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Daily developer diary

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
Hi everyone,

After getting some critique on our update frequency, I decided to start this daily thing of updating what I have personally done with Prisonscape. I am the acting game designer, creative director, writer and occasional marketer of the game. Currently I'm working on the second area of the game, which is the actual prison environment, Miranda Unit. The first area, county jail, is introduced in this blog post: http://www.prisonscape.com/blog/?p=552

Miranda is the "main area" of the game, where the player has to trade, fight, scheme, form and break alliances. All of the main features are prominent in this area, and currently there are about 60 different quests related to this location (county has about 30).

As my goal is to do some development every day, I will update this thread to summarize what I have accomplished and/or planned for the game. Let's start for today:

24.2. We had a meeting with Tuomas about the playable demo of the first area we want to have for EGX Rezzed at 12-15 of March. This demo will include all current quests, experience and levels and will not include the new combat system. I have also planned out the quest system - biggest problem right now is to include main stats (str, agi, int) and skills into quest branching and come up with different ways to complete quests. I will finish one quest (or 'hustle' as we call them now) where the Black Guerrilla Family wants you to hire white addicts to sling drugs for them in order to undermine the Aryan drug trade. I have also done creative planning for one of the boss fights that will occur in the game. Here's a little sample from other big fight that we're planning:

ad0oXA2.gif


I hope that those who are interested will ask questions/give comments related to the game development. I will answer every question, I promise!
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
Can the player learn to do that in game?

Not this particular move, but from most big fights the player can learn some special moves, for example pocket sand, low blow, baby oil bomb (boiling baby oil does nasty things to one's skin), etc. More about this special attack/defense system can be read from this blog post: http://www.prisonscape.com/blog/?p=394

25.2. Today I scripted the final part of the 'Hire dealers' quests. The General is an old army vet who was sentenced for 6 years after he invested in a shady business. He's an older gentleman and knows quite many veteran inmates who often are hooked on Xanax and other nasty prescription drugs and could be valuable asset in the drug trade. I also realized that some of the "ladies" in the game look quite... appalling, so we decided to work together with David (the artist) to make them more attractive. The result can be seen below.

CJmEogR.png


Would you tap that?
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
26.2. Didn't get much done today. I started a 'Missing ingredients' quest where you have to find some food and spices for an inmate so that he can create a delicious meal to impress the leader of the latinos who are in charge of the kitchen. Also planned some tiles together with David, including this one:

Gszla19.png
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
27.2. No scripting today, I'm getting sick of it... I'll give it another shot tomorrow. I did some tiling for the second area (Miranda) and for the last area (SUPER SECRET) instead. I made this:

iQCZBkg.png


It's shit, I know. It's still missing sprites. I will finish and polish it later.
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
28.2. Today is my wife's birthday so unfortunately my time with the game is very limited. Tomorrow should be full day of scripting. I started doing some mapping for one of the levels, here's my progress so far:

kzqDqYp.png


12 years of pen and paper finally paying off! I'm pretty good at drawing maps on grid paper.
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
29.2. I did some more mapping, about 1/10 is now done. Also started scripting the final scene for the first area. We also had a meeting with Tuomas (the programmer) about the experience/leveling system and UI we want to finish before Rezzed (11 days left...). We also finished the layout and graphics for the character screen, it looks something like this:

oGxn26Q.png
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
2.3. Computer broken, so no work today. 10 days to finish the demo for Rezzed, fuck this shit. I'll grab a replacement comp from work tomorrow.
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
3.3. Was at IGDA gathering drinking free beers, so didn't get too much done today, either. Did some mapping for the final area, that's it. Tomorrow I'll start working again, no more excuses.
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
4.3. Finally got some scripting done for one quest, gonna do some testing later on this evening for the Rezzed demo. Our graphic designer has been missing for about a week now, I hope he's still alive.
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
5.3. Game testing and little tweaking for London. I just noticed that the game doesn't have any kind of tutorial and it doesn't give any hints what you should do once the game starts. It's interesting to see if this is a good or a bad thing. David is alive and he he also uploaded this:

halUaML.gif


This was the only good thing in my day. My life fucking sucks.
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
6.3. Again game testing and little tweaking here and there. I'm trying to finish and make the playthrough of the first area as smooth and entertaining as possible, and it's fucking tedious. I also did some cutscene planning but that's just in my head for now so it doesn't count as work.
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
7.3. Tuomas (the programmer) added exp/leveling system so I tweaked the experience system a little bit. The goal here is to make the beginning fairly simple and straightforward with plenty of exp and then the exp curve steepens, just like in those F2P games on mobile.
 

SniperHF

Arcane
Joined
Aug 22, 2014
Messages
1,110
5.3. Game testing and little tweaking for London. I just noticed that the game doesn't have any kind of tutorial and it doesn't give any hints what you should do once the game starts.

Remembering from the ask an ex-con thread, this seems like it would fit the realities of entering the prison system for the first time and might set a good mood/atmosphere. Whether it's fun or not I couldn't say without playing it. Though if you are looking for a good reception from conference goers playing your demo I'd bet they'll hate that.

For the full release I'd think subtle tutorials would be the way to go. Your first conversations drop some hints and maybe even include some parenthetical text for gamey stuff like controls if absolutely necessary.
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
8.3. Struggling with personal stuff, I have hard time doing anything right now. I managed to add some combat animations, including this one:

ejN7BoD.gif


Remembering from the ask an ex-con thread, this seems like it would fit the realities of entering the prison system for the first time and might set a good mood/atmosphere. Whether it's fun or not I couldn't say without playing it. Though if you are looking for a good reception from conference goers playing your demo I'd bet they'll hate that.

For the full release I'd think subtle tutorials would be the way to go. Your first conversations drop some hints and maybe even include some parenthetical text for gamey stuff like controls if absolutely necessary.

We actually have this kind of system, the people who stay at the same cell will give plenty of information but not automatically. For promo events we will create a simplified demo with lot more action than the final product, just to keep people interested.
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
9.3. Nothing today, I am sorry. Too much happening in my life right now to do anything properly.
 

kazgar

Arcane
Joined
Apr 23, 2008
Messages
2,164
Location
Upside Down
Yo PekkaK

I'm gonna speak for everyone here and say we'd rather you not do these and focus on the more important parts of your life then feel obliged to work or report on a darn videogame and burn out.

Maybe a weekly diary?
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
Yo PekkaK

I'm gonna speak for everyone here and say we'd rather you not do these and focus on the more important parts of your life then feel obliged to work or report on a darn videogame and burn out.

Maybe a weekly diary?

Thank you for your concerns! I ended a 7 year relationship on Sunday so I'm still a bit overwhelmed, but working on the game keeps my thoughts away from all that shit, and keeping a diary keeps the work consistent. However, I will now do the diary to a text file and then just post it here every week to avoid spam. ;)
 

kazgar

Arcane
Joined
Apr 23, 2008
Messages
2,164
Location
Upside Down
Yo PekkaK

I'm gonna speak for everyone here and say we'd rather you not do these and focus on the more important parts of your life then feel obliged to work or report on a darn videogame and burn out.

Maybe a weekly diary?

Thank you for your concerns! I ended a 7 year relationship on Sunday so I'm still a bit overwhelmed, but working on the game keeps my thoughts away from all that shit, and keeping a diary keeps the work consistent. However, I will now do the diary to a text file and then just post it here every week to avoid spam. ;)

Sorry to hear it, look after yourself.

Post as much or as little as you want, its your forum. I did like the daily updates, but wouldn't consider them the highest priority.
 

GarlandExCon

Arcane
Joined
May 19, 2014
Messages
6,957
5.3. Game testing and little tweaking for London. I just noticed that the game doesn't have any kind of tutorial and it doesn't give any hints what you should do once the game starts.

Remembering from the ask an ex-con thread, this seems like it would fit the realities of entering the prison system for the first time and might set a good mood/atmosphere. Whether it's fun or not I couldn't say without playing it. Though if you are looking for a good reception from conference goers playing your demo I'd bet they'll hate that.

For the full release I'd think subtle tutorials would be the way to go. Your first conversations drop some hints and maybe even include some parenthetical text for gamey stuff like controls if absolutely necessary.

Yeah, if you want to make realistic you really should just be dropped into the game and have little to no idea what's going on because that's what its like to really go to prison: you don't know anything about anything at first.

Maybe there could be two modes: A "Green" mode (i.e. when you first go to prison you're considered "Green" -- I suppose you could also call this "Fish" mode, although no one ever used that term the entire time I was in prison) where you basically start off with no help and a "Recidivism" mode (I'm sure a better name can be thought of) where you're giving some hints/help based on the idea that you've done a little time before (maybe not prison time, but maybe some jail time here and there).

You could also have your lawyer do the tutorial with you, although note that half of what your lawyer tells you about prison is generally wrong. There are also prison consultants you can hire before going inside and even classes you can take, but from what everyone who actually did this told me, these also generally give a lot of misinformation. Also, only white collar types usually do this sort of thing, so if the main character is at all "thuggish" this probably would be a little odd.
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
Yeah, if you want to make realistic you really should just be dropped into the game and have little to no idea what's going on because that's what its like to really go to prison: you don't know anything about anything at first.

Maybe there could be two modes: A "Green" mode (i.e. when you first go to prison you're considered "Green" -- I suppose you could also call this "Fish" mode, although no one ever used that term the entire time I was in prison) where you basically start off with no help and a "Recidivism" mode (I'm sure a better name can be thought of) where you're giving some hints/help based on the idea that you've done a little time before (maybe not prison time, but maybe some jail time here and there).

You could also have your lawyer do the tutorial with you, although note that half of what your lawyer tells you about prison is generally wrong. There are also prison consultants you can hire before going inside and even classes you can take, but from what everyone who actually did this told me, these also generally give a lot of misinformation. Also, only white collar types usually do this sort of thing, so if the main character is at all "thuggish" this probably would be a little odd.

There will be no tutorial. I really like the lawyer idea, though.

28.3. Today I've been making more quests and added some animations into the game, including this one:

2Z6I0kI.gif
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
3.5. Back in business. Finished a pretty good quest and started working on a new level today. I'll start with regular updates again.
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
4.5. The new level is shaping up nicely, don't want to show it since it contains quite a lot of spoilers.

What do you think of this animation? Does it have enough frames?

8k67pfs.gif
 

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
28,237
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Seems okay to me, except for the bit at the end where the shoulder on the left gets all rectangularly.
 

PekkaK

Heaviest Matter
Developer
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
255
5.5. & 6.5. Yesterday I did some level designing and art design, today I finished a quest where you have to find some FRESH fruit (not that canned shit).
 

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