Homework 8

Is the space in your game discrete or continuous?

There are two parts to our game at the moment. the levels themselves are a continuous space because there are no boundaries imposed on the player. The floor loops such that if the player were to move left constantly, not accounting for obstacles, the player would never hit a boundary. The second part of our game, an intermediate level, is used so that the player can navigate between levels. For now, this space is discrete and has a left and right boundary imposed on he player.

How many dimensions does your space have? 

Much like the pool table example in the book, it is easier in some respects to think of our game in 2d. This is because the player can only move forward and backwards and up(jumping). However, all objects including some obstacles that the player can interact with are in 3d space. 

What are the boundaries of your space? 

The boundaries of the levels include only a top and bottom. For example, the player must navigate the floors of a building, where the goal is climbing to the top floor. However, each individual floor is set up in a loop much like the monopoly board example in chapter 10. The player will eventually be unable to ascend floors as well as be unable to descend floors (bottom floor of building) which make up the boundaries of the levels.

How many verbs do your players (characters) have? What are they? 

Interact: the player can press an action button that will make the player interact with a close object.

                   This verb is vague because the same action button will be reused depending on the situation.

                   examples are: unlock (near locked door), purchase (near vending machine), search (near desk)

Jump: the player can jump 

Collect: The player will be able to collect objects throughout the levels and add them to their inventory.

Shoot: this verb is still under consideration from the group for a final boss battle using projectile weapons.

How many objects can each verb act on? What are these objects? 

By far the action button (Interact verb) acts on the most objects. Read the previous question for some examples of this. The jump verb will interact on objects in the game that are static like floor and platforms. Collect will interact with diary page objects that are the goal of the game (to collect them all). The collect verb will also interact with certain objects such as health, gun pieces, etc. Shoot will interact only with a boss enemy towards the end of the game.

How many ways can players achieve their goals

The game under construction includes puzzle elements in order to beat levels. Depending on how levels are designed, there may be more than one way to beat the game or progress the story. For now there is only one way to achieve the goal of collecting diary pieces. That is to traverse the level and search for them. There is a degree of freedom on how the player searches because of how freely the player can move through each level.

How many subjects do the players control? What are these subjects? 

The player can control only one subject. This is the main character of the game.

How do side effects change constraints. 

As previously stated. The way levels/puzzles are designed may impose constraints on the player. For instance, not having access to what is behind a locked door imposes a constraint on the player that is later removed when the player unlocks it.

What are the operative actions in your game? 

Move left

Move right

Jump

Action (interact)

Shoot

What are the resultant actions in your game? 

Unlock

Dispense

Open

Take Damage

Collect

What actions would you like your players to do that they cannot presently do? (based on your current knowledge of Blender)

Right now the interact verb between the player and multiple objects is something im unsure of how to implement. Without testing this, my first thought would be to simply program a near sensor and keyboard sensor and tie them together in the logic editor to produce desired result. This may prove difficult as the objects in the game to interact with become numerous.

What is the ultimate goal of your game? 

Collect all diary entries and find/fight the bad guy.

Are there short and long term goals? What are they? 

The short term goals include solving the puzzles that block your ascension up each level. Collecting one of many pages of the diary at the end of each level could also be considered a short term goal. Long term goals really just overlap with the ultimate goal in the previous question.

How do you plan to make the game goals known and understood by the player? 

We are still deciding this within the context of our story. Perhaps this information will be plainly delegated to the player at the start of the game. as an alternative, the player may start with one diary entry which will hint on the next goal of the player.

What are the foundational rules of your game? 

Foundational rules in our game include health meter, diary pieces already collected,  inventory, and level state. Level state meaning some obstacles within the level may have already been cleared or new paths have been opened which changes the overall game state.

How are these rules enforced? 

Rules such as when and how the player will lose health are enforced by the computer. Diary pieces and inventory is enforced by the game space, because they are only available at locations predesignated by the designers of the game. The level state, in particularly how it is changed, is enforced by the computer as it will keep track of obstacles cleared and new paths that have opened within the levels.

Does your game develop real skills? What are they? 

The puzzle element and level design promotes critical thinking in how to achieve the objective of reaching a location (the end of the level) that does not have an obvious pathing. This can be considered a real skill the player needs.

Does your game develop virtual skills? What are they?

As our game stands, there are no virtual skills. The player is not given any odd skills that the character in the game knows yet the player only knows as a button. Depending on how our puzzles are designed this may change. For instance the player may attain the virtual skill of chemistry that the character in our game will perform through mixing liquids in a certain order.