translating research into kickass games the story of dark dot
TRANSCRIPT
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Hoo Jia Ling (Associate Producer)
Wong Yi (Lead Programmer)
Roland Kie (Game/Level Designer)
The Storytellers
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Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab
• Singapore + MIT Research Initiative
• Addresses important challenges faced by global digital game community and industry
• Multi-disciplinary approach for solving Research problems
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• Flocking Animation and Modelling Environment by Dr. Ong Yew Soon, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• Realistic real-time shape constrained flocking
• http://c2inet.sce.ntu.edu.sg/fame/
The Research
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• They are our first level ‘customers’
• Players of our game are our second level customers.
• Find out what they want to show through their research.
• Find out what we need from them to do it.
Figure out what we need from each other
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Key Features of FAME
• Shape Constrained Flocking
• Shape Morphing
• Obstacle Avoidance
• Natural Movement
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• Real time action puzzler
• RTS-like, eg: Total War
• Uses melee conversion as main mechanic
Prototyping designs Brainstorm
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• Wanted a draw-centric game to show the Shape morphing capability of FAME.
• iPad chosen as the platform because of intuitiveness of touch screen for shape manipulation.
Tech Prototype : Melee Game Concept + Pre Pro
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• Was initially “Draw only”.
• Found out players like to both draw and manipulate.
Melee : The Fun Stuff
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• Was not deterministic enough due to 'Natural Flocking Behavior'.
• Tried many ways to mitigate any frustration.– Different Battle Mechanics– Different Unit Characteristics.
• Could not eliminate potential frustration.
Melee : The not so fun stuff
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• Throw away the bad stuff– Replaced frustrating melee
mechanic with shooter mechanic where lack of precision is forgiven
Re-thinking the mechanics
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• Shooter!- Overcame lack of precision via Bullets- Aiming is One Dimensional!
And Dark Dot was born! Production
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• We had the fun, we had the game, we had most of the research.
• Had different ways to show it, none optimal.
• We pushed ourselves further, to make the drawing even more evident.
Making shape morphing more evident
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What we learned along the way…
1. Communication!2. Rapid Prototyping!3. Focus!4. Don’t be greedy!