The Decision - 4 Devlog

Aaron

Third/Final Prototype:

The third prototype, unfortunately I wasn't the happiest with my own personal result that I came up with. I wanted to originally make the slow motion for my game a lot different then it came out but unfortunately I wasn't able to get it to work with the prototype. The original way I wanted the slow motion to work was for the player to stay in normal time and for the world to go into slow motion, so the player would be able to do things that wouldn't be possible without the slow motion. On the positive side of the prototype I was able to make some adjustments that benefit the overall prototype, I made the adjustments to the telekinesis to make it a lot clearer to see the object when you use the telekinesis and I also made in smoother to use the ability in general. I added in more controls for the telekinesis like rotation, releasing the object, etc.. My overall opinion of this prototype was it helped me with a direction to go with the game and it also helped me see the limitations of the game.

The Playtest:

This playtest wasn't an personal "success" for me, what I mean by that was the slow motion ability within the prototype wasn't really noticeable. From watching people play the prototype I didn't see really anyone use the slow motion ability at all and when they used it, it wasn't used with my personal intention that I had in mind when I was making slow motion. The overall ability was just there for the players to use and it kind of felt like it was just using up button space. But overall the other changes I made for the playtest had a good response, they like the way the object was transparent so they could see more of the screen while using telekinesis.  Another thing that was pointed out was the controls for the telekinesis felt a lot smoother and they like the way that they could rotate the object by pressing a button while using telekinesis instead of the  rotation by random.  One suggestion that people had that I would like to add would be for the player to decided how far they would like to throw the object instead of the throw distance being the same the whole time, if I could make it where the player could decide to throw the object right in front of them or throw the object far away from them. 

Declan

Third/Final Prototype:

So for this prototype I wanted to make Portal but with time travel.  This prototype was completely different from the previous prototypes. I wanted a change of scenery and try something new. I started how I start every project - change the skybox and the lighting. I like changing these first at the start of each new project as a way of  separating each project I work on. I tried making Portal with time travel two different ways. Both ways involved the player saving two points in time which were colour-coded (orange and blue) to help the player differentiate between them. The player could then use portals in order to travel back to those points in time. At first, I tried staying faithful to the question I wanted answered. The player could spawn two different portals that corresponded to each of the points in time. Going through one portal would bring you to the other one (much like Portal)  as well as resetting time to the corresponding point in time. I found this not to work very well as it was extremely confusing so I tried a different way. Instead of being able to spawn to different portals the player would just spawn one portal. Each side of the portal corresponding to a point in time and depending on which side the player walks through, would set time back that point in time. This way was a lot less confusing but strayed to far from the question I wanted answered. The version was less like Portal and more just a time travel game. I liked the second version way better and it definitely was a lot less confusing than the first version but I still decided to go with the first as I think it fitted my question a lot better. I added the ability to pick up objects and I added some things for the player to do.

The Playtest:

The playtest went really poor. Not a single player understood what was going on until I had to tell them what was happening. Players were really confused with how the portals worked and what the goal of the prototype was. Even after a long period of time they were still confused as to how they worked. Most had to ask about the portals and what they were trying to do. I found it hard to even explain how the portals worked which goes to show just how confusing this prototype ended up being. No one looked like they were enjoying themselves either which especially sucked after the previous prototypes. I have some ideas on I would improve on this prototype but even with these ideas implemented, I still think the game would be really confusing. I don't think I'll pursuit this idea any further for the time being.

Final Project Goals:

Experience goals:

• Player will be able to get an fun and complex movement system.
• Player will be able to get a difficult experience that will challenge your skills.

Game design goals:

• There will be good level design that will challenge the boundaries of a parkour game.
• The general design  will complement the movement of the player. 

Game mechanic goals:

• A telekinesis system.
• A Parkour system.

Artistic goals:

• The game will be visual appealing to the player.
• The art style will visually elevate the game experience.