Title/Control Screen and Act Screens

It has been ages since I did the first title screen image for the game and now with the development of the game and Franklin I thought it was about time I revised this and made a finished title screen. Not only that but I also needed to finish the control screen as previous it showed absolutely no controls, and on top of that, I also needed the Act screens which play just before each level as a sort of introduction as to what the level is to do with. They also allow for players to get ready to play rather than having the level begin right away.

Without further or do, here are the screens. Enjoy!

Title Screens and Control Screen:

I actually made 2 new title screens based off 2 ideas I had. Couldn't decide in my head which one to go for so I thought I'd make both and then decide. My choice is the bottom one.

Act Screens:

More Artwork

So it's been a while since my last post so thought I had better post something up here. Over this weekend I have been working more on my engine and going hard with some more artwork. This time to do with the cleanse movies which are those that play out at the end of each level. After collecting all puzzle piece pickups in each level one of these movies will play out. The mental image of 1 of 3 memories will play out and Franklin will be then able to identify his reasoning for his anger and work through it to cleanse the negative energy that will become exposed with him identifying the cause of his anger. After Act 1: School, Franklin is reminded of "Captain Awesome". A TV program from his younger childhood days. He was the only one at school who hadn't seen it as he was not allowed to watch it at home as his parents found it too violent. For this reason, he was teased by his peers. After Act 2: Parents, Franklin is reminded of a specific brand of skateboard he wanted. He loved watching people skate and really wanted to learn how to skate himself and get in on the action, only his parents wouldn't allow it, telling him it is too dangerous. Finally, after Act 3: Social, Franklin is reminded of his primary school soccer team tryouts. He missed out to his mate Lucas who only tried out for the hell of it. Franklin didn't find this fair, he really wanted the placement not like Lucas.

Each of these memories had its own impact on Franklin leading to his feelings of anger resulting from his isolation among his peers, rejection, sadness, resentment.

Here is the artwork for these short cinematic sequences:

Franklin - Playable Character Art

Just a quick post to show the new character art for Franklin in game. 6 different positions for different controls. Up, Down, Left, Right, Idle and Ghost mode.

More Background Test BUT a Different Technique :D

Yep....More Background Tests

Playing with Background Imagery...

Some more tests of trying different techniques in creating background imagery for the levels to my game.

Interesting.

Nothing special.

Different technique. The mind is a network. Cellular channels?

Really quite like this one. Love the colours and style.

Playing with Background Imagery...

Just some tests of trying different techniques in creating background imagery for the levels to my game. Theme is "The Mind" obviously, this being the setting where Franklin is trapped.

Too light.

Interesting...

Quite like this one.

Average.

Thoughts on Added Gameplay Element

Talked to both Keaton and David about my ideas with this. Feedback was pretty positive. The general consensus is number 3, the Pacman style is the favourite idea. All 3 of us agree with that.

Feedback From Keaton:

• I think picking one and doing it well could go a long way.
• I also think that if you slimed and simplified them down, they could all be included and then you get meta game emerging between the various choices of powerups, their costs and rewards/etc which adds a mega level of depth, but could easily distract.
• Arguably it could only be pulled off if you spent a good chunk of time .. making them work together harmoniously .. dumb it out to non context and ask yourself do they all simply allow him to go in a straight line? Which your first 3 more or less fit into that category, therefore I don’t think they work differently
• The 3rd could be interesting; I would argue it could be a pickup in difficult levels, therefore controlling its use, or perhaps a reward for achieving a particular milestone, the one mulligan per 5 levels or w/e.

David was in agreement to that perhaps more than one should be used. I think I will implement the Pacman style first and then if time, I will add in another. Ghost mode could be interesting.

Addition to Gameplay

I need that extra element to my game to really differentiate it from the other games of its kind out there. At the moment its pretty much obstacle avoidance and thats the end. To shake things up I've been thinking of giving Franklin a special ability once reaching level 2. As he progresses through the game, he gets stronger as he is cleansing the negative energy within and weakening the inner monster who has control over him. With this addition of strength, it makes sense that he is capable of doing something more to help him win the fight. So what I propose is that as he gets stronger (from level 2 up), he obtains a new ability that may be used in game play.

Ideas:

1) Franklin can go "ghost" and pass through obstacles without dying.

2) Franklin can put up a shield which repels obstacles preventing him from dying and the player returning to the start of the level.

3) Pacman styles. Special power which makes obstacles vulnerable for a brief period. In this state when Franklin hits them, they die instead of him.

4) Special Power - Obstacle Reset.

Perfect for a sticky situation. Franklin can reset obstacles so their positions are re-mapped in the level allowing him to proceed without death. Could be a gamble though if the obstacles were to re-spawn in front of Franklin's path, he would still die. Could be the name of the power? "The Gamble"? :P

Limited use:

Level 2 - Once/Twice? Level 3 - Twice/Three times?

Options for use:

- Only lasts as long as a key is pressed.

- Lasts as long as a set time.

Art Progress

Franklin Sketches - For playable character

These are some sketches I've done of Franklin in different poses. These are to be used for the playable character, so when the different keys (up,down,left,right) are pressed, one of these poses will be called. I plan to draw up the proper vector artwork of these poses tonight.

Storyboard: Beginning Cinematic

As promised.

Final Cinematic - Extra?

Thought about an alternate way to end the game. Rather than have the whole cinematic play out all at once, at the point after the inner monster lunges at Franklin and Franklin easily overpowers him, I could have the monster get totally desperate for his survival and do a runner in Franklin's mind. This would then create a final level in which the player would act as Franklin once more and have to avoid all obstacles to catch the inner monster. Then the last part to the cinematic would play out, Franklin would overpower him, dark room changes to white, Franklin wakes up in the real world etc etc. Only problem with this though is time. I'm already pushed for time so making one more level could be a recipe for disaster. So for now, I will leave this as OPTION ONLY. If there is time, I'll go ahead with it, if not, the cinematic will play out as planned previous, no interruptions. Right, back to work!

Final Cinematic

This is roughly how the final cinematic will play out.

- Franklin enters a new place of entry in his mind. It is surrounded in darkness.

- The inner monster takes physical form before Franklin. He's lost his hold over Franklin.

- "You think this is over? THIS MIND, THIS BODY, belongs to me now! monster screams.

- "Ha!" Franklin laughs. "Sorry but I'm not afraid of you anymore. And the anger that created you, I'm totally over it".

- "Now now, lets be honest. Your parents, they stopped you from doing what it is you so desired to do. They kept you from that TV show, they kept you from skateboarding".

-"Yeah they did, but they were just being protective. Point is, at least they cared for me. How can I ask for more than that of them?".

-Inner monster starts to weaken, he panics. "What about your friend! He stole your place on the soccer field, it should have been you on that school team, not him!"

- "What can I say? Lucas has some mad skills. End of the day, the best man won. To get angry about it like I did was poor form. Besides, nothing stopping me from trying out again for the college team!"

-"BUT... First things first, I gotta get back to reality so it's time for you to move along, you've got no place here anymore".

-"You can't get rid of me!" monster lunges at Franklin.

- But filled with positivity and confidence, Franklin easily overpowers him. "See ya!" Franklin whispers.

- Inner monster is no more, the dark room turns to white.

- Franklin wakes up, back in the real world. The school bell rings.

- Smiling, having found peace in himself, Franklin walks to class.

Beginning Cinematic - Prior to gameplay start

I hadn't really had this bit written yet so figured I had better get on with that as I will need to be making this cinematic later this week/start of next week and have it completed by next week, preferably mid week.

This is how it goes, I will storyboard this up shortly and post that up to.

- Franklin wakes up in his mind.
- Confused, he looks around. "Where am I?"
- Moving about, "Hello!!! Anybody?!?!", he shouts.
- A transparent figure begins to appear. Franklin stands mezmorized. "....Wha...What's going on!?"...
- The figure materializes. It's.......him?
- "Stay calm Franklin, I am your inner conscience. You want to know where you are, your within your own mind".
- Franklin looks at conscience concerned..."What?!" "Allow me to explain", replies conscience.

-"You have been taken over by your inner monster, a dastardly being created out of the negative energy within you".
- "This negative energy comes from the anger you have felt throughout your years. Instead of dealing with your anger, you suppressed it and now those feelings have spawned the monster who has taken control over your physical self".
- "Fear not though, as I know how you can regain control. You must travel through your mind and cleanse the negative energy that fuels this monster".
- "To expose the negative energy you must identify the reasoning behind your anger you have felt. You must revisit specific memories of your past, each of which had an impact on you". Franklin stares blankly...
- "Good luck Franklin, Go now before all is lost!". A portal is opened beneath him, Franklin falls through.

Plan of Attack

Made a few lists of what I need, what I need to do, when to do it.

Game Make-Up:

- My logo video
- Main menu
- Start Game
- Controls
- Back to main menu
- Back Story Cinematic
- Beginning Cinematic (prior to game play)
- Act 1 Screen
- Level 1
- Cleanse Cinematic
- Act 2 Screen
- Level 2
- Cleanse Cinematic
- Act 3 Screen
- Level 3
- Cleanse Cinematic
- Final Cinematic

Timetable: (Rough)

I will aim to complete the game by October 12th, giving me 3 weeks after this date to produce the documentation and to fix any bugs/add any extra material to the game. This gives me 5 weeks from today, 7th September.

Week 1 - Finish Game Engine, Back Story Cinematic, Artwork.
Week 2 - Beginning Cinematic, Artwork.
Week 3 - Level Design, More artwork if required.
Week 4 - Cleanse movies, Final Cinematic.
Week 5 - Put together.


Artwork Required:

- Menu Screen -> Monsters/Negative Energy?
- Control Screen
- Back Story Cinematic - Approx 15 frames.
- Beginning Cinematic - Approx 12 Frames.
- Act 1 Screen -> Franklin 5 yrs.
- Act 2 Screen -> Franklin 7 yrs.
- Act 3 Screen -> Franklin 10 yrs.
- Levels:
* Lvl 1 Pickups
* Lvl 2 Pickups
* Lvl 3 Pickups
* Lvl 1 Background
* Lvl 2 Background
* Lvl 3 Background
* Lvl 1 Obstacles
* Lvl 2 Obstacles
* Lvl 3 Obstacles
* Franklin Animations (For key movements up, down, left, right)

- Cleanse Movies (Includes: Mental Images, Negative Energy, Positive Energy, Memory Stills)
* Lvl 1
* Lvl 2
* Lvl 3

- Final Cinematic - Yet to be determined. Am thinking of a way to simplify this to avoid running out of time.

Change to Back Story Storyboard

Had a good chat with Byron today about this first cinematic scene. He gave me some good advice on what to add, some good ideas for transitions between some frames, and also a lot on camera placement/line of action. With his advice on this, I changed the angles on the last few frames to keep the continuity of the cinematic and have it all comply to the line of action that I had created within the first half. So here is the last few frames, redrawn.

Storyboarding

Back Story Cinematic:

Game Engine

So over the past few days I have been developing the game engine for Acts of Anger. As coding isn't a strong point of mine, I went to the web to find myself something to build off. I couldn't find anything really suitable and most things that were close were coded in actionscript 2. What I did find though was some basic coding that called a background image from the flash library and had it scroll on the stage. It was coded in AS2 but I was able to update it to AS3 relatively easy. Now I had to get a character loaded also and controllable by the player. This was easy enough from my experience in 2D game design. I added the character script I used back in that course and added the extra necessary coding to what I had already with the scrolling background.

After that I added some boundaries to the stage as previously my character could go off screen, leaving it like this would mean having a pretty big cheat in the game. You could just float of screen until the pickups came along to grab. Once this was done I then had to add pickups and obstacles to the engine. I didn't have much luck but with some help from a class mate I was able to include these things in the game. While they do work, the code for pickups isn't the greatest. Thankfully though I have got in touch with Ben Jack and he's going to help me set these things right in the game. He coded up a platformer engine with pickups/obstacles recently, with him being this years tutor for 2D game design. So while I now have a complete engine, by the end of this next week I hope to have a complete engine, well written/stable, and that I can easily link my levels together.

Without further or do though, here is how the engine is running in its current state:

http://bluespark.fileave.com/angerengine7.swf

What's included:

Background scrolls, you have a controllable character with animations playing with different keys hit, boundaries on the stage, pickups - stars. collect 3 and the 2nd level starts though this has nothing built into it yet, obstacles - red circles. hit these and you return to the start of the level.