Matt Forshaw MA Games Blog

18th October Update This week I have continued to work on my title, putting aside research in order to figure out what next for my title in an effort to get something playable, ready for Play-testing around the end of October: In doing so, I have come up with 4 things I would like to get in the game, before that time. These are Looting (Corpses and Containers), Trading, Combat and Items to make the majority of my skill trees usable. Firstly, in order to get looting in place, I must figure out how to use my current inventory system and modify it, allowing corpses and containers to have loot assigned to them randomly. This will mean the player opens an inventory similar to their own, moving items between the container and their player easily.  To implement trading, I will again use a modified version of my inventory, with players using currency to unlock the ability to move the items in the store to their inventory. If this isn't possible during that time frame then Id at ...

Gameplay Update: Over the last couple of days, I have reformed my inventory system, making it more robust and user friendly, whildt beginning to implement my Skill Tree system. For now, I have 3 simple examples, however today I am going home to see my family and the train journey will give me some time to research my skills and decide on how to make the skill tree as interesting as possible. Id quite like to give my game a Skyrim type upgrade system, with different trees affecting different aspects of a characters abilities.  Heres a short video on my progress so far, showing the more robust ammunition system (Which I have toiled to make intuitive, but could still use some refinement)

Update Showcase  Heres a quick update on my progress on this project. Today, Ive been refining my inventory, adding an information tab, user buttons and for the sake of testing stability, a new weapon for the player to use. These weapons are incredibly quick and easy to both make and implement, so I look forward to making more and adding real depth in my own way.  I have also implemented a very basic UI and reload system. However, I have had several set backs implementing this system and I have now thought of a better alternative for implementing the reload mechanic... This can be done at a later stage though. For now, I will look at implementing enemy AI and a Skill tree, and hopefully by the end of next week Ill have a game that is in some way playable. In terms of research, I have laid out a plan on how to approach it. After my chat with Jim and looking over the notes from our research lectures, I have decided that each day, I will look into a method of cha...

Showcase Video After coming into the studio today, Jim and I discussed how my practical work is a small percentage of the answer I could give to my question. In order to show my understanding of what makes character involvement, I will now begin researching different methods of engagement to characters, both within the Games industry and outside.  Also, after realising the latest UE4 isnt on the studio computers, Jim advised me to upload a brief video of what Ive been up to. Here it is. My inventory is now basically complete (as much as it needs to be for this first practise) and I can move onto AI, skill tree development and even adding new assets (Weapons and such)

Blog Update - 09/10/2019 Here's what I've been working on during the last week or so... I have decided on my way of working for this year, beginning with a practical as part of my research, before implementing new ideas based on my findings. Fig 1. I am starting with Do It, before going round the chart working on my solution I've toiled and played with Isometric pixel art, trying my hardest to create a character that seems to fit a certain art style. However, as my results turned out quite nightmarish, I began looking at characters the player can use from the top down instead.  Fig 2. Nightmare Fuel I've started development of a character which, for now, has some limited cosmetic customisation which I just need to implement into UE4. This consists of various head styles, as well as the ability to customise the colour of the skin and hair on these sprites heads. The rest of the sprite is clothed, but in future and after play-testing, I  can work on ...

A different take to my Question So after speaking to Josh on Friday, we discussed the creation of a game which would allow the player to connect emotionally with a pair of characters, who rely on each other in a literal sense, without player progression in a customisable sense. We dicussed games such as the Last of Us and Brothers, both of which use a pair of characters with different traits and abilities, who connect to each other and the player on an emotional level. There is a sense with these games that you are a part of their story, despite sculpting the type of character they are. Whilst I think this is a great idea, Im worried that I will lose interest in this idea quickly, due to it not being the type of story and connection I find interesting. This has been yet again proven to me, as I have recently gotten my hands on the Last of Us remastered and have instantly found myself skipping the story in order to get into the action and what little customisation there is quicker....