Team 4

Design: Daniel Probst (MDH) , Luis Wiedenmann (MDH)

Art: Katharina Franz (MDH), Tommy Ngo (MDH)

Programming: Erik Franz (TUM), Frederic Fulghum (MDH)


Project Notebook

1. Formal Game Proposal

2. Physical Prototype

Alpha

Playtesting

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9 Comments

  1. Georg Kohl

    1. What is your favorite aspect of the proposed game? Why?

    Using objects moved by telekinesis as a way to fight other players is a very innovative idea and I definitely like it. In addition, I think the art style, the general setting and the core game mechanic go quite well together.

    2. What is your least favorite aspect? Why?

    In my opinion, there is not enough interaction with the objects and other players to make the game really interesting for more than a few matches. It would be cool to also have other abilities that don't just influence the object trajectories, like creating temporary walls or having a player clone with a basic AI to distract opponents. Another option would be to make the interaction itself more appealing, for example by using an alternative input device other than the standard gamepad or mouse and keyboard setup.

    3. Which single change or addition would you suggest to most improve the game?

    I think making the entire game more physics-based would make it really stand out: all objects and the environment could be breakable and the trajectory and damage of thrown objects could be determined by physical properties, like the material or the size. The breaking of the objects wouldn't need to be very realistic, just good enough to make the players feel powerful when they recognize how much destruction they can generate, only by using telekinesis.

  2. Unknown User (ga54zof)

    What is your favorite aspect of the proposed game? Why?

    I really liked the idea of a Victorian England as the game's setting, this just fits in nicely with creating a unique custom cell shaded look for the characters and the game itself.
    Furthermore, I was really intrigued by the fact that you tried to give a small but meaningful background story explaining the setting and circumstances of the game.

    What is your least favorite aspect? Why?

    Since there was no item or level up system introduced, I feel like the gameplay by itself is not interesting or diverse enough to compel users to play the game for more than two or three rounds.

    The basic setup stays the same and there is no surprise component included, the only varying factor is the ability to choose a different character, but since they all have the same ability this does not bring any change contentwise.

    The only regulating factor you proposed are these "special attacks", which by itself were a great idea, but I did not quite understand how you plan on enticing users to collect them, if it may be the easier and safer strategy just to continuously throw things at your enemies.

    Which single change or addition would you suggest to most improve the game? 

    Most importantly I feel like you are in need of some kind of "telekinesis power regulation system"  to prevent users from just spamming the arena by throwing around objects nonstop.

  3. Unknown User (ga96muc)

    What is your favorite aspect of the proposed game? Why?

    The concept art you proposed. I liked the style and hope you also have experience in 3d art and animations (wink)

    What is your least favorite aspect? Why?

    Your combat idea feels a bit lacking.


    Which single change or addition would you suggest to most improve the game? 

    I think it would be nice to give the players a bit more options on what they can do. It would be good if you can give them an defensive ability and multiple offensive options. (maybe also something for mobility?)

  4. Unknown User (ga32ris)

    What is your favorite aspect of the proposed game? Why?

    The proposed artwork and theme sounds very interesting! Im looking forward to seeing the artwork for this game!


    What is your least favorite aspect? Why?

    Since your games fighting mechanics are based on throwing things around, I think that the usage of different characters loses it's purpose.


    Which single change or addition would you suggest to most improve the game? 

    As a suggestion to fix this issue, I think each player should be mapped to a different special ability in addition to the "normal" throwing ability. Maybe you could even let each player interact with the other players in a certain way. For example every player could have their own "element". Collisions of thrown items between the players could look like the following table:


    WaterEarthWindFire
    WaterNo EffectCreate Slippery MudCreate hailstormCreate Hot Steam
    EarthCreate Slippery MudNo EffectCreate tornado

    Create lava

    WindCreate hailstormCreate tornadoNo EffectCreate smoke
    FireCreate Hot SteamCreate lavaCreate smokeNo effect
  5. Unknown User (ga74bob)

    1. What is your favourite aspect of the proposed game? Why?

    That would definitely be the art style and storytelling. It should go well with some comedic tones or even dark humour as you would have to be insane to fight like this when the world is literally crumbling around you.

    2. What is your least favourite aspect? Why?

    The fighting mechanics. Physics-based combat would (seem to) rely heavily on luck. Players tossing around things randomly might be as successful as someone actually trying.

    Another reason why the combat mechanics would seem difficult would be because of the third-person camera. I have a bit of experience with programming such a camera and it is quite difficult to get right. If the "flinging" mechanics were to coincide with the controls of the camera (which is intuitive) then it would be more cause of frustration as players will get disoriented after each "shot". The fix I suggested in class about lowering the speed of the camera would work, but then it would have the opposite effect on players. They won't be able to see where attacks are coming from and thus can't switch from attack to defence quickly.

    3. Which single change or addition would you suggest to most improve the game?

    A suggestion I could make to counteract this is perhaps changing the physics play of the game. Like lower gravity so players don't have to compensate for projectile movement or rather than having to fling stuff, just push the object in the direction of the camera/crosshair. That would make the control scheme easier for players to adjust to. Gravity distortion can be woven into the story of the game so it wouldn't be unbelievable.


  6. Unknown User (ga46doz)

    1. What is your favourite aspect of the proposed game? Why?

    The artwork of your game looks amazing! The setting of a "jolly apocalypse" sounds fun and works well together with your artwork as it is not very detailled (like the outcome of the apocalypse).

    2. What is your least favourite aspect? Why?

    The combat system. Unlike comparable games like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, your game is very straight. You don't have much variety in your ability set. Therefore the player will most likely get bored easily. As the combat is mostly ranged oriented, the players do not have to risk getting hit and stay away from each other.

    3. Which single change or addition would you suggest to most improve the game?

    Balance the risk-reward part of your game. Players can be rewarded for getting close to their opponent and risking to get hit. Therefore you can increase the damage dealt by objects based on their travelled distance or increase the damage when moving towards your opponent while throwing and object/the "gravitation sphere"/etc.

  7. Unknown User (ga46puh)

    What is your favorite aspect of the proposed game? Why?

    The power up system. It adds variety to the gameplay and an extra strategy layer for the combat

    What is your least favorite aspect? Why?

    Short rounds. If the scene resets in every round, it removes some uniqueness (as in, how the scene looks in the end and where to get the objects to throw) in the match as whole. 

    Which single change or addition would you suggest to most improve the game?

    Increase variety in the rounds. In addition to the sentence above, maybe add some randomness on how the level is loaded (remove/add objects to throw at random places)

  8. Unknown User (ga38fiz)

    1. What is your favourite aspect of the proposed game? Why?

    I really like the idea of using telekinesis to fight your opponents. The artwork looks very promising as well.

    2. What is your least favourite aspect? Why?

    While it seems fair that everyone starts with the same abilities, I think it would be more interesting if characters would have different ones. This could provide different play-styles and appeal to more players.

    3. Which single change or addition would you suggest to most improve the game?

    As stated above: you could give your characters abilities and have some kind of character selection screen. Of course with that balancing becomes an issue.

  9. Unknown User (ga38way)

    1. What is your favorite aspect of the proposed game? Why?

    The Idea of fighting by throwing stuff at each other sounds refreshingly fun. I also quite like the style of the concept art and I'm looking forward to see how it will look translated to 3D.


    2. What is your least favorite aspect? Why?

    Even though I mentioned above I like the combat idea, I feel like while it might be a lot of fun at first, it could quickly outstay its welcome. You mentioned to have this game played in short bursts, but I think for that to work you also need players wanting to come back to your game.


    3. Which single change or addition would you suggest to most improve the game?

    Maybe adding more moves / special abilities? It could go into the direction of either just providing a lot of characters that play differently or keeping it with the few characters, but introducing mechanics that really allow players to get better and better every time they play (not by changing stats or abilities, but by just getting better at the game, similar to fighting games like Street Fighter or Tekken)