Beat Chart

The next step in creating a Game Design Document is making a beat chart which give a synopsis of the level, what it's called, what type of things the player will encounter and what's expected of them during the level. I will paste in a few levels of my beat chart as an example.

These two examples show the progression of the game as it goes on.

Level: Zone 1 – Level 1

Name: The Moon

TOD: Day

Story: TMM takes his machine out to The Moon for a test run.

Progression: Player taught about scoring and different types of icons.

Est. Play Time: 5 Minutes

Colour Map: black, grey, white, yellow

Enemies: N/A

Mechanics: Touch collecting, low level icon, medium level icon, high level icon, special icon, wedge of cheese

Hazards: N/A

Power Ups: N/A

Abilities: N/A

Economy: 30,000 points

Bonus Materials: N/A

Music track: Home Galaxy

Level: Zone 4 – Level 1

Name: Volcanic Planet

TOD: Night

Story: TMM heads of to another galaxy through a wormhole and is spat out near a very active volcanic planet.

Progression: Hazards are introduced. Player needs to score enough points to pass level.

Est. Play Time: 5 Minutes

Colour Map: brown, black, red, yellow

Enemies: N/A

Mechanics: Touch collecting, combo collection, low level icon, medium level icon, high level icon, special icon, volcanic rock

Hazards: Halve points collected

Power Ups: Double point bonus, special item spawn, time slow down

Abilities: Mega collector, spawn special icons, collect all

Economy: 700,000 points

Bonus Materials: N/A

Music track: Another Galaxy

Icon design

Hello there, I have designed the icons that would be used in the game both for the levels and the general game icons. With the general icons I went for simple shapes that become smaller in some way from zone to zone. They need a little work on the colouring but I'm pretty happy with the shapes of the icons. Here is a picture of the general icons.

For the individual level icons, I designed them to be themed to the level they appear in. This will increase the visual interest of the game and add another level of complexity for combos and collection goals. Some are pretty well developed while some still need some refining. To take the icons to the the game phase I would research ways to develop more effective vector illustrations like shading and highlights.

Game idea

Hi there, this is my idea for a new game that I hope to develop more thoroughly throughout the year.

Touché! Space variation

System
The main platform I will be aiming this game towards will be mobile and tablet gaming devices using touchscreen technology. It will also be able to be played on pc or macs using a mouse.

Target audience
The target audience would be very wide ranging, as it will be a fun game that adults and children can play.

Rating
The rating would be E for everyone. There would be no violence, adult themes or any type of controversial themes.

Story and gameplay
As far as story goes, it is a simple theme of an interstellar explorer voyaging through space and visiting different planets collecting items of interest. The view will be unencumbered by any cockpit or physical representation. Various items will erupt from differing locations depending on the screen and your job is to touch or click on them to collect. You will be able to gain bonuses by getting combos and collecting different types of icons can allow you unlock new tools and skins.

While you cannot die, you will need to reach certain thresholds of points to move to the next level. The levels will become more challenging as you progress, becoming faster and needing to get combos to have enough points to move on. It might be able to be set to music.

Modes
There will be a few modes. One will be the main story progressing through levels and travelling to new planets. Another mode will be like a freestyle mode where you select a level and go for high scores or try to reach a certain goal of a particular combo or certain amount of icons.

Unique selling points
The unique selling points of this game will be the satisfaction of touching items to collect them and the variation of levels where designs will take inspiration from different art movements. Power ups will not be needed to complete the game but will help greatly in getting high scores.

Competition
Some games that are similar are fruit ninja which is a touch based game based on slicing up fruit that flies onto the screen, anther similar game would be puzzle craft which is based around collecting strings of items for points and to unlock new levels through gaining experience.

Activity: Play at least 5 different Stencyl games. Choose two favourite games and answer the following question.
 
Question: Which of the below attributes had the greatest impact on player satisfaction? Justify your answer by documenting your response and URL of the game on your blog.
• Gameplay
• Strategy
• Story/theme
• Pacing
• Character design
• Level design
• Boss/Enemies
• Difficulty
• Accessibility
• Humour
• Score
• Other?

The first game I enjoyed was Reaching Finality. 

 http://www.stencyl.com/game/play/14230

This game I enjoyed because it was reminiscent of Zelda on the old gameboy. The gameplay is nice and simple it had a quest type storyline which I like. There was some humour in the dialogue and it didn't take itself too seriously. The combat was simple and the enemies were varied in style and difficulty and having destructible elements in the landscape makes running around more fun. There was a component of searching for secret bonuses which I also enjoy. Dying had appropriate consequences by being not too punishing in taking you back to the start of the area you last entered, this mechanic I find is the most acceptable for this type of game.

The second game I enjoyed was Bit Battles

http://armorgames.com/play/15696/bit-battles

This game is a frenetic click fighting game that also incorporates strategy in how you level up and deploy your characters. I enjoyed the variation in enemy styles that forced you to think about which character you should use. Being able to level up your characters gave a sense of achievement while balancing with the increasing difficulty of the game. The level designs were very simple allowing you to focus on the action, and the basic aims of the game means that it is very accessible for new players. Another nice feature was how your characters changed in appearance every time you levelled them up in accordance to your choices which kept the characters dynamic. This game has definite replay value.

Hello, this blog is for my game development module for TAFE. I will be devising a game as part of a group with a view to creating the game if time permits in Stencyl.