Game Creation pt.1
Since I came up with the ideas, I decide to refine them as much as I could and this was the thought process that I went through as I manages to create 8 mini-games in total, although I understand that for the prototype creating of these game might not be possible, having them all designed is still a good thing. So if I was to make the games, the idea could be explained to anyone reasonably quickly. So let’s start with all the games.
Game 1
This was based on the information gathered about the first omnibus available in London, it could hold only 22 passengers total and because it was so successful, William Shillibeer, the person who brought the bus to London went out of business as other companies were rivalling and unfortunately doing a better job. So for the game I already understood that the player would have to manage to collect customers to the Omnibus Carriage and it would max out at 22. Rival companies can be made to give the illusion as though the player needs to quickly get the customers and reach their quota. Additionally, this was all in 1837, so we can push a Victorian Level design. But how would the player get these customers?
Again because this is a VR game it would be from a First Person POV to avoid confusion and potential health problems for players and considering the time period, a social class system is also something to consider, which could introduce a point system as well. The player would have to find a way to persuade customers on the bus, this could be done from the player physically moving in the environment and grabbing customers one by one and bringing them to the carriage or maybe there is wave of potential NPC passengers that move in a straight line and the player would only have to grab the correct customer and receive the points and the quantity number. Personally leaning towards having the player run in the environment and bring the NPC to the carriage because having them go in a line seems quite boring and seem not very innovative.
Applying points to the Class of customers would also allow for an additional challenge, perhaps making a different mode of the game where after the first initial win, the game will change to a challenge mode where the points are the main objective, not the passenger count
The conditions for the game would be like so:
Win
Player needs to achieve a quantity goal reaching 22 passengers
Loss
The bus company beats the player, reaching the 22 passenger count.
After this point, just like the other games I also asked myself some question in how the game could work after this as follows:
Game 2
This game would involve the player remembering the specifics of the ticket. The player will have a line of customers trying to get on the tram and as the tram conductor you will be responsible for identifying if it’s the correct ticket to allow the passenger on the tram, to which the player has to punch the ticket to accept and place it on the no pile to say no. however, the player can also accept people without a ticket and with the wrong ticket as this is what happened historically as Tram conductors were heavily disrespected. This would effect your score, but the method in which the ticket is accepted by the player can have a chance of effecting the score negatively as some tickets could ‘go under the radar’ as such. This game would only involve a simple score and time limit, trying to make a better score than the previous time if anything.
Passengers would come one after another and there is no limit to them until the time limit is reached.
The conditions of the game are more personal to the player, all they have to do is achieve a good high score and can keep doing so under their own belief they can do better.
So just like the previous game I also pondered on how to execute other ideas into the game.
Game 3
This game revolved around the Steam Train that were originally part of the Underground system, and it came to be mainly because according to the source, when steam trains used to go by where there were opening in the pavements. The sound of the steam was so loud that is scared people on the street, now the consideration for the game was to create a game where it’s either make sure people do get scared because of it, but the also the steam produced bad air quality. So for this game, it was hard to deduce exactly what I was looking for. I need to ask the supervisor to gather some ideas in general. To scare these people, I would consider a point system again where the amount you scare would achieve the allotted Here were some considerations for it:
Game 4
With this Mini-game, the theming was fairly simple, after doing the research the idea was to create real-life ticket office where the player would take the tickets and accurately count the correct amount of change given to the NPC customers, in this case the currency was also different being shillings and pennies. Now the player would be provided with instructions from the NPC’s being the location, the social class and number of tickets, which would determine the price of the whole transaction and then move on from there. Only problem being that the currency is different to current currency, but this would mean I’ll have to create a method to make the player learn about this. When the player has made their selection, the player will just hand the ticket over by first placing it on the counter and then stamping it, to move on to the next customer, adding that sense of authenticity.
Now understanding this as an initial hurdle, the player would only have to get 5/10 customers correctly to win, making sure the game is easy to start with. Another thing is this mode could potentially have a challenge mode for players that want to go further beyond than that. Furthermore, the player would also have to complete this under a time limit, but for now I don’t have a concrete time limit created, but understanding that this limit needs not to be restrictive causing too much pressure and anxiety for the player so it needs to be a sensible easy one to adjust to.
For the player to loss they have to get less than 5 correct or if the allotted time has finished. To further refine the idea I came up with a bunch of questions, as follows:
Game 5
With the increase in technology, a single person doesn’t need to be responsible for traffic in the Underground, where beforehand it would have been done in a simple using flags to dictate the flow of the Tube, telling them when to leave the station and when to go. Obviously this is something that is still done today, but we have signals rather than actual people, in this case we will be the assistant trying to learn the ways of the Tube Conductor as we have a veteran teaching us.
This game is simple, follows similar characteristics to the game SIMON, matching the directions of the pattern. You, the player will have access to three objects: Red Flag, Green Flag and Whistle. The aim is do the same pattern as the conductor, which you can see right in front of you by raising either flag and raising the whistle near the head area to activate. There is a time limit and as the player all you’ll have to do is conduct the correct actions in reference to the sequence you just witnessed correctly every time to earn a point, if you don’t repeat the sequence correctly it will rest back to the original sequence. Each sequence done correctly will make the next sequence add another action.
For example, conductor raises red flag, green flag and then whistle, you repeat sequence you get 1 point, the next sequence could be raises red flag, green flag, whistle and raise green flag, you repeat sequence correctly you get 2 points etc. Obviously to make the game a lot more forgiving, when the conductor is presenting a sequence, the timer will pause and when the player needs to repeat the sequence, the timer will then continue.
I think it’s pretty simplified from there but regardless I’ve, again, made a list of questions to refine my design process:
Game 6
This Mini-game revolves around rotating the location board at the front of a bus, but from a first person perspective, however the only way I thought it could work involves movement being change the location name which will let the bus off on it’s journey. The players job would be to ensure that that busses location is correct and if not the player loses a life. I couldn’t think of how it would work just yet, so it might not make the final cut at all, but it’s worth considering.
Game 7
See a rendition of old Tube Trains and how they work, the idea was directly taken from the Museum where the player has to pilot the train, however, the problem with the one in the museum, it only demonstrates the acceleration and the brakes rather than providing any objective, which is where I come in. For this mini-game, the players goal is the reach the station and within the boundary presented. If there player manages to get the train stopped within the correct parameters of the boundary they will be a tick if they don’t well no tick. The more ticks, the better basically. The length of the tunnel will give the player at least 3 opportunities to complete this challenge. Finally again, question refinement:
Game 8
Now for the final game, we have a dangerous boat journey to the other side of the river in London….. yes there was a time where this was a crazy dangerous journey that people had to do because there was only two bridges in London, but this is what this Mini-game is about. You as the player are instructed to find the obstacles that will come dynamically in front of the boat where you must instruct the rower to dodge other large accompanying boats on the River Thames and protect the passengers. So you know, don’t crash and you have 3 lives to make sure that doesn’t happen. Finally, questions:
Next Steps
Now the main point from here is to try and refine these ideas further. I have asked myself some more question of how I can manage certain things, but I need more knowledge on VR interaction from other games to see how it works, again I already know I have to be careful with movement but it’s something I need to look into further. From here refine the concepts make sure they are sound and make sense and finally get some feedback from there.