Gun Flowchart:

To start the gun script takes from the item class, this class allows for other items in the game including knives and grenades. From this, there will be two gun profiles single shot us guns that shoot one at a time on input like pistols and non-single shot guns like most automatic guns. In the player script, it detects the input from the mouse and calls the use function. The use function in the time calls is overridden by the use function of the current item equipped. After this using the camera centre point it sends out a ray. This hit detects any collision, if colliding with a player it proceeds to the damage scripting, if anything else it will return null.

Ammo Flowchart:

First, you set some values for the amount of ammo, the ammo per mag, and the amount of mags. With these, you can remove and add ammo most realistically. When the shoot function is called from the player action script, the script minuses the amount of current ammo. Then, if the player presses the reload key, it runs the reload function, setting the new ammo based on the mag.

Weapon Switching Flowchart:

The player starts with a few initial weapons. First, they start with the pistol as their main weapon and the knife as a secondary weapon. If using the scroll wheel, the script detects input and switches the weapon by increasing the current weapon by one. If exuded over the amount of weapons available, it will roll over to be infinite. Instead, if a key input is being used it waits and detects the input, then depending on the key it changes the current weapon int to the one selected.

Health, Damage & Death Flowchart:

The health script starts by getting a value for the health and max health. in the start function, it sets the health to the maximum health. Then in a damage function, it sets and int to a damage value, then if hit minuses the damage off of the health. Then, if the health is equal to or below zero, it destroys the player.

Bullet Hit Flowchart:

First, using the same method as the gun, it sends out a detecting ray to find hit objects. Then it checks the hit object when instantiating the prefab. If it hits the player it spawns the bullet hit and then sets the bullet prefab to a child of the enemy so it follows. Then, if the player dies, it removes all the bullet-hit prefabs. If it hits another bullet prefab, it then does not spawn another prefab to ensure the player can not hit them forever. Lastly, if it hits another type of object, it just stays and disappears after time. For the location of the prefab, it stays aligned and slightly on top of the face.

Throwing Flowchart:

First, it checks for the input using the get key code. If the throwing key is used, it calls the throwing script and begins that series of code. It instantiates the throw object and then adds a pre-defined force. This force is the direction being faced by the player times the throwing power times by the up direction. Then it minuses the throw int and resets the throw based on a cooldown. After all that, it explodes adding the physics and creating the effect of explosion.

For the first article research, I have the article first-person shooter design: What to save, and what to frag by John Polson from Game Developer. Here I will go over the article and what I get from it. All I aim to do is get an understanding of what could improve our game.

To start, in this article, he goes over what a first-person shooter is briefly. This gives the reader a background on what the genre is and what to expect from one. Next, to give more context, they go over the history of the genre. They cover who makes the games, what they get back, and what titles are available in the genre.

After the history, he begins talking about the challenges in the genre and the opportunities that arise from them. When talking about how the genre could evolve, a point brought up is the immersion of the player in the game. This can be seen in the quote from Alan Wilson of Tripwire used in the original article, “We're always keen to try new elements out - like a real first-person cover system. Peripheral vision done well. All sorts of stuff like that. Those things that really make me feel immersed in a game. That is one of the key points about an FPS for me - that it gives me the most real, believable perspective on whatever the game world is.” I will keep this in mind for the game.

They talk about bringing back components of older games when making your game. This, to me, shows more of a desire to look at a wider research source when planning rather than sticking to the newest and biggest titles. An example of this is the quote from Oscar Jilsen of Coffee Stain used in the original article, “I personally am a big fan of the secondary fire feature that was common back in the day. It (usually) made the weapons a little deeper and invited the player to switch up their tactics. ”

The next main point of the article is the overused features of the genre that make each game stale. While they brought up a few features, as they pointed out they are standard mechanics to the genre and, therefore not overused. One of the big features talked about was the use of cinematics with the original quote from Oscar Jilsen of Coffee Stain “Something I think is overdone at this point is the “cinematic effect.” There seems to be more watching than playing in modern FPS games; you constantly get interrupted in the middle of gameplay. If I wanted to just sit and watch, I'd be watching a movie.”

The last main point of the article was the future direction that the genre could take. While this is a great topic and an interesting read from the article, as we want to keep the game simple, we will probably not try to advance a genre as big as this. Instead, we can look at the article's points on this and keep them in mind.

For the next article, written by Reed Kolbe, he goes over tons of points about the genre from his personal feelings, his favourite games and components. He critiques the genre and talks about the areas it could develop. Using surveys, he analyses them and breaks down the results from them. As this article is quite long as it is above six thousand words, I will not go over it in its entirety but rather go over some helpful points.

For the points I will go over, I will stick to looking at the critiques of the genre and the areas it could improve. I will look at his key findings and analysis of the genre to look at one of his charts. First, to give some context to his results, he surveyed the respondent demographics. This will give an insight into who is answering his surveys. This shows a large majority of American males answering the survey, as seen in the graph below.

A big part of his findings was people's opinions on a few key aspects of a game. These were the guns, maps, auxiliaries, and heroes, with the score being better based on the score given on each part. This was used to base a lot of findings on, but as he pointed out later, these are not the only important factors, as seen in this quote. “ Finally, I just want to acknowledge that while gunplay, maps, auxiliaries, and heroes are key components of FPSs, these are by no means the only factors that play into overall enjoyment (and consequently NPS) of a game). ”.

One of the interesting figures, he talks about in the paper, is what makes an audience member likely to play the game. After this, he asked what is the main way the respondent heard about the game and how it helped them to evaluate it for purchase. The results overwhelmingly showed that streamers/YouTubers and demos/playtests were the main ways the audience did this. This data to me shows that our idea of having a demo is heavily aligned with this mentality. From this part of the article, “An excellent beta can do wonders for purchases once the full game releases, but a bug-riddled, lackluster beta may turn off consumers who would have otherwise gone ahead and purchased the full game upon release without experiencing a beta. As such, developers should tread cautiously with betas — only include what is absolutely guaranteed to function properly, even if this means severely limiting the number of weapons, maps, game modes, and heroes. ” This shows that it is a good idea to keep the demo small, although it is a great way for the players to test. 

For the first video, I found a video on first-person shooters and how to find the fun in their campaigns. Now, while our game does not have a campaign, it can give me some insights into how to improve the gameplay. This is because there is a large crossover between the mechanics in the campaign, often appearing in the multiplayer modes. The video is Finding the Fun in FPS Campaigns by Game Maker's Toolkit.

He starts by talking about his experience of loving first-person shooter games in the past, but them having gotten stale in his more recent experience. He then talks about two of the recent releases at the time and how they have reignited his enjoyment of first-person shooter campaigns. The games he is going over in the video are Titanfall Two and Doom (2016). One of the first things he points out about the games is the imagination in each level, and how they sacrificed realism and historical accuracy for enjoyment. This aligns with our idea, as we do not intend to make it accurate to a real-world situation.

The next point he talks about is the quick nature of Dooms' gameplay. He brings up a few points on how the game achieves this, but as I am not handling movement, they do not apply to my research. One of the ways his point does apply is when he talks about the game being quick by having the ability to aim the same no matter what the player is doing. In most games, they make the base accuracy different based on the speed of movement. Avoiding this allows the player to run while shooting, speeding up gameplay. 

One of the next points he brings up is Dooms' allowance to use multiple weapons. While this is a factor that speeds up the game, it does not align with our idea or references, as they are more tactile with weapon handling. Other than a few smaller points, the last point he brings up about doom is the verticality of levels and how it adds verity to levels. While we have only a single map, it will have a good variety of vertical nature to it.

For the next game, he goes over some points about Titanfall Two. He starts by going over a main description of the game and the general style. The first point he talks about is how the game keeps the gameplay fresh by introducing the mechanics as it goes through. As we do not have a progression like this, it does not really apply, but we have a variety of mechanics, so the player can still get time to explore them. Another point is how the tools introduced affect the gunplay combat in-game.

Another big point from this game, like Doom, is the fast-paced nature of combat. First, this comes from the nature of a varied movement. This is a feature we plan to add to our game. He talks about the types of movement like sliding, wall jumping and more, some of which are planned in our game. Comparing the games, he talks about the difference in how upfront you need to be, as Titanfall two forces you to retreat to safer places to look downsight or reload.

Lastly, he talks about how the form of the level shapes how the player approaches it. Titan Fall introduces killing while wall running in a tutorial level at the star. This is not incorporated later in the other levels of the game. Then he does a brief outro talking about the general feelings of the game.

Next for this week, my focus will shift towards the sounds and music for our project. There are several areas I intend to find sounds for, some managed by me, while others managed by other team members. As previously mentioned in the breakdown of responses from the Google Form, the consensus was to maintain silence during gameplay rounds, while incorporating music into the game menus. Therefore, I plan to find one song for the menus and keep from adding music to the actual gameplay levels. However, I may consider adding another song for the lobby, although it's not essential.

Regarding the in-game levels, there will be a required amount of various sounds, particularly for weapons. I will compile a comprehensive list outlining the specific areas that require sound effects. Utilizing the feedback gathered from the Google Form, I'll base much of the sound design on that data. Initially, I'll focus on finding a range of bullet sounds, ensuring that they are free. Additionally, there will be a need for footstep sounds, which will be managed by Mitchell.

Furthermore, I'll ensure that all weapons, including grenades and flash bangs, are accompanied by audio effects in-game. As for the music selection process, I will analyze three games from each category: similar games such as Helldivers, The Final Station, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and non-similar games such as Forza, Overwatch, and Risk of Rain. The UI will also need some sounds for the interactions, so I will search for them as well, but they do not need research.

As I understand the importance of maintaining consistency and coherence in our game, I will establish clear guidelines and standards for sound effects. I will ensure that they align with the overall vision and theme of the game. When analysing the music and sounds from the selected games, I will delve into how they sound. For the sounds, I will find a comparison video on the different sound effects in the game. I will look at the general genres of the songs to get a grasp of the themes. I aim to get a basis of inspiration for my task of finding music. Furthermore, I aim to find not too distracting music when I search for some.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2 menu music, starts very atmospheric with a slow start leading into a build-up. There is a constant deep bass as the underlying track. This is topped with a ton of unique tones on top to give it a more eerie feeling. It then has a quiet moment toward the middle where it slows down again. It is a soft song all around but has a good groove. After a bit, it gets back to where it was originally, until the end, where it rests out and softens again. 

For the sound effects, most of the guns sound similar but have different speeds based on the fire rate of the gun. Some of the more powerful guns have a louder, slower sound with more bass. This can be seen when comparing guns such as pistols, rifles, and launchers. The grenade is general in sound with a bassy tone and a metallic rattling when hitting the ground. The fash bang has a wobbly pitch noise when exploding and a similar metallic rattling.

The Helldivers 2 main menu theme is more triumphant and upbeat with horn sounds playing. There is a more lively drum beat with the keys playing over them. It is a simple score with swelling notes throughout. It gets slightly more energetic over the song as it calms towards the end. After that part, it started swelling a bit more.

For the guns in Helldivers 2, again, they are mostly similar in sound for each gun. In Helldivers 2 you can change the shooting style of the gun, affecting the noise. When they are faster, the noise is more repetitive, but there are a few variations for each gun. For the grenade, it has an echoing quality to it but is generally simple.

The Finals main theme are a lot more bouncy electronic and energetic compared to the previous two. They have a lot of build-ups through the songs, usually at the start. It has an underlying clap beat with electronic elements over the top. They sow towards the end. The next song is slightly quicker with an electronic arpeggio sound underneath. There are a lot of panning audio waves from ear to ear. In my opinion, it is a bit complicated compared to what we planned.

The Forza Horizons 4 music starts simply with a repeated hit sound with calm notes repeating over the top. It has deep bass, but it is used sparingly. This sound imitates a heartbeat in sound, adding some feeling to the song. There are some vocals on the track, but they are highly edited. About a quarter in, it calms more, going a lot slower compared to the first half. This part quickly switches to a more energetic part similar to the start. Then towards the end, it has a build-up towards the final drop part.

The Overwatch main menu track starts with triumphant horns and drums accompanied by vocal harmonies. The music is very fluid with lots of power to the instruments until it calms. Around forty to fifty seconds in it gets quiet with just a few sounds heard. This track is very short, so if repeated it could get annoying to listen to, but there may be other songs.