Weekly blog for summer work

By /


Week 1

After learning that some of my GDD was missing, I decided to use the summer vacation time to modify it. With the experience of last semester, I now have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of GDD. After re-examining my GDD last semester, combined with the feedback given to me by the professor, I feel that a lot of content is missing, so the first Zhou, I decided to summarise the feedback and make a list of things that need to be modified, and make a plan for the content to be completed in the next week.

  1. Three core issues:

The gameplay is not clear, the core gameplay and mechanism of the game are not clearly defined, and the current design is not enough to truly realise

There is insufficient evidence in the development process, and there is a lack of records of research, iteration and development.

GDD content is missing, missing multiple key chapters, such as: UI, Progression, Assets, References

Then it’s better to draw a Gameplay Loop Diagram to understand the game process more clearly.

2. My game needs an example of the game flow.

For example, the first 10 seconds: What does the player do? First 1 minute: What do players accomplish? The first 10 minutes: What stage does the game enter?

3. Complete GDD

Including:

  • Core Gameplay
  • Controls
  • UI design
  • Level design
  • Scene structure
  • Progress
  • Asset list
  • References

4. Add visual design

There must be a lot of visual content in GDD, not just text.

Including:

  • Urban design sketch
  • Comparison chart before and after modification
  • UI sketch
  • Scene concept map
  • Architectural design
  • Environmental design

5. Display the design process

  • Early sketch
  • Different plans
  • Abandoned design
  • What did I revise every week?
  • Why did I modify it?

Instead of showing only the final version.

6. To do more research, it needs to be explained:

  • Which games did I refer to?
  • Why is it designed like this?
  • What information have I consulted?

Finally, I also need to write an updated post explaining what content has been added recently and what has been improved compared with the previous one.

Sum up

  1. Clarify the core gameplay of the game
  2. Complete GDD (UI, level, process, resources, etc.).
  3. Add a large number of visual materials (skets, concept drawings, UI, scene design).
  4. Show the complete design process (research, iteration, modification reasons).
  5. Explain the player’s experience process
  6. Do more research on relevant games and explain the design basis.
  7. Write a project update to explain the new content and improvements.

Seeing these missing contents, I was still under a lot of pressure. I felt that there were many missing parts. The previous GDD was also very unsatisfactory, so I made a very risky decision. I decided to redesign a new gameplay based on the original GDD. Although I was under a lot of pressure, I was confident. To complete it, the following is my weekly plan:

Week 2: Determine the core of the game and the gameplay

  • Identify the type of game and how to play
  • Define the player’s goal
  • Define the main behaviour of the player
  • Gameplay Loop
  • Draw Gameplay Loop Diagram
  • Improve the game process

Week 3: Complete the Gameplay and overview parts of GDD

  • Core Gameplay
  • Game Mechanics
  • Controls
  • Game pillars

Week 4:

Determine the content of the game’s prompt system in each level.

  • Produce Production Asset List

Week5-6: Add visual content

Concept art

  • Reference picture research
  • Game cover design
  • Architectural design
  • Environmental design
  • Designed by the protagonist Steve

Sketches

  • Draft of the first draft
  • Modified sketch
  • Different plans

UI

  • UI sketch
  • Interactive interface sketch

Week 7: Audio resource research of game background music and design of background music

 

Before submission:

Write Weekly Update Post

Write a document explaining the improvement and new content

Final check GDD

Week 2

This week’s goal is to determine the core and gameplay of the game, so I have done some research for this (see gameplay research)

The gameplay research of The World in Loops focusses on how to repair interactions through simple and clear objects to support the emotional expression of a gentle narrative puzzle game. However, the game rules in the GDD I originally formulated require players to repair the more abstract “time rift”, but this concept is not clear enough, and it is difficult for players to immediately understand what they are going to do. Therefore, I now need to simplify the core gameplay to a more specific process, such as the player clicking on the broken object, completing a small repair puzzle, restoring the object to its original state, and obtaining a Memory Echo.

With the change of gameplay and narrative direction, I found that the original name The World in Loops can no longer accurately express the core theme of the game. “Loops” is more likely to remind players of time loops, and now the game emphasises finding lost memories of the city and re-lighting the city.

Therefore, I finally decided to rename the game Echoes of Luma. I have written the specific reason in the Game Title Development section.

In addition, I also re-completed the world building section, adding the reason for the name and the background of the story in more detail.

Week 3

This week, I completed the Gameplay and overview parts of GDD, and identified Core Gameplay, Game Mechanics, Controls and three core game pillars, and I did the puzzle research in the game.

Week 4

This week, I found that there was a lack of explanation of the specific process of the game system prompts in my gameplay area, so I was sure that the game prompt system was written in the gameplay part of GDD after the content of each level.

On Thursday, I made a Production Asset List about Echos of Luma.

Week 5-6

In the fifth and sixth weeks, my plan is to complete the research and design of all art assets. I studied the character art and environmental art design of related games such as journey and Gris. The specific content is in the Art research section.

Because of time constraints, I will first draw a draft drawing of each level object, such as fountains, trees, street lights and clock towers, etc.

In the sixth week, I began to design the UI interface. In the original GDD, there was only a text introduction about the UI part, so in the new modified version, I decided to present the design inspiration, design process and sketches all in the UI research section to record my design process and iteration.

Week 7

This week, I did some audio research on the background music of the game and gained a lot of inspiration, but my game needs free music audio, so I can’t choose a lot of music without copyright for the time being.

The background music will gradually change according to the player’s game progress, instead of playing the same music in a loop for the whole game. As the city revives, music will continue to increase the level, providing players with more complete emotional feedback.

I made a final choice of Music Asset List.

Main Menu / Ending

* First Light Particles – Yoiyami
* https://opengameart.org/content/first-light-particles-%E2%80%93-cc0-atmospheric-pianoambient-track

Level 1

* 241013 – Piano Ambient Relaxing Minimal Game
* https://pixabay.com/music/ambient-241013-piano-ambient-relaxing-minimal-game-anime-video-250406/

Level 2

* Radio Silence – Ambient Piano
* https://pixabay.com/music/ambient-radio-silence-ambient-piano-114662/

Level 3

* Radio Silence – Ambient Piano
* https://pixabay.com/music/ambient-radio-silence-ambient-piano-114662/

In addition, I have checked all the completed sections so far, completed the summer weekly blog, and wrote a document that has explained what I have changed and re-added in the new GDD.

Scroll to Top