As you may have noticed there have been some changes around here, and they have been made for good reason. I have finished (for the most part) my second year of university at UOIT.
4 months of relaxation and full time work are ahead, i may be posting less as i will be busy over the summer, but I have found the light and have left the black...and yet i shall return soon enough
Friday, April 23, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
PART 2: ART GAME CRITIQUE
The path is a short horror game from Tale of Tales. Although I wouldn’t categorize it as “short” as the path never ends. The game gives the player one instruction; go to your grandmother’s house…and try and stay on the path.
The player can choose one of 6 girls to play, differing in age and style. Each girl has a different experience in the forest, and can interact with a set amount of items.
The player has complete freedom to go wherever they wish, but they quickly learn that if you go into the forest to explore, you will get lost. When out in the forest the player can find items/occurrences that trigger memories, they can also find flowers that are scattered all over the forest.
After finding a couple of items in the forest, the player is given a hint to where the wolf is. The wolf is some form of outside influence on the girl, which differs depending on which girl was chosen. A very nice cut scene is played once the player interacts with the wolf, and brings the player back to the path right in front of the grandmother’s house, left to walk home in the rain.
The main influence in making this game is the story of red riding hood. The story of a little girl making the decision whether or not to stay on the path on the way to her grandmother’s house, and the wolf she encounters.
This game has a lot of suspense, and it is meant to scare you. When playing through the game (in the dark, on my own, late at night) the sound effects will shock you, the strange images that come up on the screen confuse you. And overall you end up feeling like something is watching or following you throughout the entire game.
The game did its job well, they wanted to scare people, while also showing the players the stories they wanted to convey. They did this perfectly (if you play all the way through) with the progression of the girls in their age and the different “wolves” that they come in contact with. The best example of this is the first wolf. The player at a point in the game encounters a massive wolf that’s flying through the forest and the player must “catch a ride” so to speak. But the main thing was how sudden and unsuspected the wolf’s arrival is, it causes so much surprise in the player.
The controls are even worked into how the story is told. Specifically when you try to run, or move faster than just a slow walk, the screen will pull up and away from the character, sometimes even blocking your entire view of what’s below. This has two effects; first it forces the player to stop and smell the roses, and take their time when going through the forest, and second it causes the player to run in circles and get lost, as they can never see what’s in front of them.
Overall the path is an amazing game that makes you feel fear, makes you want to explore, and sometimes scares the crap out of you. From the very well done sound effects and music, to the cut scenes in the grandmother’s house and with the wolves, this game tells a very old story on a level that most would have never thought of.
PART 1: PROTOTYPING
Business Card Game: Busy-ness:
Design a collectible card game for business cards to facilitate social interaction
Most collectable card games involve some sort of monster battle and trading system. The game that I have come up with takes that into account.
Busy-ness would involve each player collecting a set of business cards; the business cards themselves would be based off of existing companies and ranked according to the position in the company and the type of company that the person belongs to.
The main goal for players in this game is to collect all of the highest level employees that they can, and therefore gaining power over other players. (Much like the Pokémon card game, this game has no ending)
There are two main strategies to playing the collecting game. Players can either fight for their jobs, or switch who they work for.
Fighting for their jobs would be a player vs. player experience each player can chose only 5 employees from their portfolio, each employee would go up against an employee from the other player. Who wins each battle will depend on the ranking of the employee, and the company that would have the advantage in the situation. The player who wins the most battles gets to keep whatever employees they defeated as well as the ones that they played with.
Changing who they work for is the simple idea of trading cards with another player. There are rules however; employees from different company types can only be traded at the same ranking, employees from the same type of company can be traded as much as wanted, but work on the simple fact that the trade must even out (the total value of each player’s trade must be the same)
Overall I think that the cards could, instead of being purchased or made up to be fake, be real business cards that people have collected over the years of their lives. This would lead to a game mostly played by the working ages after high school. Still being a fun game, but relating specifically to the situation of the city life/business work lifestyle.
Linear Algebra Game: Down Sizing
Design and prototype a simple mini-game to teach linear algebra concepts.
Linear algebra concepts are hard to teach via the everyday methods. There is no hands-on feeling with dealing with math like this, and hence causes a lot of students to fail at working with linear algebra problems in the future.
Dot product is one concept in particular that I thought could be made into a game, and perhaps teach students in a more hands on way, how to use this method.
My concept is Down Sizing, a puzzle game much like the stacking flash games you see all over games sites on the internet. The player would stack 6 towers, each comprising of skyscraper pieces that are shaped differently. After the player is finished stacking the towers, each towers number would be calculated, by how many blocks fell off and how many still stood on the tower. With these numbers the company that the player works for will inform them that some changes have to be made, and all of the buildings they have made, will be moving into one skyscraper. The player then receives a chart of the company’s calculations as a dot product equation.
Eg:
Tower downsizing results 1 2 -3 -2 5 3
These towers must converge, and some changes will take place as follows:
1 x -2 + 2 x 5 + -3 x 3 = -1
Your building does not have the resources to hold its current size, The top floor of your highest building must be removed
After receiving the message the player would then control a wrecking ball and have to remove only the number of levels calculated by the player in the note.
I believe this would be a good teaching tool as it would get the player to calculate the dot product in order to figure out how many levels must be removed; of course the numbers would get larger as the player progresses through the game.
UOIT game: Degreedom
Design and build a prototype board game around the UOIT theme
The game I decided to build is called Degreedom. It is be a turn based strategy game where up to four players battle it out to get to the ladder to their degree and/or career.
Players move across a board that is split up into 4 sections, and each section with 2 stages.These sections and stages represent the average number of years and semesters a student must go through to achieve their degree. The board is filled with roadblocks, tests, and decision points to change the way a player must strategize to get through the game.
UOIT game: Degreedom
Design and build a prototype board game around the UOIT theme
The game I decided to build is called Degreedom. It is be a turn based strategy game where up to four players battle it out to get to the ladder to their degree and/or career.
Players move across a board that is split up into 4 sections, and each section with 2 stages.These sections and stages represent the average number of years and semesters a student must go through to achieve their degree. The board is filled with roadblocks, tests, and decision points to change the way a player must strategize to get through the game.
The players move through the board by way of playing cards. Each player is initially given 2 cards between the value of 7 and Ace (chosen at random) and at the beginning of each turn the player can chose to either A: pick up another card or B: play a card to move through the board.Movement is simply the value of your card, divided by two (rounding down)
Roadblocks are things like group projects and presentations. The only way to pass through these roadblocks and possibly pass the other players is by working with another player and adding each other’s points to see if they can pass through. A score of 21 is required to pass a roadblock.
Decision points are placed at chokepoints on the map, which may be skipped by passing through a roadblock. These points will give the player a ethical choice that they have to make, such as using the extra time in the night to study, or using that time to relax. Each choice would result in a different extra card added to the player’s hand.
Tests are points in the game that come at every stage end. Only one player can pass through the test stage at a time. This is achieved by having the highest score out of all 4 of the players that arrive at the line. Score is determined by a single card in the player’s hand, chosen by the player.
The win condition is simple. Whichever player has the highest score on the final test wins.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Quiz 2
Game concept 1 (boot camp)
My first game concept is a boot camp program that runs a player through a series of obstacle courses and tests that would change depending on how well the player does in the game, effectively making a challenging game that changes depending on the user.
The player would create their character being a physical representation of themselves (or whatever they want to be) and would be brought through a series of tutorial videos showing them the types of things that they would be doing in the courses. At the end of these videos their character would stand up from where it was sitting and the player would then become the character.
After being greeted by a director, who welcomes the player to the simulation that the director is also participating in, the player is brought to his first obstacle course. When the first course is about to start the player is then shown a group of players who are in their area also playing in the simulation.
After playing through the various courses, the data will be collected and sent to a leader board, with the other people in the same group. The information displayed would be; speed, skill, difficulty of course, and overall how well the player did against the other players.
This game could go on forever, as the amount of courses would increase as people get better and better at the game and the system working against the character to make increasingly difficult levels.
There would be rewards, such as clothing and “secret” levels created by the people who do the best at the game. As well there would be the option later on to play by skill level rather than area, making the challenge to beat the other people, rather than just do better than yourself.
At the end of each game, or whenever the player exits the game, the character they play would act as if pulling off a pair of glasses, and then the signal on the screen fizzling out as the connection fails.
Game concept 2 (broken)
The second game concept I have is broken, a game where the player controls a character inside their own television, the overall objective being to fix their system. The difficulty would change depending on the players overall gamerscore .The more games and achievements the player has, the more files and errors they will have to push through to find the cause of the break in the system.
The player would start off by playing a platformer, with their avatar going through the game for a few minutes, to get the tutorial session and controls out of the way. After this is done the screen will appear to break. The players avatar will then cease to be controlled and talk to the player and instruct them as to what is happening, and how to fix the problem.
Not only will the levels in the game increase in difficulty or length depending on the amount of gamerscore, but each level will represent part of the game that gamerscore is from (taking images and theme from the games Xbox theme)
The screen quality and “broken-ness” would repair itself as the player progresses through the game. And would provide a sense of reward as the player would be fixing their own system.
The main game mechanic would make it so that no player will ever have the same experience as another, unless of course they played the exact same games, and had the exact same amount of achievements in each game.
we out
My first game concept is a boot camp program that runs a player through a series of obstacle courses and tests that would change depending on how well the player does in the game, effectively making a challenging game that changes depending on the user.
The player would create their character being a physical representation of themselves (or whatever they want to be) and would be brought through a series of tutorial videos showing them the types of things that they would be doing in the courses. At the end of these videos their character would stand up from where it was sitting and the player would then become the character.
After being greeted by a director, who welcomes the player to the simulation that the director is also participating in, the player is brought to his first obstacle course. When the first course is about to start the player is then shown a group of players who are in their area also playing in the simulation.
After playing through the various courses, the data will be collected and sent to a leader board, with the other people in the same group. The information displayed would be; speed, skill, difficulty of course, and overall how well the player did against the other players.
This game could go on forever, as the amount of courses would increase as people get better and better at the game and the system working against the character to make increasingly difficult levels.
There would be rewards, such as clothing and “secret” levels created by the people who do the best at the game. As well there would be the option later on to play by skill level rather than area, making the challenge to beat the other people, rather than just do better than yourself.
At the end of each game, or whenever the player exits the game, the character they play would act as if pulling off a pair of glasses, and then the signal on the screen fizzling out as the connection fails.
Game concept 2 (broken)
The second game concept I have is broken, a game where the player controls a character inside their own television, the overall objective being to fix their system. The difficulty would change depending on the players overall gamerscore .The more games and achievements the player has, the more files and errors they will have to push through to find the cause of the break in the system.
The player would start off by playing a platformer, with their avatar going through the game for a few minutes, to get the tutorial session and controls out of the way. After this is done the screen will appear to break. The players avatar will then cease to be controlled and talk to the player and instruct them as to what is happening, and how to fix the problem.
Not only will the levels in the game increase in difficulty or length depending on the amount of gamerscore, but each level will represent part of the game that gamerscore is from (taking images and theme from the games Xbox theme)
The screen quality and “broken-ness” would repair itself as the player progresses through the game. And would provide a sense of reward as the player would be fixing their own system.
The main game mechanic would make it so that no player will ever have the same experience as another, unless of course they played the exact same games, and had the exact same amount of achievements in each game.
we out
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Best, analogy...ever
had to post this, its control alt delete's most recent comic
which is the best borderlands truth ever.
but yeah...AWESOMe
we out
which is the best borderlands truth ever.
we out
Friday, March 12, 2010
Another day, Another dollar...
Spent so much money on food this week, and it wasn't even a large amount of it, just the regular meals you'd expect to eat in a day. Prices are through the roof...but at least we've got roll up the rim to get us through the day. Or not since I don't think anyone that i know has won it yet.
Anyways back to buisness
Sound assignment is done (woot), I'm sitting in another algorithms class that only lasts 1.5 hours, and doesn't really cover anything.And its Friday (mega woot) which means the weekend now begins. Speaking of the weekend, theres the time change going on on Sunday at 2am that is going to completely fuck up my schedule. Mainly because i work from 5pm to 1am on Saturday...yeah this will not go well.
Now, generally I've gotten through this week, barely. And I plan to enjoy my weekend of hell (parties on Fridays are always awesome) and most likely you wont be hearing from me till the end of the next week.
we out.
Anyways back to buisness
Sound assignment is done (woot), I'm sitting in another algorithms class that only lasts 1.5 hours, and doesn't really cover anything.And its Friday (mega woot) which means the weekend now begins. Speaking of the weekend, theres the time change going on on Sunday at 2am that is going to completely fuck up my schedule. Mainly because i work from 5pm to 1am on Saturday...yeah this will not go well.
Now, generally I've gotten through this week, barely. And I plan to enjoy my weekend of hell (parties on Fridays are always awesome) and most likely you wont be hearing from me till the end of the next week.
we out.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Well, you were right about this being a bad idea...
...yeah its been that bad.
Mid Terms: 3 of em, 2 passed, one failed...not to mention annoyingly placed in the middle of assignments, which of course means no study time
Assignments: 3 small, 2 big. Of course im currently in the middle of the big ones still, as they are not due until the end of the semester. With the small assignments though, first one was handed in, finished properly. Second one is using a program we've never used before and is giving us all headaches. And the third i havent even started yet...woo
Game dev checkpoint number 2
Damn right we got this one done...and on time for that matter.
The second checkpoint for our game dev project was a digital prototype, research into the game type, MOAr art, and of course another game critique to be posted. And somehow we finished this in a week. LESS than a week actually, thanks very much to matt #1. all of those details can be found here.
On the bright side
Which of course would have to exist or I wouldn't be alive to type this out. In my social/non-school life everything has been going great. Days off, doing very well in video games, heck even going out on a date (which btw i really need more of that sort of thing) and of course being me...im going to divulge on the gaming that has been done.
Call of Duty: modern warfare 2
Well this wont come as a surprise, but other than that date, my only social contact with people (out of school and msn of course) was in online gaming with my friends. We played for about a week...where Dan has somehow became a level 70 within it...I have no idea how. Mostly playing free for all or ground war, we had a lot of fun driving each-others skulls into walls with shiny metal objects. (what can I say...killing people is a very good form of stress relief)
Borderlands:
Hooray for finally getting back to this game. I tried the soldier class for this play-through, thought id try it (battle rifles and shotguns are an awesome combo...they just work)
This class actually worked out very well, despite being mainly built for multiplayer use. The sentry gun is more of a distraction for enemies than anything, and yet its still useful for healing yourself. On the other hand, this play-through has been easy...quite literally because of dlc. Before playing my second character I downloaded all 3 dlc for borderlands...playing through 2 of them in the middle of the original campaign leveled me up so much O.o. Of course i haven't started the secret armory of general knoxx though...as you have to be level 35 to play...gorramit.
Captain Forever:
This has to be one of the best indie games Ive ever played, and don't take that lightly (no it doesn't trump world of goo...but its definitely close) It uses simple vector/line graphics and a core system loosely based off of asteroids. It involves a little command unit that you control and by gathering peices of other ships you've destroyed, your ship grows...gets destroyed, and grows again till you die...yeah its a bitch...lol
And thats about it...
It was a lot i know....
Really im done...
Stop scrolling down for more text, go home already...
ok screw this
we out.
Mid Terms: 3 of em, 2 passed, one failed...not to mention annoyingly placed in the middle of assignments, which of course means no study time
Assignments: 3 small, 2 big. Of course im currently in the middle of the big ones still, as they are not due until the end of the semester. With the small assignments though, first one was handed in, finished properly. Second one is using a program we've never used before and is giving us all headaches. And the third i havent even started yet...woo
Game dev checkpoint number 2
Damn right we got this one done...and on time for that matter.
The second checkpoint for our game dev project was a digital prototype, research into the game type, MOAr art, and of course another game critique to be posted. And somehow we finished this in a week. LESS than a week actually, thanks very much to matt #1. all of those details can be found here.
On the bright side
Which of course would have to exist or I wouldn't be alive to type this out. In my social/non-school life everything has been going great. Days off, doing very well in video games, heck even going out on a date (which btw i really need more of that sort of thing) and of course being me...im going to divulge on the gaming that has been done.
Call of Duty: modern warfare 2
Well this wont come as a surprise, but other than that date, my only social contact with people (out of school and msn of course) was in online gaming with my friends. We played for about a week...where Dan has somehow became a level 70 within it...I have no idea how. Mostly playing free for all or ground war, we had a lot of fun driving each-others skulls into walls with shiny metal objects. (what can I say...killing people is a very good form of stress relief)
Borderlands:
Hooray for finally getting back to this game. I tried the soldier class for this play-through, thought id try it (battle rifles and shotguns are an awesome combo...they just work)
This class actually worked out very well, despite being mainly built for multiplayer use. The sentry gun is more of a distraction for enemies than anything, and yet its still useful for healing yourself. On the other hand, this play-through has been easy...quite literally because of dlc. Before playing my second character I downloaded all 3 dlc for borderlands...playing through 2 of them in the middle of the original campaign leveled me up so much O.o. Of course i haven't started the secret armory of general knoxx though...as you have to be level 35 to play...gorramit.
Captain Forever:
This has to be one of the best indie games Ive ever played, and don't take that lightly (no it doesn't trump world of goo...but its definitely close) It uses simple vector/line graphics and a core system loosely based off of asteroids. It involves a little command unit that you control and by gathering peices of other ships you've destroyed, your ship grows...gets destroyed, and grows again till you die...yeah its a bitch...lol
And thats about it...
It was a lot i know....
Really im done...
Stop scrolling down for more text, go home already...
ok screw this
we out.
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