KHI makes a KH game! Discussion #3: Art Direction and Interface Design

[Arkrend]

This is inaccurate especially in terms of which game engine the developer/team is using. Software Engineers/Technical Artists are hired for this exact reason to build plug-ins that will assist the Artists/Designers on the team with obstructions. Animation can be approached in many ways and using a collection of static images IS the foundation of all animation. It would be as simple as exporting each frame and having it play as any regular video.

If you're managing the workflow all of this, then you can disregard the majority of what I said above since...we'd be following yours of course.

I'm well aware of how to make animated clips in Unity. An actual video is a video texture that is an option not available to us.


All you're comment is doing is repeating what I said.

"We'd need to take static images and make a script to have them move in a sequence."

There's a well known method of faking videos in Unity is by exporting the video frame by frame, and write a script that plays those frames in sequence as well as audio. So that's easily done, and doesn't really require much research since it's a well known method. No plug-ins needed.


You could have easily just said:


"It's alright. I already know how GUI works for game engine's and have all of that covered. The GUI I made is still separated into layers in photoshop, it's not just a video, and I have all the resources available to have it exported in the game engine."

This would have let me know that the GUI you made was entirely made in photoshop, you were never specific in exactly how you made the animation exactly, or that you understood game GUI design.

Rather than saying, "This doesn't tell me anything I don't know."

You could have just said, "I know. I'm familiar with this, and already have everything set up so it's compatible."

 

[king_mickey rule]

Uhm don't turn this into a fight people. Not needed at all. Especially since you're both saying the same thing anyways.

With that said, got any more ideas for the Heart Grid?

 

[D.D.D]

Uhm don't turn this into a fight guys. Not needed at all. Especially since you're both saying the same thing anyways.

With that said, got any more ideas for the Heart Grid?

Well, IDK if stars play any important role in the game, but I was playing Skyrim the other day and came up with an idea. You know how in the game, when you level up, it's a constellation map. Whenever you finish a skill tree, the entire constellation's lines glow into a shape.
Maybe you could put this into the heart grids. Not constellations, but whenever one of the characters gains a skill, that square (or whatever shape they're standing on), will light up. The characters will leave a trail of light behind them.
And when the Heart Grid has been completed, the player can zoom out and see the overall shape of the grid. They'll see a picture outlined in glowing lines.

To add a story element, I know that Brand eventually will begin to use darkness, correct? How about every time he uses darkness, his glowing trail line gets darker and eventually turns into a line of purple, cloudy, glowing darkness.

The other characters can have different colored glow lines that follow them. Ciel would be green. Raine would be a strong blue. Brand's would start out as red, and then turn into a red line with darkness around it, and then eventually completely become darkness with no red. Linnea's could be a golden brown or a pink.

 

[Flutebringer]

Will drop any that comes across. Are we open to similar mini-games like the Command Board?

snip

I did forget to answer that, you're right. I guess in the process of explaining what graphics editing software would be ideal, I forgot to explain what I used. This clears up a lot actually.

 

[king_mickey rule]

Well, IDK if stars play any important role in the game, but I was playing Skyrim the other day and came up with an idea. You know how in the game, when you level up, it's a constellation map. Whenever you finish a skill tree, the entire constellation's lines glow into a shape.
Maybe you could put this into the heart grids. Not constellations, but whenever one of the characters gains a skill, that square (or whatever shape they're standing on), will light up. The characters will leave a trail of light behind them.
And when the Heart Grid has been completed, the player can zoom out and see the overall shape of the grid. They'll see a picture outlined in glowing lines.

To add a story element, I know that Brand eventually will begin to use darkness, correct? How about every time he uses darkness, his glowing trail line gets darker and eventually turns into a line of purple, cloudy, glowing darkness.

The other characters can have different colored glow lines that follow them. Ciel would be green. Raine would be a strong blue. Brand's would start out as red, and then turn into a red line with darkness around it, and then eventually completely become darkness with no red. Linnea's could be a golden brown or a pink.

Yup, that's the idea. Not sure about making the end result a relevant shape of some sort but the trail they'd leave behind them is basically what I've been trying to say so where on the same line there haha!

See the purple line? That's where Lulu already has been on the Sphere Grid. Every character also has a different color they leave behind.

And this is the entire Sphere Grid from FF X.

Are we open to similar mini-games like the Command Board?

Nope, we have no plans of having a mini-game like that. I don't think we need a mini-game like the Command Board since our gameplay should work perfectly without it .

If that's not what you're trying to say, then please do ellaborate, kinda tired so it's possible that I didn't fully understand you.

 

[Flutebringer]

Yup, that's the idea. Not sure about making the end result a relevant shape of some sort but the trail they'd leave behind them is basically what I've been trying to say so where on the same line there haha!

See the purple line? That's where Lulu already has been on the Sphere Grid. Every character also has a different color they leave behind.

And this is the entire Sphere Grid from FF X.



Nope, we have no plans of having a mini-game like that. I don't think we need a mini-game like the Command Board since our gameplay should work perfectly without it .

If that's not what you're trying to say, then please do ellaborate, kinda tired so it's possible that I didn't fully understand you.

I see the Command Board as serving two purposes: a mini-game offering an alternative to traditional leveling. I was thinking the Heart Grid would be similar in that the player could level up without fighting. In this way, it's a conflated mini-game and character progression system. Just a thought (although this probably belongs in the other thread now).

 

[king_mickey rule]

I see the Command Board as serving two purposes: a mini-game offering an alternative to traditional leveling. I was thinking the Heart Grid would be similar in that the player could level up without fighting. In this way, it's a conflated mini-game and character progression system. Just a thought (although this probably belongs in the other thread now).

Forget what I said and just read what Arkrend wrote beneath me. Having a bad migraine so I'll probably won't be making sense at all.

 

[Arkrend]

I did forget to answer that, you're right. I guess in the process of explaining what graphics editing software would be ideal, I forgot to explain what I used. This clears up a lot actually.

It's not a problem. For the record, whenever ever someone knew joins the project and makes a contribution that might need to be done a certain way to work with a game engine, I always make a post explaining basic things about this.

This isn't just for the person joining, but for everyone else as well. Everyone needs to know these things sooner or latter, and when I see that it's becoming a "hot topic" I always make sure to clear up a few things for future reference.

So even if you might have known, I assumed KMR didn't know. Especially since KMR didn't know how you made it an animation despite KMR owning photoshop. I assumed the general knowledge of GUI would be beneficial for KMR since he might attempt something, and make a mistake that would take time to fix.

The picture I had in my head was of someone posting a picture of a fully feldged Heart Grid with icons for level ups included, and everything else.

Except they forget to keep the image separated by layers, and it was all in one JPG file.

I have to jump quick on these things so everyone knows the specifications while the "iron is hot".

I see the Command Board as serving two purposes: a mini-game offering an alternative to traditional leveling. I was thinking the Heart Grid would be similar in that the player could level up without fighting. In this way, it's a conflated mini-game and character progression system. Just a thought (although this probably belongs in the other thread now).

Well the Heart Grid was created to eliminate leveling up without combat. It has two main purposes.

1) To make commands have value again. (You can't but them anymore. You get them by earning Heart points and buying them off the Heart Grid, and you get Heart Points by fighting enemies.)

2) To streamline the method of acquiring commands, and melding them.


We are redesigning the gameplay aspect of the Gummi Ship, making it funner instead of a railroad shooting gallery, so maybe the command Board would go with that. In the gameplay thread, of course.



NOTE: Streamlining means to make more efficient, and easier to jump into. I know people see that word and think "casual", but it has a different meaning to game designers. Streamlining is always a good thing as long as it doesn't remove options. The options are still there, but they're more organized.

 

[Flutebringer]

Well no, the Heart Grid basically serves as our big character progression/level-up system.

. . .

I mean, a mini-game like the Command Board that is an alternative for the level-up system isn't really needed imo just because this big character progression system we made should work perfectly. There's no need for another way imo.

I thought it would be multifunctional is all. That players would be able to level-up independent of fighting and cashing in points. I'm always on board for optional ways of acquiring/progressing in a game, but if it's set in stone then I'll just have to wait.

Well the Heart Grid was created to eliminate leveling up without combat. It has two main purposes.

1) To make commands have value again. (You can't but them anymore. You get them by earning Heart points and buying them off the Heart Grid, and you get Heart Points by fighting enemies.)

What's the reason for the bold portion? I thought KH's (most of its entries) game design was satisfying due to how varied it was. Optional ways would help reduce the monotony of playing the game in one way. I may have the wrong idea though. It's possible the enemies will be the 'varied' aspect of the game instead?

We are redesigning the gameplay aspect of the Gummi Ship, making it funner instead of a railroad shooting gallery, so maybe the command Board would go with that. In the gameplay thread, of course.

This is far more than acceptable. I always thought the Gummi Ship mini-game was a fun way of traveling between worlds.

 

[Arkrend]

What's the reason for the bold portion? I thought KH's (most of its entries) game design was satisfying due to how varied it was. Optional ways would help reduce the monotony of playing the game in one way. I may have the wrong idea though. It's possible the enemies will be the 'varied' aspect of the game instead?

Well I guess the varied aspect of the game is just general game design by making sure that the majority of the game's objectives are varied.

An example would be the Assassin's Creed games. They give different objectives for nearly every mission, and that manages to keep each mission fresh and fun.

Follow him without being seen, disguise yourself and use context clues to find the hidden meeting place, find a way into this place without being detected, take control of this enemy's territory, defend this ally's base from enemies by closing the gates within a certain timespan, etc.

Our method of gameplay variety is by using simplistic mini-games for most of the game's objectives that still feel relevant to the plot.

Fly this shuttle to Nomanisan Island, explore the Lanes Between with the Gummi Ship and gather resources, distract the enemy by throwing an object at them from four different spots to keep them from knowing where you actually are, etc.

As the game is made, the objectives will likely be adjusted, changed, tweaked, more added unto, etc. Birth By Sleep had this, and re:Coded had this in spades.

So nothing's really set in stone, but we still have an idea of the direction we're going in.

This is far more than acceptable. I always thought the Gummi Ship mini-game was a fun way of traveling between worlds.

Well for story reason, the Gummi Ship is broken is is gradually being repaired over time. The main means of going to other worlds are a series of "Bridges" found throughout the main world.

Bridges are unlocked as the story progress, and offer immediate travel to other worlds as well as the typical means for travel. Their downside is they can only allow a certain amount of people at time under normal circumstances. Due to the plot, they're close to shattering, and are off-limits to everyone except the main characters.

I imagine a "fast travel" option would have to implemented eventually so that the player didn't have to go to a specific spot just to go to a different world.

 

[king_mickey rule]

I imagine a "fast travel" option would have to implemented eventually so that the player didn't have to go to a specific spot just to go to a different world.

Couldn't those just be save-points? Or is that what you meant with specific spots? Oswald can pretty much move the Bridges, right? So it might not be too far-fetched to say that Oswald can re-open the Bridge again at the save-points so they can go back to Legacy City for a while.

Although I kinda like how they can be stuck in those worlds once they walk through the Bridge. I don't know, the feeling that they're trapped in a world before solving the problems there kinda gives it a more serious feeling.

But we are talking about a game so yeah, you might be right when saying that they still need to have some way out instead of being trapped in the world, so that the player can decide to continue the story or explore the other worlds a bit more.

 

[Arkrend]

I was talking about after they beat the world. The player could go to Legacy City, and open up a world map so they could fast travel to any world they've cleared through already.

 

[king_mickey rule]

I was talking about after they beat the world. The player could go to Legacy City, and open up a world map so they could fast travel to any world they've cleared through already.

Ah I see! So I imagine that would be like in previous games?

 

[Arkrend]

Ah I see! So I imagine that would be like in previous games?

Yeah. A world map. I was talking about how the different districts in Legacy City have the different Bridges the four unlock, and that getting to a world by foot would require going to that Bridge's district. The fast way would to just open up the world map.

 

[king_mickey rule]

Yeah. A world map. I was talking about how the different districts in Legacy City have the different Bridges the four unlock, and that getting to a world by foot would require going to that Bridge's district. The fast way would to just open up the world map.

I see. Yeah, I fully agree with you there. Legacy City is supposed to be quite big so it could turn out to be a drag if the player needs to go to a specific place to travel to one world.

Well, thanks for clearing that up!