Prototype_v06

I didn't quite get to everything, but here are the changes from the last build:

• sound for new row falling
• sound for warning when near the top
• instruction screen
• temp splash screen back
  
• slight increase in closet door open/close speed

prototype_v06

Prototype_v05d

Another build:

prototype_v05d

• art work is in, but it looks like colors are washed out (let's talk about workflow tomorrow to see if there is an quicker way to get the art into the program)
• doors opening seems a bit slow (okay to remove keyframes?)
• explosion animations in a well
• looping soundtrack
  

Explosions

Explosion we can use for each card disappearing.

EXPLOSION1

Explosion for chain window.

EXPLOSION2

Explosion for collaspe bottom row bonus.

EXPLOSION3

Prototype_v05c

Another build:

prototype_v05c

• levels loaded from external xml file
• game over screen placeholder
• win screen placeholder
• some sounds implemented
• some animations implemented
  

website suggestion

Hi team.

This is what our website could look like while presenting. Eventhough it's not our main focus at the moment I wanted to know what you thought about it so I don't run out of time at the last minute. The text is subject to change. I'm guessing Austin will point out how we need to present the game in the weeks to come. My question is:

Do we want a website with the game's theme (get out of my closet!) or our group's theme (tasty cakes) ?




Oh and for the instruction screen. I'm working on it. Though I need some images from Ivan or Naomi for the bonuses to put into the instruction page. Without them I can't post it yet.

Prototype v_05b

Here is the latest. Using the cleaner codebase, I've added back score and the bonus items, which appear at the bottom. The time bonus now decreases the interval that a new row is added for a limited time (now set at 30 seconds). I was thinking that maybe we could have some feedback when this is happening (like a change in music and some type of visual cue like invincibility in super mario, but less over the top). I've also added the spacebar functionality that clears matched items without having to mismatch:

prototype_v05b

Lots to do, but this is on the top of my list:

• levels that can be configured from an external xml file
• end the game when the rows hit the top
• start bringing in sound
• start bringing in animations
  

A New Start

After talking over the logic with Joy, I've decided to take a fresh approach to the basic game engine. This build is stripped of much of the functionality, but I hope that it is much more stable. Please test it and let me know if you see bugs like before.

prototype_v05

Defining Screen Resolution

Some screenshots with the current prototype.


With 8 rows, the stage size is 600 x 590.

With 10 rows, the stage size is 600 x 720.

I think 10 rows may be a bit much, but we could try it. Moving the bonus bank to the bottom will make these even taller.

AGENDA

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2006

AGENDA

Mechanics

• What are other special items, we can think of.
• Reevaluate the special items we have already, make sure none are too similar.
• Our game will play like tetris, game always changing levels until you can’t match anymore. What changes need to be made to achieve this goal?
• Highlight each match until you are done(which way can we do this)?
• Anything else we can think of will be discussed here........

Visual Design

• Look at Precedents: Sushi King, Switcheroo, Chuzzle
• Decide what pictures we want to have in the game(behind the cards)
• Talk about the interface design
• Talk about background and narrative development. (Should we push in the closet a little further)
• What imagery are we using for the animation after you finish a chain
• What fonts and colors and what direction is the user feedback animations going.
• Assign each person a task :

• Interface =Backgrounds, Buttons, Layout, fonts, user feedback fonts
• Icons =Images behind cards, images for animations, images for bonus items
• Animarions = User Feedback animations, level up animation, Score animations, splash screen animation
• Screens =Highscore screen, Game over, Splash screen, Pre-highscore screen(tells you highest chain), Instruction Screen???

PRESENTER

• Who will present our work during beta presentation, which means preparation for presentation as well. Such as pdf slide presentation or powerpoint.

Timeline

• Layout on an excel sheet or calendar what milestones we want to reach each day and or week before the beta presentation.

COMMENTS?? QUESTIONS???

Here are the mockup images

Here are the mockup images I figure we could look over sunday to try to break down the work, and also come up with some more ideas for the visual design. If I think of anything else I will make it and add it to the blog.

Alpha Builds

Unfortunately, these builds are still very buggy.

1. Alpha A
2. Alpha B
   

Interface Mockup

Courtesy of Naomi:

HighScore and User Feedback

Here are the links to the highscore table which is connected to a database, as well as links to some rough flash animations for user feedback for chaining and scores.

HighScore Table
Score Feedback
Chaining Feedback

Also I made the animation faster but if they need to be even faster let me know!

More Bonus Item Treatments

Posting on behalf of Aniela:
I got a pretty good chuckle out of "show all".

Game Instructions

Hi Everyone,

Below is the instruction screen. I have put down what appears in the latest prototype.
Please correct if you find any mistakes, and the art team, do whatever you need to do with it to match your theme you don't need to keep this format.
I'm guessing you could maybe use the same text (not font) and a similar layout in a smaller box that you scroll down?
I wasn't quite sure for R and T since i wasn't there tuesday so feel free to write a sentence to explain them.


By the way I love the closet door loading pics and the font, good job Joy!
As for the pdf of symbols, Naomi, they're good and fun, but I would say maybe work a little more on the color schemes it could be a little brighter and bubbly alitte more detail maybe?
Sounds: Good job Kwon. I think most of them really work well. My only comment I think is for "game over" which I found a little too happy and the "game's general background" music was too short too loop. It could have more substance to it. Maybe that's just me.

For Thursday

For those who could not make today's meeting, we covered the following:

• change rows from falling down to bumping up from bottom like Sushi King - simplify the code and hopefully reduce bugs
• looked at flats, which have now been posted
• looked at storing and showing high scores

I believe we have the following for Thursday.

Albert:
- fix bugs
- make rows pop from bottom
- integrate sounds if group likes what we have
- put in instruction screen

Joy:
- continue working on coding screen views
- continue looking at storing scores and names

Alis:
- copy for directions/instructions

Ivan, Naomi, Aniela:
- continue working on art
- screens
- characters
- icons for bonus items

Kwon:
- continue working on sounds
- check the blog for feedback on exisiting sounds

Sounds

Here are the sounds that Kwon has made:

• bonus
• gameover (will loop in game)
  
• running out of time
• right choice
• splash
• start button
• wrong choice
  

Thoughts?

game screen

These are the primary sketches of the visuals for the game design. Please comment on them!

Prototype Update With Bonus Changes

Unfortunately, adding more complexity for the bonuses and banking them is making it even easier to find bugs. Hopefully you can play it some and get a feel for what is happening. I think the safest way to avoid incurring the unpleasant bugs is to try to avoid doing anything while a new row is falling, which is actually a pretty hard meta-game in itself. :(

Up to five bonus items can be banked on the right. These may be earned by clearing a combo (>= 3x).

• T = add time
• R = clear bottom row
• S = show all (i.e., bonus previous known as rainbow)

The interval between new rows falling will decrease as time runs out. I made the mission goals easier as well.

• Level 1 = clear 1 of each
• Level 2 = clear 2 of each

prototype_v04

So I hope to see some of you tomorrow at 3 pm - 10th floor lab.

Thanks.

Example of Instruction Screen

Here are some examples of instructions from Sushi King. The top is actually in the game. The bottom is on the HTML page that launches the game. In both cases, the instructions are pretty brief, which is something I think we should aim for. I don't think we have to spell out every mechanic of the game.

Art & Design team: a reminder

Hello !

Just to avoid any confusions in the design we discussed what should be on screen.
As you know we have the game's play screen and the side column which shows time, health, success etc.

This is what we should have in the column. Obviously not as ugly as this; you can spice it up as much as you like with graphics, but please also keep the text above or underneath each of these.




Timer is where you see how much time is remaining. It can change according to power-ups you get, which is basicly more time.
Bank is where you bank rainbows, bombs (stars) and whatever else we add as bonus. So you use it when you feel it's more beneficial.
Mission shows how many symbols you have collected and need to collect in order to jump to the next level. Like a progress board.
Skins is where you can change the environment color, theme.
Symbols shows your progress in general by indicating how many symbols you have collected.


You guys should ideally meet up and discuss all these changes together so we have one design proposal that makes sense as a whole and that also includes sounds. We will not have enough time to add visuals into the next prototype so we will have to show a few slides of a very detailed screen shot of the game.

Once you have the interface designed it shouldn't be too much of a pain to make tweaks for other slides.

Examples of:

When rainbow is in effect.
When all doors are closed and one is open
When time runs out --> game over
When level is complete

These are some primary slides we need, if you have anymore , even better!

And please post last week's visuals to the blog for those who weren't there last week.

If you have any questions please post them here.
This is the space to refer to. E mail seems to be causing confusion with meeting times. Unless it's urgent please communicate here. Please get used to checking the blog frequently. Let me or Ivan know, if you need any assistance with maya or compositing.

Thanks

Alis

List of sounds

Albert, thanks for posting all that we discussed yesterday. Here is the list of sounds that we are expecting to have by tuesday night latest:

Splash page music
Start button
Sound for 2 matches
Sound for more than 2 matches (chaining)
(No sound for wrong match !)
Closet door open
Closet door close
The game's general background music
New rows falling sound
Sound for when you decide to use one of the bonuses in your bank
Running out of time sound
Game Over
Level completion sound


Kwon, please work closely with the art& design team because the narrative has to really fall into place and everything needs to to tie together in this week's demo.
And please post these sounds in wav. and mp3 format to make Albert's life a little easier, he has a lot to do, so everyone please cooperate in time. Thanks.

Work for Alpha

Joy, Alis, and I met yesterday and made some decisions about moving forward. Team, please note that our next meeting is Tuesday at 3pm on the 10TH FLOOR DT LAB. Ideally, we want our next round of work (prototype, art, sounds) done by then, but if that's not possible, please try to have them done by end of the day on Tuesday. That will give us time to review everything and make some changes before Thursday morning. Also, it's very important that you post work to the blog rather than send emails around (upload the actual work or post a link to the work wherever you decide to store it). As we move foward we want to use the blog as a tool for collaboration. This is especially important because our schedules are making it hard to meet.

Mechanics
I'm going to spend another day trying to fix basic bugs, but if I can't figure it out, I'm going to have to move forward with getting the new features in. If it comes to that, Austin and/or Kyle could be used as technical resource to troubleshoot those bugs.

• new row falls faster as time expires (because the user will rarely look to the right of the gameboard, we want to simplify the penality axis to just time - the new rows will be a visual cue on the gameboard that time is running out - also, this means we're getting rid of the idea of a an energy bar)
• penalty for mismatch after 3 consecutive mismatches - a time penalty - so rows will fall faster as described above
• star will be only bonus on the actual game board
• other bonuses will be earned by stringing combos together of 3 or more - these will go into a bank on the right for later use when the player desires
• time bonus - using this bonus will add time as a means to counteract the time penalty described above
• row bonus - will clear the bottom row of items - in a way like the time bonus if adding a new row is a indicator of time expiring, but this is more immediate in that it happens right away
• show all bonus (rainbow) - show all cards, like before, but now it is in the bank and moved off the screen
• each level will have a mission goal (i.e., clear 6 blues or match 2 combos in a row), but i may keep the goals the same as it was working last week for now

Instructions

• I will work on implementing this screen since I will have a better idea of what will actually be working for Thursday
• The instruction screen should be designed for Thursday and incoporated the overall look and feel of the aesthetic that the design team decides on for this week. Just use placeholder text in your mockup.

Art
Joy, Alis, and I like the idea of putting funny, goofy, non-sequitur characters (e.g., dancing hot-dog guy, grandpa sleeping, etc) behind the closet doors to engage the user. If the design team doesn't like that idea, you should move forward with another idea that is to your liking. Note, creating animations for characters/items behind the doors is possible, but it may weigh down the flash player. It is also important to consider that the more a user plays the game, the less likely s/he is going to pay attention to things like animations if the focus is on memory.

• Develop one consistent look and feel for items behind the closets
• Apply the look and feel to other screens (finalize resolution - the prototype can be changed to fit new dimensions)
  
• splash screen
• instruction screen
• game screen (2 mockups - one with a door opening during normal play and one with a show all to show more of the times/characters)
  
• level start/complete overlay (on top of game screen)
• game over (overlay or new screen)
• high score screen

Sounds
A list of sounds is coming. Please upload or link the sounds here on the blog by Tuesday. Sounds should be in mp3 format. I strongly recommend keeping wav versions for future use.

Alpha Phase

We have to have our game in alpha phase for thursday. Critics are coming in to play our game and give us feed back. So these are the things we need to have to have something worthwhile showing.

1.) prototype w/ at least 1 level (i want your input on priorities because i'm not sure i can code everything for next thurs.)
- fix bugs
- have new row fall faster as time expires
- penalty for mismatch = row falls even faster (this may be a penalty after 3 consecutive mismatches, etc.)
- moving bonus items to bank for later use?
- give the user a bonus if s/he combos >3 in a row?
- add more bonus/power-ups?
- work in narrative more into gameplay (i.e., closets)?
- include sounds

2.) instuction screen
- write copy (we need to finalize the functionality that we will have before this can be written)
- implement the instruction screen in the prototype (design of this screen may not be critical at this point, but it might be nice to have)

3.) art
- consistent concept for what will be behind the closet doors (i.e., cute, playful, cartoony, illustrated, detailed, realistic, creatures, clothes, etc?)...if we feel strongly that there should be animation here, maybe an example of what that would be...one thing to consider is that may slow the flash player down a little to have individual animations running inside each closet
- cohesive design for screens (instruction, game, game over, next level, etc.) - typography and palette - should be clear how it matches up to the prototype if it is not implemented

4.) sounds
- create sounds for game interactions (the list of sounds will depend somewhat on our final mechanic, but we know we will need some basic ones like selection, match, mis-match, bonus, game over, etc.....maybe even a simple background track)
- should be in wav or mp3 format

Prototype Phase 3

We have been working on a few different versions of our game. Trying to tighten up the game dynamics and mechanics. We are also starting to develop the look and sounds we want to use.

Here are the three different prototypes we have so far just based on different ways our user might play. The prototypes are buggy but they are just ways to convey the different ideas we had for each gameplay.

Prototype A = level up by score. Score penalty for mismatch.
Prototype A

Prototype B = level up by surviving time. Energy penalty for mismatch.
Prototype B

Prototype C = level up by fulling type requirements. Type counter penalty for mismatch.
Prototype C