Developer Diary #15

[Mike]

Design

Ooops! Bit late with the diary this month. We've all been so busy beavering away that we didn't even notice what the date was. So, another month nearer the end of the project and everything continues to come on in leaps and bounds. It's been another "bits and bobs" month for me and I'm not sure what to talk about. I know, I'll answer one of the questions you've mailed in...Looking in our mailbag, I can see that we've been inundated with a letter from a Mrs. Trellis of North Wales, who writes:

Dear CliffyB,
Congratulations on the success of your game, as well as your boyish good looks. I've had an idea for a sequel, which you're welcome to use: it's a horror game, based around a cursed dam that fills with blood once a year. You could call it "Weirs of Gore".
Yours helpfully, Mrs. Trellis

Hmm...not really a question, was it? Well, the largest single job I've done this month was to look at the mission structure again. Long-time readers (good to see you both) may remember me writing about the initial creation of the mission structure back in May. I burbled on for a bit about the structure I'd chosen and the way I'd assigned the main objectives for each mission and arranged the plot elements so that they'd be encountered at key points in the game. Since then, having built one complete level and a bit of another, we decided that we could make the levels larger than we'd originally thought. That meant that the mission objectives we'd previously planned weren't going to be enough for the new, larger, missions. So, I've gone through the mission plan again, moved a few objectives around, added new ones and made sure that all the plot points are still happening in the correct places. Oddly enough, this was harder than writing the plan in the first place, but it's all done now and I think the game's going to be a lot better because of it. More complex main objectives and more secondary objectives should give the game a lot more replayability, which can only be a good thing.

The next job on the list is to design and build all of the remaining missions in the game (gulp). Yep, a big job, but one that should be fun to do; here's how we're planning on approaching it. First I'm going to write a broad overview of each of the missions - what kind of things will be talked about in the briefings, the main events that need to happen in each mission etc. The idea of doing that first is that it should keep the game feeling like a narrative whole, rather than just a set of connected missions.

Next, I'll write a User Story for each of the missions. I mentioned those before but basically it's a list of all the things that can happen in the mission, both from the point of view of the player and with reference to the behind the scenes stuff. It's a really helpful approach as it separates the creation of the content of the level from the nuts-and-bolts of actually building the thing. At the same time as doing the User Story I'll also do a rough 2d map of the level design, showing basic landscape features and placement of important buildings. Once that's done, I'll send them off to Mal, who'll build the landscape model and place down the buildings, trees and other decorative features. He then sends that back to me so that I can wire up all the logical elements and populate the level with enemies. Simple, eh?

Right, I'd better get on with it. No idea what I'll talk about in next month's diary now as I'll just have been building levels and I've blown all the details of that in this one. Maybe I'll hit the postbag again...

[Mal]

ART

Being an Artist at Games Faction makes you a man of many hats. This week I've had on my animators hat, which is much like the one John Wayne has been kind enough to model for us.

Once I don my animators hat I am transformed into a crazed loon who jumps and ducks around the office, firing imaginary guns and screaming for mercy as I draw my last breath! No really I do. The best tool an animator has is their own body, it's the greatest source of reference you'll own. That and perhaps a mirror.

I've had a lot of animation to do this month and before that can start, we needed to design a system, a way of hanging the animations together, some rules of what animations (or sets of animations) we'll include, and consider how we'll implement that in game. We have 4 main sets which are driven by the type of weapon the character is using. There is a little duplication between sets and a lot of unique moves. In addition to the 4 basic sets we've enabled overrides which can work on a per weapon basis. These can override any number of the animations in the base set. We'll need this as while the base set may work well for a character swinging a sword, we'll want a different action for Axes or Hammers.

During game play your Hero needs to stand out of the crowd. One way to do this is to consider the silhouette the character makes, this shape if often seen before any of the details so it's a good short hand we can use to focus the player.

The Hero. To define his strength and leadership I've given him a sturdy wide stance, booming  chest, shoulders wrenched back and the arms wide apart. He's not afraid of anything!

The Trooper on the other hand is cautious, he knows he's not the star of show and he knows how it goes in Star Trek, there is a fair chance he's going to die! So his back is a little arched, his legs ready to spring into action, and his weapon raised.

And here is our Enemy Grunt. He's a not smart enough to realise he's cannon fodder! He's bestial in his demeanor, noticeable bending at the knees hunched back and short neck, rather Ork-ish.

Well that's a look at just a few of our characters. You should be able to notice them on the battlefield quite easily! I'm signing off now and donning my animators hat once more, make some room, here I come...