"Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive." —Elbert Hubbard
Game Designer |
Ghost Core | Alpha
Started | 7/24
Completed | 11/24
Est. Logged Time: 106 hrs
Pre-Production
DESIGN CONCEPT
Genre: Sci Fi Adventure | Time period: 2084 | Location: Saturn's Orbit | Style: Photorealistic
Game Description
AI has gone rogue killing humans and harvesting their souls to feed the ghost core. They are being controlled by an entity known as the directive. Human experiment with alien tech went wrong.
DESIGN PILLARS
Gain Abilities to Overcome Obstacles
The player will gain the ability to project their conscience and learn abilities for their projection by possessing ghosts and in turn will assist in removing obstacles that block their path.
Completing Objectives to Progress the Games
The player will need to complete objectives that would include completing puzzles to unlock areas, ghost or items.
Uncover Mysteries by Exploration
Exploring the environment will allow the player to discover the mystery going on and about the artifact he went there for.
CREATIVE VISION & LEVEL OUTLINE
Theme/Mood/Tone
Curiosity and consequence, paranoia, isolation, ominous, dark and eerie.
Game Design Doc
Pre-Alpha
TECHNICAL DESIGN
Mechanics IPM Chart
Before building the level we created a chart of the mechanics we intend to created to help guide how the levels should be created base on when we'd like to introduce, practice and master them. Although this isn't the final result and not all mechanics made it to the demo it definitely assisted in blocking out the level.
CORE MECHANICS
My Gameplay Mechanics
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Ghost Abilities
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Fragment Collection and its Orbit
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Ghost Trail & Action Icons
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Soda Machine & Emergency Kit Dispensaries
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Tooltips
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Airlock Door Lever & Handle Keypad Activation
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Keypad and Door Responses
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Ladder
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Emp affect
My System Mechanics
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Human Objectives & Prompts
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Weapons & Ammo Pickup
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Player Vitals
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Audio Soundtrack
GAMEPLAY MECHANICS
SYSTEM MECHANICS
Pre Alpha Mechanical Run-through
This playthrough was the very early stages of our core mechanic and level design. The interactions and vitals systems were my primary task. Secondarily the Grenades, and Ghost Abilities were also my responsibility.
LEVEL DESIGN
Level Pacing Before & After Cuts
I was responsible for the Tutorial level and created a training base on one of Saturn's moons. The base took about 35 minutes to complete introducing the core mechanics of the demo. the project hovever called for a 10 minute game and so a lot of cuts took place.
Level 1 Areas Cut for Time
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Briefing Room
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Mess Hall
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Crew Quarters
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Locker Room
Pre- Alpha Level Playthrough
I completely design level 1 to onboard the player. My level introduces a lot of new mechanics so I needed to balance the to rid players of confusion. I did this by having an u[ward of 10 playtesters.
Alpha
GAMEPLAY DESIGN
10 Minute Speedrun
After cuts of areas and mechanics a speed run was performed on the golden path. The player can spend well over an hour exploring and uncover the mysterious behind what is happening. The Gameplay I designed were:
Level 1
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Begin as Ghost: Reach your Body
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Airlock SOP: Pull Lever, Seal Door, Keycode
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Saw hazard to repair kit.
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Ghost in Cage: Use Soda Machine to Control Room
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Shooting Range
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Memory fragments: Gain abilities and Ghost Dialog
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Directive voice over
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Helmet AI voice over
Level 2
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Security Locked: Lights out, Visor prompts
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Security Beam: Flying Turrets
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Circuit Breaker Shot: Placement and EMP activation
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Memory Fragment Placement
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Astral Project: Soda Machine and blue box blockage
Level 3
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Memory fragment placement
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Shooting Circuit Breaker
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Ghost Task Puzzle: To reach the 2nd floor.
UX DESIGN/PLAYTESTING
Confusion Test
I tested my level for player confusion levels. The result here would determine what is used for the other level in terms of:
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Audio Feedback
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Textual Feedback
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Visual Feedback
Stamina Balance Test
Tested how the players responded to the restrictions of running and jumping when stamina is low. The result was removing stamina consumption when the player jumps.
Stamina Test Result
UI DESIGN/PLAYER FACING INFORMATION
Audio Feedback
In the tutorial level the helmet AI explains what it means when each of the players vitals are low. for Audio focus players who don't pay attention to textual feedback.
Textual Feedback
I create all the text tooltips that displays in-game to guide the player along or remind them of functions that can help them along. These text are displayed in white however the Closed Captioning for the Directive is displayed scrolling across the in-game screens.
Visual Feedback
In level one I used debris from the crash to lead the player as well as a worn walking path. Furthermore I used the flags and falling tree to point in directions the player can go. Additionally I use lights to draw the players attention to alternative areas.
Beta
ADDITIONS & CHANGES
Polishing, IPM and making it fun
I added additions to solidify the player facing information, Introducing, Practicing and Mastering mechanics. I created a bit more gameplay to immerse the player more into the storyline.
Mechanics
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Checkpoints
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Silhouette: Location Indictor for Levitated Objects
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Soda Machines & Emergency Kits
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Ghost Dialog Box
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Tutorial Popups
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Constant Fire Damage
Level Design
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Lvl 1: Water
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Lvl 1: Corridor
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Lvl 1: Shooting Range
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Lvl 2: Computer Room
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Lvl 2: Break Room
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Lvl 2: Maintenance Area
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Lvl 3: Ship Dock
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Lvl 3: Breaker Room
Gameplay Design
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Lvl 1: Watchtower Turret
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Lvl 1: Circuit Breaker
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Lvl 2: Maintenance Area: Keycode
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Lvl 2: Maintenance Area: Box Drop
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Level 2 Control Room: Astral Ghost Usage
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Lvl 3: Dock Freight Elevator
ADDITIONAL MECHANICS
LEVEL DESIGN CHANGES
Removed to add room to reach the ship and a more logic aspect of water is not flowing on other planets.
Elevated and blocked by boxes.
GAMEPLAY DESIGN
POLISHING
Cutscenes
To make the player really understand what is going on before or after the completed a puzzle or task I created some cutscenes to reward their efforts or setup precursors for unfortunate situations.
Splash Screen and Menus
I created the splash screen and updated the graphics for the menu buttons using cooltext.com generator and paint 3d.
Gold
DEMO TRAILER
FULL PLAYTHROUGH W/ FINAL ASSETS
Credits
Postmortem
WHAT WENT WRONG
Assigning Roles
The roles we agreed to set for ourselves caused more problems than solved. While we all wanted to widen our net and experience the responsibilities of unfamiliar roles some of us casted our net too wide. Some roles needed more attention and time to accomplish the level of detail the project ended up having. Intentions to to pick up the slack was taken as overstepping and misunderstandings. The lack of concrete direction also played a major part in confusions, debates and progress. I do understand the need for roles but with a project this small and the tasks handed to us crossed craft as you would have it. For example 2 of us were considered the level designers but each of us made our own levels. The levels got consolidated into 3 levels for time eventually. Another example is that 2 of us were essentially the Tech designers however we all came up with our own mechanics. The examples were not of our own volition they were tasks handed to use per the projects outline. So the roles we assigned ourselves conflicted with the projects outline from conception.
WHAT WENT WELL
The Teamwork
After all the kinks were ironed out and we got into a productive flow the progress took off. Our core mechanic got solidified and we had a better idea about what the game would be about. Once we had that established additional features were added that were left behind and new ideas came to light. We all by this time knew what each of us was capable of and how much time and attention each of us could put forward. Collaborating with the Art department demonstrated our solid teamwork and communication where if one of us couldn't get what we wanted across another helped clarify specifics.
In the End
I learned to communicate with different temperamental people and the experience is invaluable. The project did not suffer and that is because we did not allow it to as other professional in our field wouldn't either.
Game Designer |
Please email me if you are interested in collaborating. I look forward to working with you. Thanks for your time!
