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A Game Engine for Exploring Novel Fog of War Mechanics Zackery Mason

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A Game Engine for Exploring Novel Fog of War Mechanics Zackery Mason Trick of the Light: A Game Engine for Exploring Novel Fog of War Mechanics Zackery Mason A project report submitted to the faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Interactive Media and Game Development Brian Moriarty, Project Chair Dean O’Donnell, Reader Dr. Gillian Smith, Reader Abstract Trick of the Light is an experiment in strategic game design based on imperfect information in a unique fog of war setting. A hybrid of real-time-strategy, role-playing-game and roguelike genres, the game challenges players to maintain an expansive base system without being able to see anything beyond their own limited vision radius. All units, allied or enemy, maintain private memories about what they have seen, and must directly exchange information to keep up to date. The player acts as commander, making decisions and giving orders while dealing with adversaries, sabotage and misinformation. Testing was done to see if the new concepts could be understood in-game and garner any interest for further development, which proved to be positive in both cases despite complaints related to having less direct control over allies. i Acknowledgements Very special thanks to advisor Brian Moriarty. His support allowed this work of passion to become a thesis-level project, and his experience in game design and the video game industry as a whole was an immense boon that I am lucky to have barely tapped into. Additional thanks to IMGD undergrad Dave Allen for providing audio and music, and also to the IMGD community as a whole, not only for playtesting the game but also for going above and beyond with your genuine interest and suggestions that indicate a desire to watch the game grow. A game is nothing without players, but a real developer appreciates supporters even more. A final thanks to all of my friends and family involved with development long before this became any official project, especially my parents, who were avid supports of everything I attempt since the very first “Hello, world.” Your willingness to feign interest as I babbled on about technical jargon has gone neither unnoticed nor unappreciated. ii Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................... ii Contents ............................................................................................................................................................... iii Figures ................................................................................................................................................................ viii 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 1 2. History of fog of war .......................................................................................................................................... 3 3. Game mechanics and their implementations ..................................................................................................... 7 3.1. Game Overview .................................................................................................................................................. 7 3.2. Turn-based vs real-time ..................................................................................................................................... 8 3.2.1. ‘Turn-based’ energy system ....................................................................................................................... 9 3.2.2. Cooldown vs timer ................................................................................................................................... 10 3.2.3. The Living class and being ‘alive’ .............................................................................................................. 11 3.3. Units ................................................................................................................................................................. 13 3.3.1. Heath and combat stats ........................................................................................................................... 14 3.3.2. Carried items ............................................................................................................................................ 15 3.3.3. Basic interactions ..................................................................................................................................... 16 3.3.4. Teams and threat levels ........................................................................................................................... 17 3.4. Items ................................................................................................................................................................ 18 3.5. Status effects .................................................................................................................................................... 19 3.5.1. Duration ................................................................................................................................................... 20 3.5.2. Status types .............................................................................................................................................. 20 3.5.3. Status types .............................................................................................................................................. 21 3.6. Tasks ................................................................................................................................................................ 22 3.6.1. Organization ............................................................................................................................................. 22 3.6.2. Cooldowns and counters .......................................................................................................................... 24 3.6.3. Items and tasks ........................................................................................................................................ 25 3.6.4. Status effects and tasks ............................................................................................................................ 25 iii 3.6.5. Makers and doers..................................................................................................................................... 26 3.6.6. Commands ............................................................................................................................................... 26 3.6.7. General purpose ....................................................................................................................................... 27 3.7. Attacks ............................................................................................................................................................. 27 3.7.1. Engaging and targeting ............................................................................................................................ 28 3.8. Squares ............................................................................................................................................................. 29 3.8.1. Watchers and glowers .............................................................................................................................. 29 3.8.2. Movement blocking and sizes .................................................................................................................. 30 3.8.3. Being ‘hidden’ from the grid .................................................................................................................... 32 3.9. The movement process .................................................................................................................................... 32 3.10. Pathfinding ..................................................................................................................................................... 33 3.10.1. Planning a movement vs actual movement ........................................................................................... 34 3.10.2. The ‘Path’ result ..................................................................................................................................... 35 3.11. Claimed targets .............................................................................................................................................. 36 3.11.1. Filtering functions .................................................................................................................................. 36 3.12. Visibility .......................................................................................................................................................... 37 3.12.1. Light levels .............................................................................................................................................. 37 3.12.2. Sight / glow radii ...................................................................................................................................
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