The Rookie

Welcome to the GEN (Global Espionage Network) Spy Licensing test. However, as the training goes on, the levels become stranger, and a mystery unfolds.

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Inspiration

Our two biggest inspirations for this project were the games: Karlson and Portal. We were inspired by the game Karlson as it was a first person platform that was fast paced. This is similar to our game because it is a platformer that involves a fast movement. On the other hand, the game Portal is a problem solving and critical thinking game. This was utilized in our game as the whole point of our game is to realize that the entire game is a faux and the point of the game is to escape the simulation of the spy test. Additionally, the design of the rooms in The Rookie were inspired by the rooms of Portal.

What it does

The three essential mechanics to this game are grappling, hacking, and blasting an energy blaster. All of these mechanics are accomplished by one device known as the BURP which stands for purpose universal radiocarpal piece. The grappling is accomplished by right-clicking at a specific box that allows the player to deploy a rope that helps them go across a large valley that if they fall into they would respawn at the beginning. The energy blaster is used to defeat enemies that are trying to inhibit the player from moving forward into the game. Finally, hacking allows the player to turn off obstacles that could impede them from moving forward in the game while it also can turn on objects that allow them to move forward in the game such as blocks that move towards the player. In this game, the player is trying to reach the end of the three levels of the spy simulation test, through the utilization of the three features of the game. Once the player reaches the end of the game, they will realize they have been fooled from all along and will need to find a way to escape out of the simulation and actually earn their spy provisional license.

How we built it

To begin, we started brainstorming ideas about mystery, however we scoped specifically into spies. Once we thought of an idea to utilize spies we began to think about games that we could model or game off of. After thinking about the game of Karlson and Portal, we began brainstorming ideas of how we would connect the idea about the spy and the specific details of Karlson and Portal that we really enjoyed. We started with the fundamental mechanics: grappling, shooting, and hacking. The idea started from mechanics and then had the story built around it. Then, we began to create the 3 main levels of the game which would allow for us to set up the stage of the game. Once we created the levels of the game, we implemented the twist that the entire game was a faux. We then added the twist, where the numbers that can be found on each level represent the code that will help the player escape the simulation (game) and earn their license.

Challenges we ran into

Planning was the largest problem faced. The first 5-6 hours of the hackathon consisted of planning a story that incorporated the themes around the mechanics we wanted to implement. The group couldn’t decisively get a clear idea of the game which led to a heavily fractured piece. We were far too ambitious in a lot of the features. Platformers are extremely difficult to make well in a short period of time. Paired with mixing three different items of hacking, grappling, and shooting led to an overcomplicated game. Due to the improper planning of the game, it was very difficult to start coding, because all the members of the team were unable to decide who wanted to do what portion of the game. Another challenge that we faced was an error in the hacking system. The main error was once in a while when the mini game of the hacking system was played, the program would just immediately terminate due to a null exception pointer. After 30 minutes of trying to find the error in the code, we used the built in debugger to find out that a singular variable was being initialized incorrectly.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The hacking system is one of the accomplishments in this project that we were proud of, because it took our group a very long time to finally get it working. Also, the hacking system is one of the most complicated portions of this project because it involves a pointer to another object that determines whether an object is turned off or on and the direction the object moves in. The hacking system also involves 3 mini-games that when successfully completed the movement or turning on and off of an object would occur. The hacking system helps the player reach their goal to become a spy. Additionally, another thing that we are most proud about is the story of the game. The game story took a very long time to decide on because we are attempting to make the game far too complicated than it should have been. However, after finally agreeing about the game story we were very proud of it because it involves a twist that perfectly encapsulates the theme of the Hackathon which is mystery.

What we learned

The main thing we learned from this hackathon is that instead of focusing on creating an extremely complicated game that involves many mechanics, it is far better to create a very well polished game that involves fewer mechanics. This would allow for enough stability with flexibility for the rest of the project. We also learned that creating an idea quickly is of utmost importance because the game revolves completely around the idea of the game, and if it has not been developed many conflicts about what to do in the game may arise.

What's next for The Rookie

The next steps for The Rookie is to involve more levels of the game. This would make the game much more entertaining and cause the game to be far more brain-stimulating. Additionally, at the beginning of the game we wanted to involve voice lines from an ulterior source which would be GEN, that would be very witty about the character. This would involve a feature about the game that has not been explored yet which is humor. Humor is one of the most important concepts in a game because it keeps the player's attention.

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