SCOURGE Playtester Survey

SCOURGE PLAYTESTER SURVEY

1) What were your emotions during the game?

                a) Did the game make you feel a sense of urgency and danger?  If not, what are your suggestions to more clearly communicate those feelings?

2) Was the game controls  simple and easy to understand?  If not, what was unclear?  What are your suggestions to make it more user friendly?

3) Did the game map feel challenging? Why or why not?

4) What was your favorite part of the game? What was your least favorite part? Please explain why.

5) On a scale of 1 to 5, how satisfied were you with your game experience? Please explain your score.

HW 15 - Project status

STORY (Gabby)

Pick a Name (100%)

Write in game written material (100%)

Create survey for play testers (100%)
Create final dungeon map for game doc (75%)
Create metric/text  for the ending / figure out how many options and map them to game choices (100%)

MECHANICS (Harish)

Work movement and actions of the main character (run, walk)

Work movement and actions of the monster (navigation, sight)

Make and implement all game over conditions (monster hits, large rubble hits, fall in water, time limit)

INTERFACE (Gaurav)

Work use cell phone animation and menu (make sure to add battery and light sensors)

Decide on final player controls/buttons (100%)
Illustrate 4 success/death screen graphics - (100%) (GABBY)

SOUND (Gaurav)

Implement 3D sound

Assign all sound effects to in game objects

Create general background track 

AESTHETICS  (Harish,Gabby)

Make sure sense of scale is correct

Add complex/interesting textures (100%)

PLAYTESTING  (Gabby, Gaurav)

Test the game ourselves to find glitches and game errors

Test the game with others to  assess fun/challenge

MARKETING (Gabby)

Finish first poster (100%)

Finish final game package

Create Player Guide/game document (90%)

Give final pitch (0%)

Green- Done
Orange - In Progress
Red - Not Done
Gray - Unknown at time of publishing

ASSESSMENT

Honestly at this time I'm pretty in the dark about how the actual end product is going since I haven't been able to get a hold of my team this week. I know I'm on track for finishing all of the tasks given to me so far, so I feel pretty good about the expectations I had. The poster is done and printed, the game document is completed ( I may design it as a booklet just for fun but we'll see) I've started on play-testing surveys and dialogue for the game, though it may not be implemented by Sunday's demo deadline. As for testing the game myself, as I said, I haven't been able to work with it yet because my team has been too busy to meet with me this week.  The fact that I'm behind on the dialogue is because I had to take over creating the level map since Harish was unable to do his assigned task by the game document deadline. We also had an issue where I was uninformed that Harish had taken the ground map from GTA4 and copied it for our game. (It was a misunderstanding- I said feel free to copy cities from Google Maps, he thought he could copy any map he found on Google. While it is fine to copy reality, copying someone else's work is not). At this stage it would be a huge obstacle to redo the map so with the instructor's permission we are citing GTA4 and moving forward. 

ASSESSMENT AS OF 11/30
Other then illustrations and recording the script, all I need now is the final in game screen shots for the presentation. Hopefully my team will be in Monday to help assemble the final pieces and make sure we are good to go.

HW 13 - Game Doc

SCOURGE

Game Document

Game Objective:

Get out of the city alive.

Story:

You awaken under a pile of rubble to the sound of sirens and screams. Through the cracks in the stone you see a single clawed foot, and within a few moments a glowing clod of goo kills a screaming man who was running down the street. Hiding under the rubble you check your phone to see what is going on, and you a see a message urging everyone to flee the city and warning them to be silent and unseen.  After many tense moments the shape is gone and you crawl out and start making your way to the city limits.

Characters:

Protagonist - Stand in for the player themselves. Can run and use flashlight.

The Monster - The thing that is hunting you and everyone else in the city. It's goal is to destroy every person in the city. Implied that it is either an experiment gone horribly wrong or a mutant resulting from pollution. Walks on a fixed path, destroys buildings, and kills the player.

Desired Game Experience:

Ideally the player behaves true to their personal instincts.

Target Audience:

Survival horror or disaster movie fans/men and women between the ages of 13-35.

Rules:

1) Do not hit the water
2) Do not get in the line of sight of the monster (the red cone).
3) Make it to the airport within five minutes.

Menu Items:

Play/How To Play/Exit

State Changes:

N/A

Controls:

W - Forward

A  - Left

S - Backward

D - Right

F - Flashlight

Shift  - Fast motion along with W/A/S/D

Endings:

Lone Survivor - You stop for no one and make your way deliberately through danger. You don't hurt people, but you definitely don't help.

The Runner - You never stay anywhere longer then absolutely necessary. It's hard to it a moving target, and you will  make risky decisions to get out of danger faster.

The Lucky One - You managed to survive somehow, but you wonder how long your luck will last.

Casualty- You died.

How to Achieve X Ending:

Lone Survivor - Escape

The Runner - Get through the entire game in less than 3 minutes

Casualty- Die in the game

The Lucky One - Barely escape in time (4:30-5 minute mark)

Level Map:

Small Green Dot - Start
Red Square - Finish
Grey Blocks - Buildings
Pink Dot/Line - Monster Start/Path
Yellow Line - Train  Tracks
Orange Line - Highway

(Please note the map is loosely based on GTA4: Liberty City's map)

Winning Strategies
This is a sandbox style so there is no right or wrong way. If you want to make the best time the player should follow the train tracks from the bottom of the first island to the airport.

Buildings/Street View:

Game Logic:

Python scripts build up the majority of the game logic. The following major features were handled via Python scripts:

1) Destruction of buildings.

2) Deleting of demolished buildings from the game for performance.

3) The movement of the dragon around the city.

4) Functioning of the flash-light (The batteries run out after a certain duration).

5) The movement of the player in the gaming arena. Functionalities of the keyboard and mouse.

6) Handling the positioning of the player at all times.

7) The effects of the water.

8) The logic behind the time remaining for the evacuation party to leave.

9) Activation of sound effects on certain events, such as escaping or dying.

10) The playing of the soundtrack in the background at all times. 

Sources:

Buildings : http://www.blendswap.com/blends/view/74984

Dragon : http://www.blendswap.com/blends/view/26363

Water : http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?242940-unlimited-planar-reflections-amp-refraction-%28update

HW 11

1) Describe the user interface in your game
The user will use keyboard buttons to execute commands, and if playtesting shows it is too difficult to judge sound and light levels in the game environment alone, stat bars will be added. The phone will also act like a player menu, with the game map, tutorial/news texts, and the quit game option.

2) What role will the interface play in your game
The interface is designed to be minimal, and ideally there won't even be visible bars for the player to gauge with. This is important because the game is to emulate survival as closely as possible, and in real life people wouldn't have stat bars.

3) Intuitive interfaces give a feeling of control. How easy (or hard) is your interface to master?
It will follow the general rules of computer gaming, with W for forward, S for backward, E for use item, etc. For people used to computer gaming it will be very automatic, and for those who are not familiar I think they will be able to catch on quickly, though only play testing will show that.

4) Will your players have a strong influence over the outcome of the game? Please describe? If not, how can you change this?
The game ending itself never changes (you get out of the city or die trying), but your survivor type result will change based on the decisions you make and the time you take to complete the level. We will probably implement at least 3 survivor types, though there may be more.

5) Players like to feel powerful. Do the players of your game feel powerful? How could this be improved?
The game's objective isn't to make the player feel powerful, but the player could feel a sense of power over how competently they play the game (e.g. they are the best at stealthing under pressure) They also can feel powerful through players choices with NPCs, but it general the game is actually supposed to communicate a feeling of smallness, and the power of it is being able to survive rather then conquering.

6) What does the player pick up and touch?
Radios, lights, phone, revolver, rocks (maybe)

7) Does the interface map to actions in the world? How?
As  stated earlier, the buttons pressed by the player will affect the game world such as when they hit spacebar they crouch, W they move forward, etc. This doesn't map to the world in the sense that the Wii or Kinect would, but it's as direct as basic PC gaming gets.

8) How does your interface let the player see, hear and touch the world of the game? Could this be improved in order to make the game world more real to the player's imagination?
The player see's through the camera in first person, so there is no shifting of camera angles. The player will hear through 3D sound, especially since one of the main objectives is to make the game as quiet as possible so the monster won't find you. They touch the objects listed in question 6 and interact with them in various ways (e.g. destroy, use, fire). In a true sandbox the game could be improved to mean any object that a person could theoretically lift, but due to our time constraints the number of extra items will be limited.

9) The idea interface is invisible to the player. Does your interface cater to the players desires? What are these desires?
The player desires to play the game in the most straightforward way possible, so yes, by using standard controls the interface should feel invisible.

10) Can your interface be used without the players thinking? Is it natural?
If they are used to PC gaming they can, and it will come very naturally.

11) Assuming you can do what you want, how would you make your interface more natural?
If time wasn't a constraint and I knew how to use it, the Occulus Rift would be a great way to experience this game.

12) What kind of feedback does your interface present to the player? What do the players want to know? How does the interface relate to the player's goal? Will it help achieve that goal?
If the status bars end up being created, it will reflect their current level of danger. It relates to the players goal by helping them judge and navigate the environment. Since survival is the goal, if the player is careful to not let the bars get to a certain point they will be able to survive and win. The text tutorials will also teach players how to play and use the interface. 

13) Is the interface feedback continuous? Why or why not?
It is continuous because the player is navigating the level in real time.

14) Please describe the concept of interface modes? Does your game have multiple modes? Please explain (Lens #60).
An interface mode is a point where there is a significant change in the action you are doing, and in general it is best practice to obviously communicate that to the player. In our game, the player can change which item they are using, which in a sense alters the mode. As for usable objects, when the change the object in their grasp it will visibly change in the camera view.

HW 12 TO DO BY 12/5

STORY (Gabby)

Create metric/text  for the ending / figure out how many options and map them to game choices

MECHANICS (Harish, Garauv)

Implement building collapse timing/map alteration

Implement light/sound leveling and assign levels for each unique object in the game

Implement metric for gaining alternate results from the game

INTERFACE (Garauv, Harish)

Create sound and light level bars, BUT ONLY if playtesting shows levels are too difficult to gauge based on in game experience

MARKETING (Gabby)

Finish final game package

Create Player Guide/game document

Give final pitch

FINISH ALL BY 12/5

HW 12 TO DO BY 11/21

STORY (Gabby)

Pick a Name (Oct 31)

Write dialogue, menu news blurbs, and other in game written material

Create survey for play testers

MECHANICS (Harish)

Create and design final dungeon map

Work movement and actions of the main character (stealth, run, walk, pick up, smash, use gun, talk)

Work movement and actions of the monster (navigation, sound and light sensors/threshold, sight)

Make and implement all game over conditions (monster hits, large rubble hits, fall in water, time limit)

INTERFACE (Gaurav)

Work use cell phone animation and menu (make sure to add battery and light sensors)

Decide on final player controls/buttons

SOUND (Gaurav)

Implement 3D sound

Assign all sound effects to in game objects

Create general background track 

AESTHETICS  (Harish,Gabby)

Make sure sense of scale is correct

Add complex/interesting textures

PLAYTESTING  (Gabby, Gaurav)

Test the game ourselves to find glitches and game errors

Test the game with others to  assess fun/challenge

MARKETING (Gabby)

Finish first poster (Oct 31)

FINISH ALL BY 11/21

HW 10: The really late one

So life happened this past week, but on the bright side I'm going to be totally prepared for my lecture next Wednesday (yay). I decided to emulate the character looking at their phone to get the game map and news alerts. Ideally the final product will be much more realistic, but with our constraints this menu would function fine.

Photo of the menu:

Video: