GATE RUNNER - Tom Batteytombattey.com/design/submission/term1/Tom Battey - Design... · 2016-01-12 · TOM BATTEY 4 M.A. GAMES DESIGN CONCEPT INTRODUCTION DESCRIPTION KEY FEATURES

TOM BATTEYM.A. Games DesignLondon College of Communication

GATE RUNNERA RISK/REWARD SCORE ATTACK GAME

TERM 1: GAME FUNDAMENTALSSUBMISSION DATE: 12/01/2016

OBJECTIVE: use Unity to develop a simple and engaging score-attack game that offers something to players of all skill levels.

3TOM BATTEY M.A. GAMES DESIGN

CONTENTSCONCEPT 4

INTRODUCTION 4DESCRIPTION 4KEY FEATURES 4MOOD BOARD 5

PROPOSAL 6AUDIENCE 6MARKET 6CASE STUDY 1: FLOW 7CASE STUDY 2: SUPER HEXAGON 9CASE STUDY 3: DOWNWELL 10CASE STUDY SUMMARY 11

SPECIFICATION 12GAME FEATURES 12STORYBOARDS 12

PROTOTYPE 16BRIEF 16GAME ASSETS 16TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS 17SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS 17IMAGE REQUIREMENTS 17VISUAL ASSETS 18GUI LAYOUT 19DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE 20

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT 23TESTING THE PROTOTYPE 23IMPLEMENTATION 24POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS 25


CONCEPT INTRODUCTION

DESCRIPTION

KEY FEATURES

Gate Runner is an arcade-style score attack game with a focus on risk vs. reward, encouraging players to play fast and dangerous in order to achieve the highest score.

Gate Runner tasks you with dashing through a series of gates within a time limit to try and achieve the highest score possible. The gates are closing fast, and flying through at the last second will give you the maximum point reward, but if you let the gate close before you pass through you’ll be blown away and lose valuable seconds.

Gate-spawning creatures populate the game space, each spitting out new gates in their own unique patterns, so learning their behaviours and timing your runs is key to getting the highest score. Fly through gates in quick succession to increase your combo multiplier, playing on the knife-edge between risk and reward to really maximise your score.

GENRE: Arcade/Score AttackPLATFORM: PC/Mac

• Risk/reward gameplay where the player chooses how much they’re willing to commit to achieve a high score.

• 360-degree movement, with control over player speed to allow increased strategy.

• A combo system that reward fast and skilful play with a score multiplier.

• A range of creatures in each level, each with their own behaviours to learn, that alter how a player can score points.


MOOD BOARD

Images from existing games to represent a visual style guide for development.\Games included: Flow (Sony), Geometry Wars (Microsoft), Patapon (Sony), Child of Eden (Ubisoft), Hohokum (Sony), Rez (Sega).


PROPOSAL AUDIENCE

MARKET

Gate Runner will be delivered on PC and Mac through web browsers, powered by Unity’s Web Player. There is also potential to offer the game through Steam on Valve’s Greenlight platform, as well as other PC/Mac digital distribution services if this proves successful. The concept is simple enough to adapt for mobile and tablet platforms if there is demand for such, though this would require extra development time.

Gate Runner is designed for players looking for a quick, bite-size arcade game with unique play features that can be played in short bursts. The risk/reward nature of the game makes it approachable for players of varying skill levels, with low-skill players able to complete levels at a leisurely pace while high-skill players can shoot for the highest score. The game is most suitable for player who enjoy skill-based games and like to improve their skill and challenge their own personal high score.

Games under the ‘Arcade’ tab of Valve’s Steam store.


Valve’s Steam store is the most popular service for digital games on PC and Mac, with over 125 million active accounts and over 4500 available games as of February 2015.1 Searching for the ‘arcade’ tag to find games of a similar genre to Gate Runner provides the results shown on the previous page. Appropriate games for this market range from free to around £12.50 - a suitable price point for a Steam release of Gate Runner would fit within this window.

To assess the potential for success of the project, I’m choosing 3 case studies of games aimed at a similar market, looking at their relative successes in the market place.

1 VG24/7: https://www.vg247.com/2015/02/24/steam-has-over-125-million-active-users-8-9m-concurrent-peak/2 jenovachen.com

CASE STUDY 1: FLOW

Title: fl0w Developer: Thatgamecompany Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

FlOw is a game about piloting an aquatic organism through a surreal biosphere where players consume other organisms, evolve, and advance their organisms to the abyss.

As part of Jenova Chen’s thesis research, flOw inherits an embedded design of active DDA (dynamic difficulty adjustment), players with differing skill levels can intuitively customize their experiences in the zone and enjoy the game at their own pace. “Addicting” is the most common word its fans use to describe it.2


Design Features

• Minimal control opens the door for casual gamer and non-gamer• Control the balance between speed and turning leaves space for

hardcore player to master• Wide range of gameplay from simply swimming around to strategical

evolving and intensive fighting for survival• Customize flow experience naturally through the core gameplay,

swimming and eating• Transparent and meaningful choices• Small risk, small reward; Big risk, big reward• Minimal penalty, no Flow breakers1

FlOw makes an interesting case study for Gate Runner due to the similar design features. While flOw is more concerned with creating a meditative experience than Gate Runner’s quick-fire arcade experience, the games have the concept of balancing risk against reward and the simple control scheme in common.

FlOw started life as a browser-based game developed in Flash; according to Jenova Chen’s website the web-based version has been played over 600,000 times. The game was later picked up and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, and has seen success on the PS3, PS4 and PSVITA platforms.

1 jenovachen.com


CASE STUDY 2: SUPER HEXAGON

Title: Super Hexagon Developer: Terry CavanaghPublisher: None

Terry Cavanagh’s Super Hexagon shares a similar fast-paced, score-attack design with Gate Runner. Super Hexagon involves navigating through gaps in ever-shrinking hexagon without hitting the walls; the complexity of the hexagon pattern and the speed of the shrinking increase as time goes on, making it harder to continue as time goes on. Players try to stay alive for as long as possible to achieve a high score.

Super Hexagon is available on Mac, PC, iOS and Android, all potential target platforms for Gate Runner. Cavanagh reported selling over 45,000 copies in the first month when the game launched in September 2012.1 As of December 2015 it is estimated that Super Hexagon sells 714 copies per day at a $2.99 price point, averaging $2,135 in revenue per day.2

1 Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/21/super-hexagon-has-sold-approximate-ly-45-000-copies/2 Think Gaming: https://thinkgaming.com/app-sales-data/1108/super-hexagon/


CASE STUDY 3: DOWNWELL

Title: Downwell Developer: MoppinPublisher: Devolver Digital

Downwell is an arcade-style platformer with roguelike elements and a retro-inspired aesthetic. Players descend a randomly-generated vertical shaft, using their gunboots to slow their momentum and blast at enemies that rise up from below. Players have a single life, and use randomly-selected power-ups found at the end of each level to try and stay alive as long as they can in order to rack up a high score.

Available on PC, Mac and mobile platforms, Downwell addresses a similar market to Gate Runner, as well as sharing an arcade-inspired score-attack design model. The games share a design based on simplicity of control whilst allowing a high skill ceiling, both share a score-attack model with permanent unlockables, and both are designed for short, repeated play sessions.

As of December 2015 it is estimated that Downwell sees 1077 sales per day at $2.99 price point, with a daily revenue of $3,220.1

1 Think Gaming: https://thinkgaming.com/app-sales-data/70325/downwell/


CASE STUDY SUMMARY These case studies show a stable and profitable market on the intended release platforms targeted for Gate Runner. Super Hexagon and Downwell demonstrate a desire for elegantly-designed, arcade-inspired score-attack games with short play sessions. FlOw demonstrates a success in experimenting with difficulty and accessibility, whilst also proving that a game initially developed for web browser can go on to find commercial success at the hands of a major publisher on dedicated gaming platforms.

As such the audience proposal for Gate Runner seems appropriate. Development will begin on a web browser version, which has the smallest overheads and the simplest path to market. The browser version will serve as a proof-of-concept for a mobile version, with design and content tweaks based on player feedback to the browser-based model. The mobile version will have a larger and more polished feature-set, and will be priced accordingly to the examples listed above.


SPECIFICATION GAME FEATURES

STORYBOARDS

• Player object with continuous forward momentum, 360-degree moving and three speed levels.

• Gate object that close at a set rate, spawning a small explosion upon closing.• Spawner objects with varying movement and gate spawning patterns.• Scoring system that rewards player with more points for passing through a gate

that is nearly closed.• Hi-score system that tracks and scores a player’s highest score.• Level timer that counts down to the end of the level in

minutes:seconds:milliseconds.• Combo system that increases a multiplier when the player passes through

multiple gates quickly, with an incrementally decreasing window for increasing the combo.

• A set level space for each game level.• A series of different game levels that unlock as the player clears the previous

level’s hi-score.• A level select screen that displays the unlocked levels.• A title screen.• A game over screen that displays at the end of each level.

Basic player movement controlled with the arrow keys - player has constant forward momentum, and can turn left and right around 360 degrees.

The following storyboards lay out the basic gameplay concepts and scoring strategies.


Players can control their momentum, using the UP and DOWN arrows to select between three possible speeds.

Gates automatically close over a set period of time, leaving behind a damaging hazard object when they close completely.

The player scores when the successfully pass through a gate before it closes.


The score for each gate increases the closer the gate is to closing.

However, if the player hits the hazard casued by the gate closing completely, they suffer a penalty.

Players must banance risk against reward by attempting to pass through the gate at the last posssible seocnd,

Players build a combo by passing through gates in quick succession. The combo increases the multiplier which is added to the player’s score when they pass the a gate.

The interval in which the player must pass through the next gate to continue the combo decreases the higher the combo rises, making it harder to maintain high combos.


Spawner objects move through the level on a set path, spawning gates behind them in a sequence. Players should aim to follow the spawner objects in a way that maximises the score received from these gates.

Each level of the game will have a different selection of spawner ‘creatures’ with different behaviours. Learning these behaviours is key to maximising high-score potential in each level.


PROTOTYPE BRIEF

GAME ASSETS

Develop a proof-of-concept prototype of Gate Runner to serve as a fully-featured vertical slice of what can be expected in the full game. The prototype will be feature-complete in terms of gameplay systems, and will consist of a single level of the game. Development will take place in Unity, with visual elements drawn in Photoshop and placeholder sound effects used to give an impression of the final game experience. Development time for this prototype is estimated at one week.

The game assets required for the prototype are as follows:• 3 scenes - title scene, play scene, and game over scene.• Text objects and hi-score counters for both title and game over scenes.• Player object with movement script.• Camera object with scaling script.• Gate object with script to measure closing, calculate player collision, add to

score and spawn hazard.• Hazard object with script to remove from scene after a set time.• Score text object with script to pop up and vanish when the player scores.• 3 different spawner objects, each with a spawning script and a different

movement script.• Boundary script to keep the player within the play area and scroll any spawner

objects that leave the play area.• Game Manager object to run the system and UI scripts.• Timer script that counts down to the end of the level.• Combo script that increases a multiplier when the player scores, multiplies the

score by the previous multiplier, then counts down to the end of the combo, with the time increment becoming small the higher the multiplier.

• Score script that measures the player’s score, receives their hi-score, and updates the hi-score if they pass it.

• UI text and counters to display the following information: time remaining, score, hi-score & combo multiplier.

• UI image bars to give a visual representation of the time remaining in the level and the countdown to the end of a combo.


TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

IMAGE REQUIREMENTS

• Understanding of the Unity interface for development.• C# programming capability for coding.• Ability to compile game to the Unity Web Player.• Production of high-quality art assets.• Creation of simple animations.• Sourcing of appropriate sound files.

• Unity 5.2 - Development• Monodevelop 4.0.1 - Scripting• Adobe Photoshop CC - Graphics and animations• Unity Web Player - Compiling and distribution.

• Player Object• Gate Object• Spawner Object Type A• Spawner Object Type B• Spawner Object Type C• GUI Images• Relevant fonts for headers and counters


VISUAL ASSETS

PlayerGates

Spawner A Spawner B

Fonts

Spawner C

SQUARE SANS SERIF 7

headings and titles

DIGITAL-7

COUNTERS AND TIMERs


GUI LAYOUT

Mock-up of the GUI in Unity.

GUI Sketch

The Graphical User Interface (GUI) needs to display the player’s score, high score, combo multiplier and the time remaining in the level as counters. It will also display the time remaining in the level and the combo timer as graphical bars.


DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE Development is scheduled over a 7 day period with time for overflow should the schedule lapse.

DAY 1• Set up basic project parameters like display size and camera

settings.• Create the play scene.• Create a Game Manager (GM) object to manage global level scripts.• Create the gate object hierarchy and write scripts to close the gate

and destroy the hierarchy upon close.• Create the player object, write scripts to enable forward momentum

and 360 degree movement. Establish acceleration and deceleration controls allowing for 3 possible speed the player can fluidly move between with the arrow keys.

• Create a custom camera script that follows the player and adjusts camera zoom based on the player’s speed, giving a sensation of speed.

DAY 2• Create a spawner object with basic continuous movement, write the

script that enables continuous spawning of gates that match the angle of the spawner object.

• Modify the gate script to check for player collision and add a value to a score variable. Adjust the amount of score added depending on the percentage close the gate is at the timing of scoring.

• Create a pop-up text object with a script that shows a simple fading effect, and have this display the score received when the player passes through the gate.

• Create a UI element to keep track of the player’s total score in the level.

• Add a score script to the GM to track and display the player’s current score.


DAY 3• Develop the remaining UI elements.• Add a high-score script to the GM to display the highest achieved

score.• Add a static Hi-Score variable and use PlayerPrefs to save this

between play sessions.• Add a timer script to the GM that controls the countdown to the end

of the level and displays this information as both a counter and a graphical bar.

• Add a combo script to the GM that increases a multiplier when the player scores, multiplies the score by the previous multiplier, then counts down to the end of the combo, with the time increment becoming small the higher the multiplier. Move this information to the UI as a counter and a graphical bar.

• Create the game over scene with required display text.• Add a counter to the game over scene that displays the Hi-Score.• Add a prompt and a simple button-press script to allow the player to

restart the level.• Add to the GM a function to switch to the game over scene when

the level timer expires.• Add the title scene with required display text.

DAY 4• Add the hazard object, and modify the gate script to spawn a

hazard object upon close.• Add script to the hazard object that animates the object, destroys

the object when animation is finished, checks for player collision and triggers player penalty on collision.

• Modify the player script to add a hazard penalty, removing control from the player for a set time, spinning the player object and having it end up facing a randomised direction.

• Create two new spawner objects based on the first, with modified movement and spawning scripts to create new behaviour.


DAY 5• Add a script to the GM that sets up a boundary for the play area.

The boundary area tests whether the player has moved outside of the play area, moving them back towards the play space, and also tests if any spawners have moved outside of the play area and wraps them around to the opposite side.

• Create simple background object with slight movement to give the impression of depth and speed.

• Add a script to the GM that fills the play area with background objects on startup.

• Modify the player script to spawn a trail of self-fading objects behind the player to show movement.

DAY 6• Add a function to the camera script that shakes the camera when

the player score or hits a hazard, adjusting the magnitude of the shake depending on the amount scored.

• Create a script to flash an object with either a solid colour or an alpha transparency, and apply to certain text and bar objects to draw attention to vital data.

• Download and add sound files for important game actions.• Begin polishing art assets to create a consistent visual style.

DAY 7• Finish implementing sound effects.• Finish polishing art assets.• Deal with any overflow tasks remaining from previous days.


FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

TESTING THE PROTOTYPE The Gate Runner prototype serves as a test version, allowing me to gather playtest information in order to tune and polish the way the game plays before beginning development on new levels and assets. Gate Runner is aimed at a broad audience in terms of skill level, so it’s important that I playtest the prototype with both seasoned players of arcade-style games and players new to the genre or with little play experience in general.

Playtesters will be asked to give feedback in a couple of ways. A combination of in-game stat tracking and simple check-box surveys will be used to gain quantitative feedback, while interviews and more open questionnaire will be used to get qualitative data about how well the game works.

QUANTITATIVE CONSIDERATIONS• What was the average time, total, that tester played for?• What were the longest and shortest times played for?• What was the average high score achieved by testers?• What were the highest and lowest scores achieved by testers?• How many gates did testers successfully pass through?• How many hazards did testers hit?• How many times did testers replay the game before quitting?• What is the highest combo achieved by testers?• What is the average combo achieved by testers?

QUALITATIVE CONSIDERATION• Did testers understand the basic premise and objective of the game?• Did testers find controlling the game easy or difficult?• Did the visual aesthetic help testers understand what to do?• Is the overall aesthetic appealing?• Did game feedback help understand what’s going on in the game?• Did the difficulty of the game feel fair/balanced?• Did the placement and actions of the spawner objects feel fair/balanced?• Did any optimal play strategies emerge during testing?• How much would the tester be willing to pay for a fully-developed version of the

game?


TESTING OUTCOMES

The results of playtesting will be used to answer the following questions and will inform design decision in the full version of the game:

• Do the player controls need adjusting?• Does the GUI require more or less information?• What is the best time for each level to run?• How densely populated should each level be?• What is the optimal combo increment and increment decrease to make the

scoring system feel fair and balanced?• What spawner behaviours make for an engaging flow of gameplay?• What is a reasonable expected high score required to unlock each subsequent

level?

The final version of Gate Runner will contain the following features not found in the prototype:

• 10 playable levels.• Each level has a different colour scheme and visual design.• Each level is populated with different sorts of spawner creatures.• Each type of spawner creature has different movement and spawning patterns.• The behaviour of the spawner creatures becomes more complex as levels

progress.• Levels are unlocked by achieving a set score requirement on the preceding

level.• Player’s high scores are recorded and can be viewed against the scores of

others on an online leaderboard.

IMPLEMENTATION

Sketches for potential spawner creatures to include in future levels.


The following ideas will be considered for future versions of the game, but may not make it into the first version of the full game:

• Unlockable player skins.• Procedural level generation, where the level is populated by an algorithm rather

than all objects being hand-placed.• An ‘endless’ mode where the timer is removed, and players keep playing until

they collide with a hazard object. In this mode, gates will begin the close faster the more of them you have passed through.

• A ‘combo challenge’ mode, where the timer is removed but the game ends if the player’s combo is reset. Players must complete the longest possible continuous combo.

• A competitive multiplayer mode with a continuously scrolling level, where two players compete to race through gates first.

POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS

Documents

GATE RUNNER - Tom Batteytombattey.com/design/submission/term1/Tom Battey - Design... · 2016-01-12 · TOM BATTEY 4 M.A. GAMES DESIGN CONCEPT INTRODUCTION DESCRIPTION KEY FEATURES