Yesterday I hit the pavement around Champlain to talk to some of the professors and get some feedback. And overall, feeling pretty good. Gameplay is solid now, don’t have any more lingering worries about it besides actually teaching people how to play (I really am not looking forward to building this tutorial system).
Sound is now becoming the biggest concern, we have two potential people who are helping us already, but that dec 15th deadline just keeps on coming closer...
UI changes feel pretty good, the player selection stuff needs some work, but overall a way better system. Just being able to see a full preview of the map is great.
So today…
Polish up player selector thing, make sure the menu stuff with creating your own maps functions correctly. Had some rumors that the undo button wasn’t working yesterday, potentially squashed it so lets see how it works now, and finally im starting to have thoughts on team games… 2v2. Hmmmm.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Thursday, November 29, 2012
User Interface
One of the most fundamental aspects of games, yet one that rarely receives any attention. The User Interface (UI) guides a player through your game, it is represented with every screen you ever show the player.
Yesterday (and through today) we have completely broken down the main collection of menus, player selection, map selection, and even the way users access the map editor, and collected it all into one very nicely designed screen (thank your Marguerite). This is a huge step towards reaching some milestones on the polish side of things.
With this update players are now able to see in real time the map they are about to play one, not just small previews, which means that players can view the entirety of the battlefield before committing to starting their game. This not only works with the standard maps that come shipped with Overflow, but any additional maps users now create.
Speaking of which, there will now be six save slots per map type. Players can make a total of 18 unique maps, all of which can be reedited at any time.
Player picked colors will be next on the list!
Yesterday (and through today) we have completely broken down the main collection of menus, player selection, map selection, and even the way users access the map editor, and collected it all into one very nicely designed screen (thank your Marguerite). This is a huge step towards reaching some milestones on the polish side of things.
With this update players are now able to see in real time the map they are about to play one, not just small previews, which means that players can view the entirety of the battlefield before committing to starting their game. This not only works with the standard maps that come shipped with Overflow, but any additional maps users now create.
Speaking of which, there will now be six save slots per map type. Players can make a total of 18 unique maps, all of which can be reedited at any time.
Player picked colors will be next on the list!
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Polish
Looking at our timeline as well as the gigantic list of things to do it was time to figure out priorities. Which means unfortunately the work towards Async will have to be postponed. As cool as it would be to get async in there it’s more important that we have better menus.
One of the biggest rules in usability design is that more screens separating the player from the game the higher the chance that they won’t even play. To avoid this we are combining the player selection screen with the map selection screen.
This would give players the opportunity to select their own colors as well as potentially their own symbols. The other addition that will be coming is a quick play feature which will instantly load the last map that was played, to expedite the process of getting players in the game even faster.
The last really big ticket item is a tutorial…
I really don’t want to make one. I know that it is super important, possibly the most important aspect of the game because it’s so key for new players, but it is extraordinarily boring to do so. But the thing is, I’ve got to make this look polished as heck, because we are going up against some really good indie studios for this Boston Showcase. So I’ll bite the bullet and make the stupid tutorial.
One of the biggest rules in usability design is that more screens separating the player from the game the higher the chance that they won’t even play. To avoid this we are combining the player selection screen with the map selection screen.
This would give players the opportunity to select their own colors as well as potentially their own symbols. The other addition that will be coming is a quick play feature which will instantly load the last map that was played, to expedite the process of getting players in the game even faster.
The last really big ticket item is a tutorial…
I really don’t want to make one. I know that it is super important, possibly the most important aspect of the game because it’s so key for new players, but it is extraordinarily boring to do so. But the thing is, I’ve got to make this look polished as heck, because we are going up against some really good indie studios for this Boston Showcase. So I’ll bite the bullet and make the stupid tutorial.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Evolution
One of the challenges that was plaguing Overflow was a clash of identities. The original design, which is currently called “simple” was great in a lot of aspects. The rules were like the name implies, were simple, 1+ 1 == 2, 2 + 2 == 3, etc. However there were problems. Player 1 had a distinct advantage (given that they knew what they were doing), because due to the nature of turn based rules they would unlock their special tiles. Which means that player 1 could dominate the board and there was no way to stop them.
So along came the second iteration, nicknamed “complex”; which, just like the original design had its own improvements as well as flaws. Complex changed the rules of how tiles interacted with one another. It became a game of simple math, 1+1 == 2, 2+1 == 3, 3+ 1 == 4. However when any number combination == 4, the tile(and all adjacent lvl 3 tiles) would wipe to 0. Which was really satisfying, because now you could actually counteract the moves of other players.
A fourth tile was created in this version that could only be placed on lvl 3’s, and would basically solidify the board. I added this tile to ensure that the game actually ended; otherwise it was possible that players would infinitely block one another from winning.
The biggest shortcoming was that the rules became murky. When placing a tile it would effect the board differently depending on it the tile was placed on your own pieces or an opponents. Ultimately, while fun, it was incredibly difficult to break into and understand.
Thanksgiving rolls around and I start thinking. What if we mash the two game types together? Create a hybrid of design?
Well, that is exactly what I did. The game plays like the simple version, but has the fourth tile and the ability to counteract/stop other players from winning. The new addition will be available soon, I need to figure out how exactly I’m going to approach tutorials in the future.
So along came the second iteration, nicknamed “complex”; which, just like the original design had its own improvements as well as flaws. Complex changed the rules of how tiles interacted with one another. It became a game of simple math, 1+1 == 2, 2+1 == 3, 3+ 1 == 4. However when any number combination == 4, the tile(and all adjacent lvl 3 tiles) would wipe to 0. Which was really satisfying, because now you could actually counteract the moves of other players.
A fourth tile was created in this version that could only be placed on lvl 3’s, and would basically solidify the board. I added this tile to ensure that the game actually ended; otherwise it was possible that players would infinitely block one another from winning.
The biggest shortcoming was that the rules became murky. When placing a tile it would effect the board differently depending on it the tile was placed on your own pieces or an opponents. Ultimately, while fun, it was incredibly difficult to break into and understand.
Thanksgiving rolls around and I start thinking. What if we mash the two game types together? Create a hybrid of design?
Well, that is exactly what I did. The game plays like the simple version, but has the fourth tile and the ability to counteract/stop other players from winning. The new addition will be available soon, I need to figure out how exactly I’m going to approach tutorials in the future.
Monday, November 26, 2012
And we're back
Great holiday for everyone, super relaxed and now all prepared to jump back into it.
Played alot of Overflow and now have a new punch list of sorts. So over break i started to tackle some of them:
1. Symbols? The major problem with art is that the game is still difficult to explain to people. Its very mechanical: A level 1 tile + a level 1 tile == level 2 tile. To counter this i started to play around with new symbols.
2. End Game Early: Now when you end a game early it shows the break down of who won.
3. Player positions: Players were originally set up in a Z formation, now its a clockwise circle.
4. Starting to work out an Undo Feature! After playing on an iPad over break, it became apparent that because Touch is so finicky its almost necessary. In addition it allows players to experiment and learn. The undo button will be a toggle option, on/off.
5. Thinking about bumping the medium map to be a large map, and create a new map size somewhere between small and medium.
So off we go! Things to do and now that December 15th deadline is looming closer.
Played alot of Overflow and now have a new punch list of sorts. So over break i started to tackle some of them:
1. Symbols? The major problem with art is that the game is still difficult to explain to people. Its very mechanical: A level 1 tile + a level 1 tile == level 2 tile. To counter this i started to play around with new symbols.
2. End Game Early: Now when you end a game early it shows the break down of who won.
3. Player positions: Players were originally set up in a Z formation, now its a clockwise circle.
4. Starting to work out an Undo Feature! After playing on an iPad over break, it became apparent that because Touch is so finicky its almost necessary. In addition it allows players to experiment and learn. The undo button will be a toggle option, on/off.
5. Thinking about bumping the medium map to be a large map, and create a new map size somewhere between small and medium.
So off we go! Things to do and now that December 15th deadline is looming closer.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Adjusting the Async Strategy
Friday was mostly spent understanding how Smartfox operates and ensuring that I could make the necessary calls to and from the server. But as I dug deeper into what it offered and began to understand more and more what Overflow actually needed I discovered that Smartfox was not the right direction.
Smartfox has some really cool features. Player connect to a lobby where they can browse the games and then connect, which is ultimately what I do want. However, it does it all in a way designed for real-time multiplayer scenarios. I began to look over the async tutorial again and discovered that he was only using the Smartfox as a hand off between the client and his database. He was not actually taking advantage of any of the multiplayer functions Smartfox came with.
So Matt and I really started to break it down and have decided to ditch the server and instead send calls out directly to a PHP page which will add, subtract, and edit the database for us. We are doing this for a variety of reasons, 1. We are both far more comfortable using PHP. Yes, we will have to figure out how to make it secure, but just getting async working is the goal. 2. The server would have required us to keep a machine running 24/7 and we would have probably had to start paying to use Smartfox. It allows for 20 concurrent users for free, which is at the end of the day only good for testing purposes.
The other good news is that if we get this system working, not only will it work for Flash, but also for Unity. Killing two birds with one stone.
Smartfox has some really cool features. Player connect to a lobby where they can browse the games and then connect, which is ultimately what I do want. However, it does it all in a way designed for real-time multiplayer scenarios. I began to look over the async tutorial again and discovered that he was only using the Smartfox as a hand off between the client and his database. He was not actually taking advantage of any of the multiplayer functions Smartfox came with.
So Matt and I really started to break it down and have decided to ditch the server and instead send calls out directly to a PHP page which will add, subtract, and edit the database for us. We are doing this for a variety of reasons, 1. We are both far more comfortable using PHP. Yes, we will have to figure out how to make it secure, but just getting async working is the goal. 2. The server would have required us to keep a machine running 24/7 and we would have probably had to start paying to use Smartfox. It allows for 20 concurrent users for free, which is at the end of the day only good for testing purposes.
The other good news is that if we get this system working, not only will it work for Flash, but also for Unity. Killing two birds with one stone.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Keep on going
Ok, round 2 for async, here we go. The challenge today is to have the client request something from the server and get a response. From there it’s requesting something from the server, which in turn requests something from the databse. But one thing at a time.
In other news!
Guild Wars 2 is rolling out a huge amount of content today, creating a new zone for upper level players as well as introducing a new dungeon along with ideas/armor/crafting material. Yay!
In other news!
Guild Wars 2 is rolling out a huge amount of content today, creating a new zone for upper level players as well as introducing a new dungeon along with ideas/armor/crafting material. Yay!
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