Revised MVP GDD, After a feedback session with my group and tutor they gave me serial bits to change such as ...
Change the way the text flows it isn't central, instead should be left-aligned or justified.
Circles underneath the numbers in the diagrams so they are more visible.
Putting in more description, must imagine people haven't played the games I've based my prototype on (no jargon)
Frames on all diagrams.
Use HUD instead of UI.
Take how the questions like "How will it sound?" be more confident and say what you want in the game not can I have this in the game.
Don't let your border dictate your design.
Get rid of the concept art page and free up a space for more content.
switch slide 9/8 around.
Really love the way it looks with less borders, it really give the content room to breathe. Also having the extra slide gives me the opportunity to talk more about my secondary characters as I felt like they hadn't been covered and having them in the border would not flow well.
I had originally made a concept page in my MVP GDD but it was more efficiant to get rid of that and have a 'Secondary Character' page where I could explain about the taxidermy as there was a distinct lack of info about these characters and they are important to the game so in they go ... I will post here all the concept art that didnt get in / was removed.
Here is the first draft of my MVP GDD (minimum viable product, game design document) I love how it looks, everything is how I wanted it to look and to me looks Victorian :)
I think this will be the last go at adding to the prototype as its starting to look just about there, from the feedback people wanted a few more things to explore so I added in more things to look at. Some people want more difficult things to add in that I would only consider if I was more skilled and making an actual game, I think some people don't really understand the idea of a prototype and expected a more finished piece.
EDIT - Very little feedback, only had one response to this one, little disappointed but the feedback I got was nice, all yes's can't be a bad thing for a baby prototype!
It is now time I begin my GDD, I want it to be feature both Victorian themes and my characters in, I first started out with some initial sketches of what I wanted my background to look like.
(insert image here)
I then went into photoshop and chose two images I really liked. The first I thought would go with my theme of animals but it didn't really match my original idea, I just really like the birds! Plus it didn't have the space for the portraits I wanted in the corners, think they would have looked weird next to the plain birds.
This one however was perfect for what I needed it was from http://frame123.net/tag/victorian-word-borders, it had the Victorian look and it had space for my portraits .... I coloured it gold to look more like a painting frame.
Now I had my border I needed a background. I searched for Victorian backgrounds and found this one from https://img1.etsystatic.com/025/0/5251483/il_340x270.547950945_d5bn.jpg its a Victorian Damask pattern that looks super nice! I repeated the pattern and created an A4 sized block.
Now combining the two! I am so happy with how it turned out, it looks almost exactly how I wanted it too, I wasnt sure about the mint green and the gold as I thought they clashed a bit, I took the designs to Facebook to see which was best. I used colours that I got from my research into Victorian colour palettes.
The general consensus was that the gold one looked best, I agree with this as it blends in better and also doesn't take away attention from the border which I think the green did. My GDD is now ready for font and images, if it comes to it I may bring the colour of the Background down if it interferes with the font.
Round one was very fruitful, here is 0.2, please play and fill in the survey, it would be much appreciated. Made a few changes to the layout, added new items and some colour to certain objects.
There was a little confusion about my Core Loop for the game raised in the survey for 0.1, the core of my game is 'Exploration, Creation and Fighting'. This level is supposed to represent the general activity that would be done in this part of the City. The character 'Florence' has to buy items to start to create taxidermy, such as Formaldehyde, straw stuffing material, string for sewing, general items used in the art of taxidermy. This level features around collecting the Formaldehyde and bringing it back to your studio and dropping it off. If I had more time and better unity skills I would have an inventory, once the item is collected 'currency' disappears from your inventory, just to get across the buying idea of the game.
Also the size of the buildings was raised as another issue. The idea for the size of the buildings was that this wasn't going to be a quaint village or town, this was supposed to be a big City in the throws of Industrial change so the idea was to make the area as large and a little bit daunting as much as possible. I have added a few smaller buildings to make it feel a bit more 'higglety pigglety' as it was described, To me this would probably add a little more to the image of the game, smaller buildings getting swamped by bigger buildings as the City gets more industrial and less Towny.
One thing I caught myself playing on a smaller screen, font dissapears on the sides ... the font blends in with the floor, will have to change the size, boldness and colour.
It has been requested to input some form of UI/HUD so will try to work on this, I have to admit it would be nice to have this somewhere if I get time I will put this in.
Even though I put up fencing people can still jump over and the game doesn't re-spawn you, will need to get some rep-spawning code or something.
A little way of bringing my game to life for me was to create a game cover for if it was released on the x-box 360, this was really fun to do and really gave me a sense of realism when I couldn't quite picture it in real life. Here is my progress creating the piece.
And here is the final piece, with added texture on the treesto make the trees and leaves less 'brushy' I am really loving the chance to learn how to paint like this, I still struggle with perspective and if I was going to do this again I would definitely change the legs, the right one could do with being a little smaller and with less knee showing. This marks the first time I have not used a cloud brush so I feel a little more accomplished :D
Here is the final piece with back blurb, I really love this image as it kind of looks like a game I would buy if I saw it in a shop, of course I speak with a little bias because I created it, but this is the type of game style I am genuinely am drawn to in shops.
I have been thinking long and hard about what I want this game to be and what it would become if I was to pursue it in the future ... From the start I wanted it to be a 'coming of age' style affair, where you see a lonely girl afraid of the world, fight her fears, push herself beyond her comfort zone and become someone brave and ready to be all she can be! The hardest part of this has been thinking, what is the plot of this, why is she doing all this, what drives the villain and what drives our heroine. I have also struggled how to get Florence's 'push out of the door' how does she end up going out ...
Here I have written some of the main plot points, what happens on screen and such ...
The way the game will
play out plot wise.
Beginning – We are introduced to Florence with a cut scene,
with a basic story of her life thus far, a brief explanation about an illness
which claimed her parents, how she came to be a Taxidermist and ends after a
quick tour around the work area, the game starts with Florence in her work
area, you are them prompted (if you have played the game through already this
is can be skipped) with how to play the game beginning with creating pieces of
Taxidermy (a badger, a hedgehog and a deer fawn, these cannot be customised because
they are your party) with basic steps each featuring a different way of
creating the animals because of the different sizes (the gutting will be a fade
to black with the innards appearing in the sink) Once this stage is done you
are shown the movement controls and how to return to the home base (which is next to
your taxidermy studio) where the player can change outfits, put pieces up for
sale, choose areas to fast travel to ect. We are introduced to the three main
party members and their personalities
QUEUE AWESOME BANNER WITH TITLE AND SMASHING VICTORIAN BACKGROUND!!!
Start of the main plot – The major of Aspington passes by as
you bring back to life the last of your party and questions what you are doing, this
character is heavily into the occult and wants to know how you did such magic. You
refuse to talk about it and close shop, you discuss with your animal friends
about the world and how you’ve heard about the discovery of the latest City of Siaera
and you’ve always wanted to explore the world but you don’t want to do it
alone as you've spent your whole life in a shop on the outskirts of the City. So you and your party set out to see this new land. Meanwhile Oswald breaks into your shop and
discovers a few bottles of recently invented formula (you have the list of ingredients
with you all the time) and steals a few of your inventions, he brings them to
life and sends them out of hunt you and your list down.
Main goal of the game - As you defeat these enemies you discover Oswald has intentions to create an army of undead humans to take over the Cities of the world one by one until he is the undisputed leader of the world.As you visit each land seeking the help from other leaders of the big Cities you become exposed to the confidence of a growing world around you, you begin to see things you have never seen, each time you complete the quests of the City in order to gain the faith of the leaders of each City you are in you and you pets 'level up' and are able to create more powerful creatures to help you. The end of the game - You've created a powerful force, with leaders behind you wanting to save the world from the threat of the undead. You march into Aspington and prepare yourself for the final battle against Oswald who has combined himself with the work he stole from you, after the battle you realise there is only one way to stop this man, destroy the formula .... This would mean the death of your friends who have helped you all this way. The idea is to have two paths .... you see a vision, one path leads to darkness, the human friends you have made are suffering, the world is a wreck and in charge in Oswald. The other path leads to the world renewed, a new Mayor is in charge and is leading all the Cities of Siaera into global peace, you see yourself in a newly restored Taxidermy Studio in the middle of town, but your faithful stuffed friends are still, on a shelf. Florence sees herself looking sad until into her studio walks in a few of the human friends she has made come to see her. The game presents this dilemma ... chose to save the world but lose your creations, or save them and the world is doomed. I want people to automatically chose to destroy the formula as you have watched Florence grow, and she won't need stuffed animals to rely on. You chose your option and assuming you have chosen the nice option, a cut scene will show Florence destroying the formula and your list of ingredients, you defeat Oswald and the vision of the future plays out.
I remember having an option like that from the Avatar game, I think that's how I would have my choices layed out, I like this person here chose to join the Navi without hesitation, I would at least want peple playing my game to think about what they are doing, mostly I think this would only be done by hardcore gamers who like to think about everything they do before hand.
Aside from the main story there are plenty of opportunities
to do side quests, collecting objects, and exploring. Only at certain points in
the story you have to follow through quest chains as it means you have hit a
major plot point. Some side missions revolve around taking commissions through
the newly invented Phonogram (telephone) doing side missions earns money, you
can use this to buy sundries to create taxidermy once you have made something
you can either bring the taxidermy to life if you have enough supplies or sell
it on to make more money, use money to buy clothes/improve the shop/buy exotic
animal skins.
I have been thinking about the whole world outside of my prototype (thinking if I was creating the whole game and not this tiny aspect of it) I think it's really important to get this information down in my blog as its something not at all mentioned in the prototype but I want people to know a little more about it, with details such as City names, currency, weather and what not.
The game is set in the world of ‘Siaera‘. Basically the
world is Earth with its creatures, humans, science ect, the only thing
different is the way the worlds landmass is spread), the world has been in an
Industrial age for several years. The modern world primarily runs on the currency of Supples,
Quints and Churts. There are 100 Churts in a Quint and 50 Quints in a Supple
(the Supple is like the equivalent of our Pound coin) Supples are made from
gold, Quints are made of silver and Churts are made from bronze.
There are 12 major cities the player can
explore, these all offer their own unique items to buy and species of
animal to collect. As the planet Siaera is pretty much like Earth, it
too has different biomes such as jungles, deserts, mountains ect.
baby maps of Aspington and its surrounding fields.
Aspington - this is the main city of
Siaera you will spend most of your time in, the home City of Florence Tanner,
heavily affected by the industrial change, as such the city is a tale of two …
poverty and richness with a lucky few people who slip into the middle ground.
(Based on real world Victorian London so features typically British animals
like rats, foxes ect). Famous for its red brick buildings and well stocked markets. Enjoys a fair climate but can experience severe downpours.
Genelia - A flowery City to the West of Subia, it is known for its delicate fabrics and unique architecture. Hot climate, but cold in winter, the City basically 'hibernates' when its flowers die.
Aflaria - this is one of the
smaller cities, populated mostly by a culture similar to that of real world Romany
Gypsies, very religious and suspicious of strangers. Cold climate up near the Northern Pole of Siaera. Rarely gets warmer than 13 degrees.
Torington - A City commonly referred to 'Bankers Paradise' this is where rich and successful Cities send all their gold for 'safe keeping'. Temperamental climate, there is an old wives tale saying that when there is gold there is warmth and when there is none there is cold.
Daye - This City is known for its Daye-Bread, a bread
that has hallucinogenic properties, as such is highly sought after by both rich
and poor in Aspington, mainly the poor who want to escape the drudgery of life
(can be used by Florence to help her think of more weird designs)
Saoania - A swamp City generally ignored by the others because of its placement, rich in bog ore it is a good area for ore hunting by people looking to make a quick Supple.
Woosal - A lush part of Siaera where plants grow thick, the City is built around farmlands and produces many of the food products eaten in the larger Cities around it. Weather here is perfect for crops as it is neither hot or cold, perfectly mild.
Belgarum - Near the Southern Pole of Siaera inhabited by people who have adapted to the cold (with thick noses and skin like that of ancient homosapians, basically never evolved) everything there is built to withstand freezing temperatures, The city itself is mostly underground to protect buildings from the cold.
Flimsey - A poor city given this name because of its wooden 'flimsy' structures and wind affected valleys.
Subia - Desert island City only
recently discovered by explorers from Tushington (similar culture to the real
world equivalent of the Middle-Eastern people.)
Tushington - Sister City to
Aspington 2nd largest City on the planet, only just in the grip of the Industrial Age so it is mostly as it was unaffected by pollutants. A more accepting culture than that of its Sister City.
Taiting - Ghost City, (had a similar culture to Asia) was attacked by unknown forces and now lays to waste, run only by mother nature it is said if people enter the Cities fallen walls they will be cursed for eternity.
Here are some more base sketches I done to see what her house and studio would look like.
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
