timmy gerlach - 9/29

No major coding challenges this time around, save for (A) trying to figure out UI stuff (currently on hold because it wasn't needed for the core gameplay improvements), (B) trying to work with a broken laptop screen (my standard mode of working for a couple days: pushing the screen up against a wall), and (C) motivating myself to actually do the work that was in front of me like god seriously timmy just focus on the code it's not as hard as you're making it out to be

Work for Tuesday mostly consisted of rewriting the Judge class - the first iteration only worked after the level was completed, scanning the user-generated bars and comparing them to the image below. The Tuesday build, in addition, made a comparison every frame that the player held the spacebar. It worked decently, but it had some absolutely weird problems - I still can't figure out how it judged "perfect hits".

notice i was talking about the stupid tuesday judge in the past tense

That would be because the Thursday judge actually works and is pretty neat. Instead of trying to get a "perfect hit" by looking at how close the player was to a change in color, it uses collision triggers, which are quickly generated from the initial barcode image with a little script.

The arrows are debug images for the collision boxes; they don't appear in-game.

The width represents the "grace period" for a Perfect.

Perfect hit feedback hasn't been implemented yet, but now we can actually make it, so there.

Oddly enough, none of the other guys mentioned the changes that got the biggest response - the new braking mechanic and music. But while they were good design decisions, I won't say much about it either because it wasn't much in the way of code so :P

Blog Post 9/29/2016 Eric Speck

This week we made improvements to our prototype from the previous week to make it easier for the designers, Cole Smith and Eric Speck, to make minor modifications to the project. We added the brake mechanic that slows down time and added sound effects.  I have begun developing additional levels for the game and next week I will continue working with Cole to improve the positive feedback loop. Also starting next week I will conduct playtesting sessions to gather feedback for our work as it progresses. 

This week I managed to crank out some quick assets for victory screens of our game. Each takes about 30-45 minutes to make and is usually doable by the end of the week when I need to make about 6 assets per week.





Next week I plan on coming up with some UI ideas so we aren't just faced with a bar code and white background.

Cole Smith 9/29

Cole Smith

In the past week, I've been keeping up with the coordination business, and started messing around with the prototype. Again, most of my obstacles were coordination related, but it was also a bit of work to get/edit the good sounds.

For next week, I am going to work on developing new iterations of the game that give feedback for better timing, messing around with a positive feedback loop, and coordinating everybody to work on those new iterations.

9/22 - timmy gerlach

this week: lots of code.
specifically, creating a working prototype of essentially the whole core gameplay. not the most relaxing night of my life but not the worst

a few days before i did have the barcode generator working, so there was that. though it was the cause of the most annoying problem right before i finished the build:

the bars used 2d box colliders

i tried to write the judge using 3d physics raycasts.

it took me at least 30 minutes to figure out there was a problem with that.

from here on, my concerns will be cleaning up the mess that is my prototype code (probably my top priority at the moment) and making it easier for the rest of the team to mess with variables.

the biggest problems to come are design decisions which haven't been considered yet. So that's gonna be fun!

Brian Abbott -Weekly Blog post

This week our biggest challenge was getting our prototype to a playable format. I was sick today so I wasn't able to make it to class but when Eric and Cole got home we talked a bit more about the prototype. I put forward a few assets this week like the Apple, Pear, and Apple Laptop as items to appear later on after completing a level. I was not able to do a whole lot this week because of my Capstone and other classes but I plan on making alot more next week than I did this week for sure.

Weekly blog post 9/22 Eric Speck

This week we collectively worked on the prototype that we had agreed was the best idea to move forward and develop. The biggest challenge we overcame so far was creating a prototype that demonstrated the gameplay that we intended to produce. However based on different reactions in class, we may have to go back and revise our design goals and enhance our game until it captures the real experience that we had hoped to create. Another issue that we will have to handle is the feeling by some that the game is interesting at first, but can seem boring and limited after a while. I spent this week working mostly with Timmy to complete the delivery of the prototype. Next week I will work with the team to revise the designs and create additional levels, and also do playtesting so that we can get much more important feedback. 

Cole Smith 9/22

Cole Smith

In the past week, most of what I’ve done has been coordination-what are we doing, when are we meeting, who needs to do what by when, etc. Most have my obstacles have involved trying to coordinate schedules and getting people on the same page.

For next week, I am going to have to work on establishing a regular pipeline for the team-what art needs to be made, what new features need to be added, what needs to be polished, who does what-and schedule it in such a way that everyone can complete their things in a timely manner without being overstressed.

Cole Smith 9/15 post

Cole Smith

In the past week on our game, we’ve done mostly brainstorming and refining ideas into pitches. The biggest obstacle here was mostly figuring out what pitches to refine and bring to class.

For the next week, we need have a meeting to figure both a) everything we need to do for the prototype (and beyond) and b) who is doing what on the prototype. This is going to be a big enough challenge on it’s own, as it’s going to be a lot of planning and defining specifics. The other big challenge is that there’s inevitably going to be a lot of messy overlap in who does what, which I as producer will have to sort out.

Weekly post 9/15 Eric Speck

This week we narrowed down the ideas that we found to be the most compelling and worthwhile for further development, specifically: Barcode Wars, Trolley Problem, and Point out the Assassin. We also spent time working on the PowerPoint presentation and how the pitches would be presented to the class. Barcode Wars was chosen as our project and we are now moving forward from the conception phase to the first development phase. Our next goal is to create a proof of concept prototype. This effort will require that we identify and organize the tasks that are necessary and then decide team member responsibilities to avoid anyone feeling either overwhelmed with too much work or left out by not contributing enough and feeling disconnected from the rest of the group. We need to ensure that everyone has a clear understanding and vision for Barcode Wars. 

Then, suddenly Eric had ideas.

1.      On subway train trying to hang on and keep glasses on (Difficulty: 4, Innovative 4)

2.      Mosh pit, avoid falling on the floor and getting crushed (Difficulty: 3 Innovative 2)

3.      You have the answer but you must figure out how to connect the answer to the question (Difficulty 2, Innovative 4)

4.      Constantly moving forward, stay on track to your goal as disruptive forces try to knock you off course (Difficulty 4, Innovative 1)

5.      Relax and doodle in class but make sure the teacher doesn’t catch you (Difficulty 3, Innovative 2)

6.      Protect your leader from harm using your body, but time it right so that you don’t get killed while doing so (Difficulty 4, Innovative 3)

7.      Keep the ball rolling as it increases in momentum by changing pipe components on the fly (Difficulty 4, Innovative 3)

8.      Balance your life so you get enough sleep but also get enough work done and are reasonable entertained

9.      Choose which cave tunnel you want go through but beware that not all paths lead to good ends (Difficulty 5, Innovative 1)

10.  Scavenge as much as you can but beware that your time is limited and the more you take, the slower you become.  (Difficulty 4, Innovative 4)

The ideas that I felt had the most promise were 1 and 10

1

Titles

Free swinging

Overtasked

Game pitch

On a crowded bouncy subway train you must hang on but also keep your glasses on your face but you only have one arm to do so.

Goal

The goal of this game is to fulfill the class requirements to be an app game

Easy

A simple game that is mostly ragdoll physics and abstract representations of humans.

Innovative

A game mostly focused creating gut laughs from amusing poses and the amusing struggle to keep your glasses on your face.

10

Titles  

Tough living  

Take it or leave it

Overburdened

Game pitch

Running from a horde of zombies, you must collect vital supplies to stay alive however take too much and you’ll be hard pressed to make it out alive.

Goal

The goal of this game is to fulfill the class requirements to be an app game

Easy

This game only requires a simple backdrop with minor variations that can be as simple as different colorations, basic asserts that can be made in a week or two, it also is a simplistic sidescroller that only features two buttons and would not require lots of programing.

Innovative

This game forces the player to make decisions on the fly and carefully weigh taking too much vs too little and trying to find that magic happy middle.  

TIMMY HAD IDEAS TOO

i went into maybe too much detail in my formatting but i think it worked out?

anyway here's a direct copypaste of my brainstorming document:

Cole Smith's Game Ideas

First, the various ideas, scored

Flash step 4/4

Loss feed 3/5

Which is my room 3/4

Lewd feed 3/5

Powerpoint skim 4/4

Shoe replacement 3/3

Mech Repair 2/4

Printsync 3/3

Juggling 3/3

Switch gunner 4/3

Build up courage 3/3

Control roulette 2/4

Bees 3/2

Trash roll 4/4

Point out the assassin,  4/5

Bulk on subway 3/3

Snooze alarm 3/1

Find idea 3/3

Make a lot of noise 3/3

Drink tracking 2/4

Speedy blackjack 1/2

Delicate art of adding the male nipple to figure drawings 3/5

Roll in bed 3/3

Perfect timing 3/2

Posing 3/3

Eating contest 3/3

Dog eat bee 3/4

Ogre wash 4/4

Slot machine 3/1

Trolley problem 5/5

Angry lobster throws dishes 3/3

Avoid conversation 3/3

Don’t panic 2/2

Make art 3/2

How long can you keep that uhh going for 2/4

Flip table 2/2

Build tower 3/2

Bad ideas man 3/3

Paint bees 1/4

Aim sneeze 3/2

Spout garbage to pass turing test 3/3

Attempt to pack stuff in car 3/3

Courage to remove the headphone jack 4/4

Which of these red drinks is the right flavor 3/3

Pizza toss 3/2

Advanced coin flipping 3/3

Find best meme 3/1

Ruin names 3/2

Kill death 2/2

Accidentally stumble onto puns 2/4

Eat pool noodles 3/5

The good ones, refined into pitches

Switch Gunner-You’re in a spaceship, fighting off a horde of enemies who are flying straight into your shots. The challenge is to match your guns to the enemies flying in, red gun takes out red enemies, blue to blue, etc..

1. Game Titles - Switch Gunner, Straight Shooter, Choice Shot
2. Game Goal - become a successful commercial indie title
3. Easy to make - 1) prototype is just automatic gun+enemy spawner

2) Art would be just ship, enemy ships, and gun shots-could be as minimalist as needed

3) Simple prototype means we would have a lot of time to iterate and perfect the design over the quarter

4. Innovative and Appealing - The game would be an interesting twist of genres that would take shooter elements and turn them into something almost like a rhythm game

You are a dying dictator, lying on your deathbed, poisoned. There’s a crowd surrounding you, and wouldn’t you know it, your assassin is right there, among them. With your last breath and fading strength, you must point them out.

1. Game Titles - Point Out The Assassin, With My Last Breath…, It Was Them! They Killed Me!
2. Game Goal - win game festivals
3. Easy to make - 1) Easy to prototype a simple physics arm/pointing system

2) The basic level of art would just be an arm and some silhouettes, and could be improved as the quarter went on.

3) Once we created the prototype, most of the rest of the quarter could be easily spent iterating on the prototype both in art and design.

4. Innovative and Appealing - This game would take what would normally be a dramatic and weighty event and would turn it into a farcical physics challenge.

A game revolving around the humble trolley problem. The player is faced with an unending series of trolley problems, and must decide whether or not to flip the switch based on who is on the tracks. The player must attempt to save as many lives as they can, while keeping their guilt gauge low.

1. Game Titles - Trolley Problems, Philosopher’s Trolley, A Treatise on Levers and Trolleys
2. Game Goal - Become a successful commercial indie title
3. Easy to make - 1) Prototype is not code heavy at all-does trolley go on path A or path B, increment gauges based on who gets run over

2) art can be as minimalist as needed, assets that are the most work are trolley and people

3) After prototype, it will be easy to spend most of the quarter tweaking the “who’s on the track” and guilt mechanics.

4. Innovative and Appealing - The game takes a complex, weighty philosophical problem and turns it into a ludicruous, goofy mess of a game

Brian Abbott's Game Ideas

•       Face Puncher – An auto scroller where you time your hits on the ground to hit enemies in the face, get through barricades and topple obstacles along the way.
  
  
• 2  Train Escape – A crazy man is on the train and you need to build your bravery meter by mashing your space bar while he isn’t looking. Get caught and its game over.

• 3   Plane Staking- Plane is going to crash but can you manage to hit the gusts of wind to keep it afloat till it reaches the airport?
  
•      Deathsbee- Grim Reaper has taken the form of a bee (With a skull painted on its face) Pollenate and sting to capture points. Avoid getting hit by obstacles to keep going.
  
•   Gravity Well- Gravity shifts up and down depending on the player’s input of the up or down arrow key. The player must keep within the bounds of the sky and ground least they want to die if the projectiles don’t kill them first.
  
•  Downhill Tire Race – Players take control of a wheel going down hill in this 3-d game shot from a shoulder view of the tire.
  
•  Virtual Ball in a cup – Hold the left key to charge the toss, use the right key to tilt the cup. Simple.
  
•  Trampoline game – Take control of an adorable bunny like creature as it uses its amazing jumping power to reach the skies.- A timing game mixed with a dodge mechanic to avoid hazards.
  
•    Flower Massacre – A crazed gardener wants to destroy and poison his own creation! Sneak out of the garden while avoiding the Gardener’s site but maintain sunlight in order to survive. Without your roots, your going to need nutrition!
  
•                        Deflection man- Another 2d auto scroller. Time your jumps and deflections of objects with your hexagonal shield to progress! You only get a few bars of health!
  
•                        Jump Rope ragdoll physics game- Jump up and down, turn all around. Work with the lankiest body to make the most amount of jumps possible.  Jump and maintain balance are your mechanics.
  
•                       Get Up It’s morning –Another ragdoll physics game of putting your clothes on.