Game Vision Statement

Evergreen

In this blog post I will be discussing my ideas and the vision I have for my new game "EverGreen" through a "Gave Vision Statement". I will be describing my ideas and the design of my game. I chose this name after brainstorming many other names. I looked at other gardening game names to make sure I didn't chose a name that is already being used. I settled on Evergreen because it's short simple and related to nature/gardening. "In botany, an evergreen is a plant whose "foliage remains green and functional through more than one growing season."

Introduction: Evergreen is an arcade/simulation style games suitable for all age groups and abilities to be played on a computer for now but will be developed to be played on a phone/tablet in the future. The player must help miss evergreen to keep her secret garden alive by planting and water her beautiful flowers. This relaxing game is a fun escape form everyday stress and is fun for all the family. Suitable for a wide range of age groups and abilities. It is a fun and simple game to play.

Background: When researching and brainstorming this Idea my original inspiration came from my mother but as I began to develop it I researched other games that have a similar concept . I looked at "Hive and Honey" by Onerat Games (here) a bee and garden simulation game for the pc, "Alice green fingers" by BigFish games (here) a buy and sell gardening simulation game also made for the pc and  Minecraft by Mojang Studios (here) a world simulation game where you can design and create your own world, made for the pc and now can be played on any smart phone or tablet. The games I listed above are the games I kept in mind when deigning my idea, I took inspiration from the game play and design. 

Description: When you the player first opens the game you will be met with Mrs.Evergreen a kind old lady with her gardening get up on. She will then explain the rules to you in a speech bubble, how the game works and what your goal is. You will start with a blank slate of grass. You will be able to control Mrs.Evergreen and help her plant a flower, water it so it will grow to its full potential but make sure you remember to water your flowers properly other wise they will dray up or get flooded and die. Your aim is simple so just enjoy planting the pretty flowers and watching your garden expand. The only time limit you may face is getting the flowers watered in time other than that this game is simply a relaxing escape to your secret garden. 

Key Features: 

• Relaxing music: there will be no change in music tempo or volume at any time during the game I would like to keep a calm environment and not add any pressure with different sounds. 
• Simple Controls: the game will be easy to control so it is able to be played by a wide variety of age groups and abilities this will be an inclusive enjoyable game. I also want the controls to translate well from playing on a computer/laptop to playing on a smart phone or tablet. 
• Game Play: I want the game to be played at a relaxed speed, but not so slow its boring but I do not want Mrs.Evergreen running around the garden like a crazy lady.  

Genre: When I think of this game it seems to fit in to a wide range of genres at first I  thought it was an arcade game but it didn't have some of the features most arcade games have like short levels, high scores and lives. It didn't have the pressure of an arcade game. So now I would describe it as game with a mix of simulation and arcade game features. I would describe it as a fun gardening simulation game for now but as it gets developed I think I could find better words to use to describe it.

Platforms: I think the game concept is applicable to multiple platforms, The game will be developed to play on the PC at first but I think it would easily translate to a game you could play on your phone or tablet as the controls are simple. I intend for this to be a single player game as adding a second player will add a level of competition and that defeats the relaxing, simple aspect of the game.

Concept Art:

(Image one two three and four)

 

UnityTutorial03

During the Unity Task this week we worked on a new project named "Prototype2".It was similar to the first one as it was 3D and used some of the same code so it was too daunting. I started off very confident and sped through the first few videos with no problem but I hit a road block during the last two videos of Unit2-Basic Gameplay (Feed The Animals) Lesson 2.1Player positioning. 

This weeks Unity Tutorial was a struggle for me. I made a mistake during the first tutorial and after going through the whole thing three times I just could not find my mistake. Thats the hard thing about the unity tutorial and just coding in general one letter out of place and my game would not run. I spent the recommended time on this task but I had to stop and take a break as I was getting no where and decided I am going to take a step back and work on another task for week05 and come back to the Unity Tutorial later. If I still can't find my mistake I will just do as much as I can in the videos. 

I have done a few extra credits for this module each week and I have not missed a deadline on any task to date so I'm not worried that this will effect my grand but it is discouraging. I will update the blog later when I attempt the Unity Tutorial again, I think I ma going to have to start from scratch. :(

lern.unity.com

Game MDA

 The first article I read was titled MDA: A formal approach to game design and game research (here).  It discussed MDA (Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics) which is an approach taught to people so they can understand  game design and development, criticise games and do technical game search.  This will make it easier to decompose, design and study games.  The MDA framework breaks games into three components 1. Rules 2.System and 3.Fun.  The article continues to break down each components model starting with aesthetics the example they used was "Charades and Quake are both competitive. They succeed when the various teams or players in these games are emotionally invested in defeating each other." The example they use for the dynamic model is "Dynamics work to create aesthetic experiences. For example, challenge 

Mda Frame work

is created by things like time pressure and opponent play." and the example they use for Mechanic is "For example, the mechanics of card games include shuffling, trick-taking and betting ñ from which dynamics like bluffing can emerge." The article wraps up by explaining that by understanding how formal decisions about gameplay impact the end user experience, we are able to better decompose that experience, and use it to fuel new designs, research and criticism respectively.

I enjoyed the video in this weeks learning tasks titled"Explaining the MDA Design Framework | Video Game Design" it explains the MDA framework in simpler term. It gave great examples of how he uses the framework. He also explains how we can put the framework into practice and use it to improve any game we are working on currently.