Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Hay everyone! :D ♥︎

So, being a girl who's always been interested in game design and how /why games work the way they do, I was just sitting here lamenting over the fact that there's nothing out there (aside from some unknown indie games perhaps) that really tries to address the trans* experience.  I mean, games have the wonderful ability to allow you (the player) to experience life in another person's shoes (so-to-speak), right?  And we're always complaining that cis folk don't understand us, so wouldn't it be great if there were a game which could give a cis person a taste of the experience of GD? :)

I thought this would make an interesting and revealing thought experiment, so here's my question to all of you - if you were designing a game to explain to a cis person what GD was like, what would your game be like?  What sort of game mechanics would you use to describe the experience?  How would the plot play out (assuming there is one)?

I'm eager to see your answers :) ♥︎*Hugs*♥︎

I'm not a gamer myself, but maybe a trans character in The Sims?

ima in

I have the Oculus Rift and the first thing I did was make a female character and a room with a mirror. It felt amazing seeing myself as a full-blown girl when I looked down at my body and when I looked in the mirror. If my arms and legs were tracked too it would of been more immersive. I think if a Cis person were to have to play in an opposite gender role in a VR game they may experience a bit of GD themselves after playing a while , or at least gain some feeling of empathy for what Trans* go thru with being in the wrong body.

I read an article about using the Oculus for experiencing gender swap. It claims it increases empathy and intimacy. Found a link http://digg.com/video/using-oculus-rift-to-swap-your-gender

Love,
Jade

While it would certainly be a niche title in the age of kickstarter and a golden age of indy game development then I see no reason why it could not at least get to a design brief.

However, as has been shown by the recent #gamersgate controversy the gaming industry is still so far behind the rest of the world in equality for women in general, let alone trans women/men, that it would undoubtedly end up turned into some comedy title played for laughs rather than a serious game.

But then again, I never thought I would ever see a game like Depression Quest, so what do i know  ;)

I do agree with Bellatrix here. The loudest gamers are the rudest and they are not ready for equality for women in gaming, let alone Trans* people. That being said, I am a programmer / game designer and would love working a team to build a game with gender role swap in mind. Something for the Rift because of the overwhelming feeling of being the character in the game. It takes lots of time to build a good game so maybe the world would be ready for such a thing by the time a game could be complete.

Love,
Jade

Quote from: Jade_404 on October 26, 2014, 02:46:48 AM
I do agree with Bellatrix here. The loudest gamers are the rudest and they are not ready for equality for women in gaming, let alone Trans* people. That being said, I am a programmer / game designer and would love working a team to build a game with gender role swap in mind. Something for the Rift because of the overwhelming feeling of being the character in the game. It takes lots of time to build a good game so maybe the world would be ready for such a thing by the time a game could be complete.

Love,
Jade

Yeah, I'm with you on that, the sensations available with something like the Rift would take the game to the next level. I think another issue would be that to make a compelling game about this subject matter would require alot of graphical power, enough to convince you that the body you are looking down at is not something akin to an extra from Mike Tysons Punch Out. The graphics required could push costs up to an untenable level.

Jade, as a game designer (although I obvs have no idea about your background) would it not be feesable to do a basic development document and garner interest from potential backers about a project? Even if its not a trans life simulator, it could be incorporated into an interesting RPG type situation. Heck, even as part of the backstory for a character in a game focused elsewhere.

Quote from: Bellatrix on October 26, 2014, 02:59:35 AM
Yeah, I'm with you on that, the sensations available with something like the Rift would take the game to the next level. I think another issue would be that to make a compelling game about this subject matter would require alot of graphical power, enough to convince you that the body you are looking down at is not something akin to an extra from Mike Tysons Punch Out. The graphics required could push costs up to an untenable level.

Jade, as a game designer (although I obvs have no idea about your background) would it not be feesable to do a basic development document and garner interest from potential backers about a project? Even if its not a trans life simulator, it could be incorporated into an interesting RPG type situation. Heck, even as part of the backstory for a character in a game focused elsewhere.

I am not good at documents... however, I can make working demos of games using Unity3D. (or build full game with funding and a team) I can create very realistic characters and 3D environments as well as do game programming. The thing I lack the most is friends / visibility / exposure. I had a kickstarter for an awesome game but no one even looked at it so I never met my mark. I don't personally have the capital to afford a team so I have built everything alone or with the help of my brother who is a 3D artist. I think if we could map out a game idea I could put together some demos easily. This sounds fun, turning [Hypothetical] into something possibly real!

I spend a lot of time doing prototypes for Hasbro, leap Frog, Fisher Price, Crayola, Wild Planet and more. I create 3D simulations of their toys before they are created, so they can play around with concepts and ideas without having to involve engineers and model people. I currently have only 1 project so I have a bit of time to invest in something :)

Great responses so far peeps, I'm having fun reading these ideas :)

Here's something to get you all thinking though - does it have to be so literal?  Do we really need photo-realistic graphics and an expensive headset to communicate the feelings and sensations associated with dysphoria?

Here's an Extra Credits episode explaining the concept of Mechanics as Metaphor.  It's well worth a watch to get where I'm coming from
http://youtu.be/4QwcI4iQt2Y

The game can be found here: http://www.necessarygames.com/my-games/loneliness/flash (http://www.necessarygames.com/my-games/loneliness/flash)
And this is a quick play through of the game they are talking about if you don't want to go and quickly check it out for yourselves:
http://youtu.be/EnW4pAsTUAo

I find it incredible that such a simple game (a simplicity on-par with 1st-generation games like Pong) can convey such a deep experience and narrative just from its mechanics alone.  That is true elegance of design, and it doesn't need a NASA super-computer to run it.  Could something like this be applied to the trans* experience? ;)

♥︎*Hugs*♥︎

I personally have worked on some very small games that were never released since I didn't want to release them, but the furthest I ever went was adding a third gender option, since most of the games were designed to be online roleplaying games...

But, a game like you are talking about, would be, amazing. Also, just adding, since I mostly play games with lower graphic qualities(even though my computer can run most games on ultra), I can easily say that even the worst graphics can still allow you to feel attached to the character you are playing as. Though, you still have that stupid part of the gaming community that is obsessed with graphics...

By the way, I saw someone talking about how if only you could also control your hands with the Oculus Rift? Might not be exactly what you were looking for, but go check out Loading Human on YouTube. They are the closest I have seen to having a full virtual reality experience.

Quote from: Ms GraceI'm not a gamer myself, but maybe a trans character in The Sims?

I believe The Sims 2 has a transgender mod. Probably my favorite in the series if you can get all the expansions. Has a lot of really good mods.

As for a game concept, I suppose you could have the player create their sort of character, then have their sex be changed in the game. This might give someone the idea what it'd feel like to have GD if you were able to make them feel as if their character really represented them. An example might be the player is a male and is suddenly forced to take the role of a woman, or vice versa. Maybe some sort of narrative driven game might really help players understand?

Back in the days of D&D in the 80s, I got turned into a female by an Orc Shaman when I called her sexy... The dungeon master thought I would be upset about having to be a girl in the game. I ended up loving the girl character so much I made only girl characters from then on and that continued into video games later. I still only pick girl characters, if a game does not have girl characters to pick from I won't play it long.

Love,
Jade

Quote from: ♥︎ SarahD ♥︎ on October 26, 2014, 07:30:26 AM
Great responses so far peeps, I'm having fun reading these ideas :)

Here's something to get you all thinking though - does it have to be so literal?  Do we really need photo-realistic graphics and an expensive headset to communicate the feelings and sensations associated with dysphoria?

Here's an Extra Credits episode explaining the concept of Mechanics as Metaphor.  It's well worth a watch to get where I'm coming from
http://youtu.be/4QwcI4iQt2Y

The game can be found here: http://www.necessarygames.com/my-games/loneliness/flash (http://www.necessarygames.com/my-games/loneliness/flash)
And this is a quick play through of the game they are talking about if you don't want to go and quickly check it out for yourselves:
http://youtu.be/EnW4pAsTUAo

I find it incredible that such a simple game (a simplicity on-par with 1st-generation games like Pong) can convey such a deep experience and narrative just from its mechanics alone.  That is true elegance of design, and it doesn't need a NASA super-computer to run it.  Could something like this be applied to the trans* experience? ;)

♥︎*Hugs*♥︎

Sarah. I don't even know if I can define Loneliness as a game. I know that it is leading us down a somewhat different conversation route, but can a game with no inherent win conditions, nor loose conditions actually be considered a game?

However, I can see the point that was being made. But i believe that a game of the kind we are talking about would require a certain sense of realism that comes from decent graphics. I'm not suggesting Crysis levels of GPU destroying realism, just something that looks somewhat palatable.

Quote from: Bellatrix on October 27, 2014, 08:05:32 AM
Sarah. I don't even know if I can define Loneliness as a game. I know that it is leading us down a somewhat different conversation route, but can a game with no inherent win conditions, nor loose conditions actually be considered a game?

However, I can see the point that was being made. But i believe that a game of the kind we are talking about would require a certain sense of realism that comes from decent graphics. I'm not suggesting Crysis levels of GPU destroying realism, just something that looks somewhat palatable.

I do agree with Bella, without some level of realism, much would be lost in the translation.

Love,
Jade

I absolutely agree with Bella,

Although a trends game would be interesting. I just don't see how you can achieve the feeling of loneliness, isolation, severe depression and the absolute need to change without knowing how to change it is such a feeling of desperation that I just don't see how that can come across in a game, but I would love to see it. I do wish you the best of luck in trying to develop this game and really do hope you succeed.

Hugs,

Melissa Ann

Sorry about that, I mean Trans game :P :P :P :P

Quote from: MelissaAnn on October 27, 2014, 08:19:44 AM
Although a trends game would be interesting. I just don't see how you can achieve the feeling of loneliness, isolation, severe depression and the absolute need to change without knowing how to change it is such a feeling of desperation that I just don't see how that can come across in a game, but I would love to see it.

You might be surprised how well a game can convey some of those feelings.

If you have circa 45 mins to spare give Depression Quest a go to see what I mean, its free to play and can be played in your browser.

http://www.depressionquest.com/

As someone who has suffered from particularly bad depression it does an alarmingly good job of putting those feeling across.

I volounteer to help with this project if it leaves the conceptual phase. :)  Self taught CGI work, amateur but effective.

My resume and only surviving example of my work (I quit doing it during my trans-denial-angst years): https://plus.google.com/103876956860374542597/posts/CiKbpNY86Rd (https://plus.google.com/103876956860374542597/posts/CiKbpNY86Rd)

I was going to mention Depression Quest, but I see it's already been pointed out.  :)  I think a trans game along similar lines could be very helpful in getting people to GET it.

Quote from: Jade_404 on October 26, 2014, 02:31:12 AMIt felt amazing seeing myself as a full-blown girl when I looked down at my body...

There are mods which allow you to do that in Skyrim.

VR is probably the most efficient way to get people to experience what it feels like to see yourself, and be treated by others as someone you know you're not. You probably wouldn't really need to make a specific type of game for it, just one which takes place through the eyes of a character of a different gender to your own, in which there is a lot of interaction with others and oneself. Although it would probably add to the immersion if the premise of the game was being someone outside the game, a real person, and being addressed as such by the world. Sort of like Omikron. But add in dialogue options, and choices that the character you're playing would be expected to say, or make, and situations they would be expected to find themselves in. That might do a decent job of portraying some of the feelings of frustration and discomfort of being seen a certain way, and expected to behave in a certain way, in a world which seems to have freedom of choice and expression, but really doesn't.

You know what would be good... A very detail character creation process. The user picks a bunch of attributes and sets up a character. When the game starts, they are not the character they designed. They can see a reflection of themselves with opposite character attributes of what they chose at the start... they are like WTF this is not me!  >:-) then ACTION!

Love,
Jade
:D

Quote from: Sephirah on October 27, 2014, 10:30:59 PM
VR is probably the most efficient way to get people to experience what it feels like to see yourself, and be treated by others as someone you know you're not. You probably wouldn't really need to make a specific type of game for it, just one which takes place through the eyes of a character of a different gender to your own, in which there is a lot of interaction with others and oneself. Although it would probably add to the immersion if the premise of the game was being someone outside the game, a real person, and being addressed as such by the world. Sort of like Omikron. But add in dialogue options, and choices that the character you're playing would be expected to say, or make, and situations they would be expected to find themselves in. That might do a decent job of portraying some of the feelings of frustration and discomfort of being seen a certain way, and expected to behave in a certain way, in a world which seems to have freedom of choice and expression, but really doesn't.

This was exactly what I was thinking except worded far better. I'd feel the major hurdle would be trying to portray the feeling that comes along with not being the right sex. Maybe making it so their character isn't born with their chosen sex.

I am a Unity3d master! I have Unity3d Pro and a ton of plugins I bought, it is what I blow my money on  :P . I have worked on a bunch of things in Unity for many companies, but one I'd like to show that uses a Kinect with Mac/PC, here is a video http://www.crypticimage.com/sept/ (its in Quicktime, it will auto play when its buffered) I did this entire game demo myself back in 2011-2012. (The intro is a little too long I think) I had it on Kickstarter but since I have no social networks or social skill, hardly anyone saw it and only had a few backers. :(

I will help put this "Mis-gendered" idea into a playable game demo. I can lead the development. I have ALL the tools. Adobe Master collection, Unity Pro (tons of expensive plugins), Cinema 4D, MakeHuman, Poser and more. It would be nice if it was VR but that is restrictive since many users do not have access to an Oculus Rift. I am an Oculus developer so there will be the option to play it in the Rift , but not mandatory to play the game. Who knows maybe with some work and a good demo we could find funding for a full game experience.

We need an organizational person. Someone who can keep track of tasks, assign tasks, keep the team on the same page. Track progress.
We need a few programmers including myself. UnityScript(javascript) and C#
We will need 3D artists, I see a Delsorou on that list. I can do characters and environments in 3D as well.
We need 3d modelers.
We need an environmental artist that knows Unity3d lighting and particles would be good. (I can do basic stuff, fog, sparks , explosions, rain, etc)
We need story writers for plot and dialog.
We need music, it is important for building suspense and moving story along.
We need sound effects. I do have a 500 gig drive full of clip SFX I bought over the years. Would be good to have someone who can create ones we can't find in the library.
We need voice actors for character speech.
We need testers, I am sure the whole Susans.org community would jump in for that task.
We need a dropbox or server where we can share assets.

I am sure I am missing something, and that is why we need an organizational person pronto. Someone to keep track of everything. I will be too busy making everything work in Unity to do the organizing part.

Again, I did that game demo all by myself, every part of it. If we can get a handful of us working together on a demo it would turn out awesome.

I'm GAME! Lets do it!

P.S. thats me in the corner :)

Quote from: Jade_404 on October 28, 2014, 12:49:12 AM...
P.S. thats me in the corner :)

Is that also you in the spotlight, losing your religion?

No wait, that's a zombie.

Quote from: Jade_404 on October 28, 2014, 12:49:12 AM
I am a Unity3d master! I have Unity3d Pro and a ton of plugins I bought, it is what I blow my money on  :P . I have worked on a bunch of things in Unity for many companies, but one I'd like to show that uses a Kinect with Mac/PC, here is a video http://www.crypticimage.com/sept/ (its in Quicktime, it will auto play when its buffered) I did this entire game demo myself back in 2011-2012. (The intro is a little too long I think) I had it on Kickstarter but since I have no social networks or social skill, hardly anyone saw it and only had a few backers. :(

I will help put this "Mis-gendered" idea into a playable game demo. I can lead the development. I have ALL the tools. Adobe Master collection, Unity Pro (tons of expensive plugins), Cinema 4D, MakeHuman, Poser and more. It would be nice if it was VR but that is restrictive since many users do not have access to an Oculus Rift. I am an Oculus developer so there will be the option to play it in the Rift , but not mandatory to play the game. Who knows maybe with some work and a good demo we could find funding for a full game experience.

We need an organizational person. Someone who can keep track of tasks, assign tasks, keep the team on the same page. Track progress.
We need a few programmers including myself. UnityScript(javascript) and C#
We will need 3D artists, I see a Delsorou on that list. I can do characters and environments in 3D as well.
We need 3d modelers.
We need an environmental artist that knows Unity3d lighting and particles would be good. (I can do basic stuff, fog, sparks , explosions, rain, etc)
We need story writers for plot and dialog.
We need music, it is important for building suspense and moving story along.
We need sound effects. I do have a 500 gig drive full of clip SFX I bought over the years. Would be good to have someone who can create ones we can't find in the library.
We need voice actors for character speech.
We need testers, I am sure the whole Susans.org community would jump in for that task.
We need a dropbox or server where we can share assets.

I am sure I am missing something, and that is why we need an organizational person pronto. Someone to keep track of everything. I will be too busy making everything work in Unity to do the organizing part.

Again, I did that game demo all by myself, every part of it. If we can get a handful of us working together on a demo it would turn out awesome.

I'm GAME! Lets do it!

P.S. thats me in the corner :)

As a career Administrator/Office Manager I'd throw my hat in the ring for the bold title should this start to get some traction.

Quote from: Delsorou on October 28, 2014, 02:49:25 AM
Is that also you in the spotlight, losing your religion?

No wait, that's a zombie.

+10

:icon_pistoles:

Quote from: Bellatrix on October 28, 2014, 07:00:07 AM
As a career Administrator/Office Manager I'd throw my hat in the ring for the bold title should this start to get some traction.

Perfect Bella!  ;D

Quote from: Jade_404 on October 28, 2014, 12:49:12 AM
I am a Unity3d master! I have Unity3d Pro and a ton of plugins I bought, it is what I blow my money on  :P . I have worked on a bunch of things in Unity for many companies, but one I'd like to show that uses a Kinect with Mac/PC, here is a video http://www.crypticimage.com/sept/ (its in Quicktime, it will auto play when its buffered) I did this entire game demo myself back in 2011-2012. (The intro is a little too long I think) I had it on Kickstarter but since I have no social networks or social skill, hardly anyone saw it and only had a few backers. :(

I will help put this "Mis-gendered" idea into a playable game demo. I can lead the development. I have ALL the tools. Adobe Master collection, Unity Pro (tons of expensive plugins), Cinema 4D, MakeHuman, Poser and more. It would be nice if it was VR but that is restrictive since many users do not have access to an Oculus Rift. I am an Oculus developer so there will be the option to play it in the Rift , but not mandatory to play the game. Who knows maybe with some work and a good demo we could find funding for a full game experience.

We need an organizational person. Someone who can keep track of tasks, assign tasks, keep the team on the same page. Track progress.
We need a few programmers including myself. UnityScript(javascript) and C#
We will need 3D artists, I see a Delsorou on that list. I can do characters and environments in 3D as well.
We need 3d modelers.
We need an environmental artist that knows Unity3d lighting and particles would be good. (I can do basic stuff, fog, sparks , explosions, rain, etc)
We need story writers for plot and dialog.
We need music, it is important for building suspense and moving story along.
We need sound effects. I do have a 500 gig drive full of clip SFX I bought over the years. Would be good to have someone who can create ones we can't find in the library.
We need voice actors for character speech.
We need testers, I am sure the whole Susans.org community would jump in for that task.
We need a dropbox or server where we can share assets.

I am sure I am missing something, and that is why we need an organizational person pronto. Someone to keep track of everything. I will be too busy making everything work in Unity to do the organizing part.

Again, I did that game demo all by myself, every part of it. If we can get a handful of us working together on a demo it would turn out awesome.

I'm GAME! Lets do it!

P.S. thats me in the corner :)

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.kym-cdn.com%2Fphotos%2Fimages%2Fnewsfeed%2F000%2F353%2F279%2Fe31.jpg&hash=af11839c4f483ba8bd8dcd8f7da1c76f30d32321)

Haha holy crap, I started this thread more as a thought experiment than anything else, but goodness - if you girls are serious about putting a team together to make this a reality, then count me the hell in! :D  I have six and a half years of safety-critical embedded software programming experience to DO-178b (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DO-178B) standard and with high MISRA C/C++ 2012 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MISRA_C) conformance (impressed much? :P ♥︎).  I've also done quite a bit of stuff (both personally and for work) with C# and have dabbled in Mono (which IIRC - isn't that what Unity uses?).  I've also played around with the Unity engine a bit (only the free version and only made a couple of very small experiments (I wouldn't even go as far as to call them games lol :P )), so I kinda have a basic feel for all that too :)  On top of that - the past couple of years I've ended up taking on the role of being our software team's test "expert" (I use the term very loosely lol :P ), so I'd be happy to help coordinate testing efforts too :)

Regarding organisation, two essential tools we will need will be a revision control system (SVN (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Subversion) or Git (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git_(software)) would be my recommendations - I have more experience with SVN but Git would probably be more suited to our setup), and task tracking software (Fogbugz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FogBugz) or Bugzilla (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugzilla) would be my recommendations.  Fogbugz is more powerful particularly with time scale estimations and such, but Bugzilla is free (last I checked)).  If we're serious about this, I can set that stuff up next week while I'm on holiday :)

Oh yeh, and I also have a 10-slot TS server we can use if we need to talk "face-to-face" about things :)

So anyway, I've been thinking about the suggestions you've all been putting forward, and some ideas are starting to form in my little head.  Here's what I'm thinking so far:

1. Reflective Surfaces
A couple of you have mentioned mirrors (somewhat jokingly) in your posts.  Having thought about it, I think there's some milage in that idea that we could turn into a game mechanic.  We could extend it even to any sort of reflective surface - water (puddles, streams, lakes, filled bathtubs or sinks etc), windows (car windows, shop or house windows etc).  We could have it so that something happens whenever the player catches sight of themselves in a reflective surface.  Perhaps it could be a purely graphical effect like a "hallucination" type thing (the reflection looks like their real character for a moment before changing back again or something), or it could accumulate some kind of "depression points" (or conversely, subtract "happiness points") for every second that they continue to look at it.  It's just a rough feeling, but it seems like there's something in that idea to me.  I mean, how many of us find ourselves checking reflective surfaces in RL just to catch a glimpse of our inner selves?  I know I certainly do, almost obsessively lol :P

2. Character Creation
Vale and Jade - I think that's a *BRILLIANT* idea!  Detailed character creation, and then have them spawn in as something completely different from what they chose.  It could also include choosing character attributes / personality traits, and during gameplay the player could be asked to regularly make the choice between doing what make NPC characters happy (but which runs contrary to the traits they picked), or doing what makes sense to the character (but runs contrary to what the NPC's expect you to do).  I'm also wondering - could the character creation be the goal of the game?  As in - you create a character at the beginning, you spawn in looking different, but the game gives you the tools to gradually make the character you get look more like the character you created (from simple cosmetic things like shaving legs and makeup to more permanent things like hormones and surgery.  Maybe there could even be risks involved ("Game Over - your character bled out on the operating table due to medical incompetence" .. wow, writing that actually made me shudder.. :( )).  Doing so makes the character happier in themselves, but along the way the NPC's start reacting increasingly negatively to them (creating a sense of the social pressure we all get when we try to alleviate the dysphoria).

If we made it to incorporate non-binary characters too, that could all get even more interesting ("sometimes, you still loose", as Watchdogs so eloquently put it :( )

Could a mechanic like that be made to work?

3. Environment
I'm thinking open-world, kinda GTA-esque, but obviously a small team wouldn't be able to make anything that big.  A village, or perhaps even a small suburban town at a stretch.  It could fit the theme too - I know I've read a lot of stories around these very forums about how small backwater towns / villages tend to be particularly bad for transition because *EVERYBODY* knows you, so it's hard to hide and shake that "they used to be X" sentiment (one reason I'm so glad to live in a large city myself lol :P ).  There would need to be a home for the player (perhaps with the option of moving?), houses for NPC neighbours, shops and entertainment activities (pubs, clubs, bowling alleys, movie theatres etc), and of course a GiC ;)  I think there should be places for the character to work too, as a way of funding transition.  Of course, we're straying more towards showing what it's like to transition rather than directly showing GD here, but being prevented from transitioning due to social or financial reasons is all a part of the experience that we'd want to show, isn't it?



I think there was something else but I'm kinda tired and forgot lol :P  So do you think that's heading in the right direction, or is that starting to focus a bit too much on the transitioning part and not enough on the dysphoria part?

♥︎*Hugs*♥︎

Wow Sarah! I am going to have another coffee and reread your post. Yes Mono for Unity. I did not even think about version control, good catch. An open world GTA style would be easy to do. I have a procedural building creator plugin for Unity, so making the town / city buildings should be easy. No need for separate modeling in 3D. Reflections, reflections , reflections... no problem in Unity...knowing when a user sees the reflection...  a little tricky but doable.

More coffee...  :P

Love Jade  :-*

Hehe take your time hun, I'm going to have a bath and wash my hair ;) (no really, I'm not kidding! :laugh: ).

Just quickly though - couldn't a hitscan detection be used to see if the player is facing a reflective surface?  It wouldn't need to be a process hog - just a ping ever 500ms or something to check what the player is looking at?  I mean, it's not like we'd be using it for anything else like shooting or anything lol :P

♥︎*Hugs*♥︎

Quote from: ♥︎ SarahD ♥︎ on October 28, 2014, 04:01:47 PM
Hehe take your time hun, I'm going to have a bath and wash my hair ;) (no really, I'm not kidding! :laugh: ).

Just quickly though - couldn't a hitscan detection be used to see if the player is facing a reflective surface?  It wouldn't need to be a process hog - just a ping ever 500ms or something to check what the player is looking at?  I mean, it's not like we'd be using it for anything else like shooting or anything lol :P

♥︎*Hugs*♥︎

yes a RaycastHit.
http://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/RaycastHit.html

But even tho it is hit, a player may not still be looking at the reflective surface. Maybe a timer...  like I said, a little tricky but doable

Also would use it for looking at items to pick them up, add to inventory. Or shooting things, hehe  >:-)

Quote from: Jade_404 on October 28, 2014, 04:49:12 PM
yes a RaycastHit.
http://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/RaycastHit.html

But even tho it is hit, a player may not still be looking at the reflective surface. Maybe a timer...  like I said, a little tricky but doable

True, but does the player have o be looking directly at it?  If the crosshair is on the edge of the surface (and if we design the environment appropriately), then it can be safe to assume that the reflection is within the players field of vision.  Even if they're not looking directly at it, that could represent catching a glimpse of your reflection out of the corner of your eye, which can be just as dysphoric sometimes I find.. :(

Quote from: Jade_404 on October 28, 2014, 04:49:12 PM
Also would use it for looking at items to pick them up, add to inventory. Or shooting things, hehe  >:-)

No!  There will be no shooting of the poor innocent widdle creatures in this game!  :icon_yikes:

..unless it's with a Nyancat Launcher, then it's acceptable ;D

http://youtu.be/Fs-qfcfnsBw

..and possibly a Dubstep gun.. because everyone loves Dubstep guns! :laugh:

♥︎*Hugs*♥︎

Quote from: ♥︎ SarahD ♥︎ on October 28, 2014, 05:20:16 PM
True, but does the player have o be looking directly at it?

The reflections will be there in the game environment automatically. It is having the reflection change or morph is where we need a RayCastHit. Would need a trigger, so a player would have to have looked right at the reflected object for a certain amount of time, I think.

Had some coffee and thought about this. Pretty hyped to see if/where this goes. One of the problems I was thinking of...is what if the player just...picks the opposite of what they really want? Seems like the character creation concept of the game would be right on track with how you'd avoid that, (wouldn't be much of a game if you worked around having opposite traits of what you're put in the game world with and just had your character.)

Wish I could provide more input on technical stuff, but even though I've dabbled in unity, udk, this is all beyond me. Going to school for game design though. :D

I really like some of the ideas put forward so far, especially the reverse character creator! That would be a fantastic twist the first time somebody plays.

Unlike some of you I have no idea about development beyond bug reporting in Alpha and Beta testing, so huge respect to those that can actually code these things. My experience is limited to organising, budgeting, PR, finances etc. Heck, about 75% of the things your were talking about up there left me going  ??? :o :o

I cant believe how quickly this topic has gone from "this would be a cool idea" to "lets get folk together"!

Halloween being my favorite holiday... I won't be on a computer from Wed night thru Sunday. Lots of fun hauntings to set up. Once I am back monday, I will jump into getting some useable demos worked up. I have already been messing around with a character creation scene but it is not quite playable yet. Keep the ideas flowing and the team growing!  ;D

Quote from: Vale on October 28, 2014, 06:13:42 PM

Wish I could provide more input on technical stuff, but even though I've dabbled in unity, udk, this is all beyond me. Going to school for game design though. :D

I am sure we will find a need for you!  8)

Geez.  I taught myself everything I know on a [LEGITEMATELY PAID FOR] copy of Lightwave 3D.  It has always been a dream of mine to work on a game though.

You all make me look like a newbie.  :)  Guess I am.  Someday maybe I can go back to school and get a career in gaming... maybe from my moon colony.

This sounds like it might be a lot of fun.  :)

Indie developing is pretty hot right now. A lot of really small development teams, sometimes even just one person, making wonderful games. Steam's Greenlight seems fairly easy to get onto and publish your game.
If you can self teach yourself, then I bet you could do it without going to school, granted you have enough free time.

I have a hard time self teaching myself, and an even harder time doing that while trying to create something from nothing, which always ends up being the most helpful way of learning a lot of these design programs.

Hmm... I've been lurking for a while, but now I feel like saying something.

I've studied animation in college. I've worked with Autodesk Maya mostly.
I haven't used it much lately, since I can't afford a copy of the software of my own.  (I can use a "free trial" version though...) >.>

I don't know if  Maya is of any use to you all, nor do I have much experience in making games, but this project idea piqued my interest.
I wonder if I could be of use for anything...?

Quote from: Arctic Kat on October 29, 2014, 04:15:28 PM
Hmm... I've been lurking for a while, but now I feel like saying something.

I've studied animation in college. I've worked with Autodesk Maya mostly.
I haven't used it much lately, since I can't afford a copy of the software of my own.  (I can use a "free trial" version though...) >.>

I don't know if  Maya is of any use to you all, nor do I have much experience in making games, but this project idea piqued my interest.
I wonder if I could be of use for anything...?

Yes we can use Maya assets! Welcome to the  team !   :)

I was thinking about this, and maybe something to keep in mind would be try and design the game try to teach, but to try and give the players an experience so they can on some level empathize with people suffering from gender dysphoria. I can think of a few games that seem to try and teach you the designer's ideologies, that sort of game often just doesn't sit well with me.

I think any game has to be careful of appearing "preachy" but as long as its fun then I cant see it being a problem. Looks like more and more people are coming on board :D

Okay I am back.  ;D

Had to catch up on some work this past week, i will be working on some Unity tonight and hope to post a link to a download by the AM.

Going to need input from the crew soon.  :-*

Love,
Jade

I'm eager to participate.  Just tell me what needs didded and I will done it - assuming I can.  :)

Hey Delsorou, + others.

I suggest downloading makeHuman it is free Mac and PC . I can convert characters made with this to use with Unity Mecanim system. Grab it up and play around with it a bit if you like  http://www.makehuman.org

It s a good start for some character design.

Love,
Jade

Quote from: Delsorou on November 09, 2014, 12:33:06 PM
I'm eager to participate.  Just tell me what needs didded and I will done it - assuming I can.  :)

Any details on poly count and texture size guidelines and/or LOD requirements?  Just so I've got an idea.

Quote from: Delsorou on November 09, 2014, 02:06:27 PM
Any details on poly count and texture size guidelines and/or LOD requirements?  Just so I've got an idea.

Since I don't think we are focused on mobile at this point we can use some nice detail for user props and character interactive items. I can do poly reduction and also have a plugin for Unity that combines textures in a scene into one texture. These tools can be used to reduce load and memory usage.

What do you think would be good guidelines ? We want it to be pretty decent looking, not cartoonish , I think. More toward realistic spectrum since Unity and most typical computers these days will push the graphics for it pretty easily.

I do have Unity Pro for IOS and Android but I would like to steer away from developing for mobile since it is restrictive. Maybe a later version can be mobile, but for now lets make it PC/Mac game. We can get all the kinks out this way.

What do you think? Maybe you have a model I can play with in Unity and get a gauge of poly count / texture side, LOD. Let me know.

Jade

I just downloaded and tinkered with MakeHuman.
So far, I'm impressed with what it has to offer.

It looks like it works with Blender -- I have Blender on my computer, but haven't used it much.
I may have to teach myself how to use this software, but I'm eager to see what I can do with it.  :icon_surprised:

Just to let you girls know, I'm still here and lurking lol.  I need to go to bed but will reply to this properly tomorrow.

Question in the meantime - do we need an SVN / Git setup yet?  If so I can sort that out this weekend for everyone :) ♥︎

Quote from: ♥︎ SarahD ♥︎ on November 12, 2014, 04:24:29 PM
Just to let you girls know, I'm still here and lurking lol.  I need to go to bed but will reply to this properly tomorrow.

Question in the meantime - do we need an SVN / Git setup yet?  If so I can sort that out this weekend for everyone :) ♥︎

Hey girls, sorry I have not provided any updates I been having a bit of problems at home, if you want you can read here https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,177674.msg1565560.html#msg1565560 (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,177674.msg1565560.html#msg1565560)

Yes please set up a Git, when I have a sample of the character maker I can put it there. Thanks ♥︎ SarahD ♥︎  :-*

Do we have any boys on our team? There seems to be only us ladies interested in doing this game demo. Please guys join in, give us some ideas and share your thoughts!  ;)

Quote from: Jade_404 on November 14, 2014, 08:12:15 PM
...Yes please set up a Git, when I have a sample of the character maker I can put it there. Thanks ♥︎ SarahD ♥︎  :-*

Ok awesome, I'll set that up this afternoon then :)

On a related note Jade, I think we need to talk about how we're going to split the coding up.  I'm seeing a natural split - you have the full version of Unity with a bunch of extras that I don't have and probably can't afford right now at least.  It seems logical to me that you're able to work on code that directly interfaces with Unity, while I'm in a position to work on deeper code modules that are abstracted out a layer or two from it (the sort of stuff I can build a test harness in Visual Studio for and work on it there, then hand it back to you for integration into Unity).  All you'd need to do is give me an API to work against and we should be all dandy :)

Alternatively, I do have the free version of Unity kicking around.  Is it possible that code you write would also work on that?  I'm thinking maybe they could be made into library files or something.  Would code I make on the free version work in the full version?  You're in a better position than myself to judge that so I look to you for advice :) ♥︎

So yeh, how do you feel about those options hun?  What are your thoughts and feelings? ♥︎

Quote from: Jade_404 on November 14, 2014, 08:14:18 PM
Do we have any boys on our team? There seems to be only us ladies interested in doing this game demo. Please guys join in, give us some ideas and share your thoughts!  ;)

Yeh, seconded.  It'd be great to have some guys on the team to give their input and experiences, so they're more than welcome to join in! :D ♥︎

Quote from: ♥︎ SarahD ♥︎ on November 16, 2014, 06:46:08 AM
Ok awesome, I'll set that up this afternoon then :)

On a related note Jade, I think we need to talk about how we're going to split the coding up.  I'm seeing a natural split - you have the full version of Unity with a bunch of extras that I don't have and probably can't afford right now at least.  It seems logical to me that you're able to work on code that directly interfaces with Unity, while I'm in a position to work on deeper code modules that are abstracted out a layer or two from it (the sort of stuff I can build a test harness in Visual Studio for and work on it there, then hand it back to you for integration into Unity).  All you'd need to do is give me an API to work against and we should be all dandy :)

Alternatively, I do have the free version of Unity kicking around.  Is it possible that code you write would also work on that?  I'm thinking maybe they could be made into library files or something.  Would code I make on the free version work in the full version?  You're in a better position than myself to judge that so I look to you for advice :) ♥︎

So yeh, how do you feel about those options hun?  What are your thoughts and feelings? ♥︎

Yeh, seconded.  It'd be great to have some guys on the team to give their input and experiences, so they're more than welcome to join in! :D ♥︎

Yes, get the latest copy of Unity Free! Anything you make / code in it can be used in Unity Pro, also most of the stuff I can do in pro can be used in unity free. It is things like lighting effects, shadows, camera lens effects that are Pro only, those are all things that we are not going to worry about until we get other functions working. As far as the add ons I have, I do have license to use on 2 computers, If you are going to be the other main coder, I would not have a problem letting you use them as long as we are working closely together. I do hope we can work closely together! Lets just hope I don't cause you any panic attacks or some hot flushes or vise versa, LOL  ;)

Love,
Jade
:-*

Quote from: Jade_404 on November 16, 2014, 02:25:31 PM
Yes, get the latest copy of Unity Free! Anything you make / code in it can be used in Unity Pro, also most of the stuff I can do in pro can be used in unity free. It is things like lighting effects, shadows, camera lens effects that are Pro only, those are all things that we are not going to worry about until we get other functions working. As far as the add ons I have, I do have license to use on 2 computers, If you are going to be the other main coder, I would not have a problem letting you use them as long as we are working closely together. I do hope we can work closely together! Lets just hope I don't cause you any panic attacks or some hot flushes or vise versa, LOL  ;)

Love,
Jade
:-*

Oooh, brilliant!  That's really good to know :)  I was kinda expecting it to be more restricted than that, but if it's just a case of visual bells and whistles while all the functionality still works then that makes life much easier for us :)  I'll get Unity set up on my PC this week ;)

And hehe yeh!  I hope we can work closely together too hun! I'll try not to faint :P :laugh: ♥︎*Hugs*♥︎  I won't nab those licenses off you unless we absolutely need to though :) ♥︎

Ooh, btw: I got around to setting up a repository over on github.com (http://github.com).  Everyone who wants to be a part of this will need to sign up over there (assuming you don't have an account already - you only need the free account) so we can add you as a contributor so you can access the repository.  PM me your username and I'll add you :) xx

As it turns out, github actually has built-in task tracking and it seems pretty decent, so we shouldn't need Bugzilla / Fogbugz etc.  That was actually a rather pleasant surprise lol :)  I recommend that everyone runs through the tutorial they offer in order to understand the workflow philosophy (personally I love the simplicity of it, but it might be a bit of brain-melter for those who haven't used source control before).

Remember - this stuff isn't just for code.  It can be used for anything.  Art assets, models, sound files, documents etc, so it would probably be best if we all got on it so we can keep everything  in one place :) ♥︎ xx

Quote from: ♥︎ SarahD ♥︎ on November 17, 2014, 02:07:39 PM
Oooh, brilliant!  That's really good to know :)  I was kinda expecting it to be more restricted than that, but if it's just a case of visual bells and whistles while all the functionality still works then that makes life much easier for us :)  I'll get Unity set up on my PC this week ;)

And hehe yeh!  I hope we can work closely together too hun! I'll try not to faint :P :laugh: ♥︎*Hugs*♥︎  I won't nab those licenses off you unless we absolutely need to though :) ♥︎

Ooh, btw: I got around to setting up a repository over on github.com (http://github.com).  Everyone who wants to be a part of this will need to sign up over there (assuming you don't have an account already - you only need the free account) so we can add you as a contributor so you can access the repository.  PM me your username and I'll add you :) xx

As it turns out, github actually has built-in task tracking and it seems pretty decent, so we shouldn't need Bugzilla / Fogbugz etc.  That was actually a rather pleasant surprise lol :)  I recommend that everyone runs through the tutorial they offer in order to understand the workflow philosophy (personally I love the simplicity of it, but it might be a bit of brain-melter for those who haven't used source control before).

Remember - this stuff isn't just for code.  It can be used for anything.  Art assets, models, sound files, documents etc, so it would probably be best if we all got on it so we can keep everything  in one place :) ♥︎ xx

Nice work SarahD!

I know it has been a couple of months, but how is this still going? I'm kind of a new coder, just learning the basics of Unity, but I've been playing with VBA for a couple of years, and dabbling here and there.  I used to play a lot of text based games over the past 15 yrs or so. Storytelling is something I love to do, so, designing a game has always been on my to -do list.  I'm a furry by heart (its like being trans-species) so I've always dreamed of a game that turns the player into a creature.

However, I have had a concept similar to what you all are/were discussing... The idea was that the player starts with two playable characters, one male and one female. Throughout the game you have to swap between them to advance.  The story was that both characters wake up with no memories. They realize they look similar, and conclude they must be related.  The gameplay, I imagined, would consist of RPG elements where the player is trying to determine what happened to cause their amnesia. The kicker is that they are actually the same person - a demon cursed the character into splitting into two people.  I imagine, you could put the female character into situations where the player has to dress her, and have her make comments about how she doesn't know what she is doing, so she gets advice from other girls.  Situations like that for both sides where the player 'learns' little things about how the stereotypical m/f behaves, all the while playing detective, and kicking monster butt in between cities.  This is a concept I've been dreaming of for a few months now... In fact, "KageNiko" is the female in the story.

For sake of not going into too much detail, ill end I there.  I would love to contribute in any way, if possible!  This is my dream!