¶ Semesterprojekt für Media/Game-Design 3 (WS25/26 BSc. Media Systems)
¶ Pace! Beats! Demons!
| Groupmembers | Student-ID# | Assigned Duties |
|---|---|---|
| Nico Renz | 2801496 | Game Development |
¶ Kurzbeschreibung
Pace's school is under attack! Demons are chasing the beloved Melody to drain her melodic energy. These joy-suckers can only be defeated with rhythm and ruthlessness.
¶ Downloadlink
https://nirl02.itch.io/pace-beats-demons
¶ Controls
Mouse + Keyboard.
- Movement: WASD
- Attack: E
- Charged Attack: Q
¶ Game Rules
Attack on beat and defeat all enemies! Don't let Melody die!
¶ Game Design Pillars
Gameplay in relation to time:
Players will have to:
- Time their attacks to the beat
- Endure the length of the music in order to win.
- Wait for their Flail-Attack to charge up and time it for extra AOE damage.
¶ 1 Mechanics
¶ Gameplay Features
The player is able to move on the XY axis and has 2 attacks available:
Normal Attack: able to defeat small enemies in 3 timed hits.
Charged Attack: When charged and timed will be able to One-Shot any enemy.
Be careful: not only can Pace get attacked by the enemies when in close vecinity; she will also lose health if attacks aren't timed correctly. No button-mashing!
Prevent Melody and yourself from dying until the music ends to win.
¶ Game Loop
Approach enemy → Timed normal attack. If lots of enemy accumulate → Timed Charged Attack. Consecutively hitting E (normal attack) and staying close to enemies is the best approach, use Q when available --or time it when big enemies (rats) appear--. Evade enemies when their attack animation starts. Main level duration: 1min20s.
¶ 2 Story
The Winter Dance at Cadence High has arrived! A time that catches the attention of all devils and demons as the festivities open the human cattle up to sin and mischief, yet
Melody's voice has always been the shield to this school, protecting it from any attack.
News get around though, Melody has caught a cold and lost her voice! The demons are already invading the school and coming for her first, so they can overtake the school for good.
It is now Pace's job to defend her school and her peer, sticking to rhythm and weaponry as the most reliable way to kill the vile pest and securing a good impression for her crush.
¶ 3 Aesthetics
High School ; Cute Art-Style; Colourful
¶ Character & Environment Design
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¶ Animations
2D Still-pictures as placeholders for each action.
¶ UI Design
Due to time restrictions it was not possible for me to develop a cohesive UI design. Still, following UI elements were implemented to orientate the player:
1- "Remaining health" display (as Text)
2- Progress-Bar (showing how much time/music has passed and how much is left)
3- Pulsing Beat Circle
4- Charged Attack: Button + Cooldown
4.5- Charged Attack: Charging bar (appears when player holds Q)
5- Player Attack range (pops up as a shadow on floor when player releases their attack)
¶ 4 Technology
Engine: Unity. (C#)
Some elements in the script were modified or generated with the help of Chat GPT.
Art Development: Procreate (iPad), Clip Studio Paint Ex (Wacom Intuos S).
Versioning: GitHub.
¶ 5 Management, Workflow, Hours Invested
(Documentation may not be 100% Up-To-Date)
Game Art (20Hrs):
Character Design ~4Hrs
Character Action Sheets + Sprites + Implementation ~16Hrs
Coding (32Hrs):
Game/Script Architecture ~2Hrs
Player Controls Coding ~7Hrs
Enemy Behaviour Coding ~6Hrs
Beat Management System ~5Hrs
UI Element Implementation ~5Hrs
Debugging & Miscellaneous ~7Hrs
Research (+2Hrs):
Music: ~2Hrs
Coding/Game Design/Unity: ~ (included in “Coding” already)
Total: approx. 54hrs.
¶ Missing Features
-Melody's Sprites
-More dynamic/predictability for enemy spawning
-Movement for Melody
-Cohesive UI Design
-Sound effects
-Particle Effects
-Dynamic for player movement (i.e. dashing)
-Background art & assets (decoration, visuals that indicate they are in a high school or at prom)
-More rewards for beating enemies (i.e High-Score tracking; Ok/GoodPerfect Scoring; Currency)
-Opening Scene
-Closing (winning) Scene
-Pause Menu
¶ Lessons Learned
Working alone gave me a better overview of all the elements required to have an integral, functional & appealing game, since the responsibility lied on me alone. That meant I had to keep diverse features in mind, and could better coordinate cross-discipline functions. Still, while I have achieved a better oversight about what goes into making a game, it is clear, that within this limited time-frame it's hardly a one-person job. I laid my focus primarily on character-design and coding, and admittedly neglected things like Sound and UI Design. I decided to prioritize Game-Feel and Feedback-To-Player in its rawest state over beautification of the game, because I believe it would lead to better comprehension and enjoyment of the project considering it is an Action-Rhythm concept. I wish I would've layed some more focus on Sound Design & Effects, since it would've supported the core concept better, but the context I chose made it hard to find fitting music, and with the amount of responsibilities I had I did not feel apt to compose it myself. Still, I find my current choice of music acceptable for the theme.
¶ Sources:
Orientation on Rhythm Game principles:
Itooh Gamedev: "The Key Components of a Rhythm Game" via Youtube
Floor TileTexture via Poliigon
Music: Poison by Emmraan via Pixabay