Wild Hunt Postmortem: Struggles and Future Revisions/Steps

Game Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bKHQFPYQvYn0COq70QKq55Ep2gCLRgrbgv0jvft6NbI/edit

Development Process-

To begin with, the concept for our game spawned from Jib’s idea of a ghost hunting themed AR game, where players will be able to hunt for ghosts in the real world and battle with them to either exorcise or help them move on to the afterlife. Once we settled on this concept, we began to brainstorm on what the mechanics for the game could be; how the combat would work, how the ghosts would appear and, more importantly, what type of atmosphere and aesthetic we were going for. After considering these elements, we decided to settle upon projectile combat in which ghost and player fight with each other by throwing magical projectiles at each other. This simplified things for us as it would be quite complex to integrate physical combat in the game since it is an AR type project. Furthermore, we decided that players would roam around the world and use a map in order to see where ghosts are meant to spawn at. For this we chose to pick a relatively local spot in Union Square and use Geolocation in order to set the coordinates for where each ghost would appear in the park. Lastly, we thought about applying an aesthetic which allowed the use of low poly models for the ghosts while, at the same time, making sense to the player that they were actual creatures. As such, we went with a realistically cartoonish style, giving the ghosts a creepy but oddly funny style. Once we had figured all of these thematic principles out, we went ahead with coding and realizing how geolocation would work in tandem with the ghosts spawning at the proper locations. At the same time, You Jin was working on the ghosts themselves as well as the UI (fonts, buttons and title) for the game. After completing a small playable build of our game, we took it to playtesters at the Game Club in our school building as well as at a barcade called Wonderville. In doing so, we took the feedback from the testers and attempted to apply what we learned from it to future iterations of our game while still keeping our game simple and fun.

Successes-

As we saw from the playtests we conducted, we instantly noted how each player we had to try our game was enthusiastic and excited while they played our game which completed the most important part of designing an experience. Furthermore, playtesters were keen on getting out into the world to explore and look for ghosts; anyone of them we asked stated that they preferred to go outdoors and explore instead of having the ghosts in a small indoor space. The exploration aspect of our game was an important one since an AR game has to be able to amalgamate with the real world in a way that is not too synthetic. We also wanted the exploration and discovery features of our game to be fun and for players to actually be excited about walking around and playing our game. Another important thing that we noted from our playtesters was that they approved of the simplicity of our game and how this did not detract from the experience. In the development stage for our game we were concerned as to whether or not our game lacked in detail and content due to how simple the mechanic was, especially within the AR world of games. However, as we saw, players did not consider the simplicity as a hindrance to the experience. This allowed all manner of players to experience our game in the same way; people did not need to be well versed in the AR style of games nor even be experienced gamers generally to play and appreciate our game. Testers also praised our use of particle effects on the projectiles, calling them satisfying and very fun to see in the game. This meant they enjoyed the combat mechanic of the game even more as it made them eager to get to find the ghosts and fight them. This was fairly relieving since, due to scaling issues with AR that we faced, we were worried that the particles would be visually heavy on the players and they would not be able to focus on, or even see, the ghosts themselves. Lastly, and most importantly, the geolocation and spawning for our ghosts seemed to work well in all the playtests we performed. In fact, in knowing the issues with satellite accuracy, the ghosts appeared to be spawning relatively close to the coordinates we set for them which meant that players could engage with them without having to wait for huge periods of time in between nor did they have to walk around aimlessly in the hopes of finding a ghost.

Challenges-

In developing and testing this project we encountered numerous problems, at most part related to the AR system within Unity and how that transferred to a mobile build. The primary and longest issue we had initially was with the geolocation. Indeed, at first the coordinate system did not appear to be spawning the ghosts outside of the school building in which we were testing in. The ghosts appeared to be spawning only as one object in the school building due to the fact that the coordinate distances were very short. As such, it was hard to problem solve due to the fact that we did not know if the ghosts were spawning at all in the first place. In turn, it took us much problem solving and time to figure out why the ghosts were not appearing at the coordinates in Union Square. Two other issues we had related to AR were the scaling of assets on the mobile build and the direction of fire for the projectiles in the real world. For the former, and this is an issue which we still have, it was very difficult to gauge what size the ghosts and all the other assets would appear in once they spawned in the real world. This meant that we could not use certain effects and particle systems due to the fact that they dwarfed the ghosts and the screen themselves, making it impossible to spot the ghosts. The size of the assets also seemed to slow down the mobile’s functionality. On the latter issue, it took us some time to understand how the ghosts and the player could be targeted as shootable objects where the projectiles could be directed towards. As well as a technical hurdle, this also proved to be a mental and theoretical one since we did not really understand how AR was meant to work which did not help us visualize the problem and how things could work at all. Continuing, from the playtests we spotted some other issues that needed attention. Firstly, players were confused with some of the feedback while they believed that feedback overall was lacking in the game. Indeed, they wanted to see more feedback in changing states in the game, such as when ghosts were injured and when they were ready to be exorcised. They also mentioned how the vibration whenever the player gets hit was confusing as the player can be firing at the ghost at the same time as the ghost is firing at the player. Secondly, since the ghosts spawn in an approximate distance at a location, without notable in game feedback it was hard for user testers to notice when the ghost spawned, especially if it spawned behind them. This led to many of them dying since the ghost would fire at them before they could react or notice that the ghost had appeared. Thirdly, notably at the Wonderville playtest, the game was taking a long time to spawn the ghosts, perhaps due to satellite or network slowness, which led players to be confused as to what they were waiting for, while some of them also became bored with waiting for so long. Lastly, the game had some UI related issues where the Tutorial UI was not appearing as it should at the beginning of the game. This was another thing which took a while to problem solve and implement a fix for. Furthermore, the Tutorial UI, once it appeared that is during play tests, would not disappear from the screen as it was expected to.

What We Learned-

Through this project, we learned numerous things about how AR functions, especially when it comes to exporting assets and code from Unity that will be transferable to a mobile build. More specifically, we learned how to program with spawning assets in real time as well as how to work with geolocation and coordinates in the real world. In terms of things outside of programming, we also learned how to effectively manage a project and its development as a team, by keeping an up-to-date schedule along with a list of deliverables at every stage of the production process. This helped us to better manage our time frame as well as decide which deliverables where possible and which needed to be cut down to make a cohesive and playable game. This project also helped us to learn how to carry out more well rounded and professional playtest sessions, complete with questionnaires for testers to complete at the end of their experience. We also learned how to take into consideration player feedback that made sense to integrate into our game while also being able to better manage what feedback we could and should apply and which parts of our game needed to be removed and which were fine the way they were.

Future Iterations-

In considering future steps for our game, we would like to integrate some additional features to boost the experience of the project. First and foremost, we wish to implement a morality system which we were considering since the beginning of our brainstorming sessions for this game. Since we also have friendly ghosts in our game which do not attack the player, we wanted to integrate a system which tracks when a player chooses to attack and exorcise a friendly ghost, with the prospect of gaining additional power, versus when they choose to spare the ghost and help it move on to the afterlife. Through this system we could give the player additional feedback as to whether or not their decisions were morally appropriate or if they chose a darker path. This would give the game an interesting decision making mechanic that is simple and can have players wondering how their choices will impact the end state of the game. Along with the morality system, we wish to add more types of ghosts for the player to fight against, ghosts which will perhaps have different attacks and effects as well as variety in difficulty. Speaking of the ghosts themselves, adding more juiciness to the game in terms of feedback for changing game states (such as when the player gets damaged or when the ghost becomes weakened and exorcised) as well as animations and more effects on the ghosts would be ideal for an even fuller game experience. Finally, it would also be interesting to add a log system into the game that keeps track of what types of ghosts the player has already exorcised. This idea would act along the lines to a Pokedex from the Pokemon series, which lets players track and keep information on different types of creatures. This would give players an even greater incentive for playing the game and hunting for ghosts. A log system would also mean having access to a larger map system which we could integrate into the game. This would allow players to access more areas or even play the game in different parts of the world using a larger data base, meaning they could travel to further distances to locate specific ghosts.

Final Playtest

Playtest Photos: