JRPGs, and by extension SRPGs, have an unfortunate tendency to use text as filler. Even with numerous types of fast-forward buttons — something of a band aid solution — their dialogue sequences are often very lengthy.

Luminous Arc starts off with roughly 150 text boxes. Such quantities are pretty common throughout the entire experience.

Verbal diarrhea is never necessary, though, and with Trudy’s Mechanicals we’re taking multiple steps to avoid it:

1. Dialogue sequences are often optional. If the player doesn’t want to listen to a character, he can simply choose not to initiate the conversation.
2. Colourful tid-bits are non-blocking. This means that if an enemy or an NPC wants to deliver a bark-style one-liner, it simply fades in and out. The text itself is aesthetic and doesn’t hijack the player’s interface, leaving him free to navigate the UI or issue battle commands.
3. Cutscenes are short and to the point. Characters don’t prattle on if they don’t have anything interesting to say, and the player never needs to wait too long before he’s back in the “driver’s seat”. A skip option is also implemented as it’s an expected standard for those who are not interested in the story or might be replaying the game.

This less-is-more approach means that our script is much, much smaller than that of a typical tactics game. As a result, we’re taking extra care to make sure the language itself feels unique and interesting.

Here are some examples:

Slang

Planescape: Torment is famous for its cant, Victorian slang that adds personality to its setting. Seeing as Steampunk has its roots in a romanticized Victorian era, we decided to take a similar approach with Trudy.

A few examples of facial expression that accompany the text of Trudy's main characters.

Although it’s tempting to go overboard with jargon, it doesn’t help if the script can’t be understood by most people. Consequently the use of slang is somewhat conservative and the words we picked often have current-day connotations.

Here are some examples:

• Barker – A gun. Not immediately obvious, but easily grasped given proper context.
• Nibbed – Arrested. As in nabbed, or kidnapped. The word doesn’t have a strict association with the police, but its sentiment is easily understood.
• Lushery – A public drinking den. Lush isn’t a common term for alcohol, but this one was just too amusing to pass up.

Names

Naming characters in a fictional setting is a bit tricky. You typically want to steer clear of popular current-day names that might break the suspension of disbelief, e.g., Mike Smith or John Brown. On the other hand, something truly alien might prove too difficult to vocalize internally, while symbolic names like “Black Lightning” tend to come off awkward and hokey.

Of course we could’ve simply used Victorian era names, but I wanted to differentiate Trudy from typical Steampunk pulp.

Unlike the lead stars of the game, NPC dialogues are not accompanied by "talking heads". This is to save on production costs as well as prevent NPC barks from taking up too much space on the screen.

Our solution was to use old Greek and Slavic names.

The result is not entirely alien, but it’s enough to stand out. Characters are given names such as Renatus, Tatjana, Darko, Milos, Daria, etc., which keeps the naming conventions consistent and adds a bit of flavour to the world.

Proverbs

Finally, proverbs are my favourite trick for imbuing a setting with a sense of culture and history.

Proverbs are usually quite short, but they convey words of wisdom that often speak volumes about an entire society. In keeping with our naming approach, I picked out a couple of Greek and Slavic proverbs suitable to our script:

“Gray hair is a sign of age, not wisdom.”

“As long as a child does not cry, it does not matter what pleases it.”

“Eat and drink with your relatives; do business with strangers.”

The cast and crew of The CO2 Connection.

The CO2 Connection is an educational video game developed for Science Alberta. The title centers on building a giant pipeline capable of transporting vast amounts of CO2. This is achieved by exploring numerous areas, gathering resources, smartly planning the pipeline’s route, and completing various minigames.

Here is Science Alberta’s trailer showcasing all these elements in action:

The CO2 Connection was created using Unity3D and can be freely played at the Wonderville website.

Below is a short case study of the project’s development:

The Overview

Following the successful delivery of Kelvin’s Space Ranch, we immediately began production on The CO2 Connection. Its budget was identical to our first work-for-hire project (coming in at just under 100k CAD following taxes), but with a slightly longer timeline of 5 months. The schedule was extended to officially include an iOS port and allow for more extensive prototyping.

The Challenge

The key concepts that needed to be captured in the game were the extraction, compression, transportation and storage of CO2. These were all based on drastically different processes, and in turn needed to expose various educational tid-bits.

Character faces -- even those of animals -- helped to add personality to the dialogue and drive the player forward.

On the technical side of things, we were obligated to create 3 different versions of the game: one for the browser, one for a high-powered PC cabinet, and one for the iPhone/iPod Touch. All these versions included drastically different technical specifications, requiring the game to be very scalable. The PC and the iOS devices also utilized a touch-screen interface, placing further constraints on the design.

The last technical obstacle was the art style itself. A whimsical, 2D look was chosen, but its aesthetics were not supported by Unity’s core feature-set.

Finally, due to Science Alberta’s intension of presenting The CO2 Connection at various public events, the game had to be easy enough for anyone to pick up and play on the show floor.

The Solution

After analyzing the 4 key concepts outlined by the sponsors, we proposed an approach that focused on building a giant pipeline. The main reason for this was that although all the necessary topics required drastically different gameplay, the transportation of CO2 was a common link among them; the CO2 is first extracted from pollutants, then compressed for transportation, and finally delivered to specific sites for storage.

The idea of building a transportation network was deep enough to carry the overall game, and it also lent itself well to either mouse or touch controls. The remaining concepts were then added on top as end-level minigames, and their distribution let us space out all the educational tid-bits.

Each level contains a handful of CO2-producing locations that must be connected to the pipeline.

As the core structure of the game was fleshed out, it became clear that we would have to do some extra work in order to properly capture the desired art style.

Unity is optimized for rendering 3D environments, but its 2D capabilities are rather inefficient and mostly limited to UI. What’s more, we had 3 different builds to worry about, and the iOS platforms were not nearly powerful enough to smoothly render all our 2D objects.

Our solution was to create a custom 2D library that actually utilized Unity’s 3D capabilities. Each map-tile, decoration, pop-up window, etc., became a texture for a flat, dynamically generated mesh, in turn allowing us to draw layers upon layers of static and animated artwork. This wholly 3D approach also made it effortless to change the game’s resolution and aspect ratio for any desired platform.

Periodic upgrades helped to spread out the gameplay elements while providing a steady stream of rewards.

Finally, we worked alongside Heather Desurvire of Behavioristics to make sure The CO2 Connection was as intuitive as possible. This was an ongoing process that touched upon numerous concepts such as clear story-goals, context-sensitive cursors, audio and visual feedback for player actions, self-evident UI icons, and many, many more.

Explicit tutorials were also included and consisted of large image sequences with just a little bit of text. To complement these, an extra “?” button was added to each screen that displayed more thorough instructions.

In the end, the kids tasked with playtesting the game — even some who did not yet know how to read — were able to play it all the way through.

The Results

Much like Kelvin’s Space Ranch, The CO2 Connection was successfully completed on time and applauded by its sponsors. Immediately following its last deliverable, Science Alberta contracted Incubator Games to do a third game in the Kelvin series while laying out a plan for future sequels.

When I initially sat down to design Trudy’s combat, I wanted each unit to have a unique feel. Different attributes and abilities were a good start, but to truly achieve this, all entities had to behave in a distinct fashion.

To begin, I brainstormed a variety of scenarios I wanted to see in-game. These ranged from the somewhat common (an area-effect unit preferring to target foes clumped together) to the more original (a Steampunk robot trying to activate random machinery and only attacking when provoked).

Once I had a list of these, I came up with some character types that would facilitate each case.

Below are three examples of our finalized units, along with a short description and their AI routines. The AI is a bit simplified from the code, but shows a sorted priority of possible behaviours.

The Corsair

The Corsair is quick and agile, preferring to take out enemies from afar. Due to his mercenary nature, he has a tendency of sidetracking to grab extra treasure and retreat from a fight if it gets too dangerous.

1. If badly wounded, randomly alternate between the following actions:
   • Retreat to closest exit.
   • Head for a healing station, if available.
   • Take pot-shots at closest enemy in range.
2. If defending, take pot-shots at first enemy that approaches.
3. Grab any nearby treasures.
4. Man any nearby turrets.
5. Use saw-blade if upgraded and surrounded by 2 or more enemies.
6. Attack closest enemy that’s weak to the flintlock rifle.
7. Attack closest enemy that’s low on health.
8. Pursue closest enemy until in flintlock range.

The Bruiser

The big and burly Bruiser is slow to act, but capable of travelling great distances once he’s rolled up into a ball. As the muscle of the Underworld, the Bruisers pride themselves on their reputation and never run away from a fight.

1. If badly wounded, randomly alternate between the following actions:
   • Put up defenses and wait.
   • Retreat to closest alarm station to call for backup.
2. Don’t move if current position blocks projectile attackers from hitting team members.
3. Roll into closest enemy by a wall in order to push them back and cause extra damage.
4. Roll into any nearby enemy.
5. If upgraded, follow up a rolling attack with a ground slam for extra damage.
6. Activate closest alarm station if requiring backup.
7. Retreat from flying units that can’t be targeted with the roll attack.
8. Pursue non-flying enemies out of range until adjacent to them.

The Sewer Slug

The Sewer Slugs mutated in the slop cocktails of the Underworld, slowly filling with acid and becoming living batteries. Although they’re naturally docile, they’re considered a dangerous nuisance as they don’t avoid human habitats.

1. If dying, explode in an acidic burst that showers the surrounding enemies in corrosive fluids.
2. If badly wounded, randomly alternate between the following actions:
   • Retreat to closest nest if flying-charge is ready.
   • Use self-healing ability.
3. If not attacked, simply move between closest nest and hatchery.
4. Fire electric goo on closest enemy to damage and stun them for one turn.
5. If flying-charge is ready, move toward closest enemy.
6. If flying-charge is not ready, pass to regain it.

This highly autonomous behaviour means that there’s no “field general” controlling the entirety of the opposing force. Instead, the combat takes on a gang-skirmish feel where each unit follows its own whims.

For quick, small scale battles where the units are all predefined, we found this to be a generally more fun approach.