Stimulated: Study Drugs Kill

Screenshot_VYV

From Christian Murphy,

 

Dear Friends! Welcome to the Beta of my new video game Stimulated: Study Drugs Kill

 

OUR STORY:

You have just been admitted to college. As an incoming freshman you hear school is very hard, fortunately you have your study medication! Unfortunately, everyone at this dystopic school is addicted to study drugs… and they want yours. It seems like you always have enough study drugs to hand out… but if people get close to you they will steal your entire script. Use your study drugs to stimulate them to death, so they stop asking for pills.

 

If you are reading this you have been chosen as a Beta tester for this project.

 

CONTROLS:

WASD Move your character in the various directions

SPACE Jump

CLICK Throw pill

RUNNING:

SHIFT + WASD Run in the various direcions

!!!!! Key Mechanic: Shift + S runs backwards, to escape

GLIDING:

SPACE (JUMP) when in air use SHIFT + WASD to glide

!!!!! You can’t sprint jump, only jump then glide in air

RESTART:

After your drugs have disappeared you can still explore the world, but nobody will care about you.

Hit ‘Respawn’ after all your drugs have been stolen.

If you click ‘Quit’ you will only be able to walk around campus without drugs if you play again.

CHANGING TIME OF DAY:

Because you are always awake, you can control the time of day when you do things. Simply look up to the sky by moving your cursor to the slider on the top left of the screen.

The edges are morning and night, while the center is afternoon.

 

HOW TO PLAY:

Use the fact that you are on drugs to your advantage. With the proper stimulation, anything is possible:

Repeatedly jump to climb mountains!

Sprint backwards to outmaneuver your foes!

Climb on top of buildings and climb the computer pieces of your mind…

…anything is possible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

HOW NOT TO PLAY:

Look in one direction and focus on one enemy. People will sneak up behind you and take your drugs. Make sure to constantly look in all directions.

 

Downloading the game:

 

  1. Download either the Windows.zip or the MAC.app depending on your computer

 

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6ymVIzHvnEJZ3lPQkd0XzdrWDA&usp=sharing

 

  1. unzip the file

 

  1. open and run  the unzipped  ‘_Stimulated_’ file

 

  1. Have fun

Please email me any comments or concerns …..Thanks for playing!

Murphy – Alpha

Environment

Alpha includes finished world with bounding boxes, water, skybox, and terrain textures.

No:

– trees

– grass

– particles

Scripts include

Simple AI: A bullying script for a pill where if you see it, it charges after you and pushes you around the map…bullying you. Will apply to many pills so that the character must always run away from the evils of drugs

Violent AI: This enemy sees you and attacks you. If you damage it, it becomes more angry and charges faster and over farther distances.

Melee: A sword attack for close range encounters.

– animation on sword swing is broken

Shooting: A bullet that travels and pierces the enemy. Causes blood spurts and damage.

Enemy Health: Allows me to change the health of the various enemies.

UI

Lens Flare on camera

cross hair for sword and gun

 

 

 

Murphy Art Board

Benis Wars: The Tail of Weenerdog’s Son 

ArtBoard_Weenerdogs

ArtBoard: Style and Clarity

Returning to the roots- I have decided to use much less sophisticated textures for the environment. I believe that this will be less visually distracting(too much high-def pixels were hurting the eyes and distracting from level design). After working on an Imagineering project I see that using reference imagery is better than high poly rendered trees. It allows them to have a presence but not look stock or situated in reality. The degradation of drug use will permeate itself in the animal characters having very damaged and decaying bodies related to what specific drug they abuse mostuse the most.

Update – The Tail of Weenerdog’s Son

So far I have recreated the level from scratch focusing on telling a narrative through the players exploration of the environment. I got inspiration for this change when playing the beginner’s guide and seeing that every movement should be one with purpose. This story will be one where the player goes through an exploration of several environments. The drugs will be hidden i the environments and provide boosts for our character.

Updates:

Scripting – Melee script added, object health script added

Art – Dirt, sand, rock, grass, ice, and cracked earth materials added. Sword created in Maya, needle grass textures, 2 realistic grass textures

Engine – Placing textures and terrain heights for project

UnityDemoReel

 

For Next Update:

get placeholders for the various characters

include ‘collectibles’ in the game

Implement dialogue for characters

Put sword in the game

Create colliders for the walls of the game

FinalProposal_Murphy

Christian Murphy

Experimental Game Design

 

Downward Spiral

 

Description: An interactive digital narrative platformer chronicling the rapid downward spiral that is drug addiction, through time sensitive collectable elements.

 

Research Statement: I’m trying to convey the urgency that addiction causes in people, providing a full body experience of addiction and withdrawal. I’m experimenting with how over time player control disintegrates if they are unable to collect the substances that they need. Emotionally I’m providing understanding to those who don’t suffer from substance withdrawal. My project will be a success if people play for gameplay in addition to the message.

 

Mock Screenshot:

unityisland

Game References:

Banjo Kazooie – Platforming, Collectibles

Heavy Rain – Atmosphere

Zelda – Jumping (both N64 series)

 

Non-Game References:

Alcoholics Anonymous

Gangsta

Scarface

High School

Murphy -Walking Simulator Pitch

Island of Ruin

1. Explore an island where you have crash landed. See what happened to the native inhabitants.

Addict’s Paradise

2. Explore an Island made out of drug paraphernalia

Will decide objects and re-skin textures based on decision. Have already built Island in Unity.Island1 Island2 Island3

Journey… Walking Sim?

Journey is a gorgeous game. The art style is soft and airy, matching the floating sliding movements of the player. Rereleased for PS4 it received fantastic reviews last generation, and holds up on next gen consoles well. But is Journey a walking sim?

I had problems considering Journey a walking sim for many reasons. First and foremost the walking aspect is a core feature, but can also be skimped on once you grasp the gameplay. If you want to travel quickly you can forego walking and float around the environment instead. For some platforming areas it is necessary that you need to spend time in the air, not walking. When you are on the ground you usually slide like snowboarding more than walking in the environment. The second issue I have is the camera. As a third person adventure you take in the grand scale of the world, but don’t ever feel like you are part of it, just moving through it. Despite this I felt a lot of agency towards my character after moving through the environment.

All in all journey is a contemporary masterpiece. It blends the fun of racing and open world games, with slight platforming and collecting. The main character is a memorable protagonist that will remain in my memory for a long time to come.

Not Games – Environment for Story

Christian Murphy

10/14/15

 

A game that used environmental storyteller extremely well was Battlefield Bad Company 2’s online multiplayer. Back before DICE and EA pulled all the environmental bullshit of BF3 and BF4… BF had fully destructable environments in the Bad Company series. This meant houses would lose walls, windows would shatter, trees would fall, and ultimately entire structures would collapse killing everybody inside.

This was immensely powerful for an online war game, because it showed the routes of battle. The game mode ‘rush’ has players defending bomb sites, while attackers went to set charges. Because the size of the map, parts of the environment would remain untouched while others would see heavy battle.

It was visceral to see how lobbing several grenades into a house would send bodies flying out, and simultaneously collapse the roof destroying the cover provided. It also added to the strategy of the game as snipers could crawl across the rubble and hide amongst the ruins using the dust to cover their advance. In the Vietnam expansion this was expanded with flamethrowers destroying jungle terrain, and ancient ruins being toppled by invading marines.

I thought this mechanic created near endless environmental stories. As you spawn into captured territories, the land is littered with rubble and destroyed gun emplacements. Even though bodies disappear for system performance, the landscape speaks to the struggles that players have overcome, the burnt out tanks, scarred roads, and ammo packs of dead soldiers.

I remember one specific time where this environmental technique was incredibly effective. We were raging an intense battle over the second last point in a map. Snipers had lined the ridge blocking any potential cover to get to the spawn point. Everything had been destroyed except for one house. It lay in a field of rubble as the other 5 houses had been leveled by explosives and tank fire. After we eventually counter sniped the enemy, but only had a handful of men left who took the point, the only thing standing was this one house. When we narrowly won the match and the camera flew around the battlefield, I was reminded of our close victory by seeing this structure. The battle could have gone either way.

 

Notes on Walking Simulator

What Happened Here? Talk on Environmental Storytelling

ecology of storytelling

item and enemy placement

Physical boundaries

Staircases, walls etc

restrictions create meaningful interaction

“The Imago Effect”, which covers the subject of how identity is in part performative and part shaped by context.

use player context to bring meaning to environment (booze, cash register, stripper poles)

“We’re saying that the game environment, which has been derived from a fictional premise, can communicate • the history of what has happened in a place • who inhabits it • their living conditions • what might happen next • the functional purpose of the place • and the mood.”

Images of environment makes player ask- what happened here?

Telegraphing: Foreshadowing gameplay elements by using the environment

blood leading to doorway

body electrocuted on fence

Important part is what environment alludes to that we don’t see

Child slave den for torture Fallout 3

interpretation is compelling

builds investment

provides closure

Process of making a good environmental narrative

  1. Create a discernable chain of events
  2. Ensure the event engages the player
  3. Create Characterization
  4. Minimize disconnects between player’s thoughts and scripted events

Echo: Relating to the larger societal construct of the world

Player leaving visual mark on world because of their action

Murphy_Renpy

background

Best played with sound

UPDATE 10/19/15:

Unpacked images and .zip for easy play

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B-YvMeeemTlWVkgxQmoxNEgxeG8&usp=sharing

OUTDATED:

Added facial tweaks fixed bugs

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-YvMeeemTlWQ2tlWVVxaWhXb1U/view?usp=sharing

Some animations so don’t be too click heavy, let transitions play out

OUTDATED:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-YvMeeemTlWTm95TzE3RV9udGM/view