#Week 5

#Week 5 

The one with the "free the actions" revolution 

As mentioned in the previous post I struggle going into the university provided facilities to work on the PC's I need. So I tried and come up with compromises and solutions this week. I try to do any work that doesn't requires specialized software in the library and when I do go in the specialized rooms I try to go with a friend as I feel that this makes it easier to stay for longer time and get some work done. I also try and avoid certain rooms and listen to music with headphones on to try and distract myself from the surroundings.

Boardgame

As the play test revealed having character cards with specific combinations of actions that the player can use in their turn restricted them too much and made many turns boring as the players couldn't do any actions and had to pass their turn. So I have decided to restructure the way actions work. Players are no longer restricted to a set combinations however I have decided that there will be "slow actions"(sleep, avoid, attack) and "quick actions"(search, move, explore). In each turn a player can either use two quick actions or one quick and one slow action. This avoids from players getting "stuck" with no actions they could do in their turn. I also decided that they will be able to repeat the same action as in the previous turn as I wanted the game to feel more like an RPG rather than a strategy game and felt that this strategy element of planning the actions didn't feel right.

In Engine

I never worked with UI elements in unreal before (only unity) so I decided to have a look into this and start to structure how to navigate through the game. I followed the Unreal documentation to set up a simple Menu to start with. 

I also started to implement health bars for both characters which proved itself to be quiet challenging. As I have to characters in the the scene the engine would only recognize the first character as an active character and would only track their health but not from the second character. I was able to fix this by creating a game instance outside of the level that would save the health values for both characters. There are no actual hazards in the game (except from falling of the map which will also end the level) so that the health doesn't tracks injuries but how many times the player swaps between characters. This makes the puzzles a little more challenging as the players have to swap characters mindfully. 

Next week I will focus on how the monsters work in-game as they appeared too late in the play test and were a little too random. 

#Week 4

The one where "motivation" and "productivity" went on a honeymoon

We all know that schedules are great and very helpful... if you stick to them! And they only really work when you have "perfect circumstances". These "perfect circumstances" are made out of various components that are either directly connected to the project  or absolutely unrelated. 

This week I found that motivation and productivity (who, as everyone knows, have a very tight relationship) just left me on my own. One of the biggest components that affected my productivity this academic year is that I don't own a PC so I need to go to labs (university facilities) however I perceive the working environment as not the best, which is mostly caused by bad inter-personal experiences with other peers in my previous academic year. So I struggled a lot this week in going to University to get my work done.

Application

So I started to work in-engine to get the application ready. I am using unreal 4 for this project since my programming knowledge is very limited for this kind of project and I feel more comfortable in creating blueprints in order for my game play to work. 

As mentioned in earlier blogs there are three mini-games and three environmental puzzles. I will prioritize the environmental puzzles and create all of them first. There are two major factors for this decision. 1) I will need to block out the puzzles in order to create the board game art for the areas in which the environmental puzzles to take place in so that the players will understand the connection to them. Since I need to get the board game finished before the application it is important to have a good idea of what the location of environmental puzzles will be like. 2) the environmental puzzles are a bigger risk and task and are more important to complete for a Minimal viable product. I feel comfortable in having to cut one or two mini puzzles if necessary but there should be no cuts in environmental puzzles. 

One of the main mechanics in the environmental puzzles is the character switching. The players will switch between their own character and their lost friend as the Dream world is where they are connected and the application is the dream world. I started with making the character switch work with the L2 and R2 button on a controller. 

The blueprint for this mechanic checks what character is being used to avoid a player pressing the button of the current character and the camera moving around. After switching the character the blueprint also assigns the new current character

The next mechanic I implemented is that both characters will see specific items that the other doesn't. This will be a crucial part for some of the puzzles. 

The blueprint for this mechanic will simply toggle the visibility of selected items in the scene when the player switches between the characters.

Storytime

I researched a little more into the symbolism/folk stories of different cultures about sleep paralysis. I found out that sleep paralysis is believed to be the wife of the Hares that will hunt people in their sleep and sit on their chests. It is believed that by putting a silverware or a knife under the pillow she will stay away. So these will be the items that the players will have to find and bring their friend. 

In many  other cultures it is believed that the Mare hunts people in their sleep and that it is a spirit of someone that hasn't found peace. The location of where the players are at will be the connection to why this happened to their friend as it will be the tomb of someone that has not found peace in their death. 

So the plot will go something like this: 4 explorers are looking for a specific item in the tomb of someone. They are out in tropical natures and are getting close to the tomb. They decide to put up a fireplace and get some rest for the night. Everyone is woken up by a loud noise and one of the explorers got missing (sleepwalked and got trapped in sleep paralysis/the dream world by the restless spirit of the tomb). The friends now have to locate their friend and bring the two items in order to get the friend out of the dreamworld before the night end as the restless spirit will take over their friends body if they do not manage to save him/her.

Location

The location for this game will be a tropical outdoor environment with many ruins as I found enough free assets to build a nice looking environment in the application. 

 NEXT

I will focusing on blocking out the first environmental puzzle and making it work. I will also continue to work on the board game and if I find enough players do a further play test with new changes implemented. If I have enough time I will start some of the board game art and work on other aspects of the application such as the UI. 

#Week3

The one where everyone tells you that your idea doesn't work...

...okay it does work but not entirely. So this week I have focused on finishing the mission design, the first board game prototype and play testing it. 

MISSION DESIGN

Each map tile is one area and each area is divided into two sections. All areas are numbered on their map tile and will have a side A and a side B. At the start of the game only the map tile numbered 1 will be on the table and all players start on this tile. Whenever a new map tile is played it will be on side A, unless the game says otherwise. As the players progress and solve mini games and puzzles the game will let them know when to flip a tile to side B. 

There will be three mini games according to the three traits and three environmental puzzles also according to the traits. 

The mini games and environmental puzzles of a certain trait are always located close to one another. Although anyone can try and solve the mini puzzles, the player with the highest respective trait has better chances to solve it. 

Having double sided map tiles was the solution changing the environment in which the players are in without having to produce lots of tokens. It also helps to hide things to the players such as the hidden door in area 5 that is unlocked by the mini game in the same area. 

When the players first open the game box all map tiles will be faced up with their A side. 

The friends location was put in the middle of the map as the game requires to bring the requested items to the friend however since this is towards the end of the game I didn't wanted to make the players spending many rounds on moving to that location. 

PROTOTYPE

For the prototype I used cardboard, post its, tokens from a "connect 4" game, dice, meeples from a "carcassonne" game and paper. 

All items I used for the prototype:

- 6 map tiles (double sided)

- 5 dice

- 3 meeples

- 6 tokens (three monsters and three reminder tokens)

- 3 Narrative cards (will increase)

- 16 Item cards

- 16 Event cards

PLAYTEST 

After I finished my first prototype version of the board game I asked three (brutally honest) friends to play test it. 

I explained them the rules in about ten minutes and then the first round started. After a very short time I noticed that the restricted set of actions was hindering them very often and the goal of finishing the game in 8 rounds proved impossible after the first three rounds. 

There was a total of 20 rounds in the end that each lasted on average 4.5 min. The total game lasted for 90 minutes. My goal is between 40-60 min. 

I shortly noticed that the players could start in the same area but in different sections which had a negative impact on one of the players as they got to distracted and focused on finding a certain item to explore the next section. 

I also noticed that the sections were actually slowing them down and I will probably remove sections and have just areas the players will be moving in between. 

Since I don't have a prototype for the application at this point I came up with fun mini games they could do right there and I asked them to roll me a dice for the environmental puzzles. 

After a short time they understood the concept of the mini games being connected to the traits and they started to discuss strategies. 

One of my main concerns was that the players wouldn't feel an incentive to go into the application. However all players used the sleep action at least twice and the sleep action was used every other round which I find will build a good and balanced connection between the application and the board game itself. 

The monsters however spawned very late in the game and their system needs to be retouched as there was a lot of back and forth before something actually happened, which hold the players back from the main goal. 

I observed an average Engagement of 7 for the entire game. The engagement was the highest at the start and the end of the game and dropped mid-session. 

I also created a feedback form before the play test so that everyone could fill it out on their phones right after they played the game. 

The feedback showed that the game was not balanced enough yet. They also suggested to implement more options or unexpected events (which will happen with the narrative deck). The players felt that the game was overall okay as they felt it was appropriate for this type of game. The players felt very limited with the set actions and especially only being able to move every other round. 

NEXT

For the upcoming week I will be focusing on starting some of the mechanics in engine, the story of the game and the location for the environmental puzzles. 

Week #2

The one where I planned and wasted some paper

This week I have worked mainly on Pre-Production, starting the prototype of the board-game and established how the application will interact with the board game. 

Pre-Production

I used a Gantt chart to keep an overall view of the project time-line. Working with milestones and using the Deming cycle allows me to have a more iterative design being able to analyse drawbacks on a weekly basis and act on them (e.g. by cutting a mechanic).

I use Trello and Toggl to analyse details of tasks. Toggle is a website that allows to register my hours worked on each task. As I am working on several other roles besides this project it helps me to quickly see if I need to allocate more time to Mind Prison.

Trello helps to go more into the details of each task.So if on the Gantt Chart it states Board game Prototype on Trello will be a card with the same name that contains several checklists with the various tasks that needs to be done in order to complete the overall task of the prototype (e.g. Character sheets, item deck, event deck can be items on the checklists within Trello). 

I organised the boards in Trello to work as a Kanban system where I drag cards from board to board depending on their production state (To-Do, In Progress, Done, Stand By). The labels help me to identify quickly what type of task the card is and if it is urgent or not. 

Board game Prototype

Before starting the prototype I needed to establish what the players will be doing in it and how it would work. This process was a little "chaotic" as I had to jump back and front between the various mechanics I wanted to implement. From the points that I wrote in my last post I started to connect the mechanics and make sense of what they will be used for. After having a clearer idea I created this Flow-Chart of how the board game will be played out.

This flowchart helped in visualizing a game session better, so that I had an Idea of items/board game pieces needed and how they co-relate to each other.

I began my prototype with the character sheets. Initially I wanted four characters and four action sheets with fixed combinations of actions. The players would be assigned randomly a action sheet so that it had some re-play value even though the mission would be the same as players get the chance to try out other strategies. I also wanted a "sleepiness" counter that would go up every time the character would use the sleep action until eventually getting "trapped" (eliminated) in the dream world. Players would also have health and different traits.

After more consideration I decided to not have the option of eliminating players either in the dream world or through physical damage. Monsters will have no health system either, this helped to reduce the scope of the project a little. Monsters are now eliminated through specific items that players will find with the search action. Instead of dealing any health damage to players they will have a negative affect on the players in the same room. For example: You can't speak to your other players in the group or your traits will be reduced.

The action sheets were also no longer randomly assigned, instead the players will find them on the character card (blue card first version, pink card second version). All players share the same traits Strength, Agility and Mentality however each character has stronger or weaker traits. The set combination of actions are now in relation to the character traits. The players can only use one of the upper row actions and the bottom row action below the chosen upper row action. They can not repeat the same action from the last turn.

Each time they use a bottom row action one of the stickers will be removed. Underneath are effects or prices the players will have to pay. This helps to increase the difficulty curve of the game. The only positive effect is after using the sleep action twice the players will gain one more movement so that they can move two sections a time. This helps to reinforce the players to go into the application. (Sleeping is played at specific points of the map and it means that the player will play a puzzle in the application). To reduce the scope further I decided to only have 3 characters. 



Application

After I established how the board game will be played I planned out how the application will work together with it. Since I want each player to be able to play in the application I decided that there will be two types of game: mini games and environmental puzzle. The mini games will mostly be things to unlock a door for example. The environmental puzzles will give the items and location needed to complete the game. There will be a mini game and environmental puzzle for each player and they will be focused on their traits. This will make sure that every player will get the chance to play inside the application and to combine both worlds regularly in the mission. 

With the relation of board game and application clear in my mind I started to think about the usability of the application. So I created a little flow chart to see how players will navigate through the application and find the right puzzles.

In the missions menu will be displayed all missions available. For this module there will only be one mission however this is where in the future more missions could be added easily to expand the game. Once the players have selected their mission the screen will ask them what puzzle they want to play. On the board game will be a number for the puzzle they will have to type that in the application and it will lead them to the right puzzle they need to solve. I wanted to avoid displaying all puzzles of a mission at once as the mission might have hidden rooms or puzzles and this would give that away to the players. 


My next task will be to create a mission design, complete the board game prototype and do a first play test session. 

#Week 1

The one where I tried to shape ideas and not to lose my mind.

Welcome to week number one of my final year project MIND PRISON for my BA in Computer Games Design. You will find weekly progress on my project development in this blog so feel free to follow and give constructive feedback on the game. 

I apologize in advance for a longer first post as it will explain the main ideas for this project and won't have much to show just yet. 

IDEA GENERATION 

Mind Prison is a tabletop/mobile hybrid. The goal is to develop a board game that is supported by a companion app, not the other way around. 

For my mechanics I chose two keywords to focus on: 

Perspective and Heterotopia.

With those two words in mind I came up with the idea of combining two worlds. The real world (board game) and the dream world (application). Within the application the player will play as two characters with different abilities in order to solve environmental puzzles.

GAME OVERVIEW

The players find themselves in a dangerous location as their friend was trapped in sleep paralysis; however, the reality and dream world seem to be connected somehow. Whatever the friend dreams or hallucinates becomes reality and the goal of the players is to find the sleeping friend bringing the requested items and wake him up.The players will have to cooperate in order to complete the goal. Together they will explore their location, solve puzzles and fight monsters that breached out from the dream world and became reality.

MECHANICS

I have gathered several inspirations from other board games for my core mechanics. 

Although some might change over the course of development I have listed some mechanics that I would like to implement:

• Have action cards with a pre-set combination of actions that can never be repeated in the next turn. This adds a little bit more of a strategy sense to the game as the player has to consider which actions to choose and what he will do in the next turn;
  
  
• Characters have different traits and a special skill,they will also include some small background stories;
  
  
• Actions that can be played: Move, Search, Sleep(get into the dream world), Explore new area, trade, fight, avoid monster;
  
  
• There will be one mission for my module, the goal of this mission is to find the friend, bring the right items and wake the friend up in x hours (1h = 1 completed players phase), if they fail to complete this in the limited hours they will lose the game;
  
  
• In order to guide the players through the narrative there will be a story deck that they will uncover as they play through the mission; 

For the application I have found some inspiration in Inside, Lemony Snicket (Xbox version), Thomas was alone and ibb and obb. Most of those games have two or more characters that have to cooperate in order to solve environmental puzzles, which is exactly what I would like to do for the application. 

The biggest inspiration is Lemony Snicket as I would also like to have a 3D space that the gamer explores. 

One of the two characters that are playable in the application is the friend that is asleep. This way the players get a way to contact the friend and get hints about his location or items to help wake him. 

NEXT STEPS
So now that you know what direction I am going with my final year project I will focus on my next steps: 

• Start Mission Design;
• Get the first board game prototype;
• Create a navigational map for the application;
• Puzzle design ideas for the application;

Any comments and feedback a very welcome :)