Week 1: A New Operation

Hello! Welcome to my senior project, “Designing Themedior: Game Mechanics and Puzzles.” In this post I will give a brief intro to my project as well as go over what I plan to achieve in the next eleven or so weeks of this operation.

Operation’s start

As an artist, animator, programmer, and avid fan of video games, I have naturally found myself on the path of video game development. Oftentimes, video games are able to attract players due to their interesting storylines and high-quality illustrations but fail to retain these players due to lacking game mechanics that are either repetitive or lack relevance to the story. For this project, my main goal is to understand and design game mechanics and puzzles that enhance user experiences through creating immersion and elevating the game storyline. I will be examining different game mechanics and puzzles and their effectiveness in successful video games such as Omori and Gris as well as their effect on game narrative and immersion. I want to understand how game mechanics affect the overall experience of players and how I can use them to create a more successful and engaging game. Besides game mechanics, I also hope to study and create animations that help to attract players to our game and create a pleasant experience.

Dedication page

And so with this senior project, I have started my game development journey, as the animator and programmer, with my ally Ellie Xi, as the artist and story writer, for Themedior. You can find her blog here, definitely check it out! Additionally, I will be working with my knowledgeable external advisor, Utkarsh Singh, a software engineer at Roblox. And finally, I will be working with my wonderful internal advisor, Ms. Bhattacharya. If you have the time, feel free to view all our progress pictures and videos at https://themedior.artstation.com/. 

Operation Themedior

All good operations must have a plan. As you may have already guessed our final goal is to create a video game titled, Themedior. Well maybe not the whole game, but at least the first chapter, where players are introduced to the world and various game mechanics and puzzles. I plan to use the following software: Live2d, Clip Studio Paint, and Unity or Godot. 

And here is the timeline that will be taken to clear this operation.

Week 1: Play through Gris and analyze its use of game mechanics and puzzles in relation to its story. Begin familiarizing myself with Unity and Godot.

Week 2: Play through Omori and analyze its use of game mechanics and puzzles in relation to its story. Continue familiarizing myself with the game engines.

Week 3: Set up characters. Start on character movements and enemy movements.

Week 4: Create character interactions and enemy tracking system.

Week 5: Create character projectile/attacking system and enemy attacking system.

Week 6: Continue working on the combat system.

Week 7: Finalize combat system (fine-tuning the aiming system, tracking system, and character movements).

Week 8: start creating different menu screens (start screen, main menu, story menu, end screen).

Week 9: Start creating story interface and puzzles (how the story will run in the game and were the puzzles will be located in the the story).

Week 10: finish the puzzles and start fine-tuning everything.

Week 11: start beta testing and incorporating feedback.

Week 12: finish incorporating feedback and incorporating any last adjustments.

That’s all for now. I hope you enjoyed reading about my project and will join me on my operation, as I design game mechanics and puzzles and bring illustrations to life through animation. I’ll be back next week to report my analysis on Omori and Gris as well as my progress with Unity and Godot. See you then!