Game Puzzle Analysis

Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker - Earth Temple Mirror Room

The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker was a sucessful release in the Zelda series. Thanks to it's new sailing mechanic and cartoonish graphics, it also stood out as one of the most unique releases of the series.

Along with its new features, Wind Waker still held its theme of fighting through monster and puzzle filled dungeons. Out of these dungon puzzles, my favorite is the Mirror room of the Earth Temple.

The Earth temple gives player access to two unique mechanics. The Mirror Shield, which can be used to reflect and direct beams of light in order to active certain switches and stun enemies...

and Medli, a separately controllable character with a reflective harp that has the same abilities as the Mirror Shield.

With these mechanics, combined with the movable mirror statues in the temple, the player has to move and arrange the statues around the room in order to direct two light beams at two different switches, giving player access to the boss room.

One of my favorite aspects of this puzzle is how well introduced it is. As the final puzzle of the dungeon, the player must combine all the mechanics of the Earth Temple from using light beams to damange enimies to using Medli as another mirror to direct the beam light off. They do this via smaller "mini puzzles" which require only one of the new mechanics to complete at a time. This allows players to learn how to utilize the Mirror shield and Medli to tackle harder puzzles like the final room.

If i had to describe the puzzle using the Type Elements i'd say it contains elements of Unusual use of an object, "Building" puzzles, and Sequence puzzles. Unusual use comes from the fact that you're using a shield and a shiny harp as mirrors to direct beams of light. The building aspect comes from the mechanic of arranging the mirror statues in order to create a proper path for the light beams to follow. Finally, the sequence aspects arise when you have to first trigger certain switches in order before the rest of the puzzle can be completed, like moving a statue after triggering a switch so the light can continue on its path.

I believe this puzzle does a great job at making the player feel smart thanks to the difficulty ramp of the mini puzzles before it. It gives the main puzzle this feeling of a "Final Test" for the player to challenge, making its completion much more satisfying

Game Design: Mechanics In Action

 The first one is a gun that shoots clouds! Yellow ones are lightning, Red clouds are hard, blue clouds rise, and purple clouds are super soft! It can be used in so many ways

 The next one is a gun that creates two types of fields, one that slows time and one that speeds it up!

The final one shoots shapes! It can shoot squares, circles and triangles. (of various sizes). It can also cut holes of the same shapes into other objects

Back at it: Game Design ideas

For our next assignment, we're making a prop based off a game mechanic (like a jetpack or rocket boots). Here are some of the ideas I have:

• Gun that shoots two types of disc's that create a field around it that either slows or accelerates time. 
• Revolving "flame" thrower that can alternate between gasoline, acid, and liquid nitrogen.
• Shield that can revolve wrap around the arm to become a gauntlet.
• Cannon that shoots a single ball, attached to a chain (with a reel on the back for reloading).
• Giant longbow that can also be used as jet powered wings.
• Two sided hammer with a vac pump on one side and a pneumatic launcher on the other. (One end intakes, the other shoots it out really fast)
• Gauntlets with a massive spring loaded fist on each end. (can also be used to jump!)
• Gun that shoots mini force actors set to high values that stick to surfaces. (attach mini rockets to stuff)
• Gun that absorbs light from one end and fires it as a high powered laser from the other.
• Cloud launcher that shoots different types of clouds (Some rise, some fall, some are soft, some are thunder clouds, some are poison, etc?)
• Gun that shoots simple shapes (spheres, triangles, cubes), and can also cut holes of the same shapes into objects

Adventures in Game Design 2.0: FPS map analysis

Racing Game Trailer!

Adventures in programming: Time Pilot

For our final programming assignment, we get to recreate an arcade game, me and my partner (Trent Sivek) choose to do Time Pilot.

This is a rather large task as there are a lot of small things that are essential to the game, such as the specific movement paterns of the ship and AI, or the firing function of the ship. The list of tasks are as follows:
Player movement
Player shooting
AI movement (varies per enemy)
AI shooting
Pilot rescue
Boss Spawning
HUD system
Point system
Background

The visuals needed are singnificantly simpler as all the ships pretty much look the same and the background is just blue with clouds. The list of them are as follows:
Player ship
Enemy Ships (varies per level)
Boss ships
Pilots (to rescue)
Particles (like explosions)
HUD/Background

Im quite excited for this

Adventures in programming: Racing HUD

For programing we're now making a HUD for our racing level. 

I added some images of what that'll look like. 

I really love the more minimalistic view that this has, but because my racing level is in a temple and im driving an older car, odds are ill have to go for something more traditional, like the one below.

Heres the idea that i'm hoping to go for, it uses the same look and font as an actual 1969 camaro 

Adventures in game design: Racing!

Project CARS was being talked about for a little while as the next contender for Forza. Based off this trailer, it probably has a good chance. Cool drifting and shiney high detail cars going across a normal race track is all these games are about, and thats all you see in this trailer.

Adventures in programming: Torch Particle

For programming i made a torch fire effect. Check it out!



The bulk of the work came from the material, which was a mixture of cloud/smoke textures panned and tiled a specific way.

Adventures in programming: Particle Research

For programming we have to make a particle effect.
Seeing as i'm doing a temple, torches was the way to go, so i did some research and gathered reference of fire and torches, check it out.
Here are some slow motion tutorials:


Heres an example of a smoke flip card, ill need to make something along these lines

Adventures in Programming: Unreal Turret

For programming I designed a turret that shoots exploding pots! Check it out.

Adventures in Game Design:

For game design we had to pick out a good example of a level flythough. So heres 8 minutes of them!




Mario Kart 8 is by far the best out of the series and each of its levels has a flythough.

Out of all of them, Thwomp Ruins (0:47) is my favorite. It shows the important sections of the track, the main mechanics of the level, and the different environments (interior and exterior areas) in less than 12 seconds. Seeing as my level is also some kind of ruins full of traps and obsticles, this will make a good guide to go by.

Adventures in programming: Racing Barrels and Turrets

So for my racing level, I have an idea for my basic exploding "Barrel" and my turret.




The barrel is actually a clay pot filled with some unknown magical blue substance (to match the temple ruins theme!). It's dormant stage is just a simple pot with some grey steam coming out. As you approach it and its about to explode, it starts releasing this thick blue gas before finally exploding into a blue flaming mass of danger.

My turrets are equally magical. 3 tiki like heads sit ontop of one another. As you approach it and they notice you: their eyes begin to glow blue as a sign of warning. As you get closer, blue lasers fire from the eyes in your direction!

Adventures in programming: Destructables!

For programing, we created destructable content to be used in our racing levels. Check it out.

Adventures in Game Design: Racing Level Beat Sheet

So we had to plan out some of the events that would occur on the track. Here it is :U

Im debating between adding a turning section after the jump and before the bridge, but i dont want to make the map too long.... More to come, though. 

Adventures in Programming 1

Heres a reupload of my first programming post. The lights dance using arrays!

Heres a look at the blueprints!

Adventures in programming 2

Heres another programming masterpiece, This time im making a face using an imported notepad file, and then changing the face using the same file. Neat-O!

Heres the blueprint for it!

Game Design: Racing Level Pitch

My racing level is set in the ruins of ancient mountain civilization. The high cliffs, unstable buildings, and dangerous defensive traps left by the previous inhabitants make this the perfect location for the death race that the players entered.

Below is some concept images to give an idea about the environment and a colorscheme.

I want the level to be defined by things like narrow roads where the wrong push could send you off the side of the cliff, jumping from old buildings thousands of feet in the air, driving through temples as collapsing pillars fall in your path, old traps left over from the previous inhabitants to stop invading forces. I want players to feel like this is a place where they shouldn't have been racing in the first place, and now have to pay the price.

Which leads to the concept statement: 

"These dying ruins may take you with it"

As for the mechanics of the level, I'd like the level to break down and fall apart more as the laps continue, leaving less room for the player to drive and more danger for them to face. 

Like the Grumble Volcano level of Mario Kart 8 

As the race goes on, parts of the level begin to shake and fall making it a much harder track as the players move to the final lap.

As for stunts and obsticles I had many in mind, things like raising spikes and collapsing pillars, and i'll probably include those someway or another, but for my detailed ones, I settled on these: 

On the left is a pretty basic one, large boulders roll side to side forcing the players to dodge them in order to pass through. I'd like to build off of this, maybe add an incentive to go on the side of the ramp where the boulders would be rolling faster to add some kind of risk/reward, but i've yet to figure it out without breaking the theme. (like a speed boost wouldnt make much sense in ancient ruins) On the right is a jump stunt, because theres no ramp, the player would have to accelerate enough to ride on the side of the cliff, practically horizontally, so that they can make it across to the other side safely.

I was inspired to do these traps based on this scene from The Fast and the Furious, the train part is an example of the same sort of pressure I'd want to put on a player while avoiding the boulders, and the way the car spins in the air after the crash is the same sort of horizontal movement I want the players to have to do in order to make the jump across the cliff

Below are some other sketched ideas

I've also included a map showing how i'd like the track to go. I marked where certain landmarks/points of interest would be. There would also be interior parts of the track, but i felt it would be too confusing to show isometrically. 

All in all, although is a sorta cliche idea, i'm really excited to try it. Ruins archetecture is fun to create and build with, and the traps and obstacles are simple and effective which can really work when you're limited by the time and system you have to build off of. 

Racing Level Analysis

I did a rundown of one of the later levels in Trackmania 2 Stadium

Check it out here

If you would rather just watch me run though it, there's a video too!

Game Design: Platformer Level

For Game Design we had to plan out the tutorial level of a platformer. For mine, I went with a game with a more rougelike feel too it that includes a time control mechanic. In order to get past the traps/obsticles of the level, you must slow down time with the right timing in order to pass through safely.

heres a drawn map, as well as a vector based one.

Now, the level must be completable in 4 minutes or less and be new player friendly along with that. For that reason, I have to limit the amount of challenges as well as how slow I go about introducing them. For example, i'd like to introduce the time control from the very beginning, however I must introduce the moving platforms and spikes before hand, otherwise i'll be showing too much at once or too many new things before a new player would be ready. The same idea goes for combining the challenges; Where as i'd like to take the fast moving platforms and combine it with projectiles and falling spikes, I can't do that because no player would be able to complete the challenge under 4 minutes while still being a new player.

Hopefully with this, i've found a nice balance between difficulty and time.

In terms of a story, imagine a man who simply wakes up in a testing chamber for a time control device (think portal). Obviously his goal is to simply escape, but the testing chamber's goal is to just use this test subject to his full potential. As of now, no one lives there. Think minimalistic archetexture in a prestine state.

Game Analysis: Tower of Heaven

For our Game Design class, we were asked to analyze the tutorial level (or levels) of a platformer game of our choice. For this, I chose Tower of Heaven , A small, rougelike, platformer made by an independent developer, Askiisoft. The game itself lacks any form of true tutorial level. Instead, the game is roughly split into 3 sections, the first of which being significantly easier than the other two in order to prepare you for when they come.

If you don't feel like reading the rest of the post, I've included a video of me playing through each of the 6 stages within the first section of the game.

The controls are basic (wsad/arrow keys) and the objective is simple: reach the door of each room, before the timer runs out. All of this is explained in the first room of the game.











As you reach the 2nd room, you're faced with a more difficult pathway to the door, requiring much more precise jumps to reach the exit, the hazard of spikes is also introduced.

In the 3rd room, the door can be seen on the otherside of a short hallway, however, the hallway is blocked by moving sawblades on the ceiling and floor, requiring precise and, more importantly, well timed jumps to pass through and reach the next exit.

These first 3 rooms give the player an idea of the skills that are going to be required in order to progress through and ultimatly win the game: speed, precision, and timing.







The 4th room is where Tower of Heaven becomes significantly more interesting. It reveales airlifts,
which simply push the player up in the air, and is probably the most dangerous aspect of the game, The Book of Laws. As the player picks it up, the narrorator (who is presumed to be "God") tells the player that they must obey the rules written in that book, or be killed. This is a unique addition to the game as it means that more and more conditions can be added to each level increasing the difficulty as each new rule is added ontop of the existing ones.




For now though, it starts with the basic rule of "Thou shal not touch golden blocks". If anything, this is almost insignificant to how the player must play in order to progress though the game, as it basically just adds another "spike" hazzard for them to avoid.








However, the 5th room gives the player a real taste of how dangerous the book can be. A new law is added, "Thou shal not touch walls or blocks from the side". Meaning that you have to land on the top of each block/platform perfectly, touching the sides = game over. The difficulty of this is proven almost immediately, as the player has to jump up blocks set up like stairs, which would be quite easy, but actually ends up being a decent challenge due the paitence and precision needed.






The 6th room (and final room of the first section) is where the Book truly reveals itself as the real obstacle of the game. The player is placed fairly close to right of the door in a hallway similar to the one seen in the 3rd room. To the right of the player, a sawblade is positioned close as well. Beating the level seems easy enough, just move to the door before the sawblade reaches you, a seemingly obvious task, until the next rule is added: "Thou shal not walk left".

Once the level begins the sawblade quickly moves towards the player, and odds are they quickly die from stepping to the left, or jump and die by landing on the blade










Without any explanation on how to deal with the removal of a mechanic that seems somewhat essential, it takes most players some time until figuring out that you must jump to the left in order to reach the exit rather than walk there. However doing that is much harder than one would think as the sawblade forces players to be quick about the process, which usually causes them to mess up and step to the left before jumping, killing them.






Room 6 is the last room of the first section of the game, which continues with more rules and much more difficult stages to complete in the 2nd and 3rd sections.

What makes this game so unique is that instead of just adding more obstacles to challenge the player as it goes on, it removes the freedoms the player once had, and probably took for granted, forcing the player to be conscious of the actions that they do have, creating a much more interesting slope of difficulty depending on how valuable that action was to the player when it is taken away.

I believe this "tutorial" section of the game is effective as it teaches players the core mechanic of the game: movement and the speed, precision, and timing needed to use it effectively, as well as introdcuing almost all the obsticles the player would encounter in each room. The tutorial also does a perfect job of introducing The Book of Laws and just how drastically the rules set by it change the gameplay for the player.

Everyone should play this game.

Below i've included a layout of the first 6 levels I went over earlier in the post.