DecisionsPITCHING & SWOT FEEDBACKGMLFLOW AND CHOICE

ChallengeLAST WEEK

Design and build a Space-Shooter game

Use the provided collection of assets and mechanics to design and build a space-shooter game. Assets include space ships, asteroids, planets, backgrounds and aliens. Mechanics include controlling free movement of an object on screen, random generation of objects, floating across the screen, firing bullets or lasers, breaking an object into pieces, and explosions.

THIS WEEK

Top & Tail the Space-Shooter game

Challenge 1 produced the mechanics and gameplay for a space-shooter. You should now use that structure to create a space-shooter game. A player should be able to start, quit, save and restore the game. They should have multiple lives to allow them to survive, and there should be an end to the game with some form of reward for or acknowledgement of success.

Pitches Present your game idea to a small group (4-5) of other students

Speak about your idea for 3 minutes

Draw on paper or show images on screen if it helps

Bring a copy of the proposal to help you

Include the aesthetic, dynamic and mechanics

Use references and other games to establish the idea in your audience’s mind

Explain your tagline

Respond as part of group to other pitches for up to 2 minutes

Provide written feedback to each pitch

Strengths: Any element of the idea that caught your attention and you liked

Weaknesses: Anything they might want to cut out of the idea or that they could fix

Opportunities: Anything you think could be added to the idea – missing elements

Threats: What could go wrong

GML: Forms vs Code

Action Equivalents All the actions in the Drag and Drop are available as code equivalents

GameMaker Language (GML) Code is easier to read and understand

Code allows complex actions

Code is managed as the forms were, attached to events

Variable: a word that stores a number or word

Variables hold property values (speed, direction, etc) and can be changed by code

Functions: Commands that to do something (like destroy an instance or change rooms) or that return a value (like which key was pressed)

Complex actions

keyboard_check() argumentsvk_nokey keycode representing that no key is pressed

vk_anykey keycode representing that any key is pressed

vk_left keycode for left arrow key

vk_right keycode for right arrow key

vk_up keycode for up arrow key

vk_down keycode for down arrow key

vk_enter enter key

vk_escape escape key

vk_space space key

vk_shift either of the shift keys

vk_control either of the control keys

vk_alt alt key

Added functionalityROOM VARIABLES

room_exists

room_first

room_last

room_next

room_previous

room

ROOMS IN ACTION

room_speed

room_height

room_width

room_persistent

room_caption

room_get_name room_gotoroom_goto_next

room_goto_previousroom_restart

Flow and choice

Flow A challenging activity that requires skill

Activity provides clear goals and feedback

The outcome is uncertain but can be influenced by your actions

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1990). Flow – The psychology of optimal experience. London: Harper

Effects of Flow A merging of action and awareness: spontaneous, automatic action/reaction

Concentration on immediate task without mind wandering: focus on here-and-now

Loss of awareness of self, of ego – at one with the situation

Distorted sense of time (game time slows down, real time speeds up)

Experience of the activity becomes an end in itself

Moving through the story

Chess

Poker

Snakes & Ladders

Game Curve

Play

SurviveWin

Knowledge is power

Decision Skills & Knowledge

Play

Survive

Win

Learning curves

Building a Princess Saving App (PDF), by Dan Cook

Building a Princess Saving App (PDF), by Dan Cook

Game Narrative Curve

Decisions: Value judgements Resource trades. You give one thing up in exchange for another, where both are valuable.

Risk versus reward. One choice is safe. The other choice has a potentially greater payoff, but also a higher risk of failure.

Choice of actions. You have several potential things you can do, but you can’t do them all. The player must choose the actions that they feel are the most important at the time.

Short term versus long term. You can have something right now, or something better later on. The player must balance immediate needs against long-term goals.

Dilemmas. You must give up one of several things. Which one can you most afford to lose?

Meaningless decisions Obvious decisions Blind decisions