GameJolt Layout and use

To get our game played so we had more feed back we put our game on a online gaming website called GameJolt we did this so we could get alot more feedback and in turn make the game better, also for our game to be posted we wanted to make sure we had added enough to the game, and when we published it that meant we had done enough to know it was good for the public.

Our Page

http://gamejolt.com/games/arcade/evolution-of-defence/63746/#show-notifications

Below we have shown our page layout, for the header we decided we should make something that said the name of the game and was displayed within the colour scheme and this is what we ended up with and it suits the game, also to get more players we showed images of the game being played, aswell as the menu screen, and early alpha look so players can compare it with now, and a video of the game so people can view before they play also as a start our game is only supported windows and is a download but later will work with HTML.

Improvements suggested my tutors

One improvement I need to make to my blog is to create a project proposal, this will be vital for my work as it’s a requirement to pass the unit, this will be me looking into areas of the game that I will be working on as well as considering problems and risk that I may face doing the project, which I will provide how I plan to minimize these chances of these occurring and how i will resolve the problems should they arise.
Do research into the topics of tower defence games and evolution, for ideas into how a tower defence game functions and to find anything that inspires me either positively or negatively and why, this will give me inspiration into features I could add to the game, it will also give an idea to how tower defences work and how sources other than games use the theme of growth and evolution.
I need to add sources in my posts, such as images of how the game is progressing over time as well as adding any tutorial videos that I have used to create features of the game, this will help show how the game is developing to another interested in the game.
I need to create thumbnail sketches to help me gather ideas and to show planning that I have created for content, these will be helpful to me as they will help me develop my ideas, they will also be a way I can show players how I plan on creating features, this will be useful as it will mean I can get suggestions from players and also find out which ideas players like and why, this will be helpful to me as it means I know that players are liking the content I am producing and can try and continue with content that players like.

Changes made after Tutor Feedback

after my tutor game be feedback, these are the changes i made to how i did my work.

I was told to add more to my project proposal and to add strengths and weaknesses aswell as, risks i would face doing the project and solutions to these problems.

also i was asked to upload all of my research onto the blog rather then leave it all in a work book that i would  not be using and this is what i have done.

also i have been making weekly evaluations as it was suggested by one of my tutors

Also i have used alot more feedback by players and i have been documenting it all and writing about how it has been changing the game over time.

also i have been writing about how i have been saving the game over and over as it is a good way of saying how i am managing to protect the game from risks

I believe that making the change to my project proposal has helped me as it has made me more aware of problems i could face as well as knowing how to stop them when they arise, and this has helped me a lot, I believe that uploading my research has made me more aware of changes i can make to the game and i know what ideas i came up with so i can find everything i need within the blog and also people can see where the game mechanics came from that we made and they can know of my influences. I also believe that my weekly evaluations helped me as it meant i spent time considering changes i can make to the game and i know what worked well and what i can keep trying to do with my work and for the future. Writing up my feedback has helped me as it meant i knew exactly what i should  be doing to implement what players wanted in the game and this makes the game better all round.

Sound and Music Creation

For the creation of some of the sounds I went outside to a local park and recorded the sounds of ducks, swans and other wildlife using my phone. I then uploaded it to my computer, opened it in Audacity and cut the parts that weren’t needed and removed background noise, Then I put the finished .wav file on to our Google drive where it was downloaded on another computer and added to the game. For other sounds that couldn’t be recorded in real life I used the website http://www.bfxr.net/ and created sounds like the picking up of energy, exported them as a .wav file, uploaded them to the drive and added them to the drive. For the creation of music I used the website http://www.pulseboy.com/ which allows you to create 8-bit style music for free. Learning to use Pulseboy properly took a while but was a lot easier when you know what all of the buttons do. WordPress doesn’t let me upload .wav files but they’re in the game so you can hear them there.

Player Feedback #3

Written Feedback 3 Dan

These answers have told me that i should maybe look into if the turret is helping people too much and see if the upgrade for the turret is too cheap for how helpful it is, if so i will be increasing the cost of the upgrade.

Player Feedback #2

Written Feedback 2 James Vernon

These answers have been useful as i now know that i should look into adding checkpoints for the game, so maybe when you evolve from water to ground, that has a checkpoint so it isn’t as hard to complete and it would make the players play the game more.

Use of game maker Forums

When i was creating the code that gets the minions to fire bullets towards the base, i had a glitch that would make all of the minions fire out of the one that came into the game first, rather then them all firing from themselves,to find a solution i went onto the game maker forums, and very quickly i was given a very helpful reply, that instantly told me what i had done wrong, and how to change it, and i saw what i had done wrong and i worked out what i should have done instead, and i was happy that the reply given to me was quick and effective at telling me what to change.

http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=664887&hl=

Use of Video Tutorials.

When i got up to a piece of code that i didn’t know how to do, i used video tutorials, for example when i was creating the code for spawning enemies randomly i used a tutorial, the tutorial helped me massively as it meant i understood what was needed of me to make the code work, but the code didn’t actually tell me what i needed, but due to me having experience within game maker it meant that i could cross my knowledge over, and have the code work for my uses.

here is the video that i used for the code in my work.

Player Feedback #1

Written Feedback 1 Caleb O’brien

i got people to play the game while i had questions written and after they had played i got them to answer the questions, my answers have been very useful as i have changed things according the answers, to make sure i get the most of my feedback, i am going to collect at least 2 more feedback answers., from this feedback sheet alone, i have changed the chaser enemies so they aren’t in the level when the boss is.

Initial Idea Progression

as a way to display my ideas with the team and show them how i can imagine our game i drew out my idea’s and then we decided which would look the best, below are our idea’s in their different forms and a chosen look was decided.