October 3 Class Meeting and Feedback

Today we had a class meeting where we presented our five-page pitch, and received a lot of valuable feedback.

There are a some core concepts we need to fix about our game, and define in our game design document, which is due Oct 10. They are the following, in no particular order.

• Define our HUD: We don't plan to have any sort of HUD, but we didn't make that apparent in our five-page document. Are we going to have even a small dot as an aiming reticle for throwing objects? (Yes, they will have a minor aiming reticle)  How will the player know how much health Henry has if he gets injured? (Red boarder around the screen that gets more intense as they player has taken damage). No minimap, no gui, except for aiming reticle
• What are the specific in-game objectives? How will we convey where the player needs to go and what to do? Unsure at the moment. In the demo, maybe small gui text will tell them they need to fix something at the start of the demo? Long term, I think it would be best if Henry had like a mental checklist the player could pull up of things he needs to do. What are the end game conditions? If the player is killed by the Creature, or if the player solves the 2 or 3 puzzles we have for the demo.
• What is the expanded vision for our game? If we could take it further, what would this game be, and what will the vertical slice be? Is there a possibility of a series? What is the lifetime of the game?
• Define Henry and the Creature: What are their individual strengths, weaknesses, abilities, size, and specifics? Compare the two in relation to each other. Who's faster? Who can see better and hear better?
• The Creature:
• What is it's origin?
• What exactly does it look like?
• How did it get on the ship?
• How does it move and follow Henry - will it always be in the same room as him?
• Can it see light through walls? Hear through walls?
• Melee only? Is it a one-hit kill?
• Does Henry have a chance to get away if he's spotted?
• Henry:
• How many hits can he take before he is killed?
• Concept art ideas:
• Player shooting a ball of light while the enemy is somewhere on screen - maybe with the Creature taking notice. Something in an open room, more representative of the environment a player would see in-game.
• Puzzles: We need more explanations on our puzzles. What are some specific examples? How will the LEG be used to help solve them?
• What are some specific scenarios where using the LEG will present a fair risk and reward?
• Checkpoints: Will we have them? Is it game over if you die? Unsure. Lets talk to the programmers
• Safe zones: Will there be any? I would say yes in the full game, but I’m not sure if our demo will have any.