The 5th Stage: I made a game!

If you have been following along with me, you know I recently began work on a prototype for a side-scrolling adventure game - along with my partner, Soneer - for our ART108 class at SJSU. After our initial phase of concept building and content creation, we have a playable prototype with 2 levels which you can play with the link here.

Space Investigator

a game by

Soneer Sainion (programmer, producer)

Jamieson Mockel (artist, designer)

with Creative Comments music by Tanner Helland - http://www.tannerhelland.com/

The creation of Space Investigator has been a fun process, getting to collaborate on a project that I was initially worried that I would be unable to contribute much to. In my last post, I discuss my journey in becoming something akin to an artist and creating the game world with Soneer, my programming whiz partner and co-conspirator in SPACE CRIME THRILLERS! We've spent a few weeks fine-tuning the game and making the best possible version, and now I am here to walk you through it.

Designing and Playing Space Investigator

In Space Investigator, you take on the role of Buzz Asimov, a detective in a spacesuit and duster who has arrived on the moon colony to solve a series of murders. When you load up the game, you will be treated to a haunting melody from Tanner Helland's Creative Commons collection called "Deeper." We selected it because it just has this great, spacey and mysterious vibe. I created the other sound effects using sfxr, an awesome program you can grab here - seriously go check it out if you want to make game sound effects or just mess around with virtual dials.

Yon control Buzz using the arrow keys left and right. Space bar jumps, E is used to interaction with sentient creatures and objects, and Z shoots the gun once you find it. You must scale platforms by jumping onto them, and collect items along the way to complete various tasks.

In level 1, you start out near a wounded alien and Buzz will provide a quick prompt about solving the crime. You can talk to the wounded alien, but alas! He does not speak a language you recognize. Look around the screen and you will see some items sitting on platforms - these are your objectives for level one. There is a translator card that allows you to talk to the alien, a health kit to heal his wounds, and a keycard needed to leave the area. Buzz's rocket boots help him jump around on the moon's zero-G atmosphere, but beware! The jumps can be treacherous, and the roiling purple ooze will steal any items Buzz has collected and send him back to the beginning!

If you manage to help the alien out, he will give you a clue that will be a big help in level 2, but I'll avoid spoilers and let you figure that out as you progress through the game. Needless to say, there are some riddles to solve, and if you apprehend the wrong perpetrator then it is game over, and you'll start back at the beginning of level 1! Pay attention to the clues you receive, and leave no stone unturned.

Current Issues

The game has come a long way, but still has a few things that need to be addressed:

Misprint in the title screen - but I have already submitted a new splash screen to Soneer, complete with Star Trek-esque italics text!
The ground blocks might be disportionately detailed when compared to other art assests, so some new tiles might need to be made
Some of the jumps are a bit tight, with low ceilings. This is especially true in level 2 and may lead to frustrating restarts from falling into ooze

One possible fix here is to allow the character to keep his collected items after falling in the ooze

Some unused art assets to round out the game, including a translator device and different colors for translator cards
We've gotten feedback that the hazardous ooze might not look immediately hazardous, so warning signs might be implemented
Players want more narrative, including backstory for Buzz and more dialogue to explain what is going on in the story (we have concepts for this but could not include everything for this build due to time constraints)
The aliens in level 2 are a bit small and might need to be upscaled
There is a glitch that has been an issue from the first build where Buzz ocassionally gets 'stuck' on tiles and kind of floats in place - this happens much more rarely now but can still occur at seemingly random times
The red guard alien on level 2 needs to be animated to give it some personality

Parting Shots - What Could Be

I've enjoyed being part of the Space Investigator team. We conceptualized something that blends 2D platforming with an adventure game dynamic, and I think we have a nice groundwork for it. There is a lot of potential to pull from adventure games, such as including an inventory, allowing the player to move between different areas to solve particular parts of the crime, and fleshing out the story in an interesting way, with plot twists and intrigue. Of course we'd need to balance the platforming aspects with the usual feature of the less-brutal adventure games of not really being able to lose complete (if you grew up with King's Quest you know the danger of crossing a bridge too many times).

I'd want to borrow more from the adventure genre to create a fun and humorous experience without losing what makes platformers fun, and that would require a very delicate hand, since the two styles - adventure and 2D platforming - have fairly different core mechanics. Games like Psychonauts have shown that platforming and adventure can play nice, and Dex is a cool example of this in a side-scroller, but I'd like to create something that could be played more episodically, in shorter bursts, with some Mario-like challenges - scaling but never punishing - but also some puzzles that require close reading and deduction skills to get through.

At this point I feel like I'd need to sit down and write a script, then design lots of characters to meet while someone else creates good platforming levels to plug the bits into. The charm of the game would be in the at direction and the writing, but without solid stage design, we'd never hold the audience long enough to want to experience the whole thing. I think it would be a fun project, but perhaps a bit out of my depth at the current juncture. Still, Space Investigator has - in my opinion - lot of potential, and we've gotten some really great feedback that has inspired me to think of ways to make the experience even better.

For now though, I'll leave you with some cut/currently unused art assets.