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Overview:

The following page discusses the design decisions/components behind the basic “level one” Pipe PVC that has been implemented within the game.

As a reminder, the game has three different levels of weapons the player can equip. This idea is based on the design pattern of investment loops – which lets users invest their efforts into setting themselves up for future rewards, which in our case, the next level weapons.

Final Design

Stats:

• Damage: 5
• Cooldown: 1 second
• Attack Type: Melee
• Level: 1
• Craftable? Yes
• Materials: 1x Plastic, 1x Rubber

Background research:

Considering the objectives set for this sprint, the combat items to be made need to be meaningful and relatable to the player's career in plumbing. Hence background research focused on identifying common tools and materials plumbers would use. PVC pipe was found to be the most widely used plastic piping plumber use. The material this pipe was made from worked in line with the conditions of lower damager for level one combat items. With this decision, it is hoped it will be known by users this combat item is a level one item.

Design inspiration:

The starting point for the PVC pipe is a blank slate. Therefore, a style guide for it had to be created, which was derived from a few items of high-quality examples of PVC pipes.

Inspiration One	Inspiration Two	Reason
		From the following images above, it can be derived that PVC pipes can come in different shapes and forms. Commonly they are thick in width and a white/greyish colour. These sources of inspiration also give a good idea of possible shadowing positions to help create a more 3-D pixelated design. This will be the base reference for the design to be implemented.

Phase 1: Sketching

As with all other weapon designs, sketching was completed first in order to attain a brief understanding and feel of how the weapon might look like.

These sketches were used as the basis of the pixel art drawing shown in the next few iterations. Within these pixel art, two different shapes and forms were utilised. Since there is a consistent collaboration between the player team on how the weapon will be displayed on the player, we thought it would be best to provide multiple options to define which suited the player best.

During this phase of the design, I wanted to attain more information on the PVC pipe structure and colour that should be used within the game. Furthermore, I wanted to gauge if users thought the intial pixel art represented anything remotely close to that of a PVC pipe.

User feedback data can be found HERE

Phase 2: User Feedback:

Based on the user feedback, there is a strong indication that the colour and structure of the PVC pipe need further consideration. Almost the users tested commented on the colour scheme of the pipe, suggesting the pipe has darker tones. This could be because of the notion that pipes are often darker in colour once used. Considering this in the next iteration of the pipe, such darker tones could also help in creating a more 3-D pipe, something the users also suggested the design lacked in.

What was most interesting in the user feedback was the structure of the pipe. Some users prefered the straight pipe structure and found the other structure to be resembling too much of a “bat”. On the other hand, users preferred the other look as it seemed more familiar to their expectations of a pipe. This begs the question of whether users initially recognised the design as pipe or whether they just chose a design that simulated the look of a pipe. Considering this feedback, the new design will be structured in such a way that it incorporates both structures to make it more like the user's expectation of a pipe.

Colour scheme:

As per the user feedback analysis above, a new colour scheme that incorporates more darker tones needs to be created. The following image below is the new colour scheme for the pipe.

Phase 3: Weapon Pixel Drawing

Iteration	Design	Changed Items
Iteration 1		N/A
Iteration 2		The main changes from here that users wanted is seen through the colour tone of the pipe. As can be seen now, the structure of the pipe is now quite clean making the design easier for users to identify.
Iteration 3		As seen within this final iteration, the pipe has now been extended to ensure that the player would have a handle to grip onto. This was based on user testing feedback of not immediately recognising the design as a pipe.

This design was put against the analysis of the user testing above and the initial design guideline. It was found that users may find this design to be messy and not recognise that the weapon is a pipe. The pipe should follow a clean, structured look.

Future direction:

To incorporate a more comedic perspective based on the storyline, the pipe could also iterate to implement more 'toilet-themed' elements. For example, perhaps toilet paper could be coming out of the pipe. This could also be implmented in the animation for the pipe.

Weapon Animation

During this sprint, we decided to create the weapon attack animations for this PVC Pipe. In order for us to implement this design within the game, initial research was conducted to see what other animations existed in the ‘market’. After research was conducted, we proceeded to incorporate certain aspects of these inspirations into the animated design for the PVC Pipe

Design Inspirations

There were several inspirations behind this design and are seen in the bellow table.

Inspiration Number	Image	Explanation
Inspiration 1		Due to the nature of the item not being a typical weapon, inspiration had to be taken from how it can be used as a weapon. The main inspiration that was taken away from this gif is the movement path of the pipe. As seen in this inspiration, the pipe can be used as a weapon through an up-and-down motion, like a slam. It also makes this motion multiple times. This makes sense to have shown repetitive motion for the pipe within the game as the materials we set for the pipe (plastic and rubber) would not realistically affect one hit. The pipe attack path that needs to be created should follow a multiple slam type motion.
Inspiration 2		The main inspiration that was taken away from this gif was the collision of the weapon to the person being attacked. As mentioned in other inspiration that pipes are not a typical weapon, so the visualisation of its attack needs to be clear. As seen from this image, a red bang happens on the hit, making it clear the pipe is being used as a weapon as it has attacked. The pipe attack that needs to be created should visually show it has collided with the enemy and is attacking.

Sketching

From the above inspirations, sketching was further done on the animation of the pipe.

1. Sketch one

Upon reflection based on the game itself it was realised that this was perhaps not the best design to be implemented. This is because last sprint it was decided weapons would be overlayed over the player entity, which means the player hand won’t move on attack. As seen in the image the design of the attack animation motion is up and down, and due to the overlay affect it would look as if the weapon were flying up and down. The next iteration needs to consider how the attack swing can be designed to not highlight that the player hands don’t move on attack.

2. Sketch two

Pixel Art Animation

Iteration name	Sprite Sheet	GIF
Iteration 1
Iteration 2
Final design

User Testing

The user testing questions can be found here. The individual goal for doing user testing for the pipe was to receive feedback if it can be perceived as a weapon due to the item not usually being considered a weapon. The feedback received from the user testing suggest that weapon path swing needs reconsideration. Half of the tester do not think the swing is appropriate for the pipe, and the all the comments made following that question suggests for a strong re-design. With the quantity of feedback suggesting as such and how almost all comments had the same reasoning it was clear another iteration needed to be done. The main points taken from the feedback that needs to be considered in the next iteration is instead of having a multiple hit consider a swing instead. The pipe attack animation was changed into more of a one-hit swing, which can be seen within the 3rd iteration. Reflecting on this change it has allowed the pipe animation swing to look more like a realistic attack and ultimately, provide more value towards the game within the design aspect.

Future Directions

In terms of future iterations of this weapon, we would like to see the bang effect on hit. To elaborate, the first two-pixel animations had a bang effect on hit, it would be fun to see how that that bang effect can be brought into the current iteration. Further it would be interesting to have the bang effect follow in the story theme by having toilet paper being the bang. This would make the weapon follow the story of the game more.

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Author

• Nisha Vashist
• GitHub: NishaVashist0
• Discord: nishavashist#4270
• Slack: Nisha Vashist