Week 11 - Game Idea Change - 13/4/15

Week 11
After thinking about the game idea that i have chosen and deliberated upon, I have decided to change my original idea from doing a catapult game to creating a village assault style game, where the player has to throw flaming torches into a village and destroy it. The following aspects of the game will need to be changed in order to make the game work:

• Player - The player will now be a character that throws flaming torches instead of a catapult.
• Score - The score will now be a percentage based score, where the player has to gain a certain amount of damage to pass the level.
• Enemies - The enemies in the game will now be village huts, where the player has to burn down the huts to beat the level.
• Objectives - There will be a special hut for the player to destroy, and this will act as a special bonus.

We also have to include an AI element into the game, most simply to use a NavMesh and create something that travels along that NavMesh. There is a lot to do but it is achievable before the due date.

Week 10 - Game Two Documentation - 30/3/15 & 31/3/15

Week 10

So now we begin development of the second game that makes up part of the assessment. This game can be made a little differently from the first one, and also has to have a different theme, which is "Medieval". More about the game will be explained below.

Understanding the Project Brief: We are to create a web build of a game prototype with a theme of "Medieval". We will be creating all the aspects of the game in our Game Design 2 and Programming 2 classes. 

There are less restrictions involved with this game compared to the previous space related game. Firstly, the camera is allowed to move and character controller/s may be used in the construction and production of this game. This allows the game to be more dynamic and allows for larger landscapes to be developed. This game will be a 3D game, have two levels and needs to destroy/rescue something/someone.

Conceptualising the Game: So the theme of the game is "Medieval", and the game needs to include the player either destroying or rescuing someone, such as a kidnapped character, or something, such as destroying a castle or village. This gives me a range of different ideas that I could develop into a game, with the one that the teachers promoted was a catapult game. Some other ideas are:

• A search and rescue style, where the player has to navigate a game level and rescue a hostage/recover a prized possession.
• A search and destroy style, where the player has to kill a boss player at the end of navigating a level.
• An assault/siege style, where the player plays as an army/squadron/player and has to destroy a village. Not a catapult game but similar to its style.

After much deliberation, I decided that a catapult game will be the easiest and quickest game to create. It still offers a challenge to make the game but will be simpler than creating one of the other styles, so therefore a medieval catapult game will be made.

Beginning Development: To create the game, the following gameplay mechanics will need to be developed to make the game successful:

• Player - A catapult and controller will need to be designed, animated and textured.
• Enemy - 2 castles will need to be created and textured, one fore each level and one which is slightly harder than the other.
• Score - A points/rating system, where the player will need to beat a certain score to pass the level, will need to be designed.
• Objective - An objective/target in the level needs to be designed for both levels, such as a flag/enemy character. This objective will need to be destroyed/killed for the level to be passed and completed.
• Audio - Audio needs to be made for the menu's and in-game, whether it be SFX for the levels and a tune for the menu screens.
• Once again a menu system needs to be designed, including a main menu, credits, in-game, win/lose and button help screen.

Along with the Space game, this game will need models for most to all of the objects in the game scene, and we can once again gather some models from the Unity Asset Store, however some assets can be created.

More posts will be added to this blog with updates regarding the progress of this medieval catapult game.

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

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.

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.

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….

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