Kromatika

Development Team:

Paul Blancaflor (blancaflor_p@yahoo.com)

Hsiao Wei Chen (hsiao_wei_chen@yahoo.com)

Joanna Patricia Reyes (jpatreyes@gmail.com)

Postmortem

Overview

Game Description Concept and Goals

Kromatika is an art-driven casual game with a simple storyline and seek-and-find puzzles. In Kromatika, the players explore the world as Dudak, a schoolgirl who must find seven color gems to restore color to the Kromatika to get back home. In order to retrieve the seven color gems, the player must solve the seek-and-find puzzles and turn-based memory games. The seek-and-find puzzles are similar to those in Mystery Case Files (2005); however the setting is in black and white line art form. The game will be in PC platform. The target market is female casual gamers of all ages. The number of players is one.

The goal of the game is to find all the hidden objects in a room and then defeat the mini boss in the mini game.

Game Features

·         Single Player mode

·         2 rooms to explore

·         Mini game (pseudo turn-based memory game) against mini boss (CPU) after each level

·         Black and white line art style of objects in each room

·         Hints available for each room

·         2D seek-and-find game

·         3D mini game

Description of User Controls:

The mouse is used in this game. The mouse is used for the selecting the buttons, hidden objects in the seek-and-find game and cards in the mini game. The game is not capable for a game controller configuration.

Development Summary

Code

ScreenManager

            The ScreenManager code from the Microsoft XNA Community is used to manage the different screens of the game. Part of the ScreenManager code is the GameScreen.cs, InputState.cs and ScreenManager.cs. GameScreen.cs is the representation of the screen managed by the ScreenManager, and where the game logic is drawn on. InputState.cs reads input from the user. ScreenManager.cs is the one in charge of managing different game screens in the form of a stack, and calls and updates the screens whenever it is needed.  

Screens

            For our game, we have different game screens for each part of the game, such as the MainMenuScreen, the MapScreen, the MiniGameScreen, and the RoomScreen. The names of the files indicates what part of the game is handled by which screen, such as the MapScreen handles the map, wherein places can be clicked by the user to enter the different places in Kromatika.

ButtonSprite.cs

            ButtonSprite is a representation of buttons used in the game. The properties or parameter of ButtonSprite are: string name, Texture2D texture, Vector2 position, Color color. The name stores the name of the button, the texture stores the texture or the image mapped to the object, the position is a Vector that contains the X and Y positions of the obect, and finally color, is what will determine the color of the object.

Card.cs

            Card is what represents the cards used in the mini game. It also includes the different properties, textures and models used for the cards in the mini game. Card also contains different logic used in the mini game.

FontSprite.cs

            This is used to represent text.

ObjectSprite.cs

            ObjectSprite is the representation of objects. ObjectSprite also contains code that will check for the alpha of each pixel in the picture.

Player.cs

            This is the representation of the players. This also includes the properties of players, such as health, etc. Also the different spells available for the user to cast is also included in this code.         

Content

• Textures
  • Buttons
  • Objects
  • Room
  • Backgrounds
  • Card Textures
• Models
  • Card

Key Technical Challenges

• Checking if an ObjectSprite is clicked, because at first the values checked are only the imaginary square that “bounds” object. And therefore, even though the user did not click on the object itself but a miniscule space beside it, there might be an error. To solve this problem we made use of a pixel checker, which will check the object and the pixels that represent the object itself.
• Converting different modules (interface, main game & mini game) into screens. During the first phase of development, the modules were implemented into separate XNA games. We realized that it is very hard to integrated three separate XNA games into one. We had to look for a screen manager so that we could handle the different screens easily. Once we have found a sample screen manager, we applied it into our game. Basically, the screen manager holds all the screens and each screen is implemented as a layer. The XNA games were converted into subclasses of the Screen class.
• Implementing the Computer AI for the mini-game. Originally, the mini game is a turn-based memory game. Unfortunately, there were some problems with implementing the computer AI. It is very hard to balance the game. In order to solve this problem, the mini game was changed into a pseudo-turn based mini game. There are two ways the opponent can cast a spell.  If the player makes a mismatch and one of the selected cards is the same color as the opponent’s color. When that happens, the opponent will cast its specialized spell (60% of the time), or cast the spell of the other selected card (40%) of the time.  If the player makes a mismatch, and one of the selected cards is the Wild Card. When that happens, the opponent will cast their specialized spell.

Reflections

Three things that went right

• The Pixel Checker, so that the clicking of hidden objects is more precise, and at the same time more difficult.
• The Button Sprite, so that buttons can be easily added to any of the screens to provide more navigation.
• The mini game, during the game launch, a lot of people liked the mini game part, especially the guys. Probably because it’s very challenging and it deviates from the usual casual games available in the market.

Three things that went wrong

• Particle effects for the hints were not implemented.
• Sound was not implemented because there were some hardware problems (Vista).
• Bugs in the navigation, we were not able to fix the button in the mini game. When the mini game is finished, player cannot return to the map screen.
• Lack of art assets (objects in the room)

Lessons learned

• Do not procrastinate.
• Always meet with team members.
• Always check the GDD.
• Use tablet or mouse when making art assets.

Download:

Game

Postmortem Document

Instructions:

1. Right click on the Download and Save Link As…

2. After you have downloaded the .zip file, extract the .zip file.

3. Double click on the GAMEDEV.exe file to start the game.

All art assets are drawn by Hsiao Wei Chen in Flash without using a Tablet or even a mouse! Just a  touchpad and her finger, lol. Reference photos are from DeviantArt and her own stock pictures.

So here’s the art assets of the rooms.

(click on thumbnail for full view. you may download them, we don’t mind)

Wisteria                 Chartreuse

Wisteria is “unofficially” known as the Purple Room, which is an English inspired room, wherein the hidden objects, once found would turn to well, purple, this represents the violet color of the rainbow (yeah, our game is gay).

Chartreuze is the Green Room, which is Greek inspired (and no, that is not really the Yuchengco building), wherein the hidden objects would turn green.

·         Enchantment spells (Foresight, Blind, Regeneration, and Confusion), last for two rounds only.

·         Direct spells are the Fireball spell or for when a card pair matches/misses. They deal direct damage to a target’s healthpoints.

·         Each boss/opponent has a specialized card based on their color.

·         The player’s task is to end the game with the most health points. The game will end when:

·         The player or the opponent has no more health points

·         All cards have been matched.

·         Damage is dealt primarily through card matches.

·         If the player is able to match a card, the player would deal 10 damage to the opponent’s health points.

·         If a match is not made, the opponent would deal 10 damage to the player’s health points.

·         The player can cast a spell if they are able to match the spell cards.

·         There are two ways the opponent can cast a spell:

·         If the player makes a mismatch and one of the selected cards is the same color as the opponent’s color. When that happens, the opponent will cast it’s specialized spell (60% of the time), or cast the spell of the other selected card (40%) of the time.

·         If the player makes a mismatch, and one of the selected cards is the Wild Card. When that happens, the opponent will cast their specialized spell.

(click on thumbnail)

Figure 1. Mini Game

Figure 2. Mini Game with Matched card

Work Completed:

1. Milestone1

2. Menu

3. Map

4. Additional Game Logic for Mini game

5. Additional Game Logic fro Seek-and-Find game

Work Remaining:

1. Finalize Mini Game

2. Finalize Seek-and-Find Game

3. Integrate Mini Game, Seek-and-Find Game, Map and Menu

Bottlenecks:

1. Clicking of objects with mouse is still buggy

Assignment of Work Remaining:

• Paul Blancaflor
  • Additional Game Logic for Mini game
• Hsiao Wei Chen
  • Additional Game Logic fro Seek-and-Find game
• Joanna Reyes
  • Integrate Mini Game, Seek-and-Find Game, Map and Menu

Realistic Time line:

March 15

- finalize game logics

- integrate

March 20
- add sounds
- cut scenes
- particle effects

March 28
- finalize everything

April 1
- game launch

Seek and find game: Download

Mini game: Download

Representative Screen shots:

(click on thumbnail)

Figure 1. Screen shot of room

Figure 2. Screen shot of room with found hidden objects

Figure 3. Screen shot of mini game

Work Completed:
1. 1 Room with objects (Purple Room)
2. Clickable objects
3. Objects from the list that are selected are colored and is removed from the list.
4. Mini game

Work Remaining:
1. Time limit
2. Hints
3. Menu
4. Pause Time
5. Map
6. Cut scenes (optional)

Bottlenecks:
1. Fine tune clicking of objects

2. Fine tune code for rotation of cards

Assignment of work remaining:

• Paul Blancaflor
  • finalize mini game
  • fine tune rotation of cards
• Hsiao Wei Chen
  • fine tune clicking of objects
  • map
  • additional art assets
  • cut scenes (optional)
  • hint
• Joanna Reyes
  • fine tune clicking of objects
  • menu
  • time limit
  • pause time

Realistic Timeline:
March 11
Milestone 2:
- map
- menu
- add more rooms (Green Room, Red Room)
- add more objects
- time limit
- pause time
- hints

March 20
- add sounds
- cut scenes
- particle effects

March 28
- finalize everything

April 1
- game launch

Kromatika

Development Team:

Paul Blancaflor (blancaflor_p@yahoo.com)

Hsiao Wei Chen (hsiao_wei_chen@yahoo.com)

Joanna Patricia Reyes (jpatreyes@gmail.com)

Game Description:

Kromatika is an art-driven casual game with a simple storyline and seek-and-find puzzles. In Kromatika, the players explore the world as Dudak, a schoolgirl who must find seven color gems to restore color to the Kromatika to get back home. In order to retrieve the seven color gems, the player must solve the seek-and-find puzzles and turn-based memory games. The seek-and-find puzzles are similar to those in Mystery Case Files (2005); however the setting is in black and white line art form. The game will be in PC platform. The target market is female casual gamers of all ages. The number of players is one.

Game Features:

• Single Player mode
• 7 levels to explore, 3-5 rooms in each level
• Mini game (turn-based memory game) against mini boss (CPU) after each level
• Boss battle at the end of the game
• Black and white line art style of objects in each room
• Cut scenes for game story (optional)
• Hints and time limit available for each room
• 2D seek-and-find game
• 3D mini game
• Particle Effects
• Sound Effects

Implementation Plan:

• Draw 2D black and white line art style objects and rooms for seek-and-find game
• Draw 3D objects for mini game
• Implement game mechanics
  • Game mechanics for Seek-and-Find game (see Game Design Document)
  • Game mechanics for Mini game (see Mini game Mechanics)

• Implement sound and particle effects

Schedule:

• February 10, 2008
  • Finish all game art (2D objects and room for Seek-and-Find game and 3D objects for Mini game
  • Find sound clips for sound effects

• February 19, 2008
  • Milestone 1: Playable game prototype for at least 1 room (Seek-and-Find game, Mini game)
• March 11, 2008
  • Milestone 2: Playable game prototype for 1 level with major features in place (Hints and time limit for Seek-and-Find game, Particle effects, Sound Effects)
  • CD including the following: Representative screenshots, Work completed, Work remaining, Current bottlenecks, Realistic timeline for finishing up your game before the game launch in April
• March 20 2008
  • Finalize everything
  • If time permits, add cut scenes for game story
• April 1, 2008
  • Launch (Game demonstration)
• April 3, 2008
  • Postmortem (Overview, Development Summary, Key Technical Challenges, Reflections)

Download: Game Proposal

It is a turn-based game where the player and CPU opponent would take turns it trying to match the spell cards shown on the screen.

There are 25 cards all in all, arranged in a 5×5 grid.

The initial player is either determined by a coin toss (player chooses which side they want before the toss). An alternative could be that either the player or CPU opponent always goes first.

Both the player and CPU start off with 100HP each.

The match ends when either the player’s or CPU opponent’s HP is reduced to zero. The one with the non-zero HP would be declared the winner.

If all the cards are matched and HP of both the player and CPU opponent is still greater than zero, then the one with the most spell card matches would be declared the winner.

Spell card list

Notes

·         The Regeneration spell can be broken if during the spell effect, player is hit with any offensive spell.

·         Each spell card match would deal 10HP damage to the opponent. Therefore the Fireball spell card would multiply 10HP by the cards multiplier to compute the dealt damage.

·         During a battle, the Boss will benefit from the “Boss effect” of the spell card of its corresponding color. The player on the other hand will have the “Weakened effect” of the same corresponding color.

·         Before the battle, the player may choose a color (the colors will be based on the bosses that have already been previously defeated by the player). During the match, the player will be able to benefit from the “Enhanced effect” of the spell card of the corresponding color, and the CPU will be under the “Weakened effect” of the same corresponding color.

·         Some spell cards when under the “weakened effect” state would yield a no effect. In cases like this, the 10HP damage from the match is still dealt.

Developer’s Notes: Mini game mechanics written by Paul Blancaflor.

Download: Mini Game Mechanics

Game Name:

Kromatika

Development Team:

Paul Blancaflor (blancaflor_p@yahoo.com)

Hsiao Wei Chen (hsiao_wei_chen@yahoo.com)

Joanna Patricia Reyes (jpatreyes@gmail.com)

Game Genre:

Hidden Objects / Seek-and-Find Casual Game

Brief Description:

Kromatika is an art-driven casual game with a simple storyline and seek-and-find puzzles. In Kromatika, the players explore the world as Dudak, a schoolgirl who must find seven color gems to restore color to the Kromatika to get back home. In order to retrieve the seven color gems, the player must solve the seek-and-find puzzles and turn-based memory games. The seek-and-find puzzles are similar to those in Mystery Case Files (2005); however the setting is in black and white and the objects are in 3D. The game will be in PC platform. The target market is female casual gamers of all ages. The number of players is one.

Significant Technical Features:

· Panoramic view of the room

· Objects are in 3D

· Camera and light sources positioned in the center of the room

Download: Mini Proposal