Unit 4 and 5: Game Evaluation

Unit 4 and 5: Game Evaluation

Brief

The initial brief was to make a game that has clowns in it, we could do anything with this concept.

Level Design Idea

Plot: A man/woman was abandoned by a taxi driver on the road, due to some issue with the road ahead. The character is given directions quickly before the driver drove away. The character (man/woman) then travels through a natural environment (Level 1). In this level you are introduced with combat, due to a wild animal wanting to kill you. Then finally you arrive at a village (Level 2) The character wants to find the reason on why most of the population of the village has left so suddenly. With t problems talking to the villagers due to them locking themselves in there homes. the character then sets of to the main square, which he finds a clown in centre of. The clown then fights you with some help of other clowns. When the clowns are killed one of the villagers shouts you over and explains. The person explains on the history of the village and the "Killer Clowns" and where they live. This then takes you to the "Killer Clown tent" (Level 3). The villager that most of population didn't leave and in fact have been taken. Your objective is to collect (save) them before they are killed. When all the villagers are safe the character/player has to fight the boss in which eventually killed all the clowns in the place.

Weapons

Mostly melee but the odd fire-arm

Guns are less likely to be found compared to the melee weapons and so you will have to explore the game more to find these weapons.

Genre

Third Person-Shooter (with some other styles involved in mid-game).

It also allows free-roam which you can explore the map in more depth.

Platform

This would be made primarily for PC, yet could work for other platforms such as the console or mobile device.

The Main Screen

When in the main screen for the game it will have two options:

"Play"

"Chapter"

The title screen will have 3 original backgrounds relating to the level:

Level 1: Will have a peaceful background of a mountain side and a lake.

Level 2: Will have a village in the background with some clowns seen in the shadows.

Level 3: Will have a clown and a tent in the background.

These images will be taken when you "PrtScn" the level. The animations will be created individually.

The main title screen will be identical to the last level design with some miner tweaks.

A idea would be a clowns eye following the selected option (play/chapters) or for PC it would follow the mouse cursor.

Level 1

This will be designed by: James Bentley

This will be based in a natural environment, that is peaceful and untouched.

This level will be set in the morning.

Ideal objects created:

Rocks, water, path, trees, mountains, grass, cliffs etc.

Information: This level won't have any combat compared to the other levels as the characters are investigating the klown tent and they wouldn't have weapons going in, they will have to stealth their way past the klowns whilst exploring, if a player gets caught they will be chased until either the klown catches up and kills you or you lose them by finding a hiding spot, before escaping the player would have to find the room filled with all the human bodies which are encased in cocoons, the player would find their first weapon here and it would end with the player running away from a horde of klowns and out of the circus tent whilst avoiding obstacles and enemy projectiles that would slow them down.

Level 2

This will be designed by: Luke Anderson

This will be based in a village that has little to no people in it, due to its stories of the "Killer Clowns"

This level will be set at mid-day. and have much vegetation due to many people not leaving there homes.

Ideal objects created:

House, rocks, grass, trees and other items related to the village etc,

Information: Level 2 is the second level and less places for the player to hide from the Klowns. The player will have the ability to find melee weapons easiest in this stage and there will ranged weapons scattered about the town. Their will be klowns in the street which you can sneak around but there will enough melee weapons to fight the klowns but not enough for you to beat all of them.

When you head to the police station to get weapons, a clown how is controlling Officer Mooney like a puppet will attack you as a boss. The boss can use: Officer Mooney's gun, his baton and his taser. To defeat the boss you have to attack the klown that is controlling Officer Mooney, you only need to attack the klown three times but he is using Officer Mooney as a shield so you can't attack him until he lets his guard down to taunt at you.

Level 3

This will be designed by: both of us.

This will be based in the abandoned circus which no one dares to enter.

This will be set at night.

Most of the level will be set inside the tent, however the level will contain a outside environment.

Ideal objects created:

Clowns, tent, environment (objects), and simple puzzles.

Information: Level 3 is the last level and has a much different game style in the game. In this level when you enter the tent the player will drop their gun and lose it. The player will be vulnerable to the killer clowns until the player finds a weapon of some sort. Having no weapon makes it difficult to kill the clowns which results into the player having to make up a strategy when avoiding the clowns. This makes the player go through the maze hoping they find all the collectables (survivors) before being found by a clown.

When all survivors are found a exit will be shown and which you can go through. When the player exits they have to fight a boss which cannot be damaged by bullets, yet can be damaged by the surroundings. The boss brings in a wave of clowns which you have to kill, after each wave is destroyed a item will glow that you can shoot, this will damage the boss (klown). The boss has 3 lives that results into having 3 waves, each wave gets increasingly hard.

When you kill the boss all the other clowns will be killed and all the items relating to clowns such as the tent would disappear. Then a small credit screen will appear, which would then take you to the main screen.

How it matches or doesn't match the brief

Our game matches the brief that was set out by Wayne but it does not fit my original brief because I have changed my game to only include one level that is set in a prison and has its own unique plot that is completely different to the plot that I had set out. We have changed the amount of levels from three small levels that took place in different environments to one big level that takes place in one environment.

Changes I've made and why?

The story of the game has changed drastically since the initial idea. The reason this was changed was because of my first partner leaving the course in March, so I teamed up with someone else so that I could finish the game, when I teamed up with someone else we thought up a new idea about the game and we made drastic changes to the game.

The setting of the game has changed drastically since the initial idea. The reason this was changed was because of how we changed the story so much that we had to change the environment to suit the story.

The gameplay had changed from a first person shooter to a third person since the initial idea. The reason this was changed is because of how much easier it was to make a game with a first person shooter gameplay rather than a third person shooter gameplay.

The objective of the game has changed since the initial idea. The reason this was changed is because we didn't know how to make code that we make it so the player could collect things to unlock the end of a level.

The amount of levels has changed since the initial idea. The reason this was changed is because we decided to make one big level when compared to three small levels.

The weapon variety has changed since the initial idea. The reason this was changed is because we weren't able to figure out how to code the physical weapons and how to animate the player using the weapon.

The ability to sneak around the enemies has changed since the initial idea. The reason this was changed is because we didn't have time to code the enemies A.I. to search for the player and chase them. 

Improvements I could of made

If I had more time, money and resources, I would have improved the game by making the prison that the game is set in bigger, this would have improved the game by allowing us to add in more obstacles and level set pieces which would of allowed us to enhance the gameplay experience.

I would have improved the game by adding objectives that could make the game more fun to play and encouraged the player to explore the level and not make it feel like a waste of time.

I would have improved the game by make it have more weapons collectables and enemy variety so the game would be more interesting to play,

I would have improved the game by giving the player the ability to sneak around the enemy which would increase replayability of the game.