MS4402: Game Development CW3- 2015

Student No: 1434630

MS4402: Intro. Game Development

CW3: Game Prototype
2014/15
Module Leader: Penda Tomlinson

Game: Gates of Demise

Student No: 1434630
Deadline: 12th
May 2015
UEL Computer Games Design
uelgames.org

MS4402: Game Development CW3- 2015

Contents
1.

Introduction

2.

Source of Inspiration

3.

Scope

3.1.

Game Vision

3.2.

Core actions

3.3.

Explanation of Gameplay
Visualisations of Core Actions
Description of Gameplay

3.4.

List of features

3.5.

Priorities

4.

Theoretical Design Sources

4.

Prototyping

5.

Structure

5.1.

Levels/Waves/Puzzles

5.2.

Goals

5.3.
6.

Progression
Implementation of Experiments

6.1.

Describe your process

6.2.

Describe stages in development and level/progress

6.3.

Design changes in Implementation

7.

Testing, Problems & Solutions

8.

Reflection on Theoretical Sources

9.

Reflection

References
Appendix A: Paper prototype rules
Appendix B: How to play/Walkthrough of Experiments

Table of Figures
Figure 1 System 1 Object Diagram
Figure 2 System 2 Object Diagram
Figure 3 System 3 Object Diagram

Student No: 1434630

MS4402: Game Development CW3- 2015

Student No: 1434630

1. Introduction
This report will outline the designing of a 2D game within a program named Stencyl. Various stages will be
displayed, such as the multiple systems that will be involved along with core mechanics and gameplay. In
addition, this document will contain prototypes and an analysis of how the game was implemented. This in turn
will be followed up by testing and editing until a period of reflection is appropriate.

MS4402: Game Development CW3- 2015

Student No: 1434630

2. Source of Inspiration
RPG Games such as Dragon Age, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest are the main sources of inspiration as the game
will also revolve around a similar theme. Utilising Hp/Mp systems and combat mechanics will make the
implemented game appear and act in a similar manner to the sources of inspiration. Pokmon and other mon
games also provided a basis as each of them still revolves around using a party of characters to defeat an
opposing group of characters.
One key element which is included in various objects are the use of portals. The portals within the game will
transport you to various areas infested with monsters to be defeated by the collection of party members.

3. Scope
3.1. Game Vision
The game revolves around a 2D system which will enable the player to control a sprite to traverse the
maps which at times, enemies will be encountered. The scene then transitions to a combat scene
where party members (Up to 4) attempt to defeat the enemies utilising skills and attacks and a few
other choice commands.
The plot behind the game is that various portals to the demonic realms are opening across the land. By
defeating the enemies at the edge of the portals, the party is able to close the portals. The player needs
to find a way to close all the portals and find out why it is occurring.

3.2. Core actions

Action

Brief Description

Mouse Controlled
Menu Driven
Interfaces

The selection of the commands displayed as buttons are done by clicking

on them. Hovering over the button with the mouse results in the button
becoming a different colour to indicate which one will be triggered when
the player clicks.

Movement of
Player

Utilising the WASD / Arrow Keys to move the player in the relevant
direction.

Equipping of Skills,
Weapons and
Armour

Utilising an inventory screen to equip/de-equip party members with

collected skills and equipment.

Collecting Quest
Items as
Variables/Boolean
s

Upon finding the related item, the variable is altered so when they exceed
a certain amount, you have completed the quest and receive the reward.
Collecting can be done by colliding with the object.

Manipulating
Terrain

Through activating various switches (crystals to channel arcane energy

through), access to paths are given and denied to enable a player to

MS4402: Game Development CW3- 2015

Student No: 1434630

change their route. The portals which contain combat encounters vanish
once defeated and the player is then able to move through them.

3.3. Explanation of Gameplay

Visualisations of Core Actions
One page details the combat scene in detail so as to fully visualise it without actual actions being demonstrated
via images.
A Second Page displays the movement of the player actor and its interaction with collectable items.

MS4402: Game Development CW3- 2015

Student No: 1434630

Description of Gameplay
Contained within different areas are portals. Each portal can be interacted with by touching the portal. This
triggers a combat encounter which gives specific rewards for doing so.
In Area 1, move the player character to the NPC outside the closest house. Upon collision, a message will be
displayed, stating that there are various demons which need to be slayed. After talking to the other
residents, (1 displays their terror of the demon while the other asks for several of a Quest Item to heal other
mercenaries) collide with the portal which will stand at the exit for the town. This triggers a combat
encounter.
Upon completing the battle, go back to the first NPC who will reward you and fully heal your party members.
Then through the exit at the bottom of the screen, the scene will transition through to the second area.
Explore the area fully, interacting with the strange vines to gain the Quest Items for the alchemist NPC and
closing the 3 portals. Then move through the exit at the bottom left of the level. This is the end of level 1.
One notable feature of this level, is that as it is level 1, the enemy parties are forced to contain only 1 or 2
party members.
Area 1 contains the following NPCs

Mayor Remove All Demon Portals in the Level to be rewarded

Alchemist Bring back 3 Dirge Vines to be made into a healing potion. Said mixture is used to heal a
warrior who has recently been fighting. Leftover mixture is given to the player in the form of a
permanent Max Hp boost.
Villager Demons, Demons, they rampage through the town and the only warriors are wounded. I
doubt we shall see tomorrow!
o After removing at least 1 Demon Portal in the Level Ah, you are the one who have saved
out town, thank you.

3.4. List of features

HP/MP Bars One HP and MP bar will be used to display the health/mana of a character so
the player can see it visually as well as numerically
Dialogue By utilising a message box, Text will be drawn over it to represent dialogue
Turn Based Combat This the main part of the game which is vital for the game to be played.
Equip-able Weapons Allows equipment to be attached to certain characters and for those
characters to receive the related upgrade in their stats, Strength and Magic.
Selectable Skills Allows skills to be utilised during battle and to be upgraded/bought outside
of combat.
EXP Gain This is used to level up characters or their skills, increasing their stats at specific
points.

MS4402: Game Development CW3- 2015

Student No: 1434630

Gold This can be used to purchase upgrades for characters and is collected from monster
encounters and quest rewards.
Level Transitions Allows the player actor to transition to a different scene to continue the
game.

3.5. Priorities
Feature Name

Type of Feature

Priority for
Experimentation

HP/MP Bars

Structure

High

Turn Based Combat

Gameplay

High

Dialogue

Gameplay

Medium

Equip-Able Weapons

Gameplay

Medium

Selectable Skills

Gameplay

Medium

EXP Gain

Structure

Low

Gold

Structure

Low

Level Transitions

Structure

High

MS4402: Game Development CW3- 2015

Student No: 1434630

4. Theoretical Design Sources

Source: Title, Date & Author
(chapter / pages)

Fiel, J. and Scattergood, M. (2005). Beginning game level design. Boston, MA:
Thomson Course Technology.
P. 10 - 14

Sources Concept / Theory & Key Relevant points

If the player cant establish a mental link between the puzzle and the solution, hes likely to become
frustrated and quit playing your game. (P.12)
The source states the various challenges that are within games and the related skills the player needs to have
to be able to complete such challenges. It describes about the differences between good and bad
challenges such as those which would cause the player to die although they would never be able to see the
reason why they died.
In addition, it mentioned pacing and how to make the gameplay a similar speed to that of the game.
Application to your Analysis
Being able to view the different types of challenges, it allowed me to see the various challenges in games and
incorporate them. This mainly applied to the concept of being able to manipulate terrain to affect the
gameplay, especially in Pokmon Games where they utilise the Strength technique to move boulders around
the levels. In addition, the idea of pacing will help me with timing the length of displaying combat information
and screen transitions.

Source: Title, Date & Author

(chapter / pages)

Moore, M. (2011).
Basics of game design
. Boca Raton: A K Peters/CRC Press.

P.77 - 127
Sources Concept / Theory & Key Relevant points

Using a Random Encounter Table allows more variety in encounters. In addition to the enemies appearing in
the encounter, the designer can also assign experience points and gold (P.77)
To resolve combat, the algorithm should clearly outline a step by step process for completing the action (P.
95)

Contained within those pages are concepts about RPG games such as the Monster Encounter Tables which
detail how random monster encounters are utilised and generated. In addition, information about combat
mechanic, damage, skills and calculations are displayed.
Application to your Analysis
With my new knowledge of Monster Encounter Tables, I begin to look at games of a similar genre and analyse
their percentages of monsters occurring. They restrict the different combination of enemies to very few thus
limiting the randomness of the battles and allowing more steps to be taken between each battle whilst still
maintaining the area theme.

Source: Title, Date & Author

(chapter / pages)

Laramee, F. (2002).
Game Design Perpectives
. Charles River Media.
P.96 - 103

MS4402: Game Development CW3- 2015

Student No: 1434630

Sources Concept / Theory & Key Relevant points

Another problem with the typical hit point system is that it can limit the players experience of certain
emotions, notably fear. (P. 98)
This chapter outlines the pros and cons of hit point systems within games. It states not only how easy it is to
implement but it makes it difficult for players to fear the enemies as they can accurately predict their health
and it can conflicting with the mood of the game because fear can be neutralised by viewing your characters
HP.
Application to your Analysis
Although the source may state that it can lead to player predicting actions, it is also useful for creating combat
strategies and allows the player to think of combinations or attack patterns. It is also such a common sight
that it has a dislocating effect when there isnt a HP system in a similar game.

5.

MS4402: Game Development CW3- 2015

4. Prototyping

Student No: 1434630

MS4402: Game Development CW3- 2015

Student No: 1434630

5. Structure
5.1. Levels/Waves/Puzzles
The game will consist of multiple levels which will contain different areas. Each level will consist of one town area
and one environment. Monsters will increase not only in power but also the distances to find quest items will be
increased.

5.2. Goals
Various goals are contained within the game, mainly navigating to the next area after eliminating as many of the
demon portals as possible. Various sub-quests may require you to explore the level more deeply and find the
required item to solve the quest.

5.3. Progression
The player characters will gain new abilities and improved stats as the game progresses.

6. Implementation of Experiments
6.1. Describe your process
Each time a piece of code or behaviour was attached to an actor/scene, a test of the game was
immediately run to check if the code worked. Although long and arduous, in the long run this allowed
me to spot errors quickly before they become lost in a web of coding.

6.2. Design changes in Implementation

Many lists were utilised to keep track of each value. For example, a Monster Health List was used to
keep track of the max health that a monster of a certain type should start with. In addition, many
attributes were fetched from the actors. This reduced the overall amount of attributes which made the
game very difficult to originally alter.

7. Testing, Problems & Solutions

Priority

Problem

Solution

Implemented

High

Enemies would not deal damage to the

party members.

Check to see that the code

which was copied and
modified from the actors
attack system contains the
relevant variables

Implemented

High

The Player Actor was unable to move

Verify that the correct

keyboard input is utilised.

High

Error #1034

Verify that the collision of

the floor tiles does not exist
Verify which actor
behaviour is attached to a
scene and attach it to the
correct actor

Implemented
Implemented

MS4402: Game Development CW3- 2015

Student No: 1434630

High

Collision failed to work

Verify the tileset to see if

collision is active

Unfortunately this
was not the solution
but I found instead
that the movement
of the player actor
was via setting its
position rather than
changing the speed
of the actor

High

When the game was tested, everything

would rotate slowly around their origins

Find the instance of rotate

and remove it.

No instances of
rotate were found
nor reloading or
clearing code made
any differences. In
the end, a new
project had to be
made and everything
copied across. This
solved the problem.

High

Adobe Flash Player errors began to occur

to combat scenes when the opponents
began to attack

Remake the Combat code

for the opponents auto
system.

Implemented but did

not solve the
problem. This issue is
still unresolved.

8. Reflection on Theoretical Sources

Source: Title, Date & Author
(chapter / pages)

Irish, D. (2005).
The game producer's handbook
. Boston, MA: Thomson
Course Technology.

P. 15-19
Sources Concept / Theory & Key Relevant points
Calls for the software to be developed in relatively compact, finite increments. (P. 16)
This section outlines software production methods which are the various methods utilised by game
developers/designers to produce games. The source outlines not only the speed of the various methods but
also how each method is performed.
Application to your Analysis
Through utilising a similar method to the stated increments to completion method, I slowly implemented the
code of the game whilst carefully checking at every opportunity to see if the code worked within the game by
repeatedly testing the game. This enabled me to catch any problems and swiftly solve them.

Source: Title, Date & Author

(chapter / pages)

Schell, J. (2008).
The art of game design
. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Morgan
Kaufmann.

P.137 - 139
Sources Concept / Theory & Key Relevant points

MS4402: Game Development CW3- 2015

Student No: 1434630

A very important decision about game attributes and their states is who is aware of which ones. (P.137)
This source states that certain attributes and information needs to be withheld from the player otherwise the
game would be too predictable and thus the outcome would be obvious. It is important to withhold certain
pieces of information.
Application to your Analysis
By not displaying the enemy stats, it adds unpredictability to the damage they are able to deal along with
preventing the player from perfectly counting how many hits their character can survive. However,
information about the player is displayed on the screen.

Source: Title, Date & Author

(chapter / pages)

Adams, E. and Rollings, A. (2010).

Fundamentals of game design
. Berkeley,
CA: New Riders.

(Chapter 8. User Interfaces / P.200 P.250)

Sources Concept / Theory & Key Relevant points
Your game should be stylistic as well as operationally consistent (P. 202)
The source states numerous design principles to adhere to when designing a user interface. This includes
consistency and limiting the amount of actions required to perform one task. It also mentions the ability to
reverse actions in case of mis-selections.
Application to your Analysis
Message boxes do not appear in different sections of the scenes but consistently at the top of the screen. Each
scene has very little change from start to finish and the combat scene especially requires no movement of
icons to dislocate the player. The reselect target button also enables players to change their selection if need
be.

MS4402: Game Development CW3- 2015

Student No: 1434630

9. Reflection
The program Stencyl proved to be more difficult to use than anticipated and numerous errors which I had not
foreseen occurred. However, the next time I create a project utilising Stencyl or similar game designing software,
I will increase the amount of time allocated to using the program so as to allow for the troublesome errors that
occur. Unfortunately, I was unable to implement the equipment system which would be included if I had a chance
to further improve the game. During the process, I have also learnt the various components of a RPG game which
will be valuable for creating games in the future.

MS4402: Game Development CW3- 2015

Student No: 1434630

References
Adams, E. and Rollings, A. (2010).
Fundamentals of game design
. Berkeley, CA: New Riders.
Fiel, J. and Scattergood, M. (2005). Beginning game level design. Boston, MA: Thomson Course Technology.
Irish, D. (2005).
The game producer's handbook
. Boston, MA: Thomson Course Technology.
Laramee, F. (2002).
Game Design Perpectives
. Charles River Media.
Moore, M. (2011).
Basics of game design
. Boca Raton: A K Peters/CRC Press
Schell, J. (2008).
The art of game design
. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Morgan Kaufmann.

BioWare, 2009,
Dragon Age: Origins,
Console Xbox 360, Electronic Arts, Redword City, California, U.S
Game Freak, 1996,
Pokemon: Red Version
, Console Game Boy, Nintendo, Kyoto, Japan
Square Enix, 1987,
Final Fantasy,
Console Playstation, Square Enix, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
Square Enix, 2009,
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
, Console Nintendo DS, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

Appendix A: Images Used For Stencyl Game

Enterbrain Inc, 2011,
RPG Maker VX Ace
, Computer, Enterbrain, Japan
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/File:EvilEye-ff1-psp.png
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/File:Redmage-ff1-nes.png
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/File:Whitemage-ff1-nes.png
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/File:Blackmage-ff1-nes.png
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/File:Warrior-ff1-nes.png

Appendix B: How to play/Walkthrough of Experiments

Make sure we know how to complete the game experiments

Utilise WASD to move the player character. When the player collides with an actor, a message will be displayed,
as if the actor was speaking to you.
In Area 1, move the player character to the NPC outside the closest house. Upon collision, a message will be
displayed, stating that there are various demons which need to be slayed. After talking to the other residents, (1
displays their terror of the demon while the other asks for several of a Quest Item to heal other mercenaries)
collide with the portal which will stand at the exit for the town. This triggers a combat encounter.

MS4402: Game Development CW3- 2015

Student No: 1434630

During the combat scene, click the action, then target and then confirm to attack an enemy of your choice.
Upon completing the battle, go back to the first NPC who will reward you and fully heal your party members.
Then through the exit at the bottom of the screen, the scene will transition through to the second area. Explore
the area fully, interacting with the strange vines to gain the Quest Items for the alchemist NPC and closing the 3
portals. Then move through the exit at the bottom left of the level. This is the end of level 1.
Unfortunately, the combat system does not work as it freezes if it gets to an opponents turn for no known
reason.