Secret Keep: Almost finished! (*except for the majority of the game)

New DEV DIARY video about the status on Secret Keep!  

Still cranking away!  Still as slow as ever!  But... progress is being made, friendos!

• I've built a solid foundation for the visuals of the world now, having improved the ambient lighting, the terrain shaping and texturing, and the reflection probe system.
• I've brought all the NPC types up to the same level of interactivity and ragdolls.
• I've made an NPC Attachment System, where I can put weapons (and other objects) onto characters, in their hands, or other places.  These can get dropped when they are killed.
• Testing and preparing for SteamDeck compatibility.
• Doing more Blender Modeling, figuring out how to tackle modular architecture, and thickness of walls, etc.
• Animals align with the slopes of the terrain they're moving over.

  

The rest of the game should just fall into place, probably within a matter of days, if not hours.  Easy!  It'll basically finish itself.  No problem!

Secret Keep: Technology is done, Prototype is done, now ready for Pre-Production!

I've been working on Secret Keep for a long time now, and I've now got all the major technical systems in place!

I've just put in a funding application with the aim to get funding for Pre-Production, allowing me to bring on a few artists and a narrative designer, to start working together on the the overall story, who our protagonist is, the intriguing and inspiring environments we will travel to, and the creatures and peoples we will meet along the way!

Here's a video showing where the prototype is at, and also discussing some of the new design elements I've been tackling, specifically looking into location maps and modular structures.

I'm really excited to be at this stage now.  Creating all the tech for the game took a lot of work, and forced me to learn a heap of new technologies and ways of thinking.  It feels great to now be at the point of bringing together a team to create the game itself.

SECRET KEEP - Concept Art Generation with MidjourneyAI (Pt 2)

 I generated some more concept art using MidJourney.  Fun!

SECRET KEEP - Concept Art Generation with MidjourneyAI (Pt 1)

I generated a bunch of concept art using Midjourney.  I had a surprisingly productive experience just using the 25 free "attempts" you get with the free intro trial.

Midjourney is an AI tool where you describe images with text input.  I planned these out pretty carefully ahead of time, to cover the sorts of things I wanted to achieve, and also basing my inputs on a bit of research looking through the existing efforts of other users.

It was a surprisingly exciting and fun process!  It really felt like working with some kooky collaborator, and came back with great images very consistently based on my input descriptions.

Without further ado, here are my concept art images generated with Midjourney!

Visit mysterious islands across a strange archipelago of crooked towers and unusual beasts.

Step through the standing stones in the mist.

The Scorch scour the land, searching for something forgotten to time.

Dive underwater to explore and find lost relics.

If you are lucky, you may find one of the ancient trinket shops, to buy and sell precious wares.

Disguise yourself and go among The Robed unseen and unheard.

Sail the lands to pursue your destiny, choosing who to help, and what paths to forge.

I was kind of shocked how well it worked, and I'd love to keep doing it for hours and hours more...  but I limited myself to the free trial for now.  :D

In many ways, "jamming out" these concepts in collaboration with an AI program felt true to the spirit of my game itself, because Secret Keep is a generator as well (in many of it's parts), and I want to engage the player as an active participant in shaping the events and outcomes of their playthru. 

I want Secret Keep to reflect something of the player's inputs back at them, generating surprising missions, unique to their playthrough, based on how they act in the game and the goals they choose to pursue.

SECRET KEEP - Dev Video 11 - "Crossbow Guards - Voices & Bolts"

Did some work on the Crossbow Guards:

• Got their crossbow bolts behaving quite well.
• Got their voices low-pass-filtered if they are on a different floor of the tower.

SECRET KEEP - Dev Video 10 - "Towers: Entryways, Basic Rooms, Crossbow Guards"

Made some more good progress with the towers.

- Can build any sized tower.

- Land around that tower is automatically flattened and reserved, so that no trees, grass or other objects get placed there.

- Discuss thoughts on future tower generation & mission activities!

SECRET KEEP - Dev Video 6, 7, 8, 9 - Building Towers & Flattening Land

Catching up on the past few weeks!
It's been the lead up to Christmas and New Years, and now both are done!
But I was also very pleased to get a bunch of things done on the project.

• Taking stock of the project, before embarking on a stint of development coming up!
• Tweaked the player controller. Integrating a more grounded player with blackjack, sword, torch, etc. Swimming.
• Thinking about plans for building towers, flattening the land, etc.

• Basic terrain flattening code working!
• Thinking through all the steps that need to be done to get this working "automatically" for each tower built.

• Got automatic building of  towers and flatting the land working.
• I can now build towers of rectangular proportions, and it automatically flattens the terrain, with padding and falloff.
• Not yet reserving the land for the building, so currently still getting grasses, trees and other objects being spawned inside the buildings.

• Tweaking the tower generation system. Smoother code. Updated Blender kit pieces.
• Talking about my ideas for a Reserved Land system.
• Talking about ideas for a tower generation system that's more formalised and contextually aware.
• Was still working with 8m x 8m x 3m kit pieces here. Thinking about 10m x 10m x 4m room size instead.

SECRET KEEP - Dev Video 5 - Menus, Save Format, "Find the Flag" Mission Stub!

It's a real joy to be getting back into proper development of SECRET KEEP.

I had to take time away to learn more programming (making MUZTEK Base Game systems), to figure out how to fully Pause and Unpause the game properly, and how to do Save & Load of game state.

Now I'm back, and I've integrated these concepts into SECRET KEEP in a basic way, with a Menu System in place, a basic Save & Load system working, and a basic Mission Generation loop in place from the menu, into the game, and back out again.

Here I show the basic menu, save, load, mission generation loop in action...

 

It's great to now have this in place, as I can start to actually work on game systems, mission types, NPCs, player abilities, etc, all working within this foundational framework I have in place.

Here's a bunch of screenshots I also took at this point in time!

SECRET KEEP - Dev Video 4 - Mission Structure Ideas

I've pulled away from the hand-crafted idea of Secret Keep, and I'm leaning back into the procedural generation systems I've been working on.

Here I discuss the broad concepts behind how missions will be generated...

 

Here's a series of screenshots I took at this stage...

Alex Duran: Object Systems: Features, Trade Offs & Pitfalls

In 2016, I posted up some slides from a Doug Church talk about Object Systems (with examples from Thief) from around 2003 or so.

I've now found another great talk called "Building Object Systems: Features, Trade Offs & Pitfalls" by Alex Duran from GDC 2003.  Alex worked at Looking Glass on Thief 2, and later at Ion Storm on Thief 3 and Deus Ex 2.

The talk focuses on his experience writing the Object System for Thief 3 and Deus Ex 2, which is largely based on the earlier Thief Object System, work done by Marc LeBlanc and Doug Church, etc.

For the ease of following and understanding this talk, I have assembled a video that combines the audio and the slides together in one place.  Enjoy!

Notes:

The original AUDIO can be found here on the GDC Vault.

The SLIDES that accompany the talk can be found here.

It was hard to find the slides, so I've presented them together here in a cleaned up format, for people to enjoy!

SECRET KEEP - Dev Diary 2 - Level Design - Landscape Blockout Timelapse

I have blocked out a terrain & built the castle walls surrounded by a moat.

This will be my prototype / test space for building the game.

Although, as game dev often goes, it may just turn into the final game!

Who knows?!

SECRET KEEP - Dev Video 1 - Project Goals & Inspiration

Secret Keep begins!

 

Here I will take you through the journey of making the game.

Over the journey of this Dev Diary series, we'll be looking at making up the game design, the art & music, programming the AI, creating the characters, etc.

Let's get started! :D

SECRET KEEP - An immersive story of intrigue and choices

Announcement!

Work has begun on my new game... 

SECRET KEEP

Secret Keep is an immersive interactive experience inspired by the immersive, simulation-rich world of Thief: The Dark Project, combined with the living story line of games like King's Quest 3: To Heir is Human.

Awaken...  It is another morning at the castle.

The people stir and the sounds of a keep begin to clatter and rumble.

You wake, and go about your chores.

The wedding banquet approaches, three days hence!

And you must play your part...

Play out your public role as a servant among the castle folk.

But also... your secret part, as a spy, an agent, within the walls, watching, eavesdropping, manipulating events to alter the outcome, and ultimately changing the course of the story.

How will your story unfold?

Stay tuned for more news as it comes to hand!

To follow along with the development and get the latest news, I have set up a website for the game Secret Keep here...

https://www.secretkeep.net/

Broken Signal - An Action Immersive Sim (Prototype & Funding Application)

I got my game prototype "Broken Signal" to a pretty good stage, and applied for funding around the October 2018 Film Vic funding round.

But I found out a few months later that I didn't get chosen for that round.

Here is the game video I put together for my prototype submission.

I was hoping to get Pre-Production funding, to develop the concept, world design and concept art, and a core set of gameplay features developed.



I was happy with where I got the game to, but I don't think I would want to try to develop it further without being able to pay the people who I wanted to start contributing to the concept art and world design.

So I've put it on hold for now, but the elements of this game are definitely going to move forwards to one degree or another into my future projects.

And I may very well come back to this specific game concept to finish it off at some point!  :)

ROMERO - Dev Video #10 - Post Processing V2, Explosions, Stealth

OK!  I've upgraded the project to Unity 2018.2, and gone through and cleaned up the code base, and upgraded things that were either deprecated or dodgy.



Post Processing V2
I've deleted all the Image Effects of old and moved to Post Processing V2, and it's great!

You can set up a Post Processing Volume, which can be applied to the gameplay camera globally, then have another global volume for "Slow Mo" effect, which can be "weighted in" as needed, using a lerp.  Quite easy once you get your head around how it's all designed to work.

I went a bit crazy with the effects...  just a bit.  Added lots of bloom, grain, vignette, and dirt on the lens.  Shall tone that back in due course.  ;)

Explosions
Reworked my explosions so they are triggers instead of colliders.  (It was super stoopid before).  Now enemies get hurt if they touch an explosion trigger, and take damage based on how far they are from it, and also a killing explosion will add force to the player based on direction and distance.  (Feeling like I'm getting better at working with Vector3 math these days!).

Stealth
Upped the stealth values so they come into play properly again these days.  Player can now hide in the shadows, but once they trigger an enemy's attention, their alertness values go higher, and they will now spot you in shadows, and you'll have to run away and hide for a bit to lower their alertness levels back down again.


THE FUTURE

Cleaning up!
So, I'm feeling pretty good about having cleaned up the project, ready to start on some new features.  There's still some things to clean up, like...

• Making the enemy pathfind smoothly even if you are currently out of reach - they are a bit jerky at the moment, sorta stuck between two states.
• Making the drone fly around with drone sounds, and tilting into movement, and rotating smoothly at all times - generally making them look and feel more physically believable.
• Turning the effects down to a reasonable level!  :D

What's next?

Looking further into the future, my design goal are to...

• Play around with another 3 or 4 systems / tools / mechanics - get a core set of things into the sandbox that feel fun, and work together nicely, and create something a bit more unique.
• Then build a single level that really puts all those elements to the test, together, in context.  Give the player an objective, and have it balanced to be a challenge to use all your wits and abilities to reach that goal.

ROMERO - Dev Video #9 - Putting it all together

A quick video showing some highlights from putting everything together in the level.

I added some collections of glowy screens / window-lights.




So there's the baddy cyborg froods, the slow-mo ability, and the drones flying around, along with keys and doors.

It's all a bit clunky currently, and I need to go through and clean up / smooth out the keys and doors, the way explosions look and feel, and how explosions react with enemies.

Gotta get drones flying around a bit better, with sounds and tilting.

Lots of tweaking and cleaning up to do!

ROMERO - Dev Video #7 & #8 - Drone AI

I've started working on a new AI type... a DRONE!

It's inspired a bit by the "manhacks" from HL2, at least in terms of getting it moving.
It may be a meany, or it may be friendly. Maybe some of each.


In the first video, I've just got it doing basic hovering movement.

I'm looking to do AI in a fashion that lets them navigate spaces dynamically, as I'm considering procedurally generated levels.

I'd also like my humanoid enemies to be able to jump, climb, etc, so I don't really want to just be tied to a NavMesh.


The second video steps through some more stages of progress with the Drone.



I got it moving to a position in space, which I'd move around by hand, just to get that working and visible. Then I got it moving to random points around itself.

Then I made it so that if it sights the player it moves to random points around the player, as if tracking/following them. Next up... I want to start adding "vibe" to it, though tilting into movements, and having cool sounds that match it's motions. It needs to be smoothed out and made more fluid, and also to only move to points that are comfortably far from the ground and walls.

20 Design Mantras for Arkane's "Prey" (2017)

I recently discovered a great video from Game Informer where they visited Arkane studios, before Prey (2017) came out, and spoke to Ricardo Bare and Raphael Colantonio, and they explain these fantastic "20 design mantras" that they had printed up on the office walls.  

They relate specifically to games that are often called Immersive Sims, a genre that I'm very much into!

I had heard Harvey Smith talk about these mantras with Steve Gaynor on the awesome podcast Tone Control - Episode 19 (specifically around 1:05:10), about the development of Dishonored as well, and I was dying to see them.  So I was delighted to find this video which showed the ones from Prey, which I think probably overlap a lot with the Dishonored ones.

These are game design philosophies that I really want to include in my own work, so I wanted to write them up for easy reference here.  :)  I love the Looking Glass Studios approach to game design, especially the Thief games, and Arkane have been one of the strongest proponents of that style of game design.

So, without further ado... I've written up the 20 mantras below for easy reference.  You can see the images themselves underneath.

======================================
20 Design Mantras for Immersive Sims

Multiple Paths
Sand box spaces with open ended circulation, multiple entry points, verticality, crawl space.

Well Integrated Puzzles
Plausible problems to solve, not gimmicky key-lock puzzles with only one solution.

Say yes to the player
If it occurs to players, and sounds like fun, let them do it.

Ecology
AI's interact with each other and the world in interesting ways that can be exploited by the player.

Dynamic Hazards
Environmental changes force players and enemies to adapt: Solar flares, depressurization, zero-g, creature populations.

Simulated World
The game world and entities exist independently of the player and behave according to consistent rules.

Space Dungeon
The player must survive in a hostile enclosed world.

Dramatic Setups
Mission settings, plot turns, characters and outcomes should feel highly dramatic.

Intentionality
Provide information about the situation and allow the player to formulate a plan.

Grounded Sci-fi
Near future environment should feel convincing and cohesive, a careful balance of the familiar with the marvellous.

Clarity
Clearly mark the world and allow the player to navigate.

Fuck Ladders
You'd just fall to your death anyway.

Improvisation
Players like to be clever.  Let them use game systems to experiment and form their own solutions.

Consequences
Player makes choices that have meaningful emotional or mechanical consequences.

Environmental Storytelling
Invite players to create stories through interpretation.

Object Density
The world feels crafted, rich with objects and interactivity, but not cluttered.

Break the Patterns
Players like to be surprised.  Avoid repetition in encounters and setups.

Mood
All elements should serve a signature emotional tone.

Reuse of Space
Let the player return to areas that evolve over time, building investment in the setting.

Specialisation
No character should be good at everything.

======================================

Here are the original mantra posters, with text captions as well.



Multiple Paths
Sand box spaces with open ended circulation, multiple entry points, verticality, crawl space.



Well Integrated puzzles
Plausible problems to solve, not gimmicky key-lock puzzles with only one solution.



Say yes to the player
If it occurs to players, and sounds like fun, let them do it.



Ecology
AI's interact with each other and the world in interesting ways that can be exploited by the player.



Dynamic Hazards
Environmental changes force players and enemies to adapt: Solar flares, depressurization, zero-g, creature populations.



Simulated World
The game world and entities exist independently of the player and behave according to consistent rules.



Space Dungeon
The player must survive in a hostile enclosed world.



Dramatic Setups
Mission settings, plot turns, characters and outcomes should feel highly dramatic.



Intentionality
Provide information about the situation and allow the player to formulate a plan.



Grounded Sci-fi
Near future environment should feel convincing and cohesive, a careful balance of the familiar with the marvellous.



Clarity
Clearly mark the world and allow the player to navigate.



Fuck Ladders
You'd just fall to your death anyway.



Improvisation
Players like to be clever.  Let them use game systems to experiment and form their own solutions.



Consequences
Player makes choices that have meaningful emotional or mechanical consequences.



Environmental Storytelling
Invite players to create stories through interpretation.



Object Density
The world feels crafted, rich with objects and interactivity, but not cluttered.



Break the Patterns
Players like to be surprised.  Avoid repetition in encounters and setups.



Mood
All elements should serve a signature emotional tone.



Reuse of Space
Let the player return to areas that evolve over time, building investment in the setting.



Specialisation
No character should be good at everything.

======================================

ROMERO - Dev Video #5 - Slow Mo / Bullet Time (the basics)

Put in a basic Bullet Time / Slow Mo system! Currently just toggled on & off with a button press.

But gonna link it up to a power source, so it is limited.

Doug Church: Object Systems, Immersive Sims

Here's a presentation by Doug Church (Looking Glass, Valve) from about 2003, about designing Object Systems for games.  

I've reformatted it a bit to make it easier to read, and included it here because I love the Thief games, and thought others might be interested in it too.

It is written (I assume) with an eye towards immersive sims, and other games where you want rich interactions and emergent gameplay possibilities.

Here's the Google Slides, and here's a PDF.

I wish I had an audio recording of the presentation, but I don't think any such thing exists.

Enjoy!


PS: Here's a little preview of a few of the slides from the presentation...