3F is a game all about discovery and trying to answer the question why?
I'm Sam Falla, one of the developers from the team who created 3F along with Kieran Gambin, Dean Gentles and Joseph Wallen, a team of student developers from South Wales
In 3F your game begins in an encampment, you don't know who you are or why you're there, nor do you know who the people around you are
At the centre of the island is a temple shrouded in mystery, with transitions to other levels and a set of locked doors at its apex
Your objective is to unlock the secrets of the island to discover who you are, why you're there and what's inside the temple
As you play through and uncover new parts of the island, you will come across paintings to collect, which help reveal what's going on
Collecting the paintings progress the game and also progresses time, changing the environment as your completion increases
I'm Joseph Wallen, also one of the developers of 3F
With our game we wanted to build a story driven puzzle platformer similar to tomb raider and uncharted but with more of a focus on the puzzle elements
We here at 3F wanted to give the player a true challenge so hints are minimal, no characters speak the same language and we've limited english text to just a few words in menu screens
You'll need to sprint, jump, climb and break your way through various mazes and puzzles to unlock all the paintings and discover the hidden past of the characters found within.
you may come across hints but they will need to be decyphered, encouraging the player to learn about other cultures to help them along the way
Thanks for listening, good luck on your journey to find the answers that await.
Team communication was good, weekly meetings to keep updated and stay on track
Worked together to solve problems, every issue that one person couldn't fix, others helped to do so
We all used source control effectively - everything done on branches and merged appropriately
Our first build ran with no engine/game mechanic issues
5 things that went badly - Dean?
Story wasn't implemented as we would've liked and ending leaves more to be desired
We weren't able to get voice acting recorded from various languages and therefore removed all language
Some tasks took too long either due to external reasons or bugs (save/load)
Issue tracking could have been better, some were left open and/or duplicated and possibly too many were made to begin with
Although we wanted the game to be about discovery, we were maybe too vague in terms of teaching the player about the game
5 things you might do differently - Kieran & Dean split?
Cut more stuff earlier to help prioritize better
Specialised roles at the start of the project with shared input across roles
Further involvement of culture/themes within the levels, in most places it was not apparent or thought of almost as a "fill in the gaps" even though it was core to the game
Optimization and unification of code - this is a minor point
too ambitious with initial plan, however we were good at adapting and improving our ideas to stay on course for completion
think about obstacles in an abstract way and how you overcame them
BE HONEST BUT BE UPBEAT
GIVE YOURSELVES CREDIT FOR WHAT WENT WELL
dont try and blame for things that didnt go well..... own them
PITCH DOCUMENT
pitch document - will be used by people to show the game when you're not there
big and splashy
1st page - key art splash screens and title - what you want i.e. PC exclusive etc
other pages - info about game - important parts bolded at top (one liners)
quotes from people who've played
short simple features - so someone else could sell it
last page - art with a quote
think most beautiful stuff for the art
exciting images not just whatever
what is your games main attraction?
does the screenshot showcase the main attraction?
does your screenshot show directionality?
does the screenshot show the main gameplay loop?
is there variety to screenshots?
do the actions available to the player change from screenshot to screenshot?
can they tell in the screenshot that it's a videogame?
1st draft
PITCH
3F is a game all about discovery and trying to answer the question why?
I'm Sam Falla, one of the developers from the team who created 3F along with Kieran Gambin, Dean Gentles and Joseph Wallen, a team of student developers from South Wales
In 3F your game begins in an encampment, you don't know who you are or why you're there, nor do you know who the people around you are At the centre of the island is a temple shrouded in mystery, with transitions to other levels and a set of locked doors at its apex Your objective is to unlock the secrets of the island to discover who you are, why you're there and what's inside the temple
As you play through and uncover new parts of the island, you will come across paintings to collect, which help reveal what's going on Collecting the paintings progress the game and also progresses time, changing the environment as your completion increases
I'm Joseph Wallen, also one of the developers of 3F
With our game we wanted to build a story driven puzzle platformer similar to tomb raider and uncharted but with more of a focus on the puzzle elements
We here at 3F wanted to give the player a true challenge so hints are minimal, no characters speak the same language and we've limited english text to just a few words in menu screens You'll need to sprint, jump, climb and break your way through various mazes and puzzles to unlock all the paintings and discover the hidden past of the characters found within. you may come across hints but they will need to be decyphered, encouraging the player to learn about other cultures to help them along the way
Thanks for listening, good luck on your journey to find the answers that await.
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POST-MORTEM### - be honest
5 things that went well - Kieran
5 things that went badly - Dean?
5 things you might do differently - Kieran & Dean split?
think about obstacles in an abstract way and how you overcame them BE HONEST BUT BE UPBEAT GIVE YOURSELVES CREDIT FOR WHAT WENT WELL dont try and blame for things that didnt go well..... own them
PITCH DOCUMENT
pitch document - will be used by people to show the game when you're not there big and splashy 1st page - key art splash screens and title - what you want i.e. PC exclusive etc other pages - info about game - important parts bolded at top (one liners) quotes from people who've played short simple features - so someone else could sell it last page - art with a quote
think most beautiful stuff for the art exciting images not just whatever what is your games main attraction? does the screenshot showcase the main attraction? does your screenshot show directionality? does the screenshot show the main gameplay loop? is there variety to screenshots? do the actions available to the player change from screenshot to screenshot? can they tell in the screenshot that it's a videogame?
POST-MORTEM DOCUMENT
needed