Unit 9
My game and final project “The Plague of Mary King’s Close” comes to an end. At least as far as the final project is concerned. I have many things that didn’t make it into the game and a few things that did make it that I had not planned for. This is a list of things I would like to add to the game at a later time.
First I wanted hazards in the game. I wanted to have people dumping filth out of the windows onto the player, or they would dump it and if the player ran through the filthy their speed would be halved. I also wanted the ghost of Mary King to appear and attack the player. I would have liked to have added a jump ability to be able to jump over these hazards.
I started off taking inspiration from an old NES game called “Caveman Games” and particularly one event of the game called “Dino Vault”. Players would set the height that they wanted to clear, which made the dinosaur you had to jump over taller for more difficulty. I wanted there to be more stages and the harder the stage would be, the taller the wall.
In the original idea I had for this game the player was not only judged by if they cleared the wall, but how far they got the dead body from the wall. I would like to get this in the game at some point. I originally wanted there to be multiple stages. Each stage would have it’s own objections. For instance a player might have to get 5 bodies over the wall in 30 seconds in one stage. The stages could have some platforming elements in them as well. I would have liked it if the player would have had one stage where the player had to ascend to a certain height with a body and throw them off at the top.
There are some things I wish I could have done differently. The major thing for me is that I wish I would have done this project from start to finish without trying to get help. Although, while I was waiting for my friend to program some of the game for me I got a lot of the art assets finished so I didn’t really lose out too much. I wish he could have actually helped me. I knew he was a good programmer. I guess he was either not really wanting to help and just being nice, or he might be bad at time management. I have no way of knowing.
All in all I am very happy with the game I have created. I have never tackled a game of this size on my own. Is it the best game ever, no, but I think it does what I wanted, it looks great, it is fun even though the actual game is rather simple. I think people will enjoy playing the game wrong more than playing it right. They could try for a high score, or they could see how many bodies they could pile up. I have had many people report doing just that. The game is left open for the player to decide what they want to do with it.
I think the best part of it is the look and feel. It is cute, funny and creepy all at the same time. I think it is a great starting point for a really fun to play game.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
What's New?
Unit 9
So there are a lot of new things in the Beta version of the game.
http://3doodle.com/Unity/MCK/MKC_Beta/WebPlayer/MKC_Beta.html
The HUD
There is a properly working HUD. Before I had only had the power meter and the angle meter. There has been an update to the angle meter as well. There is now a red area, a hot spot so to speak. This is to let the player know that if they want to know when the best time to throw is, it's when the green marker is over the hot spot. It's also best to throw when the meter is on the way up, rather than on the way down. That's just a tip. In addition to the two meters there is now time, discarded, bodies, and total score. The bodies number let's you know how many you threw. The discarded number let's you know how many of the the bodies you threw actually made it over the wall. The score works in a funny way. It takes into account your accuracy, so it may show a high number, but if you miss, you lose a lot of points.
You may also notice a glowing green ring.
Pickup Point
There is now a pickup point, a spot to let you know that you are in a location for picking up bodies. This was not in the original plans, but as I was finishing up the game my wonderful wife pointed out she had no idea how to get any bodies. I decided to make a glowing green ring and start you off in the center of it. When you are in the ring, it's green. When you step out it turns red. It's a good thing this was brought up. My wife said "Well there are bodies laying all over the place, how was I to know?". That brings up another addition, the bodies. I decided to put them everywhere. The are really just there for aesthetic purposes.
The Instructions
Hey, would you look at that. The instructions finally come with the game. This is fairly simple. I had another idea on how to handle the instructions by showing a tutorial, but that will have to come some other day, when there is as much time as I want to do what I want. My biggest issue was I have two control setups. At the end I just thought it would be best to write it out. It's not fancy, but I feel lit gets the job done.
What Else?
There have been a lot of little tweaks done here and there. I had a lot I had to redo and a lot I still had to do. You used to only be able to throw one direction. The bodies would sometimes vanish. They still sort of do from time to time, but now they will pop back up. Before they just fell through the ground. The rigs for the bodies and the colliders would stay, they were invisible, but the mesh of the bodies wouldn't collide and would pass right through the ground. That had to be redone completely. Finally up until last night there were no sounds. I own 2 Digital Juice audio libraries and some other stuff I recorded myself. Many of the sound effects were recorded by me and edited in Adobe Audition.
What's Next?
Hopefully graduation. This has been a fun final project. It definitely gave me a few near panic attacks, but I am very proud of it. It's by far the best game I have done on my own. I have never programmed a game of this scale from start to finish. There is still more that I would like to do. I'd like to make the character jump. I'd like there to be obstacles and different hazards to slow you down. I'd like there to be multiple stages. I'd like some developer to see this and take some sort of interest. I could see redoing this for iPhone. The controls would really have to be update. We will see what happens.
So there are a lot of new things in the Beta version of the game.
http://3doodle.com/Unity/MCK/MKC_Beta/WebPlayer/MKC_Beta.html
The HUD
There is a properly working HUD. Before I had only had the power meter and the angle meter. There has been an update to the angle meter as well. There is now a red area, a hot spot so to speak. This is to let the player know that if they want to know when the best time to throw is, it's when the green marker is over the hot spot. It's also best to throw when the meter is on the way up, rather than on the way down. That's just a tip. In addition to the two meters there is now time, discarded, bodies, and total score. The bodies number let's you know how many you threw. The discarded number let's you know how many of the the bodies you threw actually made it over the wall. The score works in a funny way. It takes into account your accuracy, so it may show a high number, but if you miss, you lose a lot of points.
You may also notice a glowing green ring.
Pickup Point
There is now a pickup point, a spot to let you know that you are in a location for picking up bodies. This was not in the original plans, but as I was finishing up the game my wonderful wife pointed out she had no idea how to get any bodies. I decided to make a glowing green ring and start you off in the center of it. When you are in the ring, it's green. When you step out it turns red. It's a good thing this was brought up. My wife said "Well there are bodies laying all over the place, how was I to know?". That brings up another addition, the bodies. I decided to put them everywhere. The are really just there for aesthetic purposes.
The Instructions
Hey, would you look at that. The instructions finally come with the game. This is fairly simple. I had another idea on how to handle the instructions by showing a tutorial, but that will have to come some other day, when there is as much time as I want to do what I want. My biggest issue was I have two control setups. At the end I just thought it would be best to write it out. It's not fancy, but I feel lit gets the job done.
What Else?
There have been a lot of little tweaks done here and there. I had a lot I had to redo and a lot I still had to do. You used to only be able to throw one direction. The bodies would sometimes vanish. They still sort of do from time to time, but now they will pop back up. Before they just fell through the ground. The rigs for the bodies and the colliders would stay, they were invisible, but the mesh of the bodies wouldn't collide and would pass right through the ground. That had to be redone completely. Finally up until last night there were no sounds. I own 2 Digital Juice audio libraries and some other stuff I recorded myself. Many of the sound effects were recorded by me and edited in Adobe Audition.
What's Next?
Hopefully graduation. This has been a fun final project. It definitely gave me a few near panic attacks, but I am very proud of it. It's by far the best game I have done on my own. I have never programmed a game of this scale from start to finish. There is still more that I would like to do. I'd like to make the character jump. I'd like there to be obstacles and different hazards to slow you down. I'd like there to be multiple stages. I'd like some developer to see this and take some sort of interest. I could see redoing this for iPhone. The controls would really have to be update. We will see what happens.
The Plague of Mary King's Close - Beta
Unit 9
This feels like it has been a long time coming, but here at last is the Beta version of "The Plague of Mary King's Close". All of the gameplay is working and I am very happy to say I made this. The menus all work, there is sound and music. I'd like to thank Digital Juice for the great sounds. I highly recommend checking them out for their great music and sound libraries. I am also very happy to say I made 100% of this game, from art to programming. It was tough for me, but I am thrilled with the results. Here is the Beta.
http://3doodle.com/Unity/MCK/MKC_Beta/WebPlayer/MKC_Beta.html
This feels like it has been a long time coming, but here at last is the Beta version of "The Plague of Mary King's Close". All of the gameplay is working and I am very happy to say I made this. The menus all work, there is sound and music. I'd like to thank Digital Juice for the great sounds. I highly recommend checking them out for their great music and sound libraries. I am also very happy to say I made 100% of this game, from art to programming. It was tough for me, but I am thrilled with the results. Here is the Beta.
http://3doodle.com/Unity/MCK/MKC_Beta/WebPlayer/MKC_Beta.html
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Beta (Unofficial)
Unit 9
This is the unofficial beta version. I still have a few things to do before it is considered final. I have to make the instruction button do something. I need to add a marker to show people where to stand to pick up bodies. I need to have a pause after time runs out so people can see their score before moving on to "Game Over". Most of all I need some sound. The game is basically completely playable though. Please enjoy.
http://3doodle.com/Unity/MCK/Beta/WebPlayer/MKC_Beta.html
This is the unofficial beta version. I still have a few things to do before it is considered final. I have to make the instruction button do something. I need to add a marker to show people where to stand to pick up bodies. I need to have a pause after time runs out so people can see their score before moving on to "Game Over". Most of all I need some sound. The game is basically completely playable though. Please enjoy.
http://3doodle.com/Unity/MCK/Beta/WebPlayer/MKC_Beta.html
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Re-Animating
Unit 8
I had to go back and add two animations for the main character. I made run and walk animations while the main character was holding, but none for when the main character didn't have anything to hold onto. I also was able to program the main character so all of the animations play when they are supposed to. Then I added another dead body asset. There are 2 dead body assets now. One is the ragdoll version that gets tossed. The other is the carried one, which has no ragdoll physics applied to it. The second one had to be animated to follow the actions of the main character. The dead body is then killed off when the player reaches the end of the toss animation and then the ragdoll version takes it's place.
I had to go back and add two animations for the main character. I made run and walk animations while the main character was holding, but none for when the main character didn't have anything to hold onto. I also was able to program the main character so all of the animations play when they are supposed to. Then I added another dead body asset. There are 2 dead body assets now. One is the ragdoll version that gets tossed. The other is the carried one, which has no ragdoll physics applied to it. The second one had to be animated to follow the actions of the main character. The dead body is then killed off when the player reaches the end of the toss animation and then the ragdoll version takes it's place.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Camera Man
Unit 8
I am very happy with the updates I have made recently. My favorite has to be the camera. I have been posting almost hourly builds on facebook for my friends to try. They all reported pretty much the same problems. The biggest was that I set the game up so that the player runs left. I don't know what I originally made this choice since I know as a gamer I was conditioned to run right for all games. The only thing I can think of is that my original inspiration for my game was Caveman Games for NES, the Pole Vault Event and in that game the player runs to the left. THis was a bad thing for my game because almost everyone reported running to the right and falling off the "world". I could have easily just put a collision wall there to keep them from running right, but then I thought it might be better to place the player character in the center of the environment and put walls on both sides of them so they could either throw over the left or right wall. This worked, except now my camera didn't make sense. I have the camera linked to the player controller. This worked fine if you only went one direction, but it didn't let you see far to the right. I decided to make code that let you see bother directions based on the speed the player is moving. This at first worked, but I noticed that the camera jerked into position making it a bit jarring. After much research I was able to add damping to the camera so it would smoothly switch. I'm patting myself on the back, but please understand this is coming from a non-programmer. It has really made me appreciate programmers, even though I had already thought very highly of them from when I used to work with them.
I am very happy with the updates I have made recently. My favorite has to be the camera. I have been posting almost hourly builds on facebook for my friends to try. They all reported pretty much the same problems. The biggest was that I set the game up so that the player runs left. I don't know what I originally made this choice since I know as a gamer I was conditioned to run right for all games. The only thing I can think of is that my original inspiration for my game was Caveman Games for NES, the Pole Vault Event and in that game the player runs to the left. THis was a bad thing for my game because almost everyone reported running to the right and falling off the "world". I could have easily just put a collision wall there to keep them from running right, but then I thought it might be better to place the player character in the center of the environment and put walls on both sides of them so they could either throw over the left or right wall. This worked, except now my camera didn't make sense. I have the camera linked to the player controller. This worked fine if you only went one direction, but it didn't let you see far to the right. I decided to make code that let you see bother directions based on the speed the player is moving. This at first worked, but I noticed that the camera jerked into position making it a bit jarring. After much research I was able to add damping to the camera so it would smoothly switch. I'm patting myself on the back, but please understand this is coming from a non-programmer. It has really made me appreciate programmers, even though I had already thought very highly of them from when I used to work with them.
A Little Personal
Unit 8
After stuggling with my ADHD last month I finally decided it was time to talk to my doctor about getting some medical help. This is something I should have decided last quarter, but I thought I was near the end and that maybe I could do this without it. I was optimistic, but wrong.
I used to take Ritalin in school and I swore I would never take it again because of some personal side effects. My doctor suggested Strattera, a non-stimulant ADHD medication. It sounded good so I took it for three and a half weeks. The medicine did very little to keep me focused and cause me, a generally jolly guy, to be gloomy. There were side effects with this as well and it made sleeping a literal nightmare. I called my doctor and said I would stop the pill and made an appointment to talk to him about alternative choices. The discussion went well and another prescription was written. I started my first dose last Monday and the results were not only immediate, but amazing. I have seen great improvement in both focus as well as production. It's been a good week for my final project. I am happy to have the game solely back in my hands and proud of what I was able to accomplish as far as programming is concerned. I was reading so many Unity help pages and learning so much that I nearly finished all of the programming I needed for things I was having major issues with. Before I could barely understand what was needed to not only knowing, but learning and finishing as well. I wish I had made this choice sooner.
After stuggling with my ADHD last month I finally decided it was time to talk to my doctor about getting some medical help. This is something I should have decided last quarter, but I thought I was near the end and that maybe I could do this without it. I was optimistic, but wrong.
I used to take Ritalin in school and I swore I would never take it again because of some personal side effects. My doctor suggested Strattera, a non-stimulant ADHD medication. It sounded good so I took it for three and a half weeks. The medicine did very little to keep me focused and cause me, a generally jolly guy, to be gloomy. There were side effects with this as well and it made sleeping a literal nightmare. I called my doctor and said I would stop the pill and made an appointment to talk to him about alternative choices. The discussion went well and another prescription was written. I started my first dose last Monday and the results were not only immediate, but amazing. I have seen great improvement in both focus as well as production. It's been a good week for my final project. I am happy to have the game solely back in my hands and proud of what I was able to accomplish as far as programming is concerned. I was reading so many Unity help pages and learning so much that I nearly finished all of the programming I needed for things I was having major issues with. Before I could barely understand what was needed to not only knowing, but learning and finishing as well. I wish I had made this choice sooner.
Friday, May 18, 2012
A Tough Decision
Unit 8
This week I had to make a tough decision. I was having a tough time getting in contact and communicating with my friend who was taking on some of my programming responsibilities. He is a good guy, but it just wasn't working out. I wasn't sure what he was working on or if he had finished anything. I decided to text him and let him know that I would complete this assignment on my own. I'm not upset with him. It was nice of him to make the gesture, but I had no communication with him the last week and it's tough to try and communicate with people who also have a full time job and family responsibilities. I will just have to finish this solo, but I will learn a lot more this way.
This week I had to make a tough decision. I was having a tough time getting in contact and communicating with my friend who was taking on some of my programming responsibilities. He is a good guy, but it just wasn't working out. I wasn't sure what he was working on or if he had finished anything. I decided to text him and let him know that I would complete this assignment on my own. I'm not upset with him. It was nice of him to make the gesture, but I had no communication with him the last week and it's tough to try and communicate with people who also have a full time job and family responsibilities. I will just have to finish this solo, but I will learn a lot more this way.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Alpha & Venting
Unit 7
I've recently taken on some help with my final project. I do really like getting help, it's just hard for me to ask for it sometimes. Part of me wants to control ever aspect of a project. It's a bad way to work. The problem I have is that I have nothing to offer the person I am asking for help, except to offer my thanks. This week was also very difficult for me to get the work done that I needed to get done. My family came into town for mother's day. They are moving here in July and they now have a house, so a lot of my very little free time was spent with them helping them with moving in. My other issue is I had to dump a lot of my project on a good pal to have them to help me get this programming done that is needed. He had family to be with and he has his own full time job, so it's hard for him and I to sometimes be able to work on things at the same time. I don't blame him in the slightest. I will have a great final project, but due to just asking for help at the end of the project my Alpha is not as far along as I had hoped. My friend has some great ideas to help me make things work much better.
I spent what time I did have getting some final assets together, which included 2 new animations. They can be seen in the new build. The run and the walk are new. Before the run and walk, as seen in video form in a previous post, had the main character in a running while holding, or walking while holding. Making these two animations should have been done at the beginning, but I missed it. Luckily the programmer I got brought it to my attention. He is currently working on making it so you can see all of the other animations, and have them work when you hit the correct buttons. That will have to be in the next build, or final build. I have a feeling the final will be a huge leap from the alpha. I am also working on the held version of the dead body. It is not a ragdoll, so it is being animated to work with the animations of the main character. This is not in the Alpha build. Finally I was able to get my environment in. There are many buildings. The stage will be shortened so it is only about two screen lengths wide. I am confident that I will have a nice final piece, but until then, enjoy the Alpha:
http://3doodle.com/Unity/MCK/Alpha/WebPlayer/WebPlayer.html
I've recently taken on some help with my final project. I do really like getting help, it's just hard for me to ask for it sometimes. Part of me wants to control ever aspect of a project. It's a bad way to work. The problem I have is that I have nothing to offer the person I am asking for help, except to offer my thanks. This week was also very difficult for me to get the work done that I needed to get done. My family came into town for mother's day. They are moving here in July and they now have a house, so a lot of my very little free time was spent with them helping them with moving in. My other issue is I had to dump a lot of my project on a good pal to have them to help me get this programming done that is needed. He had family to be with and he has his own full time job, so it's hard for him and I to sometimes be able to work on things at the same time. I don't blame him in the slightest. I will have a great final project, but due to just asking for help at the end of the project my Alpha is not as far along as I had hoped. My friend has some great ideas to help me make things work much better.
I spent what time I did have getting some final assets together, which included 2 new animations. They can be seen in the new build. The run and the walk are new. Before the run and walk, as seen in video form in a previous post, had the main character in a running while holding, or walking while holding. Making these two animations should have been done at the beginning, but I missed it. Luckily the programmer I got brought it to my attention. He is currently working on making it so you can see all of the other animations, and have them work when you hit the correct buttons. That will have to be in the next build, or final build. I have a feeling the final will be a huge leap from the alpha. I am also working on the held version of the dead body. It is not a ragdoll, so it is being animated to work with the animations of the main character. This is not in the Alpha build. Finally I was able to get my environment in. There are many buildings. The stage will be shortened so it is only about two screen lengths wide. I am confident that I will have a nice final piece, but until then, enjoy the Alpha:
http://3doodle.com/Unity/MCK/Alpha/WebPlayer/WebPlayer.html
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