8. Art : Implementation 1

8.Art : Implementation1

Were back on the unproductive track of things, I arranged all the components in their respective places, and coded in their functionalities, All of the animations look really cool. I also browsed for the perfect handwriting font online, and with luck I found one. 

                

      Picture of all components in position and background 

With all of this in place, I just have to apply the methods used in the prototype and transform it into a better, visually appealing game. I also still have to work on the different random faces which I don't really have a plan for, but I will definitely think of something very soon. The only problem being that I would have to draw a lot of random faces on basis of age and gender. A trick I plan on applying is to make the faces like silhouettes so the player can 'imagine' how the characters look like, thus allowing them to project their own desires.

That is all...

7. Creation : Art

 7. Creation : Art

Amazing day In terms of progress, I worked on the art for the game. Since the main gameplay was ready and quite refined as well as fun to play, I thought the game could benefit greatly from good art. Like I had decided beforehand, I hand drew all the components as well as those that needed animations and colouring. After which I scanned them in and Imported them into the Godot project, which looked great.

                         Picture of all raw asset files...

 
            Picture of all assets in editor...

With the art out of the way, I can now finally start working on the real game. Consider the past achievements as building blocks and now it's finally time to place em' to make a house...  I also optimized the code a little bit to allow for the art to be inserted, since the  que for the animations were a bit complicated, they were to be handled well. A lot of the code is now well structured to support more animations no matter how distinct.

I have a lot of reusable code in the project, for a variety of reasons only limited to what the game requires.. but usable for many other projects, I will try sharing some throughout the blog series,for example the R.G.S which I spent a lot of time optimizing and refining.. Along with a few tips here and there, mainly from experience. This step is mainly for documentation and in case this blog is read by others..

That is all...

6. Prototype Completion

 6. Prototype Completion 

A less productive day compared to yesterday, but I still got a few substantial things accomplished. My father had to go the offic, so I had the freedom to use the computer for as long as I wanted, but unfortunately with that freedom comes the need to procrastinate.

I tested out the 'face' variable implementation which like the other globally stored randomly generated variables is updated by the RGS. I color coded a few dummy rectangles and tested if they changed according to the Random generation.. this was all in attempt to make sure that the random generation system, i.e the RGS (the backbone of the game) was working perfectly... And to ensure that a simple prototype was complete upon which I can build the rest of the game. It would be an understatement to say that it worked great. Everything is on course as of now. Since the prototype was complete and tested.. I planned a rough idea of where, I want to place the various components on the screen. The components and locations are as follows:

    -> Rule Book          

          Location: Stand on Left

    -> Person Details

    Location: Stand on Right 

    -> Person Display Window

    Location: Top middle

    -> Clock

    Location: Bottom Middle

    -> Green(free) Button

    Location: On right between.   Rule Book and Person details

    -> Red(Pay) Button

    Location: On left of Green

Since, this project's art is going to be made by hand, I have to give extra care into what components are supposed to be animated, for which I will have to make seperate hand drawn bundles of art.

For ex. The green button would need its own seperate animation frames. Which when imported into the project should fit according to the rough sketch without looking wierd. The same goes for all other assets that need animation..

    A Screenshot of all the components roughly placed and random generation in working..  

    

A video of the working prototype

That is all...

5. Implementation : 3

 5. Implementation : 3

As always I begin by stating the 'state' of my productivity, which quite surprisingly was at its highest today. A lot of things were checked off my list. I finally almost finished a rough prototype of the basic concept of the game. I was able to convert the raw data ( present in code) to a visual much easier to read representation. 

Each attribute/detail of the person which was randomly generated and stored in a global variable, is now used by ($Label) to display in the form of text. Furthermore since they are global variables, I was able to utilise them to form conditions, thus allowing me to make decisions that abide by rules.. for ex :

        -> no person over the age of 40 can be given the antivirus for            free..

by accessing the global 'age' variable whose content was randomly generated by what I call RGS or Random.Generation.System. Now that I access the variable I can use it in the 'if' statement.

By making two buttons, one green and the other red, I provide the player the opportunity to decide between giving the antivirus for free(green) and for a price(red)

If the player sells the antidote for free to any person whose age is above 40, A temporary label says 'YOU ARE WRONG'

The if condition is as follows:

 Green button pressed...

  If age > 40:

   Label.text = "You are wrong"

  Else:

   Label.text = "You are right"

And vice versa for the RED BUTTON. I also added the ability to implement multiple conditions in the code.

That is all...

4. Implementation : 2

 4. Implementation : 2

I'm back on the non-productive streak. Other than a few tests I ran on the random details generator, I planned out a system or rather a solution by which I can cross reference the details to the rules and thus determining if the player's decision ( which they made by comparing the rules to the details) is correct. The rules will add up as the days progress thus allowing for progression. The player must check if the randomly generated details fit the rules if they do not and the player chooses wrong (sells the antidote for free) then some consequences will fall upon the player... 

To accomplish this I optimised the code, by making global variables for each important detail that must be compared, and set this variable equal to the Randomly generated detail. This allows me to access the randomly generated value throughout the entire game. Thus, giving me the ability to cross reference and compare. I have to figure what the rules will be, and how I'm going to make random faces, which vary on basis of gender and age.

That is all...

3. Implementation

 3. Implementation 

I got a lot of things done today..

I still didn't expand upon the idea of how the UI components would be placed, blended in with the game's surroundings, but I did however write a test script that generates me the following details at random :

     -> Name

     -> Age

     -> Company 

     -> Face

The gender is also chosen at random but only from three choices, i.e male, female and non-binary. According to the age the face (img) is chosen from the following, (Young, Old and Middle). Based on the gender, a random 'full' name is chosen from an existing array of over 1000 different names. Finally since it is an antidote distribution game, each individual will request a certain no. of antidotes, this amount is randomly selected from a range, of whose minimum and maximum value will depend on the level of difficulty and progression of the game, which I will implement later on, but it's good that I coded it beforehand. 

This random generation system was the most important part of the project, since I didn't want to make a linear storyline (like my last game), now I can randomly create scenarios (i.e people) and ensure that gameplay is fun, after which I will think about infusing a story. Now the only things left to do are :

      1. Create art for the UI        elements.

      2. Perfect gameplay

That is all...

2. More details

2. More details

It wasn't much of a productive day, I was quite tired when I got back home from college. I say  unproductive with regard to my VIRUS game, I guess that's what I'm calling it now. 

Fortunately I had pre-planned a few things which I forgot to mention in the last blog..

1. The UI panel via which the player can interact with the game must Include the following:

   

   -> A red and green button for

    deciding wether to sell for 

    free or not.

   

   -> Two spots for documents:

     -> One for the rule book

     -> And other for the NPC          details document.

That is all...

1. Creation

1. Creation

After multiple attempts at atleast finishing a game... I finally landed on an intriguing idea.. which motivated me more than any other game idea before..

As a result I left my previous game, and immediately started working on the idea.. A game much like Papers Please.. The idea : 

A distribution game where the player works as a worker who must distribute antidotes in the time of a virus outbreak. They must decide whether to sell the antidote for free or money based on certain rules out forward by the medical organisation..

With only the following details in mind, the game is just Papers Please but having a different job... I wanted to change that... After a lot of thinking on how I can make my own game different from papers please... I came to the following conclusions:

1.I was making this game just to satisfy my thirst of completing atleast one game

2.If I were to think about a lot of things beforehand, there would be no fun later

3.The basic idea that I have is good enough to start with.. I can extend and modify it when the time comes..

Currently I have a prototype ready with place holder art but most of the ideas are implemented... The player must abide by the rules of the medical organisation and press the right button,Green(free) or Red(money).. if they fail to abide by the rules, there will be a consequence (i.e lose money)..

That is all...