Jay Hriscu
More info about me
Group Project Page
Team
Hi my name is Jay Hriscu, I am part of The Nameless Pebbles and we aim to give the best psychological horror experience with our Collaborative Group project named Monochrome, I am the Lead Programmer & Level Designer throughout this project.
Check out my Technical Journal
To read more about the technical stuff of Monochrome you can check out my Technical Journal
Lead Programmer
About the role
As the lead programmer I have multiple tasks to complete to ensure that the development of the game goes well.
Tools
Firstly, I check out what tools/plugins ought to be used for the project in relation to the game engine. Team mates can propose plugins to use in the project but then I as the programmer check if it will fit well and will be useful for the project.
Architecture
I am designing the architecture of the code for the different systems to be implemented. In terms of architecture also includes folder structure and naming conventions.
Level Designer
About the role
As level designer my task is to guide the player throughout the game and ensuring that it will be enjoyable by controlling a number of variables that will affect him through the game.
Design
Since the game takes place in an old theatre cinema I will have to follow architectural design of these buildings while changing it up to be a fun playground to discover. The hardest challenge is to design the theatre in a way that seems believable but also enjoyable to go through.
Inspiration from existing video games
When it came to level design and camera mechanics the main inspirations were Resident Evil and Silent Hill.
These two games share similar camera systems and player movement (tank controls). That were the main point in which the base mechanic for the game was to be build on.
Both of these games level design were made with the cameras in mind to give a better experience to the player.
Resident Evil 1 Game Cube Remake:
Silent Hill 2:
Technical Challenges
The biggest technical challenges will be to have all the systems work in the game engine and not to program around them when new mechanics have to be added. As this might cause a big time loss in re coding everything so something new can fit in.
In terms of level design will be scaling and having all the static camera work in the designed scenarios. A lot of iteration will come with the level design aspect.
A new problem came up and that is in design for communication between the video game and the player. We have come to see through feedback that players don't understand which button means what and what they can and cannot interact with. For that I come up with a solution that is being used in Triple A games such as showing which button to press on an object and highlighting the object that is selectable. Also a solution that came up is that we can send the player tutorial messages through the message app that he has on his phone.
Research / support material
In terms of material a lot of information and visuals will come through videos found on YouTube such as this one.
Exploring an Abandoned Theatre: Rare 1890s Architecture
For the camera system I based myself of these two videos that helped a lot to build the system. The way I approached these tutorials is that I implemented what was done in them and then adapted the script to what I needed.
Relevance of specialism in relation to the game concept
In terms to the game concept a lot is coming from experience by playing video games in the same genre such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Taking inspiration from what they have done and trying to refine them in the game we are making.
The Middle and The End in Games Development
The Middle
This is the second hardest part of games development. A lot had to be cut off during development and sometimes it's hard to anticipate the end incoming of a project. As there is the feeling of advancing I always feel like there are new tasks to do, new improvements to be done and some rethinking again. But those of to be taken with strict team decision as any mistake could make the project take longer leading to it being unfinished. But so far I feel like it's being going very well and we know where we are going but of course there is still the feeling of the project being dragged not as fast as we could.
Preparing for the End
Even if the submission date feels far away it isn't and I am slowly but surely anticipating the end of the project and how to organize myself and the team for it. As the important part is to avoid crunching the last day which is currently not happening. But the scary part is that in the closing end there are always unexpected problems coming up which will block us from finishing the game and give us more stress. But having gone through 3 years of game development group projects, I feel confident on managing the stress of the team and keeping moral up to the very end!