Earlier this week I finished my group project assignments.
I updated the start menu with the game title and written descriptions of the history of Hashima and game instructions. I forgot that I had meant to add a background of the game story.
Start Menu Blender File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxkwWSQOFCfQdzBhekVMVFFPbDA/view?usp=sharing
I created a skysphere to represent day and night, with a full rotation (noon to midnight and back to noon) every 6 minutes. Since existing free sky images do not work well mapped to a sphere I created one using MS Word that provided the desired appearance.
Skysphere Blender FIle: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxkwWSQOFCfQQ3BQWGtiSjZQc2s/view?usp=sharing
Sky Image: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxkwWSQOFCfQQ0VqZmpaR2ZKNkk/view?usp=sharing
I also set up the night-time attack animal (a racoon from blendswap) to attack just before midnight with a quick run to collide and then retreat to its nest. The racoon is intended to be very swift and quiet, as encouragement for the player to decide between seek shelter for the night or risking the attack. The navigation and collision properties/logic were to be the same as one of the dogs.
Night Racoon: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxkwWSQOFCfQYlVLbmtUanFaVGM/view?usp=sharing
In addition to these files, I helped to download sound files and discuss game design issues.
Friday, December 5, 2014
Sunday, November 16, 2014
HW15
Group tasks completed this week: Exploration of the day night feature, using a sky dome and game countdown to trigger a racoon attack.
The blendswap files were all downloaded on time by the 3rd of November. These included birds, a dog, a racoon, a snake, a mining hat, a jacket, a shoe, a necklace, a watch, a camera, and various potted plants.
The step due this week is the menu. It is is nearly completed, but needs descriptions for the tutorials and game story, and then integration into the main game file. It has a late 60s to mid 70s looking font and colors to match the timeframe of the story. This should be easy to complete this week.
Next week the night vs day sky and decision making programming are due. The plan for the sky is fairly straightforward with a rotating dome that portrays morning, day, evening and night. This should be reasonable to complete by the deadline, as there are online tutorials for building sky domes. The segment portraying night will be substantially smaller than the rest of the dome. A countdown that runs to match the onset of night in the dome will trigger a racoon attack if the player is not inside a building. The decision making has not been explored yet, so it may or may not be a reasonable timeline to have both completed by the same time.
The blendswap files were all downloaded on time by the 3rd of November. These included birds, a dog, a racoon, a snake, a mining hat, a jacket, a shoe, a necklace, a watch, a camera, and various potted plants.
The step due this week is the menu. It is is nearly completed, but needs descriptions for the tutorials and game story, and then integration into the main game file. It has a late 60s to mid 70s looking font and colors to match the timeframe of the story. This should be easy to complete this week.
Next week the night vs day sky and decision making programming are due. The plan for the sky is fairly straightforward with a rotating dome that portrays morning, day, evening and night. This should be reasonable to complete by the deadline, as there are online tutorials for building sky domes. The segment portraying night will be substantially smaller than the rest of the dome. A countdown that runs to match the onset of night in the dome will trigger a racoon attack if the player is not inside a building. The decision making has not been explored yet, so it may or may not be a reasonable timeline to have both completed by the same time.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Group tasks
This week I have downloaded blend files to use in the game to represent items lost by the father, such as a shoe, a jacket, a locket, and a picture; and animals such as a pitbull, birds, and a racoon.
HW14: Indirect Controls
Players of this game feel like they have control due to the ability to move around the streets of the small island. However, this does not provide complete control.
Constraints
The island provides a constraint to where players can walk their character around, but simultaneously provides the feeling of an entire environment to explore. The view is limited to ground level, preventing players from seeing the entire layout of the island, which would easily provide an impression of how small it is.
Goals
The goal of the game is to rescue the father, which must be accomplished before the health meter runs out from enemy attacks or running out of food. This is what drives the player to traverse the island with purpose, instead of freely wandering around exploring wherever they feel like and taking as much time as they would like.
Interface
The game is designed to be simple to navigate through basic keystrokes and menu items. These are chosen and designed to provide minimum distraction from the game, allowing players to concentrate on their tasks and goals rather than being distracted by menu buttons and complicated keystrokes.
Visual Design
The island is set up to have the layout of the real Hashima Island of Japan. Players will get to navigate a place they may never have a chance to go to in real life, and the visual design of the streets and buildings is intended to be realistic enough to add to this interest, while maintaining a game-like feel and simplicity.
Characters
The player interacts through his or her character with the character's father, and animals that may be friends or foes. The goal of saving a relative will hopefully give players a feeling of having accomplished an intimate task if they complete the goals of the game. The interactions with animals provides choices to be made, regarding the type of interaction they player will have with them. The player can choose to fight or befriend a dog, and must figure out ways of defending him or herself against other attacking animals.
Music
The music in this game is used to give the feeling of being alone in an abandoned area. The focus is on natural sounds, of the surrounding ocean, animals, and the noises that the player's character would make by walking around or driving the boat. The sound of the main character walking will serve as a reminder that the player is in control of the character's movements. The sounds of animals will remind the player that he or she must be aware of the dangers that animals present and the choices that must be made to avoid being hurt by them.
Constraints
The island provides a constraint to where players can walk their character around, but simultaneously provides the feeling of an entire environment to explore. The view is limited to ground level, preventing players from seeing the entire layout of the island, which would easily provide an impression of how small it is.
Goals
The goal of the game is to rescue the father, which must be accomplished before the health meter runs out from enemy attacks or running out of food. This is what drives the player to traverse the island with purpose, instead of freely wandering around exploring wherever they feel like and taking as much time as they would like.
Interface
The game is designed to be simple to navigate through basic keystrokes and menu items. These are chosen and designed to provide minimum distraction from the game, allowing players to concentrate on their tasks and goals rather than being distracted by menu buttons and complicated keystrokes.
Visual Design
The island is set up to have the layout of the real Hashima Island of Japan. Players will get to navigate a place they may never have a chance to go to in real life, and the visual design of the streets and buildings is intended to be realistic enough to add to this interest, while maintaining a game-like feel and simplicity.
Characters
The player interacts through his or her character with the character's father, and animals that may be friends or foes. The goal of saving a relative will hopefully give players a feeling of having accomplished an intimate task if they complete the goals of the game. The interactions with animals provides choices to be made, regarding the type of interaction they player will have with them. The player can choose to fight or befriend a dog, and must figure out ways of defending him or herself against other attacking animals.
Music
The music in this game is used to give the feeling of being alone in an abandoned area. The focus is on natural sounds, of the surrounding ocean, animals, and the noises that the player's character would make by walking around or driving the boat. The sound of the main character walking will serve as a reminder that the player is in control of the character's movements. The sounds of animals will remind the player that he or she must be aware of the dangers that animals present and the choices that must be made to avoid being hurt by them.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
HW11 Interfaces
1) Describe the user interface in your game.
The game is in third person view, with the scene taking up most of the screen space showing the avatar walking around the island or driving the boat. A health meter is shown as a bar across the top of the screen, and a menu of options, such as exit or pause game, is shown as a bar across the bottom of the screen. The player uses computer keys to tell the avatar where to go and what to do, and the mouse and mouse-button to select menu items.
2) What role will the interface play in your game.
The interface will provide information on health, risks, and navigation. Health is indicated by the health meter, but risks and navigation will be based on seeing the scene around the avatar.
3) Intuitive interfaces give a feeling of control. How easy (or hard) is your interface to master?
The interface should be easy to master, even for players who are not familiar with other games. The health meter and menu items will always be visible on the screen. The player will not be able to see the whole layout of the island at one time, but figuring out how to navigate around the island is a part of the game play.
4) Will your players have a strong influence over the outcome of the game? Please describe? If not, how can you change this?
The player will have a somewhat strong influence, because they will either complete the task or fail. The time to complete the task of retrieving the father will be limited, so that they player does not feel like he or she does not face a challenge.
5) Players like to feel powerful. Do the players of your game feel powerful? How could this be improved?
The player should feel powerful thanks to having control over where the avatar travels throughout the entire, but small, island. However, most of the buildings cannot be entered, which a more elaborate game could allow to enable the player to feel even more powerful.
6) What does the player pick up and touch?
The player walks around the island and rides on a boat, but can also pick up items, such as a flashlight, mining hat, jacket, locket, water bottle, gun and knife. The player can also touch animals and the father that she or he is in search of.
7) Does the interface map to actions in the world? How?
Yes, the keystrokes will guide where the avatar moves to within the confines of the island and harbor, and will be used to control movement at either basic speed or double speed.
8) How does your interface let the player see, hear and touch the world of the game? Could this be improved in order to make the game world more real to the player's imagination?
The imagery of the island around the avatar, the sounds of the ocean and animals, and the ability to move around objects but not through them, will provide the aspects of seeing, hearing and touching the world of the game. A virtual reality version of the game would be more real to the imagination, but impractical for this course.
9) The ideal interface is invisible to the player. Does your interface cater to the players desires? What are these desires?
The player is hopefully going to want to explore the island while trying to find the father, and the interface will allow that to happen without much obstruction. The keystrokes will allow the avatar to be moved in the desired direction and with two choices of speed, which will hopefully make the fact that this transfer of information is through a computer to be inconsequential to the enjoyment of this exploration.
10) Can your interface be used without the players thinking? Is it natural?
The player will need to know what the keystrokes are for doing what he or she wants, which requires thinking. We will try to make it feel as natural as possible, but using arrow keys for directional movement, and keystrokes that are common among other games.
11) Assuming you can do what you want, how would you make your interface more natural?
Utilizing verbal cues for the avatar's movement and actions, and for pulling up menu items, might seem more natural, at least for some people, but not necessarily for everyone. Many more speeds of movement than just two would make the interface feel more natural. Having the avatar change to a sickly color as health runs down, instead of using a health bar, might also be more natural, but more difficult for the player to gauge actual health levels.
12) What kind of feedback does your interface present to the player? What do the players want to know? How does the interface relate to the player's goal? Will it help achieve that goal?
The interface will allow the player to see when he or she is putting the avatar into the presence of danger or running low on health. This will help the player to achieve the goal of successfully navigating the island to retrieve the father, by allowing the player to prep for these threats.
13) Is the interface feedback continuous? Why or why not?
Feedback is continuous because the visuals of island scene and the health meter are continuous. However, the player is not given updates about actual proximity to the father until he is actually in the scene.
14) Please describe the concept of interface modes? Does your game have multiple modes? Please explain (Lens #60).
The interface has multiple modes, or things the player can be doing through the same keystrokes. There will be an option to use items, such as the water bottle or weapons. Holding a weapon while moving around will work as an attack for defense purposes. This simple mode change is not expected to hae any major drawbacks.
Contribution
This week I helped with group planning and to update the game notes.
The game is in third person view, with the scene taking up most of the screen space showing the avatar walking around the island or driving the boat. A health meter is shown as a bar across the top of the screen, and a menu of options, such as exit or pause game, is shown as a bar across the bottom of the screen. The player uses computer keys to tell the avatar where to go and what to do, and the mouse and mouse-button to select menu items.
2) What role will the interface play in your game.
The interface will provide information on health, risks, and navigation. Health is indicated by the health meter, but risks and navigation will be based on seeing the scene around the avatar.
3) Intuitive interfaces give a feeling of control. How easy (or hard) is your interface to master?
The interface should be easy to master, even for players who are not familiar with other games. The health meter and menu items will always be visible on the screen. The player will not be able to see the whole layout of the island at one time, but figuring out how to navigate around the island is a part of the game play.
4) Will your players have a strong influence over the outcome of the game? Please describe? If not, how can you change this?
The player will have a somewhat strong influence, because they will either complete the task or fail. The time to complete the task of retrieving the father will be limited, so that they player does not feel like he or she does not face a challenge.
5) Players like to feel powerful. Do the players of your game feel powerful? How could this be improved?
The player should feel powerful thanks to having control over where the avatar travels throughout the entire, but small, island. However, most of the buildings cannot be entered, which a more elaborate game could allow to enable the player to feel even more powerful.
6) What does the player pick up and touch?
The player walks around the island and rides on a boat, but can also pick up items, such as a flashlight, mining hat, jacket, locket, water bottle, gun and knife. The player can also touch animals and the father that she or he is in search of.
7) Does the interface map to actions in the world? How?
Yes, the keystrokes will guide where the avatar moves to within the confines of the island and harbor, and will be used to control movement at either basic speed or double speed.
8) How does your interface let the player see, hear and touch the world of the game? Could this be improved in order to make the game world more real to the player's imagination?
The imagery of the island around the avatar, the sounds of the ocean and animals, and the ability to move around objects but not through them, will provide the aspects of seeing, hearing and touching the world of the game. A virtual reality version of the game would be more real to the imagination, but impractical for this course.
9) The ideal interface is invisible to the player. Does your interface cater to the players desires? What are these desires?
The player is hopefully going to want to explore the island while trying to find the father, and the interface will allow that to happen without much obstruction. The keystrokes will allow the avatar to be moved in the desired direction and with two choices of speed, which will hopefully make the fact that this transfer of information is through a computer to be inconsequential to the enjoyment of this exploration.
10) Can your interface be used without the players thinking? Is it natural?
The player will need to know what the keystrokes are for doing what he or she wants, which requires thinking. We will try to make it feel as natural as possible, but using arrow keys for directional movement, and keystrokes that are common among other games.
11) Assuming you can do what you want, how would you make your interface more natural?
Utilizing verbal cues for the avatar's movement and actions, and for pulling up menu items, might seem more natural, at least for some people, but not necessarily for everyone. Many more speeds of movement than just two would make the interface feel more natural. Having the avatar change to a sickly color as health runs down, instead of using a health bar, might also be more natural, but more difficult for the player to gauge actual health levels.
12) What kind of feedback does your interface present to the player? What do the players want to know? How does the interface relate to the player's goal? Will it help achieve that goal?
The interface will allow the player to see when he or she is putting the avatar into the presence of danger or running low on health. This will help the player to achieve the goal of successfully navigating the island to retrieve the father, by allowing the player to prep for these threats.
13) Is the interface feedback continuous? Why or why not?
Feedback is continuous because the visuals of island scene and the health meter are continuous. However, the player is not given updates about actual proximity to the father until he is actually in the scene.
14) Please describe the concept of interface modes? Does your game have multiple modes? Please explain (Lens #60).
The interface has multiple modes, or things the player can be doing through the same keystrokes. There will be an option to use items, such as the water bottle or weapons. Holding a weapon while moving around will work as an attack for defense purposes. This simple mode change is not expected to hae any major drawbacks.
Contribution
This week I helped with group planning and to update the game notes.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
HW10 Game Menus
This blend file shows the main game menu displayed when players first start the game. It gives the player the option to start playing the game, read instructions, read about the real Hashima Island, or exit the game. Harsh's boat scene was appended as a new scene, so that players would go to that scene when they select play. Animation was set on the exit button, so that it moves to the right when moused over and exits the game when clicked. Blender activated the first button whenever any button other than exit was selected, when each button was set to be activated by clicking the left mouse button, causing the player to enter the game regardless of the button selected. This was corrected by changing the game logic sensors from left mouse button to mouse over, but the reason for that problem has not been discovered.
Blender file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxkwWSQOFCfQTVY4NjcxY0x0eWM/view?usp=sharing
Video:
Images:
For my team's game, this week I worked on collecting and writing up a history of Hashima Island to provide as an optional read in the intro game menu.
Blender file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxkwWSQOFCfQTVY4NjcxY0x0eWM/view?usp=sharing
Video:
Images:
For my team's game, this week I worked on collecting and writing up a history of Hashima Island to provide as an optional read in the intro game menu.
HW9 Balancing
Escape from Hashima is a single-player game based on the
story line of a man trying to retrieve his father who was accidentally left
behind after the island was evacuated. Since
the island is small, the game is designed to take place over the course of an
evening, night, and morning in game-time, or not more than a few hours total in
real-time. The player competes against
the computer to find the father and leave the island, with limited resources
and limited, but replenishable, health.
While there might be a scoring system to allow the player to compete
against himself or other players to maximize his or her final score, this has
only been loosely discussed by my team.
Fairness comes into play through the difficulty faced
opposing the computer controlled opponents.
Stray dogs may attack, and a released pet raccoon may steal supplies. Although the mechanisms for how this will occur
have not been finalized, we plan to make the outcome dependent on a combination
of collecting appropriate defense items, awareness of what is going on in the
game, and fighting ability. No one item
or skill will be required in order to achieve the desired outcome in a fight.
Adjusting difficulty level would be the easiest way for our
game to balance challenge vs success.
The first level, driving a boat, is short and requires a completely
different skill set from the main focus of the game. We also want to make the most difficult level
be the act of finding the missing father, with the final level of returning to
the boat to be fast and easy. This means
that difficulty will not increase with each level. However, it would be simple to reduce or
increase the number of animal attacks, length of night vs day, or add storms or
additional opponents. A haunted version
of the game would be an interesting heightened difficulty level. For the purposes of this course, we will most
likely only create the one basic difficulty level.
Our game’s most meaningful choices will be the path taken
around the island, which items to collect, and whether to fight off or befriend
a stray dog. If the player chooses to
explore an area of the island that the missing father is not located on, the
game will take longer to complete, which will introduce more opportunities to
face opponents. The number of items that
may be carried will likely be limited, so the player will need to balance a need
for food, defense, and shelter. The
decision to fight off or befriend a stray dog will change the game
experience. Not all dogs can be befriended,
so it is a health and life risk to attempt to befriend. However, dogs can be used as defense, for
finding objects, and for finding the missing person, especially when combined
with other found objects such as the father’s found jacket. The game can still be won, regardless of
which choice is made, but the easiness of completion, the time balance, and the
general experience of gameplay can be made radically different. However, we will attempt to prevent any choice
from becoming a dominant strategy by not giving any one choice too much power
over the game’s outcome.
Our game uses both head and hands, but is more focused on the
head. The first part of the game,
driving the boat to the dock is mostly based on a physical challenge. Also, the opponents faced while on the island
will be fought with fighting skills, in addition to the foresight used in
collecting defense items. However, most
of the game will be based on making decisions about what items to collect,
learning one’s way around the island for the search, and anticipating
danger. For this reason, it is designed
to be more appealing to those who enjoy a mental challenge more than perfecting
the muscle memory involved in steering and fighting.
There are multiple forms of punishment in this game. The health meter will prevent the player from
doing whatever it is that he or she wants to do without consideration of the
character’s needs, and will terminate play if the character’s needs are not met. Failing to collect items will work in a
similar manner, by not allowing players who fail to collect any defense, food,
or shelter items to survive. The player
might also find that certain obstacles will require collecting enough of
certain types of items before being allowed to pass, although what these
obstacles and items will be haven’t been finalized. Items will also deplete, meaning that each
item will be given a set number of uses, ranging from once to unlimited, depending
on item type.
Players will be given a sense of freedom by the fact that
they can wander around any non-obstructed parts of the island, but will still
have a controlled experience. The father
that the player is trying to find and the opponents faced will not simply be
sitting and waiting in one spot. Actions
that the player makes will act as unseen triggers to the placement of the
father and opponents. There may also be
additional restrictions placed on movement across the island for the last part
of the game, basically adding obstructions to the landscape in order to lead
the player back to the boat docks without wandering around lost for a large
amount of time.
We expect that a big part of the appeal of our game will be
its setting on Hashima Island. Since
this is a real place, and is of popular interest as an abandoned city, we want
to make the layout of the game island match the layout of the real island. Simply having the same types of buildings on
the same spot as they are on the real island should give players the feeling of
exploring the real place, even without fancy meshes that mimic the true-life
look of each street and building. This
will be heightened by offering the chance to read information about the real
island and its history in the menus.
Thursday, October 2, 2014
HW 8 Animation
This is a basic demonstration of a window opening so that the character can crawl through it. The character is shown moving towards the window as the window pane rotates open. The window appears to be on a recessed area of the wall, due to the way I adjusted the scaling, giving the recessed area a shadowed appearance.
For my team project I redownloaded everything that is still usable for our game (everything but the ant and skull, which will likely not be used), since my drive got corrupted and lost everything in that folder.
HW 7 Game Mechanics
- Is the space in your game discrete or continuous?
The team game is continuous. Player movement is confined to an island that contains obstacles, but the player moves around freely within those confines in order to accomplish the ultimate goal of reaching the escape point. However, there will be nested spaces, for entering buildings. - How many dimensions does your space have?
This space is three dimensional, with the player being able to move his or her character in all non-obstructed directions. The character will be walking around the island, but will also be climbing up or jumping over objects. - What are the boundaries of your space?
The boundary of this space is set by the edges of the island. All game play will take place within the confines of the island and its harbor. - How many verbs do your players (characters) have? What are they?
Players have approximately 9 verbs. These verbs include walk, run, jump, climb, pick-up, hit, light (on fire), shoot, and drive. - How many objects can each verb act on? What are these objects?
Walk, run and jump are specific to the character, and the character may do this on the ground, on an object, or off of an object and onto another object below. Players can climb onto tables, chairs, benches, stairs, windowsills, cars, and roofs; and pick up usable items, such as guns, torches, flash lights, sticks, and water bottles. Players can hit other characters, doors, and windows; light sticks and torches on fire; shoot bullets at other characters, windows, and locks; and drive boats and cars. - How many ways can players achieve their goals.
The ultimate goal is to escape the island by finding the location with a usable boat. Players can find multiple paths to get to the final destination, including backtracking to find usable items. - How many subjects do the players control? What are these subjects?
My team has discussed three; having a pet or animal side-kick that can be used for self-defence and fetching, a boat that is used to escape the island's harbor, and possibly a car to drive. - How do side effects change constraints.
In this game, the player has to decide when to pick up found objects and when to befriend or fight off an animal. The side effects of these actions build or remove constraints later in the game, mostly in terms of self-defence. With a gun or animal companion, the player is more likely to avoid or survive an attack, and so will not need to find a way to get out of the attack occurring in the first place, possibly leading to a shorter route to the main objective of finding the escape boat. - What are the operative actions in your game?
Players can walk, run, jump, climb, pick-up, light (on fire), hit, shoot, and steer a wheel. The player might also be given the ability to swim. - What are the resultant actions in your game?
Players can move around in the scene, gather items for future use, break through doors and windows, fight off opponents, gain light in the darkness, and drive boats and cars to change location. If the player is given the ability to swim, it will be used to move locations and to collect items in the water or located across the water. - What actions would you like your players to do that they cannot presently do? (based on your current knowledge of Blender)
I would like for players to be able to build their own map of the island with notations of where they left objects, where they came across opponents, and additional notes to themselves about those objects and opponents. - What is the ultimate goal of your game?
Escape the island with the item that the character originally went there to retrieve. That item has not been determined, yet. - Are there short and long term goals? What are they?
The long term goal is to escape the island with the required item. Short term goals include finding that required item and surviving each night. - How do you plan to make the game goals known and understood by the player?
The purpose of the game will be introduced as part of an intro-video, which can be skipped past, showing the arrival to the island, a discussion of item that needs to be retrieved, discussion of the risks involved in retrieving that item, and the loss of the arrival boat. - What are the foundational rules of your game?
The game ends when either energy or life percentage reaches zero. There is no play area to explore outside the confines of the island and its harbor. - How are these rules enforced?
Game play does not continue once energy or life gone. The player cannot climb over the walls of the island, and cannot swim or drive a boat past the pre-defined edges of the harbor. - Does your game develop real skills? What are they?
The main skills developed or used are resource management, planning, problem solving and memorization. The player will be provided with the opportunity to collect a limited number of resources to assist in navigating the island maze and fighting off opponents, requiring a combination of all four skills. - Does your game develop virtual skills? What are they?
The game develops movement skills in making the character jump over or drive around obstacles without becoming entangled or blocked by them, fighting skills in fighting off opponents, and escape skills in figuring out ways into and out of buildings and outdoor obstacles.
For my team work this week I downloaded several buildings that matched the appearance of Hashima Island.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
HW6
In this update I have added a female body mesh for the main character, so that she may interact with the scene, and a drink container for her to notice and collect. The team game requires the player to find and collect items to use for survival. When the player moves the character near the container, the container disappears (to be added to personal inventory). Because the scene keeps crashing Blender, only the basic movement is shown and not the ability to interact with the ant/ball that was designed in HW5 to be used to chase the cat.
Blender File: HW6.blend
Blender Demo:
Blender File: HW6.blend
Thursday, September 18, 2014
HW5
For this assignment I have added a table and an ant to my previous scene of a cat jumping over a chair. The player will direct the ant, which if it collides with the cat will make the cat jump to get away.
The ant will be an opponent in the game, that might attack the player's character, ruin the player's food source, or make the player drop a needed item. The table serves more as scenery to make a more realistic landscape, while the jumping cat and toppling chair serve more for the element of surprise.
The cat and chair add to the fun by adding to the element of surprise, to prevent the player from narrowing his or her focus. The ant adds to the fun through its use as an opponent. It provides a challenge for the player to face and overcome.
An extended version of this game could include having the location of the ant's contact with the cat be what determines where or how far the cat jumps. If the cat does not jump far enough, it will either not make it over the chair or will tumble on the chair and not be able to get away from the ant.
Blender File:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxkwWSQOFCfQcE03QjNPS1U0RjA/edit?usp=sharing
Blender Video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxkwWSQOFCfQYnpyLUV2TmZKMjg/edit?usp=sharing
The ant will be an opponent in the game, that might attack the player's character, ruin the player's food source, or make the player drop a needed item. The table serves more as scenery to make a more realistic landscape, while the jumping cat and toppling chair serve more for the element of surprise.
The cat and chair add to the fun by adding to the element of surprise, to prevent the player from narrowing his or her focus. The ant adds to the fun through its use as an opponent. It provides a challenge for the player to face and overcome.
An extended version of this game could include having the location of the ant's contact with the cat be what determines where or how far the cat jumps. If the cat does not jump far enough, it will either not make it over the chair or will tumble on the chair and not be able to get away from the ant.
Blender File:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxkwWSQOFCfQcE03QjNPS1U0RjA/edit?usp=sharing
Blender Video:
HW4 The Game Experience
Chapter 2: The Designer Creates an Experience
Chapter 3: The Experience Rises out of Game
- Forgetting about the game, think about your player. What are the experience(s) you want your player to have.
- My team's game will hopefully help the player to experience the excitement of surprise, confusion, and a sense of accomplishment, but hopefully with some amount of responsibility and a small amount of disappointment.
- What are the essential element(s) of that experience.
- A not too easy to solve maze, opponents that come on unexpectedly, items to collect for protection as weapons against opponents and as shelter for nighttime are the essential elements.
- Suggest a few ways your game might capture those experiences.
- Since players will be exploring a maze of an island city, it is an excellent opportunity to throw in surprises. Players will be concentrating on finding their way through the maze, so that not knowing what will pop out at them will add the excitement of surprise and the expectation that they will need to not limit their focus. The confusion will come out of the quality of the maze. The maze should not be too easy, allowing the confusion to be solvable only with some effort on having foresight, which will add to the sense of accomplishment. The feelings of responsibility and disappointment will add depth, by requiring players to invest thought and effort into finding their way through a maze without it being a given that they will get the outcome they desire. Excluding the opportunity to feel responsibility and disappointment would lose the player's engagement by making the game too easy.
- The maze will not be a direct path from the player's starting location to the escape boat. Players will zig-zag through a maze with multiple paths to the goal, obstacles, and dead-ends.
- Players will be faced with opponents at a moment's notice, which depending on the opponent, they may or may not be required to collect defenses against in advance.
- Discuss a few ways in which you might include surprise in your game
- Surprise will be incorporated by having opponents who show up without warning. These will generally be other people and animals, but will also include falling debris and buildings. It will also be incorporated through the collection of items that are needed for protection. Items will be come across in unexpected places, which may be easily passed by if the player is not alert or thinking of the potential use of the item. The first time the player plays the game, he or she will be likely to pass by an essential item. Another surprise will come from falling buildings and debris, which can change the path through the maze and pose a risk to the character.
- How will your game be fun?
- People who like to explore and collect will hopefully consider the game to be fun. The player will be engaged by the dynamic nature of the maze and the need to think about and find the tools necessary to survive. The player will also have the opportunity to learn the landscape of the city, which for some people is an enjoyable brain exercise.
- Discuss the goals of your game (as it stands now).
- The main goal of the player will be to escape the island. The goal of the game itself is to provide an opportunity for the player to explore a new landscape that offers surprises and requires forethought to engage the player.
- State your thoughts on how you will make the player attached to your game, or motivated to play the game.
- I believe that the player will be motivated by the puzzle aspect of a maze, but more importantly, by the dynamic nature of the maze and the obstacles faced within it.
- What problems do you expect the players to solve in your game?
- A path through the maze.
- Collection of weapons, such as a pipe or gun, for fighting opponents.
- Collection of items for night-time shelter, such as a box or fuel source for fire.
Chapter 3: The Experience Rises out of Game
Contribution to group game: I collected additional objects to be used as the animal opponents for the player to fight, and made suggestions about the type of island environment we should use to copy. I was thinking that doing a version of Hashima Island, off the coast of Japan, that incorporates some aspects of the actual island would add to the user experience, because it is a real place that they can explore through documentaries and Google Maps, in addition to through the game.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
HW 3 Moving Objects
For this assignment, I downloaded a soil ground, a cat, and a chair. Because we are working on a survival game, I thought it would be a good idea to add a few distractions that do not harm the player, but that do potentially startle the player. This way, the player is forced to make the decision of whether or not the noises and visuals are indicating a danger that requires action. A cat making a chair wobble can produce a noise and motion that may serve this purpose, without adding too much activity/computer usage to the game. The soil was chosen because it may be useful for representing an abandoned area that nature is starting to take back over.
When I added the cat and chair to the blender file with the soil ground, the soil looked great, but I was not able to figure out how to reconfigure the menus to get to where I wanted to be to manage my objects. When I restarted blender and added all three items, the soil appearance of the ground disappeared, and I decided to ignore this due to time constraints.
The movement is the cat jumping onto the chair, making the chair wobble.
Blender File:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxkwWSQOFCfQRElSVkJyMTF5aWs/edit?usp=sharing
My contribution is the same contribution as mentioned in HW2, looking for appropriate imagery to get an idea of what the best atmosphere will be for the game, given the constraints of what is available as pre-made objects and the inspiration that can be gained from real-life abandoned island cities/buildings.
When I added the cat and chair to the blender file with the soil ground, the soil looked great, but I was not able to figure out how to reconfigure the menus to get to where I wanted to be to manage my objects. When I restarted blender and added all three items, the soil appearance of the ground disappeared, and I decided to ignore this due to time constraints.
The movement is the cat jumping onto the chair, making the chair wobble.
Blender File:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxkwWSQOFCfQRElSVkJyMTF5aWs/edit?usp=sharing
My contribution is the same contribution as mentioned in HW2, looking for appropriate imagery to get an idea of what the best atmosphere will be for the game, given the constraints of what is available as pre-made objects and the inspiration that can be gained from real-life abandoned island cities/buildings.
HW2 Group Meeting
1) When and where did you meet?
My group met twice. The first time was in immediately following class, in the hallway, on Friday, September 5th. The second time was 2pm-3pm in the Majors Lab of the Love Building, on Tuesday, September 9th.
2) What did you discuss?
We discussed game ideas and the genres we are most interested in. At the first meeting, Ashleigh mentioned a game she was interested in making that involved a maze based off of moving blocks that have to be navigated, and I mentioned my idea of having a theme park simulation ride based on the Great Fire of London. We also discussed the possibility of combining the two ideas, by replacing the contents of a haunted-house maze with the moving blocks maze.
3) Did you take notes? Why? Why not?
The first meeting was informal and did not involve taking notes. Every group member took notes at the second meeting. We wanted to not only organize our ideas, but to also keep individual records to reference as needed throughout the game design process.
4) Did you transfer the contents of the discuss to the computer?
Yes. For now, we are using our blogs to document our group decisions.
5) Did you discuss the game document?
We discussed what the game document is, so that we know that each group member is aware of what it is and its purpose.
6) Did you pick a team leader. Why? Who is it?
We did not pick a team leader. We decided it would be best to wait until we have both chosen a game idea and seen how the group works as a unit under equal power for each member. This way, if we end up focusing on one person's ideas, that person can be the group leader, and the amount of power needed to adequately direct the group will be better understood.
7) Please describe briefly some initial ideas regarding the game you plan on developing.
We have decided to create a survival game, set in an abandoned, or mostly abandoned, city on an island. We have not decided the island's location, type, time period, etc. The most likely background story is that the player landed on the island to collect or achieve something, became stranded, and has to find a boat on the other side of the island to escape. We discussed the possibility of having the player collect objects for defense, and to build shelters at night; the idea being that if they fail to have the needed tools they will be killed and have to start over. We also discussed making the island a maze, and potentially having multiple boat docks to search, but only one having an adequate boat.
8) State on your blog the contributions you, the individual, made towards the team game in the last week.
I have looked through blendswap to find appropriate to give an idea of which island environment and city type would be ideal for us to work on, given the constraints of the objects available. I have also looked at various real life abandoned buildings and cities on islands. The three objects I have download for the game so far are a cat, a soil ground, and a chair. I purposely chose items that could be used for a variety of island environments and time periods.
My group met twice. The first time was in immediately following class, in the hallway, on Friday, September 5th. The second time was 2pm-3pm in the Majors Lab of the Love Building, on Tuesday, September 9th.
2) What did you discuss?
We discussed game ideas and the genres we are most interested in. At the first meeting, Ashleigh mentioned a game she was interested in making that involved a maze based off of moving blocks that have to be navigated, and I mentioned my idea of having a theme park simulation ride based on the Great Fire of London. We also discussed the possibility of combining the two ideas, by replacing the contents of a haunted-house maze with the moving blocks maze.
3) Did you take notes? Why? Why not?
The first meeting was informal and did not involve taking notes. Every group member took notes at the second meeting. We wanted to not only organize our ideas, but to also keep individual records to reference as needed throughout the game design process.
4) Did you transfer the contents of the discuss to the computer?
Yes. For now, we are using our blogs to document our group decisions.
5) Did you discuss the game document?
We discussed what the game document is, so that we know that each group member is aware of what it is and its purpose.
6) Did you pick a team leader. Why? Who is it?
We did not pick a team leader. We decided it would be best to wait until we have both chosen a game idea and seen how the group works as a unit under equal power for each member. This way, if we end up focusing on one person's ideas, that person can be the group leader, and the amount of power needed to adequately direct the group will be better understood.
7) Please describe briefly some initial ideas regarding the game you plan on developing.
We have decided to create a survival game, set in an abandoned, or mostly abandoned, city on an island. We have not decided the island's location, type, time period, etc. The most likely background story is that the player landed on the island to collect or achieve something, became stranded, and has to find a boat on the other side of the island to escape. We discussed the possibility of having the player collect objects for defense, and to build shelters at night; the idea being that if they fail to have the needed tools they will be killed and have to start over. We also discussed making the island a maze, and potentially having multiple boat docks to search, but only one having an adequate boat.
8) State on your blog the contributions you, the individual, made towards the team game in the last week.
I have looked through blendswap to find appropriate to give an idea of which island environment and city type would be ideal for us to work on, given the constraints of the objects available. I have also looked at various real life abandoned buildings and cities on islands. The three objects I have download for the game so far are a cat, a soil ground, and a chair. I purposely chose items that could be used for a variety of island environments and time periods.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
HW1 Post 2 Images and Game Websites
Created Images
Image 1: The Common Man Special
I created this image approximately ten years ago, for my business AlbumHut.com, an online music store for independently produced music. The image was created using Microsoft Paint, although more advanced software was an option. The common man special was a package deal for having CDs and CD covers designed, printed on inkjet printers, and placed in jewel cases. CDs would then be available for sale on AlbumHut.com and could be sent to the artist/band for other sales or promotional activities. The package was created to allow independent artists without much financial capital to have a somewhat professional looking product to show for their musical work. The concept of the "common man" is a popular designation claimed by many artists who attempt to accomplish their work on their own, without the influence of producers or others high up in the industry, allowing them to create art that represents the people of the working and/or middle classes. The silhouetted figure was intended to represent an unidentifiable person, an everyman, who may represent the artist him or herself; contrasted by the detailed crate and crate-label.
Image 2: The Album Hut Head Hunter
This is another image that was created for AlbumHut.com, using Microsoft Paint, approximately ten years ago. It was created as part of the advertising campaign for a headhunters program. Although participants in the program are referred to as "headhunters", the image title uses the two separate words version of "Head Hunter". This program paid individuals $10 for every previously unregistered band who listed them as a reference when registering and submitting an album to AlbumHut.com. The image was designed to be reminiscent of the tiki theme that is popular among the Rockabilly music crowd and in pop culture. At the time, I had hoped that this type of imagery would appeal to the artists and friends of artists who were already listed with AlbumHut.com, due to the higher number of rockabilly related artists already registered.
Game Websites
I have chosen the two video games that have been the most memorable to myself. Pharoah, a PC game that I played in undergrad, and Altered Beast, which I played on the Sega Genesis console while in junior high.
Pharaoh is the first game that I feel I had truly became addicted to. I played the game for days at a time, with very few naps, to the point of seeing the game layout every time I closed my eyes, and as my dream landscape. Although it has been more than ten years since I regularly played this game, even the small triggers of a similar sound or visuals give me strong game cravings. I enjoyed the egyptian themed visuals, audio, and topics, but also enjoyed the experience of building city landscapes, attempting to maintain and grow a population, harvesting crops, and producing for trade.
Although Pharaoh is similar to other games that I have enjoyed, such as SimCity and Caesar, the egyptian theme is somehow more appealing to me, personally. I hope that I have learned something of egyptian history through my time spent playing the game. The items grown or created are probably key items to commerce in ancient egypt, and the gods available for worship are probably somewhat accurately described. Hopefully, all history based games are representing accurate information, even if it must be abbreviated.
Altered Beast has been the most memorable game that I have played. It is one of the games that my brother and I shared on the first gaming console that I had regular access to, the Sega Genesis. Although I probably spent many more hours playing Sonic the Hedgehog (the first game in the Sonic franchise), the scenery and sounds of Sonic the Hedgehog have not stuck in my head to the same extent as Altered Beast. I enjoyed the simple 2D side scrolling and platform based path of the game and creative visuals, such as the Octeyes boss throwing eye balls; but the sound of the wolf's howl, the boss' laughter, the deep drum-like beats in the soundtrack, and the narrator's comments, such as "level up", are my fondest memories. I believe this shows that regardless of the depth of a game, or the technology behind the visuals, the auditory aspects of the game can be the main method of endearing the game to a consumer.
I created this image approximately ten years ago, for my business AlbumHut.com, an online music store for independently produced music. The image was created using Microsoft Paint, although more advanced software was an option. The common man special was a package deal for having CDs and CD covers designed, printed on inkjet printers, and placed in jewel cases. CDs would then be available for sale on AlbumHut.com and could be sent to the artist/band for other sales or promotional activities. The package was created to allow independent artists without much financial capital to have a somewhat professional looking product to show for their musical work. The concept of the "common man" is a popular designation claimed by many artists who attempt to accomplish their work on their own, without the influence of producers or others high up in the industry, allowing them to create art that represents the people of the working and/or middle classes. The silhouetted figure was intended to represent an unidentifiable person, an everyman, who may represent the artist him or herself; contrasted by the detailed crate and crate-label.
This is another image that was created for AlbumHut.com, using Microsoft Paint, approximately ten years ago. It was created as part of the advertising campaign for a headhunters program. Although participants in the program are referred to as "headhunters", the image title uses the two separate words version of "Head Hunter". This program paid individuals $10 for every previously unregistered band who listed them as a reference when registering and submitting an album to AlbumHut.com. The image was designed to be reminiscent of the tiki theme that is popular among the Rockabilly music crowd and in pop culture. At the time, I had hoped that this type of imagery would appeal to the artists and friends of artists who were already listed with AlbumHut.com, due to the higher number of rockabilly related artists already registered.
Game Websites
I have chosen the two video games that have been the most memorable to myself. Pharoah, a PC game that I played in undergrad, and Altered Beast, which I played on the Sega Genesis console while in junior high.
Pharaoh is the first game that I feel I had truly became addicted to. I played the game for days at a time, with very few naps, to the point of seeing the game layout every time I closed my eyes, and as my dream landscape. Although it has been more than ten years since I regularly played this game, even the small triggers of a similar sound or visuals give me strong game cravings. I enjoyed the egyptian themed visuals, audio, and topics, but also enjoyed the experience of building city landscapes, attempting to maintain and grow a population, harvesting crops, and producing for trade.
Although Pharaoh is similar to other games that I have enjoyed, such as SimCity and Caesar, the egyptian theme is somehow more appealing to me, personally. I hope that I have learned something of egyptian history through my time spent playing the game. The items grown or created are probably key items to commerce in ancient egypt, and the gods available for worship are probably somewhat accurately described. Hopefully, all history based games are representing accurate information, even if it must be abbreviated.
Altered Beast: http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/altered-beast
Altered Beast has been the most memorable game that I have played. It is one of the games that my brother and I shared on the first gaming console that I had regular access to, the Sega Genesis. Although I probably spent many more hours playing Sonic the Hedgehog (the first game in the Sonic franchise), the scenery and sounds of Sonic the Hedgehog have not stuck in my head to the same extent as Altered Beast. I enjoyed the simple 2D side scrolling and platform based path of the game and creative visuals, such as the Octeyes boss throwing eye balls; but the sound of the wolf's howl, the boss' laughter, the deep drum-like beats in the soundtrack, and the narrator's comments, such as "level up", are my fondest memories. I believe this shows that regardless of the depth of a game, or the technology behind the visuals, the auditory aspects of the game can be the main method of endearing the game to a consumer.
HW1 Post 1 Narrated Video
The March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food; Publix at Walden Woods, Plant City, FL; Friday, March 15th, 2013.
This is a clip from a video taken at the fair food march protest in front of the Publix Supermarket at Walden Woods, in Plant City, FL, on March 15th, 2013. Editing, narration, and publishing to YouTube was completed using Microsoft Movie Maker. The clip shows protesters picketing on the sidewalks on both sides of the street in front of the Publix shopping center. Protesters holding signs, flags, and banners, listen to musicians singing and playing their instruments from the back of a banner decorated flatbed truck.
Video Transcript:
This is a video of a small segment of the March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food; which took place between March 3rd and 17th, 2013. This protest march covered the 200 miles between Ft Myers and Lakeland Florida. We are looking at the afternoon of Friday, March 15th, 2013; when the protest stopped in front of the Publix Super Market at Walden Woods, in Plant City, FL. At this interval, protesters waved signs, chanted, and celebrated with music.
Protesters included farm workers, worker’s advocates, students, and other concerned community members. Timing coincided with two of the typical weeks for college spring breaks, allowing for the obvious presence of college students. This afternoon was the last Friday for Florida State University’s spring break.
While the majority of marching protesters held signs encouraging Publix to join the Fair Food Program, musicians played instruments and sang from the back of a flatbed truck. Passing vehicles were flanked on both sides by the protestors. For Publix, joining the Fair Food Program would mean purchasing their tomatoes sourced from participating farms and paying an extra penny per pound of tomatoes to support higher wages for tomato pickers. Participating farms are required to have a zero tolerance policy for forced labor and sexual assault, to allow for onsite education of workers as part of their paid time, to instill an approved complaint resolution mechanism, to maintain health and safety committees, and to prove compliance through ongoing auditing.
Despite the efforts of these protesters, Publix has refused to join the Fair Food Program.
This is a clip from a video taken at the fair food march protest in front of the Publix Supermarket at Walden Woods, in Plant City, FL, on March 15th, 2013. Editing, narration, and publishing to YouTube was completed using Microsoft Movie Maker. The clip shows protesters picketing on the sidewalks on both sides of the street in front of the Publix shopping center. Protesters holding signs, flags, and banners, listen to musicians singing and playing their instruments from the back of a banner decorated flatbed truck.
Video Transcript:
This is a video of a small segment of the March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food; which took place between March 3rd and 17th, 2013. This protest march covered the 200 miles between Ft Myers and Lakeland Florida. We are looking at the afternoon of Friday, March 15th, 2013; when the protest stopped in front of the Publix Super Market at Walden Woods, in Plant City, FL. At this interval, protesters waved signs, chanted, and celebrated with music.
Protesters included farm workers, worker’s advocates, students, and other concerned community members. Timing coincided with two of the typical weeks for college spring breaks, allowing for the obvious presence of college students. This afternoon was the last Friday for Florida State University’s spring break.
While the majority of marching protesters held signs encouraging Publix to join the Fair Food Program, musicians played instruments and sang from the back of a flatbed truck. Passing vehicles were flanked on both sides by the protestors. For Publix, joining the Fair Food Program would mean purchasing their tomatoes sourced from participating farms and paying an extra penny per pound of tomatoes to support higher wages for tomato pickers. Participating farms are required to have a zero tolerance policy for forced labor and sexual assault, to allow for onsite education of workers as part of their paid time, to instill an approved complaint resolution mechanism, to maintain health and safety committees, and to prove compliance through ongoing auditing.
Despite the efforts of these protesters, Publix has refused to join the Fair Food Program.
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