Game Design Final Project

Update - 3rd December 2022

We were given the final assignment which is basically our final project for the Game Design Module and the theme for the assignment was Impulse.

When I first got to know the theme of the game I was pretty excited, and the very first thing that came to my mind was impusle based descision and the first game that came to my mind was,


Its a multiplayer puzzle game, The game requires players to work together to defuse a virtual bomb. One player is tasked with defusing the bomb while the other players have access to a manual that describes how to defuse the bomb. The player defusing the bomb must communicate with the other players and follow their instructions in order to succeed.

Update - 11th December 2022

We had a team meeting to discuss some of the ideas we could potentially use for the project, they are as follows:
I suggested that we do a narrative game where each choice determines the outcome of the game, the theme of the game would be like Hostage negotiator, where players take on the role of a negotiator working to resolve a hostage situation. The goal of the game is to successfully negotiate with the hostages taker, defusing the situation and rescuing the hostages.


Omer came up with the idea of creating a game which is inspired from the game of chicken where instead of playing with chickens each player revs up their car and speeds towards each other, often on a deserted road. As they approach each other, they must decide whether to swerve and avoid a collision, or to keep going straight, risking a potentially deadly crash. The last player to swerve is the winner and is seen as more daring and brave.

We decided that going with a narrative based game would be a better choice and that each of us could come up with a story that is inspired by real life events keeping in mind that we dont offend someone.

Our game project would include the following as artefacts:
  • GDD
  • Prototype
  • Blog

Update - 18th December 2022

No work was done during this week by me as I focused on completing my Final Project for my Master's Dissertation.

Update - 25th December 2022

No work was done during this week by me as I focused on completing my Final Project for my Master's Dissertation.

Update - 1st January 2023

The team had come up with their own story to be implemented into the prototype
I came up with a story that tells us about how a group of 10 terrorists have taken hold of a theatre somewhere in Moscow. They have taken about 400 people as hostages and are threatening the government to give in to their demands. The player takes on the role of Hostage Negotiator who is working with the Red Storm, Russian Special forces. The goal of the story is to negotiate with the Terrorist Commander and save the hostages while being aware that the choices chosen could either save them or kill them.

This story was inspired by the real life incident that happened in Russia in 2002. It talks about The Moscow theatre siege was a terrorist attack that occurred in October 2002, in which a group of Chechen militants took 850 hostages in the Dubrovka Theatre in Moscow, Russia. The siege lasted for three days, during which time the Russian government and the hostages' captors engaged in negotiations. The standoff ended when Russian special forces used a gas to incapacitate the militants and then stormed the building, resulting in the deaths of over 130 hostages and all of the militants. The incident was widely criticized for the heavy-handed tactics used by the Russian government and the lack of preparedness for such an event. The attack is considered one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Russia's history.

A storyboard was created to show how the gameplay would take place:


The game focuses on narrative aspect rather than complex core mechanics therefore the game mechanics are simple and as follows:
  • Choice based mechanic -  The player's decisions and actions affect the outcome of the story. This type of game is also known as a branching narrative game, where players are presented with a series of choices throughout the game, and their choices determine the path the story takes. These games often feature multiple endings based on the choices that players make.
  • Sound effects - To create an immersive narrative that accurately represents the tension and mood of the story, the game would use sound effects, music, and visual design.
  • Timer based choices - Players are presented with a series of choices, and a timer is set to a certain amount of time for the player to make a decision. If the player does not make a choice before the timer runs out, the game will automatically select the worst choice available. This adds a sense of urgency and pressure to the decision-making process, as players must weigh their options and make a decision quickly, or risk having the worst outcome chosen for them.

Update - 8th January 2023

The implementation of this story was done in Arcweave.
The story is divided into small boxes and the appropriate boxes are linked to follow the story line.

In this story the player can visit some of the places inside the theatre to unlock certain events. 


The drawback of using arcweave was that sounds could not be implemented in to the prototype and limited resource was use of assets in the prototype using the free version.

The second story was implmented in Visual Studio by Omer Sari using C#.

The third story instead of focusing on saving hostages from the terrorists, we came up with a different approach which was hodling himself hostage and trying to break free by using meaningful choices.

Update - 15th January 2023

Game Achievements/ Monetization

In this week we focused on desiging the achievements as well as implementing some sort of monetization for our game. For game achievements I came up with a way to calculate the number of stars to give to the players after the completion of the story depending on the outcome of the story.

The player after finishing the story will be awarded with stars the max stars that the player can achieve is 3. This will be dependent on the number of hostages that the player has saved.

To calculate a person's star rating in a game where the objective is to save as many hostages as possible without killing them, we use the following formula:

Star rating = (Hostages saved / Total Hostages) x Number of stars

For Monetization a lot of ideas were discussed and we finialized on some of them they are as follows:

In order for the players to be more interested in playing the game, several types of monetization methods have been designed.

  • In game rewards – After completion of each story the player will be awarded with a form of in game money that the player can use to preview or play a demo of the upcoming stories.
  • DLC – Regular updates of the game such as introducing more stories that the player can play by paying either in the form of one-time payment to unlock a single story that is in early access or pay for a subscription-based method where players can play the any of the early access story. 
  • Contests – Have a public forum wherein players who have opted for the subscription-based method can come up with their own stories and a pool will be drawn wherein the winner of that contest gets the chance to have their story be implanted in the game

Update - 22nd January 2023

Now it was time to show off our game prototype that we have been working for the past month and I think that the way we have conveyed the game portotype should need some more work as the lecturers were confused as to why there was a different theme in the game prototype where the first 2 stories were about hostage scenarios and the third story was completely different as it focused on mental health.
I think I did my part well in explaining my story as well as showing the implementation of the prototype. There were some parts that needed to be explained clearly during the implementation. Overall it was a fun experience for me to design a narrative game as well as implementing the prototype.


Now the final thing was to submit all the artefacts for the asignment.

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