Assignment 14

In the tasks assigned to me for the group, so far I am up to date with them. I had the story and motherboard terrain  due in two weeks and the music for the game in 4 weeks.

The story is mostly done and just needs few changes that are due to the changes that we make to the game as a whole. Deciding to make small dialogs while the player is in a mission,  making the game more funny, and changes to the weapons and how we decide on changing the waves change the story line ever so slightly.

The terrain I had problems with the being able to change the materials of segments of the plane, but I found out how to make that happen and made small panels to make a bigger map. We decided this week that I would make a full map with the components given to me so as to separate the paths and make the navigation  meshes easier to control. This shall be done by Friday night.

The music library is steadily growing as I have been searching and choosing the music and sound effects for the game. So far alerts for wave attacks and some of the music I have already chosen and just need to finish screening what I have downloaded.

Weekly update

This week I have continued to work on the music and story line of the game. Adding more to the story lines and aligning them with the levels.  I also brought up some few minor details to go with the story to the team as names and project titles for the game.

Assignment 14

In the game, our team has discussed how the player will be interacting with the game and the story line. Following the Control Methods in the book these are how we are implementing them. 

Constraints: In the constraints, we use the weapons and strategy. The player has various ways to win a level, one of them being by repairing all the firewalls and another being by defeating all the virus of the stage. Both have to defeat the viruses for the win to happen, but how to win is the players choice. The same with the weapons. The player has three weapons to their disposal and how, which, when, and on whom is all up to the players discretion.

Goals: The goal of the game is to keep the infection level low, out of which as stated above there are two ways to do this. Another goal is to stay alive and not taking too much damage.

Interface: The players play style will be dictated by their preferred weapon of choice. The weapon that they use the most will inflict more damage as it will be the most leveled up, and having all weapons leveled up at the same amount is also a choice the player can have.

Visual Design: The terrain of the game has dictated paths that allow for the player to move into the enemies path. These paths will want to make the player travel them as they have their advantages and makes finding enemies easier.

Character- The characters in the game will be an important factor. The characters will be the players outside support, and while they do not actually fight next to the player, the characters will make comments and explain the story line, allowing for the player to have a sense of a timeline and purpose of what the games goal are and to accomplish them.

Assignment 13

The team has made the game document available through the Team 2 Google docs folder where the sections that were written each have who was the author and the contributions.

This weeks contribution

This week I have been working on various story lines that the group might agree upon for the game.

Assignment 12

The following list is the agreed list of task that each member of our group will be undertaking.

• design motherboard layout responsible: Ivan time to completion: 2 weeks
• design motherboard components (resistors, capacitors, ICs, diodes, etc) -- brian
• design enemies and their ai (viruses, virus navigation on traces,  ) : responsible: nahush, brian, time to completion: 2 weeks
• weapon (light saber, blaster gun, blasting CDs) -- responsible:brian
• Music (walking, light saber move, light saber hit, gun blast, virus die, CD blowing up, popup - virus detected and hub connected/removed): Ivan time to completion: 4 weeks
• Story: Ivan time to completion : 2 weeks

Assignment 11

1) The interface of our game will include be in a first person view. The player will be able to move freely within the boundaries of the map, while not having a mini map shown. The character will be able to look up to a certain distance away. The character will be controlled by the mouse and keyboard, as in the mouse will control some of the actions the player does and the movement of the camera while the keyboard controls the players movement and other actions. The health of the player will be indicated by a hp bar on the corner of the screen. Also the score will go up as the player kills mobs. On the screen the player will also be able to see ammo amount and what weapon the player is holding, while also having a cross hair for aiming.

2) The interface will allow players to experience a more immersive experience while also allowing for the player to explore the world around the character. The terrain is dark to allow the buildings, enemies, and paths to be easily visible, allowing for a more appealing look and easier game play. The cross hairs will  really come into play when the player is using ranged weapons for the flying enemies.

3) The interface is based on the basic keyboard and mouse controls which allow for an easy learning curve and quick game immersion so as to make the player go straight into playing.

4) The players will not have a strong influence in the outcome of the game as the game has no endding. Since the game is more of a survival tower defense kind of stage where the main point of the game is survival not the outcome it is somewhat of little importance to the genre. Secrets bonuses, armor, weapons, and enemies could be added depending on the score a player has during a wave, so as that a better score will yield secret items, that can lead to alternate events, yet considering the time limit it is very likely this will not happen.



5)The players will definitely will be able to feel powerful in the game, by the different use of weapons and techniques that can be used to deal with the enemies. With more time special power ups that last for limited time can be added.

6) The player will be unable to pick up items by touch, but will be able to pick up items in the game that help with hp regeneration, points, power, etc.

7) The interface will show damage to the buildings, or "specs", that surround the player.

8) The interface lets the player see inside of a hard drive where he is the antivirus, where when there is a virus invading the computer an alert will sound letting the player know that there is an attack. Also the player will be able to destroy the enemies it sees or quarantine them in special fields where the enemies will be seen as stuck.  At the moment I do not have any ideas of how to improve the interface into a more realistic one considering the high amount of fiction involved.

9) The game will draw into the player's sense of defensive thinking. In tower defense the players must defend by using strategy and then watching the battle ensue. In this case the player will be in the battle, going against enemies, while still needing to use strategy to make the best of any situation.

10) The interface will be natural and quite quick to pick up for people to have played computer games before. The interface is a more simplistic but still appealing one, that will allow new gamers to play while still trying to appeal to the expert gamer.

11) If I could do what I want, then I would make the game play in Oculus Rift, with motion sensitive receptors that would allow the player to be able to play the game in a more realistic way while using actual body movements to move and interact with the game world. In a future maybe a neural connection port that allows the game to be played with neural impulses.

12) The interface will present the players health, score, and ammo. This will allow the player to know how to approach situation, when to attack, when to retreat, and allow the player to make their strategies. 


13) The interface feedback is continuous by the simple fact the the game is meant to always continuing in real time, and that the player still has, and never will, finish their work.

14) The exact amount of mode in the game are not yet decided upon considering that we have yet again decided to change aspects of the game that have turned the game into a whole new one. It is probable that there might be more than one, but it is not yet sure.

Assignment 10

 For this assignment I made an HP bar, that will allow the track of damage to the player. It is a way to score how little damage the character has taken, as well as to score the hp points that the player has been awarded by either picking up potions, or from defeating monsters.

I helped the team this week by looking for other blends and objects that are made with low polygons or memory so that it will allow the game to run smoother.  Also I have been looking for chord progressions to make Gregorian chant compositions for the game.

Blender file:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wbtgsi92l7x24q0/Assignment%2010.blend?dl=0

Assignment 9

In my team's game, when we were discussing some aspects of the game we were talked about balancing the game without even meaning too. The game would be, as the chapter described, asymmetrical, since there the game is also about exploring the villages to be able to defend them. There is also the fact that there will be more enemies than the player and with bosses the enemies might have a slight advantage over the player.The challenge vs success factor is also there as the player will have to choose between having abilities early on in the game but them not being very powerful end game, or toughing it out most of the game without abilities and later get power abilities at the end. Meaningful choices also come into effect as when the player has to decide what are to level up and make put more defenses, as the defenses will help the player to protect the villages, but they come at a cost, so which upgrades to pick are important. Skills will be important as they player will have to be able to protect the village himself and be able to kill the monsters quickly and effectively, then again the chances come into play as where, when, and how many of the monsters will attack in any wave.  The game we are thinking of making it short, but with no end so the player can continue to fight waves and monsters, while getting the chance to upgrade all the options. The rewards for fighting the monsters will be the experience points, abilities, and upgrades that the player will receive. Many ideas have come up as only getting power ups in specific areas, or the player gets more points by personally killing monsters compared to the defenses, and as stated before how powerful are the abilities acquired from the monsters depend on how long they wait to get said abilities. The punishment will be also dependent on the population and building score. If too many civilians are killed the village stops trusting you, and if they all die, then the game is lost.

Assignment 8

 In this assignment I was working on a dying animation for one of the monsters. It needs to be smoothed out, and I was originally trying to make it walk, but I need to play around more with the armature to make it move more smoothly.

Also I contributed to the team this week by going to Blender Swap and downloading more items that can be used for the game like weapons, monsters, and buildings. The data limit is not really a concern for me at the moment since I can just register with another email for more data to download if needed.


Blender File: https://www.dropbox.com/s/b68fkaj2tph99ff/Assignment%208.blend?dl=0

Assignment 7

Is the space in your game discrete or continuous? Continuous

How many dimensions does your space have? 3D and 2D

What are the boundaries of your space? The map screen that is 2D shows the boundaries, and the villages have the village outskirts as the "space within the space"

How many verbs do your players (characters) have? What are they? In the general sense there are 8 verbs. Upgrade town, move, attack, acquire abilities, use abilities, dodge, move population, and train villagers.

How many objects can each verb act on? What are these objects? The upgrade town is to be assigned as the upgrades are chosen, attack will be on the properties of "monster", the same as abilities (acquiring and using), move population and training will be on the villagers.

How many ways can players achieve their goals? Mainly it is only by destroying the monsters, but moving population, upgrading town, training or moving villagers to protect them, and when and which abilities to get all have an influence on how easy or hard it will be to achieve them.

How many subjects do the players control? What are these subjects? There are three main subjects, which are the three towns, each town is to have an amount of villagers, which are to be decided on in the future depending on how the game progresses.

How do side effects change constraints? By training and upgrading the towns, it becomes easier to protect the population, yet how to do so is to be planned carefully. One town can have heavy protections, but the other two will most likely be lacking; and if all the villages are upgraded equally then the defenses are most likely to be lacking.

What are the operative actions in your game? Players must defeat monsters and protect the populations.

What are the resultant actions in your game? Surviving population and villages will flourish and grow as they are protected, and like the character more, leading to help or gifts.

What actions would you like your players to do that they cannot presently do? (based on your current knowledge of Blender) I would like the players to have more interaction with the skills set, like being able to target the monsters specifically and attack them with magic, and making all the houses and villagers weak to the players skills and attacks so that the player can actually kill his protectorates. Also that there was a meter of how much the player is liked by the population as it increases or decreases, include marriages, and a castle with a dragon that he could send to protect one village as he attacks another. Add pets to fight next to the character, character customization that affects the starting stats of the character. Along with other ideas, that there might not be enough time to implement.

What is the ultimate goal of your game? The protection of the villages

Are there short and long term goals? What are they? It is mostly the protection of the villages, but the other aspects of the game that the player can manipulate all change the challenge and the interaction of the goal.

How do you plan to make the game goals known and understood by the player? A starting story will make it clear of what is the goal of the game, while including a short tutorial that shows the game play.

What are the foundational rules of your game? Player must not lose all his HP, the higher the number of population the more rewards at the end of the round, exp meter for monsters killed

How are these rules enforced? if the player loses his HP then he dies, if the population is wiped out then not only are there no rewards but he loses the game, and the exp meter is used for the fortifications

Does your game develop real skills? What are they? The ability to dodge, attack and protect the villagers all at once while not taking damage.

Does your game develop virtual skills? What are they? The abilities that they can get from the monsters and the fortifications of the villages.

Assingment 6

As described on the video, I made a use of the collision by using a bow and arrow and a target. I was having trouble finding a way to make the target not disappear with the collision from the floor. The point of that is to make different bows and arrows that the villagers and the main character can use to defend the villages. Also I want to make it so that the objects don't just fly away when hit.

This week when we meet we all came up with ideas that we wrote in the google doc. for the team. Also I contributed to the team by starting to make a list of possible sound tracks that can be used for the game.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cokv2qaunv68e6t/Assignment%206.blend?dl=0

Assignment 5

I found some difficulty putting my concept together, I was trying to make the skull continuously bound but it would only just stay static. I described how I tried to make it that way. Also I tried to make the camera follow the cube but that didnt work and somehow I made the cube fly instead of moving and rotating to move around in circles.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/utnc6ichleqqgyd/Assignment%205.blend?dl=0

Assignment 4

Chapter 2 

I want the player to have an interactive experience in which they have to concentrate on how to protect their population and not an actual village. I would like to incorporate the ideal that the village can be destroyed but that the population still has more importance and get the player to feel the protective nature of a leader, and a rewarding experience for completing the goal. To do so, the game has many options as well as opportunities and strategies. The character can acquire abilities early on and be powerful at the start of the game, but later on have weak abilities, or have a challenging beginning that will allow for future more powerful abilities that can be used to just go and “wreck chaos” on the mobs and bosses.  Although the game is almost set to be repetitive because it is to be made as a tower defense, the differences between stats, the difficulty, the ability to raise and construct villages to defend themselves, and the increasing pace of the attacks will add to the difficulty and concentration of the player, drawing them in and wondering what to expect in the next wave, and how to act.

Chapter 3

Since the game is supposed to be repetitive, as is expected of tower defense games, having new and more interesting enemies, bosses, and enemy abilities are way to include surprise in the game. For example, having zombies attack, the next wave werewolves, then vampires, then a combination of the three, and a dragon attack in the middle of the wave of enemies. Having sudden and unexpected attacks that can give great abilities, at great risk to the player might be a way to include surprise and always keep the player looking for more of such acts.  Also the designs of the upgrades, if made appealing as the levels increase, can add another sense of surprise and achievement.

                Fun could be included in the game by increasing rewards for certain actions that are not described. For example, trying to hit a dragon in the eye, or actually absorbing the powers of the dragon, and using them to defend himself and beat the dragon with its own abilities, and then using those same ones to destroy the waves of monsters that come to attack. Yet depending on the skills the player uses, enemies might become more resistant to those attacks, making the player to think of when to use said abilities and to also come up with different methods to attack and defend the villages. 

The goals of the game as of now is to defend the population of the villages that the character is in charge of. Defeating waves of enemies that try to invade and destroy the villages and kill of the population, the other goal is to find different ways to attack the monsters in the most effective manner so as to not harm your protected while overwhelming the mobs. These goals are one way to motivate the player to continue playing, as well as adding aspects of RPG, horror, and strategy genres, to appeal to a greater population of players. The aspect of actually having to be bitten to get a power and that only a limited amount of bites are allowed are another way to lure in the player, as some will want to be powerful early on, others will want to have the difficulty at the start to become omnipotent latter on, or those that would want the middle ground, so as to not have too much trouble mid game, while still having a challenge later on.

As stated before in the goals, the character has to choose how to protect the citizens, and an aspect of it is, how to spend the points for raising the villages defenses, and where to personally go to defend the villages, when the information is not given at the start. Allowing time to only have one choice, the player will have to be quick witted and have good judgment as to where and how to protect the villages, when to sound a retreat to protect the population, and if they are willing to round up all their population in one village for an all or nothing last stance.

Moving Object Assignment

Made this video to show the actual moving object and the links for the motions. I hope to be able to learn more as I did use up to much time trying to import the whole dragon and wolfman file and it did not work out that well even with the tutorials online. I'm uploading it like this to at least do the assignment with the minimal of expectations, even though I wished to do more with it.

Group Meeting Outline(Assignment 2)

 This week our group Tuesday the 9th, around 3:00 at the Dirac building, in one of the study rooms. There we discussed out ideas and made a brainstorm of what we wanted our game to include, how we could include our various ideas, the formats for the different screens, other games that could serve as an example to the what we referred to (i.e. Tower Defense, strategical games, Star Craft, FPS, etc.), and just giving ideas that we had and if they were feasible with the semester limit. We did take notes, using the google documents that we were provided and we also drew some sketches of possible screen formats, and how we would like to game play to be. We did this so as we could all use the information for the homework, and also as to be able input the information anywhere personally and all of us would have the information at hand since its a shared document, making it easier for the future discussion of ideas and meetings. Since the notes were written directly to the google docs, there was no need to transfer the contents. Our group agreed that it was too soon to discuss the overall game documents considering that we were in the brainstorming stage and were still discussing the how/what of the game. When we looked at the homework outline after we finished our meeting, it was the only time we thought of a team leader, and we desired against having one since we thought we were all equal and we should just work as peers toward one goal: a good and fun game.

The game so far as we have agreed will be a kind of first person strategic game with elements of the horror genre. We were talking about the main character being the leader of a kingdom or cities, in which the point of the game is to protect the villages that are under his control from waves of fantastical characters like zombies, werewolves, vampires, dragons, etc. The main character will have the option to train the villagers into troops to be able to defend their own village while also being able to upgrade the defenses of the villages with points or materials (has not been determined completely). Also the main character will be able to gain abilities by getting bites from monsters and depending on how strong is the monster are the abilities he gains, although he can only get the abilities of a certain amount of monsters, up to the players choice. The player is to be the most powerful defense for the villages, hence he should chose wisely between upgrading all the villages at the same time, or two and defending one personally.

I had the idea of a strategy game, the idea of the bites to the main character as to gain powers, and also the idea of being able to move the population from one village to another, making the main idea of the game protecting the population, not so much the village.  I also tried to integrate all of the groups ideas as much as possible, while asking the other members if that is what they wanted. The group as whole game so many ideas and we all did this integration job, but we kind of took turns at it.
I also gave the idea of limiting the number of times a character could get abilities from the monsters.

Games that I like

Two of the long list that I like are Grandia and FF VIII. For both of them, the story, characters, and plot are very well developed and the more you play them the more enthralled you become with the game. Also with Grandia its one of the few RPGs where you have leveling up, skill leveling up that increases parameters as well gaining new skills, and interchanging weapons that also level up and give parameter boosts. Along with having secret the ability of giving a portion of the magic skills that somebody can gain to other characters that take their place, Grandia was one of the first games to incorporate all these elements and with such success.

http://www.ign.com/games/grandia/ps-12007

FF VIII has a very concept where you can have a huge say on the skills that everyone has, how those skills can be used, whether for actual battle use or as a boost to the status. Lots of secret dungeons and activities that have nothing to do with the story line, but help to add on to the story and history of the world where the game is set, this has been one of my all time favorite games.

http://www.ign.com/games/final-fantasy-viii/ps-3847http://www.ign.com/games/final-fantasy-viii/ps-3847

Art Therapy Projects (Image assignment)

 This picture is about a mandala group project that was made by the whole class as an attempt to work together to make one piece of art. It worked pretty well as everyone adapted to their neighbors work and the work started to flow.

 This one was just the outcome of playing around with clay. I was thinking of Game of Thrones and somehow I ended up with this.

 This project was a collective piece in which we all worked together to make a project using materials that we found thrown around the campus.

This last one were stamps that I created by using a wooden block that I carved, and then rolled ink on to make the stamps.

Video Assignment

This is my voice over video. I just go over briefly and describe the character creating aspect of Dragon Age Origins.