Robert Wolf Game Design Notes

This will cover a lot of different type of RPGs and the type of content for said RPGs. Also specific games because not every game falls into these cats. Turn based RPGs For turn based RPGs you can do a lot of noises without causing many issues for the given game/ gameplay for the players to go through and keep the experience still enjoyable without failing the main sound design of course. This is because actions are taken up into turns and not having to worry about the input aspect as much. Action Turn based RPGs Oh boy; this is a... complicated subject due to me not playing many ATBRPGs expect a handful and only being the FF series. To cover this as the best as I can this genre relies on two styles of focus for it's given gameplay. Presentation so things sounding good and being smooth to the ear being quite important, the sound design from the game series tickling my brain as a good example while I haven't played any bad ones, I could imagine added sounds not playing well to t...

Rare stats Odd strats/ rare strats I am understanding better now, why they're enjoyable, they're not just played to win but also get into the conditions required by said strats to be performed. Otherwise, trying to play like a machine, optimal at every step would be boring, lackluster, etc. Going for tactics and stats that aren't going to help me through entire matches but rather playing off meta, off kilter of what you're supposed to be playing for the given game in question. You come up with more clever problem solving and everything; it brings a lot of things together for how you're able to tackle challenges or not. They put you in a position where you need to play optimal under the conditions of the handicap. Playing against authors intent I see the idea of the death of the author or game designer but the question becomes around designing a game against the authors intent of strats and tactics. How often times players seem to have fun doing the inverse as the ga...

 Hypothesis - increasing the speed of the game would make it unfair and not fun with having to re approach the design of the game and how to tackle things and the kind of builds you can use. Tool used  - Cheat Engine Speeds times chosen Speed times chosen are of the following; 1.2 times 1.3 times 1.35 times Results for all 3 Nothing really different happened between them and playing each speed for an hour back to back did produce the same result with little to nothing changing difficultly wise between them, perhaps I didn't increase the speed enough. Fun factor It stayed fun and was more heart pounding with traveling between areas and having to react and act with the buttons I had to press, with the faster gameplay I had to be more on my toes and parrying felt more rewarding with the attacks being less telegraphed. Amount of work gotten done I was able to get more task and objectives done and having it where close calls were much more heart pounding and thrilling. Difficultly ...

Genre  - Speedrun FPS 3D platformer Assets needed  - simple shapes, nothing fancy, cheap placeholders Levels  - simple colors, simple levels Game mechanics 1 - demons (simple colored enemies) 2 - exit that only opens up once all the demons in the level are dead 3 - demons have HP and get hit by bullets 4 - players can be swapped between 5 - timer for levels 6 - player time and medals to collect for said times (said times go down to the milliseconds) 7 - player can look at the time they got for the level before they go in 8 - show how many times the player played the same level over and over. Player mechanics 1 - Shooting 2 - pick up weapon cards by walking over it 2 - 1 - max number of weapon cards allowed in hand are 2 2 - 2 - player can switch which weapon card they're holding 2 - 3 - switching weapon cards in hand 2 - 4 - the last weapon card you step on will replace the one you are holding 2 - 5 - the max number of the same cards you're allowed to hold in hand at once...

 When changing the structure of the code having to figure out new ways to address the same problem but in a different light for the problem that is right in front of me with having to be clever with my approach and seeing how things are going to go with having to change how my code functions overall versus keeping it the same as before with the given system and set up for everything. This forcing me to re-think things and consider how things are actually operating when it comes to my code running.

 func update_animations(input_axis,delta): if movement_data.slide_timer >= movement_data.slide_timer_max: animated_sprite_2d.play("idle") movement_data.actor_state = 0 print("actor state") print(movement_data.actor_state) if collisionShape[0].disabled == false: disable_collision_node(1,false) disable_collision_node(0,true) change_sprite_position(0,-20) if movement_data.actor_state == -2: movement_data.animation_play_true = false else: movement_data.animation_play_true = true if is_on_floor(): if Input.is_action_pressed("ui_left") == true or Input.is_action_pressed("ui_right") == true: movement_data.actor_state = 0 if movement_data.actor_state == 0: if Input.is_action_pressed("ui_left") == false and Input.is_action_pressed("ui_right") == false: movement_data.actor_state = -2 if input_axis != 0: animated_sprite_2d.flip_h = (input_axis < 0) if movement_d...

 Link; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB7Mai05Iqo When seeing the certain behaviors in team play, when you have items/ actions for newer players having to focus on playing as a teammate you have it where people start to play worse even when they're good at single individual styled games. They stress about caring about their teammate too much and start to ruin their own play/ ability of play. For the video you see the person go from 1st place and the better placements to worse placements the more they say, "my teammate" and think about their teammate, often times unable to pull off tricks and maneuvers they could usually and thinking of the competitive environment differently even when they had success before. Perhaps a solution would be to create game systems where people focus less on their teammates.

Importance of the camera to display info the player needs to know; a simple system that many game developers neglect sadly and stick to something simple instead of changing it's functionality to something more useful.  Position The position of the camera should be shifted based on where the player is going, Pizza Tower does this system where as the player speeds up that further ahead you can see the placement for where the player will be going, giving the player more time to figure out what is ahead of them, this is useful because you're focusing on where the player is going rather than where they are. That pointing where the player is going is important if you want them to successfully traverse the landscape of the 2D platformers. Making it where the spot the player isn't facing as in behind them, they're more likely to deal with a problem from behind for the player. For the Y position if the character is falling, the camera should go down, if the player is going up, i...

Rest Short rest 1 - give each class a unique way to short rest 2 - warlocks restore spells on short rest 3 - Paladins 4 - Fighters get 4 burst dice 5 - Combat Defensive, offensive and mobility gameplay Defense = block physical actions Magic defense = resist a spell to stop Speed = add to your imitative roll Combat goals For combat the goal will be for classes and play styles to invest into the given mechanics they're focused on Stats goals less RNG but still unique flavor builds Backgrounds Unique backgrounds that are more RNG based versus stats

keycodes s = 83 d = 68 code var swing_speed = 1 var frame = 0 var frameCheck = 3 func thrust(): frame += swing_speed if (frame == frameCheck):   frame = 0

Game Engine: Godot Game mechanics so far Run Excel Friction slide Jump Held jump Run jump Slide jump Slide Slide Excel Slide timer Mechanics Planned Add more depth to jumping, wall sliding Mario like jumping Crouch jumping Synergize the three game loops (jump, slash, shoot) Plan levels Training level; teach the three core systems

#1 - learn how the game engine works 1 - 1 - do that as soon as possible New goals 1 - Redo the code base to something that I know 2 - Improve my existing code

 1 - Make sure when changing collision you enable then disable the other collision node.  2 - Relaying on the use of the else statement to turn back on a sprite position is a bad idea; only change the collision position if necessary to do so.

 func _ready(): # Create the CollisionShape2D node collisionShape = CollisionShape2D.new() collisionShape.name = "CollisionShape2D" add_child(collisionShape) # Create a RectangleShape2D for the collision shape var shape = RectangleShape2D.new() shape.extents = collisionBoxSize / 2 # Assign the shape to the CollisionShape2D collisionShape.shape = shape # Set the initial position of the CollisionShape2D collisionShape.position = Vector2(0, 0)  # Adjust the initial position as needed animated_sprite_2d.position = Vector2(0,-20) # Set the material color of the CollisionShape2D # Set the color of the ColorRect var colorRect = ColorRect.new() colorRect.color = collisionBoxColor

The first match went on for 30 minutes (from my end) from what others said it went on longer before I came in; it had to be one of the most balanced and smallest maps I've been on. Pros 1. Overdose was made useful thanks to the map being small 2. A good amount of flanking routes 3. Made medic useful 4. Gave Spy a way of traversing around Cons 1. The map is too balanced A map being too balanced leads to these issues of even trade of blows back and forth, it went on way too long and had a constant non-stop no room to breath struggle fight with both sides. Both sides went blow for blow the same classes to counter each other expect for the fact I stayed as Medic while the map was encouraging defensive play. That without Medic; we would've lost. The only reason why we won the second time around was the fact as Medic we had an extra Medic so we won in less than 10 minutes effectively. 2. Medic's crossbow was made less useful on this map Medic's only good ranged healing weapon...

1. Jumping 2. Held jump 3. Controlled jump 4. Wall jump 5. Wall jump off 6. Run jump 7. Running 8. Acceleration 9. Air acceleration 10. Friction 11. Air resistance 12. Fast Fall 13. Slow fall 14. Gravity 15. Gravity excel 16. Animation change state 17. Slide coding (need to fix up) 18. Dynamic collision creation (need to fix up) 19. Slide Friction 20. Slide speed up 21. Slide gravity 22. Slide boost 23. Bullets created 24. Bullet move facing direction 25. Bullet move 26. Bullet Excel 27. Fixed the animation state with actor_state, long story short the actor state effects which animation is playing so each state the actor is in is changed 28. Camera shift (based on left and right) 29. Camera shift max for the distance horizontal 30. Camera slow excel of distance Total Time used to complete this = 13 hours (11 total hrs - 5 hours from goofing off) What I need to learn to code 1. Enemies 2. Moving enemies 3. Melee attacks 4. Uppercut Attack What I learned If conditions and variables with ...

Luckily so far the vast majority of the bugs have been the same issue over and over again. Now realizing a new bug with the fact I need to use DS_list when I thought I didn't need to, UGH! This is my fault for using bad coding practices and not learning things like DS_list; I am a fool for not learning these systems and instead taking the lazy way out. Level design This isn't the complaining part but more about how complex good level design is to pull off I just realized even for a 2D platformer game. The when or what game mechanics to introduce to the player first. To keep things simple at first and slowly ramp up the difficultly.

  Goals Dualistic design; teaching the player but at the same time having it where the level design serves a dual purpose with players that know what they're doing will be able to speed along while new players need to learn how x and y work together before they can start. Simple sets; keep the tutorial start simple and easy to grasp for the average player. Keep a teaching pattern, a new part of the tutorial should open up to teaching a new enemy type to face.

Different genres of 2D platformers I'm just going to jump into this right now; different genres have different styles and different genres of platforming. Platformer types 1. Mario platformers; they're designed around your mobility with your movement being at the core of the gameplay with ducking, diving, crouching, jumping, wall jumping, etc. A jump heavy platformer. 2. Jump King; a game designed around making mastery of your charge jump mechanic the core element and adding a ton of depth to one single gameplay aspect, making the game about mastery over one difficult mechanic under different environmental conditions. 3. Megaman; a balance focus on jumping and shooting with a design focused around run N gun gameplay mixed with some platforming, taking a more balance approach. 4. The game I want to make; a mix between Mario and Megaman; heavily in depth Mario movement mixed with Megaman gameplay. 5. Smash Bros; (I'm counting the story modes) these style of platformers you ca...

 The levels are designed around intimidation factors but still focus on getting the player used to the base mechanics and even sets up the level with alternate paths to get to bandage girl. You have the levels designed around encouraging the player to get used to the controls at first along with the fact of introducing the intimidation factor. Design notes for World 1; up to LV9 Set up The set up levels prepare you for the next worlds over, this style of level design is to put the player in a position of learning the lay of the land before jumping on ahead. Pay off The pay off softens the blow and how hard they feel to play. Level Size Levels are often big and in the first world are very vertical while the hospital is very horizontal for it's levels but still big; the size of the level matches the movement type the player will be going through. Enemies Besides the bosses, basically none; the game is designed around challenging you platforming wise, not enemy wise. Speedrunning? Thi...

Games often times have different damage types; as a game designer it's important for me to understand the kinds of damage types and when to use x or y idea. Specifics Specific damage types should relate to real life so players get an understanding of what kind of attack they're doing. Some can get away with not being a specific but rather a support such as Slag from Borderlands 2. However pulling a Diablo 4 and going too specific such as having damage stats dedicated to, "damage over time" doesn't work. Dark Souls hits the perfect balance with having thrust type attack dmg, slash attack dmg, pierce attack dmg, the same for the defense types. You have a specific attack type that is shown how it functions and how it works; when you perform a slashing attack, said attack damage is applied, when performing a thrusting attack, said type is applied. People like things to be labeled and or set up in a form that is recognizable and or understandable. Genre Specific For so...

 I figured I'd do this pointing out certain design issues, I may not of made a good MMO but you don't need to be a genius to see the design issues in hand with some of these projects. How to mix? The question is how do things mix, what elements are pulled into what. The reason Diablo 4 failed is because it couldn't put enough MMO elements and enough looter elements mixed together as a unit. The game mechanics you keep and not keep matters. Think of this like a house. Some genres that are mixed don't take away many game elements such as mixing rogue-lites with 2D platformers while other genres you need to take away the correct game elements to make a good Roguevania. Feed into each other Genres can take away and feed into each other; you need to find the proper game elements that feed into each other here. Are enough game elements of genre 1 feed into genre 2? There is a reason why so many genres follow similar rules or the same rules. Some genres are less flexible than ...

When being a project manager it is important to be clear and distinct as possible with what you mean, how certain systems are ran, etc. A lack of explaining what X or Y aspect means leaves people confused and spinning their wheels. Even writing my own design notes for myself I often times find myself looking at it from my future self and thinking, "what the hell did I mean by this?" The better the instructions and how things should be ran the better people and your future self can understand the issue at hand. Use examples from real life and things people can understand from other systems and don't just assume they have knowledge of x or y system. People will never have the same amount of knowledge as you and how that knowledge works or operates is much different from person to person. When a person has knowledge of working on x or y kind of project then you must assume they know the fundamentals but not the deeper details or if you don't want to assume, you can ask t...

When looking at this game; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gllNgPsIGSI I was actively watching and noticed a lot of things narrative wise. The meaningful changes that people cared about weren't the biggest change to a game but the small ones that mattered along your journey. If you want to correctly have narrative choices matter here is what you do. 1. Small changes This may seem odd to bring up but the small changes can lead into other small choices that carry a knock on effect from how much you focus on battling to how much you focus on improving your character's social score like Persona with talking, battling, etc. 2. Depth of steps Your narrative choice doesn't have to be some kind of big spanning RPG but rather a small narrative step, however; it adds depth, it allows you to have a choice that means something. An example; getting your social score with a student up to 100 can give you access to moves to teach to your Pokémon or even just the fact that improving your s...

 Sports fans coming to mind when it comes to the Lebron James trying to make a super team with the fact that a sports fan commenting on the fact of, "not wanting a super team and to see two titans compete" for me, it's the same way watching people play fighting games; it's fun to watch two titans duke it out and not a one sided stomp. These situations are created and make a boring to watch state of play. The most iconic and most watched moments are thought about/ recorded because well they're having two legendary competitors going against one another. Even in anime this is the case where the threat not being on the same level as the hero just being boring as it's a one sided bout with an easy win for the punch. The idea of, "oh we want the best of best" but at the same time, not balancing it out and having an equal to duke it out with, creates no conflict and humans love conflict. Sports or in this case talking about video games is about conflict and...