TACWiki - User contributions [en]

Milestones

2009-01-19T08:52:52Z

Orosz:

Sprint 1:
* Implement basic structure of Dungeon game.
[x]Loading XML data
[x]converting XML data to load level
[x]Basic update structure
[x]Data structures of the levels
[x]Input
[x]Game Flow
[x]Collision
[X]Implement Menus
[]Difficulty
[x]Game play programming

Sprint 2:
* Implement more complex Dungeon game functions
[x]Traps/Enemies
[X]Stealth bar
[x]Player abilities
[x]AI Logic
[X]placeholder UI

Sprint 3:
* Implement Hacking Phase, aka Embedded Figures test
[x]Create hackable objects
[x]Placeholder graphics for hacking phase
[X]Logging
[x]integrate into level

Sprint 4:
* Implement Sally Anne
[X]Implement first theory of mind question
[X]implement 2nd theory of mind question
[x]Tie into level progression
[X]Logging

Sprint 5:
* Implement Rewards
[]Implement a system for rewarding the player
[]calculate total rewards based of performance in mini game
[]tie to colony simulator
* Tutorial
[]yep
* Implement easy access trial modifiers to mini game menu

Sprint 6:
* Implement Map Editor
[X]Read/Write/edit XML data containing tileset information for world/level/room

Sprint 7:
* Implement Player Profiles
[X]Keep track of missions played/progression made

Sprint 8:
* Create new levels and obstacles.

Star Jack

2008-10-07T23:58:19Z

Orosz: /* Allied ship sees static */

==Summary==

This minigame tests theory of mind and detection of embedded figures.

The mini-game's theory-of-mind component is an adaptation of the classic “Sally Anne” test of theory-of-mind. In the “Sally Anne” test one character, Sally, places a marble in a safe place, and then whilst Sally is out of the room another character, Anne, moves the marble to a new hiding place. The subject is asked “Where will Sally look for her marble?” or “Where does Sally think the marble is?” Many autistic children, like normal children under four years of age, answer this question erroneously in terms of what they themselves know about where Anne moved the marble, instead of what Sally knows. Those who correctly answer this first-order theory-of-mind question may still respond incorrectly to a second-order question: if, unbeknownst to Anne, Sally was peering through the keyhole and saw Anne move the marble, “Where does Anne think Sally will look for the marble?”

The player is infiltrating a subspace communications satellite. The player will have to navigate to and hack comm stations to steal Pirate communication messages.

==Premise==

You are a covert operative for the World Space Initiative. The Order of Orion is attacking merchants carrying WSI payloads, stealing their cargo, and stashing the goods on various planets or locations. Your mission is to infiltrate their communication satellites and discover the location of the stolen cargo.

==Objective==

Recover as many communication logs about stolen Cargo as possible and determine where the merchants and cargo are.

==Characters==

[[Image:ComingSoon.png]]

Player: An elite reconisaince operative trained in stealth and sabotage. These agents have access to a personal cloaking device, a molecular copier, hacking tools and many other items. They excel in non lethal force and avoid direct confrontation whenever possible.

Bobcat B-3 Interceptor: A small ship outfitted with the best cloaking and stealth technology available. This ship is used to get the operative to and from the satellite undetected.

Satellite Security: The satellite is garrisoned with security guards and security devices. These guards are tasked with keeping the satelite safe and un comprimized.

//These Characters will be shown in the cut scenes.
Merchants: Various merchants that ferry goods throughout the solar system. Those carrying WSI goods are targets of OoO raiders.

Raiders: Various OoO pirates target merchants under WSI contracts. Pirates can be found stealing from all across the galaxy and transporting any valuable cargo to different locations.

Cargo: The OoO is stealing WSI payloads and hiding them on planets to be picked up by other OoO operatives at a later date. Finding these are the objectives of the game. All cargo will have an Icon on them symbolizing the type of material inside.

Planets and Buildings: Pirates and merchants will move cargo from on plater to another, or one building to another.

==Gameplay==

The game is divided into 3 different phases:

Puzzle Phase
Players will explore floors of the satellite to find comm stations. They will have to avoid guards and move from room to room until they find that floors comm station. Players will have to use their abilities to deactivate traps and guards.

Hacking Phase
Players will have to complete a embedded figures test whenever they use their hacking tool.

Sally Anne Phase
Players will be shown an animation depicting the message the player has found. Players will then be asked the theory of mind questions. Game play will then transition back to the Puzzle Phase.

==Phases==

''Puzzle Phase''

Objective

The player will explore the different floors of the satellite. Before a player can move to the next floor the player must explore all the rooms of the floor and hack the communication panel. To do so players will have to avoid detection by utilizing their various stealth abilities.

The game will be turn based. The game state will not change until the player performs an action. This will allow players to take as much time as needed to plan out their moves. Guards and other interactive objects will not do anything until after the player has done an action. Players will always complete their action before the world takes it's turn.

When the player enters the facility, the security system is un aware of them. When a player is caught or fails an event, such as hacking a terminal, the security system will become more aware of them. This awareness is represented by a meter. Once them meter is filled the Security System is fully aware of the player and will send guards to capture the infiltrator. Once this occurs sirens will sound and the player will have to tele port to their ship and escape the station. The awareness level will effectively act as the players lives or attempts. After a period of turns of not being detected the players awareness level will start decreasing.

Actions

Move - The player will be able to move in 4 unique directions!
Wait - This action represent the player skipping a turn.
Cloak - This action will make the player invisible for a specific number of turns.
Hack - This action will start the Hacking Phase. If a player is un successful in hacking the object then they will be teleported back to the beginning of the level.
Set Trap - Players will be able to set traps for guards
Use - Players will be able to interact with their environment using this action.

Enemies

Guard - Guards will patrol the halls of the facility. A patrolling guard will be able to catch any player in their line of sight. Guards will have predictable paths that they follow. Guards can be avoided by using the cloak ability or deactivated by placing a trap. A deactivated guard will either disappear or fall to the floor. If guards do not dissappear then the player will have to move them to prevent other guards from finding the body.

Sentry Camera - A sentry camera will detect the player if they enter in to it's line of sight. Sentry camera's will not move, but will rotate in place. To disable a sentry camera you will need to find it's control panel and hack it. Each camera and control panel will have matching colors. Cloaking can be used to avoid the camera.

Espionage PDA

Every infiltrator has their own personal Espionage PDA. This PDA can communicate with your ship and provide you with useful information. This will be where the player can see their mission objectives, current mission progress, can view or retry any tutorial sections or end the game.

'''Hacking Phase'''

Encrypted comms are represented by shapes that flow from the left to the right of the screen, somewhat akin to ''the Matrix.'' The bottom of the game screen houses the screen of ''the Snifftron ST3,'' a device that hackers use to decrypt data.

In a manner very similar to the traditional Embedded Figures Test, the ST3 generates an abstract shape and displays it on its screen. As the data stream flows across the top of the game screen, random shapes pop out and appear in the center of the data stream. If this large shape contains the simpler shape displayed on the ST3, then the player should press spacebar before the trial expires. If this happens, the player successfully "filters" the data stream. The player can only fail this process (either by not pressing spacebar on a match or pressing spacebar on a non-match) 3 times before the connection is lost and the message is lost. Some objects will be more difficult to hack and will require more sucessful matches.

[[Image:ComingSoon.png]]

If the player filters the data successfully enough times, then the comm is decrypted. Diffrent results will occur depending on the item hacked. If a comm terminal is hacked,a small cutscene plays before returning to the navigation screen. If the player is unsuccessful, then they return to the navigation screen and their detection level will increase.

The large shapes are generated according the figure below. Generating smaller shapes that are embedded in the large shapes can easily be done by connecting the dots along edge connections.

[[Image:ComingSoon.png]]

==Sally Anne Phase==

Once a players successfully hacks the comm station they will be shown a brief series of animations depicting the message they stole. There will be many different messages, but each will follow the same principles. In animation #1, a friendly ship deposits a resource (e.g. fuel or materials) in a depot on one of several available planets. (Planets are readily distinguishable by their location on the star map and by their surface appearance.) In animation #2, an opponent ship appears and either steals the resource and deposits it on another planet (THEFT, 2/3 probability) or simply scans the resource (¬THEFT, 1/3 probability). Animation #3 is a picture of the friendly ship's control centre including its captain and its viewscreen, which shows either a sensor scan of the opponent's actions (SCAN, ½ probability) or noise representing sensor jamming (¬SCAN, ½ probability). Thus by the end of animation #3, one of three equiprobable situations exists: (1) the friend believes correctly that the resource is in its original location, and the opponent believes correctly that the friend will look for the resource in this location (¬THEFT); (2) the friend believes incorrectly that the resource is in its original location, and the opponent believes correctly that the friend will look for the resource in its original location (THEFT∧¬SCAN); (3) the friend believes correctly that the resource is in its new location, and the opponent believes incorrectly that the friend will look for the resource in its original location (THEFT∧SCAN). Animation #4 reminds the player that the friend will always set course to retrieve the resource, and that the opponent will always set course to intercept the friend. After this fourth animation, the player is prompted pictorially to lay in two intercept courses (by moving the mouse to the appropriate planet), one to rendez-vous with the friend and one to engage the opponent. In order to set these courses the player must infer where the friend thinks the resource is and where the opponent thinks the friend will look for the resource, respectively. Accuracy and response time in these tasks measure first-order and second-order theory-of-mind processing.

These animations will be still shots depicting the cut scene. Animations are planned for future releases.

===Sally Anne Video Specification===

====Artistic Considerations====
------------------------------------------------------------
3 different planets or more.
Multiple ethnicities
Textures for all major actors in the animations (ships, cargo, people) it would be usefull to have these incase we want to reuse them later.

====Technical Considerations====
-------------------------------------------------------------

XNA does not support movie playback. There are some work arounds but it will only display a picture. Currently the sally anne animations are implmented as a series of still frames, but they end up being to large for the scope we are lookign at.

One option is to use a Flash swf video. There is a content importer called fluix for XNA that can display Flash movies in XNA. This would allow us to harness the vector based graphics processing of Flash and it's action script language. C# will be able to read and write to variables in in the flash file, possibly changing the animation as needed. This will also allow the Flash file to send events to the C# code to be handled. Sadly the fluix dose not support sound for flsh files. However, we could work around it by having the flash movie send messages to C# letting it know when it needs to play a sound. Protocols for sending event would need to be determined for this.

One benefit of this would be that to change the sally anne animations all the animator would need to do would be to change the flash file and wouldn't have to touch and C# code. Also the swf file would drastically reduce the size needed of our videos, as we may be able to do the entire video in one file.

The other way to do this would be to have a video file playing and create a sound cue file that plays sound at specific time intervals. I'm not a big fan of this but it's a decent fall back.

====Scenes====
The sally anne phase video will be broken up into a couple different sections.
This is to accomodate for varying scenarios in the video.

The sections will be:

Cargo drop
Pirate scan
Pirate steals cargo
Pirate can't find cargo
Allied ship sees static
Allied ship sees pirate steal cargo

=====Cargo Drop=====
-------------------------------------------
This section will setup the following scenes for the player. It should give all the basic information thatthe player needs to make sense of the scenes that will follow. The scene should identify the cargo ship and it's crew as allies, and indicate a reason as to why they need to drop off their cargo. This reason could be that they need to lighten the laod to escape from the pirates following them. The explanation could be delivered via the ships captain, as this should make it obvious that it is humans and not a machine who are in control of the ships. The cargo ship will then drop it's cargo off at a visually distinct planet, and then leave the area.

=====Pirate Scan=====
-------------------------------------------
After the Cargo ship drops it's cargo, pirates ships will appear on the scene, possibly warping in. The pirate ships could be a group of ships with a distinct lead ship or a just singular ship, which ever looks and feels cooler. There will then be a view of the pirate ship bridge and the pirate captian will command to scan the planet for any signs of their prey. The view will change to a shot of the ship scanning over the surface of the planet.

=====Pirate Ship steals cargo=====
------------------------------------------
If the pirate ship locates cargo, the view will change to shop bridge of the pirate ship. The captain will be notified that they've found something and the image of the cargo will come on screen. The captain will say something along the lines of " Arrrr me mateys! We've found some booty" The view will then change to the pirate ship getting the cargo, possibly by tractor beam, and transporting it to a different planet, which needs to be visually distinct from the first planet.

=====Pirate Ship doesn't find cargo=====
-------------------------------------------
If the pirate ship fails to detect the cargo, the view will show the bridge and a crew member will inform the captain they haven't found any signs of the cargo ship, the viewport could show a ":(" or a "?". The captain will say somethign along the lines of " Well they must be further on". The pirates will then leave the area.

=====Allied Cargo ship watches the pirate steal=====
--------------------------------------------------
A shot of the bridge of the allied ship. Maybe some text indicating that they can't be seen by the pirates, or are out of their sensor range. A crew member will let the captain know they are intercepting a signal and will display the pirate ship moving the cargo to the other planet.

=====Allied ship sees static=====

A shot of the bridge of the allied ship. Maybe some text indicating that they can't be seen by the pirates, or are out of their sensor range. A crew member will let the captain know they are intercepting a signal and will display static. Someone will complain that the comm is encrypted and they can't make it out.

==Scoring==

Players will be given a score based on how many messages they steal and how many bonus items they find. This score will determine how much money they get. A players score will be reduced based on the number of times they were caught.
Players will also be given resources and trade goods for each correct Sally Anne response.
Players will be given a ranking of sorts, based on their score and responses, that will determine the number of tokens they receive.
Players will always receive at least one of the tokens.

==Development==

[[Milestones]]

Star Jack

2008-10-07T23:58:00Z

Orosz: /* Sally Anne Phase */

==Summary==

This minigame tests theory of mind and detection of embedded figures.

The mini-game's theory-of-mind component is an adaptation of the classic “Sally Anne” test of theory-of-mind. In the “Sally Anne” test one character, Sally, places a marble in a safe place, and then whilst Sally is out of the room another character, Anne, moves the marble to a new hiding place. The subject is asked “Where will Sally look for her marble?” or “Where does Sally think the marble is?” Many autistic children, like normal children under four years of age, answer this question erroneously in terms of what they themselves know about where Anne moved the marble, instead of what Sally knows. Those who correctly answer this first-order theory-of-mind question may still respond incorrectly to a second-order question: if, unbeknownst to Anne, Sally was peering through the keyhole and saw Anne move the marble, “Where does Anne think Sally will look for the marble?”

The player is infiltrating a subspace communications satellite. The player will have to navigate to and hack comm stations to steal Pirate communication messages.

==Premise==

You are a covert operative for the World Space Initiative. The Order of Orion is attacking merchants carrying WSI payloads, stealing their cargo, and stashing the goods on various planets or locations. Your mission is to infiltrate their communication satellites and discover the location of the stolen cargo.

==Objective==

Recover as many communication logs about stolen Cargo as possible and determine where the merchants and cargo are.

==Characters==

[[Image:ComingSoon.png]]

Player: An elite reconisaince operative trained in stealth and sabotage. These agents have access to a personal cloaking device, a molecular copier, hacking tools and many other items. They excel in non lethal force and avoid direct confrontation whenever possible.

Bobcat B-3 Interceptor: A small ship outfitted with the best cloaking and stealth technology available. This ship is used to get the operative to and from the satellite undetected.

Satellite Security: The satellite is garrisoned with security guards and security devices. These guards are tasked with keeping the satelite safe and un comprimized.

//These Characters will be shown in the cut scenes.
Merchants: Various merchants that ferry goods throughout the solar system. Those carrying WSI goods are targets of OoO raiders.

Raiders: Various OoO pirates target merchants under WSI contracts. Pirates can be found stealing from all across the galaxy and transporting any valuable cargo to different locations.

Cargo: The OoO is stealing WSI payloads and hiding them on planets to be picked up by other OoO operatives at a later date. Finding these are the objectives of the game. All cargo will have an Icon on them symbolizing the type of material inside.

Planets and Buildings: Pirates and merchants will move cargo from on plater to another, or one building to another.

==Gameplay==

The game is divided into 3 different phases:

Puzzle Phase
Players will explore floors of the satellite to find comm stations. They will have to avoid guards and move from room to room until they find that floors comm station. Players will have to use their abilities to deactivate traps and guards.

Hacking Phase
Players will have to complete a embedded figures test whenever they use their hacking tool.

Sally Anne Phase
Players will be shown an animation depicting the message the player has found. Players will then be asked the theory of mind questions. Game play will then transition back to the Puzzle Phase.

==Phases==

''Puzzle Phase''

Objective

The player will explore the different floors of the satellite. Before a player can move to the next floor the player must explore all the rooms of the floor and hack the communication panel. To do so players will have to avoid detection by utilizing their various stealth abilities.

The game will be turn based. The game state will not change until the player performs an action. This will allow players to take as much time as needed to plan out their moves. Guards and other interactive objects will not do anything until after the player has done an action. Players will always complete their action before the world takes it's turn.

When the player enters the facility, the security system is un aware of them. When a player is caught or fails an event, such as hacking a terminal, the security system will become more aware of them. This awareness is represented by a meter. Once them meter is filled the Security System is fully aware of the player and will send guards to capture the infiltrator. Once this occurs sirens will sound and the player will have to tele port to their ship and escape the station. The awareness level will effectively act as the players lives or attempts. After a period of turns of not being detected the players awareness level will start decreasing.

Actions

Move - The player will be able to move in 4 unique directions!
Wait - This action represent the player skipping a turn.
Cloak - This action will make the player invisible for a specific number of turns.
Hack - This action will start the Hacking Phase. If a player is un successful in hacking the object then they will be teleported back to the beginning of the level.
Set Trap - Players will be able to set traps for guards
Use - Players will be able to interact with their environment using this action.

Enemies

Guard - Guards will patrol the halls of the facility. A patrolling guard will be able to catch any player in their line of sight. Guards will have predictable paths that they follow. Guards can be avoided by using the cloak ability or deactivated by placing a trap. A deactivated guard will either disappear or fall to the floor. If guards do not dissappear then the player will have to move them to prevent other guards from finding the body.

Sentry Camera - A sentry camera will detect the player if they enter in to it's line of sight. Sentry camera's will not move, but will rotate in place. To disable a sentry camera you will need to find it's control panel and hack it. Each camera and control panel will have matching colors. Cloaking can be used to avoid the camera.

Espionage PDA

Every infiltrator has their own personal Espionage PDA. This PDA can communicate with your ship and provide you with useful information. This will be where the player can see their mission objectives, current mission progress, can view or retry any tutorial sections or end the game.

'''Hacking Phase'''

Encrypted comms are represented by shapes that flow from the left to the right of the screen, somewhat akin to ''the Matrix.'' The bottom of the game screen houses the screen of ''the Snifftron ST3,'' a device that hackers use to decrypt data.

In a manner very similar to the traditional Embedded Figures Test, the ST3 generates an abstract shape and displays it on its screen. As the data stream flows across the top of the game screen, random shapes pop out and appear in the center of the data stream. If this large shape contains the simpler shape displayed on the ST3, then the player should press spacebar before the trial expires. If this happens, the player successfully "filters" the data stream. The player can only fail this process (either by not pressing spacebar on a match or pressing spacebar on a non-match) 3 times before the connection is lost and the message is lost. Some objects will be more difficult to hack and will require more sucessful matches.

[[Image:ComingSoon.png]]

If the player filters the data successfully enough times, then the comm is decrypted. Diffrent results will occur depending on the item hacked. If a comm terminal is hacked,a small cutscene plays before returning to the navigation screen. If the player is unsuccessful, then they return to the navigation screen and their detection level will increase.

The large shapes are generated according the figure below. Generating smaller shapes that are embedded in the large shapes can easily be done by connecting the dots along edge connections.

[[Image:ComingSoon.png]]

==Sally Anne Phase==

Once a players successfully hacks the comm station they will be shown a brief series of animations depicting the message they stole. There will be many different messages, but each will follow the same principles. In animation #1, a friendly ship deposits a resource (e.g. fuel or materials) in a depot on one of several available planets. (Planets are readily distinguishable by their location on the star map and by their surface appearance.) In animation #2, an opponent ship appears and either steals the resource and deposits it on another planet (THEFT, 2/3 probability) or simply scans the resource (¬THEFT, 1/3 probability). Animation #3 is a picture of the friendly ship's control centre including its captain and its viewscreen, which shows either a sensor scan of the opponent's actions (SCAN, ½ probability) or noise representing sensor jamming (¬SCAN, ½ probability). Thus by the end of animation #3, one of three equiprobable situations exists: (1) the friend believes correctly that the resource is in its original location, and the opponent believes correctly that the friend will look for the resource in this location (¬THEFT); (2) the friend believes incorrectly that the resource is in its original location, and the opponent believes correctly that the friend will look for the resource in its original location (THEFT∧¬SCAN); (3) the friend believes correctly that the resource is in its new location, and the opponent believes incorrectly that the friend will look for the resource in its original location (THEFT∧SCAN). Animation #4 reminds the player that the friend will always set course to retrieve the resource, and that the opponent will always set course to intercept the friend. After this fourth animation, the player is prompted pictorially to lay in two intercept courses (by moving the mouse to the appropriate planet), one to rendez-vous with the friend and one to engage the opponent. In order to set these courses the player must infer where the friend thinks the resource is and where the opponent thinks the friend will look for the resource, respectively. Accuracy and response time in these tasks measure first-order and second-order theory-of-mind processing.

These animations will be still shots depicting the cut scene. Animations are planned for future releases.

===Sally Anne Video Specification===

====Artistic Considerations====
------------------------------------------------------------
3 different planets or more.
Multiple ethnicities
Textures for all major actors in the animations (ships, cargo, people) it would be usefull to have these incase we want to reuse them later.

====Technical Considerations====
-------------------------------------------------------------

XNA does not support movie playback. There are some work arounds but it will only display a picture. Currently the sally anne animations are implmented as a series of still frames, but they end up being to large for the scope we are lookign at.

One option is to use a Flash swf video. There is a content importer called fluix for XNA that can display Flash movies in XNA. This would allow us to harness the vector based graphics processing of Flash and it's action script language. C# will be able to read and write to variables in in the flash file, possibly changing the animation as needed. This will also allow the Flash file to send events to the C# code to be handled. Sadly the fluix dose not support sound for flsh files. However, we could work around it by having the flash movie send messages to C# letting it know when it needs to play a sound. Protocols for sending event would need to be determined for this.

One benefit of this would be that to change the sally anne animations all the animator would need to do would be to change the flash file and wouldn't have to touch and C# code. Also the swf file would drastically reduce the size needed of our videos, as we may be able to do the entire video in one file.

The other way to do this would be to have a video file playing and create a sound cue file that plays sound at specific time intervals. I'm not a big fan of this but it's a decent fall back.

====Scenes====
The sally anne phase video will be broken up into a couple different sections.
This is to accomodate for varying scenarios in the video.

The sections will be:

Cargo drop
Pirate scan
Pirate steals cargo
Pirate can't find cargo
Allied ship sees static
Allied ship sees pirate steal cargo

=====Cargo Drop=====
-------------------------------------------
This section will setup the following scenes for the player. It should give all the basic information thatthe player needs to make sense of the scenes that will follow. The scene should identify the cargo ship and it's crew as allies, and indicate a reason as to why they need to drop off their cargo. This reason could be that they need to lighten the laod to escape from the pirates following them. The explanation could be delivered via the ships captain, as this should make it obvious that it is humans and not a machine who are in control of the ships. The cargo ship will then drop it's cargo off at a visually distinct planet, and then leave the area.

=====Pirate Scan=====
-------------------------------------------
After the Cargo ship drops it's cargo, pirates ships will appear on the scene, possibly warping in. The pirate ships could be a group of ships with a distinct lead ship or a just singular ship, which ever looks and feels cooler. There will then be a view of the pirate ship bridge and the pirate captian will command to scan the planet for any signs of their prey. The view will change to a shot of the ship scanning over the surface of the planet.

=====Pirate Ship steals cargo=====
------------------------------------------
If the pirate ship locates cargo, the view will change to shop bridge of the pirate ship. The captain will be notified that they've found something and the image of the cargo will come on screen. The captain will say something along the lines of " Arrrr me mateys! We've found some booty" The view will then change to the pirate ship getting the cargo, possibly by tractor beam, and transporting it to a different planet, which needs to be visually distinct from the first planet.

=====Pirate Ship doesn't find cargo=====
-------------------------------------------
If the pirate ship fails to detect the cargo, the view will show the bridge and a crew member will inform the captain they haven't found any signs of the cargo ship, the viewport could show a ":(" or a "?". The captain will say somethign along the lines of " Well they must be further on". The pirates will then leave the area.

=====Allied Cargo ship watches the pirate steal=====
--------------------------------------------------
A shot of the bridge of the allied ship. Maybe some text indicating that they can't be seen by the pirates, or are out of their sensor range. A crew member will let the captain know they are intercepting a signal and will display the pirate ship moving the cargo to the other planet.

=====Allied ship sees static=====
---------------------------------------
A shot of the bridge of the allied ship. Maybe some text indicating that they can't be seen by the pirates, or are out of their sensor range. A crew member will let the captain know they are intercepting a signal and will display static. Someone will complain that the comm is encrypted and they can't make it out.

==Scoring==

Players will be given a score based on how many messages they steal and how many bonus items they find. This score will determine how much money they get. A players score will be reduced based on the number of times they were caught.
Players will also be given resources and trade goods for each correct Sally Anne response.
Players will be given a ranking of sorts, based on their score and responses, that will determine the number of tokens they receive.
Players will always receive at least one of the tokens.

==Development==

[[Milestones]]

2008-08-05T15:44:23Z

Orosz: /* Models */

== Look and Feel ==

We're going for a Sci-Fi look that's somewhere between World of Warcraft and Starcraft, a bright upbeat mood.
For the color pallet something like Age of Empires, bright base colors with taste full splashes of color that highlight buildings and units.
Our buildings should represent free floating entities in space that are connected via a transportation system. This is similar to how Bio Shock represents Rapture, underwater buildings connected via tubes, but ours will be in space and not in the 1920's.

== Requirements==

===Models===
Models should follow the look and feel specifications.

===Complexity===
Models should be complex, but still keep a low polygon count. Model complexity and polygon limits will be further defined as we do more extensive testing of our 3D Engine.

===Textures===
All textures should be included in the model file. If they can't be extracted form the SketchUp file then they will also need to be included as *.png files. Textures file dimension should in power of twos( 2x2,4x4,16x16,32x32,64x64, etc) and should be kept as small as reasonably possible.

===Submission===
Models will be uploaded to the Google Warehouse. Depending on our needs we may also need to have the models uploaded to a folder on our SVN repository.

== Colony Simulation ==

=== Models ===

<table cellpadding="6" cellspacing="6">
<tr>
<th>Asset Name</th>
<th>Description</th>
<th>Artist Assigned</th>
<th>Status</th>
<th>Priority</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Residential Structure</td>
<td>Ecodome like, Futuristic Apartment Complex, Spinning Space station (The kind that makes artificial gravity)</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>Medium</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Life Support Production</td>
<td>Large Building, Pumps, Solar Panels, Water works, Greenhouse like</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>Medium</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Asteroid Gatherer</td>
<td>Asteroid Drilling/Mining structure</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>High</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Gas Gatherer</td>
<td>Gas Collection Vacum/Pump structure</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>Medium</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Advanced Resource Gatherer Gatherer</td>
<td>Worm hole gatherer, Element Zero producer</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>Low</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Asteroid Node</td>
<td>Raw asteroid floating in space, multiple colours </td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>High</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Gas Node</td>
<td>Raw gas cloud in space, couple different colours and size</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>High</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Advanced Node</td>
<td>Something advanced and space looking</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>Low</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Consumer Buildings</td>
<td>Refineries, Industrial Plants, Farm Structure</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>High</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Resource Tubes</td>
<td>Cylindrical, Translucent,Connect(corners, T, Cross +) </td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>High</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>LifeSupport Tubes</td>
<td>Transport people and life support resources,Connect(corners, T, Cross +) </td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>Medium</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Resource Crates/Pods</td>
<td>Different Crates for resources as they travel through tubes</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>Medium</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Icons</td>
<td>Icons for buildings and resources</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>Low</td>
</tr>

</table>

=== Textures ===

=== Sounds ===

== Meteor Madness ==

=== Models ===

=== Textures ===

=== Sounds ===

== Hacker Havoc ==

=== Models ===

=== Textures ===

=== Sounds ===

== Stellar Prospector ==

=== Models ===

=== Textures ===

=== Sounds ===

Art Assets and Tracking

2008-08-05T15:23:50Z

Orosz: /* Models */

2008-06-18T13:39:12Z

Orosz: /* Major Sections */

Milestones

2008-06-09T19:39:46Z

Orosz:

Sprint 1:
* Implement basic structure of Dungeon game.
[]Loading XML data
[]converting XML data to load level
[]Basic update structure
[]Data structures of the levels
[]Input
[]Game Flow
[]Collision
[]Implement Menus
[]Difficulty
[]Game play programming

Sprint 2:
* Implement more complex Dungeon game functions
[]Traps/Enemies
[]Stealth bar
[]Player abilities
[]AI Logic
[]placeholder UI
[]Integrate the player 'PDA' (multitool)
[]Use player abilities through tool
[]placeholder UI

Sprint 3:
* Implement Hacking Phase, aka Embedded Figures test
[]Create hackable objects
[]Placeholder graphics for hacking phase
[]Logging
[]integrate into level

Sprint 4:
* Implement Sally Anne
[]Implement first theory of mind question
[]implement 2nd theory of mind question
[]Tie into level progression
[]Logging

Sprint 5:
* Implement Rewards
[]Implement a system for rewarding the player
[]calculate total rewards based of performance in mini game
[]tie to colony simulator
* Tutorial
[]yep
* Implement easy access trial modifiers to mini game menu

Sprint 6:
* Implement Map Editor
[]Read/Write/edit XML data containing tileset information for world/level/room

Sprint 7:
* Implement Player Profiles
[]Keep track of missions played/progression made

Sprint 8:
* Create new levels and obstacles.

Milestones

2008-06-09T19:39:02Z

Orosz:

Sprint 1:
* Implement basic structure of Dungeon game.
[]Loading XML data
[]converting XML data to load level
[]Basic update structure
[]Data structures of the levels
[]Input
[]Game Flow
[]Collision
[]Implement Menus
[]Difficulty

Sprint 2:
* Implement more complex Dungeon game functions
[]Traps/Enemies
[]Stealth bar
[]Player abilities
[]AI Logic
[]placeholder UI
[]Integrate the player 'PDA' (multitool)
[]Use player abilities through tool
[]placeholder UI

Sprint 3:
* Implement Hacking Phase, aka Embedded Figures test
[]Create hackable objects
[]Placeholder graphics for hacking phase
[]Logging
[]integrate into level

Sprint 4:
* Implement Sally Anne
[]Implement first theory of mind question
[]implement 2nd theory of mind question
[]Tie into level progression
[]Logging

Sprint 5:
* Implement Rewards
[]Implement a system for rewarding the player
[]calculate total rewards based of performance in mini game
[]tie to colony simulator
* Tutorial
[]yep
* Implement easy access trial modifiers to mini game menu

Sprint 6:
* Implement Map Editor
[]Read/Write/edit XML data containing tileset information for world/level/room

Sprint 7:
* Implement Player Profiles
[]Keep track of missions played/progression made

Sprint 8:
* Create new levels and obstacles.

Milestones

2008-06-09T19:38:44Z

Orosz: New page: Mile Stones Sprint 1: * Implement basic structure of Dungeon game. []Loading XML data []converting XML data to load level []Basic update structure []Data structures...

Mile Stones

Sprint 1:
* Implement basic structure of Dungeon game.
[]Loading XML data
[]converting XML data to load level
[]Basic update structure
[]Data structures of the levels
[]Input
[]Game Flow
[]Collision
[]Implement Menus
[]Difficulty

Sprint 2:
* Implement more complex Dungeon game functions
[]Traps/Enemies
[]Stealth bar
[]Player abilities
[]AI Logic
[]placeholder UI
[]Integrate the player 'PDA' (multitool)
[]Use player abilities through tool
[]placeholder UI

Sprint 3:
* Implement Hacking Phase, aka Embedded Figures test
[]Create hackable objects
[]Placeholder graphics for hacking phase
[]Logging
[]integrate into level

Sprint 4:
* Implement Sally Anne
[]Implement first theory of mind question
[]implement 2nd theory of mind question
[]Tie into level progression
[]Logging

Sprint 5:
* Implement Rewards
[]Implement a system for rewarding the player
[]calculate total rewards based of performance in mini game
[]tie to colony simulator
* Tutorial
[]yep
* Implement easy access trial modifiers to mini game menu

Sprint 6:
* Implement Map Editor
[]Read/Write/edit XML data containing tileset information for world/level/room

Sprint 7:
* Implement Player Profiles
[]Keep track of missions played/progression made

Sprint 8:
* Create new levels and obstacles.

2008-05-07T16:30:14Z

Orosz: /* Tokens */

One of the goals of this project is to motivate the players to want to complete and do successful in the psychological tests. To accomplish this players will receive rewards from playing mini games that will allow them to build and improve their colony.

==Rewards==
Rewards will be given in the form of Money, Resources, Buildings, Technologies and Tokens. Not all mini games will give the same rewards.

===Money===
Money is used in the construction of every building. Completing mini games will be the main and possibly only source of income for players. All mini games will give the player some amount of money based on their performance. Some mini games will reward the player with bonus money for completing bonus objectives not directly related to the tests. An example of this is in Maritime Defender where the player can gain money by destroying asteroids.

===Resources===
Some mini games will reward the player with resources. These resources will be used to construct buildings in the Colony Simulator. Resources will be specific to a mini game. These will mostly be common resources, but there may be a few mini game only resources that cannot be accumulated in the colony mode.

===Buildings===
If a player dose especially well or completes a series of tasks withing a mini game they could be rewarded with a building. These buildings will be special to the mini game and provide unique bonuses. Players will be able to build only one of these buildings each time they earn the reward. These buildings will be faction neutral.

===Technologies===
These will be very rare rewards. They will give the player a permanent technology bonus. These technologies will be unique and add flavor to a colony, but will not be overly important. They will be the cool technologies.

===Tokens===
Tokens will be given to a player each time they play a mini game. Players will always receive at least one token each time they play a mini game, but will receive many more for successfully completing a mini game. Each mini game will have it's own token. These tokens will represent objects that can be used to trade with Interstellar Merchants. The items the Merchants will have will be powerful and will only be exclusive to the merchants store. By setting proper token requirements on items it is hoped that this will encourage players to play all the mini games.

This is similar to World of Warcrafts mark of honor Player Versus Player reward system.

Mini Game Rewards

2008-05-07T16:28:27Z

Orosz: New page: One of the goals of this project is to motivate the players to want to complete and do successful in the psychological tests. To accomplish this players will receive rewards from playing ...

Functional specifications

2008-05-07T15:50:03Z

Orosz:

Welcome to this game's functional spec table of contents. There are two major parts: the colony simulator and the minigames.

[[Important Neuroscientific Considerations in Game Design for Autism]]

'''Colony Simulator'''

[[Colony Mode]]

[[Factions]]

[[Structures]]

[[Consumables]]

'''Minigames'''

[[Meteor Madness]]

[[Factory Frenzy]]

[[Hacker Havoc]]

[[Spaceship Shenanigans]]

[[Mini Game Rewards]]

Factions

2008-05-07T15:42:57Z

Orosz: New page: Factions Factions will represent different paths of development that a player can choose. Players will be able play with any faction they want and do not have to choose on exclusively. Co...

Factions

Factions will represent different paths of development that a player can choose. Players will be able play with any faction they want and do not have to choose on exclusively. Colonies can be all one faction, or they can be blend of multiple factions.

Factions would represent races (humans, robots, aliens), corporations(each corporation has it's on area of expertise), or groups of people ( much like countries or political parties). Each faction will be distinct! This will be done buy playing off popular archetypes that autistic players will have an easy time identifying. Giving each faction a distinct colour, unique symbols, and keeping buildings with the same style would be a good way to accomplish this. Players will have a rating with each faction.

Ex: The Tree Hugger Collective's buildings and research a geared towards a more eco friendly colony. Whereas Unchained Autonomous building focus more on a industrial look and make robots!!!

Buildings, units and technologies will be associated with different factions. Creating buildings that belong to a specific faction will increase your faction rating for that faction. New buildings and units will be available to you based on your faction rating. Some building may give bonuses to some factions but may give negatives to others.

For example: The player would like to build a tree sky scraper. However the Sky Scraper requires trees and a rating of 60 with the Tree Hugger Collective (THC) both of which the players has zero. The player can build Tree Farms though, which produce trees and give THC rating. The player builds 20 of these farms granting him enough faction and wood to make the sky scraper.

If a player destroys a building they will lose the faction bonus associated with it. We could implement a level system, where once a player achieves a level that gain is permanent, but their faction could still change. Levels could override a faction requirement. Some buildings would not have a level option and would require a high faction. Once a building is built it will never need to check the players faction rating again.

Example: Jimmy has spent a lot of time making tree farms and skyscrapers. In doing so he has reached 1000 faction rating and advances to level 2 with the Tree Hugger Collective. However Jimmy decides that he doesn't want his tree farms anymore and decides to destroy all of them and replace them with "Unchained Autonomous" robot factories. His rating with THC drops to 25 as a result. Jimmy likes the idea of his robots living in tree sky scrapers, but needs to build more skyscrapers for his colonies people. Since he has a level 2 faction rating with THC and the tree sky scraper requires 60 Faction OR Level 2 he can still build more sky scrapers for his robots to live happily in.

In this example I used level N to indicate the faction level. This could easily be assigned something more visually identifiable. Maybe a military rank or something else that use insignias. You current level would be shown at all times beside your Faction Bar.

Detailed faction information can be viewed from it's own window in the game. On the game screen the Faction could be shown as an level up bar coloured to your factions predominate colour. Your faction rating will be displayed in the center of the bar. The bar will indicate how much more faction you need to achieve the next level with that faction.

Functional specifications

2008-05-07T15:40:09Z

Orosz:

Welcome to this game's functional spec table of contents. There are two major parts: the colony simulator and the minigames.

[[Important Neuroscientific Considerations in Game Design for Autism]]

'''Colony Simulator'''

[[Colony Mode]]

[[Factions]]

[[Structures]]

[[Consumables]]

'''Minigames'''

[[Meteor Madness]]

[[Factory Frenzy]]

[[Hacker Havoc]]

[[Spaceship Shenanigans]]

Consumables

2008-04-17T01:48:49Z

Orosz:

Consumables come in 3 varieties. Resources are gathered which can then be made into products. Plants produce utilities which many other structures require to run.

All consumables are broken into two tiers. Tier I is the bare minimum that should make it into the game. However, since much of this game's fun will be rooted in creating a complex, diverse economy it may be beneficial to include more consumables. These are listed in the Tier II category and may be added to the game later.

=='''Resources'''==

Harvester units can gather resources by traveling from their home structure to a resource tile in the city, harvesting it, and then returning to its home.

<big>'''Tier I'''</big>

Oxygen

Vegetables (this could be considered a product if it requires nitrates)

Iron

Gold

Carbon

Silicon

FutureMetal1

Titanium

<big>'''Tier II'''</big>

Nitrogen

FutureMetal2

FutureMetal3

=='''Products'''==

Factories and refineries take in resources or other products to make new products. These products are shipped out to other structures through a delivery or transport unit.

<big>'''Tier I'''</big>

Cast/Machined Metal

Rolled Metal

Circuitboards (Gold+Silicon)

Ceramics (Carbon+Silicon)

Superconductors (from FutureMetal1 and/or Ceramics)

Diamond (from Carbon)

Steel (iron+carbon)

Atomic Clay

Plastics

<big>'''Tier II'''</big>

Meat (requires vegetables)

Nitrates (from Nitrogen)

Atomic Clay (broken down molecules that can be reassembled into almost anything)

Nanotube

Pharmaceuticals

Gold+FutureMetalX Alloy

=='''Utilities'''==

Each utility is made by a specific plant. For that list, go to the [[Structures]] page. Utilities are transported through lines.

Water

Electricity

FutureGas1 (possibly called ''Hydrocarbonic Gas'')

<big>'''MiniGame Tokens'''</big>

Playing a mini game will result in the player receiving a Mini game specific token. There will be a vendor or trader that the player can trade in these tokens for upgrades and new buildings. These items will range in rpice and will require only tokens. This will hopefully give the player more incentive to play all our mini games!.

Hacker Havoc

2008-04-17T01:43:36Z

Orosz: /* Sally Anne Phase */

Hacker Havoc

2008-04-16T21:15:14Z

Orosz: /* Premise */

Hacker Havoc

2008-04-16T21:14:47Z

Orosz: /* Characters */

Hacker Havoc

2008-04-16T21:09:09Z

Orosz: /* Objective */

Hacker Havoc

2008-04-16T20:59:10Z

Orosz: