It’s been a busy week, with things to do apart from the shoot ’em up project, but it feels like we’re slowly getting the hang on what to do. We’ve had a meeting with one of our tutors, pitching our ideas and thoughts on how we wanted the game to feel and look. We got a positive response, with a couple of things that we had to think through a bit more. The first thing was whether our main character should be carrying around the tools that we had first thought of, just one of them or perhaps none at all. Giving the main character too many tools or abilities takes some of the uneasy feelings we are looking for away from the game. We don’t want the player to become overpowered, or feel that she has too much control of what’s happening. To give a feeling of being lost, scared in the dark, we might have the game change the corridors and room that aren’t on screen, so that if you try to go back the way you came, the corridors won’t look the same.
One of the ideas that were born when we discussed with our tutor was that the candle, or lantern, that the player is holding should be able to go out, making it very dark. We had a couple of thought on how and when it could go out – from when running too fast or at random times – but, at least for now, we decided on having the wall-monsters that we’ve thought about earlier blow out the light instead of slowing or stunning the player when she gets too close. There would then be ways for the player to find matches, in order to light their candle or lantern again, as it would become significantly harder to run around in the dark where you wouldn’t be able to see the enemies creeping up on you before they’re too close. The player could of course choose to stay in the dark, but it would, as mentioned, become a lot harder.
The groups has also had another meeting with our Scrum master, to get feedback on our Scrum document before we finished it and sent it in – or shared it with the teacher responsible for the course. The Scrum document is a kind of work plan where every member of the group can fill in what there is to do, what has been started and what is done. It will probably take some time to get used to, but I think it’s a great way to keep track on everything, to see that things are being done, what has been done and how much is left. It’s also easier to check on deadlines, when things have to be done and if everything is going as planned.
I’ve been doing a couple of concepts on smaller monsters this week and mostly focused on finishing the “Big monster” walk/drag cycle. I’ve also begun looking at a turn-animation for the big monster, so that it would be able to follow the player around corners without looking completely stupid.
MPh out.
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