#did you know if you look at these images for too long you instanty die

[halfofxerxes-a]

     @slothfulbear

   “..Hey Panda.”

[term5itmedia]

Progression of Translation (Weeks 38-44)

Whew! What a short timespan it has been. A timespan so short I forget how long it is, but then again, what timespan isn’t?

Jokes aside, this is my LOST in Translation project development, where I take you from how the project started to how it ended. While the end of the project may not be reached as this was a time of experimentation (much like the project on term4itmedia), it is always fun to try out new things.

Storyline

The story that the project is based on can be read here, you can also see the inspiration behind it:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T92xgHxDE_SK41XdTP9R8LZaY_4Ipj3GePy4YdF4DNQ/edit?usp=sharing

Our objective was to make up a concept for a game based off of books we have researched. I have chosen to focus on two key elements; combination lock and endless stairs. These were things I have never tried before but have always wanted to try at some point.

I started out the project making some planning sheets for the areas in said game should it be created, as this was a too big of a project to finish within the short span of 6 weeks.

In the middle of the five sheets is the entire storyline:

Combination Lock

A combination lock is a puzzle that can only be solved by the person who knows the key code, or someone who is extremely lucky to get it right on the first guess, which is rare depending on the amount of possible combinations, which you can learn more about in my Puzzles post.

6-digit code

I started work on a 6-digit code lock next, which if you didn’t know has 1,000,000 total combinations (from 000000 to 999999). How it works is that the player of the game would point towards a button and press it to change the value of one of the digits. When he/she thinks all six are correct, they press the button under “Submit”. If the code is right, the door opens. If the code is wrong, nothing happens.

Pretty basic, but we’re only just getting started.

Maths!

Hate Maths? Well, too bad. You have faced a problem like this before.

Before moving forward, since I’ve told you how the previous one worked, maybe you can figure this one out for yourself. Don’t read further beyond this point until you have at least tried once.

Did you get it? If not... I’m surprised you can figure out how to use a phone. Jokes aside once again, it’s very simple.

The button below the plus sign increases the value of the third number by 1 (up to 99, after which it will refuse to go any higher), the button below the minus sign decreases the value by 1 (down to 0 at minimum) and the button below the Submit button checks if the answer is correct. If the answer is correct, the door opens. If the answer is wrong, nothing happens.

This is a randomly generated mathematical problem, as the first number can have any value between 0 to 49, and the second number can have any number between 0 to 50 (so the third value will never be higher than 99).

Another way I could have done it is with symbols, like:

1: A + A + A = 15

2: B x A = 50

3: C + B + A = 22

4: (A * B) * C = ?

The player would have to figure out the answer to the 4th question, which requires a bit more challenge than a simple 2 + 2 = 4.

-- ANSWERS REVEALED IN THIS AREA --

The reason why that is is because each letter has an assigned value (A = 5, B = 10 and C = 7). Knowing all of these values, you would be able to figure out the answer to the question, which ((5 * 10) (50) * 7 = 350.

-- OK, YOU’RE SAFE NOW --

I didn’t end up doing the algebra problem in the end, but that doesn’t mean I’ll use it in another concept.

Let the ball in!

This is... not really considered a puzzle but a reflex-based mini game that you would have to play if you got any of the other puzzles wrong. What would happen is that you would give a number between 3 and 16, after which a grid of cubes will generate based on the number given, which is known as squaring using maths. Yep! I’m using maths to make this.

When the cube grid is generated, each cube has a 1-in-10,000 chance per frame to instantiate a ball far above it, which is telegraphed by it’s shadow to show it is coming. If the ball were to go through, points would be added. If you were to reach a certain amount of points (50,000 for example), you would move on to the next area. If balls were to hit the cube they were dropping towards, points would be subtracted. If the points were to go into the negatives, you would lose the game.

The bigger the grid, the faster you would have to be as the balls would spawn more frequently. In the case of a 16x16 grid, the balls would have a 1-in-40 chance of spawning per frame! Imagine trying to keep up with that!

And you thought a catching game was hard enough...

The mini game remains unfinished and I don’t have any intention of finishing it off in another project.

Rotating stones

This puzzle was by far the most complex one I have ever made. This puzzle has 8 letters on each stone, and only one word can be written out of them. There is approximately 32,767 possibilities, and only one of them is a real word. I had to painstakingly check for any letters that could create another word, and so far I have found a few, including a swear word which I removed straightaway upon seeing, because nobody wants to see that.

How the puzzle would work is that the player would point at one of the stones and click to rotate it 45 degrees, to get to the next letter. Once all of the letters are lined up, the boulder blocking the exit instantly breaks and the player can advance forward.

Endless Stairs

The endless stairs trick was easy to learn but difficult to make perfect. Like I said before, I wanted to try and make it like the one from Super Mario 64 (which you can find out about in my Infinite Stairs post).

This also gave me a chance to try out something else, Fog. I added fog to this area because it doesn’t allow you to see the top of the stairs, which is crucial for this development since you never see the top anyway.

The illusion is that you get teleported down the stairs when you hit a certain point of them, which also works backwards. How? Look at this image of the structure:

As you can see, the fog makes it more eerie-looking and less revealing, especially if you go up the stairs backwards.

I chose to put the endless stairs at the end since it is unimaginably scary to think about, and at the end of some horror films or games, the main character gets stuck in a situation they cannot get out of in any way possible, which just ends after one final call for help, which nobody is around to hear.

I was going to create a concept for the traps that would be used in this game, but time fell short and I had other mandatory things that needed doing, like printing out the sheets for my portfolio and researching (which also fell short because it was difficult to get topics relevant to this project).

You can see everything in action here:

Conclusion + Reasoning behind project

First off, let’s start with the reason behind it. I chose the five books listed in the document listed above because those were the main elements that I found interesting and wanted to transform them into something new, sort of like an amalgamation, but with originality.

I took great inspiration from The Time Machine because the main character of the story is trapped in a different time period. I took inspiration from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory plus The Wasp Factory because the main character gets trapped in a situation they cannot get out of until they either die or are rescued. I took inspiration from Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde because of the shadowy figure in my story, which is evil. If I gained any inspiration from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, it would have to have been hacking related. Since there is no hacking of any sort involved in my story, this one is left out. But if I had more time on this project, I would look into the concept of hacking and maybe implement a feature like that. But due to the short time and overall focus on other elements, that was not a possibility this time.

The idea of the story is completely original, as far as I am aware, and that is what I like to do. I like to be original with my ideas instead of being a person who copies everyone’s ideas and turns them into their own thing, which people have done, including me in the past. I can’t deny that.