Post presentation work: Improving the design (Adding visuals)

Apologies for the sparse blog posts recently. I have been getting the portfolio module assignments, dare and group work out of the way and doing dissertation work. I just have not had the time to write things up.

After receiving feed back on my game during my presentation I was told to refine the design of my game. What I mean is, at the moment the player does not have a clue what they are doing in the game, there are no visual queues.

At the moment every thing in the game is static, there is no indication of where the player should go or what they need to go. Also I need to have daily feed back on my game to iterate my game more quickly.

Due to this, it may take my game two or three iterations to fix this process.

How can I improve the design?

• Add more visuals to the planets and trader ship and the player ship, e.g. make them glow and pulse
• Add some sound effects when player interacts with trader and planet

Something I have been meaning to add to my game is making the inner ring on the trader ship rotate. This is so simple yet I forgot to add it to the game. I would also like to add a force field to it and make it change when the player interacts with it.

What have I done?

I decided to create a simple tutorial level for my game. This is because many people found they did not know what they were doing in the first level. Also the Instructions screen was badly written.

Player Interactions:

Planet:

It was suggested when the player interacts with a planet a visual response occurs. For this I decided to do two things. Initially when a player interacts with a planet and is extracting the resources from it, a particle system from the planet activates and is pointing towards the player. When I was refining this it was suggested to make it more instant, therefore I made the particle system operate more quickly. Also because it points to the player ship it gives the player a clue they are gaining some kind of resource.

Another thing, I made the ship glow green (the same colour as the mass resources) when the player is gaining mass. This is to aid the player so they know then they are gaining something and a transaction is occurring. When the transaction has finished, the particle system stops and so does the players green glow.

Also I have a green particle system attacked to the player, therefore when a transaction occurs as well as blue fuel going towards the player, green mass particles are shooting off in the direction of the trader ship.

Trader Ring:

When the player interacts with the trader, I made the bar sizes more more gradually do the player can see when a transaction is occurring. Basically, when the player is converting Mass to Fuel, the mass bar goes down gradually, and the fuel bar also goes up gradually. Also the traders inner ring spinning speed increases to show a transaction is occurring and slows down when the transactions is complete.

HUD & Player actions:

Planet Mining and Mass Cargo:

Initially when I created the Fuel and Mass head up display bars I just had red and blue bar in the bottom left corner. When the player mined mass from a planet or traded it with the trader ring ship, the bars would changer then transaction had finalised.

However from a design point of view this was bad since the player was not gaining any instant feedback on their actions, therefore they did not know what they were dong.

To fix this I firstly adjusting the values so in real time things changed, e.g. when the player is gaining mass resources the mass cargo value for the player gradually increases by 'x' value every second until the ship has fully mined the mass resources. The value of the player's mass Cargo is directly linked the the width of the 'Mass cargo bar' foreground image for the player HUD. This means when the mass Cargo value increases, so will the width of the bar in real time whilst the player is mining a planet so the player can see directly how much mass is in their storage. Along with the planet particle system, this links the player actions in to the front end and HUD.

Also with the mass storage I changed the colour of the foreground bar to green to match the colour of the mass particles mined. This was a legacy thing from a previous iteration that slipped in. I should have noticed this earlier.

Another feature I added was, when the player is mining mass the fore ground bar pulses it's alpha value, from 25% visible to 100% back and fourth. When the transaction is complete, the opacity changes back to 100%. Many people liked this since it occurs when the player is mining a planet.

Player fuel drains:

I have done the same thing with the player fuel resource depleting. The player fuel drain and the HUD was already like how I have connected the mass cargo value to the HUD bar. The fuel drained gradually as the player moves and the value was directly connected the the HUD bar width representing how much was left. However it was still difficult to work out what is was connecting to.

To fix this is did a number of things. Firstly I found some royalty free game icons and modified them for my purposes. (I will add the references to these images to my bibliography shortly if they are not already in there as of posting this). I used a battery icon with an electricity bold in it to indicate the blue bar is a fuel gauge. After implementing this players still find the link between the fuel bar and their movements difficult to see. To fix this I added a particle system to the thruster of the ship model. Initially I made the particles blue link the ship and the blue HUD bar. However i changed this because play testers did not notice the blue particles due to the dark background and the texture of the ship.

After this I changed the colour of the thruster flames, to a colour that goes from yellow to red, like most thrusters. I also adjusted things like the shape and size of the flame to make it more recognisable. When I held play testing sessions, many people found the link between their actions and the front end easy to see. I may need to polish this slightly, like the flame life time , shape and so fourth but I am further.

I also gave the mass cargo bar an icon of a glass tank type container to indicate what the bar represented. However the icons are merely the icon on the cake since the particle systems do most of the job.

Trader ship:

With the trader ship, I wanted to make the transaction more obvious. Because all that happen is the inner ring rotates faster when the transaction is occurring. Some payers notice  the speed change but don't know what is occurring though. To fix this I added a particle system to the top of the inner ring, which emits blue particles down towards the player when they are gaining fuel from the trader. When play testing most people understood a fuel transaction was occurring.

Along with this I made both fuel and mass cargo bars opacity values pulse. Players liked this because as well as the blue particles going towards the player, the fuel gauge size increases, and this indicated the player is receiving more fuel and is exchanging it for the green mass.

As another addition I added a green particle system to the payer ship that aims to wards the trader ship. This emits green particles like the planet to indicate the player is trading them for the blue particles. I need to test this on more people, but so far testers like the change.

At the moment it all needs polishing so I will spend another week or two on it.

Other design features:

Planet Glowing:

When a planet is ready to be mined, it glows, and it's glow range pulses between two values. I did this to attract the player and let them know the planet can be interacted with and grabs the player's attention. I also made it so the colour of the halo glow changes corresponding to the quantity of mass it is holding. I.e. when the planet's mass value is full, it glows green since this is a positive colour and red means the planet it dead and cannot be mined at all. When the planet's mass is drains over time and decaying the colour of the glow fades from green to red. This is a gradual change. So the planet will fade from a shade of green, to orange to red. Meaning a planet's mass capacity is based on the different shades of colour. Many people like this since it's an obvious indicator to how much mass it contains and the player has to think less about which planet to visit.

Planet recharging:

When a planet it recharging, it glows yellow. This is just another indicator for the state the planet is in so it makes it more obvious to the player the planet is still ok, but it will be ready to be mined in due course.


At the moment I will spend another week on the front end of the game, improving what I already have and adding more front end stuff I have over looked. Due to presentations and other assignments this may take another week on top of this. However, it will be done.

Starting and Continuing with the Art assets

Art Assets

During the last week have been looking into different art assets for my game. During the past semester it had slipped my mind to create any art assets for the GUI and the on screen avatars them selves until a few weeks before the Christmas period. I have rebuilt my mile stone time line however due to some mechanics that needed rebuilding and other assignments building up pressure, this again slipped my mind.

However mentioned on the last post,  have already started creating assets. Since I am being marked on the game play and not the art I have not spent as much time on it. This is also because art is not my strong point and I will take forever to do one thing.

Due to this I have created some simple art assets for the main menu, that I thought would fit in with my games 'spacey theme".

3D Models - Player Avatar

For the space craft itself, I decided to find a low poly royalty free space craft model. The models art style is roughly what I am after and it has received plenty of four and five star reviews. It is available in a variety of formats all of which can be opened in 3DS Max for modification. The poly count for the model is just under 500 polys, therefore if I decide to release the game after handing my dissertation on the Android Store, it can work on mobiles and tablets or low powered PCs. I can also do this because I have checked the licence on the site and it said nothing about commercial use. However if anything changes to the licence in the future, I have found other models that are less fitting but can be used commercially.

Another feature the model has is it has multiple modifiable textures included, and a few "Targa" texture files. I looked through the specs of the texture, and it was 1024 by 1024. This is handy because I dislike texturing and it would take me ages to do it myself and I do not have the time.

The model also had "specular", "bump" and some other maps. I tested the model with the texture in Unity3D and considering where the ship is on screen (even with the closer camera from the new version), these affects were not that noticeable to me, therefore I have not included the extra maps in my project, also it saved draw calls and processing power. However if many people requests more detail on the ship, I still have the maps and will add them to the ship.

Texture Map:

The texture map in .psd file format, was brilliant, it is divided up into multiple layers and there were variety of metal patterns to choose from and the layers were easily manipulatable. After some time of experimentation I decided to keep the wind shield or wind screen the shade of blue it was originally set at, and changed the beige orange peeling paint work to a green colour because I like the colour and the target audience (teenage boys and possibly early 20's males) generally prefer darker colours.

I also changed the logo on both wings because as much as the fire looked interesting, suggesting the ship could be in danger zones, this did not suit a mining or trading ship. I created a logo on PhotoShop which sort of resembles a planet with a few rings around it. I created this logo because the ship will extract and mine "mass" resources from planets and bodies, and what is what the logo represents.

It is a good idea I am doing this now because before hand I merely had place holder assets, and the visual aids will make the game more interesting and engaging to the player.

Other models:

Also if it is required, I have found other space craft models, which suit my game. These will be handy if I need to change the space ship or if I require more models for NPCs (non-player characters). However I have checked the licence for each model and they are all royalty free and as far as I am aware (unless the licence has changed since writing this blog post) I can use it if I sell my game.

Planet Models and Texture:

Currently I have place holders where each planet is supposed to be and a smoke texture to resemble a gas like planet and the shader is tinted green on the inner planet and a darker shade of green on the outer planets. These are all Unity preinstalled items that come with the engine.

Planet Model:

I found a model inline for the the planet Mars, however it used a special form of plain that I have not come across and it was an editable Mesh. I did not want this because it occupies a vast amount of poly's for something that does not require the detail. However I like the texture since it resembles the planet Mars and the texture itself is seamless and will keep the player immersed.

Due to this I decided to create a basic sphere in 3Ds Max, I managed to keep the poly count lower than 500 polygons in keeping with my low poly theme. Also since there will be many objects to render on screen, sticking to a poly budget is a wise idea and when playing in browser the file should be smaller and quicker to load.

Another thing, it has been suggested by a few players to make the planets and body's orbit around something. If I do decide to do this in future iterations the low poly count should be handy since the renderer should not have as much work do to.

Planet Texture:

I decided to find a royalty free planet texture online, because I am not a great artist and this s not what I am being marked on. This will also speed up the creation process of game assets. From the 3D model explained above, a mars texture was included as both a ".PNG" and ".Targa". Since the texture was based off the planet Mars which is a real planet, I decided this fitted the model asset. The only adjustment I decided to make was adjusting the pixel dimensions of the texture. The file that came with the model was set at 2048 X 1024. I tested this repeatedly with my new planet model and in the Unity engine. I discovered since not a lot of detail will be seen (even though a lot of detail remains in the resized version) a 512 X 256 texture suited the new model.

Also I have checked and the texture does work with the new planet model, I also rescaled it to 512 X 256 since not a lot of detail will be seen, thus saving on draw calls. However I still have all of the original file so if anything requires alterations I can do it.

Instructions:

With the instructions screen (and menu screens in general) I studied the art style of Mass Effect 2 and looked at the aesthetics of the menu screens. I made the start menu look like a holographic screen since this is space themed and set at some point in the future. To do this I made the .PNG images 70% transparent to make it appear slightly holographic. I also choose the colour red since it is the same colour as the mass storage bar on the player's HUD.

With the instructions I have made them as visual as I can and have only used text for titles and where things require it. I have made the instructions visual because this will make it easier for the player to understand how the game works. Another reason is because the brain processed images faster than words the player has to think less and they can more quickly pick up the games rules and how it operates and play the game sooner. However due to this I, the images I used for the sprites had to be large enough in order to be clear for the player to interoperate the information easily due to the web player screen size. This meant I I could not cram everything on a single screen, therefore I decided to have several screens explaining clearly.

For the instructions screen, I originally wanted each place to slide from right to left when the player click the 'Next' button. However I decided not to do this after some experimentation due to a few reasons.

The code became over complex

Space Trader:

For the space trader I had a look online, there were a few models, however the ones that fitted my space theme, were ridiculously expensive. Due to this I decided to quickly create a model based on some images from other games online and modify it based upon my own design. I will say however, I have only imported the grey box model and have done the UVWMapping but not the texture. The reason for this is, if players do not like the model incase it impacts their game play, I have not wasted time on it and can change the model if needed be.