Task 2.1 – Apply Practical skills, understanding and methods.

February 19, 2018 — Leave a comment

Left – First edition of the game made for ECDL. Right – Early work on transferring the game into unity.

An attempt at including the battle scene into the same scene as the house scenes.

After trying to use Flowcharts and C Sharp in the same scene I started suffering from unity crashing. To fix this I’ll be moving the final battle which requires C Sharp, to another scene that can be accessed from the flowcharts used before hand.

I finally figured out what to put in the last cupboard! What if a PG tips Chimp was denying the cup of tea, MRS. Doyle offered you?

Also note that the Fight sign will be going as I don’t think it fits with the final fantasy theme that directly follows after street fighter references. The use of sound would indicate the commencement of battle far greater than a visual… more on this later.

Latest edition (Still in progress) made with unity and the use of flow charts.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on transferring PPACAG to Unity. The biggest barrier for me in this has been trying to get flowcharts to work with Fungus, Unity. Note: I’ve been organising the left side column to try and keep to the order of the game to make it easier to edit.

A test used to learn how to solve menu cross over.

So far the requirements for this game have been to learn how to get around problems like, persistent menu options sticking around when not wanted. (Turns out I needed to put them into a menu dialogue) Using clickable objects so I can have Easter eggs hidden in certain rooms. And have certain options disappear once clicked.

I’m having fun trying to move everything over and even found empty spots that could use filling with new content like I originally planed. There’s also going to be an item system that would be used during the final battle. This is made by adding variables and pairing them with clickable or movable sprites. Unfortunately, the assets aren’t made by myself. Trying to get the game done in time would be impossible if I had to recreate every asset. Instead I’m saving the asset creation for the final major project.

I wanted to do more work on this game before I made an exe. for it. Though I find the best way for someone to see my work on this game is to play through it. There are some bugs present in the game still and the final battle needs finishing. Everywhere else should be fully explorable.

Unfortunately I keep receiving a crash report when trying to play the executable.

Task 2 – Demonstrate the ability to plan, organise and present solutions.

February 19, 2018 — Leave a comment

For the development of my game I’m using a majority of source materials and referencing heavily from my previous work, PowerPoint and click adventure game. The work will mainly take place at college on Tuesdays. A majority of work has already been done on this game, with some minor changes to help flesh out or improve the original.

Early work on PPACAG

Current standing on the Games development.

I want to have the game available for download at some point, though the final battle scene may take some time to complete. This is something I aim to complete in spare time, where spare time is available.

For an idea of what the final game will look like, please look at the attached power point document attached above.

Unit 6 -7 Proposal.doc

Equipment_Needed (1)

Task 3 – Analyse the effectiveness of solutions.

February 19, 2018 — Leave a comment

Power Point and Click the Adventure Game: Unity Edition.

Catchy title, I know. Unfortunately this game still isn’t finished. While the point and click aspect is done, the final boss battle is still in development. This may have something to do with my attempts at learning C#. The house scenes within the game shown above are made using the Fungus flowchart plugin, while the battle scene below, is being made in C# to better emulate a final fantasy like battle.

PPACAG battle scene.

After working with the two methods of script within Unity, I found that using flowcharts was a quicker and more simplistic approach. Using a visual table of events that make it easy to keep track of what you’re doing. Where as with C# scripts, you must have a better understanding of Integers and floats. I still have a very skewed knowledge on this. Thus making it harder for me to use and taking longer to get one scene done. Although it is a hefty scene. The goal for it intended the use of multiple abilities, statistics and items. Something I should have foreseen a larger amount of time required to complete. At least I used the tools at my disposal effectively though. Once I got the hang of using Fungus via the use of tutorials and help from tutors, I started flying threw the main area of the game. As for the final battle, I still feel like I made good progress. Again I used the help of online tutorials to get an idea of what I needed to do. It opened my eyes as to what work is needed for UI development. Something I can use in my final major project. I’m also impressed that I managed to get any of the scripts finished. Having never touched them before. With the time I spent on the project I felt I spent well. Though I must keep note of my scripting limitations.

Some of the hardest decisions I had made for the game were mainly about the jokes and how they were implemented. I didn’t want to fill the game with bad language or heavy adult humour. I wanted to make something light hearted, something I feel I have succeeded at. This was done by changing certain sentences slightly (Avoiding malice – since these people actually do exist.) and changing some instances. Example being the fridge part where you meet Zuul. Now adding purpose to it’s presence and including the acquirement of a key item (See what I did there? The item is keys.) and the tasteful (Absent from game play) scene of MRS Doyle and a PG tips monkey arguing about tea. I do regret my humour may be a little dated for this though. But I think we’ll agree that it’s a better joke than having an Indian in the cupboard. No one seems to know the movie when shown to colleagues. I also failed to find anything funny to mention with such a joke without being borderline offensive or referencing borrowers. Even I’m against that reference.

The strength and weakness behind this project was most definitely the source material. I’m sad to say that although I liked the idea of the group interactive game for presentations, I feel like porting it to Unity was a bit of a mistake. Yes, the time needed to make the game was shortened massively but I think I would have had more fun making a different game. Not that it wasn’t fun, just familiar. Know what I do now, I have this sense of ability and skill that could be used to make more substantial and more entertaining games. Something that doesn’t rely on references and celebrities. Something I felt I could improve on is exactly this. Building an actual narrative, with character development and gripping plot. I love writing stories. So why didn’t I think to just write something new to use? Regrets all around.

Fortunately for me, people like the game. Perhaps it’s stagnated a bit for myself. Though countless people around me seem to think it’s a good game. I would argue that… I can argue that and will. Though I know I shouldn’t be too hard on myself. People like my game for the same reason I made the game. To appeal to a wide audience and capture the whimsy of memes to entertain the young while making references to yesteryear to keep hold of the old… er… If I’m being honest, the game is a success. Random and structured entertainment with cheap and thought out laughs. I should be happy that people actually enjoy it. This wont stop me from trying harder next time though. Also I need to get better at deadpan text humour.

Task 1.1: Apply research activities to support solutions to a visual and interactive based problem.

January 16, 2018 — Leave a comment

Understanding the reason for the visual narrative is actually quite tough to explain. To better understand it you need to look at The motivational game. This free game uses visual humour and well known memes to entertain the player. This explains the use of film footage and photography mixed with cartoon animation. The game looks crude and acts as such. Not meant to be for a wide audience and very specific of it’s player type. Stereotyping heavy internet browsers and gamer’s. Since the original intent was to make the humour suitable for everyone, I decided to take a more mature approach to the game. It was intended to be presented and played with a group, Hence PowerPoint. Knowing that the methods of making a game Unity is very similar, I aim to remake and improve the game.

Thumbnail for The Motivational Game.

I also took note of the use of celebrities and the music used (For audible gags) this lead me to originally use the sound track Sneaky Snitch – Kevin MacLeod.

All the animation and visuals are using 2D graphics or film images. This is what made me think about making a point and click adventure game. Not only due to the software limitations but to also make my own version of games like Monkey Island and Day of the tentacle. Games that provide outlandish situations and use dialogue to progress, unlock content/ Easter eggs and entertain. I also enjoyed the fourth wall breaking aspect of these games. Subtle nods to the player that (although breaking immersion – Not as important for this type of game.) show acknowledgement and false sentience.

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Dead Pool – A character that uses fourth wall breaks to entertain.

Concept design for this game will mostly rely on PowerPoint and click adventure game. As a majority of the assets and ideas will be coming from this. Like previously stated in other posts. This game is mainly a method of practice for myself and obtaining skills needed for my future career.

Although the story is very linear, I want to make a change to the original by having the final group as optional characters. You meet these characters throughout your journey and depending on your interactions with them, it’s possible to have them join you for the end or be completely absent for the boss battle. This may also determine whether or not the player can succeed. The visual techniques being used in this are dependant on the players point of view. Depicting first person POV while being 2D was easier than I originally thought. My first thought to this was looking at an old favourite game of mine Shadowgate for the NES Nintendo. In this point and click adventure game, you play as an adventurer that must navigate an occupied castle and defeat an evil warlock. What attracted me to this more is it’s ambiguity to the players look and status. Having this anonymity allows for the player to feel like it’s their story and their own decisions. Although immersion wasn’t the original idea, after trying it I felt like it was a good idea as more work can now go into visual gags and story elements.

As for the script writing, in the sense of coding, I’ll be using Fungus in Unity to help build the game. This is because I don’t know any languages in code yet and feel for the time frame it will be more effective and suitable. As for script writing in story sense, I never had a definite plan for the original. I thought having the player find corgis was a cute and entertaining idea at first but when I finished a simple game of corgi hunting, I realised that I want more. This is when I ran with the idea similar to that of the motivational game. Since then I have had many ideas for visual jokes to implement.

The game in itself doesn’t represent or provide any deeper meaning or messages. It purely plays off as a joke to entertain an audience. When thinking of platforms for the game to be played on, I purely aim to have it playable on Mac and PC. Although I believe a game like this would be perfect for a mobile/Tablet audience (Using the touch pad to indicate direction and investigation/ Puzzle solving.). Where I to work on a game like this in the future (With 100% original assets.), I would love to make it more story driven and implement more puzzles. This would be great for Mobile gamer’s as there are a plethora of hand held games that offer exactly the same concept with great succession. Professor Layton, Phoenix Wright, The Room and countless others. The puzzle game genre and point and click genre work quite well for Hand held devices. Though for now I will stick to Mac and PC as it’s more realistic to my skills and capabilities.

Animation for the game will mostly rely on Unities tools and plugins. After recent events though I would love to try Character animator and other available software’s like Flash/Animator to make some entertaining visuals. In fact should there be time to improve the game, specific methods are not set in stone. The game is going to act more like a playground to my experiments. This means that research into the games development will be ongoing constantly.

To get more information about this games inspiration and research behind it, there is a research blog post attached to Units 5,6 and 7. Or click here for a direct link. This is mainly to keep track and store my found information.

References.

Task 1: Analyse a visual and interactive-based problem in creative media production.

January 14, 2018 — Leave a comment

To start off this assignment, I have several game ideas to start work on. The first I’d like to mention is a flight simulator made in Unreal using models from C4D and hopefully Maya. The reason for working with Maya is because it’s heavily used within the industry and practice with this software would be a benefit to my future career. The other idea is a port of a game called PowerPoint and click adventure game. This was a game made without original assets, in power point for ECDL. Work has already begun on this to import it into Unity using the Fungus scripting flow charts. Other ideas for future projects include a scavenger hunt using Arasuma augmented reality and a virtual reality flight simulator. Research continues on these as I learn more about working with the relevant software to produce interactive products.

For this assignment I would like to use the most recently worked game. PowerPoint and click adventure game. The requirements for this game are quite simple. From what I’ve seen of Fungus in Unity so far, I understand it’s not too different from trigger effects in power point. This gave me the idea to re-make the game as practice with Unity. Visually the assets are photographs and cartoons mixed. It’s “terrible” in design and looks more like an internet meme than anything with any real substance (Graphically). This aids in the humour of the game though as it’s quite light hearted and uses nostalgia to connect with the audience. Software used to update or improve the visuals for this game (Being 2D) will most likely be Illustrator and Photoshop.

The importance of this game is to connect with the player/audience with nostalgia and humorous visual and narrative-implied quips. As well as cleverly placed references and Easter eggs. This interactive experience will rely on the player to make choices that will either make or break them in the final moments of the game. This will be done by setting multiple IF statements to recognise if the player performed certain tasks. Determining if they get certain characters to join them in the end or not.

The requirements to complete this task will include Unity to act as the game engine and various plugins to help code it. I’ll need access to adobe illustrator (Mainly for the vector graphics as resizing may be needed.) for graphics and Photoshop for the photos (In case they need editing.). These are available to me at home. As for audio I’ll be using none copy written music as my main work including audio is focused on the 3D Flight simulator being made in unreal.

The brunt of the work is going to be with Unity. I haven’t got much experience with Unity or Fungus. Which is why I’m doing this game as I want the experience for future projects. Due to time constraints I feel this game took priority as I want to work on other things as well. Though I do aim to make improvements to the game. To demonstrate changes I can present both the original and Unity copies on word press for people to determine improvement or failure. Other skills required will be with Illustrator and Photoshop which I feel more confident working with, as well as my own initiative and planning skills to complete the game in due time. I would also like to test my drawing tablet with this too. Gaining more experience with hand drawn characters and animating them.

To make this game a success I feel that I need to keep to the core idea. It’s humorous but not offensive, a healthy mix of animation and photography. I feel that although many of the assets (Photography) are not my own, this could hinder me. Though the main idea for this game is for me to make something that people can enjoy and give me experience with Unity. Almost reminiscent of an old Flash game.

I feel that the biggest barrier for me when making this will be getting the final battle to work as planned. Tutorials and tutors can help with this and I expect that this game wont be as demanding as I expect. Though it is my first real game, I feel that my skills in research and problem solving are going to be key to this games success.

To finish off I’d like recommend looking at the game linked. It’s not perfect and has many bugs but it would help with my personal research if people can give me feedback with more detail. I look forward to presenting this final product soon.

Research for Visual, Audible and Interactive Design.

January 9, 2018 — Leave a comment

Before completing any tasks I’ve made this page to record my research on the project. (This is not an assignment.) Between the four of us, grouped for the Compton castle event. We have decided to make the same game in different styles. This is so we can see which style we feel works best for the event. Allowing us to pick the best parts of each style to implement into a hybrid product.

To start off with the research I know that the core game idea is going to be based on a spitfire. I’m going to do this in a 3D, abstract art style. Taking a more artistic approach by using unconventional colours and sounds. Mainly using the visuals and audio to tell the story we wish to convey. This post will be updated accordingly as work is produced.

Visual.

To start off with, I looked at images of spitfires on google to get inspiration for the visuals of the game.

Although these are close to what I’m looking for, I wanted to make it look more colourful. The audience is going to be playing the role of “Aliens”. This means I can take a less serious or literal approach to the topic. War is hell. How do you show something or explain something so horrible to someone that might not understand it? To answer this, I’m going to have to think of how I would explain it to a child. Having the ability to use games as a story telling device, I want it to be colourful, entertaining, easy to understand and kind. My first instinct is to get a base design for the visuals. C4D is my first choice for testing designs.

Blue print of a Spitfire for model reference.

Primitive model design for Spitfirez! (Name needs improving.)

First attempt at the spitfire.

After playing with some primitive objects and testing with textures. I have a good idea of how I want this to look and work. It’s good to note that the camera angle will be in third person so spending extra time on the spitfire visuals is worth the effort. I want the textures for most objects to be foggy. Almost as if they’re the clouds sounding the area. Another idea is to have certain colours burst out. Very similar to the visuals in Schindler’s List.

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Scene from the film Schindler’s List.

Next I should work on some details for the aircraft.

Test with lower clouds and colour change.

I like the clouds but I think I could add more colour to the scene.

Water colour illustration by Amber Ma

I love the above image. It’s exactly the kind of thing I’m aiming for with the game. I’m looking at fog textures for the models but I think I could try something more solid for the over all design. Worth trying this to see how it looks.

More water colour illustrations by Amber Ma.

Detail and different colour test.

After looking at various art illustrations and playing with the colours and textures. I spoke to john and asked about fog textures and the transfer-ability to Unreal engine 4. Turns out it may be easier to do most of the textures within Unreal engine. This is something I can test at home.

Looking into Maya as an alternative tool for visuals.

A look into animation and possible examples of narrative for the love aspect.

After learning about this new industry standard software from Jon today I decided to download it to take a look at it myself. Above is a tutorial to help get me started. Hopefully I can use this to get better quality textures for future projects. I’ve also decided that although the flight simulator will be using simple colours and textures, I’m going to make a high quality model for high quality texturing for use on the Compton castle project. I may even be able to sell it online. My aim is to make the final aircraft, photo realistic and indistinguishable from reality.

Audio.

Audio recording bit rates.

Hanz Zimmer uses a method called the Shepard’s tone to get a suspenseful feeling. The three of us have agreed to recreate this sound for our final project making flight simulators.

When trying to put something together in Logic Pro I find myself unable to make anything I feel is worth using. I managed to make a semi ok Shepherds tone, but I feel I can make a better one implemented into a piece of music. I need to find more inspiration for this one.