Thursday, November 6, 2014

HW 13

Our game offers the player a feeling of control through the choice of weapons.  This is a form of indirect control through constraints.  The player is able to pick from among three weapons, a laser sword, a disc launcher and a laser gun.  At any point during the game the player can feel free to switch to whichever weapon they feel most comfortable with or whichever one will afford the greatest advantage at the time.
We'll also exert indirect control using goals when it comes to the main game play.  The player will be tasked with securing several hub points, which are like king-of-the-hill locations in other games.  The other goal, however, is in opposition to this; they will have to destroy the enemies so that the motherboard does not become completely overrun in the time it takes to secure a hub location.  We will design the game to make it impossible to do only one goal and neglect the other, forcing the player to both interact with the enemies and the hub locations.
We will also be directing the player with the interface we use.  The player will know from the beginning the basic functions they can expect from the main character by looking at the interface.  We'll be using a keyboard and mouse, so standard movement in 3D space on a 2D plane like other games seems natural.  Also the weapons available will be clearly denoted on the screen.  We don't think the player will be confused about interacting with things because the only objects will be either obstacles that are part of the terrain or enemies that are clearly hostile.
Visual design will come into play when we try to direct the player to explore the motherboard and find the hub locations as well as engage with the enemies.  The book talks about lines on the floor being a visual cue to follow.  We'll probably be able to do the same thing because our terrain will be designed with colored lines on the floor, implying where the player is able to or should go. 
I think we'll be able to use NPCs to direct the player through the story we put together.  The main character is tasked with entering the computer and fighting viruses in cyberspace.  The urgency builds because the character is part of a small team of scientists that are all depending on you to succeed and defeat the terrorist group that is sabotaging the lab computers and data.
We'll definitely be using music and other sound effects to subtly control the player's behavior.  Generally we want a sense of urgency for the player, so fast paced music will be used when the player is in the middle of a wave of enemies and they also have to find the hub locations.

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