Learning Agreement

Project Outline

A puzzle game. The player controls three characters. Each level consists of a planning phase and an execution phase. The player plots a path for each character to take within their range of movement. In the execution phase, all three characters move along their path at the same speed. The goal is to get one of the characters to reach the exit button.

Project Context

Many puzzle games have the player control a single character. Many others involve controlling many at once (eg. Lemmings). This game is somewhere between the two, having the player control three characters that interact with each other as they navigate a level. I am interested in the idea of using procedural generation to create levels in games. This has been done with many genres including puzzle games so it would be interesting to explore whether it is possible to automatically generate level for my game.

Key Areas of Research

Research into puzzle games that I believe are well-designed: Braid, The Witness, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Research into games that have a similar style to my game: Hitman GO, Lara Croft GO, Humanity. Research into games that utilise procedural generation to create puzzles.

Intended Outcomes of Project

A completed, albeit short, game. A small number of levels that demonstrates a few mechanics for the player to interact with. Minimal UI and free assets because the focus of the project is on the level/technical design. The game will be designed in such a way that makes it clear for the player what everything is and what is happening at each point, even though the art is not finalised. It will also consider the game's ability to be passed onto an artist or team of artists to create assets for.

Comments

Semester 2 Submission

Project Outline This project is an exploration into player feedback and player reward in game mechanics. I have explored this by creating mechanics in Unreal Engine, imagining how they might be used in a game, and how a player might feel when using them. This exploration progressed into player reward in puzzle scenarios, which links into my current area of research. I looked into how visuals can create a language that the player will learn to understand while playing the game, and will guide them through problem solving in the game. Project Context My semester 1 project was a core puzzle game, meaning the game was centred on a central puzzle mechanic and expanded from that point. I wanted to explore a mechanic that was more of a peripheral puzzle that exists as side quests to the main gameplay. Many popular game series have main gameplay mechanics with puzzles along the way, such as Batman Arkham, Resident Evil, and Tomb Raider. As these types of games are extremely popular and (a...

Design Inspiration Semester 2

First person adaptation I decided to switch the view of my game from third person to first person. I made this decision because movement around the levels would sometimes give the player a confusing perspective (if they had their back to a wall for example). I moved the camera to instead hover above a pair of arms, that would be used to show the hand movements from a first person perspective. The challenge now was to recreate every animation in first person instead. I looked into first person games that think have good first person hand animations. I think Dishonored (2012) is one of the best example, as it relies heavy on the tools and abilities that centre around the player character's hands. One of my favourite aspects of the design is the way the knife moves from a regular to a reversed grip when entering stealth. The knife is clearly visible and serves its purpose in both grips and it tells the player they are in stealth mode without the need for another visual prompt (there i...

Semester 2 Project Progress

13th January 2025 To begin this project, I am experimenting with creating different game mechanics. This is to build up a repertoire of skills in Unreal Engine and also see if any mechanics seem as if they can be adapted or incorporated into a game. I began by using free assets to make a character that can run around and execute an attack pattern. This was just to experiment with the assets and create a character that I could test other mechanics with. The first mechanic I created was one that lets the player grab an object and pull it toward them. When within a defined range, the player's reticle changes shape to indicate to them the object they're looking at can be grabbed. Grabbing it moves the object on an arcing trajectory toward the player. This could be used to grab a weapon to use, to bring an enemy closer to be attacked, etc. 14th January 2025 I added functionality for the player to hold an object and attack with it. When an object is pulled toward the player and reach...

Lewis Wray MA Games Design

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