This is our indie game for out final year project done is semester 1,2010. The title of the game is Walk Them. The objective of the project is to create an indie game targeted for female audience who do not play games. The objective of the game is the player has to control the dog to eat the scattered food that is around the platform. There will be oncoming dog catchers and the has a special feature. And that is the shooting element. The player can shoot the oncoming dog catchers. But is if the dog is caught, the game ends. In order to proceed to the next level, the player has to eat the scattered food and head to the exit sign.
To know more about our progress and how we came about this game, details of our initial ideas are in pages on the right side of the blog under pages.
Below is our Game Design Documentation for Walk Them.
1. Design History (Documentation – This is a change listing quickly describing each major version and changes)
1.1. Ideation Process (Sketches, Images, Photographs, Inspiration)
Design history: Concept was taken from Tamagotchi. This is because; we wanted players to care for their pets by bringing them for a walk. To create a layout that is suitable for female audience of all ages. The game should not have too much of graphics and the background music must not be heavy with beats and tempo.
1.2. Iteration
1.2.1. Evaluation of Iteration (as per each level of iteration – what worked, what did not work and why)
First time changes:
The concept of taking the dog for a walk did not seem to have any objective. Therefore we added variables to make it the objective and in return give points for players.
Second time changes:
After much discussion on what type of variables should be included for the point system, we came up with food items. The reason being, food is the main essential for dogs. Adding to that, we added dog catchers to catch the dog. Therefore, we enabled the dog a shooting factor so that, it can shoot the catchers before catching it.
2. Game Overview
2.1. Game Concept (Core Statement – what your game is about)
A game that allows the player to eat the scattered food for points and shoot the dog catchers in order to prevent them from catching the dog. (Own time, own target.)
2.2. Asset List (Brief description if necessary – e.g. board, 3x d6s, player tokens, etc.)
Game variables with points: Apple - 30 points
: Burger - 50 points
: Cherry - 20 points
: Strawberry - 10 points
: Pineapple - 15 points
: Pear - 05 points
: Dog Catcher - 05 points
2.3. Target Audience and Rationale
Target audience = female audience from ages 12 and below
Rationale = It is a game targeted at female children.
2.4. Proof of Concept
The game was created solely by the team as the game went through several iterations and received comments from the different facilitators of Diploma In Game Design during the sprints.
2.5. Innovation or Originality of the game
The innovation of the game comes from our ideas and mind maps. After coming up with our paper prototype, we worked on it and did our digital prototypes. After further iteration, we completed the game. Our game was kept tracked by our mentor Laurent so as to we still maintained the indie game meant for female audience.
3. Gameplay and Mechanics
3.1. Gameplay
3.1.1. Objectives (What are the objectives of the game?)
To collect the scattered food items without being caught by the oncoming dog catchers and head to exit after collecting all the food items.
3.1.2. Play Flow (How does the game flow for the game player)
- Players are supposed to collect the scattered food.
- Players are to shoot the oncoming dog catchers in order to prevent being caught by them.
- Players are to head to the exit sign after collecting the food items in order to proceed to the next level.
Collection of items
- Each food item the player uses the dog to eat will gain the player points.
- Each dog catcher shot will earn the player 05 points.
Platform
- We used Game Maker Lite to do our game as we were fonder of Game Maker Lite compared to other game engines. This is because Game Maker Lite uses the concept of drag and throw buttons for player actions. We tried other game engines and the one that suits our objectives and planning was Game Maker Lite due to the fact that is easier to learn and there is a much tutorials available online that help us understand each and every aspect of the engine better. From Sprite creation to basic scripting. Therefore it is simple to use and understand Game Maker Lite and come up with our game.
The other engines we used to build our game were Atmosphir, 3D game Studio and Game Builder. The reasons to why we were not able to use those engines mentioned above is simply because the creating of the player, player variables and background layout were rather difficult and they did not look appealing to female children below the age of 12.
3.2. Mechanics – What are the rules to the game, both implicit and explicit. (This is the model of the universe that the game works under)
Mechanics
Dog
Dog Catcher
Food Items
Exit
3.2.1. Movement (do the players move using representative tokens or playing pieces? How?)
Players would make use of the arrow keys on the keyboard for the movement of the dog. And players will use the “Z” key to shoot the oncoming dog catchers.
3.3. Music and Sound
Music was created by team member Vimal. He created the background music in a way that will attract the female audience.
3.3.1 Reasons
The background music was created in a low beat of 4 counts and the tempo was in 109 bmp. This is because we did not want the background music to be very loud and heavy. This is because; it would have been very unpleasant for the audience ears. Adding to that, the reason to why this composition is because we wanted a music that makes the player excited while playing.
The sound effects for the game are rather had to actual in the sense that the dog has to bark instead of purring. Therefore we used actual sounds for the sprites. All the sound effects and music instruments used in the background music were given by the software Music Maker Silver 12 and Royalty Free Tracks.
3.4. Number of Players
This game is made in a way such that it is a single player. The game can be played on either a laptop or a desktop as the game is not meant to be a console game.
3.5. Player Keys
The player keys are very simple to be understood and used. They are the arrow keys for movements and directions of the dog and keyboard key “z” for shooting the bullets at the dog catchers.
3.6. Duration of Game
The duration of the game is roughly about 03 minutes. This is because it enables the player to get a higher score by shooting at the oncoming dog catchers.
4. Story, Setting and Character
Setting: A maze kind of structure
4.1 Back story (The Narrative of the Game)
To eat all the scattered food and to prevent itself from being caught by the oncoming dog catcher and head to the exit to progress to next level
4.2 Characters (Write-ups of the Characters – its preferences, history, character traits?)
Dog and Dog Catcher
5. Management (What was the project timeline like? What were the milestones and deadlines?)
• Sketches
• Drafts
• Layout lines
• Prototypes (paper and digital)
• Considerations of food items
5.1. Detailed Schedule:
- Finalized food items.
- Fixed and finalized points for food items and dog catcher
6. Playtest Results (What were your findings from playtesting?)
There were minor bugs in the game. For instance, when one dog catcher was shot, the entire oncoming dog catchers go missing. Adding to that the dog was able to pass through the dog catchers. Therefore we rectified the bugs in order to make it work the way it suppose to be.
6.1. Feedback from Blind Playtesting
It is very cute for the sprites and the background is very simple yet pleasant for female audience like me. The game play seem simple yet it gives me the feel as though I m on a treasure hunt with my pet dog and have to eliminate bad guys. It is fun and catchy. The sound effects are rather suited to the actions and the background music is also nice to hear and makes me want to play more.
7. Appendix
7.1 Research Avenues
: Computer Music/Music Maker Silver 12 (to create background music)
: Game Maker tutorials (to fix bugs)
: Photoshop tutorials (to do sprites)
: Wikipedia (to know more about indie games and core mechanics and dynamics of a game)
: Kongregate (to see various examples of indie games) (www.kongregate.com)
: www.atmosphir.com (atmosphir game engine)
: www.gamebuilder.com (game builder engine)
7.2 Roles and Responsibilities
Chin Yang
Chin Yang took the roles of being the coder and the designer for the game layout
Razmi
Razmi took up the roles of being the Quality Analyzer (QA) and asset artist.
Vimal
Vimal took up the roles of designing the sounds and background music for the game by using Music Maker Silver 12.
Neo Meng Hui
Meng Hui was the rightful Quality Analyzer (QA). But since he left and went missing in action for the past 3.5 months, Razmi took up the role of being the Quality Analyzer (QA).
7.3 Declaration
Audio/Music/ Sound
All the music and sound effects used in the game are from Royalty Free Tracks given by the software Music Maker Silver 12. The background music for the game was solely composed by our team member Vimal.
Sprites
All the sprites used in the game were done using Adobe Photoshop by team member Razmi and the layout background was also done using the same programme by team member Chin Yang.
