It was interesting coming up with an idea and either hiding a bit of information or coming up with an idea that already has those hidden elements, in the end we went with a social interaction game, using facets of people's personality to link them together to create a harmonious dinner party. The hidden information was in the form of their interests and hobbies, these would be revealed slowly, players had to remember them when deciding on the seating plan.
The idea was inspired by Kevin Bacon (hear us out) and his
dancing shenanigans, nah kidding, however it was inspired by the concept of 6 degrees
of separation, where everyone is connected to everyone through the connection
of 6 other people. In this idea the connection goes full circle, however, we needed to find a way to connect people and this is because we pitched our idea to our class and found that remembering hobbies would be unsubtle, so we needed an intuitive system, so I looked at Myers-Briggs Personality Types and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
Software Choice
We decided to use Flash ActionScript 3 as we had used that before, so not a brave choice, but a clever one! I had animated in Flash before and although we discussed using Unity, we decided that our strengths would be doubled if we used Flash. However, I would love to use Unity for my next project, it would certainly be exciting using 3D software again!
Screen Size
We decided to make the Flash screen full size so the party guests would not be crammed in a small space where the player may have difficulty clicking on them, we also thought if the space would show several rooms, like a kitchen, music/media corner and living room then we would need a larger space to convey it all.
Initial Ideas
Above is a story board I drew up for our pitch, it was all about selecting the matching hobbies, it did not pose enough of a challenge so instead of using it as the sole idea, we kept the mechanic and altered it to make it more of a struggle for the player. The feedback is clear here and I really wanted to show that because past projects have shown that feedback is super important and greatly affects the player experience, making it worse if they have no idea of what happened or if there was an output to their input.
The picture above shows how all the characters can be connected by their hobbies, this left issues with how challenging it could be if the information was hidden completely and if just hiding part of it would still present enough of a challenge.
Introduction from our Game Design Document
I think this sums up the original game idea best:
The game followed the brief of imperfect/perfect data as the characters’ set of hobbies are not entirely revealed in the first instance they are seen. In the first round only one hobby is seen, in the second round, two are seen and in the third round, all three hobbies are seen. This added a dynamic aspect to the game and mirrors how sometimes people find out more about each other and then discover they get along. The hobbies would have been gradually shown to the player only when they interact with them, so they must memorise the information. This is essential when seating the guests at the dinner table, at this point, there is no information regarding hobbies available and the player must rely on the information they remembered from the characters’ latest interactions.
High Level Concept
Guests have arrived for a party but as the host it is up to you to
find those with similar interests and connect them all together so you get
through the three-course dinner unscathed!
Create an amicable atmosphere by discovering who gets on with whom!
Moodboard
The pitch we presented had a picture of Kevin Bacon, but this moodboard was far less extravagant! Our aim was to summarise the game with a few images: people, socialising, connecting people and dining.
Goals
Short Term – To put
characters together in the party so they get along.
Medium Term – To seat
people at the dinner table so the get along
Long Term – To end
the game with the majority of people enjoying the day and interacting with
those they get along with.
Challenges
- Remembering who gets along with who is
essential – this begins with trial and error.
- Figuring out that characters have to get
along with those adjacent and opposite to them – the player will be
learning about each person’s hobbies.
- Not having any information of hobbies when
seating the characters for dinner.
- There is a timer when connecting characters
in the main room.
- There is a timer when seating people at the dinner table.
Increasing the Challenge and Engaging the Player
The initial game idea included the player only seeing one of the character’s
hobbies, so the player has to remember one hobby. After the first course, two
of their hobbies will appear, so the player must now remember them both. After
the second course, three hobbies will appear and the player will need to
memorise all three in order to pick someone who has a similar hobby. The
challenge increases when memorising who may be seated adjacent to someone else,
so now the player must not only be aware of the pairs that match, but of the
other potential matches that can be seated adjacent to each other.
However, the idea was left out die to time constraints, so the dinner setting is not used, although, there is a solid mechanic which we could further develop. Having to cut this part of the game out was a tough decision but in turn allowed us to focus on the main game mechanics and taught us about prioritising and making timely decisions.
However, the idea was left out die to time constraints, so the dinner setting is not used, although, there is a solid mechanic which we could further develop. Having to cut this part of the game out was a tough decision but in turn allowed us to focus on the main game mechanics and taught us about prioritising and making timely decisions.
Player Choice
We kept it nice and simple, un-intimidating, players can drop in quickly and play:
The player uses the mouse and the left click to select characters and
place them around the party and to seat them at the dinner table. The player
can seat them at the table and move them about before pressing a ‘confirm’
button to have the score calculated.
Verbs
• Remember what the person’s interests were
• Pick another person to see their hobbies
• Connect the people together
• Seat them at the dinner table near people they will get along with
These were useful for making the finite state machines and also for communicating with each other so we know exactly what part of the animation is needed, for example, and what is left to be coded and what we need to clarify, this reminded me of all the game design theorists asking for a proper vocabulary for the theories, very true, language is power!
Storyboards
Have I mentioned that I really love storyboarding?! I didn't? Well, I love storyboarding, I really do, it's a task I take on with self-motivated determination, knowing it will be on my teammate's table while they are programming, a really important document that will be depended on, broken apart, corrected and altered, sometimes in real-time! Taking on that task for every game I have made has improved my ability to visually communicate ideas, mechanics, tactics and player choices. It is challenging too, having to draw the same thing over and over and making sure the focus of the action is clear to the reader/programmer/examiner. Both my teammate and I used storyboards to communicate how the game will work while in early development, but I put my ones up just to give an idea about how the game looked at first glance.
Paper Prototyping
This is an essential part of the development process and ensures the game rules and player choice are workable mechanics. It makes sure the game can be won, lost and also that the player does not get stuck within the games rules. The game logic is stringently tested here as play testing participants are usually urged to break the game somehow, so letting our team mates wreck our game was a priority in the development process!
First Paper Prototype
The first paper prototype was a basic test to see if the mechanic would work and if it posed enough of a challenge. It was also useful in seeing which criteria the characters should be matched alongside, some ideas being Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, personality types like introversion, extroversion, pessimism and optimism.
The image above used optimism, pessimism, introversion and extroversion as the matching criteria, however, it seemed to be subjective whether an introverted person would get along with an extroverted person. Adding pessimism as well made people wonder if they would get along with introverted people; this subjectivity added an unwanted challenge in the game as it would depend on individuals’ ideologies.
Second Paper Prototype
Below, the second prototype used the criteria of hobbies and
interests; however they were conveyed with letters of the alphabet for clarity.
The graphics were improved to show two separate states for each of the eight
characters, bored and interested, with the drink levels in their glasses and
tumblers conveying their level of engagement as well as a visual cue.
Below is the art work I drew up in order to use for the play testing session, it was quite fun creating these party-goers! It involved a lot of imagination and I needed to get facets of their personality across with their clothing and body language. The first row of characters are bored while the second row is interested and happy, these are the early examples of the state changes: happy and bored.
The first play though of the second prototype allowed the player to
see all three hobbies throughout the game; this allowed the player to figure it
out very easily and did not match the brief as the data was effectively perfect
and available for the player to see. So the game had to be modified in order
for it to retain a challenge.
In the second play test; before the starters during the first round, the player would only see
the first letter and would have to match them up to another character, this was
implemented to increase the challenge and to match the brief. When they picked
a character to pair up with, they would be told whether they get along or not.
After the starter, the players would be given the second letter/hobby and after
the main course, all three hobbies/letters would be revealed.
Lessons Learned and Issues Solved
- Hobbies had to be gradually revealed in order to
allow the player to learn and to make it more challenging.
- A timer had to be implemented after the first
play test of the second prototype because it seemed to allow the paper to try
every possible combination and effectively break the game.
- The issue of not allowing the player to reseat a
seated character had to be rethought as it could make the game significantly
difficult and a nuisance, a ‘confirm seating’ option was considered to make it
fair.
- To add to the challenge it was considered to
decrease the timer for each round, so the dessert course would only allow the
player 40 seconds, instead of the original 60 seconds, however, this would make
the challenge too high as the player has to remember a set of three hobbies as
well.
Ideas: Possible Criteria to Match Characters Together
However, the criteria proved quite challenging to code and we decided to use the original method: the hobbies, this was a safer but less intuitive idea, however, I think it still retains its unique selling point.
Designing, Creating and Animating the Assets
I did mock ups of character studies using the continuous line technique and had a few ready for critiquing, a chat with a tutor pointed me in the direction of other artists like Julian Opie, Patrick Caulfield and Lichtenstein, which was really useful as I saw how each artist used bold colour and line. I had initially used Patrick Heron as inspiration, and I used a pastel colour to inline (as opposed to outline) the characters so they would stand out from the background. I used pastel colours of nude and pale hues to separate the black outline and their clothes, skin and hair so that it did not look part of it, but instead a stylistic artistic choice.
I thoroughly enjoyed using line in strange ways to create the contours of the character's body, clothing and features, it went against everything I was taught in Art! But it was a process I liked because it gave ordinary clothes additional interesting lines and shapes, like a suit with its distinct lines being given a twist to make it intriguing and inevitably adding to the game's sophisticated theme and aesthetic.
The Characters
Each character had the following states for their programming and animation:
Idle - front and back of the character as they chat with another person or stand around by themselves.
Walking - Left, right, up and down
Chatting - This is activated when characters are selected, when that happens; speech bubbles pop up.
As much as I will talk about the character design, I love fashion illustrating so I need to talk about their clothes too!
Guy 1
Guy 1 sports a slate suit, understated yet stylish and a turquoise shirt to add bizazz to the outfit! I used a pink shade to inline his profile.
Lady 1
Lady 1 is draped in a floor length pink gown which made it surprisingly challenging to animate her walking, not being able to see her legs meant I had to show ruffles in her fabric which was interesting as I used strange zigzags to show the creased fabric. I used a peachy colour to inline her profile.
Lady 2
Lady 2 keeps it classy in a flattering summer dress with sophisticated pleats running from her shoulder to the hemline, the royal blue is offset by the intense colour of the shoes. I used a pale blue colour to separate the outline and clothing colour.
Lady 3
Lady 3 schuzzes up the party with this high-waist and one-shoulder ensemble, the yellow and red is bold while the neutral grey settles this! I used a pastel orange to separate the outline and clothing colour.
Guy 2
Guy 2 is decked out like a captain in royal blue, rounded collar blazer and steel blue trousers with a smart white shirt as well as brown loafers. I used a pale pink colour to separate the outline and clothing colour.
Guy 3
Background and Setting
This was an exciting and very different setting that I had to create, although it was ordinary. We see our houses and rooms everyday, but I had to design it in ways to create an open space that did not look strange to the player yet allowed the characters to move about freely and not get stuck between assets (movie clips).
Paper Prototype Setting
To get the creative juices flowing I made the above setting using PhotoShop to be able to visualise the look of the game. The half see through wall of the garden was drawn so I could see how it would look, I thought it looked a bit segmented from the rest of the area, also this added a difficulty of having characters walk through the door and issues with them being hidden behind a wall. So these issues were sorted out before I began on the final prototype. This task also helped me decide the art style that I would adopt and refine, I ended up not using this style, although I have used it for years, I wanted to use a different approach and that's when I decided on continuous line drawings, which I came across in Art and Design: Textiles in college.
Mock up of the Digital Prototype Setting
Firstly I checked that the continuous line drawing technique would look aesthetically pleasing, I made a quick mock up, drawing things I saw around my house from two angles to capture a cubist look too, however I dropped the cubist impression and focused on continuous line.
Development of the Setting
Above, I started off designing the setting by drawing out lots of bits of furniture like DJ decks, kitchen units, windows, a fireplace and potted plants, I also scaled them down to the size of the characters. I did a few of these IKEA-inspired-interior-decorating-collages and then composed them roughly and showed my team mate, below is a section of the setting.
The furniture, we decided, needed to be spread out a lot more to ensure the characters could pass by. After using Photoshop and setting each bit of furniture on a separate layer, so I could move them easily if need be, I consulted with my teammate, we gave the go ahead and I began colouring it and giving the setting a sense of depth.
The Finished Setting
I really liked colouring this, picking matching colours and making the place look like a sophisticated home filled with books, trendy sofas, a gramophone and even an easel with canvas! However, the depth looks a bit strange which makes me feel I should not have drawn the perspective lines free hand and should have looked at the room size and the furniture size, but I feel I got the idea across without too much of a graphical error.
The Speech/Character Interests
These assets were not used in the final game because due to a hitch in communication, but a lot of hard work, both my team mate and I created these assets at the same time! As I transferred the assets, he already had them drawn out. We used his work because it was more concise with colour being used in the images. I think the black and white would have worked with simpler shapes, I drew a saddle on the horse when really there was not a lot of space to draw it, so I made it too detailed for the purpose it would serve. We discussed the types of hobbies our characters should have to keep the theme cohesive.
Feedback/Termination Screens and User Interface
An important part of the game theme is the user interface, I aimed to make it simple yet effective, no nonsense; so the player can take the information they need and dive straight into making this dinner party great.
Title Screen
Initially I wanted it to be inspired by fancy restaurant menus with the italicised typography, beige, cream, brown hues with hints of richer colours, however, after trying to get the colours right I realised it did not match the tone of the game with its simplified continuous lines and faceless characters. So instead I decided on black and white with a very faded motif, like the one you would find on a fancy restaurant menu, I thought it looked great but should not be the focus of the screen so I had its transparency turned almost all the way up.
I thoroughly enjoyed using the continuous line technique to draw the assets, so I used the same for the title screen, a slice of cake and two glasses, I think it is simple, fresh and conveys the tone of the game, sophisticated, different and not-shooty! And this is from someone who really enjoys a good shoot-em-up game!
Help Screen
I wrote a few drafts of this page, it was challenging trying to condense all the game's goals, aims, rules, choices into a few concise sentences so that the player could read quickly and begin playing. Upon the fifth or sixth iteration I managed to shrink it down considerably and tried to imagine myself as the player, trying to capture the important fundamentals from the screen:
What am I doing?
And what button do I press?
I think this style of thinking was super useful here and I believe the help screen does its duty!
Termination Screens
Conveying the feedback of 'win/lose' is important and I needed clear imagery to show this to the player.
Lose Screen
I just thought about how a terrible party would look and I imagined the host looking at them through their front door as they walk out mumbling "this time could have been better used looking at funny pictures of cats on the internet". It is quite a negative image, seeing the backs of people from a window so works effectively as negative feedback.
Win Screen
Since the characters had very neutral expressions in the actual game, I altered them and used the original high resolution images to compose them all standing together toasting their amazing host! I quite liked this picture! I designed the lose screen first, which told its negative message quite well so I needed really positive imagery for the win screen, I think the screen succeeded in that endeavor.
- Time constraints disallowed the game to have the dinner setting game three intended rounds; the starter, main course and dessert, in this prototype the player can only match up the characters in the party setting.
- The characters’ faces remain the same during the game, and could have been an effective canvas for emotions; this would be useful in showing the consequence of the player’s actions.
- Another change suitable addition for the game would be to have added a timer to increment the challenge.
- The game’s mechanics are in place, however fine tuning them as well as setting out the dinner seating rounds would have made the game significantly more challenging and engaging and a way for the player to use the imperfect data.
Overall, the games’ tone and look is aesthetically pleasing
and the assets and animations of walking guests look great and are all cohesive
in style, the busy background does not pool all of the attention and the depth
offered by the simple lines give an illusion of perspective. The mechanic is
engaging in its simplicity and the aim; to be socially aware of the characters;
is unique as it is much like using real-life instincts in a controlled
environment which offers two possible outcomes: Everyone leaving, bored at the
so-called party or everyone having a fantastic time, as determined by the
players ability to match up the hobbies of the party-goers.
Communication - Our little team communicated really well, we made use of a social networking site to transfer assets if we could not meet in person. When meeting in person we would set about prioritising issues that needed to be dealt with. At the start of development we would play test games on a sheet of player and discuss how it worked or didn't and these impromptu game testing sessions were really useful in working out our final game.
Timing - It could be argued that our game was too ambitious, however, with better time handling we could have included the original idea of having to seat the players at the dining table. We could have made use of the time plans more and adhered to them more effectively. However, the lesson learned from this hiccup is that when things needed to be axed from the game, we need to be careful in our risk calculation and if we feel the game will not suffer from the loss, then it is an acceptable one.
Next time, I need to use time more efficiently and be more willing to come to a decision quicker, sometimes it can be quite daunting setting things in stone! However I understand that it is a crucial part of the process and by having the ideas there and chosen, it makes it easier to make decisions about other ideas on the hierarchy.
End Note
I had a blast making this game, I was the assigned artist, my team mate was a great artist too, and having reasonably free reign of the art was exciting and in turn I am really glad I used the techniques to create a fresh looking game with intriguing characters. I think our little team were a great game making war machine! We communicated well, had lots of ideas and were motivated, in fact I think my next post on 'Why I Love Games' should be in honour of the humble teams I have worked with over the last three years!
Stay tuned and thank you ever so much for reading!
References
McLeod, S. (2012) Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs. [Internet] Available form: <http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html>
Accessed: 24/11/2012.
Briggs, M. (2011) Understanding
the MBTI test – the mental processes of the MBTI personality type. [Internet]
Ross Reinhold & Reinhold Development 1997 – 2011. Available from: <http://www.personalitypathways.com/16-personality-types2.html>
[Accessed 24/11/12]
