as good as it can.
I started by drawing the bottle of medicine that is used for Burden as I hadn't drawn it yet and it is the first object that the player will acquire. Do help with the design, I did research on how medicine was like back then and I found out there was something called Soothing Syrup. This was a practice that arrived around in 1800 that was used for children who were disobedient so parents could get them to quite and simmer down with the narcotics in it. It was also used for helping children with pain such as teething.
I thought that this was a good idea of what medicine could be in the game. This could also be a better reason why Burden dies, as this medicine was seen as useful back then but today we would know it wouldn't be safe in the long run. So I looked at the design of the bottle and imitated it.
Actual Bottle
My Drawing
Then I started with the inventory. I first made a screen for when nothing is on Abigals person.
Then I made the screen for the medicine now that I have drawn the object.
Week Evaluation
This week has been an eye-opener to me and has been, in my opinion, one of the worst. This is mostly due to a bad experience with animating in Photoshop with its limited feature with the task and the flaws I labelled for it, alongside the crumbling fear that I had throughout.
I believe I left the animations too late, which caused me to rush and end up with an outcome that I wasn't impressed with, due to how odd it looks as well as issues with the drawing itself. However, I have to stick with it as doing another from scratch would take too long.
I have come to realise how much I still have left to do and I came to the realisation that I most probably would end up not completing it on time. This week has made me realised that I didn't plan out my tasks well with the project. This meant I have to cut out sections in the game, in which I believe will devalue it but has to be done if I want to be able to finish.
The good thing is, that I have finished the trimmed down narrative now and now can focus on the minor details.
I have started to realise that I went wrong somewhere through this project that led me to this point where I have become disorganised and hasten with my actions. As prior to this week, I did feel confident and was happy how I was going while also taking care of my organisation, but then it became the opposite. I will try to take a lot of time reviewing everything I have done and try come to the conclusion that will let me know the flaws of my process so I know how to avoid this issue in the future.
Week 14
Tuesday 28th - Thursday 30th May
I worked on the little bits of the game that was left.
1) First, I started coding the inventory screen. This was pretty much the same code for making the save/load screen pop up. I was contemplating if I even needed an Inventory screen, however, since it was already an option on all frames of the pause menu, removing it would waste time.
2) Second, I made the start-screen. Unfortunately, this was a task that I had forgot to go through the project and thus had to make it very simple. As my original plan was to have Abigail riding on a train, this would help lead to the start of the game outside the train station. This would require me to animate the train which would take too long. This is not at all what I aspired to but unfortunately there no time.
3) Then I drew the interior for the shop. The code was already done so there is only the background to do. I used a simplistic design with a desk and shelves.
Week Evaluation
This week, I have done my inventory screen, menu and the background for the shop.
During the week, I had started to be less and less keen with my game, as things like the Start screen and animations are rushed and not up to the standards I originally aspired. I was hoping to see if I could have the time to do something with the room I made for Arther's house, however, I didn't manage to get to so the narrative will remain how it is.
While thinking, I realised a bit more where I went wrong in the production progress. I see I haven't organised my tasks based on priority well enough. As animations and important features like the start screen should have been done much earlier.
Next week, I will start on my post-production where I will be getting people to QA test my game. Honestly, I'm not looking too forward to it as I really don't believe my game is up to standard and I'm afraid that the sections I had to leave out would cause the player to miss or not understand the overarching point of the game. However, I'm still going for it as there is no knowing what they would think about it and they may give me feedback/advice I could use for future projects.
Week 15
Post Production
Monday 3rd-Tuesday 4th June
As the unit is on its final few weeks, I have started on my post-production by planing some QA sheets. I wrote out some questions that I wanted people to talk about then printed it off as A4. I'm doing this mostly because I want to make it better in any way I can before I exhibit it so when those people play it, they can have a more enjoyable time.
Then I gave them to 4 people, each giving their own feedback.
The first one mentioned how they liked the transition I used with the stairs and doors in the game. However, they didn't quite like the look of the walk cycle and took notice of the incorrect scale of objects with Abigail. I agreed with this.
The second and third people stated they believe Abigal walks too slowly and suggested to add a sprint button. The third one also mentioned possibly adding an objective marker which will inform the player of what they have to do next.
The issue they pointed out was that sometimes the dialogue wouldn't trigger.
I agreed with all the statements and decided to work on them.
For the sprint, I thought to make a toggle button where the player can decide if they want their movements to be faster or at normal speed. This idea ended up working just fine. I managed to do it by making a global variable that triggers the normal/sprint speed when the player presses the CapsLock button. I believe that this will help with the player's attention span, as they aren't forced to endure a slow and tedious walk. I decided to make it an optional speed mechanic rather than adjusting the normal speed faster as some people like going through slowly in games to savour their experience, and some like to go through as fast as they can. I believe it came out well.
I decided to work on the objective tracker later as that will take longer to do.
For the issue with dialogue to triggering sometimes, I knew exactly the cause. I set them to pop up when Abigail's collision boxes come in contact with the invisible box in-front of the N.P.Cs. However, each of the animations was cropped to a tight fit, meaning that they were all different sizes. This means when the player stops walking, the size of the box changes and thus they are technically not overlapping the invisible box. I originally thought to just individually change the size of each of the frames to be equal. But this would have taken much longer. So I had the idea to make another box and attach it to Abigail. Then change the code to only respond to the box and not her. This worked as the box will always remain the same.
The last showed pleasant of the art style and agreed that it matched with the theme. The main issue they had was the lack of music. This was one of the things I forgot to add due to the stage when I had to rush. I will try and add some this week.
Overall, I do believe that this feedback has been somewhat useful, as it has given many points that I believe will make the game more enjoyable to play despite it's it not being as good as it can.
Wednesday 5th June
Today, I worked on my Directors Commentary video. Where I played the whole of my game and talking about all the different factors that lead to the outcome.
I really struggled with it, as I tend to stumble up more words sometimes and for this, I had to keep doing many retakes. So instead of recording my game and voice at the same time, I prerecorded my game and then did the cometary afterwards. This was easier to do but I still found it quite hard.
When I was done, I edited both of them together on Adobe Premiere. I took a while but I managed to get it done and uploaded it on my final product page, though I'm not too happy with the video.
Week 16
Monday 10th June
Now that the QA testing, developers commentary and evaluation is now compleated, I'm going to get on with the last part of Post-Production, the Exhibition.
I will be planning my workspace for it, deciding what materials I will use for the design and how I will position the monitors and other objects.
I started off by sketching it out on Photoshop labelling all assets I aspire to have.
After a lot of thinking and look it over, I managed to finish my first draft of how my exhibition space will look like.
I decided that I want the space closed off from both sides and the front with boards, this is because it would make my desk more separated from others around it, and also the more bords that I use, the more content and design I can put on. This will allow me to personalize it more.
For both the side boards, I will design the background with one side having decadent wallpaper (like the one I drew for the section I didn't get to add in my game) to represent the higher class and the other having old and tatty to represent the lower class.
The HC section will have concept art, pictures showing my inspiration for certain aspects of the game, along with all the higher class characters lined up side by side.
The LC section will have a comic strip like drawings that will have more context to the game that I didn't get to put in. Such as Henery having an affair, I originally was going to have her find a letter but I didn't have enough time.
The table can have a sheet on it that resembles wooden textures but black and white colouring, so it matches with the theme.
For props, I thought of maybe having the money box that I had in the game and also make the coin using the design I drew and have them in them the box. And also make the medicine bottle that as well, as I could but the incidence on the back to also add more context and let the player know why Burden dies.
This is just the plan I have so far, it may change or develop, however, I am happy with this plan so far.
1) 2.5 boards (2 for my half, half of the persons next to me)
2) A4/A3 Paper/Card
3) Lamination Machine
4) Spray Paint
5) Blank Table Sheet
6) Cardboard
7) Blue Tak
8) Wireless Mouse
After a lot of thinking and look it over, I managed to finish my first draft of how my exhibition space will look like.
I decided that I want the space closed off from both sides and the front with boards, this is because it would make my desk more separated from others around it, and also the more bords that I use, the more content and design I can put on. This will allow me to personalize it more.
For both the side boards, I will design the background with one side having decadent wallpaper (like the one I drew for the section I didn't get to add in my game) to represent the higher class and the other having old and tatty to represent the lower class.
The HC section will have concept art, pictures showing my inspiration for certain aspects of the game, along with all the higher class characters lined up side by side.
The LC section will have a comic strip like drawings that will have more context to the game that I didn't get to put in. Such as Henery having an affair, I originally was going to have her find a letter but I didn't have enough time.
The table can have a sheet on it that resembles wooden textures but black and white colouring, so it matches with the theme.
For props, I thought of maybe having the money box that I had in the game and also make the coin using the design I drew and have them in them the box. And also make the medicine bottle that as well, as I could but the incidence on the back to also add more context and let the player know why Burden dies.
This is just the plan I have so far, it may change or develop, however, I am happy with this plan so far.
Tuesday 10th June
With the plan done, I will label all the equipment I will need so far to make it easier when I have to start setting them up.
Equipment/Material Needed For Exhibition:
1) 2.5 boards (2 for my half, half of the persons next to me)
2) A4/A3 Paper/Card
3) Lamination Machine
4) Spray Paint
5) Blank Table Sheet
6) Cardboard
7) Blue Tak
8) Wireless Mouse
After that, I started to work on the visuals assets of my Exhibition. I began with the cover poster. I already invented how It would look like so it didn't take long.
With the poster, Abigail is holding a glass sphere with a wine glass inside. The whine glass represents the higher class/ the better life, however, there is no way of opening the glass ball. This is supposed to portray how she is shut off from that kind of life and that there is no way to achieve it with ease. The only way she can get to the wine glass is to break the glass ball, this represents how if Abigail wants to achieve that kind of life, she has to force/fight her way through. All of it symbolises the point of the game.
Wednesday 11th-Thursday June
I drew out the illustrations that will go on one of my boards. They both give extra context to the game by showing people who come see my game what happened with certin characters that I didn't get to add in my game.
What I plan to do, is to have one of my props be a London letterbox. I can use this box to contain a letter that I can write but as if I was a character in the game. For example, I could pretend to be Henry, sending a letter to Abigail confirming his affair. This idea not only makes the illustrations more clear but also allow me to use semiotics in my desk space to portray London further.
Monday 17th June
To begin with, I put a table cloth that I got from Poundland. I planned to mark the section that I needed and then paint it grey so the table matches the monochrome scheme I have.
Then I started making bottle labels so I can make my medicine prop based on the one in my game. This was pretty easy as I already design mine in game one.
I tried to see how it would look on a water bottle I had. The shape of it was accurate and it looked just fine, however, I thought it would be better to use a glass bottle as they most likely didn't manufacture plastic bottles in the 1800s.
Tuesday 18th June
I used a different bottle that I got from Sainsbury's. This one also had a very accurate shape and a more reasonable size. I printed the back label and stuck it on. I made the water black using drawing ink as its black in the game.
I'm happy how it came out and it looks very accurate to the game's version.
I decided not to use the table cloth as it's material may not look good with a wooden texture and its prone to becoming crease if people move it.
So I thought I would be a good idea to get a large sheet of paper and see how much it fits on the table. It almost filled it besides a little at the end. So I painted both grey. Tomorrow, I plan to use the laser cutter to make stencils that be able to paint crackers that will illustrate the wooden texture.
So I thought I would be a good idea to get a large sheet of paper and see how much it fits on the table. It almost filled it besides a little at the end. So I painted both grey. Tomorrow, I plan to use the laser cutter to make stencils that be able to paint crackers that will illustrate the wooden texture.
No comments:
Post a Comment