Part 5: Extending the game for alt.ctrl.gdc (2/14/2024 - 3/4/2024)
Editor's Note:
Welcome to part 5! We are invited to Day of the Devs, add the baby sleep and driving minigame, and continue the overarching puzzle metagame.
Looks like this commit should have included the new package
10:34 AM
Next time someone is in the project, can you check if this shows up in the package manager?
10:35 AM
Maybe just need to close and reopen Unity if it's in the PM but still giving error
10:35 AM
otherwise maybe we have to like regenerate the visual studio project by deleting the CS proj and solution and reopening Unity to regen it? Something like that lol
Yeah it shows up in package manager for me, but I dont see like a Newtonsoft folder in the packages folder or anything. I'll try regening the cs on my end too.
Editor's Note:
I had actually not heard of Day of the Devs before, so I was initially a little skeptical. Turns out this was a big show for indie game developers. It's interesting how both Ian and I have tried hard to get access to shows like this while working on marketing indie games, but doors kept opening for this game that we have no plans to sell.
Editor's Note:
This is the "red light, green light" "sleep" minigame. The player presses the sleep button on the remote when the baby is sleeping. Ian told me it was inspired by a book for new parents he saw when visiting a family member.
David
I guess we just weren't making fucked up enough stuff lol
I have an idea for driving minigame - curious on thoughts
Driving Minigame
into the dead style gameplay
https://youtu.be/FBBeM25CKto?si=DW310csjSz3HbXG9&t=15
2 and 6 to steer left and right.
Car moves down a creepy road, scary sillouhettes patrol the road, you must steer to avoid. If you hit one, restart.
Eventually you start passing road signs with the number on them.
Extra if in scope:
CLues are more complicated (like math equation or logic puzzle), need to stop and write them down. While stopped figures come towards your car, if they reach your car you lose.
+ and - to stop or accelerate.(edited)
Open to taking it other directions, but I like how the limited visibility here creates atmosphere and potential for scary pedestrians you either need to last minute avoid... Or hit?
It might be that you only implement steer left and steer right controls and the player can't go off road.
1:38 PM
or turn around
1:39 PM
they are just always moving forward
1:39 PM
But idk.
1:39 PM
play around w/ it. Just remember that the controls are going to be more awkward in real life on the remote
Editor's Note:
Here is an art pass on the mockup I made earlier. π
The general workflow I use is game designer creates mock screenshot / wireframe. Artist creates a style test mockup with better looking graphic design. Then when we agree on the vision the individual art assets that compose the screen are chopped up and exported and a developer implements them in the game engine to match the latest art mockup.
Seeing the computer monitor design motif here made me thing about new ideas, like using the remote's "power" button to turn on the display shown in the game world.
What do you think about making a simple model for the montitor and putting a world space canvas on it?(edited)
8:29 PM
or using one we can find
8:30 PM
I guess it doesn't really matter but that's a possibility.
Editor's Note:
Also, looking at the art mockup made me start thinking more specifically about details related to this sequence. Should the conveyor belt based time limit stop when the player is interacting with the quiz? There were technical and design considerations. What happens if the player tries to change the channel during this quiz sequence?
So I'm thinking when they start the final quiz overarching puzzle thing, we pause the main conveyor belt and don't let them change channels until they win or fail and get locked out.
8:52 PM
We can warn them before they start to not start unless they're ready
8:52 PM
and not show the first question until they confirm
Editor's Note:
I wanted the questions to be subjective, so that the only way the player could know the answer was by rescuing victims. Brute forcing would be possible, but unlikely since there are eight choices and the player can only attempt a guess every 5 minutes (they are temporarilly locked out after an incorrect guess). You can see the first quiz question I wrote as a proof of concept / development test. π
Ok, I have to quit for now but I am starting to get the structure of the overarching puzzle and save system in place.
9:08 PM
There is a scriptable object class for puzzle questions. We can make them and fill them out in the editor.
9:08 PM
9:08 PM
The correct answer will be chosen at runtime when we initialize a new save game file.
9:09 PM
The clue given for the question will correspond with the index of the chosen correct answer.
9:09 PM
For revealing the clues, I'm thinking we make it seem like police detectives interviewed the victim(edited)
9:10 PM
Editor's Note:
I wanted to come up with something more interesting to have happen after a victim is rescued. I wanted something gratifying for the player (in the initial prototype, the rescued NPC just vanished and a new victim appeared shortly after). But we also needed something that connected to our new gameplay concept of each rescued victim contributing to solving the overarching puzzle. And I also wanted something that helped reinforce the narrative concept that these NPCs were actually being rescued. What would happen to them next after being rescued from a kidnapping? How would they react?
Which could either be like a police office scene
9:12 PM
or something like this
9:13 PM
If we did the police station scene, it would be neat to have a couple lines of dialog, but I'm not sure how we'd want to show that to the player.
9:14 PM
so maybe it makes more sense like the above screenshot
9:14 PM
But I did think it would be fun to have this randomized second line of dialog. So it would be like the clue, then something like:
I think the clues seem straight forward enough. If we want to really hammer it home we could add color to the keyword. Stopping conveyor once in guessing seems good, I think if they change channel it is fine to auto fail but most likely doesnt really matter if you just want to lock it.
2:15 AM
Just uploaded RedLight GreenLight channel prefab. Space is sleep for now. Not sure if it is exciting enough with no fail state, so let me know what folks think.
2:16 AM
@David you want me to set up the channel randomizer? Seems like you got plenty too do and I feel like I can help in with some of the less exciting stuff if you want time to do another minigame.
I think I'm going to focus on making the rescue sequence / clue reveal as my "fun" thing
Ian
@David you want me to set up the channel randomizer? Seems like you got plenty too do and I feel like I can help in with some of the less exciting stuff if you want time to do another minigame.
Would love for someone to tackle that but I'm trying to think about if there is any likelihood of it being complicated by me working on some of these other central systems like saving and the overarching puzzle.
12:43 PM
Do we want to save the current passcode and minigames states? Or is it OK to wipe out any progress on that if we have to reset the game?(edited)
I feel like its not a big deal to wipe that stuff, but if we did want to save its just a couple of lists. I could even just jam it in playerprefs if we want to keep separate work streams.
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Editor's Note:
Here is a key design move where we navigate how to deal with more than four minigames. Giving each minigame its own channel ended up facilitating the printed TV guide and allowing us to leave in-theme clues in the physical print medium. We initially decided to leave channels that weren't involved in the current passcode blank with static, but after playtesting we just cut inactive channels from the list to streamline the experience as players were spending too much time looking for clues that didn't exist.
Broadcast call signs are call signs assigned as unique identifiers to radio stations and television stations. While broadcast radio stations will often brand themselves with plain-text names, identities such as "cool FM", "rock 105" or "the ABC network" are not globally unique. Another station in another city or country may (and often will) have...
1:34 PM
WGN-TV
1:35 PM
etc
David
We could even come up with themes for the channels if we wanted
Just uploaded RedLight GreenLight channel prefab. Space is sleep for now. Not sure if it is exciting enough with no fail state, so let me know what folks think.
i dont think its worth the effort to fix the belt issue lol(edited)
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Editor's Note:
Design questions regarding how difficult the minigames should be. Through playtesting at in-person events, we kept making things easier. That was the right answer for this context. If we made the game for home play, I think players might have more tolerance to fail and try again. But really the point of this game is to use the remote and the old fashioned TV and make a small, quick contribution to the bigger puzzle before moving on.
found some trees that work. I think ill do this one as a built out a level, but there are some procedurally placed figures to avoid. (there wont be so many as the video, and theyll increase the further along you get.) and then maybe there are clues to a logic puzzle, or maybe its just the number on the sides of the road. I found some weird TV models so I think ill have those peeking out of the trees and they will display the number or a clue. If its a clue could be cool because someone might have to write it down or keep track while another drives or you have to multi-task. I have to make a creepy death sequence though for if you crash, I was thinking the car stops and the figure u hit slowly approaches the camera and it fades into static. (bassicly slenderman death https://youtu.be/hyQyH-hGREo?si=ToIGJmtokPl9nGjb). If you make it to the end, im not sure if the player should still die or if they just park and see the number or final clue, or the road just restarts. Idk let me know thoughts when u get a chance.
I was more scared of maze frustration than I am of this
9:05 AM
I think we can go a little longer than maze, but see how it feels
9:06 AM
So maybe 1-3 or so but again, see where it takes you. If it holds ppls attention it's good(edited)
Editor's Note:
π In retrospect there's no way this should have been 3 minutes. Once again, we would need to continue to make minigames shorter and shorter after witnessing some painful playtests. π
We never really used the related sign post idea or the radio. But I think they are interesting. π
Mack
found some trees that work. I think ill do this one as a built out a level, but there are some procedurally placed figures to avoid. (there wont be so many as the video, and theyll increase the further along you get.) and then maybe there are clues to a logic puzzle, or maybe its just the number on the sides of the road. I found some weird TV models so I think ill have those peeking out of the trees and they will display the number or a clue. If its a clue could be cool because someone might have to write it down or keep track while another drives or you have to multi-task. I have to make a creepy death sequence though for if you crash, I was thinking the car stops and the figure u hit slowly approaches the camera and it fades into static. (bassicly slenderman death https://youtu.be/hyQyH-hGREo?si=ToIGJmtokPl9nGjb). If you make it to the end, im not sure if the player should still die or if they just park and see the number or final clue, or the road just restarts. Idk let me know thoughts when u get a chance.
I really like the spectator teamwork premise but once they see the number they don't need to "win" any more so no real incentive to continue. We can't change the number. But I guess it could be like a math problem or something that requires multiple clues? Like first sign is 4 then plus symbol then last a 2 or something?(edited)
9:11 AM
Idk, could be hard
9:12 AM
And something like this we can't remember their progress and start them at the answer like the others
9:14 AM
Maybe you give them an assessment at the end and can save that, like they have to answer the number at the end and if they get it right it saves that they are at the end with the correct answer there
9:14 AM
Haha this is making me think about those weird Midwestern interstate sign series like farmers put up about Jesus
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9:14 AM
That could be a cool idea
9:16 AM
No idea if you know what I'm talking about I'll try to find a reference lol
So im just changing the values on the actual material but what I should be doing is grabbing the instance material on the object at runtime and changing that.
peace will be restored to the realm of channel death
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Editor's Note:
Never had time for this, but I love the idea of putting more video content in. It would have been great to record some live action stuff! π
I was just thinking we could put some videos of our other projects in for the filler segments, or videos about big sir / night city, like I have videos from events
1:06 PM
then I was thinking it could be funny to put videos of channel death itself in there lol
lol its would be a bit of tonal shift (at least for my stuff) but that could be funny. We actually had a TV in Cosmos that had a bunch of fake commercials/QVC shopping/Lotto numbers that were all reeeeeeeal strange(edited)
How do we feel about not allowing the channel change for a short time, is that a nono?
10:44 PM
For the driving game I use coroutines in a few places, changing channels can get the game frozen if coroutine returns while object inactive. maybe i just create a manual timer in fixed update. I was also thinking of just resetting the game when the channels change but the player might miss some stuff then. So maybe ill make manual timers(edited)
I believe all the other minigames fully reset when you change channels and haven't beaten them, so I think the driving one most likely should too. I would imagine you just jam a StopAllCoroutines and then do a proper reset somewhere like OnDisable or something.
No matter what, I don't think we should drop expected functionality especially when the controller is not 100% reliable to begin with ;P
cool i figured thats the way to go. Ill make it reset to keep it consistent, thank you for the advice(edited)
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Editor's Note:
We ended up discovering several bugs related to coroutines getting screwed up if the player changed the channel at the wrong time. I think we ultimately fixed them by the middle of GDC.
Anyway, my advice is make steering slightly faster, let the player drive a little farther before the first deer
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6:14 PM
and then probably make the obstacle course itself slightly easier. I think you should have bigger space between deer for longer before adding a bunch(edited)
I think it would be cool, I know @Ian is skeptical, but also, how do we get them there. I guess Charlie could proably help with that too (our friend from Apple who is a sound designer, I'm sure he has stuff)
6:20 PM
I wonder how things are secured after hours
6:20 PM
at other shows we've done for school we've locked stuff
6:20 PM
but I don't have that kind of stuff. I could try to figure it out I guess
Not sure how they would loop around everything but we could start thinking about it
David
I think it would be cool, I know @Ian is skeptical, but also, how do we get them there. I guess Charlie could proably help with that too (our friend from Apple who is a sound designer, I'm sure he has stuff)
Oh I'm sure we can have speakers, it just size/how loud they have to be to convey important stuff vs headphones vs changing minigames to not need sound as much.
Editor's Note:
We should have scheduled press meetings. I kind of thought reporters would be bored waiting for the show to start in the press only period, I did not realize there would be more games there than someone could reasonably play!
I got some small UI updates in the game, I added the stuff I did up above with the kill count name screen
6:55 PM
I adjusted the Scan and Zoom UI for the camera hunt game on "webcamTest" - but I don't think it's updating when you run it from the MainScene, is there somewhere else I should update?(edited)
You can right click on a changed element in the scene inspector and hit apply to prefab. Just don't apply all the changes unless you know what they are and want them
tested driving on remote, doesn't seem to have correct button mapping
5:53 PM
I am thinking, in addition to supporting the number pad as a makeshift WASD, maybe for this one you do the little Up and Down arrow as well for turning
Editor's Note:
Thought about omitting this part since it's not about Channel: Death. But I left it as evidence I was advising my student to prioritize their own work and not this project ;)
I got the majority of new channel randomizer ready. I have to lightly touch a lot of things (main scene, minigame channel prefabs, minigame scripts, etc) so just want to make sure that is cool with folks and there is no stuff that along those lines that folks are in middle of. Will upload sometime tomorrow if I get the clear from everyone
Just pushed a bunch of stuff. 4 minigames are active at a time, suits randomly assigned. On passcode complete, 1 of those minigames are subbed out for another. Minigames that arent currently active are replaced with a static tv channel. Couldn't fully test it because we are still setting up proper reset on some of the minigames, but the majority of it confirmed working.
@Mack For your minigames we need to reset them when a person is saved. I can get in there and set it up if ya want, or if you want to take a crack at it I recommend just subscribing to the PasscodeManager.NewPasscodeSet event to trigger whatever needs to be done.
Yeah sure, thats what I was hinting at above. Just subscribe to that event (PasscodeManager.NewPasscodeSet) and then do whatever you need to reset the minigame (ie. turning of completeminigame bools or w/es). You can see how I set up mine in the awake method of RedLightController
David
when you change it send me the line number / file and I will use that approach on the other mat
@Mack For your minigames we need to reset them when a person is saved. I can get in there and set it up if ya want, or if you want to take a crack at it I recommend just subscribing to the PasscodeManager.NewPasscodeSet event to trigger whatever needs to be done.
But change as you will, the drive game I think I just stuck some text over the tvs for now.
7:58 PM
Also, I added in the top left icons, but I had to switch the the canvas to screen space to get them to show up with your cams, but we lose the channel change effect so that might be worth looking into figuring how to get them back to world space.
Also, I added in the top left icons, but I had to switch the the canvas to screen space to get them to show up with your cams, but we lose the channel change effect so that might be worth looking into figuring how to get them back to world space.
Editor's Note:
Below you can see a good video of a first pass at the quiz feature. We wanted to encourage players to write clues down on physical notes.
Nice, looking good! I kinda think the time related ones need to not be associated with a min, there is too much likelyhood that people could accidently get them right. Having to do them exactly at a min mark, have to have specific numbers in the clock (0 & 5), or the answer is what ever the second mark is on could all be something.
4:33 PM
Live action with the subtitles is very smart
Ian
Nice, looking good! I kinda think the time related ones need to not be associated with a min, there is too much likelyhood that people could accidently get them right. Having to do them exactly at a min mark, have to have specific numbers in the clock (0 & 5), or the answer is what ever the second mark is on could all be something.
I think we should look at it playtesting. I hear you about the 50/50 thing, but I think making them wait more than a minute for the right time could feel bad, and then I also worry about 'to the second' precision with our input. Maybe to the second is safe? I think with 0 lives and a lockout there isn't too much risk of guessing all 10 right.
4:38 PM
but I don't think we'll know w/out trying it
4:38 PM
I want to try and schedule a busier time at consignment lounge
I'm trying to decide on using real footage and like blurring out the people so it can be reused a lot (and the original ppl can't be identified), or recreating a similar scene in Unity
4:46 PM
The main problem with real footage is the stuff I can find seems pretty controversial. Like notorious criminals / police involved in killing unarmed black people, etc. I feel like if anyone were to recognize it they might be offended
This font looks good to me, might want to decrease the size a bit, but maybe not for readability on the CRT. These assets have been added as separate UI elements, located in a updates folder on the kill count ui
Mike
This font looks good to me, might want to decrease the size a bit, but maybe not for readability on the CRT. These assets have been added as separate UI elements, located in a updates folder on the kill count ui
I might go in and polish up the mini games this weekend to. I think I want the creature to walk out of the darkness in the maze rather then just appear for the jumpscare.
1:20 AM
And if u guys have any places u think need sound let me know,
So far I got the webcam game,
The saw kill audio,
I might design some of that tv ui stuff as well with the guessing the final answers.
Yeah I say just play and add what you think would improve things
Editor's Note:
I was thinking about how to make the volume minigame easier to understand if you couldn't hear it, which was an issue at some of our exhibitions. We ultimately cut the volume minigame because we could never solve the usability issues. That made me sad because I designed it to resemble how I actually watch TV (muting commercials) and I thought it had an interesting commentary. I also used TV remote buttons (volume, mute) that no other games did. But the minigame was a burden during shows. Something to revisit if we ever spent more time on the game.
does anyone object to using an AI generated art asset? I guess if I use it I will just attribute it in the external assets list on itch. But open to other ideas.(edited)
10:48 AM
I'm was going to try and use some vials for the volume minigame
10:49 AM
one fills up when you're doing good (volume up at correct time) and one fills up when you're doing bad (volume up at incorrect time)
10:49 AM
since we decided it needs visual feedback due to no one listening
modifiedInstanceMaterial = renderersToUpdateMaterial[0].materials[0];
(line 19)
this line crashes the game. I just threw in a length check for now. was something supposed to be assigned to this field?(edited)
All good Iβll throw the ones that make the changes in there
Editor's Note:
Some design moves regarding the printed TV guide between here and the end of part 5. We wanted to incorporate cross references between the digital game and the printed guide. The reference I could think of was Meryl's codec address in Metal Gear Solid. Ultimately we ended up using it for narrative flavor and hints to some of the minigames. π
Here is a template that we can easily change and shuffle around depending on what content we want to add, it's in a vector format right now. The final version will have a faded texture added over it to match the bottom image. Is there something on the back? It would be cool to get it lamented so people could use sharpies on it.
anyone have changes locally rn or am i good to push? I played with some sound stuff and polished up the 2 minigames i did.
3:06 PM
im not sure if the webcam game audio is worth implementing bc I would have to rewrite the control system. What should I try to focus on? Anohter minigame? Polish to what we have? Something else?
Editor's Note:
Genesis of the "enter" doorway minigame. Here you can see how we finally started to acknowledge how simple these minigames should be. π
by tv guide game, I assume it would be a game that you need to look on the tv guide to get some information about how to complete it? like a hint for a passcode or something?(edited)
3:16 PM
are we planning to have any hints or descriptions under channels on the tv guide? or what will go under the channel number and name?(edited)
Mack
by tv guide game, I assume it would be a game that you need to look on the tv guide to get some information about how to complete it? like a hint for a passcode or something? (edited)
Basically at some point they just tell you to call meryl and the "puzzle" is that you had to find her contact number on the back of the box. Wonder how they will deal with it in remakes that are digitally distributed?
10:39 PM
Anyhow, I can't remember if they literally tell you in a radio call on the game to look on the back of the box or how you are supposed to ever know that.(edited)
David
Do you think we should use the channel death logo here or is that breaking the 4th wall and diminishing immersion?
Editor's Note:
So concludes part 5, where we added the driving minigame, implemented the overarching puzzle quiz, began the printed TV guide, and got invited to Day of the Devs.
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