Project Plan and Scope
After experimenting with Prototype 1 of Castle-Run and being convinced that the concept merits more exploration and eventually a playable demo I knew I had to have some form of plan to be able to build this game as a solo developer. After exploring different forms of planning during my development of this game I decided to loosely based my planning structure of delivering demo iterations on scrum's agile form of discipline and practice. With this mindset I started my journey into developing and trying to complete a full playable demo in a steady continuous manner hoping to complete the project as fast as humanely possible while trying to avoid burnouts.
Sprints/Iterations
With Castle-Run I defined the scope of the project by delivering three different prototypes each builds on the previous iteration as well as explores a certain aspect of the game. After the completion of each prototype the game is then uploaded online as a WebGL build and shared with friends, colleagues and family as a way to explore for bugs and exploit imbalances so that it can be dealt with before the next iteration gets developed.
Iterations 1
The first stage of the Prototype will focus on testing whether the Semi-Confined Movement concept is even playable and if there is any fun to be had, for that I need the following:
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Auto-Moving Camera that moves at a constant speed.
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Player that moves by default at the same constant speed as the Camera.
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Invisible barriers within the boundaries of the Camera view.
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The Ability to Speed up or Slow down.
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The Ability to Jump.
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Simple horizontal test level with some harmless obstacles to test the responsiveness of the Player’s Semi-Confined Movement.
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Death sequence that could result from the Player being pushed by the Camera’s view boundaries against an obstacle.
Iterations 2
The second stage of the Prototype aims to test if the Semi-Confined Movement is enjoyable and suitable to maneuver smoothly and safely in a test level specifically designed around a few different types of traps, for that I need the following:
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A few Stationed Traps.
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A few Looping Traps.
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A few Triggered Traps.
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A short test level specifically designed around the aforementioned traps.
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Suitable and enjoyable Player controller that feels natural when trying to maneuver around the aforementioned traps.
Iterations 3
The third stage of the Prototype will focus on testing whether the Semi-Confined Movement is ideal for combat maneuver in a test level specifically designed around a few different enemy types each with their own unique behavior, for this I need the following:
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One Patrolling Enemy AI.
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One Wait & Ambush Enemy AI.
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One Chaser/Pursuer Enemy AI.
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One Stationed/Projectile Shooter Enemy AI.
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One Airborne Enemy AI.
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Ability to Attack in an overhead arc using a weapon that represents a Mace.
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A small sized semi-linear test level that contains a few small combat Arenas.
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Each Arena will pose a specific challenge depending on the Enemy behavior to test the Semi-Confined Movement combat capabilities.
Iterations 3 Revised
The third stage of the Prototype needs revision, the scope of Enemy AI was bigger and more complex than anticipated. A Power-Up system is also needed to give the Player a fighting chance when exploring the maneuverability of the Semi-Confined Movement and it's combat capabilities, for this I need the following:
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One Patrolling Enemy AI.
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One Airborne Enemy AI.
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One Stationed/Projectile Shooter Enemy AI.
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Ability to Attack in an overhead arc using a weapon that represents a Mace.
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A Power-Up that will give an extra one hit point and a temporary weapon upgrade which can be lost upon taking damage.
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A Power-Up that doubles the number of hit points gained.
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A Container that once destroyed releases a random Power-Up.
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A semi-linear test level that contains a few small combat Arenas.
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Each Arena will pose a specific challenge depending on the Enemy behavior to test the Semi-Confined Movement combat capabilities.
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Between each Arena a Power-Up Container is placed as a reward for completing a challenge and as a way to test the Power-Up system.