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Phase Three

My Prototype

General Idea:

The game would essentially be a management game where the player positively tries to balance their industry and preserve the environment all at once. The player will manage numerous branches of their industry, for instance they will manage the logging branch of their business, the transportation within their industry, the refining of their product and whom they hire as different workers will be better at different jobs. Essentially the player is trying to balance different aspects of their industry, if they are reckless with deforesting forests, it will come to the point where they no longer can cut down any more trees, if this element of their business runs dry, there will be nothing to transport and nothing to refine. If the player does not assign enough workers to transport, the loggers will run out of places to store their logs and will stop their job, which will slow down business, and if the player doesn't manage the refining and cutting of logs into product, they will not have anything to sell which runs the risk of the player going bust.

Employees:

The employees would be given stats to lead the player into knowing which job each employee is better suited for.

For loggers, they may have stats that show how efficient they are, how motivated they are, how quick they are and how safely they do their job. If you hire a really quick and efficient logger, but he lacks safety, then he might make a mistake when cutting down the log which ultimately could slow down the process

For Delivery drivers, they may have stats that depict how fast a driver they are, how long they are willing to work, and how good a driver they are. If the player hires a fast driver that is not willing to work longer then they might make the delivery, but they might also give up early. Alternatively, if you hire a very good driver this might ensure the product arrives at the destination, but if he is slow it might take some time.

For "Plankers", those who turn logs in to fine grade planks, the stats they have might reflect how well practised they are, how good their concentration is and how quickly they can do their job. The player may hire a planker who has a lot of practice, but if they lack concentration then they may make mistakes which as a result creates a shoddy product which may not score a high income for the player. 

The player will have job resumes to look over and they will make a decision of whom they hire. Some workers may be well-rounded and might have high stats in all fields, making them the pro candidate to choose from, others may be awful at everything, and obviously should not be hired. However most the time the workers have a trait that they excel in, whilst others are more diminished. 

Prototype:

The prototype is only an example of one aspect of the game and serves to demonstrate cause and effect which occurs when the player would have to work out where they should place their loggers, in areas that would have less of an environmental impact. This occurs once the player has hired their loggers, and will allow the player to choose where the loggers should work during the in-game day ahead. Forests that are small and weak should not be targeted by the player, otherwise, they will not be able to regrow and the ecosystem will die. Essentially the player should hire and order their loggers to target and deforest a small amount of the strongest forest, as it is more likely to be able to grow back. This balancing element can be seen in the prototype I created using Markov chains and Matrixes. The player is able to choose which areas they should target, and areas that are left alone slowly build up over time. The playable prototype of this game is the mechanic of cause and effect, if the player targets one area more than another, it will get to the point where the trees can not be targeted any more unless they are given time to regrow. Below you can find a diagram which shows the three forests that the player has to choose from. One is naturally bigger than the rest and obviously would be the best place to take wood from initially. However as time goes by, the rest will grow making B obsolete. 

You can also see the matrixes below which I worked out. In my test, these calculations seem to work fine in demonstrating the growth of the forests over time. 

Mechanics:

The main mechanic of the game would be to manage the business, the player would hire employees who would have stats based on what they are good at, and they would make decisions based on the respective areas within their industry. Essentially it is a management game which relies on balancing and decision making.

End State:

Essentially the game would end if the player made a certain amount of money, or if their business was well organised to run on its own, or alternatively if they fail and the business goes bust.

Prototype:

A Unity version of this prototype was created, see memory stick:

 Year 3 Work > Semester 1 > The_Hut > Prototypes > Phase 3 Prototype 1

 

The results of the prototype can be seen below:

Because of the algorithm written in the scripts, different play styles lead to different outcomes. If the player focusses on what they cut down and gives time for the trees in different areas to regrow, then the overall forest will have more trees remaining when the game ends. If they click randomly they are not as likely to get the same amount of trees remaining, if they purposefully target areas of the forest which are weaker, then they will not give them enough time to regrow, and will end up having fewer trees in the forest.

prototype diagram.jpg
IMG_1433.jpg
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