adventure games: the ins and outs of design and development (lessons learned)

Who

Tadej Gregorčič

Co-Founder / CTO Creative & Technical D.

twitter, facebook: @tadej

code, puzzle design, story, production

Teaser/Trailer: www.elroythegame.com

http://www.elroythegame.com

Adventure Games

Puzzle solving within a narrative framework

Similar to watching a movie or reading a book

Narrative, Puzzles, Exploration

Day Of The Tentacle (1993) Monkey Island (1990)

Full Throttle (1995) Grim Fandango (1998)

The Book of Unwritten Tales (2009) The Inner World (2013)

Machinarium (2009) Blackwell Series (2006-2014)

Technobabylon (2015) The Journey Down (2010)

The Silent Age (2012) Sword and Sorcery (2011)

Deponia (2012) Broken Age (2014)

Topics

NARRATIVE ART

DESIGN CODE

AUDIO PRODUCTION

Production

NARRATIVE ENGINE

CONCEPT ART

PUZZLE DESIGN

ROUGH ART

“FINAL” ART

ROUGH ANIMATIONS

“FINAL” ANIMATIONS

ROUGH DIALOGUE

“FINAL” DIALOGUE

TEMP SFX

TEMP MUSIC

“FINAL” SFX

“FINAL” MUSIC

VOICE ACTING

“FINAL” CODE

CHARACTER DESIGN

LOCATION DESIGN

BETA

The Mountain of Adventure Game Development

PROTOTYPE

NARRATIVE ENGINE

CONCEPT ART

PUZZLE DESIGN

ROUGH ART

“FINAL” ART

ROUGH ANIMATIONS


ROUGH DIALOGUE


TEMP SFX

TEMP MUSIC

“FINAL” SFX

“FINAL” MUSIC

VOICE ACTING

“FINAL” CODE

CHARACTER DESIGN

LOCATION DESIGN

BETA


$PROTOTYPE

NARRATIVE ENGINE

CONCEPT ART

PUZZLE DESIGN

ROUGH ART

“FINAL” ART

ROUGH ANIMATIONS


ROUGH DIALOGUE


TEMP SFX

TEMP MUSIC

“FINAL” SFX

“FINAL” MUSIC

VOICE ACTING

“FINAL” CODE

CHARACTER DESIGN

LOCATION DESIGN

BETA


$$$

PROTOTYPE

STORY / NARRATIVE CONCEPT ART

PUZZLE DESIGN DEVELOPMENT ART ANIMATION

SFX

TESTING / QA

MUSIC

MUSICAL THEME

STORY / NARRATIVE CONCEPT ART

PUZZLE DESIGN DEVELOPMENT ART ANIMATION

SFX

TESTING / QA

MUSIC

MUSICAL THEME

Trello / ticketing systems

Project management SW (e.g. Basecamp)

Here be dragons

“A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.”

Mr. Shigeru Miyamoto Nintendo

Narrative

StorySequence of events

Mary wakes up, gets dressed, drives to work, works, goes to lunch, flirts with David, does more work, goes home.

PlotEvents as they relate to each other

Mary’s day begins when she wakes up and drives to work. The most interesting part of her day is lunch, when she flirts with David. The plot ends

when she goes home.

Narrative“design” of the story (events may be in diff. order)

Mary wakes up, skipping breakfast so she can go straight to work. Though most of her day is boring, she likes lunch because David is there and they

flirt a little. After work, she drives straight home to get some sleep.

Source:

http://hacktext.com/2011/09/story-vs-narrative-vs-plot-1205/

Narrative90% structure, 10% plot

I. DepartureCall to AdventureRefusal of CallSupernatural AirFirst ThresholdBelly of the Whale

Princess Leia’s MessageMust Help With HarvestObi-wan rescues LukeEscape from TatooineTrash Compactor



II. InitiationRoad of TrialsMeeting GoddessTemptation Off PathAtonement With FatherApotheosisThe Ultimate Boon

Practice With Light SaberPrincess LeiaTemptation of Dark SideDarth and Luke ReconcileLuke becomes JediDeath Star destroyed



II. InitiationRoad of TrialsMeeting GoddessTemptation Off PathAtonement With FatherApotheosisThe Ultimate Boon

Practice With Light SaberPrincess LeiaTemptation of Dark SideDarth and Luke ReconcileLuke becomes JediDeath Star destroyed

III. ReturnRefusal to ReturnThe Magic FlightRescue from WithoutReturn ThresholdMaster of two worldsFreedom to live

Luke wants to stayMillenium FalconHan Saves LukeDestruction of TIE fightersVictory CeremonySuccess over empire

CHANGE FALLGROWTH

Source: http://vanvelding.blogspot.si/2015/05/ffs-pulaski-hate-is-unjustified.html

Act 2

Act 1Act 3

Limited awareness

Increased awareness

Reluctance to change

Overcoming

Committing

Experimenting

Preparing

Big change

Consequences

Rededication

Final attempt

Mastery

Character Arc

http://vanvelding.blogspot.si/2015/05/ffs-pulaski-hate-is-unjustified.html

Emotional AlignmentCharacter motivation vs. player’s pre-existing motivation

Motivation: What does the protagonist want? Enough to continue through obstacles

How does the character and his motivation change?

Marry Sue / Gary Stu = bad writing in non-interactive, OK for games

(but also for adventure games?)

What does the villain want? Why?

TV TropesFinal Temptation for a Normal Life

He Knows Too Much Lottery of Doom

Monster Protection Racket An Offer You Can’t Refuse Trouble Follows You Home

The Collector

ExamplesTomorrowland

Last of Us Star Wars (1977)

BASIC PLOT CHARACTER LISTBASIC LOCATIONS

BASIC PLOT

WRITTEN NARRATIVE

CHARACTER LISTBASIC LOCATIONS

CHARACTER MOTIVATIONS,

CHANGES

LOCATION DESCRIPTION

BASIC PLOT

WRITTEN NARRATIVE

STORYBOARDS



CHANGES


BASIC PLOT

WRITTEN NARRATIVE

STORYBOARDS

PUZZLES, PROTOTYPE



CHANGES


PLACEHOLDER SCRIPT / DIALOGUE

LOCATION CONCEPT ART

BASIC PLOT

WRITTEN NARRATIVE

STORYBOARDS



CHANGES


BETA

PLACEHOLDER SCRIPT / DIALOGUE

FINAL SCRIPT / DIALOGUE

LOCATION CONCEPT ART PUZZLES, PROTOTYPE

ExpositionCutscenes vs. Gameplay

NarrativeTechnical Debt

OK OK OK OK

OK OK OK OK OK

OK OK OK OK OK

OK OK OK OK OK

Placeholder


OK OK Will Rewrite Later OK OK

OK OK OK OK OK

OK OK OK OK OK

OK OK OK OK OK


OK OK Will Rewrite Later OK OK

OK OK OK OK OK

OK OK OK OK OK

OK OK OK OK OK

??

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

a b c d e f g h i

j k l m n o p q r

s t u v w x y z

+ - / ? !

Alien Sans

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

a b c d e f g h i

j k l m n o p q r

s t u v w x y z

Puzzle Design

Puzzle Types

DIALOGUE PUZZLES

NON-CONTEXTUAL LOGIC PUZZLES

ENVIRONMENTAL PUZZLES

INVENTORY PUZZLES

Puzzle Dependency Chart

FLY AWAY IN SPACESHIP


FIX ENGINE


GET NAVIGATION CHARTS

GET ROCKET FUEL


FIX ENGINE



GET WRENCH

PICK UP SCREWDRIVER

GET ELEPHANT TO MOVE

CATCH MOUSE

GET ROCKET FUEL


FIX ENGINE



GET WRENCH

PICK UP SCREWDRIVER

GIVE BASEBALL CARD TO NAVIGATOR TINA

GET ROCKET FUEL

GET ELEPHANT TO MOVE

CATCH MOUSE

GET BASEBALL CARD IN EXCHANGE

FIND WEDDING RING

USE METAL DETECTOR WITH GARDEN

RETURN WEDDING RING TO BOB

ENVIRONMENT CONCEPT ART

PUZZLE SKETCH ON PAPER



PLACEHOLDER PUZZLE ART




PROTOTYPE




PROTOTYPE TESTING




PROTOTYPE

FINAL ART & CODE

TESTING

2D -vs-

3D -vs-

2D with 3D pipeline

Pencil & Paper TV Paint Camera

Photoshop PS Scripts

Unity

Animation process video: http://elroythegame.com/blog/hand-drawn-2d-animation-process-for-elroy/

http://elroythegame.com/blog/hand-drawn-2d-animation-process-for-elroy/

Concept Art

NARRATIVE

CONCEPT ART

LOCATIONS (except non-contextual

puzzles)

PUZZLE DESIGN PROTOTYPE

CHARACTER DESIGN

FINAL ART

Pipeline from art POV

Animation2d hand-drawn for live characters

skeletal (3d-style) for robots, machines

AnimationCharacter animation process

(video)

EnginesUnity

Game Maker Adventure Game Studio

Unity FrameworksRoll Your Own

-or- Asset Store

x

yh = hmin + (y-hmin) * k k = (hmax-hmin) / (ymax-ymin)

hmax

hmin

ymin

ymax

ywb

head diagonal

eyes neutral

pupils neutral

eyebrows neutral

mouth neural “L”

DevelopmentLip sync

Preston-Blair Phoneme SetAI – A or I, as in apple, day, hat, happy, rat, act, plait, dive, aisle E – as in egg, free, peach, dream, tree FV – forest, daft, life, fear, very, endeavour L – as in election, alone, elicit, elm, leg, pull MBP – as in embark, bear, best, put, plan, imagine, mad, mine O – as in honk, hot, off, odd, fetlock, exotic, goat U – as in fund, universe, you, runner, jump, fudge, treasure WQ – as in cower, quick, wish, skewer, how etc (C D G J K N R S Y Z) – as in grouch, rod, zoo, kill, car, sheep, pun, dug, jaw, void, roach, lodge rest – used during pauses

ROUGH SCRIPT

ROUGH SCRIPT

TEXT-TO-SPEECH

ROUGH SCRIPT

TEXT-TO-SPEECH

ALPHA

ROUGH SCRIPT

TEXT-TO-SPEECH

ALPHA

Script Line (Google Docs)

Custom Windows App

Speech API (Text to Speech)

Example.WAV

Example_txt.txt

Example_visemes.txt

ROUGH SCRIPT

TEXT-TO-SPEECH

ALPHA

ROUGH SCRIPT

TEXT-TO-SPEECH

ALPHA

FINAL SCRIPT

ROUGH SCRIPT

TEXT-TO-SPEECH

ALPHA

VOICE ACTINGFINAL SCRIPT

ROUGH SCRIPT

TEXT-TO-SPEECH

ALPHA

VOICE ACTING

SPEECH RECOGNITION

FINAL SCRIPT

ROUGH SCRIPT

TEXT-TO-SPEECH

ALPHA

VOICE ACTING

SPEECH RECOGNITION

MANUAL FIXES *

FINAL SCRIPT

ROUGH SCRIPT

TEXT-TO-SPEECH

ALPHA

VOICE ACTING

SPEECH RECOGNITION

BETA

MANUAL FIXES *

FINAL SCRIPT

Hint SystemsThe door is locked. Hm, maybe I can

find a key somewhere?

implicit hint system = BEST

Voice Recording

Native speakers

Different sources ($): (!) Similar equipment

(!) Similar environment

-or-

Professional studio ($-$$)

SFXPlaceholders

Licensed sounds Custom-made sfx

AudioMusic + levels + mood

SCUMM (LucasArts), small number of themes, variations based on context

@tadej

@elroythegame

www.elroythegame.com

http://www.elroythegame.com

adventure games: the ins and outs of design and development (lessons learned)

Technology