The Island of Dr Merlot

The Demo

Jeffrey Georgeson — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 22:01:09 +0000

And here's the demo for The Island of Dr Merlot!

Island of Dr Merlot.zip

Just unzip it and double-click the exe.

Key controls for this demo are the standard Unity controls (W, A, S, D, plus the mouse for turning). Pressing 'i' toggles the inventory screen on and off.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Game Design Document

Jeffrey Georgeson — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:55:12 +0000

Here's the completed design document for Merlot:

INM375_JeffreyGeorgeson.pdf

It explains itself!

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Prezi presentation

Jeffrey Georgeson — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 11:01:15 +0000

The Prezi presentation that goes along with my pitch is available for download:

island-of-dr-merlot-gmh19xx9fhd4.zip (26 MB)

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

All ahead, with deliberate speed

Jeffrey Georgeson — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 13:56:15 +0000

I'm getting ready for my practice presentation next Thursday, and I'd like to have it within a hair of being the final presentation; to that end, I am spending a weekend with wine and software.

To the left is my game logo sheet, just what I've played around with in PhotoShop. Any comments would be lovely; I'm not sure which I like best of these final four.

I've also decided to do my presentation using Prezi, an alternative to PowerPoint that uses one giant canvass and "camera" movement to move around the presentation. I think this is perfect for moving around a background "island" to look at the various elements of my presentation. I've sorted out how to capture video of my very, very crude Unity prototype using Fraps and VirtualDub and can play this in my presentation, which is brilliant. And I've created the basic text outline for my patter.

So now I need to create the various images and get far enough in Unity to create a visual of the game--just a few seconds, really, a taster of it. And practice, practice, practice!

NOTE: Of course, if you wish to make a comment, you'll have to email me directly. I've turned off comments for the blog because all I receive is spam. And I'm not having spam with my wine.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

So, do we have to walk on two legs, not on four?

Jeffrey Georgeson — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 18:06:33 +0000

The game's name is obviously a play on the title of HG Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau, in which a mad doctor is trying to create humans from animals. Fear not; the wine puzzler merely plays on the words of the title, not borrowing from the story. (Well, I suppose someone could get so drunk on wine that they crawled around on all fours, but that in itself wouldn't be cause to be sent to the House of Pain ...)

In Dr Merlot, the player is directed to search the island for various precious and rare bottles of wine that have gone missing from the Dr's cellars, in the process uncovering the thief (or thieves) and maybe finding other treasures and secrets. Each puzzle uncovers clues and bottles, and can be played in 5-10 minutes (whether the player succeeds or not).

Dr Merlot is a first-person puzzler, creating a different kind of atmosphere from other puzzle games and opening up an opportunity to create new kinds of puzzles, or at least give the puzzles a bit of a twist.

I'm currently working on creating a moodboard and a Gantt chart for this project.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Initial idea

Jeffrey Georgeson — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:36:04 +0000

My initial idea for this project is "The Island of Dr Merlot", a first-person puzzle game downloadable from a client's website that provides players short, quickly playable wine-related puzzles that are part of an overall adventure to gather up all the rare wine on the island for the proprieter, Dr. Merlot. This might integrate with various "InfoWine" apps that help the potential customer order the right wines for parties, romantic evenings, or quiet nights at home, and generally will advertise the client's site and wares and create a positive association between wine and buying it through the website. I'm aiming for an "Angry Birds" level of fun/market saturation (well, why wouldn't I?).

What will follow will be a record of my progress down this wine-ding road, including specific puzzle ideas and various module-related assignments.

Now, do you choose the white wine, or the red wine? ... (Oh, it's a 'matrix' of wines :) )

Original post blogged on b2evolution.