We just finished making a game prototype in 4 weeks, so I want to reflect on that process as well as analyze what makes a good game prototype to see if what we did is good or not. To do this, I'm going to go back over the purpose of prototypes and look for what others consider to be qualities of good prototypes.
Our game was a dungeon crawler type game focused on the Durham Orange County Light Rail, a proposed light rail train that would connect many major locations in our community. The prototype we made only had one level, and as our programmer said "it's very easy to cheat". This is because there are some tiles you can hit multiple times which increase your funds (basically increase your health) so until that feature is removed, it is possible to cheat if you figure that part out. However, this would be an easy fix if we were to move to the next stage of game development, though it might be nice to remove already so that we have a prototype that is easier to test. Were it to become a full game, I would want to make the graphics that I made a bit cleaner as I had to resize them late in production, which reduced the quality a bit. Overall though, our prototype was playable and though there isn't a lot of replay value, I think the first playthrough wouldn't be too boring. The purpose of a prototype is not to have a perfect finished game though. Instead, it's supposed to represent the main features of the game without having everything there. This article from Pluralsight, you should focus on convincing people that your game is fun, and showing them that your mechanics work and that the game is playable. It also talks about prioritizing certain features over others. I feel like we could have done better on showcasing the fun factor (though that may have been very difficult since the maps are hand made rather than randomly generated, so replayability is hard to create). However, I feel like we did a good job knowing when to cut things (like deciding to cut out the enemies for now) and knowing what things to focus on instead in order to create a working game. Gamasutra also has a good article about prototyping in 1 week. We had 4 times that long, but the article has good tips regardless. One really interesting one is restraining creativity by sticking to a theme, because it will make you more creative within that theme while still giving you a cohesive game. We were restricted to the theme of the light rail, and I think it did make us come up with a game we wouldn't have otherwise created. The article also suggests working "in parallel" with a team of people who aren't just talented, but have good attitudes. This allows the group to work together well and see what the others are doing so they can get a sort of picture of what the game will be like as they go. I think our group was very good about communicating and checking each other's work as we went, and I'm glad that we got along so well, because I do think that really helped the game. Based on these articles, I think both our process and final product were both pretty good.
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So we've just completed a four-week game, and I'll talk about it later, because it was literally finished this class period, but I do want to talk about time management. This isn't completely specific to Game Design, it's very important for every part of life really, especially school (as seen by the fact that I had to wake up at 4 to finish homework last night because I left it until the last minute), but I'm going to talk about it for both games and just in general here. This is just going to kind of be a reflection on my own time management skills (or current lack there of) and sort of set some goals to reach in the future.
It probably seems very obvious to everyone, but calendars are really helpful for me. Despite this, I don't actually use one, and I think that's what I want to change. Trello was a really nice program for being able to check things off as we did them during this project, but I don't like how you can only have one deadline per checklist. I think a calendar combined with Trello would be effective because then you can still set strict deadlines and a good schedule while still being able to write checklists that you can easily check off from anywhere. Since it's digital, I wouldn't forget it at home or anything. Setting up this system or a similar system both for game design projects, and possibly just school work is a big goal for me. However, another problem I face is forgetting that the deadline for a big project - like 40 chemistry problems - is coming up. Even when given calendars, once they're completed, I usually fail to look ahead, so I don't see these things until it's too late. With checklists this can be avoided, but usually these things are prioritized lower on those lists than upcoming events, and sometimes I wouldn't ever get to them anyway. I think that to solve this, I want to dedicate a part of the wall in my room to be just for post-it-notes with the names of big projects and their deadlines. That way, I can look at the wall every day, and as long as I keep it updated, big projects won't be able to sneak up on me. Lastly, I also have trouble with motivation to use my time wisely. Many times I know I should be working, but I just don't want to. I think that if I think more about why doing the work is important or meaningful to me - grades are important for the future, parents would be disappointed, this is going to be an awesome game but only if you get it done, etc. - then I would have less trouble with this. Also realizing the things I'm doing to "relax," like watching TV, doesn't actually make me feel any better, and it would be better to get the work done early and have time later when it would make me feel better because I wouldn't feel guilty since I had already accomplished something. Overall, my time management isn't as bad as I probably just made it sound, it just could improve, because I feel like I could accomplish a lot more than I currently am. I hope that I can stick to these goals and that the improvement will be apparent. This year I decided to participate in Inktober, an online event where artists do art in ink for the whole month of October. There was a statement from the creator of the event that he did not like people participating with digital art because they could just "ctrl z" their mistakes away. He wanted artists to use ink and make marks that they couldn't change. This is a bit interesting though since he does support doing pencil drawings and then going over them in ink. Basically, this is to say I've been doing traditional art in pen this entire month, and though I've fallen behind a little bit, I feel like it has been a good experience.
Inktober has made me a lot more confident in the lines I draw, and taught me what kind of things I need to work on (objects, shadows) and what things I like drawings (people, things with cool patterns). I think I would benefit from doing a month of digital artwork, even if it was just 6 pieces a week for a month (because sometimes it can be hard to keep up with it every single day). I'm not sure if there is a larger art community event for this, but whether or not there is, I'm thinking I will do this in December so that I can really improve my digital artwork as well. While I do like the quantity of artwork I produce from this event, towards the end, my work has been much less inspired because I'm quite frankly tired of not being able to use much color, and I've been extremely busy with school as the quarter is coming to an end. I think had I followed the prompt list and managed my school work better this wouldn't be an issue since I would have more ideas and more time. If I do a digital challenge, I will make a prompt list for myself and make time in my schedule to get it done. Here are some of the Inktober works I've done that I'm most proud of if you'd like to see them: So we have just one week left to finish our 2D games based on the Durham Community. To say it's going to be stressful is an understatement, and this is not because of my group members or anything (they're amazing), it just takes a lot of work to make games. So, in this post, I want to reflect on how we've done so far in production, as well as see if there are things people in the industry do during crunch time that could help us, or if it's too late for us now and this will just have to be a learning experience.
First, the timeline provided by our teacher was simply this: have a playable prototype by the end of 4 weeks. Of course we have many other goals he set for us to reach, but he did not make them time specific; they just need to get done to create the game. He also suggested that we leave the final Friday for testing for bugs (meaning we have the prototype mostly up and ready to go by Thursday). The rest was up to us. So far, it's just been a frenzy of completing different assets, meaning that this week we have to finish all of those as well as put them all together in a cohesive game. I think this was definitely my first mistake. I left our schedule sort of fluid rather than setting strict deadlines. Even if we hadn't completely met the deadlines, having them would have kept us more on track I think, and would have helped to make this week easier. Now for the week ahead, because I can't go back and change my mistakes from the past. Obviously, being high school student, our crunch time won't be nearly as extreme as that for industry professionals, but I wanted to see how they handle the stress. According to the start of this article the answer seems to be, not well. However, it also explains that even with good scheduling, crunch time can still be a problem if any issues come up towards the end of development. This is bad news for us since we will likely have some problems as we put stuff together this week. It also says that you should know by the time you have 2 weeks left whether or not you'll be able to finish your game. But then, the article even says, "it’s very difficult to figure out how long it might take to finish a given task." Since this is our first time really producing a game on a team like this, our judgement may not be good enough to do this accurately, but it is a good idea to make this sort of check on whether or not you think you can make it every week at team meetings, so I think I will begin doing that if I am ever production manager again. The article towards the end says that crunching for more than 2 weeks is ineffective and you won't make it, instead you have to cut things. I think for our game it may be beneficial to cut a few things (for instance, the enemies, which we knew we were probably going to have to cut). We will only be crunching for 1 week though, so maybe our work will pay off a little, but at the same time there's only so much work we can do in a week. The whole purpose of this article was to sway you from supporting crunch time, and it was pretty successful, I am worried about this week. However another article strives to give tips on surviving this stressful work time (though it does reiterate that crunch time is bad). Many of the tips are things like "take breaks" which are less applicable to us since we have the rest of the school day to be working on other things, but some of the tips are helpful. It suggests heavy scheduling, communication of expectations, and being okay with failure in some aspects. I think at Monday's team meeting I definitely need to discuss all of these things with my group, especially working hard to set up a firm schedule so that we can get as much quality work done as possible.
In class, we are currently creating games based on Durham, and current local issues. We aren't very far in production yet, so I'm going to save talking more in depth about it for another post, but so far it is going well. Our game does not yet have a title, but it focuses on the issue of the Orange - Durham Light Rail, a proposed train system basically connected areas from Chapel Hill to Durham. Our game is going to be a rogue-like game where you have to build the track from one stop to another before running out of money, featuring Herman, a possessed ice cream cone, and Carl, a strange walnut character. I am the Production Manager and also work on narrative products as well as some of the 2D art.
However, what I want to talk about in this game is other Durham games, or even Durham content and Durham creators. This can be game companies of Durham or games that are set in Durham. I also want to look into games that are about current events. Both of these things are important as an aspiring game designer in Durham because it will let me learn more about the local game making community, which could be good for opportunities, as well as see what effect games can have on important issues. With just a quick google search for games set in Durham NC, very little relevant information comes up. Instead, gaming stores like Atomic Empire pop up, a list of books set in Durham (mostly history and basketball books), and even a kickstarter for a webseries set in Durham. It seems that there aren't any (easy to find) games set in Durham right now, which makes sense since we are just a random town. However, I still thought I would find something since the people of Durham seem pretty proud of "Bull City". Heck, I even have a Durham-themed comic book. The good news is, despite not making many games about Durham, there are many gaming companies with offices in Durham, many of which I got to see representatives from at ECGC last year. Insomniac Games is a pretty well known company around here, and they do a lot of work in VR games. Epic Games, who famously made Unreal Engine 4 also has an office here, and at ECGC I talked to many people who work there. They're also working towards more VR work and have made so many technological advances in the past few years to make VR better. And as I mentioned earlier, with places like Atomic Empire, it's obvious that there is a decent sized gaming culture here. More interesting to me are games that focus on current events or issues. I really am passionate about art as a form of activism, and such an immersive form of art and entertainment as a game seems like a great vessel for change. This article from NPR discusses the effectiveness of games in teaching messages. While the data is still coming in, I believe media of all forms does affect people greatly and I hope that I can create games that do affect people. I ended up playing one of the games mentioned in the article: The Cat in the Hijab. It lines up with my political views, so it didn't change my opinion or anything, but I appreciate the game. The message it tries to convey is about hate speech. I played through the game twice, trying to make the opposite choices each time, and I was a little dismayed to find that the choices made only really changed a few lines, so I felt as though it didn't teach anything about what outcomes different choices have. However, the best results did come from ignoring hate speech and sticking together with supportive people, so I do like the overall message it tried to get across. However, I think the people who need this message the most might not have played the game, possibly even just from looking at the title. So I think it's also important to remember that games don't have to be incredibly political to still make comments on important issues. As the NPR article above said, people like subtle messages better, and they're less likely to shut down moderate arguments than extreme ones. Games are a good starting point to get people thinking about issues, to make people more open minded and get the conversation going. Games like Skyrim have beggars and orphans, making players think about how to treat the poor, as well as big, open worlds with complex political climates, giving players a look into how different aspects of the world affect each other. Plague Inc. and Pandemic both teach valuable lessons about disease, the value of the CDC, and how the choices we make about travel and trade can affect health. These are examples of serious games that are still fun and subtle in their messages. Overall, I think games have a great potential for change, and I'm excited to be creating a game set in my hometown that could actually teach people about the light rail.
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AuthorHi, I'm Abi, a DSA student who likes games, drawing, writing, and acting. Archives
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