In the preproduction stage, Programmers aren't really needed in the brainstorm "what if this would be in the game" stage, but Programmers are important in seeing if that idea can work in the game. Programmers are the glue to put all the pieces together in a (hopefully) functioning package, the artists, modulars, and producers rely on the programmer to make the finished product of the game. That's a lot of pressure, which is why it's a good idea to start practicing, if you don't have other things you need to do at the exact same time tomorrow. I haven't really gotten started on the scripting as of late since I'm slipping hard in classes so i have to be on top of anything and everything that comes in, which is a headache and not just because I'm staring at my screen for 8 hours a day. But enough about that, the programmers whole job is to actual make the game the players will play. For me, I am working in Unity so I am using c# script to build my games, so correct grammar and spelling are key. As of now I am working on a whitebox prototype, a prototype where you use primitive shapes to act as game pieces in order to write and get code working for you game. First what I have to do is make sure the player can move around since this is a 3D space, I will do that by create a simple player move script. Then I need to make sure the player can pick up certain items with a press of a button, hide in lockers with a press of a button, and the difficult part of programming the monsters AI. Enemy AI on any level is hard to do first time around, you have to make it so the enemy reacts to the players movement while they chase them and have it so the monster doesn't attack players that are hiding in lockers. It will be hard to pull off especially since I'm still a novice but it can be done, it's my job as programmer to make it all work
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In my group we are making a game called Strange Occurrences: A Journey, an adventure horror game that has you spending the first part of the game exploring the layout and collecting and the other spent being stalked by a monster and rescuing students from a dimension in the school. The school, Strangeview, is one with a record of students going missing and no one seems to bring up. The introverted and bullied are the only ones to truly notice and end up disappearing themselves. The player character is introverted so of course they find the dimension, the monster, and save the missing students. That is the rough overview of our story so far, pretty solid in my opinion, though the plan didn't start off that way. Originally the group had two different game ideas, one side wanted to do a point and click survivor horror and our producer wanted to make a game set in a high school focused on growing up and the challenges you face. Now you might be thinking "What was the big deal?" well, the big deal was one side already had a foundational elevator pitch for a game that we needed the producer to be on board for, but they didn't like the idea of a monster being a central element because it felt generic, and the Producer wanted us to work on a game that we didn't really understand the core theme. The producer is the leader of the group, producers make the plan, the deadlines, who does what and when, so the producer needs to like a game idea enough to run it. I ended up being the middleman, talking to our 2D artist and producer looking for some kind of compromise. Our 2D Artist wanted to do the point and click horror with a central monster because it's quite a simple concept and the producer wanted to make a game centered around characters with a little more complexity and it features... monsters. Yeah the two ideas shared a template of "oh no there's a monster in the high school" but the ideas were different in a thematic focus, one side wanted monster first characters second, other side wanted the reverse. This went on for a good week, until we worked on a compromise, our Producer finalized his idea to the point where everyone got the premise, the game would focus on characters with a monster as an antagonist, Oh and our 3D Artist was not apart of this at all, they were down for whatever. Now we just need to work on concept art, an overall map design, and a working whitebox prototype (that's my job). First real introduction with working in a group making a video game and i'll be honest, I didn't think it would be a smooth start, I expected a bumpy start. Everyone has different visions of a game and sometimes it's hard to truly communicate that, but it is a great skill to learn since you need your team to know what direction this idea will go. Communication is extremely important and getting that nailed down is important in any team.
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The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and Do Not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public Schools.
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