Thursday, October 23, 2014

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.


Thursday, October 9, 2014

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.


Thursday, October 2, 2014

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.