Howdy! This update about our upcoming game Marian made it in just under the wire today. 
Last week, a number of us got together last week to work on improving the animations in the game. Here’s a brief window into the discussion about Marian’s run cycle:
In case you’re wondering, our animator is Winnipeger Liem Nguyen.
In today’s tutorial, I talk about how to do basic collision detection in Unity3D. I also talk about messaging, getting more into code organization. Flashbang Studios have written a great messaging library that extends Unity’s core messaging functionality – making life easier for everyone.
We’re looking at our example space shooter project “Schpooter” again. You can play it and download the project files here. Remember, you can get a stripped down version of Unity3D for free here.
UT02 Part 1: Project Layout
UT02 Part 2: Basic Scripts and Collisions
UT02 Part 3: Collisions and Messaging
UT02 Part 4: Messaging
UT02 Part 5: Messaging Continued
If you have trouble following any part of the tutorial, or if you’d wish I’d elaborate on certain subjects; let me know in the comments. If there are enough requests for certain topics, I’ll spin them off into separate tutorials.
Here is some work-in-progress detail that you probably won’t get to see up close in the final game…
Adam Mechtley and Katie De Sousa doing what they do best.
Das Cube, you may vaguely recall, is that iPhone game by me and my buddy Mark Johns.
The game was recently plucked from obscurity to be featured on the front of the iTunes stores and the “Hot Games” section of the app store. Huzzah!
The game is a simple and addictive puzzle/action hybrid in which you bash simulated physics blocks of the same color into each other for massive combos.
BUT. It seems that a significant number of people seem to be confused about how to play the game. In fact – most of these confused folk don’t seem to understand that you must knock a block into another block of the same colour to destroy them. Some of them just resort to randomly pushing blocks around, never understanding why they sometimes go boom.
Explaining your game to the player in an unobtrusive way is a reoccurring problem in game design. It appears that our in-game tutorial wasn’t enough to get people to understand that coloured blocks have to be matched, and that has lead to a few hilariously angry reviews on the app store.
There are also a few genuinely glowing reviews, which is always nice to see. (especially after reading a “I will smash your balls with a hammer” type review ^_^)
Our first step to resolving the confusion about matching colours was to update the app store images with a somewhat overly obvious “hint”:
But as far as we can tell, this hasn’t made an impact. It’s of course totally possible that a large % of people won’t look at this screenshot long enough for it to sink in.
We’re working on an update that will hopefully resolve this confusion once and for all. (I have an idea about how to show the information visually, i.e. by demonstration instead of by text) We’re also looking at doing some additional game modes and tying the scoring in with OpenFeint.
Personally, as a player, I don’t really care about leaderboards – I like killing time with the game and I don’t care if my score isn’t in an online database, as I can always use Twitter to brag.
But not if Mark is Twittering too:
Geez! Nobody’s beaten that. (yet…)
You can pick up Das Cube for $1.99 from the App Store.
P.S. If you happened to pick up the game and enjoy it, you’d be doing us a great favour by writing a review. If you’re curious as to why I’d have the gall to ask such a thing, check out this take on the App Store. Since users are presented with a review box after they delete an app, the users who had a bad experience are more likely to contribute to an overall rating than someone who actually liked the game.
P.P.S. In other news, we are going to be continuing with Marian Mondays, only on a bi-weekly basis for the time being. We’re getting into areas of the game that would give too much away if we started talking about them now. Things are starting to come together in a big way…
Previously I’ve “ranted” about games-as-art, simply stating that I believe them to be art, while explaining that I don’t believe that to be a pretentious statement.
I feel that what causes some people to run screaming from games-as-art discussions is a combination of exaggerations and misinterpretations. One side in a debate might overstate their case, while the other seizes on that, characterizes it and perpetuates it – for example. The sad thing is, as far as I can see it, there really isn’t a need for this “rift”.
The definition of “art” that I subscribe to is a very open one. For example, it doesn’t require something to be “good” (ranked above and beyond other works) and it could be said of almost any medium.
One of the reasons I don’t include “good” in my definition of art, is because “good” is subjective. I think “good” is one of the points where debates about art become pretentious. The question is: is there an objective way to evaluate art?
Just a small (and late) peak at Marian today, but a promising one none the less.
