When building the alpha for Heroes of Rock, I get a lot of people that say they want to see "my game."
I'm my way home from class on Tuesday I was thinking a lot about the terms video game and game. I was also thinking about a comment Roger made about how he didn't want to show our alpha games because he wanted to impressive people. Roger has a great point, if we show prospective students or the press a game that looks like a prototype, it could potentially hurt our reputation as a team or as a program.
I don't really want to show my game yet, though I'd be very proud to show off what we've done so far. I think we've made a lot of progress but at the same time it's difficult to only be at alpha.
Back to my first comment: Right now I wouldn't say that Heroes of Rock looks like a video game - at least not yet. Right now, it's basically a block that goes around fighting other blocks. That's not exactly the most glamorous place to be but it brings up a good point.
The Alpha of Heroes of Rock doesn't have to look like an xbox 360 video game, it needs to play like a GAME. Games involve a tasks with rewards and punishments. The player feels fun depending on the tasks and how those tasks are accomplished. For our alpha, we are demonstrating our GAME, not exactly our visual representation of our game yet.
At this point in our development, it is important to think about the GAME, not just the VIDEO game. I might not want to show off my blocks jumping around yet but I need to make sure it's fun before we proceed. If we have a fun game, we can turn it into an awesome VIDEO GAME.
Alpha isn't a place where I want to show all of my friends yet but it's important in our overall development.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
First Song for HOR
Here is the first song produced for HOR:
I think the song is great. It is incredibly metal. We'll be using the different sections of the song modularly so that we can use the pieces of this song as the world music for the entire first world of the game.
I'm pumped about the work that Lee is doing.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Sounds for for the Game and Alpha Goals
I've been talking to Jack Corrigan, my friend from Park City, and Leeland, a sound designer in the EAE program, about music for my game. I produced the music for our prototype but I think it'd be nice to have a pro make things. I will stake make a lot of sound effects and probably some of the songs but I would love the help.
I've exchanged a couple emails with Leeland about the music. We've talked about the best way to go about the music. The biggest thing I've been thinking about is how to make the music easy for the design team as well as the sound designer:
4 world themes (level select theme i.e. Super Meat Boy. This would be a very good game to model since each world in super meat boy had a world theme that looped continuously while in level select and in playing levels. It only changed during boss levels and warp zones, I could do something similar very easily, this is just a suggestion)
Using this model, we basically have to make 4 world themes with a couple special sections. It will be a lot easier than making 20 individual songs.
potentially 20 background tracks for each world's 3-5 levels (the basic format for videogame music I've noticed is each levels theme has three parts that loop like this, A B C A B C A B C, intro Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Verse, Chorus, Bridge)
The good thing about using the world music model will be the ease making background tracks for each level. From a designer standpoint, it would also be really cool to have a buildable sound track. As we play around with levels, we can just re-arrange the sound track for the appropriate boss battle or intense sections. We could make an infinite number of background tracks and we could easily match tracks with new level designs as they come out.
4 boss battle themes
These are the most significant sections of the world music outside of the main loops. Each world will have a special boss sequence for the final bad guy. I think this could be a fun time to play with the genres.
4 special move jingles for 4 different midi instruments lets say there are 3 special moves for each instrument then we would need 12 different little jingles/riffs probably about 5 to 8 seconds long is my guess.
Right now I have at least 5 special moves planned.
The final product will have this full suite of sounds and sound effects but for the alpha we don't need too much:
I've exchanged a couple emails with Leeland about the music. We've talked about the best way to go about the music. The biggest thing I've been thinking about is how to make the music easy for the design team as well as the sound designer:
4 world themes (level select theme i.e. Super Meat Boy. This would be a very good game to model since each world in super meat boy had a world theme that looped continuously while in level select and in playing levels. It only changed during boss levels and warp zones, I could do something similar very easily, this is just a suggestion)
Using this model, we basically have to make 4 world themes with a couple special sections. It will be a lot easier than making 20 individual songs.
potentially 20 background tracks for each world's 3-5 levels (the basic format for videogame music I've noticed is each levels theme has three parts that loop like this, A B C A B C A B C, intro Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Verse, Chorus, Bridge)
The good thing about using the world music model will be the ease making background tracks for each level. From a designer standpoint, it would also be really cool to have a buildable sound track. As we play around with levels, we can just re-arrange the sound track for the appropriate boss battle or intense sections. We could make an infinite number of background tracks and we could easily match tracks with new level designs as they come out.
4 boss battle themes
These are the most significant sections of the world music outside of the main loops. Each world will have a special boss sequence for the final bad guy. I think this could be a fun time to play with the genres.
4 special move jingles for 4 different midi instruments lets say there are 3 special moves for each instrument then we would need 12 different little jingles/riffs probably about 5 to 8 seconds long is my guess.
Right now I have at least 5 special moves planned.
The final product will have this full suite of sounds and sound effects but for the alpha we don't need too much:
- Combo sound effects
- 1 background song - Main loop, 2 intense sequences, 1 boss sequence
- Small enemy attack sounds
- environment sounds
Friday, November 2, 2012
Level 1
Here is my first level. I looked to Shank 2 for inspiration on the structure. I wanted to slowly introduce new problems and new solutions throughout the level. The pacing is an up and down structure with a quiz near the end so the player is prepared for the boss battle. Good basic structure for a level.
- 1 weak unit
- learn quick attack
- 3 weak units
- learn heavy attack
- 1 weak unit
- learn ranged attack
- none
- none
- 3 waves of units - STOP ZONE
- Learn Block
- none
- 3 waves of units
- introduce shield unit
- learn uppercut
- none
- introduce ranged unit in tower - STOP ZONE
- learn vertical shot
- health zone
- learn health event
- 3 ranged enemies
- Learn aerial attack
- none
- 2 waves of units
- learn chop attack
- introduce heavy unit - STOP ZONE
- 3 weak units
- health zone
- QUIZ - 3 Waves; heavy, shielded and weaks units
- Learn lunge move
- health zone
- 2 waves of 4 units
- Spin move
- BOSS BATTLE
Combos/Controls:
Block: (2,3,4)
Upper Cut: (1, 3) x 2 - Knock shield off
Spin: (2,3) x 4 - multiple units
Chop: (1,3) +2 + (1,3) - Back of heavy
Lunge: (2,3) x 2 + (1,2) - kill ranged enemy
Aerial Attack 1: 1 + ((2,3) x 2)
Aerial Attack 2: 1 + ((2,4) x 2)
Upper Cut: (1, 3) x 2 - Knock shield off
Spin: (2,3) x 4 - multiple units
Chop: (1,3) +2 + (1,3) - Back of heavy
Lunge: (2,3) x 2 + (1,2) - kill ranged enemy
Aerial Attack 1: 1 + ((2,3) x 2)
Aerial Attack 2: 1 + ((2,4) x 2)
Loading Screen
Nick had a great idea about the loading screen.
Our team loves the combo system. I'm super excited about the possibility of making the guitar a cool addition to the action game genre. We wanted the controller to be an addition to the brawler mechanic rather than a hinderance. I think the combo system is a great way to achieve this.
The only problem with the combo system is that it could be hard to remember and the players might have a hard time getting used to the system.
Nick had the idea of the loading screen similar to FIFA where the player could practice the combo system.
It would be in a greyed out world with the player and one enemy. The combos that the player has unlocked are on the side panels of the screen. The player can then spend the loading times practicing combos. They press start when they are ready to proceed.
This way, we have a cool loading screen and we help the players get acquainted with our combat system.
I'm really excited about this idea and I think it will really help the players get into our game.
Our team loves the combo system. I'm super excited about the possibility of making the guitar a cool addition to the action game genre. We wanted the controller to be an addition to the brawler mechanic rather than a hinderance. I think the combo system is a great way to achieve this.
The only problem with the combo system is that it could be hard to remember and the players might have a hard time getting used to the system.
Nick had the idea of the loading screen similar to FIFA where the player could practice the combo system.
It would be in a greyed out world with the player and one enemy. The combos that the player has unlocked are on the side panels of the screen. The player can then spend the loading times practicing combos. They press start when they are ready to proceed.
This way, we have a cool loading screen and we help the players get acquainted with our combat system.
I'm really excited about this idea and I think it will really help the players get into our game.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Equity Percentages
Next class period, we're going to be talking about the structure and name of our studio. The studio will be an LLC with all of the team members as partners.
As per Roger's suggestions, we will have the team leads be voting partners and the artists/programmers be equity partners. We want to go for this solution for legal ease. It will be a lot easier in the future if we only need four signatures rather than 10.
Robert and I got onto the topic of what would happen if a team member left the group or did not perform adequately. I think this is a good topic to bring up, especially in the incident that a team member wants to leave the team but is still getting paid. Team members won't want that to happen so we need a way to remove equity from team members.
I thought about this awhile ago. I think there should be a system in place so that if a team member doesn't work on the game, they can be removed but I also don't want to set an atmosphere of distrust in the team. I want there to be an incentive system but also a sense of trust so the team trusts the team leaders to make decisions.
I think that all team members should be evaluated by the team leads. In the situation of a unanimous team lead vote, a team member can be removed from the group. Their percentage of the game would then be distributed to the other team members, not the team leads. This gives incentive to the team members to work but also makes it so that team leads can't make decisions that give them more money. The decision won't affect the shares of team leaders at all.
In a situation where a member choose to leave the company on their own, their share would be split equally among all team members.
I also propose that 5%-10% of our equity should go towards advertising, web fees, and administration fees. It might have to be more depending on how much money is made but I think it would be good to set aside.
Just my thoughts. I have to talk to my lawyer about it.
As per Roger's suggestions, we will have the team leads be voting partners and the artists/programmers be equity partners. We want to go for this solution for legal ease. It will be a lot easier in the future if we only need four signatures rather than 10.
Robert and I got onto the topic of what would happen if a team member left the group or did not perform adequately. I think this is a good topic to bring up, especially in the incident that a team member wants to leave the team but is still getting paid. Team members won't want that to happen so we need a way to remove equity from team members.
I thought about this awhile ago. I think there should be a system in place so that if a team member doesn't work on the game, they can be removed but I also don't want to set an atmosphere of distrust in the team. I want there to be an incentive system but also a sense of trust so the team trusts the team leaders to make decisions.
I think that all team members should be evaluated by the team leads. In the situation of a unanimous team lead vote, a team member can be removed from the group. Their percentage of the game would then be distributed to the other team members, not the team leads. This gives incentive to the team members to work but also makes it so that team leads can't make decisions that give them more money. The decision won't affect the shares of team leaders at all.
In a situation where a member choose to leave the company on their own, their share would be split equally among all team members.
I also propose that 5%-10% of our equity should go towards advertising, web fees, and administration fees. It might have to be more depending on how much money is made but I think it would be good to set aside.
Just my thoughts. I have to talk to my lawyer about it.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Midi music production and combos
A quick thought that I just had about combo attacks and the unlockable weapons.
When we were talking about content for the game, we talked about unlocking new weapons and being able to have different attacks for each weapon. We talked about having each combo represent a new attack and sound. We lightly discussed having each weapon have different sounds.
Each combo attack in the game is linked to notes and chords. So when the play does a combo, a riff or solo is played. When the player is using different weapons, a new instrument plays the combos. This makes the game sound different and play different as the players use different weapons. I think this will add replayability to the game.
To make things easy on ourselves, we were talking about using the same combo animations for each weapon but simply changing the colors to make them look different. If we produce the music in a midi production program such as a garage band and make our own midi files, we can simply change the instrument in the program and we have a new sounding combo. It will be the same notes, just with the bass or with the synthesizer.
This is an easy way to add variety and replayability to our game. I think it also adds a reward system by adding unlockable weapons and new abilities associated with those weapons. Players will want to see what it is like to play through with those other weapons.
When we were talking about content for the game, we talked about unlocking new weapons and being able to have different attacks for each weapon. We talked about having each combo represent a new attack and sound. We lightly discussed having each weapon have different sounds.
Each combo attack in the game is linked to notes and chords. So when the play does a combo, a riff or solo is played. When the player is using different weapons, a new instrument plays the combos. This makes the game sound different and play different as the players use different weapons. I think this will add replayability to the game.
To make things easy on ourselves, we were talking about using the same combo animations for each weapon but simply changing the colors to make them look different. If we produce the music in a midi production program such as a garage band and make our own midi files, we can simply change the instrument in the program and we have a new sounding combo. It will be the same notes, just with the bass or with the synthesizer.
This is an easy way to add variety and replayability to our game. I think it also adds a reward system by adding unlockable weapons and new abilities associated with those weapons. Players will want to see what it is like to play through with those other weapons.
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