RESEARCH
Platinum Studios
Platinum Studios was founded in 2006 and they currently have 209 employees. The head office is located in Osaka, Japan. Over the last few years, they have developed NieR:Automata, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan, Bayonetta, and Star Fox Zero and Star Fox Guard.
Platinum excels at their development of battle/combat games. They actually co-produced NieR:Automata because the other producer did not have the experience or the desire to create the required battle/combat system.
Platinum games method for development of a game is to first develop how the character is to play. In addition, the action the players can take in game design is referred to as “verbs”. It is important not to have too many verbs so the controls do not become cluttered. Verbs serve multiple functions such as flushing out the development/skills of a character. Verbs also lead to better game design.
An example of a verb in Platinum Games that highlights the above was in one of their first projects, Bayonetta. In Bayonetta, they used a well-timed dodge to slow down time. This verb was used both in combat and in the puzzles between sections. This gave the character the assumed knowledge of how to combat but also gave the game player the ability to elude or fight without actually throwing a punch.
For me I am taking Montgomery Harris’ rule of six and distilling my verbs down to six actions. I have not finalized this list as I continue to compile the list of verbs before finalizing.
I have also researched Hideaki Itsuno. He is the mind behind the later “Devil May Cry” series, which set the bar, which all other similar games are compared. Hideaki is a Japanese video game director and video game designer employed by Capcom for most of his career. He is credited as the director of Power Stone, Devil May Cry and Dragon’s Dogma series’. Although he did not direct/design the original Devil May Cry game, he did become involved with Devil May Cry 2 to steer the project back on course. He was then involved starting on Day 1 with Devil May Cry 3 and 4.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hideaki_itsuno
The more I considered what I wanted to achieve I realized my greatest inspiration is the game Dead Cells – simple 2D game with approximately 5 verbs relating to combat. Motion Twin developed this game, which is a French worker cooperative based in Bordeaux, France. They have been making games since 2001 and are currently working on their first PC/Console title. Dead Cell has three consistent verbs of run, dodge and jump. Two of the actions the player can take, and the game is set up so you randomly get two weapons and two skills. Thus, all those randomized weapons can fit into the verb attack and all the skills can fit into the verb skill. Because of the player is always on the feet with hundreds of options to approach a situation. Because the players’ movement is consistent, it give the players the confidence to take risks and progress through the game. This is something I appreciate and am looking to incorporate into my own game.
Game Design – Unity
As discussed, my desire is to build my game utilizing Unity. Therefore, my research has been focused on the coding in Unity. This is progressing however I have yet to get the enemies working but the player can attack and run around from left to right.
To build upon this I have also visited Linda.com which provides video trainings to continue learning and understanding the basics of Unity. I am using this to better translate the movement I want to achieve with my characters. Although I was able to increase the speed of the characters, it was negatively affecting other facets of my game design so I am further researching how to address these issues.
Game Design – How To
One great resource I have found is the YouTube channel “Extra Credits”. I have viewed their whole series on making your first game and I continue to research this information. Extra Credits states your first game should be small in scope and when putting your game plan together, break it into smaller achievable chunks. They recommend having small weekly objectives to maintain a steady progressive pace to achieve them.
https://www.youtube.com/user/ExtraCredits
My research continues as I build upon what I am learning and applying to my project.