Mechanic Development: Action Script 3

After a while of playing around with Corona SDK, I wanted to try something different and something that was more visually gratifying and instant with the visual results. Corona was taking a long time to learn and get the hang of the basics, so I wanted to jump into seeing visual results and outcomes which the solution that came to my mind was that of Flash. 

To begin using action script 3, I started to follow some really helpful tutorials that would were really helpful in  allowing me to figure out what my final project would end up like.

To begin using action script 3, I started to follow some really helpful tutorials that would were really helpful in  allowing me to figure out what my final project would end up like.

Pitch Presentation No.2

Summary

Recently, I had my second presentation, this presentation was far more defined than my previous presentation in terms or direction and purpose.

My general direction changed from displaying video games as art, to defining the good aspects of video games and how games can create a significant experience for the user as they play the game.

Again, the feedback was very useful and directed to doing more practical work and refining how the final project would unfold.

Feedback

General feedback was that I had a advanced research at this early stage and that the project was coming along very well. Lynn commented that she felt like she was sitting in a lecture due to the nature of the presentation which is always encouraging to hear. Generally the feedback was very positive. 

Appraisal:

• Great presentation, almost like a lecture.
• Research is very interesting and rarely studied.
• Good to see some more art work this time.

Constructive Criticism:

• Would be nice to see more of your art work yet again.
• Don't get too focused on the coding, it can take up all your time, it would be good to have more balance.

Update No.2

Another update of how things are going on my endeavor. I have now changed my focus from the initial concept of learning how to code the fundamentals of Corona SDK to actually focusing on the outcome of the game. So now I have decided that I will using flash to create this final prototype and that the polish on the idea and aesthetics is something that more appeals to me than becoming a more skilled programmer. 

Aesthetic Development: Pre-Production No.1

A few game ideas came to me whilst I was drawing out a few random concepts that stuff in my head. One of  them was this concept called the 'Parry Game' in which the main character is a very small block and has to parry the gigantic enemies which are huge and dark.

To start off with creating a conceptual art piece, I was first inspired by the concept art for the new Indie game called Mak. The colours and the various uses dynamic angle really inspired me. 

This was the general concept and I feel it ha a lot of potential and I would love to prototype it and see what kind of feel it would give in terms of mechanics and aesthetics.

Aesthetic Development: General Principles

The general principles of developing anything are essential in producing crisp and effective results. I started reading a few books which teach the principles of drawing and producing art for games. A great book that I can recommend is called 'Drawing Basics and Video Game Art' by Chris Solarksi:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0823098478

Case Study: Rayman Jungle Run

Rayman Jungle Run was recently released onto the AppStore on November 15th. After playing the previous Rayman game 'Rayman Origins' on the PlayStation 3. I really wanted to see how they could convert such a fun addictive experience which in my opinion was best enjoyed in multiplier into a cohesive mobile gaming experience, especially using the touch screen.

Once I paid the £2.99 for the game, I eagerly waited to 'jump' in an investigate what Ubisoft's outcome was. Upon playing the game I instantly realised that the main question I had about how they could achieve a real sense of gameplay with a touchscreen was answered. Many games are butchered when transferred onto IOS or Android platforms when they just add a joystick icon and button icons to transform the mobile device into a control pad, when the mobile device is simply a flat surface and in my opinion does not effectively imitate that experience.

There are 40 levels within the game which give you a wide range of different scenarios to go through. You have to run through the various jungles collecting lums to progress throughout the levels of the game. One thing that I particularly found interesting was their use of progressively developing gamepay within the game. There are four different worlds with 10 levels each, and each world gives you a new power from  just running and jumping, to floating, then to wall running and wall jumping.

In order to avoid using the control stick user interface, they simplified the game into a one button function in which you just have to tap the screen once to jump whilst the character is constantly running. If you tap the button a second time it activates the hovering helicopter as Rayman's hair propels to gain some air time.

To further analyse the game, I will break down the theory of the game into two segments of mechanics and aesthetics:

Mechanics: The mechanics of the game are very basic, it's the simple touch of a button to make Rayman jump.The interesting thing about this mechanic is that it progressively changes or develops. As said previously, you start with just a jump, but then by pressing the button twice or by pressing the right side of the screen, you enable Rayman to do a 'Whack' attack as seen in the image.

Although the mechanic is really basic, that doesn't distract from the fun and difficulty of the game. The timing is everything within this game. Once missed jump and you will end up hitting the spikes or missing a precious lum which will be the missing lum from the 100 you need to collect to complete the level.

The mechanic of jumping may be fairly simple, although it entails a lot more later on when you get the ability to do the 'hit' attack. You then are able to knock objects out of your way and progress throughout more complex levels. The choice of jumping early or late the plays a crucial role when you need to further progress throughout the game. Even a milisecond second too early will cause Rayman to fall to his doom.

Aesthetics: The aesthetics of Rayman play a huge role within this game, the simple jump function is backed up with a really smooth animation of Rayman jolting upwards with his hands animated in a joyous gesture. At the same time that he jumps, he voices his slight exertion in carrying out the action which gives the player a more re-enforced image of the realness of the jump.




















The actual graphics of the game are short of stunning, with intense and vibrant colours and great contrast in bright and dark with highlighted objects and darker shadows. The atmosphere and mood of the game is sublimely captured within the beautiful scenery and the joyful and up beat orchestra of the game. The aesthetic appearance is definitely one of the strongest aspects of this game, which create a really effort emitting experience.

Overall, Rayman Jungle Run successfully executes simplicity of gameplay and visual brilliance of aesthetics, and although it is a short experience, it packs a satisfying result for the casual player and is a great example of focusing on the two core elements of a successful game, the gameplay and the graphics which is what makes this game so successful.

Theory of 'Flow' In Games

The theory of flow was developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - "Flow Theory"

Here is a video of Mihaly explaining the theory in his own words.

As for flow within games.

Jenova Chen Thesis - Flow in games

Jenova explains the additional theory of DDA (Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment):

Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment

Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment, also known as DDA, is a fairly straightforward and ideal 

concept in the game design field. The difficulty of a game should change dynamically 

based on its player’s skill and performance.

However, designing and implementing a DDA system is not trivial. Every so often, DDA 

systems take control away from the game designers, which potentially causes more 

problems than a linear game. Few commercial developers have implemented DDA 

systems for their games, and even fewer have shipped them. [Arey & Wells 2001]

Over all DDA is just part of the core elements of Flow, it cannot stand-alone and reach 

Flow by itself. Rather than focusing on designing a DDA system for games, designing a 

general Flow system based on all core elements will be more direct and useful for the 

game designers.

He also details the importance of expanding flow within games to allow for a more expansive experience.

Expand the Flow Zone

In order to design a game for broader audiences, the in-game experience can’t be linear 

and static. Instead, it needs to offer a wide coverage of potential experiences to fit in 

different players’ Flow Zones.

To expand a game's Flow Zone coverage, the design needs to offer a wide variety of 

gameplay experiences. From extremely simple tasks to complex problem solving, different players should always be able to find the right amount of challenges to engage during the 

Flow experience. These options of different gameplay experiences need to be obvious, so 

that when players first start the game they can easily identify the corresponding gameplay 

experience and delve into it.

-Jenova Chen

Aesthetic Development: Aesthetic Contrast

Taking a look into game mechanics and Aesthetics, it is obvious that game mechanics can effect the overall gameplay. Here I take a look at a few aspects of game design concepts and how they look when they are bare and minimal VS detailed and extravagant. 

The Art and Theory of the 'Jump'

What makes a simple jumping mechanic in a game feel so good?

The answer to that question is a very essential one indeed, as the jump mechanic itself is possibly the most used game mechanic in gaming history. A simple jump from a character if done wrong will effect the entire game for the user who has to use that mechanics throughout the whole game.

The jump mechanic form Super Mario Bros is noted as one of the first jumps as well as one of the most satisfying jumps ever made.

"I've always been fascinated by the act of jumping in Super Mario Bros.. I consider it the most perfect activity ever put in a video game (how strange that it's not in Tetris!). Mario's ascent is associated with discovery. On his way up he might hit a block that will sprout a mushroom or flower that grants him new abilities. His descent is an attack. On his way down he squashes his enemies. When combined, the ascent and descent are also a necessary means of traversal used to pass bottomless pits or avoid carnivorous plants that emerge from green pipes. Every inch of a Mario level presents the player a string of choices, almost all of which compel the player to decide whether or how to use the ascent, the descent or both to one's advantage." -Kotaku

Also another great example of jump execution is in 'Thomas Was Alone"

"The only special skill you have in TWA is jumping, that most primal of video game abilities. The jump in Thomas Was Alonemight be amongst the best ever programmed. You have razor-sharp control that lets you launch and fall where you want and you never feel cheated by floaty physics or any other tricks. The gaps are all makeable; you just need to reason out how. The different characters that you'll swap between will have different attributes so sometimes you need to let tiny purple Sarah execute a double jump off of Laura's slim and bouncy back." -Kotaku

Upon researching the jump mechanic I was very intrigued by how you can communicate so much to somebody by the use of a single jump and how engaging it can be for the user. It really got me inspired byt the concept of simplicity and how it is better to master one simple action rather than be concerned with several different additions within a game and forget the point of trying to nail the communication between the designer and the user.

Carlo Fabricatore explains that the jump mechanic can be enhanced by simple changes or additions which could propel the jump mechanic to being the central focus of the game. He believes that gameplay is the most essential factor of a game and if that as the core foundation is constructed correctly, then the rest of the game flow over that concept and strengthen the game.

"In our example, the player could discover that shooting a rocket on
the ground right after taking off in a jump will make the player-token jump higher. This new
outcome could be used to reach spots inaccessible through standard jumps (see figure 2.6). New
learning is required to figure out how to use an external mechanics (the rocket launcher) to
enhance the jump, but the payoff can be well worth it, thus enhancing the interest in the jump
mechanics." - Carlo Fabricatore

Having an explosion to propel you further throughout the game and to feel that thrusting experience of traveling faster than usual can give the user quite a gratifying experience.

This theory is evident within the success of Twisted Pixel's game 'Splosion Man' which released on the Xbox Live Indie Arcade with much commercial success and a large following.

Related to jumping, I recently started teaching Flash in class to help students further their skills. It has been a very rewarding experience and I have learnt a lot through teaching rather than just practicing myself. The jump of a flour sack itself might seem really rudimentary, although it opens up a lot of different possibilities within game animation and wanted effect. It has got me quite inspired to create my own polished jump within the game to emphasis how much art can effect gameplay.

Here is the basic jump, as you notice, the first few moments are the 'anticipation' building up within the jump and then later on the jump is then executed within only a few frames. The closer the lines of the flour sack are within each other, the smoother the jump is perceived.

Aesthetic Development: Life Drawing No.2

Again another week of life drawing has enabled me to do something different and experiment with colour and form which I no doubt will be experimenting with throughout my honours project.

Case Study: Super Hexagon

Super Hexagon was released on the 6th September, since it's release it has sold over approximately 45,000 copies on the App Store. Super Hexagon is a rather interesting game single handedly created by the Indie game developer Terry Cavanagh who created VVVVV. The game involves 2 touch screen controls of the right side of the screen vs the left side of the screen. The right button makes the little triangle playable object move right and vice versa with the left triangle. Although the game is terribly simple, it is also terribly difficult.

I purchased the game for £1.99 on the app store on my Iphone 3GS, then I was ready to go. I was greeted with a very simple menu screen such as above and a very soothing voice of a female robot. Then selecting a level ad beginning to play, I had no idea what to expect. Although the game has a very basic art style and general feel, it has quite an hypnotic retro feel to it.

 In total, there are 6 levels within the game, although you start off with 3 levels and it gets progressively more and more difficult throughout each of those three. Once you get past a decent best time which is usually 50 seconds or so, then the the 3 even harder levels are unlocked.

In Super Hexagon, you hurl around as a small triangle within a maze of hexagonal lines which adapt and alter in shape as you go around throughout the game. It starts off fairly easily (which is fairly hard in this game), then progressively gets harder and harder and one small mis-touch or over powered touch then the game can instantly be over. The music plays a big role in spurring the player onward in a rushing frenzy and adds to the retro die hard character of the game.

Again, lets break down the mechanics and aesthetics of the game:

Mechanics: The mechanics of this game are simply moving left in a circular motion and moving right in a circular motion. The whole game is that simple, but you are opted with not only the option of moving left or right, but with a myriad of locations to stay put in order to avoid being hit by the oncoming lines that come towards you in great haste. The mechanic of moving left and right was made purposefully really sensitive which is a sign of the professional player to be challenged and to succeed in developing and adapting great amounts of speed and skill for the ongoing levels.

Fanart made by a Deviant Art user of the turmoil of the triangle icon vs. the super hexagon

The triangle is pursued by the hexagonal lines and you control the triangles dodging ability and fate. The mechanics of moving is done to such a pressure sensitive way that only the hardcore of gamers would stick around to give their luck a shot. This invigorates a strong sense for the user to want to try and try again with really quick restart time.

Aesthetics: The overall aesthetic outlook is really retro and basic in it's initial appearance. The music is also tuned into to retro style techno music reminiscent of Tetris and other pre-1990 games. It all comes to give the user an overall feel of being at an arcade as a teenager. The overall feel from all the aesthetic aspects is that of a game that really pushes you to experiment with it's infinite replay value that it offers.

The minimal colours that frequently switch around and the simple primitive shapes that are presented almost present themselves as an almost psychedelic art experience. Some of the flashing colours could also be seen as somewhat endangering to those with epilepsy with is fast passed varying speed and striking constant. The movement of the triangle is so fast it can take some getting used to and can initially putting off first time users of the game, although it can also provide a very challenging experience for other users with great ambition.

All in all, this game executes the use of such a simple mechanic and form or gameplay into something somewhat artistic and genius which really focuses on the bare minimum of user experience and is customized to a certain targeted audience of the hardcore gamer.