C4K: Town

This is an overhead view of the town. After playing it a couple times, Sage complained about the size. He suggested moving the buildings closer together; I might increase the player speed.

There's a billboard past the library, but I think I might move it up closer, so you could see it from the basketball court.

Fifth Sun: Roadmap

This is Fifth Sun, or rather just Fifth Sun's Combat SuperEpic. We've established how difficult for the team each feature would be to build, and then ordered them in terms of importance. Features which are important enough to consider, but are not critical to the final vision are placed in the backlog. Should any of the features be completed ahead of schedule, this frees up time for backlogged features to be developed.

Features:

1. Character Movement (13)
2. Interaction with enemies (40)
3. GUI (40)
4. Save functions (40)
5. Health (5)
6. Mana (5)
7. Weapon Leveling Script (8)
8. Weapon and abilities attacks (13)
9. Weapon and ability animations (20)
10. Kill animations (20)
11. Enemy design (20)
12. Enemy AI (20)
13. Enemy scaling (40)
14. XP tables (20)
15. Accurate art design (5)
16. Non-linear progress (8)
17. Cutscenes (40)

BackLog:

1. Quick Select (20)
2. Hidden content (5)

Fifth Sun: Presentation

• We are West State Studios, and this is our game, Fifth Sun.

• Fifth Sun is a real-time, top-down, hack-and-slash PC game with possible release on Steam or Desura.

• A screenshot mock-up showing Toci in Tenochtitlan.

• Here's the isolated GUI showing health, mana, weapons equipped, weapon levels, and player level.

• And a brief look at the weapon select GUI.

• With Fifth Sun, we're going for a bit like Binding of Isaac, 

• With some Hotline Miami, but more about open spaces and hoards of enemies.

• Hammerwatch is another similar game, but with a bit more RPG focus.

• What makes our game different?
• 2-d, top-down combat, but against multitudes of enemies and in large open spaces.
• Inventory allows mixing and matching, allowing the player to find a style they like.
• Skill-tree unlock system.

• Fifth Sun is for mid-core PC gamers, aged 22 - 28. 

• People who might play: Amy. Amy enjoys hard games and is looking for a challenge. 

• Rick is more interested in the abnegation and sense-pleasure Fifth Sun offers.

• Gene plays games for the story. Fifth Sun is most appealing for him because of the ongoing narrative of the Aztecs fighting Spanish forces.

• From the existing market, you can see we are priced competitively for the relative length of our game, approximately 10 - 15 hours of gameplay for one play-through. 

• Building West State would cost $16,745, with monthly operational costs of $7,395.

• Over the course of the eight month project, this totals $79,905.

Let's Look At: Copz 4 Kidz

Let's Look At: the player's house.

From the start screen, when the player presses Start, they are taken here.

This is originally where a player select option would have been, but the feature was cut, and thus, this happened.

From here the player enters the next room

Should the player return to the house having completed any of the games, they might see this (although they'd be entering from the other door):

This is the exterior view of the house. Once the player leaves the house, they are brought to the town. The green wire frame on the path is the box collider which triggers the player's option of returning into the house.

Cops for kids: Animations

Here is the first child walking.

And the police dog.

And the fire dog.

The children were made in 32x32 whereas the adults are 64x64. The resulting effect is that adults will look a bit more complex or detailed, while children are blocky. The underlying reason, trying to hint at growth, maturity, and knowledge that comes with age and civil service, is something that needs to be stated implicitly due to the very nature of children. There are fundamentally two types of children:

• The ones that'll do something when you tell them to. Let's call them (I don't feel like coming up with names) 'girls'.

• The ones that do the exact opposite. These will be 'boys'.

This game isn't for 'girls', although 'girls' will be able to play and enjoy. This is a game for 'boys' in that we aren't going to force them to do anything. All the game is designed to do is present obstacles to the child, which the child solves by utilizing police and fire services, and then the child is rewarded. We're not telling them to call the police and fire departments, all we're doing is showing scenarios where kids and public services work together to solve problems. And also presenting information about local police and fire departments. Kids are smart enough to do the rest.

So back to the art- we can't say adults are smarter, we just imply it by making them imperceptibly more complex.

Also, none of that actually matters to anyone in even the slightest.

Fifth $un

This is Fifth Sun, i.e. how much it costs.

8 month dev time
Team size 10

Legal - $305

Administrative and filing fees........................$250
Copyright.........................................................$55

Operations - $15,750

Router/modem...............................................$200
Fridge............................................................$650
Desks...........................................................$3000
Chairs..........................................................$1300
Tables............................................................$400
Computers...................................................$9500
Wacoms........................................................$600
Printer...........................................................$100


Tools and Middleware - $690

Reaper SFX...................................................$250
SFX...............................................................$400
DbPoweramp..................................................$40


Fixed Total - $16,745

Monthly Costs

Rent............................................................$1800
Soda.............................................................$150
Snacks..........................................................$100
Meals..........................................................$3000
Coffee...........................................................$100
Phone/internet..............................................$140
Utilities.......................................................$2000
Misc. office supplies.....................................$100
SEO.............................................................$1000
Website.............................................................$5

Schedule

Month One................................................$24,140
Month Two.................................................$7,395
Month Three...............................................$7,395
Month Four.................................................$7,395
Month Five.................................................$8,395
Month Six...................................................$8,395
Month Seven...............................................$8,395
Month Eight................................................$8,395

Total..........................................................$79,905


That's right. To build this project is $79,905.
I don't have anything witty to say; $80,000 is a lot of money.

Road to the Roadmap: The Gambler (sans holding or folding)

If something (a game, but as with all my teachings, this can be applied to all of life) is to be built, the two most important things to first accomplish are knowing the team and knowing the task.

Take Fifth Sun- please.

Those UserStories: each one is categorized based on it's relevance to the project (MoSCoW): Must, Should, Could, Won't.

MUST: GUI, Balanced XP tables, Weapon animations, Weapon effects, Multiple-weapon script, Enemy animation, Enemy AI, Player movement, Save game, Non-regenerating health, Regenerating mana.

SHOULD: Difficulty curve, Accurate art design, Non-linear progression, Gratuitous blood, Hidden content.

COULD: Pre-boss cutscenes, Boss health bars.

WON'T: (there's nothing we won't do)

The UserStories and their ratings have put everyone on the same page as to what the project is; Planning Poker now establishes how difficult it would be for the team to create them.

Scale of Tasks

100 - SuperEpic. All the epics; this is the widest scope.
40
20 - Epic. Values and features.
13
8 - Value. Various features.
5 - Feature. A collection of tasks.
3
2
1 - Task. This is the most basic activity.
0

The features fleshed out in the UserStories analyzed one by one, each team member placing a bid as to how hard to the tasks are. Then the team looks at all the bids and talks about why.

Should the team not know how to do any part, chores and spikes can be added. Chores are the process of research, and spikes are the implementation into the project.

User Stories

Now that we know our users - Amy, Rick, and Gene - we can start doing impressions of them, making fun of them behind their back. Hey look at me I'm Amy/Rick/or Gene and this is what I want in a video game.

Also: As a [persona] I want [feature] so I can [result]. 

Good users stories follow the principles of I.N.V.E.S.T.

Independent - user stories cannot rely on other user stories.
Negotiable - user stories are not set in stone.
Valuable - user stories are aimed at creating value for the user.
Estimatable - user stories size are understood.
Scalable - user stories can be scaled.
Testable - user stories must provide conditions for completion.


These are UserStories focusing on Fifth Sun's SuperEpic of Combat.

As: Amy
I want: Varied weapons and abilities
So I can: Use different strategies

• Each weapon and ability has a unique area of effect
• Weapons have specific effects on certain enemies

As: Gene
I want: Varied weapon and ability animations
So I can: Enjoy the differences of each attack

• All 6 weapons have unique animations
• All 20 abilities have unique animations

As: Gene
I want: Special animations for ultimate abilities
So I can: Sense I'm at the height of my power

• All 4 ultimate abilities have unique animations
• All 6 weapons at max level have different animations

As: Rick
I want: Simple Controls
So I can: Complete the game with ease.

• Game controls are explained at the start/whenever the player needs them
• Game requires only a few keys to fight/move

As: Amy
I want: A save game function
So I can: Take breaks

• develop checkpoints
• UI for saving
• create save file
• Able to load save

As: Amy
I want: Varied attack ranges and types
So I can: Use weapons in particular circumstances, against different enemies

• Each area of effect is different
• Some weapons and abilities do things

As: Amy
I want: Non-regenerating health
So I can: Have a challenge staying alive

• Spare health pickups
• Health does not regenerate

As: Amy
I want: Access to abilities, but without making the challenge of the game meaningless
So I can: Use my abilities wisely

• Mana regenerates at a slow, but fair pace

As: Gene
I want: Varied enemies
So I can: Get excited to see new opponents

• All 8 enemy types are visually distinct
• All 8 enemy types have different attacks/ranges/weapons

As: Amy
I want: Varied enemy AI
So I can: Be challenged

• All 8 enemy types have different attack styles

As: Amy
I want: Hard Difficulty Curve
So I can: Be challenged throughout the game, especially late game.

• Enemy AI Scales appropriately as the game progresses

As: Gene
I want: Accurate weapon depictions
So I can: Enjoy the historical references

• Art follows historical designs: weapon skins, character design, Tenochtitlan map, enemy design

As: Amy
I want: Non linear progression around island
So I can: Play through the game numerous times

• Open skill tree
• Scaling unlocks

As: Rick
I want: A lot of blood
So I can: Enjoy the brutality of war

• All death animations use excessive amounts of gore
• All fighting animations include excessive amounts of gore

As: Amy
I want: Hidden Content
So I can: Explore the game and have an incentive to replay it

• New Game+
• Exploration tokens are collected after key events

As: Gene
I want: Pre-boss cutscenes
So I can: Get excited to face bosses

• Cutscenes before every boss

As: Gene
I want: Interesting story with cutscenes
So I can: Immerse myself in the lore of the game

• Cutscenes with deep story elements

As: Amy
I want: To use multiple weapons on enemies
So I can: Use different strategies on enemies

• When multiple weapons are used to kill an enemy, the weapon which did the most damage is awarded the kill

As: Amy
I want: Understand my relative strength
So I can: So I can know which weapons are strongest

• Weapon levels are shown in the GUI

As: Amy
I want: A GUI
So I can: Know my health and mana

• Mana and health is conveyed in the GUI