Wraith (prototype)

edited in Projects
image
Hiya,

This is a prototype to test a basic game-play loop as discussed here.

The idea is to stay clear of time-consuming development features (art, level-design, proc-gen, story, AI etc.) and focus purely on minimalist features/mechanics that satisfies the game-loop. And absolutely no juice (particle fx etc), though I might make an exception for screen-shake (all prototypes must find a way to incorporate it somehow).

This approach is to test how quickly one can determine if a prototype is worth pursuing, by trying to satisfy the gameplay loop as early as possible.

Levels (9 circles of Hell):
image
image
The basic game loop (in words, Maslow's Needs Hierarchy: Level 2, Protection of resources, health, property):

1) protect me and my stuff
2) combine/craft things to better protect me and my stuff against ever increasing threats (customise my experience, my way, so I feel clever, Maslows Needs Hierarchy Level 5: Self Actualisation)
3) collect things to craft better things and make exploring safer/more efficient
4) explore further, while protecting myself, to collect things to craft to better protect me and my stuff

The rough theme is: "Hellish" and is chosen to give context to the player and determine early naming for things like loot pickup and crafted items. Mostly for flavour.

Basic mechanics: Your base/crafting station (soul pedestal) needs to be protected. Escape from hell.

Keep well, K

Playable Build (PC):
Thanked by 1iceblademush

Comments

  • edited
    The game-loop described above has and is being repeated over and over again in so, so many games. The mechanics, art and settings may differ, giving the illusion that it's different, but really it's not. I feel it when I go through my Steam/Epic/Gog/MS backlogs. We live in a world where imitation trumps. Innovation is what is required to evolve our game
    dev passion. We need to maybe come up with new and refreshing game-loops to make riveting games again. This game loop seems to address Maslow's Needs Hierarchy (Level 2, Protection of resources, health, property). Determining different game loops may require looking at the other levels of the hierarchy, because why else would someone enjoy the game from a psychological perspective? I just want to fire up a game and think, yeah man, this rocks! Instead of easily dissecting it's innards and putting it in a box, labeling it as such and such, of already tried and tested concepts. Bleh. Anyhow.
  • edited
    Hi, I've made good progress and managed to add crafting recipes to go along with the loot drops. I will share a build when it's playable. I have added a playable build link in the original post.
    image
  • edited
    Doing crafting early has some interesting spinoffs. I can now play around easier with the defense mechanics. For example maybe a crafting recipe that creates a turret that can be placed, or a ward (shield) that protects an area for a limited time, or a holy water bomb that can be thrown etc. Before I expand on recipes more however, I want to look at basic melee and ranged attacks for both player and enemies (simple ray-cast and line renderer), because the current bump attack is meh. Next up, also enemy spawns. Maybe the enemies spawn in waves, each new wave is indicated by a count-down timer and contains more enemies with higher attack/defense stats? They then steadily advance on the players crafting station (soul pedestal) that needs to be defended. Dunno, could work? Is this heading towards a tower defense style? I hope not, dear lord! LOL
  • edited
    image
    I've added some basic ranged attacks last night. I want to throw the current implementation away though in favour of a weapon/bullet abstract factory to allow for some more variance in weapon/bullet types possible. Projectiles versus lazer beam types etc. To make the mechanics a bit more interesting.

    The ultimate goal of this prototype is not to make a game per se, but more to explore the thought process that might be relevant in supporting the end goal. The real question is, why do we make games? Who is the audience? Why do we play games and enjoy them? How do we make games efficiently to support all that? Is it possible to evolve?

    PS: This animated gif was recorded with screentogif, a handy little free tool.

    Edit: The playable build has been updated. (see 1st post for link)
    Thanked by 1dark_seth
  • edited
    The biggest flaw of this prototype might prove to be the gameplay loop. Why? Because I applied no game design effort at all at the start. Zero. I am simply imitating what is known and tested before. Can it be salvaged? Can the mechanics save it perhaps? The art maybe? Or is it the gameplay loop (fulfilling human needs) that needs adjusting?
    I might just spend some more time on it to find out... :)
  • Ah ScreentoGif is a real handy little tool. Yeah Game loop for me was the problem. Also if I didn't read all your posts I would not have known what is was about.

    So. What I got in my mind. Play around with prototypes until you feel you have something good,unique.
    Find a base concept and story for a game that your can try and follow cause as we all know things evolve.
    Get a game loop that fits your game and story and then go into the meat of development.
    Thanked by 1konman
  • @dark_seth That sounds like a good approach. Yeah, It would be pretty boring if the consensus is for a set sequential recipe to go about it all as described here and not be able to evolve it or swap the sequence around.

    I like introducing better art early, because it helps with inspiration while prototyping, as does SFX and music.
    We don't always build prototypes with an end goal in mind and the journey is usually more fun that way.

    Anyways, I've expressed my thoughts/opinions on the philosophy as discussed and I'll post again at the end of
    the proto if I do get there. I'll check your prototype out as well to see how you progress. :)
    Thanked by 1dark_seth
  • Is Maslow's Needs Hierarchy correct and complete?

    To satisfying one's own needs. I don't like the concept at all, the whole "needs" hierarchy thing. It seems selfish. Is that how we have classified ourselves? In such a limited way. Is it true? Is that the de-facto definition of humanity? Is it so one-dimensional? Ugly? To first serve one-self before the "need" arises to serve others? Well I reject that and the philosophy then. Have I miss-interpreted it? We have to be better than just that, surely. There has to be more to the human psyche than what some old dinosaur as written down and has been considered as the final borders of how humanity defines itself. If the bible can be doubted I am sure Maslow can be too.

    The question then is... is Maslow's opinion a valid guideline to follow, in designing a game-loop, to develop a game with a human audience in mind? Or is humanity far more complex than what the text prescribes? And therefore so is game development? I am at a cross-roads regarding this.
  • edited
    I'd hate to prove Maslow right in continuing this monologue.
    I shall continue to try to solve the riddle by chatting to others.
    A public forum is not the correct place to figure it out though :)
  • edited
    Maslow phoned me the other day and told me everything will be alright and I should just get on with the prototype. He assured me his "needs hierarchy" is indeed complete, but he might pencil in "games" somewhere between the need for water and air to make things easier for me and that being selfish, in satisfying ones own needs first, is part of being human.

    image

    With this prototype I have learnt that the discipline and skill of "game design" has the lowest barrier of entry as opposed to the others... coding and art etc., but it is also the hardest to master and therefore should probably be given the attention it requires before I start on any new prototype, by using a simple pen and piece of paper. Something that I have neglected in so many prototypes, including this one.

    It's a wrap for this prototype for me. The game can be completed. The latest build has been updated and features more crafting recipes, basic AI etc. to be able to progress through it. If you do download and play, any feedback would be very useful, thanks.

    Cheers,
    K
  • konman said:
    Maslow phoned me the other day and told me everything will be alright and I should just get on with the prototype. He assured me his "needs hierarchy" is indeed complete, but he might pencil in "games" somewhere between the need for water and air to make things easier for me and that being selfish, in satisfying ones own needs first, is part of being human.

    image

    With this prototype I have learnt that the discipline and skill of "game design" has the lowest barrier of entry as opposed to the others... coding and art etc., but it is also the hardest to master and therefore should probably be given the attention it requires before I start on any new prototype, by using a simple pen and piece of paper. Something that I have neglected in so many prototypes, including this one.

    It's a wrap for this prototype for me. The game can be completed. The latest build has been updated and features more crafting recipes, basic AI etc. to be able to progress through it. If you do download and play, any feedback would be very useful, thanks.

    Cheers,
    K
    Very good read. You must teach me that Inventory system one day

  • edited
    @dark_seth Thanks, it was fun to explore. I've attached a zip with 5 code files if you want to scratch around in it. The code is not production ready and there may be some swear words in comments somewhere, don't judge me! ;P

    Inventory.cs goes on player object.
    Craft.cs goes on crafting station (soul pedestal).
    LootDatabase.cs goes on Game object (uses Loot.cs) which calls MakeLoot() on start.
    LootOnGround.cs goes onto loot prefab spawned when enemy dies.


    The loot drops are based on randomly picking from weighted DropTables per level (see LootDatabase.cs).
    It can cater for uniques and guaranteed drops (if the player has some really bad RNG luck and we need to put them out of their missery and just give them the item already).

    A lot of it is not implemented in this proto, but it's in the code.

    Cheers,
    K
    Thanked by 1dark_seth
  • edited
    ... and the zip. (Anyone is free to use it as they need)
    zip
    zip
    Wraith-InventoryLoot.zip
    11K
  • konman said:
    @dark_seth Thanks, it was fun to explore. I've attached a zip with 5 code files if you want to scratch around in it. The code is not production ready and there may be some swear words in comments somewhere, don't judge me! ;P

    Inventory.cs goes on player object.
    Craft.cs goes on crafting station (soul pedestal).
    LootDatabase.cs goes on Game object (uses Loot.cs) which calls MakeLoot() on start.
    LootOnGround.cs goes onto loot prefab spawned when enemy dies.


    The loot drops are based on randomly picking from weighted DropTables per level (see LootDatabase.cs).
    It can cater for uniques and guaranteed drops (if the player has some really bad RNG luck and we need to put them out of their missery and just give them the item already).

    A lot of it is not implemented in this proto, but it's in the code.

    Cheers,
    K

    Thanks konman. Will play around with it!
    Thanked by 1konman
Sign In or Register to comment.