PRODUCTION METHODS: 02/09/24
Agile Workflow:
An agile workflow splits tasks up into small steps to help work seem more manageable chunks. In agile workflows you break down tasks into "sprints" which usually last between one and four weeks. An agile workflow also uses customer involvement where they are involved in development to give critiques and feedback about developer's ideas and the current version of the game. This method is adaptable in process and with peers, putting production on hold while other team members help to catch up anyone falling behind.
Scrum:
A Scrum workflow (also known as a sprint workflow) allows teams to complete work in small batches at a time instead of all at once. This improves flexibility within teams to help improve the quality of their products. Stages of the scrum workflow may include Ideation, formatting an idea onto a GDD, Researching that concept and developing it in the Planning phase, Prototyping by releasing a version to be tested, Marketing the game accordingly and then finalizing creation. Afterward, the team evaluates successes and failures, also creating a plan of action in preparation for the next segment in the pipeline.
Kanban:
A Kanban framework functions as a status for the current stage of the project. Each task is displayed on a graph with multiple columns, showing how far into progression each individual portion is. If any work ends up in the backlog, it assumes priority and is worked on to help maintain the project's overall progress. When a task is complete it gets moved into the far right column and work can begin on the next highest priority segment that needs completion.
Waterfall:
This method's main focus is after completing a segment, reflecting on each section on how long it took and what you could've done to make it more efficient. Each stage covers the production process and post-release how the product is handled after the initial launch.
After looking at these methods, we made the team decision to use a Kanban framework to show timeline based process of our production along with an agile workflow to split up tasks each week to make the project seem more manageable, working more closely as a team will allow for faster production as we can help each other stay on track for the submission date.
This is a basic GANTT Chart for my schedule during this project, noting down my roles and how long I expect them to last.
This is an advanced version displaying specifics and each person's work, so we can help support each other incase of a setback to stay on track. My workflow is displayed in blue, starting with all the preparation like research and making a start on a GDD before setting up the sprites and levels.
PRIMARY FORM RESEARCH 03/09/24:
To gain some early feedback, I made a Microsoft Form to see what people thought the theme of our game should be, along with other questions detailing the Metroidvania genre and information about the protagonist.
Based on the responses, the vast majority of people who responded to the form wanted to see a pixel art based game, given the game has to have some element be 3D, the best move forward is to create a 2D/3D hybrid similar to the Octopath Traveller that aims to blend the two styles together.
Out of the themes, Fantasy gained the most interest. While this is a good idea, a lot of Metroidvanias use typical fantasy elements and we wanted something different in order to appear more fresh to target audiences, leading us to choose the second most voted option of sci-fi.
In response to the last question, I asked the people taking the form to suggest a character idea for the style of game they mentioned in question two. With sci-fi being the main point of interest for our team, most of the suggestions don't stick out given our decision, so we brainstorm on what background we could give to the character. After some thought, we decided on the idea of a space marine, using the sense of psychological escape given the mental side effects of war experiences.
Since we knew we wanted our game to be some sort of Metroidvania, I made a question asking what were some of their favourite games of the genre, with more than one responding with Hollow Knight. While the game uses a line art style, it's use of colour is exceptional, using dark colours to illustrate a forsaken atmosphere. As part of my research into existing games, I will look at how Hollow Knight became so popular and what features it includes that make it a memorable experience for so many.
Bearing the length of the vertical slice into account, having multiple new abilities early on may remove too much difficulty from the game, but movement was a common choice that allows for the chance to put a unique mechanic into the game. during the research phase, I can look into what sort of mechanics are implemented into other Metroid-vania titles to see some good examples to take inspiration from.
Out of all the weapons, we picked between the top two highest voted results, in this case we decided on a chainsaw over a glaive. This was mainly because a chainsaw fit the nature of the theme more, later combining it with a sci-fi gun to create a unique weapon.
As a follow up question to six, I wanted to know what ranged weapon people would prefer, and given our decision for sci-fi, the previous question on themes effected our decision to make a gun the featured ranged weapon.
These responses helped me to develop a few idea contributions to the game. Firstly, since exploration was the least voted, I want to make the level more linear with occasional more challenging side routes that reward players with collectables. Since controls were a big factor, I wanted to use the ranged weapon we decide to go with to have some sort of role in the main mechanics to progress through unique sets of platforming challenges.
SECONDARY RESEARCH 05/09/24 - 20/09/24:
With the Content Descriptors in mind, the game would be marketed as 12 since with limited pixels the art style of the game doesn't reach violence notable for a 16. In order to decide a rating for the game, I need to look at similar games that correlate with the kind of difficulty I'm looking for. For the Content Descriptors, Fear and Violence for a Metroidvania on an alien planet make the most sense. Hollow Knight for example is a fairly challenging game including mild violence and graphics with orange blood effects from enemies was enough to give this game Violence and Fear.
To make a consistent colour scheme, it makes sense to use analogous colours to make a consistent scheme for the environment's pallet. For the jungle in the vertical slice, I want to mostly use purple so the environment stands out. This will work well with the red armour of the character, using colours from red violet, violet and blue violet.
Red, orange and yellow are autumnal colours in forest environments with green for more traditional forests. Since I wanted a different environment, that leaves blue and purple. Purple feels more like an abstract colour as within the natural world it's one of the rarest colours. Therefore, purple being so natural in this fictional world could help make the player feel out of place and uneasy.
SacriFire is a game that seamlessly combines 2D and 3D in a similar fashion that we intend. The 3D environment will be there with pixel characters however we will also make the background pixels to test blending the genres in a unique way.
Another game that achieves this style is the Octopath Traveller series. Rather than having 2D gameplay, Octopath Traveller has you explore a large world crafted in 3D where each character has their own backstory to play through.
The Top-down 3D style with no direction limitations is perfect for puzzle games since viewing the puzzle from this angle is a lot easier than seeing it in first person since the player can see all the puzzle aspects at once and limiting the player's movement space allows for less confusion on where to go.
The other option is to go full 3D. While this can look very visually appealing, our game also doubles as a platformer which isn't ideal for this project as 3D metroidvania game levels would take too much time to make and would be a poor time management choice.
We explored a variety of thematic options to determine which best supported our game’s narrative and mechanics. While each style offers unique strengths and aesthetic appeal, we needed a theme that complemented our focus on advanced technology and exploration.
The medieval theme typically features elements like castles, knights, and kingdoms, drawing heavily on European myths and legends. It’s characterized by rustic settings, swordplay, archery, and a focus on structures such as castles and dungeons. Since the main weapon for our soldier would be a gun, the medieval theme doesn't seem appropriate, most games with ranged medieval weapons use crossbows or cannons. Medieval tends to be more realistic than fantasy which fills a similar role to this theme, accept with fantastical creatures instead of knights or assassins. Medieval doesn't fit our theme as we want to include the idea of space travel and the advanced technology completely rules out the medieval style.
Fantasy themes are characterized by magical elements, mythical creatures, and worlds with unique natural structure. These settings often emphasize classes like warriors, mages and clerics, popular with RPGs where each party member functions as a unique role to the team. Magical systems would feel out of place with our idea for a soldier, guns and other machinery often don't align with the fantasy genre. Like with medieval, fantasy focuses too much on the magic side of fiction rather than about futuristic expectations. Diverse unnatural maps slightly fit the fantasy theme however sci-fi typically uses an approach where an entire planet is all one biome.
Steampunk blends Victorian-era aesthetics with advanced steam-powered technology. It features airships, clockwork machinery, and retro-futuristic devices, creating a unique fusion of history and science fiction. While a Steampunk soldier would be a unique concept, the gun we want our soldier's gun to illustrate a more modern design through the means of pixel art using our 2D-3D hybrid. So instead of rustic metals used in steampunk like brass or copper, instead we want something more modern like shiny silver metals. Steampunk often explores themes of industrial revolution, class struggle, and invention. While the rustic theme is less outdated than fantasy or medieval however it would be better to look into the modern half of genres.
Sci-fi explores the possibilities of technological advancements and space exploration. It can include diverse elements, from robotics to alien encounters and time travel, offering a vast array of narrative possibilities. Some of the most iconic Sci-fi media like Star Wars have a lot of creative possibility with diverse planet ecosystems. Starlink: Battle for Atlas has its setting in outer space which lends the game a sci-fi aesthetic and narrative. The sci-fi theme can cover many biomes that tend to be on the less realistic side. They could be unique environmentally or have unique species unfamiliar in real life that make the experience similar to a fantasy game. Sci-fi makes the most sense because it provides a rich backdrop for exploring complex technological and societal themes. It supports our gameplay mechanics and setting with inter-galactic exploration in far off solar systems.
Cyberpunk is characterized by its portrayal of a dystopian future where advanced technology coexists with societal decay. It often features cybernetic humans, and digital warfare, set against the backdrop of dark, neon-lit cities. A highly received cyberpunk game is Stray. The game contains compact alleyways with vibrant neon lights that set the theme apart from other more future associated themes like sci-fi or futuristic. While our soldier character could be exploring big cities, the game would lack the unsettling vibe the wilds of alien territory would deliver. While an alien city could be an interesting idea, we decided not to go with Cyberpunk given the theme can often be associated with human urban development. We want to avoid this in place of alien ruins scattered throughout a vast world.
The futuristic theme explores speculative advancements in technology, often set in a future where humanity has evolved technologically, politically, and culturally. It includes elements like space travel, utopian or dystopian societies, and high-tech innovations. Looking at unique approaches to the futuristic genre, Horizon Zero Dawn combines the natural world with technology to offer a different approach to the genre. The futuristic theme would be more of a secondary theme as our game would be set in the future, but rather than a futuristic Earth Mental Marine hopes to encapsulate alien technology on distant planets which is more commonly associated with sci-fi.
The Messenger is an Action 2D Platformer developed by Sabotage Studios that seamlessly combines 8-bit and 16 bit styles with it's diverse gameplay.
To begin with, the player has a basic sword attack and a jump, from the start these can be combined to "Cloudstep" to make The Messenger stand out. Through upgrades you can get many QoL upgrades like better water and air movement, a ranged move that is limited to Ki charges that's upgradable after finding hidden Power Seals. What sets The Messenger apart is its clever blending of genres. Initially, it feels like a straightforward platformer in the vein of classic titles like Ninja Gaiden, a game that the developers took inspiration from. However when you think the game would be over, it takes an interesting turn. The game transforms into a Metroidvania-style experience, encouraging exploration, backtracking, and solving riddles. This genre shift is well-executed, offering a refreshing change in pace where you can visit previous and new locations which have changed from the time shift mechanic.
Later in the game an time shift mechanic is unlocked where you can warp between an 8-bit past and a 16-bit future, between these 2 versions of the game certain areas are unlocked by being exclusive to one or the other. This also effects the look of enemies and the game's music. Controls are straightforward but level design focuses on combining inputs for fluent gameplay. The "Cloudstep" mechanic combines button presses to allow the player to infinitely stay in the air by repeating a hit then jump cycle on specific platforms or enemies. I believe the main reason behind the controls in the Messenger are so well received is because of the speedrun potential from this game, once you've mastered the basics there's not much stopping you from blazing through levels. This brings a lot of satisfaction from aerial movement- something worthy of note.
The game is rated E for Everyone, as while the game can get difficult at points whether it's navigating linear platforming or boss fights like the Queen of Quills. Despite this the game is never unfair, it only tests players on their ability to chain movements and timings. After the first two, each boss was consistent in difficulty- gradually getting more challenging and being an unlikely victory on the first attempt. This is a positive as sometimes in games like Super Mario Wonder, the levels are constantly getting harder with underwhelming bosses that feel too easy- making the fight seeming like more of a breather. The skill tree adds a level of customization as it's down to the player which upgrades you buy first. Player's have the optional challenge of deciding not to buy any upgrades at all, playing with under-average hit points and lack of range attacks makes the game substantially harder. Another unique aspect is the game's narrative. The dialogue is witty, self-aware, and often breaks the fourth wall, poking fun at the player’s actions and game design tropes. Characters like the Shopkeeper and Quarble, a Greed Demon who revives the player after death, add personality and charm to the game.
Based on a collection of positive reviews that had considerable hours in the game allowed for more constructive reviews as a whole rather than unsatisfied players who haven't played the game for very long. Many of the reviews I found talk highly of the level design, scenery, use of chiptune music and 4th wall breaking humour that offers a unique set of dialogue within the game.
Of all the negative reviews I read, them along with these two agreed on one thing that they had little to complain about regarding the first half, but the metroidvania section ahs several problems that left players uninterested. The main reason for this was a lack of fast travel system and repetitive backtracking.
Hollow Knight uses line art effectively to create a unique style of scenery and the game is famous for it's narrative telling through the means of melancholic atmosphere.
Hallownest is a massive, interconnected kingdom filled with detailed environmental storytelling, coming with their own distinct aesthetic- each area helps the map to feel connected. A good example is the City of Tears and how it's constantly raining because it's below a body of water called Blue Lake.
Bosses in Hollow Knight are considered to be quite challenging, acting as tests of precise movement and mastery of controls. For instance, bosses like the Dreamers tie directly into the tragic history of Hallownest, offering insight into the narrative regarding the downfall of the kingdom.
Each of the dark versions of the abilities override the original to upgrade the controls while still keeping movement the same, a method to keep the game fresh with new upgrades. These abilities could be the reason behind a general liking toward the Hollow Knight movement capabilities.
Both positive reviews focus on good movement, a good way to make movement satisfying would be to add some aerial movement like the dash from Cuphead. Another positive was the exploration factor with hidden secrets all over the world.
The bad reviews I found talk about the natural difficulty and annoying backtracking. From my research, I can gather a common negative of metroidvania games are the backtracking elements, so having a good way to counter that would be crucial.
The Survivalists is a single/multiplayer survival sandbox set in a randomly generated tropical landscape. I thought this game may be interesting to research as the idea of escape is optional while being a major goal that you can aim towards.
The blueprint system is a good way to balance progression. As you gather materials to craft items, you learn how to assemble better items like weapons for tackling dungeons or tools to extract more materials. With a finite number of resources, you could get stuck so to counter this, a blood moon mechanic was introduced which resets all natural parts of the game like trees and rocks to avoid a dip in pacing efficiency.
In a game with live, non-turn based combat- focus is crucial, therefore UI is minimal to match this. As you collect resources, you can build rafts to other islands, unlocking more resources and materials to further your goals of escape. These could be bombs to open up caves or shovels to dig up sand on beaches, required for making glass. The game has a crafting system where you can blueprint out structures and place them down another time.
From the start of the game you are introduced to a monkey companion, which can learn tasks by copying you in order to carry out tasks while you might be out exploring. They can also be taught combat to add a helping hand against hordes of foes.
Dungeons can be found across islands which have loot inside, accelerating the process of crafting by storing weapons or rare materials rather than having to go and find the pieces necessary to craft them.
Each section on the map has its own difficulty rating out of 5, this helps to steer players in the right direction while also offering the possibility of challenging themselves with over-levelled enemies. The game being randomly generated allows for replay ability and keeps the game feeling fresh as you could always play things differently on your second time around.
The islands you can explore have villages that offer good loot that you can use or sell, but often have dangerous enemies to make the reward feel deserved. Lack of inventory space makes it harder to pick up good items in chests, so the developers added the ability to pick a chest up, requiring a daring escape back to base in order to get the reward.
Credited for its diversity in what to do, The Survivalists, the choice in pacing allows for you to play the game your way and not have to worry about escaping right away, enemies raiding your base every blood moon helps refresh combat.
Having played the game for myself, I can get behind what these reviews see in The Survivalists, the dungeons feel exciting and ominous, but after entering the experience is short-lived. While the other review talks of little reason to explore, I would argue that exploration being there for those that want it rather than mandatory makes it more intriguing to a wider audience.
"The Room" is an escape game with 3D graphics. The game uses first person to allow a greater extent of immersion. If the game was third person, it would be a lot less optimized as the camera would be further away to fit the player and the puzzles would be harder to see.
Each Chapter in the game has a box with lots of mini puzzles within, the Chapter ends once the puzzle box has been fully solved. The box can be rotated so the player can get a full view of all the contraptions that all of which are required at some point to move on.
One of the puzzles on this box is a graph that can't be completed, the player must unlock other puzzles to get this graph to make sense. Clues are given out to hint at what the player needs to do next.
When the puzzle is solved, it reveals this T shape, which is the code required to be inputted somewhere on the puzzle box, when they find it, the player must light up the dots on the grid according to the other graph display.
Solving this graph puzzle rewards you with an inventory item where the next puzzle in the set becomes accessible. This "door and key" system will continue throughout the chapter until the entire puzzle box is complete.
The UI for the game is simple, displaying a list of items with a ? Button in the top left corner providing hints after a player is stuck. If we were taking our game down a more puzzle based route, a small inventory like this could be needed to reread clues or codes. Having lots of mini puzzles can be an effective method to break up complicated larger puzzles. Like shown below, the following puzzles are fairly straight-forward but having a big box with a lot of puzzles attached to it that currently are unsolvable can be an effective method to overwhelm players and make the puzzle harder.
Some simple puzzle examples include these two involving rotating mechanics. The one on the left is obtained after completing a set of other puzzles. The key has many stems with a variety of shapes, they have to overlap with other stems to match the blue outline to progress. This puzzle is part of lots of mini puzzles.
This puzzle on the right is at the opening to the game- around 5 minutes in. The rotating tiles in the middle simply have to be rotated to match up with the border. This contrasts with the key puzzle around an hour into the game, quite far in given the game can be done in under two hours.
On positive reviews, the game seems to have excelled at its intention of delivering unique charming puzzles that are satisfying to solve, the very low Steam price is also an effective marketing pull-in given the game can definitely be completed in one sitting.
Negative reviews talk about the lack of content given that the game is very beatable within two hours and because of the linear nature and people's Steam hours on this game it doesn't seem that there's any reason to replay it.
The Link's Awakening remake in 2019 keeps the charm of the original while adding a fresh style for the Zelda franchise with a few optimisations. The main goal of the game is to escape Koholint Island by waking The Wind Fish using 8 musical instruments found within each dungeon of the game.
The map in Link's Awakening is a considerable size with each dungeon split apart, the first two dungeons are close top each other to avoid the map feeling too big, but afterwards the game opens up and fast travel points can be found to make movement better.
In the original Link's Awakening the biggest con for me was the constant item management, since you could only hold two items at once including items you'd rather have all the time like the sword. Combined with screen limitations this would severely break up gameplay as half of the time you are in the menu selecting items. In the remake however, they kept this mechanic but made it much better. They made some of the most used items like the sword, shield, Power Bracelet and Pegasus Boots permanent items wired to other buttons on the switch rather than having to switch way more often. This is a clever fix for the Nintendo Switch remake as it takes the console limitations from the GBC and fixes them to make the game a lot more about overworld exploration, combat and dungeon puzzle solving rather than spending too much time switching between your jump and your sword in a menu.
The dungeons in Link's Awakening are probably my biggest positive for the game. Dungeons are a key part of the process to escape the island. Solving puzzles, collecting keys and beating bosses known as "Nightmares" that are guarding the music instrument you're after. Each dungeon has it's own item to increase traversal options and puzzle complexity like the Roc's Feather in Tail Cave allowing you to jump or the Hookshot in Catfish's Maw that allows you to zip across wide gaps that would otherwise be uncrossable. Like in Metroidvanias, these dungeon items allow the player to be limited in where they can go but then once the item is collected they have to remember where it can be used in areas they couldn't complete before.
Dungeon puzzles are extremely varied, testing players in different ways. Since each dungeon gives you a new tool in your move set, more puzzle options are possible making the dungeons naturally have growing difficulty.
To break up dungeon puzzles, Link's Awakening uses a change of pace effectively by having a 2D Platforming section in each- sometimes more than one. These can test the player by them applying how the move in top-down to a 2D environment. While less challenging than the puzzles especially in later dungeons they offer breaks from complex chains of puzzles.
The Nightmare isn't the only boss to take care of in the dungeon, each has its own mini-boss like the Hinox who throws bombs at the player. The final dungeon (Turtle Rock) even has all the previous mini-bosses with a new mini-boss to act as a gauntlet to split up puzzle solving by testing the player with the combat aspects. This boss-rush of sorts is a good memory game for the player to test if they know each of the mini-bosses weaknesses.
From my experience, the most negative thing about the game is its fetch quest, one giant trade sequence split up through all of the game that goes unmentioned in the story and is required at certain points. While this could incentivise exploration, walking mindlessly around the map isn't all that fun.
The Escapists 2 is a strategy game where the focus is to escape numerous prisons all with a certain theme. This game focuses more on the physical side of escape in contrast to our own, although elements that make the Escapists 2 a fun experience for players could be worthy of note.
Each prison has a different schedule, Rattlesnake Springs for example has it's own timetable and job benefits. Each is crucial as the highest paying jobs mean you can trade with villagers much faster and planning your escape in free time allows for a longer window to complete the prison.
While in prison your character will have specific stats in order to complete tasks. Fitness allows you to attack faster, crucial for cutting through fences and Intellect allows you to craft items. All stats are essential to maintain for a faster escape, requiring the player to increase them by going to the gym and completing jobs.
This is the generator, which electrifies any fences while it's powered on. Players need to turn it off to cut through the fences without being knocked out. This increases a big risk factor as it will often cause conflict with guards that the player must be prepared for and failure will result in loss of items.
Guards carry one-time use keys to access coloured doors, this can lead to a crucial part of the prison like the generator to power down any electric fences. decoy copies of the key can also be made to avoid conflict with guards, allowing for the same goal to be achieved in multiple ways.
The Escapists 2 contains a prison builder where players can share their creations with others. Once the player includes all the conditions like an escape route, gym, cells and more, they can upload their prison. This is a good feature for players who want more from the game as there will be an infinite number of possibilities, so a level editor is a good choice.
In the editor there are plenty of things to choose from with decorations, cell layouts and backgrounds like grass, sand, and snow. Since you can use the templates or make your own, there are plenty of combinations for players to try.
From all the positive reviews I found, the games additions from the original to its sequel were well received. One thing that the reviews said was that while losing progress can be frustrating, it's part of the risk you have to be willing to take. Players enjoyed the strategic puzzle solving needed to escape each prison with a multitude of escape methods allowing different ways to play the same base experience.
While the good reviews praise the multiplayer, there is definitely controversy. One review didn't think items where clearly defined enough, so if we had an item inventory in our game, we'd need to make sure each item is clearly stated what it does, these could be upgrades or "keys" required to solve puzzles in different areas. The other mentioned the game's difficulty being too punishing. While this is a con to bare in mind, distributing the game to the right audience is crucial. Games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring are designed to be more cruel to players, so their difficulty isn't as much of a problem. For the Escapists 2, the game is a 7+ which makes sense for the difficulty but just because games are targeted to younger audiences doesn't mean they're not allowed to have segments of the game that offer challenge.
The idea I had for my jumping enemy was inspired by the movement of a Jumping Piranha Plant from Super Mario World, where the enemy would leap directly upward. One thing about the Piranha Plant however is it falls slowly, making it easily avoidable.
This is noteworthy as a faster falling enemy can allow for more difficult timing when combined in level-building, perhaps a set of jumps with one of these enemies on a thin platform so waiting for it to jump is required to get under.
The Blue Kappa from The Messenger stand still while occasionally shooting spike balls in an arc dependent on the players position. This on its own isn't too bad but in groups or in unreachable places above tough platforming segments they can pose a threat and but players off balance. This is the 24 frames in the 16-bit Sprite Sheet of the Blue Kappa. The idle has the head move up and down before launching the projectile from inside the body and blasting it back out with an explosion effect at which point the spike ball will become its own sprite with it's own sheet.
For the walking enemy, I know I wanted to design some sort of giant insect that scaled the player in size, giving the world more of an ecosystem. I chose the mantis as it looks quite alien-like in appearance, and it's scythe shaped arms would make it a perfect fit as a melee enemy in the jungle.
For my ranged enemy I wanted the Alligator Snapping Turtle to use as a reference. The enemy will stand still on four legs and behave like the Blue Kappa, firing a projectile at the target.
Now that I know what to use as inspiration for my enemies, I'll move onto animation with the first key step of animation which is revising animation principles commonly used in pixel art to make better quality animations for my production.
Staging is the simple animation method where the animation you're presenting should be clear. In the correct example, all the key frames are within the shot of the screen, making for a better staged animation than the left example.
Most things in animation follow a movement pattern called an arc. When filling in keyframes, putting them in positions that create a smooth curve and applying a slow in and out that makes the object appear to be affected by gravity.
The pose to pose animation method is an effective strategy for getting your animation started. Begin with the keyframes and then insert in-betweens to give you control over actions and timing.
Applying Ease In and Ease Out makes for smoother animations and can give your animation more momentum. It's important to find the balance with Ease In and Out since too much can make the animation too sluggish or too quick at points.
Squash and Stretch is making objects thinner when falling as a result of gravity and making them wider on impact to create weight. It's important to keep the volume of pixels the same or otherwise the animation won't be as smooth as it can be. It's important to think about the material you want to illustrate as heavy objects won't apply as much squash and stretch. Take a tennis ball vs. a bowling ball for example.
Anticipation is very key to games animation as it gives the player time to react to enemies. For example, if the enemy is charging up their blaster, you can expect it to shoot. The same applies here, by squashing down the ball, it gives the anticipation of the ball jumping up.
Follow through is when some parts of an object don't always stop moving at the same time. This can apply to anything so clothes, hair. When the ball stops, it has a bit of follow through to neaten off the ending frames of the animation with overlapping motion.
Exaggeration in animation means to amplify the idea you're going for. In the example, the squash and stretch was refined to exaggerate the squash as much as possible.
Timing is about force. If a metal box and a wood box are pushed with the same force, the wooden one will move faster and further. Spacing out frames can allow duration to give your animations weight. Adding in-betweens and duration of certain frames can help achieve this.
Appeal is all about making something more pleasing to look at. In the example, the white ball has been changed into a rabbit since they share a similar structure. For how to apply this into my own animations, I'll add patterns and detail on my sprites and background to make them seamlessly combine.
Drawing in stages helped the transformation of the appeal, by drawing the face onto the animation first as it effects the animation the least. I will use the outlining method of drawing darker shades of the pixels around the sprite to make an outline that blends better with the sprite than just black all around.
A secondary action can give your primary action more character. In this instance, the rabbit peers over the edge before making the jump, giving personality to the animation. I did this in on of my early animations of a frog jumping from last year. The primary action was a jump and the secondary action was a yawn after the jump, adding more character.
For my first segment in the project, I will need to animate actions for enemies like walking, jumping, and shooting. When animating, it's best to first find a reference for the action you're trying to replicate- identify a few key poses and start with those.
Secondly, separating the character into parts as shown here can help you focus on one part at a time. So here, the hands, body, head and axe have been split as all of these will move individually at certain points for some follow through.
The key poses are established with the poses using exaggeration. One problem with drawing too many frames is it will make the animation move slower, so sometimes with an action like chopping wood with an axe, it's better to have the animation to be quick so the animation can develop a sense of momentum.
Another technique for quicker animation is smear frames. These frames can allow the action you want to be carried out in one image to indicate speed or weight. Stronger characters may lift heavy objects easier but the animation may be more sluggish purposefully to exaggerate their movement.
This displays the transition of the animation, changing the duration of each frame can create weight to objects, rather than every frame distributed evenly where the animation can turn out not as smooth as it could be.
For the game, it was my job to design some base enemy concepts that I want to learn how to animate in preparation for the production weeks. First off is a walk cycle for an enemy that would move left to right. The first thing is to make sure each leading foot makes contact with the floor.
Next add a passing position in-between each contact and the leg is straight which elevates the position of the torso and head. In the passing position, the leg should be straight to give the head more height.
Before the passing position is the down position which creates a sense of weight for the animation and then the up after the passing position with leg pushing the rest of the body up and into the next contact position. The arms are widest in the down and closest to the body in the passing position. Finally an additional down, passing and up position are needed to allow the cycle to loop. This will make the head move up and down in an arc, creating weight.
Recreating this in pixel art, one of the feet has a shadow to create more dimension to the walk cycle. This gives the impression that one foot is actually going in front of the other.
By splitting the sprite into pieces, the head can be added to each of the complete leg cycles and then the head animated using the twelve principles of animation.
Adding the arms starting with the widest apart and then working towards the passing position. This has allowed me to collect some advice about what steps to do when designing the characters I reminded myself of the animation principles and what I can do to put them into full effect.
In the most primitive games, jumping animations were done with a single sprite whenever the player was off the ground. As games evolved, multiple forms started to develop the "Rise and Fall" method where after the peak of the jump the character sprite would change.
One approach to our jumping enemy could be an arced leap. It's important to keep the arc symmetrical, treat each point as a frame and then animate those frames, simpler animations may cut out every other frame to make the animation quicker. Jump height is also important, establishing a dynamic so you can black out each frame depending on jump height. Most people would expect small characters to jump higher that larger ones so a smaller enemy could have a higher jump height. If the jump was a straight forward jump upwards, the same frames would apply but I'd want the rise and fall to be sudden for more difficult platforming challenges.
Firstly, I want to look at an existing metroidvania and understand the structure of the first level to learn how to develop my own. The example I will look at is Skullrock Beach from Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. From the map it's structure is a fairly straight line with a few hidden areas that reward players for exploration.
While playing the level, you can see on the map where you should be headed being represented by a green target, making it clear if you return to the game at a later point.
On the complete map, certain areas with items are shown after collection. Since there are a lot of collectibles it's important to keep track of the ones you have. Examples include the Extra Hearts, Gold Armour Sets and Upgrade Gems to upgrade armour at a blacksmith. Save points are marked with a black S and healing save points are marked with a white S so players can tell the difference. There are also shop locations like ones that replenish your magic and gear shops where you can purchase weapons and armour.
Small segment before the main level, accessible water to show how water works in the game. In the entire first section of the level, the only enemy is this optional piranha.
After entering the house and getting your sword, there is a moving platform to teach the player how to jump which is a reference to one of the previous games in the series. There's a hidden room that can reward the player with some coins to give them a head start when buying more expensive gear later.
First, the game wants to test you on making a series of jumps, introducing a basic enemy also. The crab will move side to side and when hit, the enemy runs faster.
The player is introduced to a smaller variation of the crab where the player has to crouch to hit the enemy, making it more difficult to hit when other enemies are involved. it makes sense to introduce the enemy on its own with a signpost explaining how the enemy works to give players preparation for more advanced situations.
Now using what the player has learned, they must combine jumps and enemies including some of the enemies faced before and smaller platforms requiring less reckless jumping. Falling isn't punished by death but instead falling in water to allow them to try again.
After making it past another set of jumps involving moving platforms there are a combination of enemies with a chest below teasing the player as it seems unobtainable given the player has no way of going underwater.
New enemy introduction that takes more hits. Putting the blue crab in a large space draws the player's focus to it. A little further on players will be blocked by an impassable wall with a flower that shoots fire on the other side. Next to it is the shop, since the player is stuck at this point it's good level design to have the solution right next to the problem in the early stages.
At this point the player gets access to the Heavy Boots after paying ten coins. The player has to remember that they can use the boots to go underwater and reach the chest that was previously inaccessible.
The boots can be accessed in a ring menu to make switching between the two easily toggleable. This is getting the player comfortable with puzzles to ease them in as they get gradually harder.
Once the player has used the boots to go underwater, they have an empty space where they can get used to the underwater physics. They can then head to the next screen where they have to balance dealing with enemies and keeping an eye on the breath meter that appears below the player's health.
Once the player has made it out of the underwater section they are rewarded with the shield that can reflect the fire plant's attacks from before. After remembering they need to switch from the Heavy Boots to the Leather Boots to float back up to the surface.
This is the impassable wall that the player couldn't go through before. Now they have the shield, the "key" to this puzzle, they can deflect the fire back to kill the plant. This opens the gate allowing the player to pass.
After a quick enemy rush to test the player's combat skills, they receive a new tool to their move set, the magic ability where they can cast elemental attacks. Unlocking magic requires truffles, there are five unique magic types and collecting truffles of the same type adds more magic, for fire you start with five uses.
The fire can burn vines and enemies, teaching the player multiple uses in the same area. This gets the player to use the fire which also means they will be low on fire when they get through the passage, this is purposeful as some enemies have a change to drop magic to replenish what you've used.
In the next section, there's a pool of water. If the player uses the Heavy Boots, they can explore a new area, allowing more content for completionists.
At the end of the section the player will find a music sheet, introducing another collectible to the player. By showing most collectables off within the opening ten minutes, the player learns about the sort of things they should look for when the levels become less linear.
Should the player run out of magic, they can pay for more at the magic shop. It's located right next to a puzzle that requires magic for player convenience. The game is generous to the player while they learn all the mechanics.
The player uses fire magic to flick the level on the other side of the impassable wall. This is leading up to the player's final challenge.
The player has to move across a bridge where some segments crumble and break once stepped on. There's a secret that one of the bridges goes up instead so that you can reach the chest. The chest contains an elixir that when the player would die, they are revived with some of their hearts.
Nearing the end of the level, the player has to do quick jumps over crumbling platforms with a leaping piranha at the end. Testing the player's timing skills by waiting for the fish to be at the perfect position to begin making their way over to the other side.
Another optional underwater section, the player must use the Leather Boots to float to where the chest is. The chest contains an extra heart which adds a heart to the players health with seventeen being split across the world, amounting to a total of twenty hearts.
All of them are optional adding a challenge for players to beat the game without collecting any. While most hearts are out of the way or are locked behind backtracking, some are easy enough to find so that it's likely you'll run into two or three in the early game.
Finally is a section with a moving platform where piranhas jump out trying to knock you off. Once you make it to the other side there's a shop where you can buy an elixir if you missed the one earlier.
To close off the tutorial level there's a fairly challenging boss fight that tests what the player. The Giant Squid will spawn water slimes that are too small to hit with a basic attack so you'll need to crouch like with the crabs. The main aim is to damage the tentacles when they come down.
In summary, Monster Boy's tutorial level (Skullrock Beach) teaches the player numerous mechanics, collectibles to look for and basic puzzle solving skills. The use of the underwater segments allow the player to learn the water mechanics early in preparation for later areas. For level structure, Skullrock Beach is mostly a straight line with optional underwater based challenges that tests what the players know about the Leather and Heavy Boots. This is a good design choice for the target audience not to overwhelm them with items and keep it to the Boots and the Reflection Shield.
Next, I carried out some research on environment and colour to see what I can do when designing the pixel background that is placed behind the level. I'm also responsible for adding the pixel background into the game, so I looked at a multitude of environments and how they can be displayed in a pixel art background.
Fire Mountain in The Messenger's Picnic Panic DLC contains a stunning background blending cave attributes with a warm pink sunset. This is a helpful reference for shading sky backgrounds that I can use as a foundation for making my own. Things closer to the player tend to be darker than clouds or objects that are further away. the rocky background elements on Fire Mountain are dark because they're not receiving any of the sun's light.
This pixel background of an autumn forest stood out to me since a jungle is one of the two levels we were considering putting into our vertical slice. Orange can often blend the balance between the calm and subtlety of yellow with the evocative passion red emits. I can use techniques shown like making the trees lighter in colour as they get further away.
Deserts are a great choice for environments as while they can be perceived as barren, there's a lot of different arid environments that can help the level feel unique. The muted blue sky helps deliver the dry atmosphere in Breath of the Wild's Gerudo Village. Looking at the pixel backgrounds I found, both use a similar effect on the sand to create the texture of the dunes.
Green connotes tranquillity and nature, but since the jungle I'm designing is on an alien planet, I want to evoke chaos and otherworldly attributes by mixing up typical colour schemes. The cave pixel background shown uses the same technique as the one in the autumn forest to deliver a further sense of depth.
Snow environments are typically used in later segments of the game. This could be due to ice physics, environment threats like freezing to death from extreme cold, or strong mythological enemies like yetis that can evoke an intimidating presence.
Caves in video games have infinite possibilities, from sharp rocks, glowing fauna and narrow tunnels, caves offer a sense of isolation and mystery.
Despite having a jungle in the early game, I wanted to make a memorable environment by making the jungle purple since it's an abstract colour that is rare in the natural world. in colour rather than green. I could take inspiration from the construction of this sky by darkening the shade gradually using a pixel method that blends them together.
Finally, I wanted to cover elements that make up a metroidvania and what I can do to make the metroidvania experience interesting for players. Covering mechanics and abilities first, I wanted to use The Messenger again as an example since it handles it's main mechanics very well.
From the beginning, the game teaches you the Cloudstep mechanic, introducing it at the start and constantly evolving the same movement. An upgrade can be bought to allow you to Cloudstep off of enemies and projectiles, further amplifying the swiftness of the the game movement.
When reaching the Searing Crags, the player acquires the Rope Dart, allowing them to grapple onto walls and enemies, meaning you can hit an aerial enemy with the Rope Dart and then Cloudstep off them on a repeatable chain, making for some challenging jumps. You can also Cloudstep off other background objects using the Rope Dart, allowing for more momentum possibilities as the Rope Dart is the fast way to move around on land.
In the Underworld, the devil enemies that poke out of the wall can be Cloudstepped on which makes the devils appear in other holes, requiring more complex timing as you can't be safe in the same spot for long. While this is only used in one area, many of these spots are over lava resulting in instant death on failure. Since Underworld is a late game location, it tests the player to use all the upgrades and abilities that they've acquired in more advanced ways, the Cloudstep mechanic is just one example.
At the core of all Metroidvanias is the exploration factor that instead of being bound by level progression, traversal is instead measured by platforming and abilities that function like glorified keys. For example in Monster Boy, there are countless areas that are blocked off by chunks of rock. These aren't breakable until you have the Lion Form. Meaning if the player sees any of these rock chunks before that point, they'd have to remember where they are to get the item.
I watched a short video talking about Metroidvanias so that I knew what sort of things to avoid when designing the level.
Constant backtracking can be a controversial topic in metroidvania level design. Most games of the genre require you to backtrack through previous areas to unlock something that was previously inaccessible. Good level design will make it so that you find enjoyment in retracing your steps rather than frustration. To make this achievable, I need to create an immersive world with optional challenges hiding secrets, areas that expand on controls to test the player and memorable environments that differ from the norm to create fresh experiences.
Levels should be a system of inter-connected pathways rather than a complex maze with too many dead ends, this helps give the immersion of exploration without wasting too much of the players time leading them down pointless roads.
Most dead ends should have a collectable at the end that's value scales with the difficulty it took to get there.
Make sure to have more precision if you're aiming for difficulty since metroidvania games attract fans of both platformers and puzzles. Making a game with no control or ability progression with slow paced movement quickly becomes boring.
After I watched the video, I looked at collectables in Metroidvanias and how they're used. Life Hearts are one of the 15 main collectibles in Monster Boy, giving the player an extra heart. Given later game enemies can do as much as four hearts at once, it's important that the game makes some of them easily accessible so the player feels like they're getting stronger through the playthrough.
The Super Truffles are another way to add more to your move set through use of collectables. There are five of each truffle element and they're often hidden in secret or hard to reach rooms. One is given to you at the start but as you go along you can expand your magic capabilities with each truffle you find.
While most of the game's weapon and armour sets are purchasable from the shop, getting the best armour in the game is a side quest in itself. Each armour is split into five Gold Gear Pieces scattered across the map. Once you have all five you can got to Foximus the blacksmith to craft that part of the armour set.
You can use Gems to increase your armour's abilities. This could be anything from a new weapon attack option or projectile resistance for armour or shields. The Golden Gems can only upgrade the Golden Armour set pieces. There are 22 Power Gems in Total, 13 Legendary Gems and 5 Golden Gems (One for each of the Golden Gear Set). For example, you can upgrade the Ice Boots to create Ice Blocks over water so you don't need to swim. Some gear in the sets already have passive abilities but they can either gain a new one or upgrade the existing one through the use of these gems.
Another side quest that the player gets collectables from are the Music Sheets. A man named Ollie in the main town of the game lost all his music sheets (21 in total) and collecting three of the same colour rewards you with a solo banjo performance of some classic music from the game's predecessors. This is a cool addition required for 100% because if you played the original Wonder Boy games, the tracks will be familiar.
Monster Boy has a vast collectable range that rewards the player with references, new abilities, and better armour. There are 128 of these around the map not including chests with minor rewards like Gold, Rainbow Drops and other armour sets. Giving players so many items to look for adds a level of depth as some games like the New Super Mario Bros. series only have Star Coins as the special form of collectables.
I watched Mark Brown's video on what makes a good puzzle to develop my existing understanding and revise things that I have learned throughout designing my own puzzles before. To fit the role as puzzle designer I need to set a foundation early on for the game's puzzles and start off simple.
In Cosmic Express, the player must create train tracks on the grid without overlapping the tracks, and a few conditions are required. Firstly all the aliens must be transported into the house boxes and the train track must also meet up with the one on the other side, requiring thinking ahead and planning a strategy.
These rules and limitations are used to create puzzles. The rule about not crossing over tracks may result in you running out of room going one way and you have to take a different approach. The grid allows for countless methods, allowing for the puzzles to be solved in more ways than one, appealing to more people.
Puzzles get more advanced as they go along, including more aliens or even specific aliens that have to go into houses that match their colour, adding a progressive system to the games mechanic to keep the gameplay at a correlating complexity. Teleporters appear on the grid in this example to achieve the same goal of added difficulty.
With 126 unlockable levels, the game provides a lot of puzzles for the player to try. With the unique mechanics and the aliens being the "keys" in this system and the house boxes being the "doors" there's lots of potential when it comes to this style of gameplay- evidenced by the shear amount of ideas the developers came up with.
In the game Snakebird, the core mechanic centralises around the movement controls and how they are effected by gravity. As the player, you have to eat enough fruit (the key) to open the rainbow portal to the next level (the door). In games like this, everything is almost always there for a reason, so if a block is there, you're probably intended to use it at some point.
While it sounds easy enough at first, in this instance the player collected too much fruit to be able to make it back to the portal. The solution would be to collect the fruit in a different order so that the player is small enough to fit through the gap and make it back to the rest of the fruit to finish the level, allowing for that level of strategy.
Spikes serve as the puzzle's main enemy, as touching one will kill you instantly. In this example, the player tries to move to the portal but doesn't have any segments on the ground and falls into the spikes. By eating the fruit to add segments to the body, the player can have enough segments to reach the portal.
The way the creatures move and how their whole body follows the head allows for a lot of potential. The game also follows the "door key" theory and how it can be applied in an infinite number of ways, just as this example is fruit and a portal.
While puzzles can have what's known as primary assets like movement controls in Snakebird, The Talos Principle relies solely on external secondary puzzle components such as Jammers, Cubes and Repeaters. The use of different external components in combination make up even more possibilities.
Using tripods, coloured beams can be routed from orbs to panels which open up doors. The example shows a typical puzzle of this nature. The player places the tripod down and activates it so it takes in light from the orb and dishes it out into a panel. The game's first person perspective unlike the room is a down side since first person with walls concealing other puzzle pieces makes it harder to see. This is an interesting design choice as the game would be much easier in a top down perspective for example.
It should be clear what the player is trying to achieve, a new player shouldn't be trying to find out what to do, but instead how to do it. Most puzzles fixate around a "catch" where two things contradict each other so the player has to find a solution. The most basic example of this is in a game like Portal, the two things are the button and the door. Standing on the button opens the door, but stepping off closes it, making a "catch". The door can't open without the button and the button can't be active without you standing on it so doing one makes the other impossible, leaving the player stuck. At first this would be impossible without an external component like the cube. This can serve as a placeholder of weight so that the button can be pressed down without you on it, allowing you to pass through the door and keep going. This idea of a "catch" is very common in puzzle games Like the Legend of Zelda franchise.
Using the Catch Methodology in The Talos Principle, two tripods are being used to get blue light to the blue panel to open a door and the third tripod is being used to get red light to the red panel and open another door. The problem is one of the tripods also needs to be on the pressure plate near the goal to open the final door. At first it seems simple, use one tripod to hit the red orb's light into both red panels and clear the opening so that the blue light can make it to the blue panel in a single tripod. This is where the "catch" comes in where you can't get red light into panel C without having blue light already in panel A.
What this means is when you try to remove one of the panels onto the pressure plate, the blue light will be blocked by a door stopping your plan. The solution is to make the two tripods connect the blue light while having light directed at A from the lower tripod even though the door is obstructing the route. When you then open the door with the red light the upper tripod is no longer needed because the connection to A is made and the "catch" has been removed. Therefore, the link isn't broken and you can move the spare tripod to the pressure plate.
So while the puzzle is fairly simple, attempting this using the game's perspective instead of top down like shown above is much harder to comprehend. It seems very challenging because it asks the player to think outside the box and consider how the game's external assets work. Doing this reveals a logical but not obvious method to the game's rules and changes your perspective going forward. This is intentional as puzzles of this variant show up later in game to ask players to revise what they have learned.
In Lara Croft Go, a way to deal with dangerous enemy lizards are these crumbling tiles. Stepping on them once cracks the tile, and an entity stepping on it a second time will cause it to break. This can be used to get around the lizard in this case. The player steps over the tile and the lizard follows, but falls back down because the entities stepped on the tile twice, allowing the player to get away.
In this other example the same logic is applied, however if you try to get the lizard to fall off the crumbling tile then you'll have to go back on yourself and the lizard will kill you.
The solution leans into the crumbling tiles mechanic where it will break only after two interactions, meaning if you step on it once in advance, then go taunt the lizard and then step on the tile, the lizard will be on the wall while you can safely drop off the crumbling tile instead of the lizard, you can cut off the lizards path while you walk to the exit, pulling the lever and completing the level.
Although, there is a level of complexity added to this puzzle. This second lizard isn't part of the solution and could be removed entirely. While some may think it's there just to waste time, that isn't actually the case. The game developers are using the puzzle logic of "Assumption". In this logic, the player will use the crumbling tile themselves and let the second lizard step over it so it falls off the edge. So most players will assume that beating the other lizard requires the same process when actually the lizard would kill you.
Assumption is essentially when the developers make a puzzle look easy when it actually has more to it than on first glance. In this game players must roll meat over grills to cook them. Once the meat is cooked on all areas the entrance opens up however due to the player's movement this is more challenging than it looks. Most players will roll the meat onto the nearest grills straight away but then they'll become stuck because of the weird game movement. This is done so the player walks straight into the puzzle's "catch".
This is done for multiple reasons. First it means the player isn't completely overwhelmed in the beginning, by thinking they know the answer they can get straight into trying to solve it. Second, the player can begin to use this failure to visualise how the puzzle is solved since it's near guaranteed that this sort of puzzle is failed on attempt one. Failing straight away can sometimes leave the player stumped since the answer they thought was obvious has more layers of complication behind it. This gets the player's attention on the thing trying to catch them out and gets them thinking what they can do to avoid the same thing happening.
So in conclusion, assumption is helpful for getting players to walk themselves into the trap so they can start thinking about other ways to solve the puzzle. The best puzzles are ones that look simple but are more complicated rather than a puzzle with too many unnecessary parts that throw the player off and could result in them giving up.
Puzzles should be designed to build on the ones that came before them, so the player is constantly using what they learn. They should have enough aspects where more is harder but too many becomes too confusing and tedious. Puzzles tend to need more playtesting than other parts of games since there can be more than one way to solve a puzzle most times. A good puzzle is derived from the game rules and has a catch that makes the puzzle seem impossible until looking further. If the developer exploits an assumption that the player will make a certain move, the best puzzles demand the player to think laterally about problems. Not all puzzles need this, but most will use the aspects of puzzle design and player psychology to guide them towards the right answer.
A classic fetch puzzle is a key and door, A way to make it more interesting is having coloured keys that only activate certain doors. This method can allow the key to be locked behind a test of platforming challenges.
The Colour Switch changes blocks from orange to blue, changing the player's route across dungeons which can get the players to hit the switch in unique ways with new abilities, perfect for a metroidvania with evolving abilities. While this is the case, it would make more sense to be mostly in the late game which might not make it into the vertical slice.
Use of ON/OFF Blocks can be used to carry the player but also entities using creative ways. The power-up comes out of the green pipe and the player has to hit the switch to carry it over to the Note Block which bounces the power-up into Mario's reach.
Puzzles seen in "The Room" have 3D perspective, so the game could do something similar with rotatable models of the puzzle, something simple in the first few levels like a 2 by 2 Rubik's cube with alien symbols instead of colours that's nearly solved. Instead of an infinite number of rotations, giving the player the risk of getting too lost, the player could have a limited number of uses where if you run out of turns before the cube is solved, the puzzle progress is undone and you have to take a different approach.
Another idea is a relay style puzzle. In the example, the Pig Form's Ground Slam attack can change the faces of the mushroom statues. There are four unique faces and four statues resulting in several hundred combinations making it near impossible to get through simply by chance.
Using the Pig's scent ability, the player can reveal patterns on the trees showing what each face the different numbers should be. These are right next to the Mushroom Palace preventing player frustration from too much backtracking.
GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT 16/09/24 - 16/10/24:
This Google document displays the summarisation of our game Mental Marine, to gain experience making one for ourselves, we each designed our own GDDs. As a working document, my GDD received weekly updates on production and planning, helping to display the key information about the concept of the game.