In week 10 my games story had a lot of issues after workshopping it with feedback from my lecturer, peers and family I eventually settled on the current iteration which involves a photograph developemnt minigame at the end. I have never attempted this so to figure out the steps and content of the minigame I am researching the process.
How do you develop photographs?
This is a guide for beginners on how to develop photographs.
- Set the room up.
- Mix the chemicals – Important to follow the instructions and keep them within a good temperature range.
- Enlarge the print – place the print into the enlarger and ensure the image is clear.
- Expose film – place the paper onto the enlarger and expose it, transferring to the bigger paper.
- Develop the print – place the paper into the developer tray covering completely for the appropriate amount of time.
- Stop the developing – place the paper into the stop bath, stopping the developing.
- Fix the print – move the paper to the final tray making the print permanent.
- Rinse with water
- Hang to dry
What’s in a darkroom?
This article details the equipment needed.
- The Enlarger – a projecter that when shone through the small negative transfers it onto the paper.
- Safelight – a safe light to use in darkrooms as the red light does not damage the film.
- Focus Finder – helps to focus the enlarger by zooming in on the small negative, ensures it is not blurry.
- Darkroom Trays – deep trays to hold the chemical solutions in that the prints must be dipped into.
- Print Tongs – tongs to touch the photographs with without damaging them.
How can this be gamified?
The mixing of the chemicals could have a challenging element where you must keep a bar in a certain spot fro the correct amount of time to represent the temperatuire of the chemicals. This could be similar to the Stardew Valley fishing minigame where you use the mouse to manipulate the small bar to catch the fish.
There could be a drag and drop element to it, like A Little to the Left. Making the player pay attention to how long they have put the photograph in the different solutions.
Similar to the cooking mama games where you must cook food for a certain amount of time, guided by a timer this could be implemented in how you treat the developing photographs.
Looking at all of these references and the process itself a common theme has emerged about precision. Each aspect requires precision either with visuals or timed elements. I will incorporate this into the game whilst still keeping it fairly easy and not frustrating, as the player has just finished the lighthearted adventure section of the game.
Next Steps –
I will now develop the steps for this section and create a simple mock- up.
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