[Released] Motormouth (Interacting with Humans)

[Teljoor]

The game has been released! Check it out here:

https://itch.io/jam/wizard-jam-9/rate/456934

https://jmolenaar.itch.io/motormouth

 

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For this wizard jam I am working with a friend, who may also post some later updates in this thread. This will be his first game in Unity and my first time collaborating on a two-week project. To ensure that we can finish it, we have come up with a simple concept that should be very doable but could also be extended if we have time remaining.The basic idea is to have a 'simon says' main game mechanic where the player is presented with a series of instructions and then has to repeat them. As the game goes on the instructions could get more complicated or have to be completed faster.

 

The visualization for the game is based on the endorsement of 'interacting with humans', from episode 7 of Important if True. The player supports a robot learning to talk and interact with humans. The concept is a bit like the 'First Contact' minigame from rhythm heaven, but it should be pretty different in practice since there is no rhythm element and the input uses different types of buttons.

We hope to at least implement conversations and maybe also gestures and other ways of communication. To be clear, there is no real choice in how to communicate, it is just for visual interest and feedback indicating if the right buttons were used.

In the mockup above the console and buttons are shown in the bottom of the screen. The buttons flash in sequence and the player presses them in the same order. The basic gameplay is currently implemented, but it is only a single fixed sequence with no loop or randomization. The slider and radial buttons are also not functional yet.

 

We hope to have all the planned control types implemented by the end of this week, as well as having the animations, sounds, etc. hooked up so that we can run through a single complete sequence. After that we should also have a better idea of how we can best set up randomized instruction sequences.

Edited July 28, 2019 by Teljoor
changing thread title and adding link for release

[atte]

Looks and sounds already like another quality Teljoor project

[Teljoor]

A quick update:

• basic gameplay loop works
• random pattern generation is in
• all control types we intended to have are working (button, switch, slider, radial)

 

To do:

• more npc conversations (we're currently testing with just 4)
• add animations to sequence demonstration
• add sound and music
• scoring system and energy meter
• increasing difficulty with number of rounds played

There's still a lot to do, but we're aiming to have all the essentials done by next Friday, so we can spend the weekend on polish and all the odds and ends we want to do before release.

[phill]

Good work! Also great that you limited your scope in such a way to not get overwhelmed. I love rhythm games so I'm keen to try this out!

[Teljoor]

18 hours ago, phill said:

Good work! Also great that you limited your scope in such a way to not get overwhelmed. I love rhythm games so I'm keen to try this out!

Thanks . I think we're on track to finish it by Sunday. The game isn't actually a rhythm game, just sort of inspired by one, but I hope it will still be enjoyable.

[jmolenaar]

We have just uploaded the first build of our game to itch.io !

 

This is what the game looks like now:

 

 

[Teljoor]

I've updated the thread title to reflect the game's new title. We're planning to make some more final changes and submit the updated version to the jam page tonight.

 

The main things we're unclear on is how intuitive/responsive the controls are and how well the difficulty is tuned (it goes up as you play). But we can easily change those based on further testing and feedback, either today or in the coming week.

[Teljoor]

Our game has been released!

Jam submission page: https://itch.io/jam/wizard-jam-9/rate/456934

Main game page: https://jmolenaar.itch.io/motormouth

 

For now it is just the HTML version. Max/Linux/Windows builds will likely follow later.

I think we managed to iron out a lot of wrinkles during the final day. It always feels rewarding when things sort of come together in the final stretch. Now to hope everything's reasonably tuned and comprehensible to players who haven't spent two weeks working on the game .

 

[RKSanders]

Good job! I really like the dialog (the fish one was great) and it's quite challenging.

[atte]

These kinds of simon says tasks really stress me out, so I can't comment much about the challenge but the execution and presentation is very fun. All the interaction sounds are good and help remembering the sequences. I would have liked maybe even more specific sounds, like the pitch would change when moving sliders, slightly different tones for each of the buttons etc.

[jmolenaar]

On 29-7-2019 at 9:09 PM, atte said:

These kinds of simon says tasks really stress me out, so I can't comment much about the challenge but the execution and presentation is very fun. All the interaction sounds are good and help remembering the sequences. I would have liked maybe even more specific sounds, like the pitch would change when moving sliders, slightly different tones for each of the buttons etc.

 

We did notice the patterns got a bit easier to remember when we finally added the different sound effects but you're right, we could've taken that a step further. Might still do!

Thanks for the feedback, and thanks for playing!