Documentation + User Guide

Differences from Concept Statement

Looking back at the concept statement for this project, there are quite a few differences to the final project. Let's go through and compare and explain each difference. 

 Noiromancy will be a 2D platformer in a broad, high fantasy setting with a lighthearted tone. There will be puzzles to solve with a wide, smoothly accessible and combo-able moveset. The player’s moveset will expand as they complete levels, and new levels will demand the player use different combinations of moves

Here we can see the beginnings of the scope for the project being too large for the alotted development time. The game is indeed a 2D platformer, but the high fantasy setting elements are only surface level due to a lack of development time. That being said, with further development, I would still like to continue with this initial concept. Furthermore, the moveset is combo-able, but smoothly accessible is arguable, and wide it definitely isn't. Refinement of the existing moves and control scheme, as well as development of new moves, would likely result in future development more closely matching this initial concept. Finally, there is only one level, so new levels don't exist, and thus do not demand different combinations of moves, though it would be my intention to continue down that idea in future development. 

I wish to remedy this by making all 12 moves available to the player with minimal hand movement. The D-Pad/WASD will control movement, and the face buttons/arrow keys will control special moves, with two other buttons being specified as “modifiers” that can be held to change which moves the face buttons/arrow keys control, allowing for rapid access to the entire moveset. 

Well, its immediately obvious that the lack of development time hindered the amount of moves made for the project. However, the basic movement scheme is in tact. Furthermore, the "modifier" buttons never found their way into the project, simply because the moveset never got large enough to necessitate it. 

I had the idea for mixing a detective story and a tropey fantasy world. Particularly, I thought it appropriate that the new moves the player gains over the course of the game could be new magical spells. Further, I’ve also wanted to do something with the idea of a hero going on a journey and saving someone not because they are in love, but because they have a deep and important friendship. I thought this framing device could work well, but was unsure of how “clues” could be presented on where to go next. It occurred to me that it would make sense for the clues to be left behind by the person the hero is trying to save. Thus it occurred to me that these clues would be obtained at the end of levels. This reminded me of how the player would need to gain a new magic power each level, and so I thought that the clue could also be the new magic power, in the form of a spell scroll.

Again, the theming of the world around a detective story blended with a tropey fantasy world never really came to fruition due to a lack of development time. However, the moves the player obtains are still magical spells, and I would like to flavour the game in line with the original concept if I were to develop it further. The hero's journey to save someone they have a deep friendship with also never took shape. Additionally, as there is only one level, all three abilities are obtained within it, rather than obtaining a new one at the end of each level. 

To summarise, the differences are largely due to a lack of development time. The initial vision of the project held no glaring flaws in my mind, or at least no glaring flaws that I have come across yet. Overall, I am somewhat disappointed in the amount of work I got done for the project, and I think I could have done better if I had more time. 

Feedback Summary

Basic Movement 

From the beginning it was noted that the jump had a good feel to it, and felt significantly weighty. It was noted that some initial bugs were present, such as clipping into the floor upon landing (this bug persisted in a small capacity until the end). However, this feedback provided a strong initial sense of encouragement, and kept me motivated in making sure the movement felt good over the course of the rest of the project. 

Level Blocking

For level blocking, the feedback seemed to be that a thoughtful breaking down of each level into a series of individual challenges that all contribute to an overarching experience was a good direction to take. This feedback kept me thinking about how I could subtly lead the player through level design, and try to design tutorials that were more intuition based, rather than simply explaining what to do to the player. 

Interaction

The feedback for the three moves in the project was largely positive, and people seemed to enjoy getting into the flow of comboing what few moves they had together. This gave me a great sense of confidence that my game idea held merity, and that comboing moves together would be the key selling point of the project. Furthermore, notes about having a "forward" dash, that is a dash that could take the player left or right depending on which way they were facing, being controlled by the right arrow key, indicated that it was a little unintuitive. This lead me to conclude that future development would likely lead to a re-tooling of the control scheme, such that expectations a player already has, such as what the arrow keys will do, would not interfere with the gameplay experience. 

Testing Session

The feedback from the testing session seemed to indicate that the feel of the game was good, if not great. Rankings of the intuition of the game's controls indicated that it was good, but could be improved. This would definitely be a large point of focus for future development of the project, as creating an intuitive and tight feeling control scheme is a core part of my vision for Noiromancy. 

Asset List 

9 tiles, each 32pixels x 32pixels, styled around brick walls for a dungeon. Taken from the tutorial content for KIT109. (Wells, 2021)

The sprite for the main character, Knight. 

A script that manages all the player's moves, including basic moving left and right, jumping, and special moves. Makes frequent use of a method for approximate float comparison within a specified threshold, (Al3_x, 2016)

A script attached to a small collider at the base of the player that is slightly narrower than the player. Assists in deciding when the player is "grounded", and therefore when the player is allowed to jump. 

A script attached to  a collider the size of a sandstone block at the base of the player. Assists in determining whether there is room underneath the player for a sandstone block, and thus if they should be allowed to place a sandstone block.

The background image used in the game, meant to invoke a spacey, mystical, extra-planar feel. 

A special surprise. Obtained from the KIT109 discord server

A script for teleporting an object to a destination when it enters a trigger. Used to move the player back to the level when they fall off the edge. 

A sandstone block that appears throughout levels, and can be placed by the player. 

A script to handle the fade over time effect that player placed sandstone blocks have

A script that will spawn a new sandstone block if the one it is assigned to has been destroyed. 

A script that extends the length of the player's dash when they dash through a sandstone block. 

A collection of scripts that grant the player their abilities when they touch the collider the script is attached too. 

A target to be shot at with a fireball

A fireball that the player can shoot

A pair of scripts to handle when the fireball should be destroyed

A UI element, rotated to represent all 4 arrow keys 

A collection of scripts that handle the fading in/out of ability icons in the UI 

The help screen

A script to handle toggling the player's movements and display of the help screen when the toggle help button is pressed

Player Guide

Noiromancy

A/D for left and right movement, W for jump. Hold W longer for a higher jump. 

Don't worry about falling, you'll be placed safely back before the jump.

That ledge to the left is much too high to jump!

Touch the coloured particles to gain new powers!

The arrows in the top right will show icons representing each ability. When the icons are fully visible, you can press that arrow to use that ability!  

Blue: Gain the ability to dash about 2 blocks forward in mid air by pressing the Right Arrow key! Dash through sand blocks to go even further!

Yellow: Gain the ability to place a sand block at your feet by pressing the Down Arrow key, stopping you instantly, if there's nothing in the way! This sand block will last about 3 seconds, and you'll have to wait a little bit after it disappears to place another one. If you dash through this sand block, you'll go much further than dashing through a regular sand block!

Red: Gain the ability to shoot fireballs by pressing the Up Arrow key! Shoot the target to see what happens!

References

The approximate float equality method:

Al3_x, 2016. Mathf.Approximately with a threshold ? - Unity Answers. [online] Answers.unity.com. Available at: <https: answers.unity.com="" questions="" 756538="" mathfapproximately-with-a-threshold.html=""> [Accessed 17 September 2021].</https:>

The Tileset: 

Wells, L., 2021. A tileset of various bricks for use in a dungeon level in a video game. [image].

All other art assets and scripting are my own original work.