Week 8

Build Them Up, Break Them Down!

Image from Star Wars

 This week was the first real week of coding!! The first job for us to do - we have to get the Character set up and ready to go! 

 With Unreal Engine automatically handling the Character's Movement Scripts - we split up the remaining Character-related things such as Character Shooting Scripts, Turret Scripts etc.

 In my case, I was in charge of the Tower Placement Script. This is one of the harder portions of the script (especially since I'm using a new Engine which I'm not particularly familiar with). As such, the first thing I did was tons of research.

The path began with following Surface Tension Studios' Tower Defense Tutorials especially the one titled "Placing Towers". Unfortunately, it was the only video in the series that was mute (due to an error on the poster's end). This made it very time-consuming to follow the coding and try and figure out what the coder was doing.

 In the end, even with all that effort - The method used was simply overly complicated and it couldn't be used... However, on the way, a lot of knowledge about coding in Unreal was obtained through sheer trial and error.

 Since next week, would be the first week all the Programmers are coming together to put their pieces together, a lot more work would have to be done to figure out how to get the code working.

Post-Desk Critique Thoughts (Week VI)

Post-Desk Critique

   Tighten Up Before Viability Presentation

This Desk Critique went slightly better than last week... The general consensus was for the group to do more Art and a Blow-by-Blow to understand our game better.

We've begun to use a Trello Board to record what needed to be finished/accomplished. With the Presentation coming up - we have a good feeling we can nail what is required to be done.

Post-Meeting Motivations (Week V)

Post-Meeting Post
   Motivations

 A rather short post, but after the meeting - we needed to shape up our player motivations (evidenced by our poorly defined Target Audience). The team agreed that we'll come in to play Dungeon Defenders II to gain motivations for our Tower Defense Game.

These Motivations were summarized as....

1. Customization (Immersive Gameplay)
   Making a Character feel more individual allows a person to have a “Connection” to the Character (Immersion), make the Character feel more “them”, to roleplay. Even upgrading weapons and utility makes their Character resemble the player more -- supports their “playstyle”
   Related Player Motivations: Creativity; Immersion; Mastery
   
2. Dominance
   The ability to defeat large amount of enemies quickly; grants the feeling of dominance and superiority. Increases moral of the player, making them feel good. Despite being able to easily mow down enemies; due to the sheer volume of the enemies; some make it through and the turrets alone are not enough. As such, this allows the player to feel dominant but not to the point where the game is too easy. Thus the player likes this aspect as it allows them to feel accomplished and powerful yet not feeling like it’s simple.
   Related Player Motivations: Action; Achievement; Mastery
   
3. Achievement (Strategy-Based)
   Surviving a wave, thus enabling a break signifies that a player has held out successfully. This is enforced by certain levels displaying a splash screen of a new enemy reinforcing that the player is “too good” for the previous level and is promoted. Thus Players feel like they got “promoted” and they progressed further in the game. This shows that their playstyle (no matter how dumb it may have been; or they think have been) to have worked for that level and being rewarded for it.
   Related Player Motivation: Achievement; Creativity; Mastery
   
4. Achievement II (Character-Based)
   Levelling a Character/making them stronger is rewarding for most players. The heroes used in combat gains EXP making the player feel rewarded and have incentive to “master” a character. This links to the immersion of the Character (above) as they are more invested in the character. For Achievement players, they enjoy the stronger characters as it will enable them to accomplish their goal to achieving X.
   Related Player Motivation: Immersion; Mastery; Achievement
   
5. Social Aspect
   Working with people to achieve things in the game such as finishing a difficult level or working together to lag people with fun troll spinning training Dummies. Teamwork allows people to work together to achieve a common goal which is enjoyable as people join in to see a “project” come to a fruition. (Completionist/Achievement)
   Related Player motivation: Social; Achievement
   
6. Different Styles of Gameplay Some Characters are considered “Builder” Characters as such are only there to build and abuse their unique towers before switching to “Combat” Characters. This allows a player to utilize the “best of both worlds” and enjoy both/different playstyles Related Player Motivation: Creativity; Mastery

Working on Feedback (Week IV)

Working on the Feedback Given
  Week IV

 After the Presentation where Ace Gaming sought the Green Light, a lot of feedback has been received to help the game's overall design.

 To help solidify the game's identity and the game as a whole, the team decided to build a Game Design Document. This will enable us to clearly identify the different portions of the game in detail - Character, Turrets, Map Design etc.

 Numerous Skype Discussions were done which concluded in the Prototype to really show the diversity in environments and Character pools. As such, an Egyptian-themed Pharoah in a Jungle Themed Level seemed as the most efficient method of proceeding.

 Following this, we decided to focus and concentrate on the Player Experience including the various Motivations, Emotions and Rewards that the players will have receive.

 These Player Motivations will be a big part of what makes the game enjoyable or not - and it was heavily discussed overall. 

 The Emotions were fairly agreed upon to be very in-line with the Powerful and Emotional Quadrants of Gamasutra's Emotional Circle

 Following this - we have a pretty solid idea of what we want the game to achieve, and its a matter of tying all the ideas and concepts together in the Game Design Document. The team will discuss the Character Skills and the Towers decided upon tomorrow as well as general Level Design which will finish up the Game Design Document before the Desk Critique