Spin Doctor Release and Post Mortem

Just my two cents...

Spin Doctor has finally been officially released, and it is available for download on IndieDB. A direct download link has been provided below in our post mortem of Spin Doctor (format of the post mortem was taken from GameCareerGuide.com). To anyone who actually has already or plan to download the game, any feedback is appreciated and I hope you enjoy the game! This is probably the end of any Spin Doctor related blog posts (unless anything interesting happens...), and you'll see any future work published here regarding my 3rd and final year, starting this week. 

Spin Doctor - Post Mortem

Title: Spin Doctor
Platform: PC
Release Date: 31/08/12
Development time: Academic year
Designers:  3
Artists: 3
Programmers: 2

Engine built in XNA (C#)

Links
Download:  http://www.indiedb.com/games/spin-doctor/downloads/spin-doctor 
Website:  http://spin-doctor.webs.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SpinDoctorTheGame

Over the second year of our Diploma into game development, the class was assigned the brief to create a short Beta demo based on a game concept which would be designed throughout the year. Programming, Art and Design were all done in house and from scratch, by students whom were still learning and improving their craft. Initially the class worked separately in groups in order to come up with initial concepts that would form the basis of our demo. From these short concepts, "Space Game" was selected which simply used the core mechanic of rotation and gravity to overcome puzzles. This game would later become the steam punk Victorian world of "Spin Doctor" and form the basis of our year long project. Programmers were tasked with creating both an engine and editor to run the game and help the designers create levels in them. Artists then, were in charge the entirety of the visual content for the game including asset creation and animation.

The result was a short 30- 40 minute 2D gameplay demo released in August 2012. The core concept of the game was the use of a rotation mechanic, allowing users to shift the orientation of the levels and therefore change their route through it in order to avoid obstacles and hazards. Story elements were added into the game giving it more depth and playability, following main protagonist Harland Shears on his journey through a hellish maze of underground hazards and traps as he seeks to find answers to his strange surroundings and ultimately, freedom.

5 good things:

1. Solid core mechanic
One thing that had been maintained throughout the whole project was the use of the "rotation mechanic" as the main gameplay tool. Story elements, setting and characters were changed frequently during development, but the concept of gameplay remained essentially the same. Having this strong vision for the rules and mechanics early on in the pre-production phase allowed the class to stay focused and work cooperatively to a shared ideal and goal. Ideas flowed more organically since the concept was something everyone had already agreed on and felt comfortable with. This bled into our designs of levels and elaboration of additional mechanics, all of which complemented the main idea for the game.

2. Abundance of content
From the early development brainstorming and idea creation phase, it's fair to say the class had too many ideas for the final vision of the game. This down the road would help us out infinitely. When ideas didn't work or something needed to be changed, there was an ocean of concepts for new characters, mechanics and levels talked about and documented early in the development cycle. Again, this allowed the team to naturally and organically bounce ideas from one and other, with all ideas falling back and facilitating our main mechanic, from our story implementation and characters, to the location and setting of the final game.  

3. Planning
Every aspect of the game was planned out in the pre-production phase of development. The team spoke endlessly about ideas and brainstorms were frequent. Everything was documented down into what would become our Concept and Games Design Documents. The GDD acted as our blueprint for the game and kept the class up to date and on the same page with development. Whenever team members had conflicting ideas or misunderstood elements of the game, we could easily reference the GDD and work from it as we progressed.

4. Dedication
Only having limited class time, it was important that members were dedicated to the cause outside of college hours and needed to provide a steady income of work for the game. Through the dedication of the class we were able to push through some difficult times and problems we faced through development. The majority of these problems came from technical and work load issues and could have potentially crippled the entire project. Problems with programming and lack of content in the art side of the project were rectified by long working hours and enthusiasm from those involved, to simply finish the project.

5. Personal Development
The project allowed each of the members on the team a chance to flourish in their chosen specialisms as well as adapt and improve other areas of their development careers. Thanks to the necessity of work the project demanded, the class was forced to learn new skills and improve on old ones to deliver the final project. Naturally working on the game has made everyone better developers overall, however the format of “learning whilst you work” is something that was really pushed and created a better learning environment. Everyone would regularly chip into areas outside of their specialisms which created an overall stronger connection between the classes and helped refine our ideas down.

5 bad things:

1. Lack of communication
This became a problem almost from day one when starting this project. The group tried many methods of establishing strong lines of communication such as weekly meet ups both in person and on Skype, group emails and finally a Facebook group, which would act as our private social link to everyone in the class. Using Facebook worked the best and ensured we could be in constant communication. However, the laid back nature in which this was approached meant people would frequently be kept out of the loop on important areas of the project, which lead to confusion and overall decrease in moral and productivity. Work was forever being chased and deadlines missed, pushing back the workload of the class and creating stress and tension.

2. No working procedure or format
Once we hit production phase, without any methods of work submission there was much confusion into where documents were and just who was working on them. At times we even lost digital copies of important documents like the Proposal Doc. A shared group Dropbox account became our primary way to distribute work through the class. During asset creation the Artists had a difficult time advertising new versions of their work and sending them over to the programmers, which brought more problems through image formats and sizing issues. The closing months of the projects saw new builds of the engine and editor being completed almost daily. Keeping up with this steady stream of updates meant members of the team were using back dated version to complete levels. This confusion hindered progress and made the production process for convoluted and confusing.

3. Over ambition

From the outset we know the goal of the project was to complete a simple but effective 2D game. During the idea creation and pre-production phase work flowed smoothly and kept to a relatively good standard. Once production rolled round however and the class fully realized the scope of what we had planned and how much work needed doing (specifically from a programming side) we started to struggle with work load. Poor attempts at rationing tasks across the class lead to more confusion and slowed development even further.

4. Prioritized work incorrectly
At times during development the 3 areas of our project, design, art and programming, would progress at different levels based on the classes opinion of importance. Initially, design was focused on more than any other area which left the programming and art creation during the concept phases lagging. Eventually these areas would catch up, but not at steady rates. There was times when designers needed to use parts of the editor to craft levels for deadlines, when the editor was unusable through programming issues. Likewise at times when art was expected, artists were bogged down helping in design areas.

5. Lack of a project lead / manager
Whilst planning was something that worked perfectly, the ability to maintain strong lines of communication and risk assessment fell short. Implementing a project lead who could act as a buffer for all 3 areas of design and keep track of workload and deadlines, would have ensured a more structured path through development. Without this, the confusion that arose in all areas became worse and with no-one to look for in times of management needs (or indeed blame when things went wrong) the team suffered.

Spin Doctor website and Facebook page!

Keep up to date on everyone involved with the project and Spin Doctor on our website and/or Facebook page:

http://spin-doctor.webs.com/


https://www.facebook.com/SpinDoctorTheGame


Any likes will be very much appreciated! Spin Doctor will officially be in Alpha on July the 18th. Stay tuned...

- Gina

    Credits to Jonny Pickton for the image.

Spin Doctor: Finalised Room 4

Original Room 4: 

Amended Room 4: 

Spin Doctor: Finalised Version of Room 3

Amended Room 3  - Version 2 (from an earlier blogpost)

  Rough but amended sketch of Room 3 (Final version)

Finished Finalised Version of Room 3:

                                                      What has changed since Version 2:

1. Added "trap door" (floor will fall apart here when the player runs on it)

2. Added a fake switch here working as a focal point for the player, and added spikes on the side so the player can't rotate and jump to the switch, avoiding the trap door (although the switch wont work anyway, but is "meant" to remove the wall with the spikes on it)

3. Added a trap wall here, that will crush the player if stood below it. Player has to avoid this. Behind the wall there is also a switch that will enable a moving platform to the left of the hidden "room".

4. The moving platform has been enabled by the switch and the player can stand on this to reach the exit door. The green wall between the moving platform and exit door will be pulled up as well when the switch has been touched.

Spin Doctor: Cross Section 3-5

Cross Section 3:

Cross section number 3, drawn up and just been played through.

I found two issues with the cross section:

1. Harland wont fit on the tiny platforms between the ropes.
2. If player falls down, he/she will be stuck... The player can also take advantage of the gaps and rotate and run along the high platforms and in fact get straight to the platform near the stairs. I suggest adding spikes so the player dies if they fall down or try to cheat.

Other than that, the level is good to go, I will just add spikes and make the platforms a little bigger.






Voila! The finished amended cross section that now works 100 %!

Cross Section 4:

Level works perfectly, only one flaw, which is that it's quite a jump to get ahold of the rope  from the first platform to the second.




Amended Cross Section 4:

 I made the platform slightly wider so Harland can reach the rope. Nothing else was changed.





I also timed this cross section, and it took me approx. 9 Seconds to complete the cross section.






Cross Section 5:

Level works perfectly so no need to change it. Completing the level took me approx. 25 seconds. (00:25.1)

Spin Doctor: Room 5 - Version 2 and Finalised Version

                                                                            Original:

The original drawings' problems have been mentioned in an earlier post "Playthrough of Room 5". This post is for the amended and finalised version only. 

                                               Amended Version 1 including notes for Version 2:

Things that need to be changed for final version:

1. Add more spikes

2. Remove a gap near the start

3. Change one note into a switch for more gameplay

4. Make the two ladders into one long ladder

5. Make platforms bigger, thicker, longer, for visuals and scale

6. Make room bigger in general (for more space)

7. Move platform with star (note) further to the left

8. Remove rope near exit

9. Change two rotating platforms into regular platforms as they don't need to rotate

Finished & Final Version:

Things that have been changed for the final version:

1. Added more spikes in most places, for a more  challenging gameplay.

2. Made the trap near the start a horizontal one that goes to the left, instead of a vertical one that goes down. Changed the position of it slightly.

3. Removed gap near start, added spikes, made the rope distance longer as well.

4. Made platform under pendulum thicker for scale problems and room size, generally made other platforms longer and thicker so Harland can reach them, and also for visuals.

5. Added switch where previous note was, that enables a moving platform near the exit to move back and forth so the player can reach the exit door.

6. Changed old "fake" note to a real note.

7. Made the two ladders into one long ladder.

8. Made rope "distance" slightly wider near the switch.

9. Added the moving platform enabled by the switch.

10. Made the room bigger in general to fit everything in it nicely.

11. The platform that had the old "fake" note on it was too close to the rotating platform to the right, so it was moved slightly to the left (which is why I had to make the room bigger)


Overall, the time it took me to complete this finalised level, was 1 minute (1.00.3)

Spin Doctor: Cross Sections 1 & 2

Cross Section 1:

P.S. No idea why I can't rotate photos on here...






So, cross section number 1 has been drawn up and is ready to play.
And having played through it... Nothing really needs to change about this level. I like the fact the player can choose between jumping straight to the exit, or going the "longer" route, in order to get the collectible (note). Harland fits and everything is okay, so I'll leave this one!








Cross Section 2:

This photo is a little blurry, and it isn't very close-up, but I had to get the whole level in one photo.

So, this room didn't have a door. Yes, no door! Made it a little hard to scale my Paper-Harland... I have no gridded paper, so this was a little difficult. But just assuming Paper-Harland is a size that fits on the small platforms to the left of the level, the level works. I like the idea of shooting spikes inbetween the platforms. The walkthrough implies the lines in the middle of the picture (3 of them) are walls, and they are all seperate rooms. But seeing as doors are meant to show, this kind of defeats the point of the level, as you'd either have to have fully seperate rooms (drawn up seperately) or just have one big room. Personally, I prefer the latter and therefore I have just removed the walls inbetween sections of the room... Other than this, the level works as a whole, and I enjoyed the cross-section. 

So, following problems:

1. No doors.

- Solution: Add doors.

2. Walls that seperate the room but no doors, this would probably not work very well, either (unless it's seperate actual rooms)

- Solution: Remove walls.

Amended Paper Level:

1. Added doors.

2. Removed walls that seperated the sections in the room.

Spin Doctor: Harland's Death Animation

Okay. So this is my first animation, ever. It's not the best in the world but here it is. It's the death animation for Harland... Took me ages to get his hands right, as they were rotated the wrong way and just his arms just looked very odd. So he was meant to hit his knees first and then fall over, with the backpack "crushing" him (definitely broke his neck there)...I tried to make it look as "natural" as possible, but I still believe he kind of looks like a retarded bouncing snake once he hits the floor. But hey, first animation, and I'm not much of a Games Artist either.. I hope it will contribute to the game, either way. 

                                                            Spritesheet below:

.

Spin Doctor: Playthrough of Levels: Room 5

Having played through Room 5 I found a few flaws that need to be fixed:


1. Harland may hit the moving wheel when he jumps to grab the robe, unless the wheel is slow enough to do this.
2. Rope has to be lower/longer.Harland will possibly hit the wheel regardless of how he jumps and lets go off the rope. Wheel trap could be changed so it moves horizontally instead of vertically up and down, so the player has to time it to avoid bumping into the trap as they swing and let go off the rope, instead of bumping into it no matter what they do.
3. Near "4" the moving saw wheel moving above the platform, before they jump onto the very long platform in the middle of the room, is nowhere close to where Harland would stand, therefore not serving as a challenge. Saw should be moved closer, or be replaced by another trap entirely.
4. Near "6" a platform is blocking the ladder, the only way to get around it is to jump through the saw to the left, which would kill you. The removal of this ladder would solve the problem...
5. Near "6" again, having retraced the steps, the platform is no longer there, which will remove the platform needed in order to jump to the ladder above.
6. Near "9" the rotating platform has no use in being rotatable.

That was all the flaws in the level, one seems to break the level. I followed the walkthrough of the level I was provided with, but it missed bits where you are meant to explore other areas of the level that have no use using the walkthrough. I guess it is an optional thing due to there being collectibles and nothing but collectibles in this area, and it requires you to backtrace to the point you originally were in order to get to the exit door, so I will leave that untouched for now, unless anyone has any particular input on this issue.


                                                                    WIP ROOM 5

Spin Doctor: Playthrough of Levels: Room 4

I have just played through room number 4, of the 5 rotating rooms I need to play through. It seems this whole level was made based on a mechanic we decided not to use; the ability to climb ropes. That is my biggest concern about this level, since it's next to impossible to play through properly. I found a couple other flaws here and there that would break the level as well, here goes:

1. A cosmetic issue but none the less an issue during my playthrough. The size of the door was much bigger (taller) in scale compared to platforms and stairs, etc. I made a paper-Harland that would fit the stairs and platforms, as the scale of the door can be changed easily without affecting gameplay.

- Solution: Scale down the door, solve any problems with Harland being too big for the level, etc.

2. One of the biggest issues in this level, is that the platform to the left of the stairs can be jumped onto (via rotation) and the player can easily drop down to the platform below (where the arrow points in the photo with the notes I have made) and exit the level...

- Solution: Well, this is obviously not working so I suggest putting spikes onto this platform and change the level at the end so the player doesn't have to retrace their steps back onto this platform. Unfortunately this will no longer work as it is, but it can still remain there, as it needs to shoot out fire, perhaps if the player tries to stand on it, the mechanism where the fire comes out, will constantly be lethal/hot? 

3. Between the platform near the stairs and the platform that resembles a big block of stairs, has quite a distance between with them without the use of steam boots. The rope could be too far away from Harland so it'd be best to make sure the rope was closer to the other platform so Harland can swing onto the other, since at the moment it is closer to the end of the platform.

- Solution: Just make sure the rope is closer to the starting platform, for easy access.




4. This issue is similar to issue number 3, as this specific platform I spoke of above, serves as a platform later in the level as well, this is only a minor issue, though. The walkthrough says one must rotate mid-air after jumping off this platform, this does no longer work, as you must be either running or stand still on a platform in order to rotate, mid-air rotation does not work. This is only relevant to the end of the walkthrough, and as this platform would already break the level, this part is no longer necessary, but I thought I'd bring it up any way, as it was a flaw that I discovered while playing through this level.

- Solution: No solution needed, as it was already solved in issue #3, this platform will no longer be accessable by Harland, and will only serve as a fire mechanism platform of sorts. 


5. THE biggest issue of the entire level: at the time this level was made, one could climb up ropes, this no longer works, and as this was the whole mechanic of the level, it is broken. Leaving it as it is will do no use as there is no way this level can work with the kind of rope that is in it, since it cannot be climbed.

Solution: You could keep the spirit of the level intact, and include ropes, but keep in mind that they cannot be climbed up. The type of rope has to be changed into a regular one, and the platforms have to be amended accordingly, to make it work. 




So other than these 5 issues, the level was fine as it was, it made sense, it just didn't work because it is no longer possible to do the things required in the walkthrough.