MFP Update - Weekly Diary

Weekly Diary

Week Beginning	Activity	Key Findings
10/08/2013	Script Writing & Voice Actor Auditions	I have written an early script for the game, which provides the player with details of how to play the game and occasional dialogue feedback. The search has begun to locate a suitable voice actor to deliver these lines. This has involved engaging with voice actors on several online game development forums.
	Game Development	The game now has two gameplay types; seek and destroy, and submerge. Seek and destroy has been split into two difficulties; easy and hard. Easy means you hear the enemy ship at the same time you are searching for it, which results in the player just matching the sounds (still using the x/y knowledge). Hard means you hear the sounds independently, resulting in a greater level of memory being required. Submerge is a game type designed to test players speed. When the alarm is heard the player must quickly lower the depth of the submarine to avoid incoming attacks. This process will involve listening to multiple sounds to gather information on depth/location etc.
	Data Capture	The capturing of game/player data has been a process that has developed sporadically. Early versions of the data capture system were developed for the prototype versions, however as the game system developed, problems occurred with saving and understanding saved data. An example of how current level times are saved as a text file are displayed in the image below. The single number reflects the level number and the four numbers below is the time it took a player to complete the level. There will be an additional number included shortly, to provide x/y coordinates of the ship. This will aim to establish if an area of the 2D space is harder to locate than others.
	Non-Repetitive Sound Design	A feature of the game currently in development is a non-repetitive ambient sound design. A footstep system has been developed, which randomly selects 1 of 10 footsteps (on metal) and alternates stereo movement and amplitude. The panning is independently controlled by each .wav file, which uses a scaled midi-panning system to create the feeling of activity around the player. Also, randomly selected 'radio chatter' can be pieced together to create a background communication ambience.

 

Data Capture Example