Submission and Final Thoughts (19th August)

I have just submitted my game and am really happy with how it turned out. The main question I pitched with this game was ‘Can you navigate a player through a level using environmental story telling?‘ more specifically I was looking at whether environmental story telling could be used as a replacement for directional arrows and object markers .I feel that this game has been successful at addressing this question, as non of my play testers had any issues navigating my game. The only reason that I would say that the game falls short of this question is because of the use of text to communicate the narrative and during the level you will be directed occasionally by text. However, the text in the game is only used to support the environmental story telling of the game e.g. In the game you’ll be told by one of the main antagonists to search one of the rooms, if the player does so they’ll reveal the proper story of the game, though it’s only revealed to the player if they search the room properly and pick up the notes lying around the room. Overall the game uses well crafted levels to drive the player through the game, using elements like notes and pictures that the player can pick up to unravel the true narrative.

Innovation:

The biggest challenge I had with this project was making the game innovative. As this is an FPS this was really difficult task to approach, though in the end I decided to use narrative as my way to tackle the innovation issue. With this I managed to create a game that goes against the norms of traditional FPS games, in particular not setting a game up with a good guy, bad guy narrative, in this game you’ll be confronted with the idea that in real life, especially in war it’s not as clear cut as a good and bad sides and with the endings in this game you’ll be picking the lesser of two evils.

Another element that grew from the projects development was the use of real time text to display voices in the game, I think this concept allows the players to interact with this game in a whole new way and in some ways believe that it is better at creating atmosphere then audio is i.e. it allows the player to use their imagination more to create the voices that these characters have and thus get more invested and immersed in the atmosphere that they help to create. Additionally by having real time text show in the game, this gives the player complete control over the scenarios they’re in as it won’t pause or stop the game. Even though there are some limitations to this method, I would say if used correctly this method of communicating in a game is really effective and would highly encourage other indie developers to use this strategy of communicating.

Development:

I think the development and the structure used in this project has been the main reason for this games success. Throughout this project I have had clear guidelines for the game and by using Agile and iterative development along with weekly scrum reviews have managed to maximise the effectiveness of my games development. The image below is an example of how I would structure my weeks work, I would write out the tasks that I needed doing for that week, then during the week would move tasks dependent on what stage of development they were in.

Trello Page

The main reason that I found using software like Trello[1] so useful was because it allowed me to see how much work I had done each week. It was particularly helpful if I hadn’t achieved what I wanted to in a specific week , as it would show me the amount of work that I had done that week which was very helpful in terms of motivation. Additionally it was great to be able to see when I got certain tasks done and when changes in the project started to occur.

When I compare my work flow with my original development timeline I had for my pitch presentation, the workflow and deadlines are exactly what I planned out. This just shows how well this project was scoped and my knowledge of what I can achieve in a set time.

I do think that there are elements of development that could have been improved, mainly the lack of a git repo and duplicate assets in the project. If I was to start this project again, the first thing that I would do would be to set up a repo and during development just make sure to keep an eye on the assets that I don’t need. Overall though I am very happy with rate of development with this project and feel that by having a proper structure in place to work against definitely helped my time management in this project.

Wider implications:

There are loads of features in this game that could be useful to other developers. First of all I feel the use of objective markers and waypoints is way over used in games, particularly FPS’s and feel like appropriate level design techniques could be easily implemented into games to replace these markers and give games a more natural feel . Another good point that’s made in this game, is its take on perspective and showcasing that there is always two sides to a story, I really feel like this technique of showing that things aren’t black and white in real life is really important to show in games. Games have the power to influence how we perceive information, so by pushing pasted the good guy bad guy narrative you’re opening up your game to further interpretation. Last of all I think this game shows how simple means of communication like text can have huge effects in games and shows that for developers (especially indie developers), that using text to communicate can be just as effective as audio and is definitely a more cost effective method to use when it comes to development.

Audiance:

As stated in my pitch presentation, this project was designed to be a portfolio piece and showcase my ability as a level designer. for future employers. So throughout my project I have been making notes about what companies want from their level designers and making sure that this project ticks those boxes. Below are a few examples of requirements for level design positions and comparing them with my games development the majority of these points have been met.

Overall thoughts:

Overall I am really happy with this game and know that it will be the centre piece of my portfolio. I think this game doesn’t just show good level design but innovation in it’s genre. I feel this piece definitely showcases my skills as a level designer and going through the requirements given for professionally level design positions (as seen above) this piece definitely showcases these skills. I would definitely make improvements if there was extra time, specifically adding more scripted events and further details to the environment to further immerse my players and flesh out my world. Though with the time that was given I know that this is the best piece of work that I could have produce in this time. I am really excited about setting up this work on my portfolio and am eager to share this work with industry level designers.

[1]Atlassian, Trello 2011, [Access at:] https://trello.com/en-GB

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