Monday, 23 April 2012

Documentation


I put this off because I did this blog once and I thought I posted it but instead it disappeared from the face of the earth. This meant I cried a little and didn’t want to do it again. But I know I have to so here is my second attempt at it.

So for this you want us to make an outline for a project as practice for FMP. I actually found out useful stuff I did back in my old tech days so this might not be as painful as I first thought.

Project outline 

The title of this game is called Thunderbird Zero, it is an action adventure casual game aimed at a young audience. You can play the game in a complete non violent way if you wish due to the structure. You will only be forced to fight boss battles. This is a re branding of the Thunderbird universe set 50 years in the future to bring it back into the light again as a viable children's game. This game will be for the DS and computer (flash game).



The story is fairly simple; the Mebeeps are an alien race that kidnaps great great great granny Tracy for her extreme knitting abilities. Meanwhile Brains the Third is just about to complete a new Thunderbird model, Thunderbird Zero. His mission is to collect the main component part for his completion, the super-hyper-mega-drive, and set off to rescue great great great granny Tracy who is being subjected to 12 hour knitting sessions.

The key features that make up the game experience for the player are the integration and choice of many vehicles and weapons the player can transform into. When the player transforms into certain vehicles (Mole, TB1, TB3, TB4, TB6, TB7) they can draw their route of passage (with mouse or stylus). These look the same as in the original series of Thunderbirds but in human size, think of it as human sized transformers. Also the player can make a conscious choice whether or not to fight the enemies ahead, as long as these conditions are met; there is soft ground to dig, and nothing obstructing the sky, the player can avoid enemies.

Mole, the player can draw a path on the lower screen which is below ground level. In doing this they can collect items and discover new paths to take instead of the most obvious one. Player can dig on particular ground; this is to enhance some rules on gameplay.

TB1, the player can use a switch screen system on the DS in order to swap the screens and then the player can draw a path on the lower screen in order to collect items or avoid obstacles on the ground and in the sky. Note every transformation takes a quarter of the players energy bar and it takes time to recover, approximately 30 seconds for a quarter of the energy bar.

TB3, this Thunderbird will only be accessible in the space levels of the game and will comprise the use of the stylus (or mouse) to draw their way around obstacles and enemies.

TB4, the same feature used in TB3 will be used here. This is only used in an ice level, when there will be holes in the ice where the player can enter using TB4 and the side scroll view is kept.

TB6, this is one of the new editions to the universe, it’s a grapple the player can use instead of wasting energy, although this does take energy, it will be about 1/20th of the bar consumed. The player first partially transforms into the TB6 tool, and then they can use the stylus to draw a path to a grapple hook. When the stylus is released from screen, the grapple will detach from player, follow the route to the destination and then drag the avatar once it has connected.

TB7, this is a gun that the player can choose to use or not use. More for a second time around playing the game to beat time trials and so on...etc.

TB8, this is a teleportation device allowing you to go back in time and try levels again, increases re-play ability of the game. Not a weapon or a transformation but an add on type thing...yeah.



It will be made as a side scroller in Unity with low budgets so it can cross platform. Looking at the restraints of the DS I found out that it can render 2000 triangles per frame that means I have to take into consideration character along with enemies and environment. But because this is a side scroller you can get away with more especially with the environment i.e. 2 triangle modulated pieces to make up stack-able environments. As for the texture limit as far as research got me I think you can render 1Mb per frame so this is the same as the triangle limit i have to take into account enemies and environments as well. 

Technical Specifications for:
   TB0 & all transformations
        -TB0 - 500 tris - 1x128x64 and a 64* with 8 colour alpha
        - Mole - 300 tris - 1x128x64 and a 64* with 8 colour alpha
        - TB1 - 300 tris - 1x128x64 and a 64* with 8 colour alpha
        - TB3 - 300 tris - 1x128x64 and a 64* with 8 colour alpha
        - TB4 - 300 tris - 1x128x64 and a 64* with 8 colour alpha
        - TB0 with TB6 - 550 tris (TB6 1x64x64)
        - TB0 with TB7 - 550 tris (TB7 1x64x64)

   Enemies and Bosses
      - All bosses - 500 tris - 1x128x128 and a 64* with 8 colour alpha
      - Mini Bosses - 300 tris - 1x128x64 and a 64* with 8 colour alpha
      - Generic enemies - 200 tris - 1x64x64 and a 64* with 8 colour alpha (Alpha dependable on enemy)

Thanks to the links  below especially the first which offered some insightful information on texture limits that I totally didn't copy and paste.




 

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