Designing a Puzzle

For my demo there needed to be some kind of brain teaser puzzle to test the player and yield important information so that they can move on. My idea is to have a four digit code that unlocks a safe containing a key for the Acrobat. To get this 4 digit code, the player must solve a Brainteaser.
I had a few ideas about what kind of puzzle I wanted for this and after looking at a few sites for a basic puzzle to build from I found this puzzle:


Santa always leaves plans for his elves to determine the order in which the reindeer will pull his sleigh. This year, for the European leg of his journey, his elves are working to the following schedule, that will form a single line of nine reindeer:

Comet behind Rudolph, Prancer and Cupid. Blitzen behind Cupid and in front of Donder, Vixen and Dancer. Cupid in front of Comet, Blitzen and Vixen. Donder behind Vixen, Dasher and Prancer. Rudolph behind Prancer and in front of Donder, Dancer and Dasher. Vixen in front of Dancer and Comet. Dancer behind Donder, Rudolph and Blitzen. Prancer in front of Cupid, Donder and Blitzen. Dasher behind Prancer and in front of Vixen, Dancer and Blitzen. Donder behind Comet and Cupid. Cupid in front of Rudolph and Dancer. Vixen behind Rudolph, Prancer and Dasher.

Hint: Poor old Dancer was last.

Answer:
Prancer
 Cupid
  Rudolph
   Dasher
    Blitzen
     Vixen
      Comet
       Donder
        Dancer

(http://www.brainbashers.com/showpuzzles.asp?puzzle=ZKRG )

Now this puzzle works quite well as the basic problem the player must solve but it needs some extra layer to make it generate the code for the safe. The way I thought that they could be generated would be that the whole process of making a line from the elements would be to designate a number from 1 – 9 (i.e.: First person in the line = 1, second person = 2, etc.)

After this the player could find 4 labelled Party hats with just the names of the people on them. Only by allocating the numbers gotten from the previous puzzle can they then input these numbers into the safe, unlocking the door. This is the updated puzzle using the ’Santa’s Reindeer ‘ template:

 

“We lined up all of the party members and gave them numbers from 1 to 9 in the order that they were lined up, with the first person getting a 1, and the last person in line receiving the number 9. This was for the festivities ahead although I can’t remember the exact numbers that were allocated to each person so if the numbers are lost, here is what I can remember about how they were lined up before the numbers were allotted:

Kay was behind Nick and in front of Dick, Mike and Wendy.

Wendy was behind Ema and in front of Miles, Dick and Mike.

Ema was in front of Lynne, Wendy and Dick.

Miles was behind Dick, Kay and Nick.

Larry was behind Nick and in front of Miles, Mike and Kay.

Dick was in front of Mike and Lynne.

Lynne was behind Larry, Nick and Ema

Mike behind Miles, Larry and Wendy.

Nick in front of Ema, Miles and Wendy.

Miles was behind Lynne and Ema.

Ema was in front of Larry and Mike.

Finally Dick was behind Larry, Nick and Kay.

Hope this Helps!

-          Number Zero

(Solution)

(Nick) 1

(Ema) 2
(Larry) 3
(Kay) 4
(Wendy) 5
(Dick) 6
(Lynne) 7
(Miles) 8
(Mike) 9

In addition to this puzzle I think one more would be necessary, but the nature of this puzzle has given me ideas about how the environment could look so I shall make concepts for the environment/ assets next as the next puzzle will no doubt arise from the assets (as it will be a different kind of puzzle).

Note: As a personal touch, the puzzle references three of my inspiration games – Phoenix Wright, Ghost Trick and 9 Hours, 9 Doors, 9 Persons. The sign off at the end of the page ‘number Zero’ is referencing the antagonist of 999 who refers to himself as Zero – while of course acting as a statement that whoever wrote this was numbered like the other members as Zero. The names of the people in the puzzle are all character names from Ghost Trick and the Ace Attorney series. If someone has played either of these games they might notice the references but otherwise it simply is a functional puzzle.

Scenario and Character Concepts

 

Scenario:

This was something I had actually come up with whilst in a lecture, sketching between notes:

- The player character stumbles across a room that they cannot get up to the only exit. They then discover an Acrobat locked up in a room/ the room. The acrobat is the Warden and can climb up to the area to let the player up, but the player must first find 2 keys in order to do so. The player can recover these keys by completing two puzzles:

- One involves combining two items to retrieve it in some way

- The other involves retrieving a code to unlock a drawer.

Once the keys have been found, the acrobat jumps up and lets the player down.

During this the player can converse and gain trust with the acrobat. If I have time I would love for this to affect the outcome in some way.

Character design:

Acrobat Sketch one:

This was the basis for the other two sketches I had done. I had tried to keep her design quite contempory and modern. Out of the three I do like her design best however it has far too many independent things that would be very difficult and time consuming to animate.

This design was more reflective of a prison uniform, and I drew it with animating in mind (keeping as simple as possible). I also toyed with the idea of an eye patch but for an acrobat it would be very much illogical.

This is the design I chose – it retains the basic ideas of the first design but simplifies them – leaving the jacket, hair and scarf as the only possible issues – but any of those can be simplified for the animating process.

In addition to the sketches, I decided to fully colour and line art the character – in addition to making sprites. There are a few kinks to work out with the layers but these poses were quickly generated in around half an hour using the rotate tool in Sai on different layers. Hopefully with the greater control from After-effects animating will be as easy. If so that would alleviate early animating fears immensely.

Project 2: A foolproof Gambit (I hope!)

With my interactive Narrative almost finished, I decided to work on the second project today: creating an interactive demo of my game concept from the previous unit. Many people are choosing to continue and refine their interactive narratives instead of this, but I’ve chosen to create a short demo because my concept was both something I am passionate about, in addition the After effects / iWeb tutorials that I have had hint at ways I could definitely create something that would work.

Now for this project I would have roughly 4 weeks to complete it. The first week I have set myself a number of tasks to complete that will mean that I will have the correct tools and structure to push on for the final weeks:

- Creating a Scenario

-Creating character sprites (fortunately from BA4 I have the protagonist sprites already available – in addition to a full turnabout which will make building the ‘in game’ sprites easy for that character. Although this said, I would – if I have time- like to make improvements)

- Generating 1 or two puzzles for the player to complete in the scenario to progress

- Creating the Environment (which will be built around A: The Scenario and B: The Puzzles)

-Scripting any and all dialogue

- Blocking out progression of Scenario (i.e.: when dialogue happens, items in room, how the narrative might be set out in iWeb)

Possible problems I have identified ahead are:

The animating process: Due to the nature of the basic sprites and after effects, I have a feeling that through moving layers of a Photoshop file I could quite quickly and easily animate sections of gameplay – HOWEVER if this is a time consuming process I would have to consider changing all the animation to ‘stills’ to drastically decrease the amount of extra work I have to do. I would not like to have to do this but the most important thing will be completing this project. It is because of these worries I have put aside 3 weeks for the production and post-production stages

Time-keeping: I have been ambitious in trying to take on this project, so I need to make sure that I don’t give myself too much work to do in the time period and keep a firm balance between using all the time allotted to the maximum but also not pushing that too far. Because of this I have several ‘options’ available to me to cut down on production time at the expense of certain elements.

Puzzles: My plan was to have two puzzles maximum. Should I push the limits too far, I’ll reduce this to only 1 puzzle that will only require the player to work it out and not pick up anything.

Animations: I would like to ideally animate some – if not all of the possible areas I can. Obviously though, if this is too time consuming I will systematically cut some of the animations (turning them into stills of key frames).

This demo will have a few minor alterations to the original design document. It won’t be split screen to represent the DS, nor will it be entirely interactive to the degree I would like (there will be 1 or at a push 2 interactions the player can make with elements in the background – eliminating the action wheel). Due to the constraints of an iWeb set up for interactive narratives, the inventory will also be gone. While the demo will have many constraints given the iWeb basis – it should demonstrate the gameplay flow, in addition to the trust system.

Second Option Panels with Reference

"Option" Panel

 

First Panel sketch

Storyboard

Very rough storyboard (that I didn't keep to in the end)

Assassin panel sketch 1

Assassin panel sketch 2

Originally when I had created ‘the second option’ of drinking the poisoned drink I had only planned to make it around 2 pages long. When it came to producing them, I created another series  of mock storyboards since I was ahead of my schedule and experimented with a number of different things – shifting once again from the black panel to the messy white (and back again). I tried to be a little more stylistic with the shape of my panels – especially in page three of the poisoning arc with the slowly closing eyes.

I added two strong panels of pure colour/ pattern to increase the effect of their message (in one the shift from life to death of the protagonist and the other to place emphasise on the ‘Mr. Pyre’ (which is the big narrative twist).  

Personally I think the outcome of both narrative paths now house half the story – meaning that the reader can complete the narrative by following both paths, and uncover truths about the story that would not appear until later if they had not done so.

There are one or two alterations I need to make before I can place the panels into iWeb and finish the project – mainly panels that have been bugging me due to a distinct difference in quality to the others, in addition to the obvious lack of a title page. As I am going to be tackling the game demo next which will require a huge amount of work in itself, I will place these smaller tasks to the side for a week or so in order to make larger strides in the other projects.

Final Panel (Option A)

I found this last page difficult to plan out because I wasn’t sure whether to stretch the ‘shooting scene’ to one page and have the final panel with additions as a page in itself. The final result was this. I think if I have time to go back and make alterations, I might toy with the idea of doing the above mentioned ideas but I am very happy with the outcome – especially the final panel (in particular the way how Keira turned out; from the colouring to the pose and overall quality).

panel 13

original sketch (Cain)

Original Sketch (Keira)



First iteration





Second Iteration



Final Panel

The final page was born after a critique session, whereby after a few helpful suggestions I made changes to the first panel – splitting it into two that had been cropped to focus on the gun/ face of the character. This adds a much more cinematic feel to that page – with the changing focus of the ‘camera’ from the gun to Keira. I also made a few alterations to dialogue, reducing it and cutting some of Cain’s lines as they did not seem like how the character would act.

panels 10, 11 and 12

I made various changes from the storyboard on this page – moving the closing doors across the page and removing the above shot of the Cain in the elevator. This was because I felt that page was too ‘flat’ atmosphere wise I did not suit the tone set by the chase. I replaced this with the clicking of the button and the doors closing from Cain’s perspective. To build up a sense of lighting on the figure I used broad and rough strokes, that in the end formed the final panel as change in art style seemed to add a sense of horror and suspense to the page that wouldn’t have been captured with the style thus far.

 

This panel didn’t technically have a storyboard because it was necessary information that needed to be put in but I hadn’t had the space for previously but had discovered a window for (how Cain had come to know that to escape – his first discussions with Keira). I did use the panel from the above storyboard (the aerial view) as it returned the action to a calmer mood to the previous page. I also briefly returned to the dark grey and boxed panel layout for the half a page flashback as a visual indicator that wasn’t hugely explicit.

I returned to the storyboard with page 12 after filling in the narrative gaps with 11. For the lower shot the background colour and style was something that took a little while to get right as I wanted that strong light from above and cold colour dominance. I also like to think that on this page, the gradual shift from the cold blues of the elevator, to the red of the hallway represents the shift from safe isolation to the danger that lurks in the next page.

Sony research

http://www.sony.co.uk/article/id/1060176719725 (06/01/2012)

http://www.webhostingreport.com/learn/sony.html

http://www.gameconsolesedu.info/PS2.php (19/01/2012)

http://news.sel.sony.com/en/corporate_information/sony_brand

http://www.cyberiapc.com/vgg/sony_ps2.htm

History of Sony Playstation

Made in Japan: Launch of Sony Legacy

Sony general history

Sony was founded by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita in 1946, at this point called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company). Their main services included repairing radios and manufacturing a small number of voltmeters in a post-war Japan. The company’s first innovation was an automatic rice cooker. When the duo wanted to expand into the global market, due to TTK having already been used, they reinvented Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo under the banner of Sony. Sony was derived from the Latin word Sonus and the English word Sonny-boy –a term commonly used to address a bright youngster in 1950’s America.

The first Sony branded product went on sale in 1955 (TR-55 transistor radio) but the company itself was not officially Sony corporation until 1958. Shortly afterwards Sony released the first pocket sized transistor radio. It received plaudits due to its good battery life and sound. For several years Koriyama and other members of Sony worked hard to expand into international markets of America and Europe. In early negotiations with American firms, Akio Morita turned down an order of 100,000 radios from Bulova but due to their demands that the radio would bear the Bulova name he turned it down – stating: “Fifty years from now, I promise you that our name will be just as famous as your company name today”.

When trying to expand into Europe, one of Sony’s toughest struggles involved over 2 years in Germany. The market was hugely saturated with radios so it was seen as having to sell ice in the Antarctic. This was not helped due to issues with their radio’s components. However, after this issue was resolved, a large amount of persistence and salesmanship meant that soon Sony had achieved a positive and strong reputation in the European market.

In October 1967, Sony produced a high quality television named ‘Trinitron’ – which utilised a combination of three cathode-ray tubes.

Another struggle in their long history involved the infamous VHS/ Betamax format battle. Sony bought out the Betamax system in the early 80’s to counter JVC’s VHS format. Unfortunately for Sony, VHS won that ‘battle’ but the Betacam format they developed is still used today.

Playstation:

Given the firm monopoly that Sega and Nintendo had on the market in the early 1990’s, initially Sony were not interested in breaking into the games industry. However, Nintendo approached Sony with the prospect of working on a CD-ROM for their next console. As Sony worked on developing the CD drive for the SNES, Nintendo became increasingly nervous about the deal due to the high amount of revenue that Sony could generate from the production and distribution of the disks, to the point that Nintendo betrayed Sony, deciding instead to work with Phillips on the technology in 1991

It was this that persuaded previously anti-video games Norio Orio, in addition to the persistent Ken Kutaragi to move into the video game market with their own console.  Eventually Sony Computer Entertainment Inc was formed in 1993. Leading to the launch of the PlayStation ‘X’, Sony approached many developers and publishers due to their lack of iconic brands (Sega: Sonic/ Nintendo: Mario). At first these developers did not want to work with the advanced 3D software advances that the PlayStation offered due to the time and money required– but after witnessing Virtua Fighter, very soon after around 250 companies had signed. They also spend 48 million dollars to purchase Psygnosis under the banner of Sony Interactive Entertainment. With a strong backing of third party developers and marketing, Sony sold 1 million units in 3 months in Japan. In the next year after spending 4 million on an E3 booth and after setting a marketing tone of 19; selling 800 thousand units – this was perhaps aided by the £299 selling price in comparison to the other consoles on the market (Sega Saturn: £399). In total the PlayStation has sold over 90 million units worldwide.

Playstation 2:

http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/february04/PS2timeline/index.shtml

The PlayStation 2’s development was first announced to the public in April 1999.

 At the core of the console was the ‘Emotion Engine’ (developed by Sony and Toshiba) – which allowed the system to be backwards compatible with the original PlayStation library (also featuring a hardware mode which could smoothen and improve the running and graphics of these games). The consoles engine also allowed for DVD format games and videos to be played.

The console was released in Japan on March 4, 2000 and North America on October 24, 2000. The PlayStation since its release has sold over 120 million units. In 2004 Sony released a Smaller, slimmer model (SCPH-70000) which sold so well that shortages were well documented – especially in Britain, where a Russian Oil Tanker became stuck in the Suez Canal which subsequently blocked a Chinese ship that had a large shipment of Playstation 2 models.

Sony did not entirely have smooth ride as far as Hardware issues when it came to the Playstation 2 console as it suffered many technical hiccups across its many models. One issue was constantly misaligned laser disk lens which while they could be solved by a simple internal fix – this voided the warranty. After a class action lawsuit was filed against Sony on July 16, 2002 after many consoles had broken down, Sony agreed to provide a reduced cost repair and a small compensation to affected gamers  

Panel 9

Original Storyboard

Revised Storyboard

Final Panel

This panel was actually the hardest I had done so far – as the rough style made for designing corridors very difficult. I did trial different lighting and colouring styles and poses before I settled on this. The corridor itself is messy and the panel style changed to address the change in pace from the story. I also made sure to turn the camera at the end of the panel from first person to third in order to prepare for the next page as switching the camera between pages could have seemed to too drastic.

Panels 7 and 8

My inspiration for the first panel of the page from Assassins Creed: Revelations (Ubisoft, 2011) opening cutscene. 

 I didn’t have any sketches to base this set of panels from, but one of the largest influences on the first panel was from Assassins Creed – with a disappearing almost ethereal figure amongst a crowd. This was storyboarded as a lone smaller panel, but I felt that having the close up of the assassin’s expression and the flashback inner monologue added additional fluidity to the narratives flow.

This second panel was important, despite the lack of visuals, as it acted as a clean cut between the poisoning scene and the chase scene – which are two distinctly different locations. Furthermore I was planning to experiment with panels during the chase so that this could also act as a visual segue between the two.

6th Panel

Reference Sketch for the pose

Shocked Woman reference

This Panel wasn’t part of my original Storyboard but given the flexibility of my concept, I could add this shot, which depicts the poisoning of a random person by showing the full collapsed character. This is much more explicit than my original idea of including it in Panel 5 and helps the story flow better.

In all honesty, I was really impressed with the outcome of this particular panel. The colours, strokes and change in mood all really worked to add effect, whilst not straying from my consistent style so far.

5th Panel

I made a few changes from the storyboard for this panel because it the images were too stretched in the composition so it didn’t make it necessarily clear what was happening.

4th Panel

Basic Idea



Final Panel

It took so many sketches to get this image exactly how I wanted, and one or two days to colour it in a standard that I felt was good enough. I put emphasis on this particular image because it was an important event that the scenario was based around, plus it was meant to highlight the enchanting nature of the girl who was serving the drink. I was tempted to include some kind of internal comment from Cain - however, this would have likely detracted from the image.

Panels 3 and 4

For this panel I wanted to signify the difference between the Philanthropist and a Tyrant in the design of the silhouette so they can be split in half – with a person praying and a person whose hands are covered in blood visible in the bottom half of both of the figures.

 

As Winston Pyre is an influential yet mysterious character in the narrative, I decided that he would simply be a silhouette so that the audience doesn’t know what he looks like to retain that mystery. The face had slight changes in tone as I decided that it would be affected by the hue of the background

First Panel

I had to make a few changes to my original Storyboard layout. Initially I had planned that the Narrative would begin with Cain running through a corridor towards an elevator - narrating that he is being hunted and it all started with a drink. I decided to change this to an establishing shot of the party hall from a distance and then to the inner monologue of Cain.

Finished Panel

The finished panel has a messy, yet colourful style that was born from the influence of Benjamin’s work. I debated for a while on whether or not to include a planetary long range shot for the establishing shot, but decided to create the hall instead and have a caption that stated the planet/ date to set the scene.