HW 7 Game Mechanics

1. Is the space in your game discrete or continuous?
   The team game is continuous. Player movement is confined to an island that contains obstacles, but the player moves around freely within those confines in order to accomplish the ultimate goal of reaching the escape point.  However, there will be nested spaces, for entering buildings.
2. How many dimensions does your space have?
   This space is three dimensional, with the player being able to move his or her character in all non-obstructed directions.  The character will be walking around the island, but will also be climbing up or jumping over objects.
3. What are the boundaries of your space?
   The boundary of this space is set by the edges of the island.  All game play will take place within the confines of the island and its harbor.
4. How many verbs do your players (characters) have? What are they?
   Players have approximately 9 verbs.  These verbs include walk, run, jump, climb, pick-up, hit, light (on fire), shoot, and drive.
5. How many objects can each verb act on? What are these objects?
   Walk, run and jump are specific to the character, and the character may do this on the ground, on an object, or off of an object and onto another object below.  Players can climb onto tables, chairs, benches, stairs, windowsills, cars, and roofs; and pick up usable items, such as guns, torches, flash lights, sticks, and water bottles.  Players can hit other characters, doors, and windows; light sticks and torches on fire; shoot bullets at other characters, windows, and locks; and drive boats and cars.  
6. How many ways can players achieve their goals.
   The ultimate goal is to escape the island by finding the location with a usable boat.  Players can find multiple paths to get to the final destination, including backtracking to find usable items.
7. How many subjects do the players control? What are these subjects?
   My team has discussed three; having a pet or animal side-kick that can be used for self-defence and fetching, a boat that is used to escape the island's harbor, and possibly a car to drive.  
8. How do side effects change constraints.
   In this game, the player has to decide when to pick up found objects and when to befriend or fight off an animal.  The side effects of these actions build or remove constraints later in the game, mostly in terms of self-defence.  With a gun or animal companion, the player is more likely to avoid or survive an attack, and so will not need to find a way to get out of the attack occurring in the first place, possibly leading to a shorter route to the main objective of finding the escape boat.
9. What are the operative actions in your game?
   Players can walk, run, jump, climb, pick-up, light (on fire), hit, shoot, and steer a wheel. The player might also be given the ability to swim.
10. What are the resultant actions in your game?
    Players can move around in the scene, gather items for future use, break through doors and windows, fight off opponents, gain light in the darkness, and drive boats and cars to change location. If the player is given the ability to swim, it will be used to move locations and to collect items in the water or located across the water.
11. What actions would you like your players to do that they cannot presently do? (based on your current knowledge of Blender)
    I would like for players to be able to build their own map of the island with notations of where they left objects, where they came across opponents, and additional notes to themselves about those objects and opponents.
12. What is the ultimate goal of your game?
    Escape the island with the item that the character originally went there to retrieve.  That item has not been determined, yet.
13. Are there short and long term goals? What are they?
    The long term goal is to escape the island with the required item.  Short term goals include finding that required item and surviving each night. 
14. How do you plan to make the game goals known and understood by the player?
    The purpose of the game will be introduced as part of an intro-video, which can be skipped past, showing the arrival to the island, a discussion of item that needs to be retrieved, discussion of the risks involved in retrieving that item, and the loss of the arrival boat.
15. What are the foundational rules of your game?
    The game ends when either energy or life percentage reaches zero. There is no play area to explore outside the confines of the island and its harbor.
16. How are these rules enforced?
    Game play does not continue once energy or life gone.  The player cannot climb over the walls of the island, and cannot swim or drive a boat past the pre-defined edges of the harbor.  
17. Does your game develop real skills? What are they?
    The main skills developed or used are resource management, planning, problem solving and memorization.  The player will be provided with the opportunity to collect a limited number of resources to assist in navigating the island maze and fighting off opponents, requiring a combination of all four skills.
18. Does your game develop virtual skills? What are they?
    The game develops movement skills in making the character jump over or drive around obstacles without becoming entangled or blocked by them, fighting skills in fighting off opponents, and escape skills in figuring out ways into and out of buildings and outdoor obstacles.
    
    For my team work this week I downloaded several buildings that matched the appearance of Hashima Island.