Month: November 2022

After we gave our proposals, it was clear everyone was very passionate about their projects, with the assembly of groups slowing down as everyone waited to see if anyone would hop on their projects before going for anyone else’s.

Thankfully however, I was not the only one who wanted to make a game, and after some discussion, created a group with Will and Colin to work on a project. We all were still passionate about our own ideas, so together we worked on a new one that implemented all our ideas together.

We each chose one major thing we wanted to express in the game. For me, it was for it to have an acceptable narrative with possible links to escapism, for Colin it was to include the concept of machine learning in some regard, and for Will, he wished to include procedural animation using a llama character.

From there, we discussed other elements, such as the setting, core gameplay concept, genre, VR locomotion system, and other areas, and began to get an idea formed pretty quickly.

• Narrative based puzzle/tower defence game

• Set in a futuristic office

• Player is a robot with teleport locomotion

• Gameplay consist of trying to do office jobs whilst a llama tries to stop you

• Has a day system with 3 days in total

• Day 1 -tutorial Day 2 – llama shows up Day 3 – narrative rebel vs obey system

• As the llama affects the game, the office could become overgrown

I was excited that we had an idea forming so quickly, with us divvying out jobs to begin work immediately. I was tasked with the narrative elements of the game. However, due to having work obligations, I was unable to discuss this with my team during class so they had to create a base semblance of the story already. So instead I began focusing on areas to 3D model as well as looking into how the llama might affect certain tasks we had listed, and how these tasks would also act on our day 3 finale.

An example of this was the ‘sign in’ objective we would have for each day. This would begin the work cycle. For day 1 it would be pretty simple to teach the player the system. However with the llama present, it might steal the pen needed to sign in, making you search for it or have to buy a new one. For the final day, the player would get the opportunity to rebel, being able to throw the sign-in sheet out the window or in the trash.

For the 3d modeling work, I had some mood board examples as well as a floorplan Colin created in The Sims to work off.

So to begin, I focused work on the office cubicles and their items. I took inspiration from the mood board items, as well as my own love for cyberpunk and futuristic design and created a few items including the desk, chairs, monitors and keyboards, and some basic office clutter. All the while I made sure to keep most items modeled separate, knowing we had plans to make a physics system where the player could pick up most items.

https://trello.com/b/HDvGRJQv/llama-drama – link to our trello where we document our ideas and notes

‘How Does That Make You Feel’ was the final WIP title I settle on for my VR game idea for this years final project.

The Plot:

As I said, I wanted to have a good storyline for my content, and having spent time writing as a hobby, I got to work drafting a story. The player would play as a medical based AI directed with restoring or removing suppressed memories inside people’s minds. The core premise was the AI would live out and experience these memories, and would have a final choice to restore or shred them at the end of the level – with different impacts from either decision.

Memories would be linked in unforeseen ways, and the initial impact of your choices would be left ambiguous until you had finished treating the patient. The story would find its roots heavily in the themes of escapism, something I hoped to capitalize on by linking to my essay in my second module this year which I themed around escapism.

The Gameplay:

In each level, certain ‘mood states’ would be accessible such as sad or happy. The player’s core goal would be to combine these mood states in a certain way to create the specific mood the patient locked them memory behind.

Mood states would affect the environment, such as anger setting certain areas ablaze. The mood states would also be used as a form of puzzle solving, with certain objects, places, and other moods locked behind areas that need other certain moods. Once the player gets the required mood, they would receive a memory ball which they could view, and then decide whether to restore or shred.

Initially, I thought it best to make fully 3d environments the player could use locomotion to explore. However, later down the line my classmate Billy came up with the idea of the player being stationary and interacting with items from a distance. The idea stuck out as a lot more interesting premise on how the game would play, and also would make presenting the piece to others a lot easier as it would limit possible motion sickness in newer VR players.

The Design:

In terms of my implementation of AI art, I wanted to try and make the memories a collage of DALL-E generated scenes, slowly building together to make a memory. It would thematically suit the themes as well given the player character is an AI.

Beyond DALL-E, the level design would be modeled on how people would perceive the inside of a brain to be. There are a few examples of this I stated in my presentation, but the creative freedom on how to make that look would have been very high.

One major core design element I wanted is that the player had to FEEL the mood states. I needed to find a way to express them in the design elements in all areas at once, whether that be using the emotional color wheel for the level palette, changing sound design, or any other myriad of elements.

With all this, I put it together into a presentation alongside a few other elements I thought well to mention. Abel did point out that my presentation didn’t change much between the first time I showed it, and the time I presented it, but I don’t think it needed too much. I had a core idea in my head of what I wanted and saw no reason to try and alter it simply to change my presentation. I just tried to add bits into areas here and there whilst also making sure I wasn’t info dumping tons on anyone whom I presented to.

This is what the finished presentation looked like.

So my final year as a uni student has begun.

For this module, we are tasked with creating a fully-fledged VR experience alongside others in a group effort, hoping to eventually present the pieces to others. To start, we are pitching our own ideas for what we want to do, in hopes of convincing other people to hop on board our projects and work with us to make them happen.

Immediately I knew I wanted to make a game. Gaming in VR is what drove me to take the subject, and finally being able to make a full game of decent quality would be a great opportunity. As someone with a pretty creative and random mind, I have a big notes page on my phone of story/game ideas that I’ve always wanted to develop at some point. So I turned my attention to all of those and found the idea I wanted to push.

To begin, I narrowed down a few elements of what I wanted to come from the experience:

• I wanted the game to have a narrative. Many VR games fall into the trap of being glorified arcade games or tech demos without a proper story to make them truly great.

• I wanted to make a puzzle game. Since this was my first time working with a team, I wanted to work with a genre that is somewhat easier to refine into a game in some regards. Not to mention a puzzle based game is easy to present to audiences.

• I wanted to use AI art generation. I’ve watched a lot of videos on how AI art is changing how a lot of game dev elements function. As such, I wanted to embrace that, and find a way to use programs like DALL-E in the game development process.

I had the core ideas down, and a premise I had somewhat written out, but I spent a few weeks working on it, getting a proper presentation ready to show off.