So it has been a long time since I’ve posted, sorry about that. School has started again, and I’ve been focused on getting my assignments turned in, projects started, and exploring this new city. That’s right, I’m in a new city this semester! Montreal, to be exact. I’m studying abroad up here for the semester. Abroad is a loose term though, as my parents have pointed out, since I’m only about 2 hours away from my main campus back in Vermont. Oh well, I’m still enjoying it!

This city is absolutely amazing, and it truly is a video game hub. I’ve visited a couple companies so far, with more planned. I’ve seen Double Stallion and the Game Play space, which is a hub for indie companies in Montreal. They contain some pretty great companies and even better people. I’ve also been exploring the crazy amount of restaurants nearby, since this is the first time I’ve lived in such a large city. I’ve found a few great ones that I’ve returned to many times. A small bakery down the street from me has some good, and cheap, sandwiches, and they’ve been my main lunch after my 10 am class.

Speaking of classes, I love off of mine this semester. I’m taking Food Writing and Canadian Culture Through Film, which are my favorite CORE classes I’ve had so far. As for my game classes, I’m taking Game Tech 2, Interactive Storytelling, and Applied Ludology, which is taught by Alicia Fortier, a Game Designer at Ubisoft.

Game Tech 2

Game Tech 2 has been a refreshing change of page from the first Game Tech course, since I’m learning some amazing new things every class. I learned about the Nav Mesh system, the Post-Processing Stack, and ProCore (ProGrids and Probuilder). All of these have been lifesavers, and ProBuilder in particular has saved me so much time when I’m blocking out levels. I’ve already decided on my final project, a Turn-Based, Deck-Building Racing game. It’s going to be…weird. As of now, the way it works in my head, the player will build a deck of actions (Boost, Turn Left, Turn Right, etc…) based off of a track that they see. Then the player will race through the course using these cards, drawn from the deck, trying to complete a lap or get to the end. It’s mainly inspired by games like TrackMania Turbo, and my friends have told me about some games that use turn based racing in them, so that I can use them for references.

My prototype for it is seen below. I’m not too happy with where it is right now, since I’m using the Unity Wheel Collider, and making a good feeling car (without some crazy drift) is proving really difficult due to the amount of options they give me. Next assignment we’re looking at animations and blend trees, and I’m going to see if I can add animation based movement.

Interactive Storytelling

Moving on, Interactive Storytelling has been absolutely amazing so far. I’ve always loved writing, and I have a whole folder of short stories I’ve written in high school. That being said, this class is catered more towards writing for games, which I love. I love writing characters and environments, so for my final project, I’m going to try and focus on that. I’m put my proposal pitch below, but I’m sure I’m going to be making post on this project later on as well. I’m also using the branching dialogue system I created for Laika, and I’m really excited to use it and keep improving it.

I want to make a civilization management game for my final project. It will take place in a medieval kingdom, where the player takes on the role of the prince/princess. When the game starts, the King had just died, and thus the player inherits the throne. However, the player won’t be able to peacefully run the kingdom however they wish. The recently deceased King had left the kingdom in horrible shape, and with the threat of war from the neighboring kingdoms looming over everyone’s heads, the people need a leader now more than ever. However, the player won’t be alone. There are 4 advisers helping the player pass laws and adopt policies. There is Otes, the Captain of the Guard, Emilia, the people’s advocate, Gratilda, the Political Advisor, and Artus, the Treasurer.

Over the course of the game, the play will have to manage four resources, designated by the adviser’s specialties; Army, Happiness, Influence, and Wealth. Inside of each resource there are many sub-resources that feed into the whole. They are listed below:

• Army
  • Soldiers
  • Technology
• Influence
  • Commoner Influence

  • Noble Influence

  • Army Influence

• Money

  • Taxes (money gained)

  • Spent per year

  • Money saved away (Country)

  • Money saved away (Personal)

• Happiness

  • Commoner happiness

  • Noble happiness

If any of these resources, and by connection, sub-resources, get too low, or too high, the new Prince/Princess could find themselves being thrown out, invaded, or any other game ending event. Thus, the player must be careful to pass laws in moderation, and focus on the success of the kingdom as a whole, not just one specific spot.

However, this game isn’t just a management simulator. There is a story that is followed, even though many of the events in the game will be randomized. The major story beats are as follows:

• The King dies, and the young Prince/Princess takes over.
• The Kingdom is looking very bad, and the threat of war from the neighboring kingdoms is looming in everyone’s minds.
• Initially, the player must run the kingdom and keep it afloat. The challenge in this is provided through a random events. For example, an event could be:
  • Invading army
  • Advisor is convicted of treason
  • The vaults are robbed
  • There is a witch among the commoners
  • etc
• After a set number of such events, it is revealed that a dark sorcerer in a nearby kingdom is raising an army of undead.
• Another nearby kingdom offers an allegiance to help destroy the sorcerer.
• If the player goes to war with the sorcerer, with or without the help of the neighbor, the player’s army is decided, gaining buffs/debuffs based on some factors such as money, public opinion, etc.
• If the player doesn’t go to war, the sorcerer keeps getting stronger until the war comes to the player (which happens after a set amount of years/turns).
• Once the war starts, the player has x years/turns, until the battle.
• The battle is the culmination of the game, and everything depends on how good the player’s army has become. This will take the form of a minigame where the Prince/Princess will be actively fighting in the war.
• After the battle, if the Prince/Princess lost, they die, and the game ends. However, the next game played will give the player the option of living as their successor, with a significant hit to the kingdom’s resources.
• If the player wins, the kingdom rejoices and the game ends, the Prince/Princess cemented into the history of the world.

Through the whole game, the player will be making choices that not only affect their current situation, but also the ending of the entire game, and perhaps future games. I plan on making the game for PC, but this could easily port to mobile with the way I have it outlined in my head.

Applied Ludology

Applied Ludology is a class analyzing the science and logic of fun in games. We have five course modules:

1. The Grok 
   • Understanding the taxonomy of games through a consumer/gameplay lens. This includes deconstructing genre, and developing a detailed player profile.
2. The Context
   • Defining gameplay, environment, UI, and all player interactions through contextualization and affordances.
3. The Logic
   • Defining the types of logic and requirements for critical thinking needed to successfully play a game, and mapping the information flow between game and player.
4. The Balance
   • Defining what makes a game balanced, what information must you plan for and gather, and how to interpret that information.
5. The Data
   • How do you know if your systems are functioning properly? How do you know what your players are doing? Game Analytics can be a driving force behind design.

As of right now, we just finished The Logic, which has been a really cool section to learn about. In fact, this whole class has been really amazing, and I can already feel that my skills as a game designer and developer have increased. My final project in this class isn’t a game, but a case study. We choose any topic that interests us and deep dive into it. For example, some of my friends are doing movement in Metrovanias, controlling non-human avatars, or even how mechanics design a strategy of play in individual, real-time, competitive games.

As for myself, I am looking at the UX/UI of VR, specifically the use of your controllers. I really love how VR games are new, and thus setting the standard for how various things we take for granted, such as movement, grabbing, and item storage, translate into the virtual world. It is so interesting to me and I’m so happy to be able to study it for a class. Even better, we have to test some games and get our own footage/data on these games, so I’m able to use the school’s Vive. I’ve been planning on getting a Rift for myself once I return from Montreal, so this is like an early Christmas present!

But wait, there’s more!

I was supposed to have another class this semester, my internship course. While I got an internship, the company closed down before I was able to start. As such, I hadn’t been looking out for any other internships, and by the time I realized I had no internship for this year, they had all been filled up. So, unfortunately, I was forced to drop the class.

However, I didn’t sit around sad about it. I signed up for the Interactive Storytelling course, which, as I mentioned earlier, has become one of my favorite classes of all time. I then decided to use the time I would have been spending at my internship to instead make a VR game! It’s going to be Grass Watering Simulator 2019, the successor of my wildly successful (not really) game, Grass Watering Simulator 2018. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to work on it too much besides setting up the project. Also, getting everything set up in VR is proving more difficult than it should be. I’m not sure if I’m using the wrong… something, but I can’t get anything to work. I’m devoting my weekend to it, so hopefully in the next couple days I’ll have a working VR prototype. You’ll undoubtedly read more about it in future posts.

Hopefully my next post will be sometime in the next week. Until then, thanks for reading!