Moo - The development of the second game of my course

This post will discuss and outline the development of the second game of the first year on the course. The team consisted of a total of 4 members and there were two briefs to choose from. One was to create a game that could be used in social networking and the other involved designing a game with viral marketing in mind.

Initial Ideas

Initially I went with the social networking game idea because although I do not play them often I did understand that the connectivity with friends make these games intriguing and added another level of interactivity t them with team work, giving friends gifts, making new friends and the way the turns may take up to a few days instead of the usual instantaneous feedback games usually supply. An example is Farmville, which I played for about two months a few years ago, I really enjoyed the competition and the cooperation the game allowed and how you had to wait a wait for the crops to grow, allowing the player to return to the game later and see how things have changed;  sometimes not in your favour; crops die if not picked soon enough.

However, the viral marketing brief allowed the team to make a quirky and unique game with the sole player's experience in mind. We picked this brief and were on our way with brain storming.
For some strange, or brilliant, reason, we wanted to go with a food theme and our love for ice cream carved the way for our viral marketing game.

The game was based on making ice cream, selecting flavours as shown and making sure the correct ones are chosen and in the right order. Our aim, as per he Game Design Document, was:

We plan to create a game that could be used be used by an ice cream company to promote their product virally, we plan to do this by making the game challenging so they are played again and recommended to friends. Also, we will use quirky graphics to portray the tone that some ice cream companies utilise to appeal to a certain audience. While some companies use muted colours, sophisticated graphics, images and typography to appeal to a mature audience, our game will depict a more colourful, vibrant and fun brand, also exploiting the association of ice cream being comfort food to one audience as opposed to a fancy dessert to another audience.

The High Level Concept

There are a bunch of sad and depressed people who need cheering up, the player will have to utilise their ice-cream making skills and more importantly timing to whip up a perfect freshly-made ice cream for the freshly-dumped customers.
Players have to pump the right ingredients in ice cream cups on an increasingly speedy conveyor belt. 

Verbs

And the verbs used to describe the actions taken by the player and the game were as follows:

Players have to time the positioning of the ice cream cups and funnels and click on the right ingredient in order to have it drop into the cup. Shape/colour recognition will be used to get the right ingredients in the cup. If the player misses the cup, the ingredients will fall onto the conveyor belt and jam it, a cleaner will have to be dispatched to clean it up. The conveyor belt’s speed will also increase, so ingredients will have to be matched and picked faster.

Mood board

Above was our moo board, spelled deliberately wrong in order to convey the theme of ice cream and cows! We thought that was really clever and decided to name our game Moo!

The moo board portrayed the basic ideas we were to implement in our game; a timer, a conveyor belt, flaours of ice cream and vending machines dispensing different ingredients. The colours uses allow reflect the theme we were aiming for; quirky and vibrant, this was to keep the idea fresh and bold and striking.

Paper Prototyping the Game

Above is our paper prototype we used to see if our game had a legitimate challenge and if there were any loop holes and inconsistancies in the game. There were only 4 flavours available for this prototype. One person, acting as the computer, would pulled the paper conveyor with the contaienrs on it and the player would simply tap their finger on the flavour for it to be selected, making sure the container was below that particular machine. The first container only has two flavours while the second one has three, this shows the incrementing challenge in the game so the player is learning and being challenged throughout.

What we learned from paper prototyping

1. The ingredients need to clearly convey the flavours, some people will match the colours together and some will not, so they have to be clearly defined.
2. The challenge has to increase, we need to consider speeding up the conveyer belt too in order to keep the game dynamic.
3. Negative and positive feedback is essential so we need to make sure we give the player information when they succeed and fail, so sound effects and animations or visuals indicating the feedback will be super useful.

Finite State Machines

The finite state machines were detailed enough for the programmer to refer to when coding, the ice cream cups states are indicated and the chart shows decisions and options available and the actions when the decision are taken.

The conveyor belt is shown to have a 'broken' state which did not make it into the completed game, this feature involved the conveyor breaking when too many ingredients missed the containers and fell on the conveyor belt; consequently jamming it. The player would them have to press a button on screen in order to free it, taking up valuable time where they could be making ice creams. his was a good example of negative feedback, however, time constraints meant this could not be implemented.

Storyboards

I really enjpy drawing up the storyboards and this game with its unique use of space was an interesting one to visualise and draw and soon I was an expert at drawing various ingredients and flavours! The art style carried onto the finished game, with added colour and vibrancy too.

Below is a depiction of good and bad play, the player here drops some flavours on the conveyor belt. The storyboard shows what happens, ingredients are seen on the belt. However, it does not show that ingredients have actually gone into the cup which showed us that we need to have clear containers, this was basic stuff but was overlooked, teaching us to look at the fundamentals first before stepping to the more difficult and complex matters.

The defeat conditions involve using the wrong ingredients a number of times creating the wrong ice creams.

Below was another initial idea which let the player control the conveyor belt and dispensers. The left and right buttons would control the conveyor and the space bar would dispense the one flavour available. this idea implemented timing and space. In the end we took that control from the player which actually increased the challenge in a natural way and caused the player to rush to find the correct ingredient and select it in time as the container travels below.

Below is a storyboard which involves some grim ideas about food health standards, there were to be spiders which which would fall into the ice cream containers, the player had to dodge these by not moving forward when a spider was seen descending. Sludge had to be dodged too, it gave the game an interesting but unneeded dynamic. We removed it because it was not appropriate for the age group and mainly for the theme, this would make it less quirky and jovial.

Below, a basic portrayal of how the final idea would be used and how much choice the player has and how timing is crucial. It also shows the ingredients falling into the container, a basic but important visual for the player.

Below is a storyboard showing how the conveyor belt can become jammed. Once the player drops a certain amount of ingredients on the belt, the belt will jam and the player will need to hit a button on screen so a worker can come along and clear it all away to get the belt restarted. This idea was scrapped, however it would be a great way to negatively reinforce ideas so players learn.

This storyboard shows the basics of the input and output which was scrapped, now more than one ingredient is available. This idea was mainly about timing as well as recognition and selection.

The Final Game Screen Shots

Below, we can see the player has not successfully made the ice cream and has dropped a lot of the ingredients onto the conveyor. This will affect the player's overall score.

The vibrant and bold colours and clear ingredient images make the game a visual feast and if it can make players want an ice cream in reality*, it has technically achieved two things, the viral marketing and making the player continue to play the game!
*Unless the player does not like ice cream!

The idea of having the factory be in a field with grazing cows in the background was the artists idea, we loved how it looked and immediately used it, it lent an airy, free and peaceful glow to the game which would not have been possible if the interior and background was a grey warehouse setting.

The Termination Condition Screens

To reflect the game's theme throughout the game, we decided to make the ending screens humorous with the cow complaining about the icecream if you lose and the cow complimenting you if the player succeeds. The visuals were simple and quirky and got the theme across nicely and effectively.

The Title Screen and Menu

The title screen reflected the game's theme before the player jumps into the game, its funny and simple and the 'Help' button is integrated into the setting of fields and hills. The minimal colour keeps the visuals striking and aesthetically pleasing.

Conclusion and Evaluation

The game is really polished, looks great, plays great, I am really happy with this game because it reflects the themes we wanted it to and is challenging and keeps the players on their toes. Th game has humour and is quirky and would be effective as a tool of viral marketing as it would be a talking point. The potential of the game means it could be re-wrapped for different themes, so it could be about breaking up and having the ice cream serve as comfort food. Or it could be aimed at children with the aim to create new flavours of ice creams.

We were all pleased with the finished game and believe it follows the brief and keeps the players engaged with the increasing and dynamic challenge.

Lessons Learned

To clearly label the challenge and see if it is challenging enough by making a paper prototype and even a digital prototype if the former does not properly demonstrate it.

To make sure there is enough time to implement all features and to manage it more effectively by handing out tasks and co-operating with assets and content so programmers are given finalised art work instead of lots of placeholders.

To effectively play test the game to find loop holes and see what peole think of the game and see how it can be improved.