Justin Pozzebon - 6103289014

Monday, 30 March 2015

Week 9 - One game down, one more to go - 23/3/15 & 24/3/15

Week 9
So the first game was handed in, and we were tasked to start creating the second game, which has to have a "Medieval" theme. This game allows a bit less restrictions in its creation. The camera is allowed to move and we are allowed to use character controllers for the player. This allows the game to be more dynamic. The documentation needs to be done first before the game can be made.

More posts will be added as the game is developed

Monday, 23 March 2015

Week 8 - Multitasking Live Updates at 2am - 16/3/15 & 17/3/15

Week 8 Blog Post
2:22am: Writing this blog post at 2:22am on Monday morning to summarize what was done during week 8 doesn't seem like a good idea to anyone else reading this, but to me it is a great idea. I have time to finish and polish off my game for this subject while watching the football team I support, Chelsea, play live in England, so it is the perfect reason to be awake at this time. Presently Chelsea are winning 2-0, so everything is going to plan....

2:27am: Well, Hull City (the team that Chelsea are playing against) have scored, so it's now 2-1. It could be worse....

2:28am: It is worse. Hull City have somehow scored again. 2-2 now. I can't even talk about my Space game without focusing on the match. Ahh, the life of a mad fanatic.

2:29am: My computer monitor has more programs open than a TV shop owner. Lucky the screen is big enough to accommodate all these open tabs.

2:31am: Finally, a lull in the sporting match, so i can talk about my game. Everything was finished off during the week, with the problems that I encountered last week with programming sorted out, models textured and audio added to the game. Also a menu system was designed, but the main focus was on the game level. There may be one or two aspects that i may not get to fully complete, like the timer stopping when the player is destroyed, and the score being shown upon the Win/Lose screen. Hopefully in the time between now and class today (23/3/15) I can figure out the respective code and finish it off. But aside from this, the rest of the game works how i want it to.

2:52am: The match is 2-2 at half time, hopefully Chelsea can get the win.

3:26am: The match is still at 2-2, and there's only 20 minutes left. Get a goal, boys! In other news, the textures won't show on my explosion in the game. I don't know why, all the textures are there, but they won't show. So annoying.

3:36am: My prayers are answered! Chelsea have scored! Winning 3-2 with 12 minutes left. And also, the textures have now appeared on the explosion! Good times!

3:52am: Full time and Chelsea win 3-2! Really important win. I've also done what i need to on my game, sleep is necessary now, 3 hours should be enough??

P.S: I gave up celebrating my 19th birthday on Saturday for this assessment, it better pay off.

Sunday, 15 March 2015

Week 7 - So frustrating... - 9/3/15 & 10/3/15

Week 7
As the days continue to pass the production of the space game continues, with many aspects still to work on with the due date slowly encroaching towards us. This week was a bit slow production wise, as the code that i wanted to write just wouldn't work. No matter how many times I tried and how many different ways of writing this specific type of code, it just wouldn't work. So that really slowed up progress.

But with every failed attempt progress to success was still achieved, and i had to put this specific aspect of code on standby and work on other parts of the game. With the game due in one week and a fair amount of work to do, aspects need to be figured out quickly, but i believe that i can get the completed game done by next week.

Wednesday, 4 March 2015

Week 6 - Game development is in progress... - 2/3/15 & 3/3/15

Week 6 – Development is in progress…

So we are still working on creating our space game. It’s coming along together slowly, but the main aspects have been scripted and developed into the main level. Initially, remembering how to write movement scripts was a bit too much, but after referencing tutorials and researching questions over the ‘net’ I was able to get the movement and rotation of the main player, so when he moves from left to right the ship banks each way, as well as banking up and down when the character moves.

After completing this, the focus is now on how to get the background to move inwards slowly,, giving off the impression that the player is flying through space without the game camera actually moving. Also, a GUI menu also has to be developed, but as this is past work then it can be simply done.

But for now, the slow grind to game completion continues….

Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Week 5 - Getting the keywords and beginning development! - 23/2/15 & 24/2/15

In class today we received the keywords for the games we are to create as our assessment items in conjunction with our Programming class. The keywords we received are “Space” and “Medieval”. We are to make both games which include certain parameters by our programming class on week 10, just before the mid semester break. The first game, the one with a “Space” theme, is to be completed by week 7, and the “Medieval” game by week 10. So we can leave production of the 2^nd game until we finish the first game, so I will focus my attention on that.

Understanding the Project Brief:

We are required to make a web build of a game prototype with the theme of “Space”. We also have to make this game using Unity’s inbuilt physics engine. We will be creating the environment and ideas for this game in our Game Design 2 classes, and writing scripts and making the game in our Programming 2 class.

We also have restrictions we have to take into account when conceptualising and creating the game. The game prototype must not use a character controller or animator controller. We must use Translate/Rotate or AddForce methods when programming the movements for our players, enemies and objects in the game, and the camera is to stay in a fixed position. The game also has to be in 3D.

Conceptualising the game:

So the theme for the visual aspects is “Space”. So most games with a space theme are flying games, and this seems like the most logical choice to make, in both terms of simplicity and content yet also enjoyable for the player.

So with the main game to be a flying style game, I now need to decide what type of flying game it will be. It be either one of the following:

- A survival style game, where the player has to fly for as long as they can while avoiding obstacles.

- A shooting style game, where the player has to kill enemies in front of him that are returning fire trying to kill them.

- Both of these ideas combined to make a survival – shooter game.

- A racing style game, where a player has to complete a level by getting from point A to point B as fast as possible, passing checkpoints along the way and picking up boosts to increase their speed, or bumping obstacles which slows their progress.

This decision is an important one, as it will shape how the game is designed. The one that appeals to me the most is a survival type of game, where the player has to fly as far as they can avoiding obstacles. If they hit an obstacle then the player’s ship will explode and the game will end, prompting a restart if they want to try again.

Beginning Development:

To begin I need to start thinking about what will be in the game. The following items will need to be created for the game:

- Player – The player will be a ship of some kind, to fly through the level.

- Obstacles – The obstacles in the game will consist of asteroids and space debris. They will all be solid objects and the player will be instantly killed if they collide with them.

- Objective(s) – The objective of the game will be to go as far as possible, whether it be via a timer or a distance measurement, and maybe to collect as many small valuable pickups which add to the distance/length of time that the player is alive.

- Background – As the game will be set in space the game will need a space background. At this early stage it could be a skybox or a simple image.

Models will be needed for these most of these objects. Fortunately we are able to use assets from the Unity Asset Store.

We have been told to blog our progress throughout the weeks we are creating our games, updating you readers on my progress

Tuesday, 17 February 2015

Week 4 - Creating a level blueprint - 16/2/15

This week we were told to expand on our original game concept and develop a blueprint for a level that was to be included in the game. As per last week, we were given a series of questions to help aid our design. All of these question will consist mainly of hand drawn images with an explanation on some of these images.

Week 4 – Creating the level blueprint

Question 1: Building on the original concept developed in Chapter 2, create a blueprint for your level. Make sure you begin with a series of rough sketches until your blueprint begins to take shape.

Image 1: A rough map of the level with a few notes regarding its design.

Image 2: The level with more detail added to its design.

Image 3: The final level blueprint and with start position and notes included.

Question 2: Create at least three gameplay mechanics for your level. How do these objectives relate to your original story idea?

There are many different gameplay mechanics that are Included when making games. Some of these include what style the game is, how the player interacts with the game world, right up to how the characters move and interact in the world. As the game is a RPG style, and the player assumes the role of a sergeant in an army, he has the ability to aim, shoot, jump etc. He will also be able to interact with other minor characters in the game world, like talking to AI characters throughout the game, and interacting with objects around each level.

Objectives throughout the game will have different ways of being completed. Some will include killing a certain character/a number of characters, gathering intel, picking up certain objects, triggering a set of events or cut-scene and checkpoint which will load another set of objectives to complete the level. In this level that has been conceptualized above, some gameplay mechanics that have been created are gather/pickup objectives for most of the objectives in the level, where the player will have to gather information by going from house to house to interview people and find out information. The player will also have to use Jump/climbing and crouching movement mechanics to make it through the level as the end objectives are isolated by an obstacle. The player will also view the game through a first-person camera mechanic, as most shooter games are created in first person to make the game feel much more realistic.

All these game mechanics relate to the original story idea of a RPG shooter game as these are all integral mechanics into making a game like this work. The jumping and crouching mechanics in the game are necessary as the jumping is needed to navigate through certain levels and over obstacles, while crouching and lying prone are needed to hide in cover from enemies firing at the player and crawl under certain obstacles. The gather/pickup objectives can be used for many different instances throughout the game and not just the level, where the character may need to retrieve a certain item/weapon, or gather a certain piece of information. These are important as they give another way to complete objectives, rather than just to kill someone/a certain amount of people. The first-person camera is probably the ideal way to play a shooter game as it depicts the story from the point of view of the character and player, and this makes the game more relatable for humans to play.

Question 3: Come up with five level objectives that correspond to your gameplay mechanics. How will you identify these objectives in your blueprint level?

Before the level begins a cut-scene will show telling the player the main objectives of the level, which would be a different character telling the main player to go and gather information by interviewing the locals living in the houses in the surrounding area. There will be four pieces of information to gather in this fashion, and they should be collected in a linear fashion as the player follows the ‘Z’ shape of the level. The final objective of the level is to take the information back to head command, which means navigating back through the level and returning to the starting point.

These will be shown in the game by a text line that appears in a corner of the game screen showing the current objective and how many pieces of information are left to collect, if applicable. In the blueprint level they will be shown via a blue cross (X). The final objective is shown via a red cross (X). If there is an arrow beside the cross it depicts that the objective is on the level above.

Image 4: The final level with objectives included in the design.

In the next lesson we will be given two keywords which will be the themes for two games we are to create.

Tuesday, 10 February 2015

Week 3 - Creating a game concept - 9/2/15

Chapter 2 - Conceptualizing a game idea.

In this chapter, we were asked to begin developing a concept for a game that we would like to create. These questions were given to us to help begin and develop this concept.

Question 1: Using some of the techniques discussed in this chapter, begin developing a concept for an original game idea. Discuss the central theme of your idea, and the methods you used to bring your idea into existence.

The game concept I wish to develop has the central theme of science – fiction, good-overcomes-evil style game, involving the main setting of the moon. It will be an RPG/first-person shooter game in which the character has to follow the storyline and complete missions and levels to complete an overall goal, either that be to kill a powerful antagonist or achieve an ultimate goal. It will be set in a future civilisation that has been established on the Earth’s moon, with small parts on the uninhabitable Earth.

When thinking about developing an original game idea, one must use some inspiration to gather the initial ideas to form the game concept. Usually game creators want to make a game that is based on themes and ideas that they find interesting, activities that they like to do, objects and theories that they find appealing to them or a topic they know well. Once topic is decided upon then the details about what type of game, setting, characters, details and levels can be started to be developed.

Question 2: Create a backstory, environment, and three character descriptions associated with your original game idea. How are these elements integrated and linked through a central theme?

Backstory – The year is 2245 AD. 26 year old Sergeant Jackson Velibor, a member of the Royal Reconnaissance Army (RRA) had been stationed on the Royal Palace, Moon City for 3 years. The Purge of the Earth had ended 50 years ago, and was now uninhabitable. Those who were fortunate and wealthy enough were able to escape to the nearby Moon, established and built into the last society of Humans from Earth. Since the end of the Purge, the Moon’s inhabitants had been ruled by tyrant Maximillion Crayne, and the Moons’ citizens’ were suffering from it. Using his training from the RRA, will Jackson be able to make a difference and bring the Moon to harmony?

Environment – As the game will be set in the year 2245 AD, the setting for the game is primarily the moon of planet Earth, with some parts to be set on a destroyed planet Earth. As time as passed, along with the advancement of technology, the humans of Earth had inhabited the Moon, and developed it into a futuristic city for the last humans who survived the purge of the Earth to live in harmony upon its surface. The Earth, however, is a barren, toxic, apocalyptic wasteland. The air is polluted and lethal and the land is constantly ablaze with fire and lava.

Character Descriptions:

· Character 1: Jackson Velibor (Main Protagonist) – Jackson Velibor is 26 years old male sergeant in the Royal Reconnaissance Army (RRA), serving as a guard in the Royal Palace. He is 6 foot 1 inch tall, short brown hair, brown eyes and well built. He is a determined, strong hearted person who has an undying loyalty to his family and friends – a typical hero character.

· Character 2: Maximillion Crayne (Main Antagonist) – Maximillion Crayne is the 51 year old tyrant dictator of the Moon City, the last city where humans are now living. A tall, average built man with long black hair and dark grey eyes, he had been in charge for 12 years, and ruled over the city with an iron fist, living in luxury while the citizens under his suffer in hardship. He is cold hearted and very intelligent, with no remorse for his subjects.

· Character 3: Malcolm Cannari (Minor character) – Malcolm Cannari is the leader of the secret group that is plotting to kill Maximillion Crayne and overthrow the Royal Reconnaissance Army. He is a seasoned former soldier, tall and strong, sporting many scars from battles, most significantly the straight scar running across his face. He voice carries a strong authority with it, and is not worried about the consequences to get a job done.

All these elements, the backstory, environment and characters, are linked to the central theme of a futuristic, science-fiction world where good overcomes evil. The characters are created so that they have a fixed hero that the player will grow to love, the antagonist will have the attitude and characteristics that will make the player loathe him– this giving the player a drive to complete the game.

Question 3: Document your concept with reference material and original sketches. How did you capture your reference images? Create thumbnails and silhouettes. Compile these images into an art “bible” to help guide your vision.

Most of the reference images were gathered via the internet, with the hand drawn images done via paper scanned onto the computer and those drawn via tablet and Photoshop saved regularly. All images gathered from the internet have their URL attached.