Author: Jackson Wong

The Abstraction of Minesweeper

World Design

Minesweeper is a game built on abstraction and simplification. In both gameplay and aesthetics, the game manages to extract this notion of minesweeping and distill it into an easily understandable experience.

Any overarching narrative is heavily implied, given the absence of text for majority of the game. Thus more subtle cues are required in order to present the player with context. The title of Minesweeper itself aids a great deal in setting the scene. Almost immediately from starting the game, the player is able to somewhat ascertain their  goal – that is, sweeping for mines – and have some idea of what to expect in the game loop.

Within the first few interactions, a high-level representation of minesweeping is presented to the player in a matter of seconds: clicking some tiles will reveal themselves to be inert, while clicking others will end the game.

For lack of aural cues, the inclusion of a simple yellow smiley face simulates the inclusion of a protagonist through which the player can emotionally invest in the game. This anthropomorphism projects a distilled range of emotions throughout each playthrough. A smile indicates the neutral, safe state in which the player resides in at that point in time. When revealing a tile, the face reflects the suspense involved in the inferred high-risk situation. Revealing a mine is represented with a simple arrangement of Xs over the smiley face’s eyes, confirming the implied lethality that minesweeping would entail.

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Obviously minesweeping in reality does not involve displayed numbers to indicate the proximity of nearby mines. Yet the inclusion of these numbers is used as an approximate representation of mine detection technology – to recreate this intelligent guesswork. In the same way that actual mine detection is never certain, the game creates junctions in which the player has no choice but to resort to guesswork. The player can only go so far without needing to risk everything at some point.

Aesthetically, the game strives for abstraction rather than representation; for functionality rather than aesthetic. It is of little importance that these flags would be expected to be used with land mines, or that the mines are portrayed as sea mines. The player knows that the flags represent danger, and that the mines represent death.

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It is these limited visuals that allow the game to function the way it does. In the same manner of long-standing games such as chess, its accessibility and timelessness is derived from its core gameplay. If anything, the game’s abstract nature lends itself to many forms of contextualisation through themes and aesthetics. These modernised versions do not add further to the gameplay itself, only serving to embellish purely visual elements:

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Whether they are explosives, spiked traps or ladybirds, the representation of these mines themselves bears no real significance. The player only needs to know that they need to be avoided. Through the simple use of icons and contextually-relevant gameplay, Minesweeper manages to abstract minesweeping into a timeless game experience.

A Velociradish Devlog – Getting Vertical Slice-y with Prototower

Velociradish Production

My main priority has been working on getting core gameplay in, even if it means making small decisions in order to get the project moving forward. Incessant discussion about the most menial design decisions often hurts our progress, especially when a decision can’t be made at all. Most of the time we just need a starting point before moving from there.

As a consequence of trying to micromanage our workflow, I end up limiting my own tangible output, with tasks boiling down to the fairly simplistic. While not artistically challenging so far, I feel these are often the small features that you don’t notice until they’re not there. As these are often something that we as a team tend to overlook, I considered it a part of the game’s infrastructure that we should spend time setting up, if not in a rudimentary manner. I’m currently more interested in learning blueprints and engine functionality at this point, so I’m willing to put aside some art in order to get this done.

With some placeholder images (if only we could make a Hot Fuzz game), I went ahead and came up with some simple menu functionality to alleviate some pressure off the programmers.

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Warning: Hot Fuzz may or may not exist in the game.

Setting up the game’s HUD itself was a little more involved, as the prototype initially functioned with a healthbars that hovered above the player. As some of our project has been built with C++, it takes a little more effort to actually set them up to work with blueprints. On the bright side, I did manage to successfully set it up without any major trouble, though I’m not sure that’s because I’ve actually learnt more, or because some of it was set up from the previous time. Either way, I seem to have a better grasp on handling UI throughout this project, and at the rate of oddjobs taking on, I will likely end up taking on some visual effects as well. Only time will tell.

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Setting up the HUD had to be made from scratch due to the initial concept not having one in the first place!

Stay tuned for next time!

Architecture and Level Design in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

World Design

Ubisoft’s 2003 title, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, utilises architecture for both gameplay and narrative reasons throughout the game. On one hand, the game’s architecture and and setting in India are used to complement and facilitate its primary gameplay. On another, the level design and gameflow itself aids in establishing narrative context. Through innovations in character movement and control, as well as contextualisation of mechanics and narrative devices, the game manages to create an cohesive and engaging experience for the player.

Producer Yannis Mallat and define the goals of the game was to create challenging level design, and showcase exciting animation and movement. In the same way that its 1989 predecessor captivated audiences with rotoscoped character animation, this entry aimed to achieve similar results with fluid and elaborate movement. As a result, the story and environments of the game arose out of a need to facilitate for these goals.

Director Patrice Désilets explains that the time-reversal mechanic was added in order to compensate for the decreased precision of navigating 3D space. Similarly, this also affected the narrative as being told through flashback, echoing and perpetuating this concept of time travel. Hence the need to reverse time as a means of reducing frustration partially dictated the game’s aesthetic, narrative structure and themes.

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Columns provide verticality in each level, whilst remaining relevant to Indo-Islamic architecture.

The inclusion of such agile movement and puzzle platforming is therefore complemented by the Indo-Islamic architecture of the game, which not only establishes and reinforces the player’s location throughout the game, but also lends itself to the needs of level design. Expansive, open spaces between platforms enforce the necessity to wall run, while open spaces and high ceilings justify the inclusion of columns as a means of vertical navigation.

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Water as healing points throughout the game has been woven into the context of each level.

Interestingly, the game also weaves sources of health regeneration into its narrative presentation. As opposed to including stereotypical game symbols, Prince of Persia instead chooses to contextualise healing as thirst, as represented by the variety of sources of water placed into each level. Having the prince drink water allows him to heal in a manner that does not break suspension of disbelief, as it remains contextually-relevant. As decorative water fountains and pools fit the established setting better than any kind of health pick-ups, the game’s presentation is hence not undermined by such game elements.

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Murals adorn the wall where the player is likely to fall in front of, and hence discover uninentionally.

This relationship is bidirectional however, as the level design also serves the narrative in return. For example, a set of painted murals are placed in the level to provide backstory for the player. Additionally, they are deliberately placed on a ledge where the player is taught about wall running – a core mechanic of movement throughout. As the player is most likely going to fail on their first attempt of this particular puzzle, they are presented with this form of implicit narrative without the necessity for cutscenes or cinematics.

While the gameplay and level design were the starting point for the game’s narrative and architectural decisions, it by no means has prevented the designers from interweaving both aspects, creating a truly harmonious experience.

A Velociradish Devlog – Prototype #3 Part Two: Hermit

Velociradish Production

Last time we left off, we had just begun tinkering with the gameplay of the prototype, as well as starting to block out the layout of the level. In addition to generating some quick props, I had managed to help set up some rough level scripting to demonstrate the core gameplay. Since we had significantly less time to figure out the project, I wanted to help ensure that we did not bite off more than we could chew.

Thus, at the risk of oversimplifying, I suggested two obstacles to impede the player’s progress: seaweed to force the player to learn to cut with pincers, and a simple gathering quest to challenge the player’s skill at navigating with the unique control scheme. The goal of the game? Bursting this pipe. That’s it, really. I more complicated puzzles can be fit in further down the line, and so I’m not too concerned with the current complexity. Right now the most important things to do in this prototype were to demonstrate how the Oculus controls translate into the game.

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I also took over for the making of the trailer, and I was glad to get the chance to practise film editing. Recording simultaneous footage of the player was crucial to selling the premise of the game, especially due to the control scheme being the Unique Selling Point. Overall I was quite happy with the way the trailer turned out – it really paints the game as a rather zen experience, don’t you think?

I can say with confidence that my understanding of level blueprinting were improved throughout the course of this prototype, as well as understanding some of the level layout and. In conjunction with learning to utilise the matinee a bit better, such as scripting a crab to move in front of the player, I think I will be better prepared to aid the programmers in aspects of scripting and design.

Overall, I personally enjoyed making such a simple game with simple interaction, as a far cry from what we usually attempt. The freedom to be able to just think about the level and the way in which it will all fit together makes things so much more enjoyable, especially when we don’t have to keep thinking about how a multitude of disparate parts would work together.

 

A Velociradish Devlog – Some more Level Scripting with the Matinee

Velociradish Production
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Can’t let you do that.

For the purpose of having our player crab being denied by another crab. I thought it would be a fine time to experiment with Unreal Engine’s Matinees to allow for some scripted actions to occur at particular times.

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Trigger volumes for animating the crab to particular locations.

I simply set up a few  trigger points, with a super simple animation in the matinee. I then set up some basic scripting to tell the matinee to play when they are overlapped.

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Setting up movement and attaching the walk cycle.

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Some blueprinting to trigger the crab to cut you off, simply by reversing the same matinee back and forth.

Simple stuff – not bad for today!

 

 

A Velociradish Devlog – Doin’ Some Blueprintin’

Velociradish Production

Today was spent doing a bit of delving into level scripting. Still something I really aim to wrap my head around (but still sort of fail at), I try to take on some basic tasks in the hope that I’ll have that ‘aha’ moment, and everything will be suddenly clear to me.

… I’m allowed to dream, right?

Anyway, the goal of this short exercise has been to make up some short level scripting in order to create some objects and for giving the player some incentive to explore the area and utilise what they learn.

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This crab blocks your path in front of you. It’s a rather hungry-looking crab.

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… and here.

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Better find more scallops from here…

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Level blueprints in order to increment the ShellCount every time a scallop is collected. When two shells are collected, the opposing crab will move out of the way.

That’s a quick lesson that I’ve learnt today, so I’ll see ya next time!

Kairo Analysis

World Design

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Kairo, by Locked Door Puzzle (2012) is a distillation of the puzzle game, taking the common tropes that are typical of these kinds of games and abstracting and reducing them to their most basic forms.

By stripping the detail from the world, the use of primitive shapes creates room for more focused on the puzzles themselves.

For example, the player begins the game upon an open platform, looking into blank space. A building in the distance ahead, disguised behind fog, emphasises the distance and encourages the player to navigate towards it in order to explore it further. From this opening scene alone, it can be seen that there is attempt to reproduce or objects, but merely to convey just enough information that objects can be understood and interpreted.

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The simplicity of form and repetition, as shown in these pillars, make it easier to observe the asymmetry created by the staircase to the right.

The flat colour palette and use of primitive shapes again provide better clarity and ways for the game to understand scenes and patterns without the need to entirely represent objects.

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A green hue, combined with the abstracted shapes of trees and benches, portray this space as a kind of park.

Additionally, the game uses hieroglyphic-like symbols as the method of codifying some of the puzzles. Without the need for written instructions or additional detail on objects, the game can guide the player through the simple annotation of objects with these hieroglyphs.

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The use of hieroglyphs are used to convey a correlation between the two objects.

Though the visuals are heavily abstracted in the game, audio is used in a more literal and straightforward manner in which to best represent objects as they appear to the player. Stone objects grind as they are moved as the result of a switch. The sound of running water accompanies a river-like flow and movement of rushing shapes in a simulation of a waterfall. Without these aural cues, the abstraction of an object’s shape alone creates a far less contextual and cohesive experience for the player.

In a further distillation of these puzzles, the game relies on this utilisation of sound design for many parts of the game. One such puzzle (see below) involves a series of rotating rings which must be triggered in a particular order.

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This puzzle includes a circular monument in the centre, accompanied by a series of switches.

For each switch that the player stands on, the game will chime two kinds of notes. A correct move will present an upward-inflecting chime, indicating a positive, whereas an incorrect one will create a flat note. In conjunction with the varying symbols that adorn each switch, the player is given enough information, however simple, to understand and decode the puzzle’s system.

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In combination with the aforementioned hieroglyphs, the use of sound aids in the decoding of this puzzle.

Hence the minimalist representation of Kairo‘s objects, and their reduction to their simplest forms creates a honed experience that is capable of evoking a similar sense of wonder and discovery to the player as more literal representations. Removing any visual noise in each room and scene also serves to prevent obstruction to the intended message for the player. The meaning comes from these instances of performing the actions themselves, rather than they would represent should they carry additional aesthetic details. Thus this game’s message is reflected in this abstraction of the gameplay, in favour of eschewing representation. The world can only say so much, whereas the player’s actions speak volumes.

A Velociradish Devlog – Prototype #3 Part One

Velociradish Production

For this prototype, we had two goals that we wanted to achieve:

Firstly, we wanted to complete begin this project from scratch in order to give ourselves a fresh start, after somewhat bloating the previous project with so much content, yet not enough substances. As a result, we threw everything out the window and started to furiously brainstorm

Secondly, we wanted to take advantage of new technologies should the opportunity arise, and should it fit the project. For this we found a way for virtual reality to provide a rather integral part of the experience.

And so, a storm was coming. A brainstorm, that is. We agreed to aim for writing down 25 ideas over the weekend, before reconvening and seeing what we could come up with. The exercise produced no clear winners, however, as a day of seemingly-fruitless ideation came to an end. Despite further advice and suggestions on ways to think outside the box, frustration began to set in. It wasn’t until discussion with an adviser on what kind of game we wanted to make did we manage to make progress. So what kind of game would did we want to make? My viewpoint was summed up with ‘something hilarious’.

And so, during discussion about peripherals such as the Oculus Rift and the Leap Motion, I pitched the concept of playing as a crab, and using the Oculus to control movement, while using a controller or even Leap Motion to manipulate the claws!

For the latter half of this week I’ve been getting back into some 3D art, making environmental art and props, such as sea shells, wood and segmented seaweed for our neat dynamic seaweed system!

A difficult decision that is coming up is whether making the game a singleplayer adventure will be of correct scope for this year. On one hand, it will give us the opportunity to push meaningful messages through the narrative. On the other, crab duelling just seems too irresistible not to tinker with!

Stay tuned for my next Velociradish adventures!

 

A Velociradish Devlog – Prototype #2

Velociradish Production

The past fortnight has been a rather chaotic one, as time was spent on other odd jobs. The purpose of this prototype was all about building on the slow-motion of our previous game, adding to the tactics and in forcing the player to make more difficult decisions under pressure. The first prototype made it all too easy to run-and-gun – somewhat defeating the intended action of our game.

The first week was spent attempting to add some more feedback, framework and structure to the game. Since we wanted several characters with several guns, we would need models to distinguish them, and so I blocked out some very quick models of a rifle, shotgun, shield and pistol, and then attached them to the character meshes themselves.

In conjunction with our environment artist, we added and expanded on the current world to create the feel, Easing the transition for the environment models into the engine. I also managed to utilise some Unreal starter content in order to work on a neat bullet distortion effect.

In the second week, I decided to further mess around in blueprint, to little avail as I still struggle to grasp the workflow desired of blueprints. After attempting to add sound, I managed to inadvertently break the entire build several times. Sometimes it felt like I was breaking more than create. Talk about chaos!

We also were in need of adding important feedback, such as adding an ammo count. Quite a no-brainer, I suppose, but its importance becomes increasingly obvious once the player starts being blindsided from running out of ammo without knowing it.

It’s clear that it will take a lot more than a week to learn how to make these things work. One should also have no shame in asking for a helping hand, as sometimes you just need one to set you on your way. Any managerial roles took a backseat in comparison to the learning experience, almost falling behind in task logging, documentation and paperwork.

Stay tuned for next time, where we hope to expand on the tactics further while experimenting with alternative perspectives!

Analysing the First Hour of Bioshock

World Design

In a study of the first hour of Bioshock, there are a variety of elements, both overt and subtle, involved in directing the player throughout the level. As the demo of the game is designed to grab the player’s interest and engagement almost immediately, the game’s use of lighting, composition and enemy placement draw the player throughout. The first few moments of the game is pivotal, and thus warrants a play-by-play analysis, whereas the remainder of this hour will be covered holistically.

The Introduction

The game begins with a cinematic to set the scene, in which the protagonist’s plane crashes into the ocean. Player is granted control as soon as they reach the surface of the water. The orange of the flames contrast the cold blue of the water, as well as a shimmer from a piece of debri up ahead draws the eye towards it. The flames surrounding the player also act as a contextual invisible wall. Moving forward towards this shimmering debri, flames from the left cut off the player from reaching it, the trail of the flames directing the player to the right where they see another landmark – the tail of the sinking plane. As it sinks downwards, the movement is brings a tower into the player’s field of view. Lamp posts and the light from the behind it bring the player to the bottom of the steps, with further lamp posts acting as breadcrumbs for the player to follow.

A large gold door, left ajar, leads the player into the building, as they trace the ray of light that is projected from outside. Upon reaching the end of whatever light is left, the door shuts behind the player, leaving them in pitch black momentarily as the room is illuminated and greeting the player with large monuments and a red banner (the use of red is prevalent throughout). As the player moves forward into the darker, unexplored areas, they are met with further objects ahead illuminating according to walk triggers, such as golden ornaments to draw the eye. Curved stairscases being the player to a gold submersible, again with door left ajar and a glowing handle inside to indicate interaction.   Interacting with it triggers a cued response in which the player is sealed within, and the vehicle dives underwater. Movement is locked, and the player is encouraged to look through the window due to the lack of activity in immediate surroundings. The sound of a film projector and the appearance of a screen cues the player to watch a film for the sake of narrative context, before revealing the core location of Rapture to the player.

Again there is the use of movement to lead the eye around the world, this time done through marine life such as squids and whales. Neon signs foreshadow the locations that are going to be visited later. Before exiting the submersible, a quick scene is played out in front of the player. No action can be taken, apart from watching silhouettes contrasted strongly against a lit window for dramatic effect and mystery. Dialogue and the glow of the radio to the player’s left cues them to finally open the door and leave the submersible and into the remainder of the game.

Getting to the Action

For much of the game, the use of lighting and movement are used to lead the player through each room. The first of the Vita-Chambers (which act as checkpoints throughout the game) gives off a pulsing, electric blue glow and allows the player to examine it in a safe environment.

The mise-en-scene surrounding the player, such as the protest signs and abandoned luggage immediately upon exiting the submersible, emphasise to the player that something that gone wrong long before (in case the player hadn’t noticed already from the enemy Splicer killing a man in front of them). A transport schedule with all trips reading ‘CANCELLED’ adds to this.

The use of spotlights at several points throughout the game also explicitly point out key areas of interest for the player, blacking out most other regions for emphasis. The first is used at the area directly before leaving the safe zone, as well as foreshadowing the Splicer and Drone to the player momentarily. It also brings attention to the first weapon – a wrench – and indicates to the player on how to attack and crouch, ensuring that they are prepared for the hostilies ahead. Another spotlight is used in the theatre, introducing the first Little Sister as the player must look downwards while navigating the catwalk above.

Even a hierarchy of lighting is utilised in the world. Levels are typically quite low-lit, with the smaller, brighter lit areas serving as signposting from room to room. Consumable items are often indicated by a subtler but flickering light from a lamp, creating some visibility without entirely taking too much attention away from the actual level progression. Sometimes the game points things out rather explicitly, using neon signs and arrows to point the way for the player.

Movement is often used to lead the player to particular areas. Waterfalls are liberally used both as context and as means of identifying adjoining hallways and entrances. Enemies running towards the player from particular areas serve a similar function in a more urgent manner, also providing sources of gameplay action.

The composition of each room itself is used to this effect. A large hall adorned with banners has its symmetry broken up by the inclusion of a small flame seen through a window on one side, bringing attention to it as a point of interest.

 

This has just been a quick rundown of the most obvious ways that Bioshock guides its players through the first hour of gameplay. Have you noticed anything else that I haven’t mentioned yet? I’m bound to have missed a few!

Stay tuned for another analysis of game levels, coming soon!