Game Design Document

Game Design Document

For this week's project assignment, we had to create a Game Design Document for our proposed game idea using the site Dundoc.com. 

At first I found it very confusing on how to get started, and I kept filling out the wrong things in my GDD (I kept on making new elements instead of adding to existing ones.. whoops!) but after a few minutes I figured out my error and was able to fill out my GDD.

I found that the templates provided on the site were very helpful and kept me on track when discussing the design of my game. Though a lot of it I couldn't fill in, because I did not understand it or it was way too advanced for my current stage of development.

Doing my Game Vision Statement last week actually helped me out a ton while doing this! I felt that I went into a lot of detail last week, but it ended up being very beneficial as I was able to use a lot of my vision statement in my GDD.

I'm looking forward to developing my GDD more as I develop my project in the coming weeks!

You can read my Game Design Document here!

Image of game design development

Source: Flickr

Unity Tutorial 05

Unity Tutorial 05

This week’s Unity tutorials focused on creating a cursor, objects that are able to be picked up with sound effects, more environment building and also adding an animated weapon for the player.

The first tutorial focused on creating a more dynamic and interesting cursor and creating an object that’s able to be picked up (the gem in this case). I enjoyed following the cursor tutorial since it was relatively simple but taught me new things. When we moved on to create the gem that was able to be picked up, I had a bit of difficulty as per usual with the C# tutorials but managed to get it working. This tutorial was really helpful for me since my game idea focuses on gathering resources so learning how to make objects the player can pick up was extremely useful.

We then moved onto the second tutorial, which focused on more environment building and also creating an animated weapon that follows the player camera. Learning to implement box colliders on the fence will help me in the future with my game development since I aim to have a diverse terrain- I dont want players clipping through objects so this was a good tutorial to do. Weaponry of course is a very important element in my game idea, so this tutorial was perfect. However, I found the scripting complicated to do, in fact I didnt quite get to the supposed end result. In all honesty I’ve been struggling with my C# since I’ve never done it before this module and quite frankly I have no clue what I’m doing sometimes- so I’ll definitely need to brush up on my coding in the near future. Besides the coding I felt that I understood most things in tutorial and they will come in handy when I start developing my game!

I forgot to take a screenshot of my work while I was in Unity, so have a picture of an axe instead.

Graphic of an axe

Source: Pixabay

Games GDD

Games GDD

Physical presentation is a factor many people enjoy about games. Extra expense in executing this is a concern- for example using hand carved wood chess pieces, while making the game more appealing and looks good visually, would add a lot of extra expense.

There are good considerations to make in the design of game components, and these can enhance the player experience to an extent.

Using shape and colour to help distinguish pieces in a board game (eg chess) is a good design consideration as some people may suffer from colour blindness or be visually impaired so having contrasting colours and shapes can assist people with potential problems.

Image of chess pieces on a board

Source: pxhere

Using different components for different elements of a game helps to add variety and distinguish game components- for example in Monopoly she money is made of paper and the chance cards are made of a thicker, smaller paper. This also helps the players to know instinctively that the components are different and helps them become familiarized.

Using distinct and unique icons for different elements is also important.

Using a font that’s legible, easy to read and distinguish. Choosing simple, large and readable fonts help avoid confusion when playing the game.

The box of the game is very important ad generally first impressions of the game come from the way the box is designed. There are some important design components to consider when designing a box for a game.

It’s important that the title of the game is on the side of the box and is distinct and readable. Making the title on the side of the box big helps it be more readable from a distance.

The back of the box is important as players tend to refer to the back of the box to determine the way they should play. Having photos of the game being played correctly at the back of the box is helpful.

Writing the rules of a game clearly, to the point and including examples of the rules in play is extremely helpful to the player and helps avoid confusion and conflict between players.

In the case of a board game, it’s also wise for the game to include or make replacement parts for the game, such as chess pieces, available for players in case one goes missing or gets damaged.

In summary, taking into consideration design components to make the game easier to understand across several ways is an example of good design and should be considered when designing games.

Physical presentation is a factor many people enjoy about games. Extra expense in executing this is a concern- for example using hand carved wood chess pieces, while making the game more appealing and looks good visually, would add a lot of extra expense.

There are good considerations to make in the design of game components, and these can enhance the player experience to an extent.

Using shape and colour to help distinguish pieces in a board game (eg chess) is a good design consideration as some people may suffer from colour blindness or be visually impaired so having contrasting colours and shapes can assist people with potential problems.

Using different components for different elements of a game helps to add variety and distinguish game components- for example in Monopoly she money is made of paper and the chance cards are made of a thicker, smaller paper. This also helps the players to know instinctively that the components are different and helps them become familiarized.

Using distinct and unique icons for different elements is also important.

Using a font that’s legible, easy to read and distinguish. Choosing simple, large and readable fonts help avoid confusion when playing the game.

The box of the game is very important ad generally first impressions of the game come from the way the box is designed. There are some important design components to consider when designing a box for a game.

It’s important that the title of the game is on the side of the box and is distinct and readable. Making the title on the side of the box big helps it be more readable from a distance.

The back of the box is important as players tend to refer to the back of the box to determine the way they should play. Having photos of the game being played correctly at the back of the box is helpful.

Writing the rules of a game clearly, to the point and including examples of the rules in play is extremely helpful to the player and helps avoid confusion and conflict between players.

In the case of a board game, it’s also wise for the game to include or make replacement parts for the game, such as chess pieces, available for players in case one goes missing or gets damaged.

In summary, taking into consideration design components to make the game easier to understand across several ways is an example of good design and should be considered when designing games. 

You can find the article I read here!

Game Vision Statement

Game Vision Statement

Fantasy forest image

Source: Needpix.com

Introduction:

“Eterna Hunt” (placeholder title) is a first person survival game in which the player is thrown into a fantasy world and must build a shelter, gather resources and defend themselves and survive for seven in game days. “Eterna Hunt” is an open world game, that will feature a number of different environments and mechanics. It will be a PC game built using the Unity 2017 engine. This game is intended for an audience of 12+ due to minor violence.

Description:

You wake up from a deep slumber and find yourself at the edge of a dense unnaturally coloured fairy forest with giant trees and plants with absolutely nothing in your inventory besides an empty journal and a stick of charcoal. You can see a looming volcano and a tundra in the distance. Your stomach rumbles- you’re peckish. All the surroundings are very foreign and unfamiliar to you. You don’t know how long you’ll be here for.. the sun is rising in the sky, daylight is burning. You must construct a shelter to shield yourself from the elements and surrounding creatures. The creatures you can see now are docile, which would make good hunting targets. Perhaps you could tame one of these creatures to have as a companion and help protect you. Though, you don’t know any of these plants or animals, so you will have to be careful with what you eat so you don’t poison. You can keep record of edible flora and fauna in your journal.

Night will soon fall, and you can hear growling the howling in the distance. The peaceful creatures run for shelter.. and from the incoming hostile mobs. Prepare your weapons if you haven’t set up your shelter yet- and fight for your life. The creatures of the night are unforgiving. If you manage to strike some down, you can use their carcasses to gather meat and parts to make stronger weapons. Be careful though- it gets extremely cold at night, so you’ll want to make a fur coat or stick by a fire to avoid taking frost damage. The volcanic area is unbearably hot, but some gemstones that can be found throughout the map have a cooling effect.

Civilization will find you in seven days time, deeming you safe. Can you survive until then?

Key Features

•  First person open world survival
•  Fantasy elements     
• Temperature, day/night cycle, hunger and poison mechanics to make gameplay challenging     
• Tamable fauna that protects the player (not set and stone).    
• Gameplay is timed- 7 in game days.

Game Genre

“Eterna Hunt” is a first person open world survival game based in a fantasy setting. The player must survive for 7 in game days in order to win the game.

Intended Audience

“Eterna Hunt” is intended for an audience of 12+ due to minor violence and the difficulty of the game. The gameplay of this game is intended to be challenging with the use of mechanics and would be very difficult for younger players.

Gameplay

“Eterna Hunt” is a first person open world survival game that runs over the course of 7 in game days in which the player must survive to complete the game. The player must construct a shelter to shield from the elements and the hostile mobs during the night. The player will grow hungry over the course of the day so they must gather plants and hunt to sustain their hunger. When hunger reaches 0, the game ends. When the health bar reaches 0, the game also ends. The player takes damage when exposed to the elements with no proper equipment, when poisoned and when attacked. These can be combated by consuming an antidote, constructing protective clothing and staying near fire. The player can also tame certain fauna that will be their companion and fight for the player.

Resources required

•        Unity 2017 assets for models of the flora and fauna of the game would be required, along with a multitude of textures to use in the terrain and for the flora and fauna. Models can also be created manually if there are no existing assets that would suit the game, though tutorials would be needed to execute this.

•        Script for required mechanics such as the health bar, the hunger bar, the temperature mechanic, the poison mechanic and the tamable fauna mechanic. There are many existing tutorials for scripting mechanics that could be used to execute the desired mechanics- such as this tutorial on how to implement a health bar such as this one.

            This page contains numerous weather related scripts including cold damage.

Final Fantasy XV Gameplay screenshot (PS4)

Source: Flickr