Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length

 
Advanced search

1411278 Posts in 69323 Topics- by 58380 Members - Latest Member: bob1029

March 28, 2024, 01:21:57 PM

Need hosting? Check out Digital Ocean
(more details in this thread)
TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsMachinika Museum: an iOS 3D mechanical Puzzler
Pages: [1]
Print
Author Topic: Machinika Museum: an iOS 3D mechanical Puzzler  (Read 2835 times)
Aloys
Level 0
**



View Profile WWW
« on: March 15, 2015, 09:37:40 AM »

Hello everyone,
let's get this devlog started!

I am a big fan of adventure/puzzle games: especially old school graphical adventure games, think Myst or Machinarium, or closer to the iPad, The Room. All of which are obvious influences on the project I'm working on: an iPad 3D puzzle game called 'Machinika Museum'.
This is an iOS-only project for two reasons: 1) I love the touch interface for manipulating virtual object, and 2) being a performance-demanding 3D game I don't want to (and can't) deal with the compatibility & performance issues of the countless Android devices. Later on if it catches on I'll give Droids a second look.




Gameplay
In a sci-fi setting you get to solve a number of machines and various technological artifacts. Taking advantage of the touch interface of the iPad you manipulate parts, assemble them, work on locks, mechanical and electronical devices of various kinds, to basically figure how this stuff work. Expect lots of sliding, rotating, pushing, and mechanical puzzle solving. Using your fingers, and a couple other tools (what's a tinkerer without his screwdriver and a x-ray cam?). Some of the machines that you solve along the way can be kept and used to solve other future machines.

Story
In an indeterminate future you work for the Planetary Museum as technical consultant. From a dimly lit basement your task is to analyse, and fix, the various technological discoveries sent to the museum from the far reaches of the galaxy.
Everything is going fine until you receive a batch of mysterious machines whose origin is kept hidden by your hierarchy. What's up with that? well, only one way to know: work your way through the machines to piece together what is going on here. You might, or might not, enjoy where that will take you...

Current status
A prototype has been developped which will help in the coming months to raise funds to develop the full thing. It is focused on a single machine: a type of advanced 3D printer. And the full thing runs under 10 minutes on the first playthrough; it is a prototype, not a full demo.
The final game should hover at around 12 machines, of various sizes and gameplay length, for a (highly) tentative total play time of under 2 hours. I am intentionnaly keeping it 'short' to focus on quality over quantity. This kind of visual-intensive puzzler is long to develop if you want to do it well.

Video
They say a YouTube video is worth a thousand words; or was that a picture? Ha, what the hell, here is a first (lowres-ish) video showing parts of the current prototype. Intentionnaly there is quite a bit that isn't shown here; gotta keep some surprises. Smiley That gameplay footage was captured on PC out of commodity, but the game is exactly the same on iOS. I'm still working out a proper solution to capture multi-touch input gameplay on PC ( Huh? )hence no multitouch gameplay shown in this video. Also, do not be surprised if some of the texts here are currently written in my native French..


- Gameplay Video -
- Machinika Museum, prototype 1, feb 2015 -

-----
Music credit goes to the wonderful Kevin McLeod (@ Incompetech)

Tools of the trade
So far the project was set up with Unity Free 4.6, but the recent unveiling of Unity 5's Personnal Edition make me reconsider this (obviously). In fact the screenshots above are taken in Unity 5 to try out their bloom & color correction post processes. But performance considerations will probably prevent me from using this on iPad: on my old iPad Mini this slashes a solid 15FPS from the framerate...

Who works on this?
Mostly me, at least right now. I'm Greg, 36, living in France, always worked in the game industry, in various positions (mostly sitting at a desk though). On this project I take care of the design, visuals, sounds, and part of the coding. But I'm just a part time lousy programmer, so last month I got a good help to script up the more difficult core systems. Hopefully in a not too distant future I'll try to get two more people on board, and eventually set up a proper company to frame all this; but we're not there yet..
In the meantime I'll keep polishing up the prototype. There is a gameplay system that isn't featured in the video I need to clean up a bit before showing it. There is also one more core gameplay system I want to add. Also there are a couple assets that could really use an upgrade..  And last of all I need to get my draw calls under 200. (did I say that out loud?). Right now I'm only hitting 45fps on my iPad Mini, which isn't exactly enough...

I look forward to sharing all this.. Smiley
Logged
Christian
Level 10
*****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2015, 10:09:33 AM »

The more Room-inspired games, the better. Touch screen is best for capturing that tangible tactile gameplay. Eager to see more of this
My concern with this is that it looks almost too much like The Room. Like down to the interacting with individual pieces and the way the camera zooms in and those kinds of aspects.

Are you thinking of doing a Kickstarter? That's the impression I got from the mention of raising funds to build the full game
« Last Edit: March 15, 2015, 10:14:57 AM by Christian » Logged

Visit Indie Game Enthusiast or follow me @IG_Enthusiast to learn about the best new and upcoming indie games!
Aloys
Level 0
**



View Profile WWW
« Reply #2 on: March 15, 2015, 04:27:39 PM »

Are you thinking of doing a Kickstarter? That's the impression I got from the mention of raising funds to build the full game
Not specifically. I live in France, and creating Kickstarter projects isn't available here somehow. IndieGoGo & other crowdfunding platforms are available; but crowdfunding an iOS game isn't so easy for a number of reasons. See a discussion on this very topic here. Right now I'm going the more 'traditionnal' way of funding a company. (personnal funds along with other various investissors, plus loans and such)

My concern with this is that it looks almost too much like The Room. Like down to the interacting with individual pieces and the way the camera zooms in and those kinds of aspects.
On such small screens this is almost mandatory. I love PC graphical adventures games and in my opinion that doesn't translate too well on tablet sized screens. That's why you have to use a zoom system and move your camera around.
Logged
Christian
Level 10
*****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2015, 05:09:30 PM »

Are you thinking of doing a Kickstarter? That's the impression I got from the mention of raising funds to build the full game
Not specifically. I live in France, and creating Kickstarter projects isn't available here somehow. IndieGoGo & other crowdfunding platforms are available; but crowdfunding an iOS game isn't so easy for a number of reasons. See a discussion on this very topic here. Right now I'm going the more 'traditionnal' way of funding a company. (personnal funds along with other various investissors, plus loans and such)

My concern with this is that it looks almost too much like The Room. Like down to the interacting with individual pieces and the way the camera zooms in and those kinds of aspects.
On such small screens this is almost mandatory. I love PC graphical adventures games and in my opinion that doesn't translate too well on tablet sized screens. That's why you have to use a zoom system and move your camera around.
So true about mobile games and Kickstarter. Occasionally some games get lucky, like Tiny Trek and a few others, but I've seen most barely get any support.

But I really like the sci fi angle. Opens the door for all kinds of unique puzzles and objects to interact with
Logged

Visit Indie Game Enthusiast or follow me @IG_Enthusiast to learn about the best new and upcoming indie games!
Aloys
Level 0
**



View Profile WWW
« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2015, 01:52:32 AM »

But I really like the sci fi angle. Opens the door for all kinds of unique puzzles and objects to interact with
That's the idea; to have a nice variety of wild stuff.
But it also make things a tad harder design-wise: the player is supposed to run machines he/she has never seen before and has sometime no idea what they are supposed to do, or what the parts are for.. With realistic stuff it's easier: if you see a gear or a screw you know what you are supposed to do with it. In a sci fi setting it can be more complicated. And that's precisely what interests me. Smiley

The idea came to me in part when watching sci-fi series like Dr Who and old Stargate SG1 episodes where you have scientists who find mysterious alien machines they have never encountered before and still manages to make them work in a matter of seconds. You can easily get away with this on TV/movie because as the writer you are in control of everything, and stuff just 'happens'. But what if you want to turn this into a real thing? A game with actual gameplay? How can this work? That's what got me started on this.
So far I'm approaching it this way:

  • Visually self-explanatory stuff. When you pick up a part you can look at it and see if it looks like it could interact with something else you've already seen.
  • You play a character who has info that you(the player) do not have, and at the start of each machine he may (or may not) give you an idea or two. And whenever you get a new part or click on stuff you get a bit of comment with some veiled hints. I'll try to stay away from an actual on-demand hint system.
  • Real-world Analogies. Although you work with alien stuff, some of it can remind you of real world objects. For instance if you see a tank full of liquid you are going to try to plug it into a pipe. Electronics cards will remind you of electronic cards etc.. I may also try to slip in some of the usual sci-fi techno tropes, like crystals and such.
  • Tools. Beside the machines you are trying to fix you have technology of your own to help you.
  • No interractive GUIs. A recurent trope of sci-fi series is fancy GUIs and alien computer hacking. As I said before that is cool on TV, not so much in an actual game; so I'll have none of that.
  • Clean visual design. That is probably the hardest part. I need to have machines that are visually appealing, but don't look too 'busy'. So that you can easily tell what is supposed to be gameplay and what is supposed to be simple decoration. Also it needs to look alien but still comprehensible; don't want to lose the player too fast.

All in all it's a fine line between having nicely alien stuff, and still be able to make it accessible.
Logged
Aloys
Level 0
**



View Profile WWW
« Reply #5 on: March 20, 2015, 02:57:17 AM »

I’ve converted the project to Unity 5 (really no reason to stay with 4.x) and for the most part it went smoothly. The newly forced GetComponent syntax is a tad annoying, but that’s a minor quibble. I’m encountering a strange problem with my normal maps though:


What’s up with that? Same assets, same shader (legacy/bumped specular), different result. I've tried the new Standard shader, and the normal does look a little better but far from great either. Unfortunately I’m away from my main computer for the week-end so I can’t test what goes wrong here.
It only appear on this specific mesh though, and what is different with this mesh is that it is smoothed out.  The normal map was exported from a high poly (via Blender) down to this smooth seamless one. Unlike other meshes in this scene with hard edges but whose normal maps (hand painted) look fine.

Still, that’s weird. Anyone encountered that?
Logged
wccrawford
Level 3
***



View Profile
« Reply #6 on: March 20, 2015, 06:42:12 AM »

As an Android user with a powerful phone, I feel like you're ruling them out prematurely.  Sure, there are some low-end ones, but I think most people who try to play games on them have the big, well-known ones. 

Still, we've got an iPad, and we'll likely end up using it to buy this game.  My wife and I are huge The Room fans and I've been wishing someone else would make similar games. 

Don't worry about the controls being similar.  Nobody berates FPSs for having the same controls and cameras.  When someone creates a great game in a new sub-genre, they've probably got the controls pretty well figured out from the start.  Change for change's sake doesn't make sense.  Do what's best for the game and don't worry about those who yell 'clone'.
Logged
Aloys
Level 0
**



View Profile WWW
« Reply #7 on: March 20, 2015, 07:48:17 AM »

Thanks! Feels good to know there are other people liking this kind of game. The Room1 was released two years ago, one would assume other studios would notice there is a real interest for this kind of game on mobile devices. So rather than wait for someone to do it, I thought I might as well do it myself. :p

As an Android user with a powerful phone, I feel like you're ruling them out prematurely.  Sure, there are some low-end ones, but I think most people who try to play games on them have the big, well-known ones.
I do agree there are lots of really great powerful Android devices. But I don't have enough Android knowledge yet, and I don't even have a droid device myself that can run the game right now. But developing for several platform is always time consuming. So, at first I'd rather focus on a single one. However, as things progress I will definitely look into it.

Also, at first I'd rather focus on tablets than phones. The screen size difference requires lots of changes, some big (UI design) some smaller (camera positions), and that takes quite a bit of time too.
Logged
Aloys
Level 0
**



View Profile WWW
« Reply #8 on: May 05, 2015, 08:01:05 AM »

Has it been over a month already? Looks like it.
I have been kept away from development a bit for the last few weeks because I was looking for a new place to work from. As much as it is convenient to work at home it is not always the most productive environment for me, too many distractions. I have found a nice place to rent, and now I'm settled in and working productively which is great. Smiley

Over the last couple days I have been putting in place two new bits of gameplay which had been lacking so far:


  1 - LCD screen. (sort of)
What's a cool alien piece of technology without a glowing screen covered in alien symbols? This is not just for good looks though, this is a gameplay feedback/hint system to guide the player's progression through the puzzle. And yes, it looks fun (although I'm not totally sold yet on the purple color). Since this is an alien tech it displays signs and glyphs that can't be read (that would be too easy), but it uses enough universal clues (red blinking image means problem etc) to nudge you in the right direction, and show your progress. Or lack of.
This part is complete and was done rather quickly, although 80% of that time was spent on coding (it looked simple at first..)

Unity note: this was all done using regular meshes, no GUI/canvas.. I really need to take a good look at Unity's GUI system..  >_>


  2 - Machine parts rotation system
Getting parts to fall magically in place in the machine (like in the video in that 1st post) was far from satisfying: when you work with a real machine you often have to fiddle a bit with parts; rotate them around to find how they fit. With this in mind I am adding a little 'rotation' gameplay for each part. You'll have to rotate each part around to see how it fits before you can plug it in. Nothing too big, but that will be a fun gimmick.
As an interface I'm using a manipulation 'gizmo', like we have in 3d modelling tools, or in Unity for that matter. I'll have to refine it a bit to make sure it isn't too obstructive visually speaking (the example above is rather ugly for instance) but it should work. This won't be a major gameplay system, but it will be a welcome addition. Since this is only a short prototype for now this particular gameplay will only be featured twice; but in the full game it will be a regular fixture. I'll just need to make sure this is actually fun and not just a repetitive gimmick.

Over the next couple days I'll be completing that.


Note to self: find an online video>Gif converter that outputs gifs who are over 3 frames per second. :s
Logged
Pages: [1]
Print
Jump to:  

Theme orange-lt created by panic