week 2

I added a small dashing mechanic for the player. If the player presses a movement key twice within a small time frame they will move at a faster rate for about half a second. This can be uses to allow for a more dynamic fighting range as players are able to dodge enemies. Wall jumping is still a work in progress.

Team Schedule as of 9/24

What follows is a rough idea of our goals over the course of the following weeks.

Sept 22 - Set up the game basics.
Get the player character working properly (attacking and movement), implement and display deck of cards (even if they are not used just yet). Have at least one enemy type set up roughly (not necessarily with fully implemented AI.) Start implementing mechanics ASAP. Visuals will likely be rough at this point. Fix bugs.

Sept 29 - Fully implement core mechanics.
Get the player's deck of cards working properly with the player's attacks and deal damage accordingly. Implement basic AI for enemies. Make sure suit damage is dealt properly. Improve upon visuals. Implement sounds and music. If there is time, polish up the smoothness of the game before the testing. Fix bugs.

Oct 6 - Playtesting and improving on the game model.
After issuing playtests, improve upon the feel of the game and fix bugs that will inevitably occur. These fixes will include adjusting the game pacing. Fix bugs.

Oct 13 - Add new enemy type, add variety based on card hands.
Mainly some coding and animation work here. Make see the game "feels" right. Make sure there are 30 seconds of awesome. Fix bugs.

Oct 20 - Week of the alpha presentation.
Present and get feedback. Ensure 30 seconds of awesome. Polish the feel and polish art and sound. Fix bugs.

Oct 27 - Continue polish.
Fix bugs.
Nov 3 - Present the game.
In the following weeks polish up everything after playtesting etc. Fix bugs.

Week 1 Jonathan Kriston

So far, I've been spending time in Unity, learning how the engine works, and watching the tutorials. I've also helped with ideas on how to make the game work, talking about the mechanics of the game, such as how the player controls while jumping, and how they control while running.

week 1 progress

So far I have only dabbled a little bit in Unity. As one of the teams programmers I spent some time going over tutorials to help with my understanding of how the code works with Unity. I've spent time thinking of ways for the ideas we have thought of to be implemented into the game.  Our group has met up several times already and we've done a lot of brainstorming on what we think we can accomplish in class and have narrowed it down to something we all believe will be fun to work on.

Week One Progress Report

This past week my personal responsibilities have been preparing a schedule and doing some basic sound design work, in addition to some preliminary game structure work (e.g. physics and control settings).
A few design topics have been re-addressed, mainly the pros and cons of orthographic and perspective display systems respectively. While we originally were planning for a 2.5 perspective camera based game, it has become apparent that working in a 2D orthographic environment could improve the feasibility in getting a completely functioning game done in time.
On a lighter note, the implementation of previously mentioned physics and control systems went much more smoothly than expected, thanks to the simplicity of Unity.

Past Week Progress. Taylor Harrington

The past week has mainly been our team meeting and discussing the game as a whole while deciding who is in charge of what.  After settling on roles and responsibilities, I've started working on concept art and level design for Joker Tale.  I've also met with the team several times to talk about our progress and as a team, we re-evaluated our pitch to ensure we have the best plan when it comes to the size and scope of the game.  

Joker Tale:2.5 Sidescroller with Poker Combat

Alternate Title Ideas:

Shuffle Story

Dealer's Hand

Genres:
2.5D Action-Platformer/Card Game

Similar Games:
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
More like Poker + Castlevania Series (albeit perhaps a tad bit faster paced) 
or Poker + Mega Man

Narrative Summary:
All was well in the land of Deck. The Council of Twelve faces had ruled justly and fairly over the land for as long as anyone could remember, but then the Dealer came to Deck and caused the calamity bringing chaos and disorder to all. This disaster soon came to be called the Great Shuffle. The Dealer then used his infernal powers to control all of Deck to act upon his every whim. But there was one who was immune to his powers.
The one called “Joker” had always been a bit different from the other inhabitants of Deck. He never quite fit in with the clans, and though he was welcomed just the same, he never really had a place to call home. It was this difference the protected Joker during the Great Shuffle, and it is this difference wherein lies Joker’s latent potential.

Unique Hook:
The thing that makes this game unique is the Poker-based combat system. On the surface the game's combat functions in a similar way to other games such as the Castlevania series. In addition, however, is a standard deck of 52 cards of four suits.
The player has access to a hand of 5 cards dealt from the deck. Every time the player attacks, a selected card is sent to a discard pile. Attacks can be linked into a combo of up to 5 cards, after which the hand is refilled back to 5 cards from the deck.
The damage done by an attack is dependent on the card expended. For instance, using a Queen for an attack does more damage than using a 4, but using an Ace does even more damage.
In addition, the type of damage done by an attack is dependent upon the suit of the card used. This comes into play as enemies are allied with one of the four suits. An attack of the same suit does no damage, while an attack of a different suit but the same color does half damage. An attack of the opposite color than the suit of the enemy does full damage.
Special attacks called Hands can be used which use different combinations of cards equivalent to standard poker hands. The effect and damage done varies from hand to hand. When the player's deck runs out, the player is immobilized for a short time and is vulnerable to enemy attack while the deck refills and shuffles.
Another concept possible for inclusion is the pick-up of Joker cards, similar to a collectible or a power-up in any other platformer. The difference is that a Joker card, once picked up, automatically reloads the entire deck and places itself randomly into the deck. When a Joker card is used it acts as a wild card.

Target Demographic:
The target demographic for this game is a mainstream audience of players of all ages who like action-platformers as well as some who also like strategy games.