Friday, March 25, 2011

2011 Spring Semester Playtest Session 5

This week we actually playtested the Beta level with a larger audience, rather than just having specific people test the level. Players still thoroughly enjoy the game, but there is always room for improvement. While watching testers play the game I noticed that many had trouble with the flight controls.
Car turning axis depicted with white line.
The handling of the car was too responsive and rotated too quickly. Since the physics programmer was there he noticed it as well, and felt, as I do, that the flying controls should move towards a sweeping motion. Right now the car just rotates on its vertical axis when you move the left joystick right or left. Outside of the flying controls, testers wanted more feedback from the game, such as a completion meter for the track, and an indication of what tricks the player is doing. One tester mentioned that they wanted a point system for the tricks which should definitely be done as it just gives more feedback to the player. But if the trick point system was made then it would have to have a purpose, I wouldn't want there to be points that the player gathers and can do nothing with them. An answer to this could be done simply by having a high score system at the end of each track that rates the player on their speed, and tricks. I should also mention that the player only receives feedback on the trick that they are doing when they land it. The player should also be receiving some feedback before they land the trick as well so that they are fully aware of what they are doing.
Car trick system as it stands.
Testers also gave feedback on the HUD and had some interesting ideas. One tester mentioned that we may want to go for a HUD more like Split Second, where the HUD is actually displayed on the car rather than in the corners of the game screen. This is an interesting idea, and is plausible to do now since we have artists. I've already spoken to one of our artists about the idea and they are willing to create a few concepts for it. Another idea a tester mentioned was to allow the player to hit a button to slow down the car's rotations to have a better chance of landing a trick. This is a great idea and I will definitely be speaking with the physics programmer about getting this mechanic in as it is something to make landing tricks easier for the player. Beyond testing, our game still needs a tutorial and it also still needs controller hints for the player when they are upside-down or when they are getting close to going off of a jump. When I say controller hints I just mean that the button the player has to push would pop-up on the screen so that the player knows what they need to press in order to get the car to do what they want it to do.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Beta Level Testing

With the beta level I wanted to create an environment that felt more intense, and was more menacing to look at. I feel that I was successful to this end, but not without the help of the rest of the team members, especially the artists. The artists came up with the color scheme, and many of the models that are in the beta level. When I tested the level, testers were telling me that I should make the level even more difficult than it was at the time of the playtesters. I also wanted to know how the visual appeal of the city was. Testers wanted more dynamic objects in the game, more vibrance. So, I placed fans down and scaled them to be able to fit the road within them. This added a lot more dynamic movement in the game, but it wasn't enough.
Traffic Quad texture, it's actually moving in the game which is why it's blurry
I needed something to give life to the game world. This is when I noticed that our graphics programmer was working on a quad that had parallaxing textures that looked like traffic moving in one direction. I decided that I would put that into the game, and it gave the game a more lively feel. Things were moving around in the game world, and they are not there just because the player is there. Dynamic movement was still not enough though. I now needed lighting to make the game more vibrant in itself. So, I placed more lights into the world, and changed the alpha of many object textures to make them more vibrant. To give the game an over-the-top feel, one of our team members created a glass road that gives that "wow" sound in the crowd that our team was looking for.
Traffic Quad texture, it's actually moving in the game which is why it's blurry
With the beta level, I really wish I had not assumed that I would have time when I got to school on the day of the beta presentation. I found that I had no time to tweak some things in the editor to make the level feel better. Luckily, the level was already laid out and was playable. But I should have planned for the worst and worked on the level more before the beta presentation. Next time I will plan for this and be prepared for the worst. The thing that came out of creating this beta level and receiving the beta presentation feedback was that our car needs to have better controls and we need to have more people playtest the level. My focus for the gold milestone is to get the car to feel better, and to get a tutorial into the game. If the tutorial needs to be dropped then so be it. The controls for the car are paramount when it comes to a game based-on a driving a car. I'll keep you updated on any more playtesting that is administered for Nitronic Rush or any interesting design issues that pop up.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

So You Want to Work in the Video Game Industry


This video seems to be travelling around like wildfire. I noticed that a lot of my friends are posting it on Facebook, and I felt that I should post it here. This video is definitely spot on when it comes to the video game industry. You still have to love it to do it though. 80 hours a week is too much to spend on something you do not enjoy. The "knowing that a game idea is going to be fun" thing is also an extremely important part for a game since it's expensive to prototype games, though the gaming industry is getting better at it. DigiPen had a company day for blizzard a few weeks back and one of their guys was showing off how quickly they could produce prototypes, roughly 2-3 weeks, and it's possible to only have 1 or 2 people working on it. This cuts down on costs and if the idea doesn't work out, well, at least there was not an entire team dedicated to the idea.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Great Trailer for a game

This is probably one of the best trailers I've seen for a video game at this time. It's even a zombie apocalypse type game which is sort of shocking to see the creators come up with such an amazing trailer when they are dealing with such a gimmicky type of game (as most new zombie game are, but this one may be different). The trailer is actually moving. Great music selection for what the creators were going for as well. Here's the video.
The forward and backward chronological portrayal of the trailer works really well with showing the viewer what happened and what is going to happen. It even makes the trailer more depressing since the viewer already knows what is going to happen. Like I said, one of the best game trailers that I've seen so far.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Fastest bicycling Event!


I never knew that the fastest bicycling event could be considered the slowest as well. The riders try to trip up each other before they reach the 200 meter mark. Its a mind game until they hit that 200 meter mark. It's interesting to watch, and it's crazy to think how much skill the riders must have to hold still as long as they do.

2011 Spring Semester GDC Playtest



No feedback from the track
While I was at GDC, I had some people playtest the game. Most of the feedback that we received was pretty standard feedback that we had received from previous playtests. There were some interesting comments though. Even though it seems obvious, we were told to have the arrows flash in the direction of where the player needs to go. This is a great idea and will definitely get into the game. It will probably not be in for beta, but definitely for gold.

The testers at GDC also wanted the track to give more feedback to the player, such as changing color when the player crashes into it. The road could also point the player in the right direction by having arrows pointing in the direction the player should be going. Testers at GDC were also having trouble with the sensitivity of the car especially with the flying aspect of the game. This issue has been known and is being worked on. In the end there will be a sensitivity setting in the menus so the player can choose how sensitive the controls are.

Also, just like from previous playtests, the testers wanted more tricks, and just more opportunities to do tricks. Testers also mentioned that the game world was too static, and our team is currently working on changing that. We are working on having moving objects in the background, moving obstacles on the track, and having obstacles land onto the track. Having a more lively world is the game team's goal for beta and we have made some good progress towards that goal.

2011 Spring Semester Playtest Session 4

For this playtest we wanted to know if testers wanted more to do in our game other than just driving around. As one might imagine, the testers unanimously said, "yes". So what we will be working towards is getting more obstacles into the game, and thanks to a team-on-one that we had the other day we know what our plan is for the beta milestone which is in 2 weeks.

Other than asking the question of testers wanting more we also received quite a bit of feedback from players on other issues in the game. I'll also be throwing in a few observations of my own into the mix as well.

First off, here's the new control scheme. There are slight variations from the ground and flight controls.


Testers didn't mention many issues with the control scheme, but I still feel that the controls may be a bit touchy to some players. The flight controls sensitivity still needs to be dampened. In fact, we just need a sensitivity setting in our menu options. This sensitivity issue has already been discussed, and the devs know about it. I just need to keep pestering them about it and they'll eventually add it in.
Flying needs to be faster
In addition, testers have been saying that the flying itself is too slow, and I agree with them. I've already had a playtest meeting with the team and we've come up with some ways to speed it up, such as having the boost mechanic speed the car up more when it's in flight. We also need more ways for the player to be able to cool off the heat meter while flying.

Other than flying, the car still needs a visual cue for when it is about to blow, whether this be done by the screen flashing red, or the car catching on fire. The car catching on fire would be a better effect, but the screen flashing would be easier to implement. Testers also wanted to have an 'auto-upright' feature. This feature would basically allow the player to hit one button and the car would upright itself if it was upside-down.

Another feature that is still missing is a system to direct the player back to the track if they fly off of it. Some testers are still getting disoriented when they are in the air. The textures on the road could fix this have having arrows on them that point in the direction that the player should be going. Creating a wrong-way sign would also help with this.

Testers were also wanting more tricks to do, but before our team can do this we need to solidify our trick system. Figure out what we need to do to actually make it feel apart of the game, such as having the ability to make combos of tricks and having a point system that the player can see. On top of the point system, we also need some sort of rating system for the tricks as well. All of this will help with integrating the trick system into the game, and making it more enjoyable for the player.

Curious Two Worlds 2 Review

I played the first Two Worlds and I enjoyed the combat in game, but that was about all that I enjoyed. Everything else was horrible, such as the AI pathing for just about everything in the game. Also, the random collision walls that your horse would hit while controlling him would usually cause the horse to stop completely or take a path you did not want to take. The storyline and dialogue horrible as well. Mayhap I go over there? Yeah, there were a lot of mayhaps and foresooths and the like in the dialogue and it didn't add anything to it. Though I suppose it did make it very comical.

Anyway, I came across a really interesting review about Two Worlds II. It personifies Two Worlds II as being a game trying to get a score from the reviewer, so the reviewer is essentially interviewing the game to figure out its score. It's a very interesting way to go about doing a review. Here's the link to check it out.

2011 Spring Semester Playtest Session 3

The crab claw you have to do with our old control scheme to utilize the roll mechanic
For this playtest we decided to try out a new control scheme. The reason for this is because we were trying to figure out a way to get the car roll mechanic to be used without doing a form of the crab claw on the controller.

So, instead of the roll buttons being on the bumpers we decided to move them to a state change type of control. The player would now have to hold the left trigger, and use the left joystick to utilize the car roll mechanic. Due to the left trigger being used for the state change we changed the gas and break buttons to 'A' and 'X' respectively on the 360 gamepad. Boosting was moved to the 'B' button, flying was moved to the 'Y' button, and jumping was moved to the left bumper.

Player feedback was unanimous in saying that the controls were horrible, they were ingrained with the idea that the triggers should be gas and break. Most racing games do this, but our team figured that since gas in our game is not pressure sensitive we could but it on a button instead of a trigger. We discovered that the trigger buttons are meant for the most important aspect of a game, and in our case it would be the gas a break abilities. So, we changed the control scheme and will be testing it again as soon as possible.

Controls have changed to the triggers being gas and break, the left bumper being the state change to use the roll mechanic and the left thumbstick to decide which way the car rolls. The car roll mechanic is very handy in tight turning situations as well. 'A' is now boost, 'X' is jump, and 'B' is flying.
Rather than having flying act like a jet fighting game, we need to change the camera to be able to keep the track in view at all times

Other than the control scheme players had issues with the flying camera. It needs to be a bit further from the player, and it should show where the player is going to land if the car is falling. Player's also wanted some sort of indicator to tell them where they need to go. Disorientation occurs when players are in the air for long periods of time, or just get turned around. Indicators to mitigate this could be arrows on the road telling the player where to go, or a HUD element that pops up whenever the player is not going in the right direction of the track.

We also still need to create a tutorial for the game. Right now there are issues with players not knowing what the car is able to do, and players will not read control schemes unless they're forced to. So, a level that teaches the player how to play the game needs to be created and it needs to be integrated into the game. They cannot bypass it.

Now that the issues have been mentioned, testers still enjoyed the game, and they liked the announcer and wanted more from him. So, the team has created more voice over for the announcer and it has been put into the game. We'll have to see how testers respond to the responses the announcer gives.

That's about it when it comes to playtesting for this week. The team is working on all the issues as diligently as possible. Thanks for reading, I'll be continuing to write up these playtests for the rest of this semester at DigiPen.

2011 Spring Semester Playtest Session 2

Playtesters are still receiving the game well. They had a lot of feedback for us this time, and some of it was issues that were not fully apparent to us, such as players not seeing where they are going to land when flying. This became very apparent when players were going off of huge drops offs and having no idea what is under them. Another issue that still needs to change is the warning for the heat meter when it fills up. It needs to be more apparent.


Camera issue in action. notice how there is no telling what's under you, if anything

Basically, there needs to be a hard hitting visual cue that pulls the player out of their focus of playing the game so they notice the meter. There are a ton of ways to get that visual cue, such as having the screen flash red, and changing the UI to get the players attention. We are current pursuing both avenues, and will hopefully have it up before our alpha presentation which is in the second week of February.

Other issues were that players really wanted the car to be able to drift. We've been receiving this feedback for a while now, and we hope to get it into the game at a later date.

One thing that has been surprising is that a dev car ability has become apart of the game. Previously we thought that it was just going to be something that devs would use until we found another solution, but it seems to be working very well. The dev car ability is simply allowing the car to do a barrel roll if the left or right bumper are hit on an Xbox 360 controller. This ability is infinite for now, meaning that one of the bumpers can be held and the car will continue to do barrel rolls until the button is released. This ability helps with flipping the car over if it ends up on its top.

Dev car ability in action, the car is grinding into the ground and thus receiving better "traction" to get around the turns

Playtesters also mentioned that the car should have more control when it slows down. Currently, players have less control over the car when it slows down. This has something to do with the physics in the game, and our physics programmer will start to work on this issue as soon as possible.

Another issue with the game is the level pieces. Currently, there are zero transition pieces between different types of road, such as half pipes and normal road pieces. This is an issue because visually the game looks unfinished, and players have a tendency to crash into areas where if there were transition pieces they would never crash into those areas.

Now that I've spoken of the issues in our game, here's some feedback that players said that was good about our game. Even though playtesters found the flying to be frustrating many said that "Flying is really cool". Many also felt that it was an integral part of the game.

Some of the playtesters gave us some great ideas to play around with as well, such as having the car's wings get brighter as the car moved faster, or have the booster doors pop open instead of slowly open to get the player's attention. Also, players wanted the car to do barrel rolls more quickly while it was in the air, more like how the car can barrel roll without the wings.

2011 Spring Semester Playtest Session 1

The overall feedback from playtesters is that the game is fun! But, regardless of how fun a game is, it can always be funner. The feedback we received the most was that the car controls while flying were a bit touchy, and the flight camera needed some work. The heat meter and it filling up was also not apparent to players, and because of this they usually were not aware of why the car blew up.

Other issues were that the car would turn too fast when it slowed down, and that the car slowed down too quickly. Some players also wanted to drift the car. Drifting is something I would like to see in the game, and we are working on getting it in. Also, some of the colors on the track need to change so the player will see them. Obstacles where the player must jump over them need to be more apparent. Most players crashed into the first jump obstacle because they did not see it. Even though players did not say this directly, most wanted the city to be alive and have more lighting.

One player said "the game is still too hard and I play racing games". With polish I believe the game will get easier, but currently we need to get the mechanics and obstacles set in stone.

Another player said "the game was the best looking junior game they've ever seen". This particular quote made our graphics programmer happy.

Our team is working towards ridding the game of these issues. The technical director is working on an in-game engine that will help with placing down lights in the city, and is also working on setting up tweakable values for faster iteration with game systems such as the camera system. Our team is also going to have a meeting on setting up a system for logic in the game to allow me and our producer to put more life into our world. The physics programmer is going to still be working on physics since that will always need to be tweaked. Our graphics programmer is working on the camera for both ground and air travel. Finally, I'm building levels for the game and as mentioned before I will begin writing logic for the game. I've also spoken to the graphics programmer on how to make it more apparent that the car is about to blow up when the heat meter is getting close to full. We have a few ideas and we will test them in a later playtest session.

That's pretty much where we are right now, and the playtesting has shown what we should be working on for the game to be more enjoyable and playable.

The Spring Semester Has Started

Wow, I am starting to see the end of the tunnel. I am more than halfway through my time at DigiPen! But, I have to stay focused or everything will be for not. Right now I'm working on finishing my Torchlight mod. I put up a piece of it on the runic forums and I'm excited to see what people think of it, whether it be good or bad. I'm assuming the worst, but that is always what I assume. I am now working on my second part of my mod, and I'm starting to make an RPG in gamemaker for my GAT 251 class. I'm curious to see what happens with my GAT 316 class tomorrow, an assignment will more than likely be given. Other than that I really don't have any homework to do. I'm bound to get more soon though.

I also still need to upload my Unreal level, but I've found that I can't play it on my computer so I need to figure that out before I can upload it. Well, that's about it when it comes to what I'm doing currently. I'll be attending the Blizzard company day tomorrow. I'm curious to see what happens there, though I'm guessing not much as I'm a junior. Who knows though, something could happen. I still think I need to work more on my granular mechanic creation. I need to work more with numbers basically. Thats pretty much it. Thanks for reading.

Free Time is Always a Good Thing

I'm enjoying my break from school, and due to the hecticness of school I haven't done anything pointed towards the game I'm working on. I just wanted to do whatever I wanted for this break and it has gone very well. So, the things that I have been doing is playing games, and watching movies, and shows.

I'm finishing up Battlestar Galactica(the new one) for the second time and I've started watching Eden of the East. With games I've been playing Resonance of Fate and a whole bunch of older games like Kotor, Dirt 2, Ogre Battle 64 and the Witcher. I've also been reading random blogs through the help of stumbleupon. It always seems to have something interesting to read.

Another thing that I'm hoping to receive before school starts up again is an Xbox(the original). I ordered one off of Amazon, and it's on its way, but it may not be here until January 4th, which is kind of a downer. The reason why I want an Xbox is to play Phantom Crash, which is a fast-paced mech game. I played a little bit of it on the 360, but the game doesn't run very well since it was meant to be played on the Xbox. Anyway, that is what I've been doing for the past few weeks. I'll be sure to post here if anything new comes up.

First Junior Semester is Over

Well, just like the title says, I basically have an whole month of doing whatever I want. I'll probably be working on the end of my Torchlight mod, and possibly start getting serious about a mod in SC2. In the middle of all of that I'll also touch up my Unreal mod. Oh yeah, I'll probably go home for Christmas and hang out with the family as well. I'll also play some games too. Though it's not really in a sense of play, rather a "tear apart the game" while "playing" it.

More and more I notice that I wonder how the AI in the game detects the player, or even how they choose to respond to the player. There is also the curiosity of why the designer chooses to do the things they are doing in the game. I ask myself so many questions about these design choices and then I try to answer them to the best of my ability, so that when I have to make those decisions I'll have some idea as to what I'm talking about. I think this month off will be fun regardless of what I do since I'll be doing what I want to do and not be bogged down by classes that pull me in every which direction.

New Video For First-Playable



Hell yeah! I created this video all by myself. The team I'm on has been working extremely hard on this game, and I wanted to show how far our game has come since Engine Proof, so I decided to make a video of it. Plus, we get a Level A TCR out of the way while doing it. It's win-win for everybody. It's also one of the few things I can do for my team, as more of the TCRs are oriented towards coding. I feel this video shows everything that is in our game so far, and I'm proud to show this video to everyone who reads this blog(not too many people, but whatever). Be sure that there is more to come for this game, much more!

Amazing First Playable Presentation

The game has come a long way since prototype, and I am happy to see the changes. It's amazing to look at what our game was at prototype and what it is now. There is definitely a noticeable progression. Physics is better by far than it was at prototype, and the overall visual, audio, and design appeal have increased in quality dramatically. We have a lot to do for this game, but we have already come so far! Our team should have new content up at some point this week. I'll be making a gameplay video as well!