I won

After months of trying to get the game into a state which is enjoyable, playable and at a slow enough speed to let you harvest the crops while not being too slow to be boring, I've finally cracked it. I played my game and managed to get $1,000,000 and had fun doing it. I got managed to buy all the best stuff and the money was just rollllllling in, it took me about 20-30 mins and if I'd carried on playing for about another 5 mins I would have completed the first level which is to get $5,000,000.

I'm very happy with the result.

Almost Finished!

Well, semesters coming to a finish and so is my game. It's been through 3 different name changes and the same amount of cosmetic changes but I'm happy with the result. My latest change is to spruce up the graphics a bit, make the game look brighter and more vibrant. I've made things more easily readable and tried to make the icons and text styles constants.

I've added an objectives screen but I don't believe I need a markets screen because it won't be used in the demo. I also managed to optimise the game as much as I can, but I'm still having problems with around a megabyte needing to be downloaded before the pre-loader even shows. I've tried everything I can, everything that is loaded dynamically is loaded after the pre-loader and the sounds are streamed. It's a weird one!

I'm concentrating on the design document now, keeping it's style similar to that off the game. Once this is out of the way, its onto finishing the group project, then creating a new portfolio before starting on my Final Major Project for next year!

A quick change

I've decided to change the name of the game from MiiFarm to WiiFarm as it fits in more closely with other Wii games currently in the market. I've also given the game a few changes cosmetically which I think has spruced up the game. I managed to tweak the game to run faster as well by not updating a few movieclips on every frame. I just need to add in a objectives menu and hopefully a markets menu although one isn't really needed for this demo of the game as there is no A.I to go against.

Bug Testing & Trader screen

I decided to get some general bug testing done and smarten things up a bit. A lot of current images are just place holders and I can easily update them with better images nearer the end of the semester but I decided to do a few now. I also update the intro screens to explain the game a bit more and I've added an objective.

A lot of the bugs that were in the game before like it scrolling when it shouldn't be, popup boxes not popping up after certain events, money getting added on properly but not showing up etc, these are all fixed now and the game runs a lot smoother.

I'm happy with the progress of the game at the moment, I wasn't sure if I would be able to get the money and time right but it seems to of worked pretty much perfectly. Time seems a bit slow at the beginning but I you have to remember this is for people who haven't played the game before so it helps that its slow. It also seems gets better the more land you have, and theres some skill involved at the end by actually plotting crops of the same type in the same area, so you don't have to go looking round your whole field to see when a crop is ready to be harvested. Live stock also work very good now with the upgrades that you can have. I've also make the upgrades interchangeable so I can add more in the future, which I probably will do.

I've also added in a trader screen which now makes the game work. Before this you could build and buy anything you wanted but this makes it so you level up your farm. You start off with the smaller crops and work your way up, unlocking the bigger and better stuff which in turn bring in more money. I think I might have to up the initial prices though because you can currently buy the best crop very fast and so there is no need to buy anything else.
You can also buy upgrades for the farm here like less tax, more income etc. These really make the game more exciting.

I could do with a way the player loses the game because right now all you can do is win and that doesn't seem very exciting really.

A Big update

I've been working a LOT lately on this game. I spent 17 hours yesterday on it with breaks for eating and pooping only. Today I spent a good 5 hours on it, bringing it into a playable state. At the moment its not very fun as theirs no objectives or functions other then planting crops and harvesting them. I'm hoping by next tuesday to have done the following:

#Completed the achievement system (I broke it last night :( )
#Add in the trader screen and disable crops and livestock at the beginning allowing the player to buy them.
#Add to the trader screen options to buy upgrades for their livestock, allowing livestock to bring in more money ( I had problems with making the livestock income change depending on the quality of the land).
#Add objectives
#Make sure all menu's are working.

Update!

Another small update to show my progress.

Achievement Screen

I started work on the achievements today, beginning with the actual achievement screen and the movie that pops up when you unlock the achievement. Im not completely happy with the movie, but the achievement screen looks very good. It will have a slide tool for you to scroll your achievements, it will tell you which was your most recent and what it does. Also when you scroll over an achievement it will you give you some info on it such as what it does etc.

New Direction - New Title

After a quick tutorial session yesterday I've decided to change the direction I'm heading in. Instead of making it a PC game I'm going to make it a Wii only game. I believe the target audience would be perfect for the games context and also the graphics. It would be easy to play with the Wii remote as everything its quite big on the screen, no small icons to press anywhere.

I'll need to design a new cursor though as the current one would be a bit hard to follow on a TV screen from a few feet away. I also need to keep on making sure buttons are big and far enough apart that the natural shaking from the Human body wouldn't make it awkward to hit what you were aiming for.

I've also decided to go back and change the title from El Farm!, which I didn't really like in the first place, to Mii Farm, which is much better fitting with the game and the console. I want to actually incorporate Mii's into the game, I'm not just ripping off the name Mii! There isn't really another game out like this at the moment, Harvest Moon is more of a simulation then a construction manager game, and the main thing I have to deal with at this point is making and keeping it fun!

Quick show of the new title:

Click Menus

When you click on a plot of land, depending on whats currently on or not on it will bring up a different menu. This is my current design and ideas for them.

IDEA! - Unlockable specials

An idea just came to me and I thought I best blog it. I was thinking about unlockable specials that you can add to either a plot of land or your entire farm. At first I thought make them purchasable but I decided against it. Maybe have them on just a plot of land, but you can only have 1 of each type of specials.
The ideas for specials I have come up with so far include:
Double harvesting: Lets you harvest twice a year
Long Life: Increase Harvest window by a month (increasing it to 3 months or 3 minutes)
A good year: Random chance (1/5) to double profits from crop/livestock for that year.
Queens Gardens: Become tax free

I'll think of some more tomorrow.


They can even come up on the screen that you've unlocked it, so you feel like its a good reward.

Harvest Guide

Update!

Progress is going pretty well so far. I was worried about the fact that I can't draw might make my game look crap and bring down my enthusiasm, but I've found work a rounds! I've also been learning some pretty advanced actionscript for this projects and I'm also now very confident with using setInterval, Array's,XML & Functions.
Since my last post I've done:
Title Screens - Title, Options, New Game, Difficulty, Character Select, Level select and my HUD.
I've also started work on the actual farm screen, with the different crops/animals.
I've decided to go for a continuously moving game rather then a turn based game and I've also added a 5 level meter for quality of the land. Also crops now have a two month window to be harvested, if the farmer misses the window then he loses the crops.

I need to also include a pause button, but I haven't decided if the user should be allowed to do anything while its paused.

Run before I can walk?

I've jumped straight into flash and created a menu system and a pre-loader. This might be a bit early you may think, but I've had this idea in my head for a LONG time now, so things are pretty much just fitting into position. I would put it up for viewing, but the FTP at the HSAD servers seem's to be playing up.

EL Farm!

I've started work on my project today and I've decided to go with a game that I've had in my head for about a year now. Ever since I went to the Bradford games design festival thing last year, I've been dying to make a SimFarm type game, but with a comedic touch. My dilemma was that I didn't want to make it for my final project because I want to use UT3 for that as that's what I want to use when I leave uni, so I was just hoping for another chance to make a game before our final project.

So, I've decided on the title, and I've wrote down some of my ideas so far. Some of these may not sound that clear on paper but I know what I'm talking about in my head! So here's the title screen:


And I'll copy my ideas so you can see whats tumbling through my nut at the moment:


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Aspects of play – Sim Farm

Ideas!

Game Mechanics:

· Comedy type simulation game.

· Have a backstory? Living the dream? Get married and want to settle down together? A bet? A comedy back story such as you got drunk and bought a plot of land?

· Start with a small farm, 1 piece of land with a house where you live. Start with a small amount of money which you have to build up to buy more land, equipment, animals, crops, pay bills etc

· When is the game set? Time frame, equipment, locations, architecture (Going for modern day, seems to best with the most ideas applicable)

· Time limit for each map? Probably a bad idea.

· Sandbox mode as well, for people who just want to build a massive farm? Procedural level creation, possible in flash?

· Online Play? Would be a really good thing to implement, especially if you could sabotage the other player’s farms and put a monopoly on their products. Maybe possible in demo although not a priority.

· Updates? A good idea, but no good in demo.

· World Map – Choose where you want your farm to be. Start with 3 places that you can afford to buy (eg $500), total of 14 places, each location has a set price with the most being something lucrative which will take all 13 other farms producing money to obtain

· Start out as a singular farm – extend to farm corporation with farms all over the world

· Have awards that come in every year, for example biggest farm, highest amount of income, worst farm etc – Make comedic

· Relationships in the game? Probably a bad idea.

· Fight against other farms. Even have fierce competition such as vandalism and monopoly over markets.

· A steady equilibrium of crops and poultry, produce too much and the price comes down = less income. If your opposition has specialized in a certain crop, make the same for a lesser price or over flood the market with that crop and drive down demand.

· Price of land could either be cumulative eg $100 for the first, $200 for the second, $400 for the third, or it could be set by the land.

o Land could be set in attributes of fertility, size, amount of sun (eg next to a hill), elevation (hillside or flat).

o You could even pay to get land quality increased or to make fertile land from crap land.

o Harder levels could have a majority of bad land to start with.

· A few disasters such as a drought, floods, fences breaking down and livestock escaping etc

· Hire staff or not?

o + = Crops could be set on auto with the right people hired, leaving less micro managing to the player every rotation. Adds an extra micro system for people who want to deal with hiring people. Could have some comedic employees and also some bad ones (eg portfolio’s of some are funny, and some fall asleep and forget to do work some days)

o - = Micro managing regarding hiring people. Game might get too easy, or hard if there are too many employees to handle. Have to create a whole A.I system for the employees and a whole recruitment and handling system for the player.

· Equipment?

o Tractors, ploughs etc. Do these take damage and need repairing? Do they need fuel or are they magically always full (less realistic but easier for the player). Timeframe? Do newer tractors come out? Can you upgrade?

o Stationary equipment such as fences, hose’s etc. Do these get better? Start of with home made fences – evolve to amazing electric fences (add a bit of comedy in there) Solar panels for free electric?

o Maybe late on in the game (not in the demo) you can buy planes to water the fields etc?

· Difficulty settings?

o + = Might make the game more enjoyable to older people, especially people who like to micro manage, for example Tractors could require petrol, MOT’s, the farm house might have to pay rent and tax’s, crop prices fluctuate a lot more, fierce competition!

o Easy mode could have the odd bit of extra info such as what crop would be best here, is it worth buying this land?

o - = A lot more work, 3 different settings at the least.

· Banks? Borrow loans from the bank if you want some more money, time limit to pay it off? Interest? Bad credit = no loans. Work the bad credit off by winning awards? Good idea!

· Each Level has goals to finish it. Size, money made, yearly income, competitors situation (bust), awards?

· Work in years, seasons or months depending on technical limitations with each.

o Years: Miss out on seasons so you only have crops growing every turn. Money comes in too fast? Less micro managing unless its done every turn which may get annoying.

o Seasons: 4 seasons, 1 Season is sowing crops, one is farming the other 2 are caring and micro managing. 4 Turns sounds about right in terms of getting money and spending it.

o Months: 12 months, lots of micro management, money may not come in as fast as the player would like, leaving lots of time not doing anything unless time gaps filled with other jobs.

· Different Crops – Different locations allow different crops eg: rice, sugar, bananas etc

· Sell land and buy land

· Shares and stocks? Adds an extra level into the game. Could buy out competitors or they could buy you out?

· Examine stock screen – Shows you the stock you have in your fields, warehouse thingys, how much its selling for.

· Destroy Crops – Maybe have an insect swarm, or diseased crops that could kill other crops if not destroyed.

· Warehouse’s for crops that arn’t selling well or for not enough money?

· Maybe get a deal with a supermarket for Christmas for example? And if you produce enough turkeys for a good price your reputation with them goes up and you get a reward.

· Able to choose the price you sell your crops for? Could be a key part of the game, or it could be something for a harder difficulty level.

· Need an advisor – Pops up from time to time. Maybe a ? button to ask him questions.

· Purchase and place? Or Plan and Build?

· Upgrade Land/Crops/Buildings

Technical Ideas:

· Idea: Land set out into a grid of 9, each of those 9 grids has another 9 inside of it with your house in the middle. This gives the opportunity to have 81 squares with one taken up with the house in the middle. The player can zoom into 1 of the grids and view 9 of the squares, or zoom out and look at all 9 grids. When zoomed in, the player has arrows at all 4 sides of the screens so they can just click one of them (or just scroll) to look at the contents of other grids.

· When a player clicks on a plot of land, a menu opens up at the mouse with details of the plot of land and a few buttons

o Info with crop could include: Monthly Earnings, Monthly Loss, Monthly Profit, Total Profit, Condition of land, What Crop is on it, How well this crop is in the markets, How long till the crop has to be harvested.

o Info without crops on it could include: Condition of land, How much land sells for or how much it is to buy, Easy mode could have a help screen showing you best crop here.

o Buttons with crops could include: Sell, Harvest Early (If you NEED money fast), change crop, Examine stock of that product, Destroy(burn, or choose own idea)

o Buttons without crops could include: Buy... not much else I can think off right now.

o Hot keys? Maybe set pieces of land to hot keys so the player can quickly jump between important pieces of land? Best sellers, worst growing, new crops etc.

· Warehouses? Crops go straight from the farm out to buyers like supermarkets? If the price is low, or the buyer isn’t buying much you can store it in warehouse type buildings for a maximum of 8 turns? After that you can flog it or destroy it.

· Crops can be sold abroad if it’s something that only grows in your country and is pretty rare. These sell for a lot of money but tax’s and shipping fee’s bring the profit down with small batches, ergo you have to sell a lot of this at once to make profit. Sort of like a late level crop which brings in lots of money.

Ideas:

Create own Land? Possible to start of with a massive area and “draw” out land that you want to use? Maybe in a grid type way?

Keywords:

Loans – Abroad-Buyers

Welcome!

Level 2 work - Aspects of play.

Quick Brief:

Spend time researching a range of games (both electronic and not)Évisit arcades, "surf the net", dig out those old card and board games!

Make a fragment of a computer game, and present it to the group. Be prepared to say in what way the thing you are designing is a game, and what the "market" for such a game is.

The computer games industry tends to repeat itself in a rather un-inventive way. Aim to bring to the project a view wider than just that of existing computer games.You can adopt a non-commercial stance if you wish, but only of you do so consciously and overtly.