MDDN 243 - Monday Talk

I know this is very belated, which is horrible. I really should be more on the ball for blog posts!
Anyway, this is the first post for the group assignment of making our game, called "Soul Furnace" (working title). So we were able to keep in contact over the holidays, but sadly couldnt meet up to discuss things because of the staggered times people were all in Wellington.

The first thing we discussed on Monday is who is doing what. Andrew is focusing on the coding side of the creation of this masterpiece as he is the est coder in our group. He's doing a great job handling everything we're throwing at him and is currently working on getting the obstacle collision working. Then we can move on the create the levels.
Scott is designing the souls that VooDude picks up and the bosses that can potentially be fought at the end of each level. He came up with some great ideas over the break and sorted out the designs! Some of the bosses look really great as well. But you can find that on his blog.
Chris is working on the level designs, making them a bit more abstract and making them more interesting. He's using some inspiration from the style of artwork he used for his own game and implementing them into the designs that he's making for this game. It's coming along really well from what i've seen!
Lastly, I myself am designing the "Achievements" that can unlock new characters, and the new characters that can be unlocked. From the Monday discussion, because getting a fully working game is more important than the extra features that can be implemented later on, there will only be 3 or 4 different character designs. For now.
We discussed the idea of death in our game. Will the character die when he gets hit, forcing the player to restart the level? We shunned this idea straight away, wanting it to be more of a long level that can be played infinitely or for a short amount of time depending on the skill level of the player. With a fantastic idea put forward by Chris and Andrew, we decided that having your character lose souls when they are hit, which in turn fuel the level meter was the best way to go. This was then adapted so that when you are hit the level will slow back down to its basic state, where there will be a 100% chance that the most easy obstacles (such as a log or a buzz saw) will appear. The longer you play without getting a hit the harder the obstacles will get, such as a whole row burning or a log falling onto the two side paths. That can potentially make the level infinite, if you are crap enough at playing.
In addition to this, we discussed the power-ups that the player can collect in each level to give them special limited powers. The idea that seemed most appealing to us was the combo collecting to get a power up. So when the character collects 5 souls then a power up will appear that they need to collect. For each level there is a specific soul they need to collect, therefore a specific power that they can gain.

- Forest Level exclusive: Player channels the power of Earth to provide themselves with a shield that blocks one obstacle. (Player must then collect another 5 souls to unlock this power again)
- Oil Refinery Level exclusive: Player channels the power of Water to thin the level's fuel and deplete the gauge at an increased rate.
- Engine Level exclusive: Player channels the power of Air to keep himself afloat for an increased amount of time while jumping.
- Power Grid Level exclusive: Player channels the power of Electricity to detect oncoming obstacles before they arrive, giving them a warning before put in danger.
The final level generates each of the four souls randomly, giving the character the potential of having all four abilities activated at once.

Lastly we set ourselves a deadline to have the core elements of the game completed by. This gives us a two week "faff" at the end that we can add extra features like more characters, cut scenes, and extra little easter eggs that will make the game feel more addictive. By the critical presentation, we intend to have the game finished so that it is at a playable, multi leveled stage. This will provide us with the "faff" time.
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