Week 5 - State Machines Research

Unit 8

State Machines

Thursday 5th May 2016: The Game Maker's Companion, Jacob Habgood

What is a State Machine?

"State machines provide a way of breaking down large programming tasks into smaller chunks so that you can consider them more easily."

It seems that a State Machine Is a page of code that makes your game work. It can also be referred to by other pieces, this can greatly simplify the coding process if done right and allow you to do more complex actions within the game. It also helps tell the game what should be happening when a specific state is started, for example if the character enters a falling state then he will fall down, but if he then hits a platform he will enter the standing state and stop.

How does it work?

The aim of a State Machine is to make things within the game change states, this will cause different things to happen based on what state the object enters.

Here is a diagram of a state machine for a game that the book is using as an example:

This diagram gives a clear representation about the different states for the character and how they enter each one, as we can see if the player is in the standing state and presses the space bar then the character will enter the jumping function. Once the animation ends then it will hen enter the falling state until it hits the ground, at which point it will return to the standing state.

How would it be useful to my project?

The point of a state machine, is to have a sort of engine that can control apects of the game using minimal amounts of code. This will also allow easy troubleshooting if something were to go wrong.

Will I use it?

If I find that time is on my side, then I will defiantly like to look into creating one for my game, as It would be a good thing to learn for any future projects.

Week 5 - Level Design Research

Unit 8

Luigi's Mansion Level Analysis

Luigi's Mansion is a horror game made by Nintendo that is based in the Mario universe. The game has Luigi, who is exploring a mansion looking for his missing brother, capturing ghosts by using a vacuum and a flashlight. The game is designed for a younger audience, this shows within the gameplay and level design.

The game is split up into lots of rooms, each with varying contense. The player begins by entering the foyer, this room has multiple exits that the player can use. This makes the player feel like they have a choice in where they go, but actually most of the rooms are locked and require a key to open. Keys are acquired form beating rooms or interacting with the environment. This controls the progression and serves as a way of rewarding the player for progressing and stops the player from getting bored. As the player progresses they encounter harder enemies and more difficult puzzles. This keeps the player on their toes. There are also bosses and unique enemies that require special ways to defeat which will change up the gameplay and keep it interesting. The game also has a room that fills with pictures of all the bosses you have beat, which allows the player to keep track of their progress.

The actual design of the levels are of an old Victorian mansion. This is important as the location is in he title. The rooms use a lighting system that seems dynamic, so if there is no lights on then the room will be dark. This also lets the player know if there are ghosts in the room, as they will only spawn in rooms with no light. If the player defeats all the ghosts in a room the lights will turn on and the player can proceed, they may also be rewarded with something.

Legend of Zelda

The Legend of Zelda is an action/adventure game created by Nintendo. The game has you control the main protagonist in an adventure to save a princess from a demon king, by collecting various items and weapons. The game was designed to be family friendly as gaming back then was seen as more of a child's entertainment.


The game is split up into sections that the game will load as the player walks off of one. This means that the game only needs to load one frame at a time, thus helping conserve memory consumption. This was done likely due to the low processing power of the consoles at the time, so this was chosen to accommodate this. The use of frames meant that the world can be split into a grid, which not only allows someone to easily identify a location on the map, but also means that level design can also be done in a grid format.


As this is an open world game the player is allowed to roam what is known as the 'overworld' a level that has the entrances to other levels. This allows the player to access new levels without breaking the flow of gameplay with menus. This also serves to give the player the feeling of choice as the player can go where they want, this can be a little overwhelming to some players but can also make the game more enjoyable.


To access other levels the player will need to find the entrance on the overworld, this can be as enjoyable as a level in a well designed overworld. Once the player finds an entrance they can touch it to get taken to one of the games dungeons which the player will get rewarded for completing. Some dungeons require items from other dungeons, this gives the player a sense of progress when they are able to access a part of the game that they couldn't previously. This will also stop players accessing content that the developer does not want them to access until a certain point, after all a game will be boring if you could go straight to the final boss...


The game uses a 8Bit graphic style, this was due to the limited technology available. This basic style meant that things did not need to be realistic or believable, they only needed to represent. Simple graphics go well with the children's fantasy setting of the game as children don't want a game that's too complicated, and the art style gives the impression of simplicity.

My Thoughts

From this I now know that I will need to plan out not only the layout of the level, but things like enemy locations, difficulty and rewards to keep the player entertained. I will need to think about whether I want the player to have choice in where to go, or if it should be a linier experience. The appearance of the levels should fit the theme of the level, so no future items in a past setting. The size of the levels should also be taken into account. Small levels do not work well with fast paced action games, and large levels are bad for slow paced games. I also need to make sure that the levels have enough in them, as a large empty space is not as enjoyable as a small well populated one. I also need to think about whether I want to have an overworld in my game, or if the gameplay would better be better suited by having just one big open world.

Week 4 - Button Design

Unit 8 Week 4

Attack

Defend

Break

This week I began to design some assets that I will need to create my game. I decided to begin with some simple buttons to allow the player to select the action they wish to take in combat.

To begin with I created a 64 x 64 pixel art board within illustrator. This would not only to keep the buttons the same size but by adding a single pixel grid overlay, I was able to give each button a pixelated appearance that I want the rest of the game to have.

When coming up with the design of the icons, I wanted to keep them simple but recognizable. This would keep them inline with the simple aesthetic I want to have, but would also allow the player to easily understand what each option will do. To do this I chose a single colour for each button that I felt best represents the actions, Red is an aggressive colour so I used that for Attack and Blue is a passive colour so I used it for Defend. Finding a colour for the Break option was more difficult as while the action is a type of attack, I could not have two options using the same colour as it would look strange. In the end I narrowed it down to two options, green or yellow, both of these colours are actually quite neutral colours and it looked ok with both, but I chose yellow as I felt green would be too neutral while yellow has an energetic feel to it.

Next I began to work on the icons that are inside the button. I was going to just have the words Attack, Defend and Break inside, But I felt that that would make the player slow down in order to read the text. It also would mean that I would have to find or create a typeface that would fit with the aesthetic of the game and I don't have time to waste on something like that. After looking at the game Fate/Extra I decided to use their style where the actions are represented by small symbols. This helps the player picture what each action would do and would also let me keep the buttons small and square, which would have been difficult with text.

When coming up with the designs for the icons I wanted to use icons that would easily associate with the action that they are supposed to represent. I chose a fist for attack as it is a very aggressive gesture and would not be mistaken for another action. I also thought about using a sword, but unless my main character uses a sword this would not be as effective as a clenched fist. For guard I chose a shield as it is a symbol of defense. Finally for the Break action I chose to use a broken shield. This makes it obvious that this action is supposed to be used against a defending action.


While the above are not final designs, they are a good base for the designs that I am looking to make. In the final versions I hope to add more detail and perhaps change the designs a little to accommodate the setting of the game i.e: time period, colour schemes, etc..