U72: Difficulty & Structure of Gameplay

Difficulty:

Difficulty in games is something that determines how challenging a game is, or how difficult the challenges are. For example, if there is an enemy you need to destroy to collect a key off them to progress the level. Low difficulty could give the enemy low health so it can be killed quickly, or doesn't do as much damage to the player. Medium difficulty could give the enemy increased health, attacks that do more damage and give the enemy more abilities that the player has to watch out for.

In most games, difficulty can be changed to suit the player's style, if they are new to the game or are not very good players they can opt to have a low difficulty - making te challenges easier to accomplish according to their skill level. Veteran players, or players who may already be familiar with the game (From a prequel or playing several similiar types before) may increase the difficulty for a greater challenge, or so the game is not too easy, and thus boring.

Balance is also a primary component of games that has to be taken into consideration at all times, balance defines the 'learning' curve of a game, player skill progression, character development and increase in difficulty. Designers must take balance into account when developing a game to ensure it can stay enjoyable, but isn't boringly easy, or frustratingly difficult - Which diminishes gameplay value and enjoyment.
- For example, making a game too easy will offer no challenge, and challenges are the main component of a game, so with an easy challenge the game becomes boring.
- If a gamer will always strive to become better and stronger, making a game too difficult will block a player from becoming strong enough to overcome that challenge at an acceptable difficulty rating. Why would a player play a game if they can't even defeat a challenge that's too difficult? Only hardcore players would endure through it, which means most other aduiences will be pushed out which is bad for profit and popularity. Players would give up knowing they are putting in all that effort and getting no reward for it because they can't defeat the challenge.

Balancing a game can be done in a variety of ways, the main one employed by most games is an actual difficulty setting. For example you may select "Easy, Medium or Hard" modes as you play a game, this would affect things such as enemy health, enemy skill (Aiming skill, fighting efficienty etc) Some games even allow for the player to change the difficulty in mid-game such as Skyrim, Oblivion and Two Worlds II, The second way is to make the start of the game easy, player skill will most likely be low because of their unfamiliarty with the game and its mechanics. Players would progess through this and become attuned to its workings and gameplay, thus become better and smarter at the game, as a response, difficulty usually increases to reflect this - Presenting new challenges the player can attempt with their new skill sets - This keeps the game enjoyable, without being too hard nor too easy but keeping the player striving for better abilities, equipment or a progression of story line at a comfortable rate.

Some games of course break this for the pure sake of targetting a particular audience, for example the Dark Souls game is exceptionally anti-newb friendly and is very difficult to play, there are no difficulty settings and the difficulty progression remains high. This gives players a great challenge and would put off most casual gamers (Within the first 20 minutes there's a boss you cannot kill!) Dark Souls even brought out a version called "Prepare to die edition"

 



 

Structures of challenges:

There are three common ways of progressing a game, or providing play a means to travel from level to level, challenge to challenge. Although there are three main ways, they can all be included in the same game to add variety to how a player may progress through levels and challenges.

 

Linear Structure

- A linear structure defines a game where the play progresses from various levels in a straight forward fashion. Level 1 > Level 2 > Level 3, players can only progress forward and can never revisit a level they have already completed.

- Examples of games with a linear structure:

The Halo series all have linear structure, the player has a set series of levels that the player progresses through. Level 1, the player has X challenge to do (Capture an objective) which leads to Y challenge (Hold the objective for 5 minutes) Then level complete. The player then progresses to level 2.

 

 

 







U72: Gameplay Fundamentals

Task 1: Deconstruct a game level you have played and identify key elements of gameplay indicated above.Include screen shots or video clips to help when explaining.

Game to deconstruct - Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun.

Level - Capture hammerfest base

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Goals
Primary Goal - Destroy the enemy base
Secondary Goals
- Capture Hammerfest base to produce a force in order to attack the enemy base.
- Collect resources
- Build refineries, power plants and buildings to generate resources, power and units.
- Defend your construction Yard

Challenges
- The player starts with only a handful of units to take the base, these are finite and if they are destroyed the player will have to restart the level.
- The player has to use this handful of units to defeat enemy forces to recapture the bases, these can retaliate and overwhelm the player if they do not positon their troops correctly and don't take advantage of objects (Such as Oil barrels that can destroy units and blockades)
- When the base is recaptured, the player has to defend it from initial attack using the few troops still availible.
- The base is heavily damaged and can be easily destroyed, this also means the damaged power plants do not output enough power for buildings and defensive weapon turrets, which means the base is more vulnerable to being attacked. The player has to try repair everything and still keep the base intact.
- There is a finite number of starting resources and the player must spend these on generating more resources, buying units to protect the base and amassing a force.
- The enemy constantly produce new units to defend and assault your base, as well as reconstruct their own defenses, so the challenge lies within getting a stronger force at a faster speed and destroying the base to eliminate any chance of them recuperating.
- The Fog of War shrouds the map in blackness, the player has to move units into this fog of war to reveal it on screen and on the minimap. This means it will be difficult to generate strategies and requires a risk in sending units to scout the new area, which could be an ambush or a heavily fortified area.

Player Actions
- Can select individual or multiple units to attack specified targets or buildings to destroy them.
- Players can select buildings to perform actions such as repair them, shut off their power (To divert to other buildings) and sell what structures you do not require, or if you need the resources from selling them.
- Use the UI panel on the right hand side of the screen to build units, buildings and research. Right click to stop, cancel and remove units, research and buildings from the build queue.
- Place buildings, walls, turrets and other structures down to access their functions via the UI panel.
- Can use explosive weaponry (Missiles, grenades, disc throwers) to destroy bridges to cut off enemy reinforcement, and send enemies on the bridge plunging into the water to destroy them easier.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M9PEVO7FkA&feature=relmfu
The above video's opening seconds show this tactic being employed to sink an enemy infantry man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onxcs3is1ck&feature=related
This shows a quick video of the UI panel, on how to build and place structures, queue units and unlocking the tech tree (Building & placing Structure X, will unlock structures Y and Z, for example)

- Ctrl+Left click. When units are selected, this can be used to "Target the floor" meaning units will fire at the spot
Rewards
- Completing the main goal allows the player to complete the mission and progress through the campaign to other missions.
- Completeing some of the secondary goals unlock the primary goal (Taking over the base to attack the enemy)
- Destroying certain units/objects can unlock additional units to make taking the base much easier.
- Generating resources, destroying enemy units and structures, protecting your own structures and other similiar accomplishments increase your score and stats in the debriefing screen.
Game Mechanics
- Fog of War, is a game mechanic that restricts vision so tactical decisions on how to approach or explore an area must be considered.


As you can see, the map is black until the units approach
The blackness, it is likewise revealed on the minimap.

- The level & camera border is also a mechanic that stops the player from placing structures and units outside of the map. It also means there's a limit on the amount of resources available, as well as a build limit.

- Terrain is a mechanic that limits player actions and forces them to change their tactics to accomodate the effects of terrain. For example. cliff edges, hill slopes and the resources (The green Tiberium on the floor) restrict placing structures and buildings. Tiberium & vines can slowly kill infantry that move across it and the vines can, over time destroy vehicles. Water will stop any non-flying, non-amphibious units from moving through it, and ice can be destroyed to sink units on it, heavy vehicles also fall through ice and are destroyed. These force the player to maneuver their units stretgically through the safest possible route, or provide a risk if a player needs to get units A through dangerous terrain, to area B in cases of urgency.

This image shows two things, firstly how the terrain forced the Nod vehicles (Red) to traverse the bridge, whereas the MLRS (Yellow flying vehicles) are floating across it easily, as you can see the bridge is being destroyed and the resulting carnage forces them to plunge into the water to be destroyed, this is a way how terrain can limit the way you move your forces.



- Power is another game mechanic that players have to keep in check to keep their base functioning. The player needs to construct power plants to provide power to their buildings, without power, the building's functions will not work (E.g. Turrets will not fire, radar dish will not show the minimap). Damaging a power plant will lower its power output, meaning less power available to provide for the base. Players will need to provide power, and defend their plants to keep their base from being destroyed in its vulnerable state.



 This is the power bar, the red potion indicates how much power is being used. The yellow and green bars represent excess energy, bot currently being used. Yellow means a low amount of excess, it is a sort of 'danger' signal, if you're in the yellow power bar ONLY, then you are likely to use more power than you generate when you build more structures. Green means there is a surplus of energy, and that you are less likely to power down when placing new structures.














- The resource, Tiberium, is the most important mechanic in the game. This resource system is used for everything from purchasing units, to spending resources to build structures, turrets and repairing structures. Players will primarily fight over collecting this "Tiberium" to produce more units, larger bases and gain an advantage over their enemies.

The green particles you can see to the north-east and southwest. Units called "Harvesters" have to collect these and refine it in order to produce money to spend as a resource.

U72: U3 Game World & Visual Style

Game worlds.

Game Design Brief 1 - 2D Game

My initial design is still the  same, I am quite content with the setting, game world and such but I would like to add weather effects and more to increase immersion, difficulty and better visuals.

Genre: Side-Scrolling Action game. Side scrollers have been massively successful and are very simple to create, it will allow the player to navigate through the map while also looking at a backdrop of the enviroment to set the scene of the post apocalyptic setting and Artic wasteland.

Game world description:
Lighting - The game would be light by the natural sunlight as it rises over the horizon, however, some levels may include darkness, which would rely on the golem using the light of his own steam engine to light the path and create a greater challenge, and to also add things such as machines and oil barrels the player could ignite to reveal the darkness temporarily - This is to add to both the isolated, lonely feeling of being the only functioning Golem in the Artic wastes, and to intensify the atmosphere of being truly alone in the world.

Weather - Typically it would be clear, the skies would be visible and rain would never occur, however, occaisional blizzards and possible avalanches may occur, adding more danger elements to the game and keep the enviroment dynamic and visually appealing to the player.

Terrain - The terrain will consist primarily of Icy plains, snowy tundras and Rocky earth, occaisionally revealing cobblestone paths, metal railings and other forms of man-made walking paths for the golem to scale. so bright white, blue and grey colours would be mainly used for the terrain.

Architecture - Machinery, Pipes portruding from the ground or thawed from ice would be littered around, cavern entrances or overworld bunkers may be visible to the player, completely derelict and in a state of disrepair. Occaisionally, there may be sightings of larger structures, such as aqueducts or iron scaffoldings, bridges and perhaps even large scale outpsts or watch towers as the player enters the heart of the Human's original settlement. They would be made of brass, steel, iron and other dull metals that would be frquently availible, and to also keep in tune with the Steampunk setting.

Objects - Items around the game world could be picked up, interacted with and used. For example there could be fuel barrels to pick up and throw, buttons and levers to open doors and portculises. Other things such as faulty machinery and 'upgrades' could be availible, for example a mining drill upgrade for the arm to break through frosted cavern entrances and such. Fuse boxes and gears could also be interacted with to repair/destroy certain systems to progress through the level, or to halt enemies.

Inspiration: Main inspiration comes from Antartica's natural iceland and Victorian steam engines and other construction materials.
The natural glaciers, freezing ocrean temperature.

This will inspuire the conraptions and piping that will litter the wasteland, the many several pipes, exposed wiring and machinery would be a primary element in this








This is a brief design I produced and enhanced in Photoshop, while it isn't perfect, it's a rought draft of what the game level may look like. With the 2D Icebergs being jumped over to progress through, with littered debris from old Steampunk scaffoldings and machines in the background. The broken down Golem could be an object used for scrap, or to come to life as an enemy.

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Design brief 2 - 3D time travel game

My initial design, upon seeing the time travel part was aready decided. I already conjured a character who is a chronomancer and thought he would fit this perfectly, I thought that this would be a great oppertunity to explore a large number of different architectural styles that can represent different points in time.

Genre: 3rd person Action Roleplaying game. I chose this genre because it will be based around the use of magic and will include area of effect spells and abilities while being swamped by hordes of enemies. For this reason, 3rd person perspective would be suitable because you can both observe the effect of spells, identify their scale relative to the player model and keep track on the battlefield a lot easier.

Game world description: t will be split into three different catagories.

- Ancient era, this will be composed of very new, ancient architecture with vast amounts of lush, untouched land and massive scale buildings fresh from a civilisation with a thirst for architecture.

- Modern era, this will be set in a victorian era heavily based upon the steampunk theme. Large buildings, archaic structures from a victorian gothic style. The golden age of development and magic is over, and the slow decline into the tindustrial revolution.

- Future era. This era is plagued by megacorporations, slums and cybernetics gone to an all greater height. The enviroment will consist of massive skyscrapers, tight, compact apartment buildings and very dark, gritty streets. Magic is tightly regulated and almost exclusively used by those with the money to turn the heads of those who would otherwise cleanse such magic users.

(Look at shadow run)

This will inspire my present time theme, it will be the sort of cramped, industrial setting that most people would live in. Set around the industrial revolution with large factories, busy communities and an abundance of engineers and wannabe inventors.

 This will be reference for the many water tanks that would litter the busy factories, as a primary source of cooling and emergency reserves in the event of a fire.



U72:C3 Game character & NPC development

2D Game design ideas
Considering my player character will be some form of Steampunk automaton. For this i'll be looking at relevant golems, of both stone, magical and Steampunk.
(Add Dwemer automatons here when home)


 This is a typical steam engine that was used during the industrial revoltion, it will be a good reference for how steam power can be transferred into kinetic energy (I.E Moving the robot)

This gas powered crossbow is the weapon of choice for van Helsing, in the film, Van Helsing. It's a good rendition of an ancient ranged weapon with a modern twist to it, while still keeping the archaic component.
The rotary loading mechanism can also be a reference for a semi-automatic firing weapon of the Steam golem.

A stone furnace constructed in 1881, so it is a perfect time to go hand-in-hand with the steam powered Golem character, it'll be the primary method of generating movement (Which would reduce over time) and replenished by coal and other burnable fuels. However, it would be made of a metal and made much more compact, however it would still make up the bulk of the Golem, as it qwould require a large area to both burn a sufficient amount of fuel and to house the ventilation of the steam.

This is a Phillipine hand cannon, otherwise known as the "lantaka" they were mounted onto merchant vessels to protect them from pirates and looters. This could be a good reference for a mounted weapon on the Steam Golem as a sort of "1 shot" use with limited ammunition as a sort of special attack when it is needed, such as a boss battle for example.

This is a model steam golem with what I assume to be the exaust pipe on the top, hand cannon on the right arm and a cleaver of some type on the left arm. it's a very bulky, large and heavily plated machine. Displaying the innovative, yet obvious proto-design of being an earlier model steam golem.

The architecture on the top of this mech would be the sort of style I would want for my own Golem. Having the steam exausts located on the arms and, again, to be a bulky, heavily plated machine.

















3D Game design ideas
My player character will be a chronomancer, so my inspirations would come from mage-inspired attire along with strange, otherworldy features to distinguish him as a rift walker. Furthermore, he is also an inventor, so again, more steampunk inspired machinery, devices and items would be good to look at as well.

 



This is how vibrant and dynamic I would like elemental magic to be for the character, so it is both graphically pleasing to look at and enjoyable to unleash such powerful, vibrant spells.

The image on the left is a graphic drawing of a Steampunk-inspired armour set from World of Warcraft. The image on the rightis a steampunk engineer with a Steam Golem - This image is also useful for perhaps depicting what my character/enemies may look like in my 2D Artic game.

 

 

Apparel:

Considering the mage is an inventor, he will undoubtedly have a variety of different weapons with him, which can be translated into adaptive gameplay elements. below will be a collection of images to inspire me on what items the Mage could use.

 

Clockwork Pistol would be one of his main ranged weapons, however it would be elementally attuned to fire more than just ammunition, this could be an unlockable perk to channel spells through the weapon.

 



 



 

As with above, this grenade could be a standard gunpowder, or phosphorous grenade. or enchanted with runes, crystals or any other mystical means to empower it with Arcane, fire or Frost magic. (Such as freezing a group in place, to add crowd control abilities)



 



The staff is a staple tool in a mage's arsenal, it allows them to amplify their spells and abilities.and as such would be an essential tool for focusing magical energy to greater heights. Plus, improvement of the staff can lead to stronger, new and more unique spells.

 

I wanted an Ethereal blade, considering this Mage is a mage, most of his time would of been devoted to reading tomes, memorising spells and knowledge - Thus his true abilitiy to wield a blade with a efficiency would be diminished. To counter this, an Ethereal blade would easily phase through armour, and being a magic weapon, can be a melee-counterpart to the staff. Being able to channel magic and abilities through the weapon, which will once more open up the combat styles the player could choose.



U72: C1 Visual Style Genre & Perspectives

Examining the three main focuses of the upcoming games:

Genre
Genres define what type of game the player will likely to experience, it also defines what content the game would have. For example the storyline, gameplay, game world and even perspectives can and will be highly influenced by the genre of the game.

Types of Genres:
Action
Roleplaying Game
Adventure
Puzzle

Action Genre
- Action games define fast paced games that involve realtime scenarios, for example in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, the player has to fight in realtime melee/magic or ranged combat against enemies who can strike back as many times as the player can, as opposed to turn based. They tests things such as hand eye coordination, speed and skill. For example with the Skyrim example, players in combat must quickly react to threats such as a spell being thrown at them, or how to block a power attack, or if they suddenly drop to low health, what will they do?

Skyrim's realtime battle system keeps you adapting and reacting to the situation.

Roleplaying Genre
A Role-Playing game would be centered around the player controlling, or filling the position of a particular person immersed in a world to accomplish a specific task - Such as slaying a powerful dragon, or finding a hidden artefact, or even saving the world. Whatever the quest is, it will almost always be set in a game world that interacts with the player and adds immersion to the game, to add to the effect that you are a piece of this world and are a participant in it, like many other NPCs. Playable characters usually have a place or a "Role" within this fantasy setting and it is up to the player to decide how to use the character to interact with the world, or how to progress through the world to accomplish whatever task is set for them.

(Images of Kingdoms of Amalur)

U72: C1 Initial game ideas

Two primary concepts:

We had to choose between two of five design briefs. I chose design brief 1 & 2. The 2D game & 3D game about time travel

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Design brief 1 - 2D Game

Inspiration:
When I read the briefing, I thought of things I could of made from an Artic setting. I played around with a few generic ideas of eskimos, artic animals and such but then thought of Skyrim - One area in particular called "Alftand" is a very old ruin, hidden beneath a snowy Tundra and excavated by treasure hunters. As you go deeper inside, the icy caverns melt away to reveal the structure within, melted ice, droplets of water, pools and snowed in areas litter the place. The atmosphere of this place was really intense as you could hear and see the battle for the steam pipes and machinery become under constant threat from the harsh conditions of the artic lands. This was a main inspiration for my 2D. The seconardy part was my innate love of the steampunk fantasy setting, I threw a few ideas around of what NPCs I could have such as humans, animals and such, but I thought i'd prefer it would be good to fight the old Automatons as they would make interesting enemies. We had to also include health picks up and I wondered how such a wasteland could have such a thing - So I thought being one of these Golems, they could harvest the abundance of scrap, wires and coal fuel to power and repair themselves. Now another dilemma occured "Who made these golems, and why aren't there any humans around?" While i've always been a fan of the whole 'isolated, post apocalyptic' scenario where it feels like one man against the world, I love the feeling you get from this feeling of being in a land where you know nothing and have no one. Thus I decided to make him the sole 'sane' Golem, while the others would be its rampant counterparts - Thus the scenario of the game was considered. Considering it was now Post-apocalyptic I wondered how I could imrpove what the game world would look like and settle on littering wreckage and old piping, mining rigs and machinery both intact and destroyed, around the game world to set the scene of this new world.

(Add images from Alftand and Fallout)
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Inspiration: My inspiration for the Chronomancer came partly from World of Warcraft, I frequently roleplay on that game as a Mage who consistently drifts through time rifts and finds himself in all kinds of trouble. My love of Chronomancy stems from its unique and diversity that standard magic misses. Instead of the generic fire frost arcane spells, one could blink instantly, bend time to slow his foes, increase his own speed, remove himself from time temporarily or even open other time rifts to clone himself. This sort of "Time magic" has always fascinated me and so I included this into my Roleplay Character. From here, i've managed to refine and improve the story, image and other assets of my character. Furthermore, as I stated earlier, I am a massive fan of Steampunk and technology so I blended this into his character as well by making him an inventor. However, my love of both magic and technology wanted me to take it further, and thus I began to introduce something called "Mechamagicks" which is the fusion of magic into technology. For example creating Magical grenades, Elemental flamethrowersm, enchanted rifles and such. I adopted most of this character's traits into the one I would use in the 3D game, because of the similarity of my Chronomancer and the Time travel brief. Another bit of inspiration came from a game I used to play years ago on the SNES called "Chrono Trigger" After remembering this game, I began playing it again using an emulator and it is an RPG game that involves time travel to the past, future and present. I was inspired by its style and design and decided to also incorperate elements of its style.