Mae's Game Design Journey

This week we focused on improving aspects of our game that after the playtests we weren't entirely satisfied with. We are so grateful for the people who took time to playthrough and enjoy our game.

Here is a detailed list of improvements we have made!

Enemies were changed into four different categories, one representing each element, much like the forest spirits. Each enemy also consists of its own unique ability to further increase difficulty as the game progresses: Earth simply travels horizontally, Air travels vertically, water will suddenly move faster after certain amounts of time and the fire enemies shoot projectiles at the player.

Powerups were implemented to further increase difficulty and engagement, these four powerups all have their specific features: The shield powerup gives the player an extra chance, Balloon gives them jump boost, the boots let the player use a dash key if they wish and the fire gives the player the opportunity to remove other enemies.

This week we asked 7 different people to playtest 'Midnight Forest'. The process involved one interviewer and two notetakers during the gameplay phase, and a post-playtesting survey so we can calculate and visualise any possible improvements needed.

During the playtests, we found it surprising how quickly the players managed to complete levels and the game in its entirety, this, plus the survey results indicated to us that we need to increase the difficulty of the game for its players.

We found that the art and animations were enjoyed and paired well with the music selection for the game.

We also found that gameplay controls were simple to understand, and the storyline was thoroughly enjoyed.

For our assessment 3, we will expand on Midnight Forest. Keeping the main original concept, we will look to add some new challenges and fresh features to increase the game difficulty and overall enjoyment. Midnight Forest will continue to be a cozy, all age friendly, adventure game that is a clash of Mario Brothers and an enchanted forest storyline. This will provide the thrill of a classic platformer focusing on an immersive storytelling of a forest quest!

The game revolves around the player embarking on a journey through the Midnight Forest where the objective is to help the friendly spirits cleanse their forest and remove the curse of eternal midnight. By traversing lush landscapes and eerie shadows, the player will collect fireflies and dodge monsters and other various obstacles, to restore balance to the forest. As the game continues and the player gives the fireflies to the spirits, it will get increasingly more difficult. They will need to strategies their moves, time their power ups and overcome the challenges.

The game's mechanics focus on resource management, movement and platforming. The player needs to ensure they have collected enough fireflies that will be scattered around platforms and challenges to progress, meaning the player must use movement like jumping and running to collect enough for the objective. This enhances gameplay in Midnight Forest by letting the player feel accomplished in achieving goals and progressing, also keeping them captivated on the game through plot developments.

This week we were assigned groups for our final assignment!

Assignment 3 revolves around developing a previously prototyped game and creating a report with details of the chosen game and results from playtesting.

My group of three sat together and discussed all of our planned games and prototypes and selected what we will design for it, and... SURPRISE! we selected my first game prototype, the platformer: Midnight Forest. We went through the one page and the one sheet that I originally created for assignment 2 and discussed all the mechanics and changes for the game. I am super excited to be creating this game as it was one of my original ideas.

My final product for my racer game: MotorBlast involves the player character being a car road that needs to avoid people and trees, there is a shooting mechanic that was created as the trees block a large portion of the road, giving the player the option to destroy it. However, this shooting mechanic comes with a price, if the player character shoots a person, then they will lose the game, and of course if they hit an obstacle, they will lose.

This week we commenced play testing for our racer games, three questions were asked during the process:

How enjoyable is the game?

Did the bullets travel fast enough?

How did you visually enjoy the game?

After a couple playtests, the results were all similar.

The game was enjoyable, however the speed increased too quickly, and it was hard to stay playing in a short amount of time.

Due to the slow bullet time, it was difficult to stay alive as the speed of the game got faster.

The game was somewhat enjoyable, however visually it seems to be lacking detail.

This week we learned about 2D racing games!

Here is the plan for my idea for a game:

Name: MotorBlast

This week we started making racing games! My idea for the game I would like to develop involves a race, however, some approaching enemies will be required to dodge, and for others, there will be a shooting mechanic to destroy them. As the race progresses, I plan to speed up the pace in which obstacles approach the racer, this gives the player the challenge of making quick decisions, knowing that the longer they stay alive, the more points they earn. The aim of the game is to achieve new records as it will continue until the player dies.

My final draft of my asteroids game involved a turtle swimming around the screen that needed to avoid or shoot starfish that are representing the enemy. This week we held playtesting where I let my peers play my draft and asked them tree questions to which they gave feedback.

How did you find the hitboxes?

Was the shoot function as expected?

How was the overall enjoyability of the game?

The responses seemed all very similar, here is the feedback I have recieved.

The hitboxes seemed fair!

The shoot function was as expected but the bullets appeared in the wrong spot!

The game was somewhat enjoyable due to the three-life function, however some new enemies or options to spice things up would make it more enjoyable.

From this feedback I think good ideas to add to my game would be:

More realistic enemies - rubbish in the ocean to spread awareness for the environment.

Giving the turtle an energy bar and have fish randomly generated in the map, giving the player a sense of urgency to collect the fish or else the turtle will lose a life.

See you next week!

As I mentioned in my previous bog, these past few weeks, I have been required to build a 2D asteroids game. For my game, I plan to create an under the water theme, where the player character is a turtle, and the turtle must defend itself from sea life in the ocean with bubble bullets.

Name: Turtle Shooter 5000

This game will revolve around the player character (being a turtle) trying to survive as long as possible in the sea, bringing awareness to the dangers for sea life in the ocean to the players.

The games mechanics focus on movement and shooting enemies in order to survive the 3-life game. The player needs to manoeuvre around the area given, without bumping into enemies, or they will lose a life. Because that can be tricky sometimes, I will implement the bubble bullets in order to give the player option to destroy their targets.

As the game progresses, the targets may become more difficult to destroy and therefore present a bigger challenge to the player, as the main objective of the game is to survive.

After midnight forest's playtesting, this week I am starting a new project revolving around ships shooting asteroids (Although I think I want mine to revolve around a turtle shooting starfish - like a sea theme instead of space).

During the lecture, we learned tips and tricks regarding GDevelop and also were told to create simple prototypes - not to go too far out of our depth.

In the workshop we completed a basic prototype for a space theme shooter game, I found it interesting and learned how to get the ship to follow the player's cursor! I can't wait to make this game my own. See you next time!

Week 3's focus for IGB120 was playtesting our platformer games.

The final version of my Platformer was very similar to the original idea, where the main character must collect fireflies in order to progress through the forest.

I completed one simple level for my game for my peers to review and provide feedback to my questions.

The main questions I asked my peers were as follows:

How was the overall experience playing the game?

How immersed did you feel playing it?

Was it easy to understand the goal of the game?

The answers provided appear to be:

The controls were easy to use, and the playstyle is simple but effective, however the obstacles are currently too easy to surpass.

The addition of background music emphasised the cozy, simplistic genre which was very engaging with the addition of speaking to the NPCs to trade fireflies.

The goal is simple to understand and effective.

I have attached a photo and a video capturing a little bit of the level, please enjoy!

My first game I'm required to design, and playtest is a platformer!

In her book: "Game Design Workshop", Tracy Fullerton articulates that it's important for a games designer's mindset to revolve around the mentality of the player, not the creator, overall putting player experience as a top priority in the designing process. By using this strategy, it ensures the target audience will remain hooked on the game. This is imperative for a game designer because even a game with amazing graphics can still end up unsuccessful if there's no gameplay keeping the players captivated.

My Platformer Game!!!

Name: Midnight Forest

For my project, I plan to design a cozy, all age friendly, adventure game that focuses on player objectives and storylines that will keep my audience captivated.

Midnight Forest revolves around the player who gets lost in the Midnight Forest and decides to adventure away from home. Using fireflies as currency the character will trade with animals in order to progress further into the woods and to also find hidden secrets in trees/bushes and fallen logs.

The game's mechanics focus on resource management, movement and platforming. The player needs to ensure they have collected enough fireflies that will be scattered around platforms and challenges to progress, meaning the player must use movement like jumping and running to collect enough for the objective. This enhances gameplay in Midnight Forest by letting the player feel accomplished in achieving goals and progressing, also keeping them captivated on the game through plot developments.

Hi!

My name is Mae and I’m currently enrolled at QUT, studying a Bachelor of Games and Interactive Environments.

I grew up with a big imagination alongside a love for storytelling, so when I was introduced to the wonders of the online universe, videogames immediately began to peak my interest.

From the early stages of Pokémon on my DS, to completing all the Halo games, I was always intrigued by games with a good, interactive storyline. In the future, I hope for my profession to revolve around becoming a lead game designer so I can bring my OWN characters and storylines to life in new, innovative games.

I currently have no achievements or experience professionally in this industry; however, I am looking forward to learning and growing my repertoire in games design through my course at university.