Paper Prototype

Paper Prototype ideas:

Will probably be for the best if we stick to doing a prototype for the RTS/battle segments of our game, the RPG bit might get a little bit convoluted/D'n'D style. Anywho, here's a few ideas I've had for the prototype for us to try next Monday:

2 players

3 units each for both players

• One heavy artillery unit
• One flying unit
• One infantry/archers unit

Set of 2 D6's for each player

2 score cards

2 pencils/pens

1 2D map

Tokens for random items

Markers for garrisons

Each unit has their own special qualities, these are what we'll need to thrash out in class and see what sticks, my idea is a bit rock/paper/scissors-esque. So...

Infantry/archers attacks don't effect Heavy Artillery

Heavy Artillery doesn't effect Flying units

Infantry/archers attacks are the most effective against Flying units

That's a vague idea that we can expand on, maybe add/change what sorts of units the players can use.

Each unit will have different stats, so H.A units will have stronger attack and defence than the rest, but far slower, Flying will be low defence, mid attack and highest speed, and Infantry can be all rounders with mid attack, mid defence and mid speed. These stats will be important when the players make their attacks.

Each player starts off with a score of 300 hit points, the first player to lose all their hit points is the loser.

This is where the dice come in. Say a player wants to make a standard attack on a unit, they roll the die, and the number on the die relates to how many of the soldiers within that unit make a direct hit. So say I have an Infantry unit and I go to attack the Flying unit. The Infantry unit has a rating of 4 attack points. I roll 8 as the combined total of both my die. This means 8 of my soldiers hit the Flying unit for a total of 32 hit points.

Now, the other player has the ability to defend from this attack, and once again they roll their die, the number on their die equates to the number of soldiers that block the attack. So, say the Flying unit has a score of 2 defence points, and the player rolls a 10, the unit blocks for 20. This means that the player of the Flying unit loses 12 hit points and goes from 300 hit points to 288.

There will be a range of options for players to choose from, they can opt to move their units around the map to gain better ground (the map will indicate areas of higher ground, accessible only by flying units, areas separated by a moat, inaccessible to heavy artillery etc.) and gather tokens (these can either add weaponry (attack points), armour (defence points) to a unit, or gain the ability to perform a charge on another unit. Maybe also the option of garrisons

Player's options on their turn (only one per turn):

• Move a unit according to the number on the die
• Attack another unit/garrison
• Retreat to a garrison to regain hit points
• Build a garrison (say it takes a total of 30 points to build a garrison, these points are decided by die rolls)
• Charge. Charge allows the player either to:

1. Move twice as far as the die roll total (i.e. roll 12 = move 24)
2. Attack twice as hard as the die roll total (i.e. roll 7 = attack 14)
3. Move and attack according to the die roll total (i.e. roll 8 = move 8, attack 8)

Anyway, let me know what you think, if someone could bring dice and tokens in, also warhammer figurines as stand-ins for the units, i'll mock up a map on the weekend and some building markers.

Revised Plan

Here you go, new storyboard, notes and mock up screen shots

Annnd frame by frame notes:

Storyboard Notes

Frame overviews:

1. Fade from black into next frame

Low poly models (same as those used for RTS scenes later on just closer), camera only on one human and dinosaur figure, view of 3D environment in background.

Low poly model character turns and shouts, camera moves out into a bird's eye/isometric view for next frame.

Two opposing units comprised of the low poly models move into centre of frame, environment either like a topographical map, or maybe akin to Animal Crossing/Tales of Symphonia's map screens.

Continuation of action, animated (2D animation, some particle effects time permitting) cloud of smoke as centre of action, other units advancing inward, heavy amounts of animation avoided in this way.

Game play menu, unit selection, 2D flat basic background with simple animation on units (just bobbing up and down when 'selected') hand/pointer moving over them. (Think Patapon)

Side on view, mid-distance of low poly unit moving (Probably will be the most animation intensive scene of the trailer).

Second game play menu. In battle menu, top down/isometric of either static or bobbing army (reuse from frame 6). Top right corner displays text menu for unit commands, Moving down shows a change in arrow directions and text (2D).

RPG segment. All backgrounds are 2D illustrations, story book feel to this part of the trailer. All other characters apart from the main human are also 2D and static. Low poly model of main character in a walk cycle over town background (short).

2D illustration of bar/customers/barkeep with low poly main character static, only animation is 2D text bubbles with text appearing.

2D shop/armoury with 2D clerk, low poly main character pointing at item, square glowing halo flashes around it.

Same 2D background from unit selection menu but closer view, low poly troop model bobbing to the left of screen, 2D inventory box to the right. MAYBE 3D assets (shields/swords, just shrunk down from the ones made for the units). Shift between colours/insignia (texture change) on the soldier model, moving square halo over items. Maybe change soldier's weapon once.

RTS view again, low poly models of priests, blue pulsating glow, then 2D puff of smoke that clears to reveal a monster.

3D environment showing land masses/floating islands drifting apart

Same as before, with text of title fading into view

Fade previous frame into black.

Key notes:

RPG sections will be significantly shorter than the RTS sections and will be almost entirely 2D. If the RPG sections cause any issues, we can adopt 2D illustration for the main character as well, similar to games like Curse of Monkey Island/Paper Mario/Phoenix Wright have.

Will only require a few models for the low poly units, perhaps a max of 4 or 5 monsters and soldiers (Infantry with a stockier build, tanks basically, archers will be skinnier and more agile, those in the flying units will perhaps be shorter/petite/women?) with major differences being illustrated through colours/insignia/clothing that will be created entirely on the textures. 

Screen shots: 

 

RTS battle, with top down view, focus on environment with units requiring little animation, smoke clouds to indicate areas of heavy activity/fighting, flying troop would be above tree tops and appear larger.

Soldier customisation menu screen. Full body view of a low poly soldier model with switches between textures and items to indicate the menu in use, 2D background (maybe floating islands added in After Effects ) indicating the story's main arc and what the player has to focus on.

Also, we've got Chris Birt and Chris Baldock joing our group, which means we've got plenty more help for this project, I've got Chris Birt's skype, and we can all have a chat later on about what roles they want to play. 

Revisions

Conditions for  green light:

The course team was impressed with the quality of the art work presented, but feels that game you proposed is too large in scope and not well defined in gameplay to be delivered on time in your 6 weeks of production (at 12 hrs of independent work per week, plus 6 hrs of supervised time).  

We suggest that in your trailer you concentrate on representing the RTS aspect of the game. Modeling, texturing, and animating characters from a distance is much less time intensive than the close-ups required for third person combat.  Focus on representing the core game mechanics using 2D concept art and an achievable amount of 3D with 2D overlays showing the look and feel, user interactions, etc. through compositing in After Effects (or similar).

Instead of designing new RTS gameplay mechanics from scratch, you should look on YouTube for game mechanics common to RTS games and use them as references for your animations.

What we require from you by Tuesday morning:

1. A list of core gameplay mechanics you will illustrate in the trailer listed by priority
2. Storyboards or sketches outlining a revised plan that combines representing core mechanics along with essential concept art in the trailer (no fancy illustrations at this stage, but well thought-out)
3. A production schedule accounting for the time (in hours) each team member will spend working on the above.  This should account for tasks that depend on other tasks (as in the sprint cards, “Good enough to”).  Please illustrate this schedule by creating sprint cards for the first 3 weeks of production.

Rebel

Soldier

colour concepts

some quick ideas of shapes and sizes

catapult

 

Heavy cavalry

light cavalry

light cavalry mounted

Rough sketch

Here's just a rough sketch for one of the leads I was thinking of for the trailer

Just some rough scetch Unit Ideas

Catapult Siege Unit Idea

Heavy Cavalry unit idea this one was further along but photshop crashed i was thinking of something along the lines of a triceratops

Light Cavalry unit idea

Another text wall! Pitch questions

Hey, again, i've just thrown together some stuff based on the questions in the World Building 2 googledoc for the pitch on Wednesday, give it a read over and edit it/gimme some feedback on what you think needs changing or adding.

ALSO, NOT TO BE CRAZY OR ANYTHING (I know caps doesn't help that fact) BUT IF WE FAIL THIS, THE GROUP WILL BE DISBANDED AND WE'LL HAVE TO WORK IN OTHER GROUPS. No. Just no. Do not want. 

1. Why is the game compelling/why should we spend time developing it?
   
   • Story driven game, player encouraged to form emotional bonds to other characters and environment, the player's choices directly effect the gameplay and environment.
   • Varied gameplay style, crossover RPG/RTS that targets where similar titles have failed and correcting that with a different approach
   • Dinosaurs. 
   
   
2. Gameplay specifics (a few ideas, chop 'em/change 'em do what you will with these).

• Unit based battles. Different units have different tactics etc (think Warhammer). Player chooses battle strategy for their unit (later on they can command multiple units) in a top down view. Game play then moves to first/third person (player's choice) and the unit's success depends on the player's success when in real time combat.
• Player has a choice on promotion through the ranks (allowing the player to control more units depending on rank and fight using different tactics, choice of what weaponry to use, customisation of units) or defection (smaller units and armies, different style of play that relies more on guerilla style tactics). This effects the story, also difficulty of the game (maybe?)
• Impact of decisions. Choices made in battle (what weapon is used, what units are created) will directly effect the environment and npc's reactions to the character (for example, if you choose to use a weapon that has devastating effect on an area (think something akin to an atom bomb perhaps), npcs may become hostile or unhelpful when in RPG sections of play
• RPG sections, as mentioned before, these are between the RTS battle sections of gameplay, these allow the player to explore the world and choose the path the story takes, whilst having an opportunity to complete side quests and mini games that can help their progress and unlock extras. 
• Paper prototype of unit battle system would be a bonus.

   3. Target platform.

• I was thinking XBox 360/PS3, suits the RPG sections better, and the first/third person battle sections, but what do you guys think? We also have to discuss a game engine we would use for this. Personally, I'm not too sure. 

    4. Individual roles/How will we achieve our aim with our skills/Why do you want this role and why are you suited for it

• Here's the roles we allocated earlier:

1. Craig: Producer/3D Assets/Game Designer
2. Dale: 3D Lead/2D Artist/Lead Animator
3. Emma: Art Director/Assistant Animator (Storyboarding)/3D Assets

Right, y'all need to type something up for this, for my roles it'll be something like "I have a passion of this style of game and want to experiment with the art style, this choice of pathway gives us the freedom to do so without the restriction of creating a smaller scale game. I'm suited for the roles given as I have strong creative skills particularly with concepts and creating storyboards as I have studied animation various times in the past, and I am able to create the minor assets neccessary to give our game a finished look. Between all of us we will be able to create this trailer and hopefully more given our motivation to create something that is of great interest to all of us and our combined skills and ideas will helps us make something that we hope will be of a very high standard."

5. Development schedule for the production phase. This just has to be a rough guideline to how we'll spend the next six weeks of our time, on a weekly rather than daily basis, I don't think Evan is interested in seeing our pre-pitch schedule. This can possibly account for anything extra we want to make (maybe over the Easter holiday) but I'm not sure if that sort of thing goes into the Post-Production phase or not.

6. List the risks for the project, each team member has to come up with 3 potential risks. This bit does not go into the presentation itself but handed in as a separate document with the presentation for the Wednesday morning deadline, we also have to remember them because we'll probably be asked about them after the presentation.

Here's my three:

• Relying on someone outside of the university for the score could prove risky. They do not have the same interests in the project as we do, and have other commitments (working full time). Back up plans include royalty free music, and another person who could also do music for us. 
• If we don't manage our time with this project, other university work and commitments outside of the course, we could easily lose track and not meet deadlines
• Animation may be too ambitious with the variety of stuff shown (movie style plus the RPG, RTS and first/third person battle scenes). Back up plan, low poly but high quality textures that will work for both cut scene and gameplay animation, without having to make multiple models in different styles. 

Anyway, all done, sorry for all the words again! I'll pust another post up in a while for the art style I'm looking to go for this, imput is awesome as per usual!

Caution, text wall ahead!

 First off, the general idea I've thought up for in terms of storyline is you are a soldier (character customisable?) in the army of the main empire on their world, other countries are starting to get restless about this and some rebel, using new 'technology' (aka dinomasaurmonsterthingos) to overwhelm this empire's forces.

As you play the game, you can rise up the ranks and choose to either fight fire with fire and create units of your own (with the complication of destroying the world a bit at a time as you sacrifice energy to create them) or chose a harder path and fight with what you already have and try to preserve what you can (lil bit of reflecting on society there, oh my).

Perhaps another element that can be more for the RPG side of the game, would be you play sections outside of the battle where you can wander off to towns either to recruit for your own army, to get upgrades, mini games/side quests, you learn more about what is actually happening outside what is being told to you through your empire, and have a choice to stick with your original allegiances, or defect to stop them.


Rightio, so, if we get the go ahead for the project, I had a few ideas to bulk it out past just having the one trailer. If we've got the time that is...

• Second trailer, but all about the game play, a small ''scene'' from the game, maybe character interaction, longer version of the stuff seen in the first trailer, mix of the rpg side like your character running about towns and what not, and then the rts side and maybe a small battle in full. 
• Walkthrough. I know Evan probably didn't mean it literally with a walkthrough, but if we made either a guide book with a run through of a level or two with ''screen shots'' would be pretty cool, also DVD case with propper cover to it and a pamphlet inside with a synopsis of the storyline, main characters/factions, controls etc. 
• And hell, if we're doing really well, maybe a poster?

Gantt Chart