Authoring Interactive Narrative

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What now?

January 31, 2018

Well submission day has come, and now that it is here, all I can do is submit what I have done. Truth be told, it was a difficult three months and honestly very taxing. I've certainly enjoyed my time making this and I hope all of you can see it too. So to finish this off, here's a list of things I have plans for as I hope this game is enjoyable enough to continue and if not, well, I'd like to take this as a learning opportunity and hopefully I could use various aspects of it in other projects. The game as it stand is just a tutorial. The plans for this game after submission would be as follows. 1. A full story. Of course with all that's been done, I'd like to create a full story regarding the game. What I also mean by this, is that I'd like to make this a full game if possible. 2. More Characters Needless to say more characters would be a fantastic addition to the game and one I so very much want to do. 3. Pyre's Dialogue System On the top of my

Coding: Floating Damage

January 28, 2018

Update: So, fun little update for everyone. The video I had based of the floating damage, is too old to use. As such I've had to recreate it and modify it in my own way. The video is by all means still useful, but I've been forced to create a variation of this method. So here we are with another feature required in my game. As it currently stands, the game is lacking in the response and feedback aspect, which is essentially a big issue. This video is but one solution to the problem at hand a damage pop-up text . This is seen in a variety of games such as Sdorica, the primary influence and inspiration of my project and RPGs in general honestly. Now the goal of this system is to visually display the damage an enemy takes, which give players an understanding of what works and what doesn't. This is essentially necessary in an RPG to show players an enemies weakness, take for example, an enemy weak to a certain attack would show Red Damage while normally it would

Coding: The Dialogue System

January 27, 2018

Ignoring the previous pessimism, the show must go on! So here's the next bit I need to work on, a dialogue system. Above is the dialogue box made for the game. This is a video making a dialogue system and boy! am I happy to say how easy it is to incorporate this system into my project. The system made by Brackeys' is not only easy to understand but it also very easy to change without problems. How it works as he mentions in the video is that the text is queued, by adding the text into an array list, it understands a list of texts, converted into arrays and are then summoned based off the command I set. In this case, the "z" button. As such the dialogue box mechanic is now complete. Next off is a damage counter. References YouTube. (2017). How to make a Dialogue System in Unity . [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nRzoTzeyxU [Accessed 25 Jan. 2018]. An easy to use dialogue system, easily editable and easy to understand.

Coding: The Rhythm Problem: Unsolvable

January 25, 2018

Well it pain me to say, but the button pacing issue is unsolvable. It would seem that the problem lies within the concept of time that exists within unity, allow me to explain. The coding, as I have written it out, desires that at every 0.5 seconds, a new button appears. Simple, no? Here's where the problem lies, it does not spawn at exactly 0.5 seconds, it unfortunately has frame delays resulting in pacing not exactly 0.5 seconds or in music terms a tempo of 120. So is all hope lost? Partially, yes. Fortunately I've found a method to bypass the issue of buttons being summoned at peculiar times. It does not however stop the frame delays from popping up. Why is this an issue? Well primarily because rhythm games need precise timings, especially with the frame delays accumulating, a rhythm game because harder to build. What is my plan now? Well I'll have to come up with a backup plan or solution to avoid this issue. Avoid is a strong word, "adapt" is more suitabl

Visuals: Duik

January 24, 2018

I've never actually mentioned how I would've done my animation before have I? Well better late than never! Animation, is something I won't say I'm not fond off, but its something I would say I have problems with. Thankfully a classmate had suggested a program attached to After Effects, and as such, I've been using in this project. Duik is a comprehensive rigging and animation tool set for After Effects. Another option I had considered a good while back was Spine . But unfortunately it is hidden behind a paywall. In any case, Duik is a good alternative that takes a good hour to understand and comprehend. I've only touched on the basics of Duik but my level of knowledge in the program should be enough for something substantial. Here are the tutorial videos I had to use to help me with the use of this program. Tutorial 01 - Character Rigging Character Rigging, EASY Character Animation Tutorial In After Effects, Illustrator And Duik Plugin But how would I

Coding: The Rhythm Problem: Part 3

January 22, 2018

And with one problem solved, a new problem arises. Whilst I've successfully fixed the gravity problem with a Vector3 formula, an odd problem has opccured and it honestly baffles me as to why such a thing is happening. Two buttons are to fall at the same time, both would thus in theory land at the same time. That is apparently not the case. Apparently, what happens is that as buttons spawn over time, it would seem that the buttons have their own speed and pacing. I am unclear as to what is going on and why such a thing is happening but it is currently an issue consuming too much time. Hopefully I will find an answer to it soon. References Technologies, U. (2017). Unity - Scripting API: Vector3.MoveTowards . [online] Docs.unity3d.com. Available at: https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Vector3.MoveTowards.html [Accessed 21 Jan. 2018]. The use of this script allowed my objects to disregard the aspect of gravity enabling it to fall at a constant speed.