Game Design Document

Goosebumps

By R.L. Stine

My GDD is about a Choose Your Own Adventure Story revolving around travelling to Space and meeting interesting lifeforms.

I haven't quite decided on a name yet, but I'm considering something along the lines of...

The Journey

First Playable Level

Hopefully this works.

This is a short video showing my prototype and the basics of my first playable level. I would like to point out the character is able to jump I just didn't hit the button in time. 

Week 8 Progress

My progress in class has greatly improved in recent times! I guess it's because I actually sat down and did the work. In one day I managed to build a level, import a character, and have the camera follow him as he runs and jumps.

I didn't really have a good weekly routine, just doing most things last minute and hoping they were good enough to merit counting towards the points. I used some of the extra credit options earlier in the year but have since stopped doing them simply because I didn't have the time or because I didn't see the need. I was also very confused about what exactly what the Wiki Trails were.

I still need to fix it up a bit but for now it's working very well.

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

Looking back on the blog comments I've left I think that I could have wrote more and for more people. I only left comments on a few blogs because I was interested to see what they got up to with their game.

I was trying to be as kind as possible with my comments and leaving what I hoped were good suggestions and references to other games that I thought would help them with their game.

For the other comments I was very confused and didn't really know what to write so I just kind of left whatever I could and tried to make it over sixty words. I think I did it right, or at the very least no one has come to me and said my comments were rude.

Typing Reviews

Week 8 Reading And Writing

Looking back on my previous works I realised how different my game was going to be before I started the Game Design Document. Originally it was going to be a 'Temple Run' style game with Yoink running away from the screen and from the player.

I realised I was being very impersonal when it came to the readings, giving my honest opinions and make little jokes to try and get people more interested in my blog because they would find it funny. I think this worked well but I haven't really hear anyone say anything about my blog being noticeably funny or more interesting than others.

Looking at the Customisation Screen I figure I could still use the same design for it, and just change the dimensions to fit the game window.

In my most recent blog post on my project I showed a small drawing on what my level design would look like, very different to my original design and I am actually quite happy with that.

Original Level Design

Final Level Design

I never really realised how much I read until I had to go over it and talk about it. And that so many of the subjects I read related to the many games I played, such as Stardew Valley, Civilisation and Undertale.

I disliked the idea of there being types of fun, because I don't think fun is something you can accurately define. I was fine with the idea of comfort and coziness, but risk and reward is something that really makes a game.

Then there was the thing with Meaningless Decisions that I don't agree with because every decision has an effect on either the player or the game. Like changing an outfit or deciding not to go down a particular path.

I think when it comes to what I could improve on or what I would change is just, detail. I need more detail in my Readings but on the other hand it's just meant to be a quick summary based on what I read.

Maybe try and making things less casual and being more professional about how I write down the information I've gained from reading the various pieces of work on the hundreds of different needs Games require.