Mark Ripley

Games Industry Dinosaur

Category: MMM

  • MMM Prototype Feedback

    Starting to get feedback on the prototype, and I’m already thinking of some design changes….

    The major one I’m considering is going back to the original plan of hand-crafted levels; so we can ‘script’ memorable moments – whether they be jumpscare, ‘I’ve spotted Rex but he hasn’t seen me yet’, maybe more involving environments (eg trying to cross a pit by rope whilst being persued by a Rex).

    We could keep the procedurally generated levels for multiplayer, as they’ll just want to romp about.

    Another thing is making use of restrictive space – at the moment you can simply run past Rex if you’re quick. That’s cos Rex’s movement/collision is a bit rubbish atm. It’s the first thing I’m going to rewrite. There’s a few publishers interested, so when that’s all resolved we can get together and decide exactly what the game is, how best to fit it to our audience (and exactly what that is), and plan it out together. I’m not precious.

  • MMM Prototype Released!

    Well, as complete as it can be given the constraints of time and budget. I disappeared down rabbit holes, lots of stuff got binned, but still I hope I have something that demonstrates there *is* a game here, and the opportunities it presents with extra features, characters, multiplayer options and so on. As an industry friend said: “it’s really scalable”; investors like that word, hopefully publishers will too.

    Here’s some notes to bear in mind:

    • This is a prototype. Apart from the audio, everything else is me (even some modelling and animation). Everything is placeholder.
    • Rex’s maze navigation isn’t the best, visually. I’ve since found a better, smoother way of doing it, but that’s for production.
    • The part where Rex eats you if you don’t stand still is a bit lame. I know.
    • The maze/dungeon is procedurally generated, so it can be different each game, but for this prototype I’ve kept each maze the same each time. Just so we don’t get any edge-cases, but also so I know what you’re seeing and playing.
    • The maze is also smaller than I’d expect for the full game.
    • There’s zero optimisation. Things might get a bit choppy in the dungeon level when lightning strikes.
    • The section after you’ve chosen which level to play is taken from a classic kid’s TV show from the 1970s. I was going to put a monster selection option in, so this section displays your chosen monster as the level loads and generates. If you look to the horizon you can see the level being built.

    Anyway, head on over to the MMM Download Page for more info and a Quest 3 download link. Soon there’ll be links for PCVR and PSVR2 too!