Two weeks ago I’ve started developing a demo for my game Dimension, a Platformer/Puzzle/RPG I started designing last year, in Unity. For a recent assignment in uni I had to look into something code related that I was unfamiliar with, and since I go through this process everyday I took this opportunity to continue development on my demo. My milestone for this assignment was simple:

• Learn how to code/effectively implement all trigger types in Unity.

After a few hours the magic was done. To keep it brief I’ll skip the technical insights this time.

Gameplay (for this milestone)

     A secret cave must be opened through the light of a butterfly. In order for the butterfly to illuminate the crystal set in the cave door, the player has to chase the butterfly to the cave entrance.

Last weekend I got uScript for Unity and used it to rebuild some elements from Until Dawn/Slender. It’s a GREAT tool to speed up design iteration in Unity. Having worked with it the last few days I learned quite a lot:

• All that time I’ve invested in learning/practicing scripting Javascript/C# for Unity wasn’t wasted. uScript is a low level visual scripting tool that requires at least some basic knowledge about coding and Unity specific class types.

• It’s often hard to identify how some Unity specific functions work and how the resulting output is defined. It is absolutely worth it to take an hour or two to sit down, create a scenario for the function in question and figure out how it works.

• .Rotation, .Euler Angles, and .Quarternion all influence an object’s rotation but work with completely different principles (duuh)

• Building game logic requires time and shouldn’t be rushed. Think through before hand what you want. It can save you a great deal of time.

In late July 2012 I started working on a concept for an iOS/Android game. The idea came up while I was waiting for the MTR (Hong Kong’s railway).

If you have ever visited Hong Kong and got to enjoy a crowded ride on the MTR during rush-hour, you will have noticed at least one thing: Everyone is on their smartphone. Couples sitting next to each other, staring down at their iPads, businessmen leaning against doors, watching movies on their iPhones, students huddling together, watching their friends playing some manga-stuffed hack’n'slash game.What most of the games people played seemed to have in common was the fact that they could be played casually, and were easy to pick up. I mused on that for a while and reflected on my own habits for a bit – “what games do I play on my smartphone?”. To tell the truth I don’t often play games on my smartphone. I just get dizzy after staring at things while my body is in motion. However, when I do play, I usually play something for two to four minutes – Angry Birds for instance.

One week later I came up with a draft for an action/platformer game with a main character named Shlorp. After hastily finishing a first rough, I showed it to a friend at SCAD, Mark Caluguy, hoping he might be interested in joining my project. He agreed, and I’m glad he did – his monster drawings are awesome! The game is in development now (stalled at this point however due to additional workload from other projects) and will most likely be finished early next year! (Perhaps a worthy contender for next year’s IGF!)

Shlorp - early rough

You might be thinking, “so what exactly is the gameplay??”. You’re right, I haven’t told you yet. At this stage however, I don’t want to reveal too much – we’re still tweaking some of the gameplay aspects. What I can tell you at this point: It involves morphing. Really awesome morphing. And fun puzzle games.

Grand titles such as Halo, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and many more have acclaimed much fame in this day and age. Even my 73 year old grandfather has heard of a few. Naturally, anyone who decides to turn their passion for games into a professional career certainly has a few games on an equally grand scale in mind. Why not?

When I started entering the magic realm that is professional game design, things turned out to be quite different. Who would have thought that you don’t start at the top of the mountain, eh? Two weeks ago our professor gave us an assignment: Write a pitch document for a game. Curiously, he knew of his passionate students’ tendency to think BIG (and I really mean BIG). But never mind the funding, the manpower, and the time our great games would have required to build. After all, it was an exercise, a chance to get it “out of our system”. As an avid reader of fantasy books, including Trudi Canavan’s The Black Magician and The Malazan Book, and a loyal consumer of decision packed games such as Mass Effect, I was quickly inspired to come up with my own 25 million dollar-budget game. Staying modest.

And that’s what led to my very first (brilliantly crafted) pitch document:

Isolda’s Tale (GDD) (.pdf)

Keep in mind this was my first structured, written out idea, so there may be a lot of weight on the storyline and less on the actual gameplay. But I guess we all have to start somewhere.