Howdy folks! This is Mitch, one of the designers in Team Nyan: I've temporarily wrested control of the blog from our oppressive taskmasters glorious leaders Leanne and Suneil in order to broadcast this distress call message of Empyrean bliss.
Things are going very well here - we're just about at the Game Jam's halfway point, and so far we've kept up with our personal milestones in the game's design and development. Day One was given over to design, and we had set the goal of having our game planned out on paper before attempting any implementation: not only did we meet that target, but we had several hours' worth of getting a head start on our goal for Day Two: creating a prototype. Day Two itself (today!) was tough: everyone was tapping away at one thing or another, each working to meet their own goals and complete their own tasks so that we could meet the group milestone for the day; and while it was hard work, it felt amazing knowing that each of us had the opportunity not only to build something with our own personal touch, using our own skills and knowledge - but that what each of us built would come together with all the other elements created by other members of the group, and it would form the gestalt of our game, The Rapture, in only a few short days. Most of my work included figuring out an effective layout of all the elements of our Graphic User Interface and implementing that in Unity3D. Luckily, I had a ruler, so it was easy to measure the success of my layouts! Ahaha! Aha! Ahaha! Ahem...
The Graphic User Interface may not be the first thing that comes to mind when one has to think of what makes a great game - but it can certainly contribute to making a bad game if it's implemented inefficiently. The GUI is what seperates the player from the game itself, and as such it acts as an translator or intermediary: or, in keeping with our theme, an intercessor, allowing for a communication between the player and game. The player must be provided some means of providing an input to the game, and also to have a way to have information output back to them. In terms of our game, our input is mouse-clicks (to select souls to send to Heaven or Hell) and pressing the spacebar (to switch between Heaven Mode and Hell Mode, allowing the player to choose where to send them); our output is the game screen itself (of course), as well as the quantity and type (Saint or Sinner) of souls in Heaven and Hell, the player's score, and whether or not they're in Heaven Mode or Hell Mode. Feedback is pivotal in a user interface, not only in terms of the information about the game session regarding score, time remaining or similar, but also in the way the player manipulates the user interface: if a buttonpress does not come with some kind of feedback, the player will be at a loss to determine if the game actually received the buttonpress - this can be easily rectified by playing an appropriate sound (aural feedback), animation (visual feedback) or physical sensation like vibration (haptic feedback) when the button is pressed. All of these things must be represented in a user interface to make sure the player has the most rewarding experience possible when interacting with the game. Phew.
Later in the day we had a brief meeting to make sure everything was on track, and to work out some of the details with how our game actually played, adjusting win conditions, tweaking numbers, discussing what tasks we had to do and when they'd be done, and all that good stuff. At the end, I tried to get the group to do that thing that sports teams do when they huddle round and put their hands in to the center and then they cheer. In a demonstration of unbreakable team spirit, everyone simultaneously gave me a displeased look and walked away, so I put my other hand in the center and cheered with myself. Go Team!
Tomorrow, it looks like another busy day: I'll be designing the banners, buttons and GUI skins to put over the top of all the underlying GUI elements. I've learned from past experience that I can't rely on Unity3D to agree with how I lay out those elements (probably something to do with violating feng shui principles), but at least I can rely on my team unity! Ahaha! Haha! Ahahaha! Ahem...
I'd better go before the angry gods benevolent masters Leanne and Suneil find this post. Luckily I've got a more secure channel over on my personal game design blog HypArcStudios.wordpress.com, so I'll no doubt be putting more of my experiences with the Game Jam over there too. See you all around!
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