The coding above is for a dialogue system I was implementing in my game for the story. I learnt how to code a text box here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4z5aAg09bM.

Watching this tutorial gave me the basis of a text box. I also learnt that instances can be stored in a valuable and data can be extracted from it.

I did some adjusting to make it fit in the bottom of the screen of the camera. The camera was learnt from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYgf3V6Fx3M

I did some more adjusting in the collision box I made for the interaction and in the action code to make it work as a multiple page dialogue system.

The problem arose when all the objects seem to be having the same results, with a few minor differences. I also had this problem when creating the lock door system. After reading this guide: https://docs.yoyogames.com/source/dadiospice/002_reference/001_gml%20language%20overview/401_05_addressing.html. I found out the problem.

The problem was, I was asking for the object data and not the instances. I however thought the instance data would be picked up automatically. I believe in some cases it did, but 90% of the time it didn’t.

After a lot of thinking. I came up with the solution to set all the instance numbers into an array and then use that array in a function. The function would change another valuable to store the instance currently at. From there all the instance data was used instead of the object data.

Here is how it looks:

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The dialogue is meaningless at the moment, it is just to show it shows different text at different points.

 

The flute player concept art has been made. It will work similar to how the ocarina works in Legend of Zelda Ocarina of time. I might use a mouse to make it play and restart the flute player, but I currently haven’t fully decided.

Yesterday I went in a group to the History Mystery for an escape room experience. I had quite a lot of fun and learnt more about the meaning of adventure.

By trying to figure out a scenario with my peers, I realised how important teamwork can be to make an experience more adventurous. With this in mind I may add some multiplayer features in the game in late development. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a companion in the game, it could be making the player have to focus on multiple things at once, example: 2 guards are on patrol that have complicated paths to follow. The player could memories both guard’s paths, but it would be much easier for someone else to remember one of the paths for you.

I gathered some ideas while playing the puzzles presented in the game.

For one of the puzzles there was a weight requirement to continue onward. This type of mechanic can be seen in some puzzle games. It is typically used for something like, lowering a bridge or opening a door. I am considering to add a weight mechanic in my self.

In most of the puzzles a blue UV light was needed to reveal hidden codes. I could use this in my work to show hidden message, codes or Easter eggs.

There were more puzzle mechanics in the game, but I want to keep the others a secret, in case you do go to the same escape room that me and my peers went too.

The one thing I will mentioned is that the puzzles started off easy and very linear, but as the game went on, more paths opened up and the game became much more difficult. The game also felt less linear later on, mainly because more puzzle elements were introduced and old puzzles became relevant again. I enjoyed the difficulty curve, but I think it may have been too slow at the start and too fast at the beginning, but that could just be the way we solved it.

From experiencing the difficulty curve, I am considering of starting the difficulty curve fast at the start of the level, gradually reducing it throughout most of the level, then pushing the difficulty curve speed up again near the end.

 

Is there a crossover audience?

Comparing the History Mystery to my project, there are some cross overs.

My game is fictional based and the History Mystery is history base, but both are dungeon/prison themed. Both are about escaping and both make you a prisoner. With all this in mind, by playing the game, I got the experience of being in a prison environment, which can help me develop a story better, so I can get the same feeling of how a prison feels.

From using the same theme, I can drag in a new audience that likes to experience being a detective, without all the written work. I can add in evidence and clues through items instead of dialogue, so I can get some detective lovers as customers.

These are the current tiles I have made for the project and by no means is it the last. I’m assuming there’ll be around a 100 tiles when I am finished.

I made these, because I was thinking of starting the player off in a dungeon, so I thought of dirty and mossy stone walls. Here is an example of it in play:

Please not that this is not game-play and is just a scenery mash-up.

This is a screenshot of a finished running animation concept. It doesn’t have a musician feeling yet, so I will probably update it a lot more before making it the hero of the story. Here is the sprite sheet made with Piskel:

Yesterday I started to practice some pixel art skeleton, which was taught to me by one of my tutors. The reason I did this was to test out a few things:

1. How to draw a pixel art character?
2. Is smooth animation worth it?
3. To gain experience

I didn’t know how to draw pixel art at first and am still not amazing at it, however from drawing the skeleton base, it has made it a lot easier, because all I need to do is draw over it.

I have learnt that it is a good idea to use multiple layers, even though it is a small sprite. This is because, when animating the limbs get so close that it is hard to tell what is what.

 

Is smooth animation worth it?

The answer to this varies, but overall no it is not. By making smooth animation, you require more frames, which are typically harder to draw, because of how close limbs are. The end result isn’t too noticeable, but can make the game feel much better than using less smooth animation.

On the upside for making animation smooth is, that small errors are not noticeable by most people.

At the end of the day depending on resources, skills and time available, depends on if it is worth it.

Adventure Game examples:

We first go back around the time where adventure began in video game; Zork:

Zork is a text adventure game, which puts you in control of an adventurer leaving their home to go explore for treasure.

Going on from Zork to a famous point and click adventure game. That game is, The Secret of Monkey Island. The plot of this game is the main character wanting to become a pirate.

From the point and click game genre came Syberia, which combines a 3D environment in the point and click adventure game genre. The player can move by clicking on the screen with the mouse cursor, which will allow them to discover items that are off the screen, because the camera also moves.

Following on, we have myst, which is a graphic-adventure game. It uses a 3D island, hiding audio tapes, puzzles, intractable items and more. The main goal of the game is to get off the island.

We are now at one of the best narrative adventure I have experienced. It follows  different characters throughout the story, which allows the player to learn about them overtime. Detroit Become Human gives the player a wide variety of choices that have an impact of the present story and can affect the ending.

 

 

Adventure Sub-Genre Examples:

Almost all adventure games use other game elements to make the game fun, but adventure remains the main focus. If adventure is a sub-genre, then it is the opposite of what I explained; it is an enhancer, not the product.

Castlevania Sympathy of the night is an action adventure game, where you follow a hunter, who takes down creatures to proceed further in the game.

 

The Legend of Zelda Ocarina Of Time is action-adventure game you follow a boy named link, who is on a quest to save the princess of the land, who is named Zelda.

Shadow of the Colossus is an action-adventure game, where you explore a 3D open world environment, take down Colossi and try to resurrect you lost love.

Grow up is a platformer adventure game about a robot trying to get back to his planet.

The game shown above is Unsung Warriors. This is a new action adventure game that is in development and I chose this game, because it uses puzzle mechanics that I can try to learn from. The game was fun, but sometimes unfair. I know can see what makes some puzzles are unfair.

I have started planning the adventure game I will be creating and have came up with the name Incredible Notes. I have finished the main introduction story for Incredible Notes, which introduces the villain Raifu Nakushimi and the hero to take them down.

The full story hasn’t been finished and all story may not go into the finished game.

What is an adventure?

An adventure is an event or series of events that can be physical or mental. It is an exciting experience, which is typically unusual or daring and has to have a meaning or goal. It consists of lose and/or gain, risk, decision making and impact. An adventure has some aspect that is challenging, whether that be mentally or physically.

 

Adventure in video game 

Adventure in video games is giving the player experiences that can’t be found or hardly found in real life, like exploring a new world, becoming a fire wielding magician and being a professional solider. These experiences are normally optional, but can be mandatory. Unlike real adventures, these adventures can be quit at any time and have less risk than if done in real life.

All experiences in video games require some type of roleplaying, because it is near impossible to impossible to make an enjoyable game that makes the player think everything is real.

Adventure in video games also need to be entertaining, which increases in difficulty over time. For the game to be pure adventure, it must include low amounts to no combat, because that goes under the action category.

 

What does sub-genre mean?

An adventure sub-genre game, means it has the aspects of adventure, but it isn’t the main point. An example of this is the Final Fantasy series. These games have all the parts of an adventure, which are decision making, a meaning, a goal, lose and gain, a great experience and you having impact on the world, however the game has heavy elements of rpg, action and narrative structure.

I started progress on this project last Monday and have done some research already. I will update the blog with the research made soon.