This was definitely one of the more slow weeks for programming, largely because of external interruptions in terms of development. Prior to the weekend, I was called in for bug fixes at work on a few different projects, and that work further took some time during the end of the weekend. Furthermore, I essentially was unable to contribute project development for about three days due to the occurrence of the Vermont Hackathon and my participation in the event. However, despite these intrusions, I did manage to design and implement a simple prototype system for feedback that should enable us to acquire better QA tester responses.
Prompts are essentially a universal solution to providing player feedback at the start and end of any Micro-Game. A prompt begins off the top of the screen, zooms down to the center, and then zooms back up to the top of the screen after a time delay. The speed values for entering and exiting, as well as the time value for waiting are accessible for further tweaking, and could vary depending on the Micro-Game.
Another feature of the prompt that took a while to develop is the swipe-up mechanic. Basically, once the prompt reaches the center of the stage, it will ascend after a certain time amount. However, the player can hasten the ascension by swiping it upwards. Due to some issues relating to the fading swipe amounts impacting gameplay, this took a bit to debug in order to ensure that it felt responsive. In future development, it should be also be possible to fine tune how prompts arrive on the screen.
Once a game is selected, the Micro-Game is 'started' and the prompt is overlaid upon the game. This means that before actual gameplay begins, the player will be able to see the initialized game in the background, giving them time to understand the UI components. The prompt will then descend, wait for a certain amount of time, and then return to the top area, thus beginning the actual game. During this time the player can review their time allotted and score. The details relating to the current Micro-Game are also displayed on the prompt.
Each game has its overall mechanic listed at the top of the prompt. This description typically involves a brief note that also suggests the core mechanic utilized in the game. At the bottom, if available, the prompt will also display the game's specific assistance text. For instance, if the player is playing Upload the Photo, the top text will notify the player to tap photos, while the subtext will tell the player which photos to upload. This information will also always be present on the top of the screen.
At the end of each Micro-Game, whether the player succeeds or fails, they are quickly greeted by a result prompt. This prompt will be tinted green or red depending on the player's results. Each Micro-Game pulls from its own result sheet, therefore potentially conveying specific details about the game. For instance, in Like the Posts, the player can fail depending on whether they hit the wrong post, or if the time has run out. Therefore, the prompts displayed will represent these aspects accordingly, notifying the player of what mistake they made, therefore giving them hints about how to succeed during the next round.
This essentially wraps up this iteration of development. As noted, I have designed a simple document that will guide future development for menu systems. The idea is to enable the environment of the smartphone app screen as the menu context. This will enable players to easily be able to play and run individual games, as well as organize their app collection. A top bar will allow them to play challenge modes to further unlocking goals. A bottom bar will have buttons that will show the player how they can create a playlist for their games. Another button will show the player the list of achievements, therefore conveying methods for additional objective completions. Depending on presentation progress, I will either be focusing time to design and implement these systems, or I will focus a bit more on creating additional game content. Regardless, I may see about creating one more game before the end of this sprint.