Week 12 - After all this time ...

Now that the pitch is out there, delivered and received, only thing we can do is wait!

...
Or I can give a bit of an insight on the Behind the scenes. Lets just say, it was a long wait full of tingling anticipation, plenty of forethought and enough preparation. Touch ups, repeating over and over again led us to this moment. We decided to keep it clear and brief, yet sincere and thorough.

All I can say is that this was one of the few most productive and rewarding experiences so far. We went in early, discussed the synergy, order of delivery and reviewed the presentation layout one last time.

As result of our work we received as immensely satisfying feedback. We had our lows in the aspect, but in comparison we had a great amount of highs. Despite all the work we put into the finished product, it was still surprising in the best way possible.
The biggest thing for me was the response complimenting the passion fueling the faith we have in our game. 

Throughout these few months I got to understand the true meaning of having something you believe in and worked hard on, be evaluated positively.

This couldn't have been accomplished in any way without the help of the entire team.

Week 11 - We finished up

To start off we had the chance to focus solely on our Design Document. 
As a followup to last week we had all our segments completed and ready to be assembled like a well crafted wedding cake. 
Connor came in with a neatly laid out story and introduction sections. Euan had an in depth UI/Costs overview. I had the art completed and inserted, the main mechanics of both enemies and heroes, different enemy overview and a fair amount of level layout and design.
After mashing all this together and creating the largest document I have been a part of, reviewed it as a whole and touched up the design (to make it look as enjoyable, yet professional as possible), we were finally done. 
I am most definitely happy with the progress made until this point. Knowing that we are almost done and this game being that bit closer to becoming a reality, is incredible. Going through the Design Document there are still newer and newer ideas flowing in. The funny thing is that as long and detailed as it is, I can clearly see how many more improvements and additions can be added. 

Of course, I understand that this pales in comparison to some of the much more professional examples we had in the beginning (and throughout) the module. But despite this, I couldn't be happier with the work done up to this point.

Now we are off to our pitch. The part I am not confident enough in. 
We decided to continue with the same concept as with the document. Knowing our jobs and having all the reference to them as we need, the team is ready to get rehearsing.

Week 10 - Almost there ...

Getting closer and closer to the finale, finishing up our ideas and making them more appealing to a third person (or in this case fourth) this blog is getting harder and harder to keep up with.

Not saying this in any bad way, but in the most truthful. We have out game, called "Aras", as solid as a game not yet in development, can be. To summaries, we have decided that it is an overhead perspective, slightly pixelated (yet detailed), a fitting story told through notes and artifacts, interesting fighting mechanics and a focus on base building.

My personal opinion is that this is a truly ambitious idea, which frankly was even more complex in the start. This does not mean that I don't believe in it, quite the opposite. I trust that the higher you shoot the greater the result, but it is a dawning task to overcome hurdles we were bound to come across. Thankfully, as I previously mentioned, the other two team mates I have the pleasure of working with, had a constant flow of incredible ideas. What was interesting throughout this journey is that every idea was fitting. Most were better than others, but all we had in mind could be used in the future in a different project if you will.

To expand on the last weeks post, we had our specific work loads on the Design Document. We decided if we write about the jobs we had taken up earlier, it would be most understandable as this is what we are good at. Thankfully, there is no need for me to specify the details here as the document is going to be submitted soon and all is going to be revealed.

However I can mention this much. It is turning out much longer than expected.

Week 9 - Starting up our design document and continuing our initial jobs

Now that we are not going through lectures we are free to focus solely on our project. So this is what we shall do!

My personal opinion is that we have our game idea nailed down, and if I can say so myself the team seems pretty proud of the progress.

Not sure if it was mentioned before but we are working on specific aspects of the document individually. We decided splitting the work and allocating it to the right person would be the best bet as, for example, I was focusing on the game artwork and should write about the art (all relative aspects of the world). This way practically everyone has his sphere of knowledge that he is competent and comfortable with. Of course every week we come in with our work so far and evaluate it, throw it in briefly and make sure it fits in the grand spec.
Gladly we were documenting all our previous brainstorm sessions, discarded ideas, flashy implementations in the future and so on, so the patching up work on the final document seems like a piece of cake. Having the references of the initial ideas that you can still build up on is invaluable in a case such as this.



Teamwork is amazing ...

Week 8 - Is it Fun ?!

is for Fun !







But what is fun ? Hard question to think about and even harder to explain. 
However, this is what I am going to do, throw my interpretation on the big pile of "Um ... because its fun ?"







Alright to start this thing off I'd say that Fun is something that an individual would prefer sticking to over other choices he/she has. It brings joy, excitement and pleasure that are coincidentally the foundations of happiness ... So Yes, I am saying Fun is closely related to Happiness. 
Lets say you have the choice right now to either go out with a bunch of friends for a night at the club or you can stay home, make a meal and watch a movie. As people are different so do their perspective on Fun. 
So you chose to do the one that would be more fun at the moment. 

In such cases I have had the chance to evaluate my decision and as you do it hits you how hard it is to explain your decision. And you truly can't. But to make it slightly easier on the mind (or harder) your idea of fun changes quite rapidly. What you found fun last week might not be fun today and might be fun again in a month. 

The lecture did a great job in explaining more scientifically why Fun can't really be determined. Just as a quick preview a recurring point was that creating a fun game can be hard, as you can't define what is fun. Gladly it is not a set state by some government or an ultimate overlord ... yet! 
Back to reality skimming through the lecture materials again I noticed some points that truly reveal the spectrum of "unknown" behind the term. A few people who think they nailed down the meaning were Hunicke, LeBlanc and Zubek, having listed 8 types of fun: Sensation, Fantasy, Narrative, Challenge, Fellowship, Discovery, Expression and Submission. Another person who did their best to define the undefinable is Gerneau who also tried to limit it to a few simple words, at least 14 this time. I don't meant to rule these off, they do make sense, however my stand on this question is quite simple. Fun is like Love, simple yet unexplainable, complicated but basic enough for every human to experience. So emotions such as these are natural and hardwired in us since birth. 
There could be a combination of facts such as "it looks good", "it makes me think" and so on. But is this enough to make it certain? Not at all!

At this point even I was thinking of how this relates to the subject we are learning about currently, but it is quite simple. You do not know how your game is going to do, unless you see it being experienced by people. You will always have the group that is going to enjoy it and also the group that doesn't. It is just a game of numbers from here on.

Understanding that the gaming industry is on its way to a full fleshed business and this module focuses a big part on that aspect I can say that it helps me direct my focus. Previously I have decided that I want to be on the development side of the games creation process, but going through Games Design helps me understand that there is much more busyness involved than one would think. The way I enjoy games (and I think this is what could help you decide on what would be your passion to work on) is like a piece of art. I love to see how a game looks, how it sounds and mostly how it feels. And this is why I am more interested in the development role. 

To finish this segment off Raph Koster said "Games are fun because they teach us interesting things and they do it in a way that our brains prefer - through systems and puzzles" 
This is probably the closest definition I can accept as in my opinion humans are created to improve and improvement is accomplished by learning. 

Well that was a lengthy and complex analysis or a truly existential matter, but every little bit helps understand life and humans work.

Aside from the psychological focus of this week, we were assigned our pitch date and times. A briefing of how it is going to work and the main details. What is interesting but still understandable is that we are not going to deliver the pitch in front of the rest of the class but in front of a simulation of possible investors. This is perfectly fine because in the case of pitching a game concept you do it in front of selected people and not your fans ... usually.
From the heart, I am positive that this aspect of Games Design is not my cup of tea, as what is truly enjoyable to me is the hands on design and development. Mostly the visual games design, world and character modeling and animation. Needless to say despite my different goals this perspective makes it quite interesting to look into as it is practically the opposite of the predecessor to development.

Further more we started putting together our final design document. Gladly we were intuitive enough to start writing down all the ideas, discarded or seemingly final, making our document more manageable and natural. 

As of myself, I continued doing some more concept art for the combat aspects and the final character we have planned.

Knight concept art and character skills mechanics and visual representation:

Knight skills and perks

Hunter skills and perks

Week 7 - Reviewing our work and rambling about pitching

As the second to last lecture we had a fairly important one, to me at least. We went through a briefing about a big aspect of the project - the pitch and design document.

The lecture and mostly the attached examples were really helpful in nailing down or at least giving you an idea of what it should be. To put it simple, a design document does not have a predefined word count or format. What distinguishes it, is the game itself. The document should cater to the specifics of your creation. Since we set off on this journey we were told that we have two aspects of the document: the fun part- Development process and the not so intriguing, at least to myself, Sales aspect.

As of the pitch itself ... Needless to say it requires a lot of preparation. This was mentioned by the lecturer too, however in my opinion it is not as simple as that. A person who is assigned to do this would have a plethora of different skills, the main one being skills in people interaction and a hell of a lot of psychology. What I mean to say is that, in my opinion, the successful pitches work when you have a passion about the project, be prepared and most of all know what you are going up against.

"Great game concept + Meticulous preparation + A bit of luck = Success!"

It is your personal way to get through the thick skin of the big fishes who you are supposed to bring on your side. This seems like one of the hardest aspects of this whole game, as it can be a challenge to get backing from a person who is higher up in the food chain than you are. However, in the pursuit of the big market and exposure, there is not room for repetition and mediocrity. So as long as you trust in your product and most importantly - your team, this whole deal goes from a nerve wrecking feat to the drive to accomplish a passion project and see it being materialized.

****
Furthering our tasks

As I mentioned last few weeks we decided on the bigger individual tasks. Of course, prior to that we decided to create the foundations as a team, mainly because the most important part is the vision of the game we are going for.

To set this off we did our shares and this time we decided to review the accomplishments.

Beginning with the User Interface created by Euan. He brought an amazingly polished and fully thought out design of the visuals a player would be presented when playing. All his work would most likely be on his blog, however I am going to take the liberty to attach a preview to it here.

No clarification required here as he did it all perfectly. 

Next off Connor showed us what he envisioned the lore would be from the brief brainstorming we did so far. Deriving from the detailed and immersive design he brought to the table, it was clear that he enjoyed it and the result was clear. Previously we decided upon the idea that we are having a simple yet immersive story (as immersive as it can be for a mobile game such as ours) that does not restrict the player from diversifying. However, we are going for the aspect of uniqueness which was greatly brought in by Connors ideas. He fleshed out the idea we had for every character class to have a different story, expanded the world with zone history and tyrannic kingdoms.

A valid example here would be a quick snippet of our characters story and how they came to the point of no return.

• One of our characters is a rogue and what gets him involved in the feuds that are going on is the disappearance of his only sister.
• The other one is a warrior from the kings guard and due to a revelation he decides to do something worth remembering.
• Last but not least is a hunter that finds him/herself in the midst of the destruction of their village.

As of me, I had my time with Gimp and sketched simple character figures and building designs that could be a lead into what our vision of the game is. Having in mind that visual art is the sole aspect that could change rapidly with every different idea that is brought into or out of the game, I decided to keep it universal, yet still bring something unique or special to our game world. 

As buildings go I showed my visions in different styles mainly due to the fact that we were thinking of different locations, cultures and therefore different structure designs. Focusing on the building part of the game, a player would be presented with different options of structures required to grow his town. Doing so different buildings with different designs have different properties which is hopefully understandable to all. 

The characters however being the challenge they are, turned out pretty well if I could say so myself. 

Week 6 - Discussing the commercialization of our company

This week was not as eventful as the previous ones.

To summarize the highlights of the lecture and our team work on the project.

The lecture introduced me to the psychology behind the design of a game, the "look and feel" as it was phrased. What is required of a Design team, is to think and execute every aspect with the aim to make it flow perfectly. This is interpreted by everyone differently, but how I see it is: making all the aspects seamless and natural, somehow to take you out of the real world and place you in the fictional.
This surely sounds like a hard requirement, but with an incredible amount of forethought and experience in the field of design it can be accomplished. And here is where I emphasize on how important a team of designers is for a bigger project of course. (however it seems like in the current market, which is mainly mobile, the design of half the elements is absent or dulled down, but the focus falls on the gameplay and simplicity)

As of our project we discussed some more ideas around the story and gameplay. Also we had the opportunity to think a bit more about the visuals and layout of our environment and characters, the feel of the game and player choice.
We decided it is time to go over the finance part of the whole subject. It is understood that this is done by people who are seemingly passionate about it (when it comes to actual real practice project that require this on top of all else), but we did what we can with our expertise.
Thankfully in our team we have the finance guru in the face of Connor. A talented young fellow who would gladly go on and on about money and how it would work in this spectrum of things.

Week 5 - Each one of us has a specific job to do

This session we decided it is time to make it official and assign particular work the the right people.

Connor has the task to look into the story of the world and that of our heroes, to make everything feel like it should. Euan was assigned the UI design, which in the case of a handheld device such as a phone is a very important aspect. And I should get to the concept art. The looks of the characters and surroundings as my main focus, I need to translate their stories into visuals and explain it for the designers further down the line.

As of the lecture about gameplay it went over one of the most important parts of a game and it was done quite well. It helped us realize what we were going for and whether we are happy with it still. the answer is yes ... Yes we are.
Through the number of games I have played in my life I can vouch for the statement, that the balance between difficulty thresholds is the thing that should be well thought through. Focusing on what you are going for it is easy to decide on which side your game should lean to, but the hardships start when you want to create the perfect combination.

Week 4 - Envision the feel of the game ... Also art inspiration and ideas.

This week we discussed the feel of our game and the visual approach we are taking for the characters and the world. For now we agreed upon a slightly pixelated art style with inspirations such as "Crypt of the Necrodancer" and "Titan souls". To me particularly a similar look to the game "Titan souls" seems more fitting as it looks slightly simpler. I had the idea to make it more detailed, but due to device limitations this could be a bad idea.

I envision the feel of the world slightly darker thank usual, in order to induce the urge of dread, but not as much to the point that it gets overwhelming. I had the idea of few different zones to chose from in the beginning of the character selection, for example - viking themed zone, tribal, sailor/pirate, but for now this seems to be too much to think of. All of the above would have a different building style, enemies, character designs and overall artwork. As for the settlement design (and character concept art further down).

I brought up a bunch of references that could get my idea across. Of course, the next few weeks I will be working on our original artwork, but for now you could call it looking for inspiration or even research to help envision the details and specifics of a world and its inhabitants.

Well designed and simple buildings, however I reckon this would be too realistic for the feel of our game.

An interesting looking layout of the buildings and the surroundings. 

I have always loved the feel that WoW's Grizzly Hills implies. It is desolate but still full of life. Dangerous and beautiful.
For a viking zone this sort of feel should be aimed for. 

Grizzly Hills again, but this time the focus is on the buildings. These look sturdy and natural at the same time.
Having in mind that we are going to have utility buildings such as a smith, tailor and so on, I think wooden
buildings can be modified into some of the specifics we need.

Here is another viking themed location in World of Warcraft with a slightly moodier look to it.
This could be due to seasons but the combination with the fires makes it cozier and a seemingly good location for a settlement.

A Minecraft rendered image that looks like an interesting location for a settlement.
I like how it is enclosed in a mountain ridge and it has access to a mine.
This idea could be utilized well in our case as we
want to imply that our hero is hiding.

For a sailor/pirate settlement this gives me a brief surge of ideas. The small, simple, weather-resistant structures
located on the coast surrounded by lush vegetation. That is the feel this would be going for - lively and simple.

As of the characters and enemies we are going for something that would be universal to all the possible zones, mostly because the hero is a traveler or a runaway, so he clearly shouldn't fit in. Also with time you are going to come across different skins (one way or another) that will change your appearance and equipment.

A model of a hunter.

Tattered light pair of clothes for the rogue, for swiftness and comfort.
Confident and happy as rogues are.

Heavier more battle oriented model.
Our rogue most likely will not have
a ranged weapon.

A female model of the rogue.
As we are having the choice between both genders
clothes reference like this is helpful.

The warrior should be heavier built.

A suggestion of a wizard implementation
He could be more of a battle wizard

In case a tribal zone/character is considered

Week 3 - Base decisions about Characters and Game setting

This week the lecture helped me look more in depth than I have ever perceived character design and it's importance in the grand scheme of a game. Needless to say, it is clear that in every game the first thing to notice is the main character (or even the first character you have contact with). An interesting thing to ask yourself is "What makes a character stand out to me?". Most likely you wouldn't have a straight forward answer as this is practically impossible. As with real life humans characters in a game are different ... they are So different and complex that you can not find one that has that "Thing" but none other does. 

It is often that a good character design makes a great impression, and mostly with the main character who is usually "you" whether in first person or third person games, the aim is to make the player feel for the hero. And this doesn't even cut it anymore. A good design of a great game is completed with a stunning character envisionment that plants you in the main characters head (or put the whole game world in your head). However, this might be hard or even borderline impossible ... and it definitely is a challenge, and very rarely you can have contact with a game character who makes the whole experience feel like reality (or as close as it can get). This is why many RPG designers, for whom creating a world you can feel a part of and practically live in, rely on the type of story telling that creates the illusion of a fairy tale or a story. 

For example one of my all time favorite game stories with stunning characters and immersive worlds is The Witcher. The designers were inspired by a book, yes ... But translating a form of linear media into something that depends on you for the most part, is a immense accomplishment. They had the idea of creating the narrative as if a secondary character tells the story of a legendary hunter, however, even in that you get lost in the moments you simply play as Geralt.

To summarize my thoughts, a great character story and design in whole is a really tricky process and what makes one hero "The one" wouldn't work for another. You need to think really hard into what would make the player relate, feel in control, yet have an extraordinary life or assets that will translate to the person behind his digital representation

****

The progress of our game vision

Talking about our ideas so far we decided to implement a subtle story that explains the setting and makes the character feel like he is a part of this place. We are giving the player the choice to embark on the journey as one of few characters. For now we agreed to a warrior, who finds himself in a bad situation which involves the death of family members. And the rogue - a skilled thief who takes off on a forced journey to find his dissipated sister. 

There were many other opportunities for characters such as a hunter who finds himself in the ruins of his village after coming back from a hunt. Realizing his daughter is missing he runs out into the woods to find her. There he finds the rogue who tells his story briefly and they get separated due to some circumstance. In order to keep the game personal, yet make it feel like you are not alone. There was an idea to add a wizard character, but this could be thought through in the future. 

The characters will most likely be story driven but not something you can't snap out of in order to keep it simple for the main aspect of our game, which is the settlement management. The story that we are thinking over is the aspect that defines our characters, the asset that explains their circumstance, the world and the possible outcome if succeeded or failed.

Week 2 - Helpful material observations and How our design is coming along

The lectures we underwent and the provided materials really put into perspective how thorough, complicated and interesting the task is.

In order, this job requires a lot of inspiration, forethought and understanding of a vast spectrum of contradictory subjects and the same reasons can relate to why this can be complicated. It is truly challenging to predict every step throughout such a broad task, however this is the reason that this job is often picked up by a team of different people with various assets. Mostly to bring everything different, believable and extraordinary to the table, and make it work which is the hardest part.

Last but not least, it is most definitely interesting. Main reason being the fact that you are in charge of creating a world of your own. You are in charge of the history of this world, the characters, the future and everything that works and exactly how it does. Whether you are the concept artist, animator, programmer, story designer, etc. - you have the opportunity to see the world that was in your head, come to life through the skills and assets of your team (or in some cases your own).

Having this in mind we decided to stick to the concept we had since the beginning. In my opinion a story (even if it is slightly vague and brief) can do wonders for the immersion. Of course this applies to game worlds that allow the player to search and explore, even if it is a simple split road that leads to a flipped over carriage where you find a job contract that hints what might have happened. This could seem insignificant or unnecessary, however you can take this insignificant element and bring that up later on (yet you have to balance it as people forget small details quite easily, so either make the detail memorable enough or follow with the event I mentioned briefly after). This will make the player feel like the world is one, as if everything is linked and this will come naturally. Here is a fact that designers deal with: "Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent." The smallest details that make the world often remain unnoticed, but their absence is easy to notice.

****

About our project.

We decided to go with our initial idea as it suits our interests and passion. We are happy with the idea of a combination of base management and quick intriguing hack and slash combat quests/events once in a while. These will bring rewards, currency, resources, experience and thrill, yet it is not going to be overwhelmingly hard or feel like you have to spend hours hacking up skeletons to rank up gold (yet this does not mean you can't do it in case that's your jam).

We agreed to the fact that we envisioned our idea to be way more complex, almost as if it was directed towards more devoted players such as console or computer gamers. And clearly this doesn't seem to be the correct approach and we decided to look into ways to make it cater to the specific market we are going for.

These decisions came as we observed the majority of mobile players and we realized they do not want to go into a game that requires them to commit at least 200 hours off the bat (many PC games are notorious for that) and that is perfectly fine but it is required of us to know what people are going to keep on their phones.

So it begins ...

Greetings!

As a first post I suppose a proper introduction would be fitting.

I am Dimitrios and I am passionate about video games. I enjoy them to the point where I decided that studying something about this would help me appreciate the art even more. And it surely proved successful, I look into the technical details more (for better or worse) and there is a certain level of enjoyment in that.

The main purpose of this blog is to highlight my journey through the Computer Games Design module and keep a diary of some sort with any ideas, team interactions and anything worth mentioning. 

First lecture, as any other was the introduction where all the future details were discussed. We were introduced to the future assessments and the tasks that are expected of us. Not long after, we separated into two groups as designing a game is not a one man job. I am a part of the team with Euan and Connor. Knowing these guys I am sure that the project will go smoothly, but most importantly beneficial and inspiring hopefully for the three of us.

The idea our team decided upon is a base management game with the aspect of an over-head shooter. 

This was sparked by both quite different genres but ones that will definitely work side by side. Having the action aspect with high reward and the threat of failure but as an option you can chose the safety and resource management to spend your downtime in the building management part.

As of now we decided to focus on the mobile market as clearly this is where the majority is drifting to. Having in mind that the example given during the lectures (Bioshock) was pitched during times, when making a computer/console game focusing on a captivating, unique story and innovative game play was easier to accomplish (comparing it to today's releases). 

Besides that, the amount of ideas for both a PC game and mobile, gives us the freedom to change up before we focus on the final project.