Post 17 - The Real Ghostbusters

The Real Ghostbusters

Physics, physics everywhere

The final week and showing off of our prototypes. We have our background art complete, thanks to Nathan for his great imagery, because I feel it really represents our game's feel.

The image shows a man relaxed in a lawn chair, wearing bunny slippers, and holding a rocket launcher. I think this shows our games playfullness, but relaxed nature. I think it is great!

The game doesn't feel perfect, but it does feel fun. We received great feedback on the idea that our game could be played purely without direct interaction. More like, setting a mouse trap and watching to see what happens. An interesting idea for future game iterations.

Similarities

I found that all of our games had some interesting similarities. One game had you playing as the ghost, hunting down these people adventuring through the level looking for you. You could freeze them in place, and then would have to run if you were spotted, because your energy would run out.

The other had this little paper character, which looked a lot like Sack-Boy, that could push enemies away, as well as propel itself upward from the ground. The game focused on pushing enemies off of platforms, while you attempt to stay on them. Propelling yourself upwards allowed you to reach higher locations, and prevent yourself from falling off.

I felt that both games had this fixation on enemies, while ours was more like a plague prevention. Our game had goo (Goobles), one had pushing spawning stapler removers and giant paper monsters away from you, while the other had you take on the role of the ghost and survive.

I feel that if all of our games came together, it might be something similar to Ghostbusters. Sounds like a good outcome to me.

Semester Thoughts

In these last few weeks, I have realized that we have a lot to learn in our field, but we have so much potential with differing opinions and ideas on multiple topics. This will allow us to really reach out for different game ideas, focus points, and will allow us to grow.

Our last group, in particular, showed to me that we could work on communication (positive/negative feedback), as well as realize a timeline. I think we did great work, but I don't feel we had a head engineer, and we could have used one.

That being said, I know personally I have a lot of programming knowledge to learn, and I can do this from these people in the cohort.

I want to say, that I believe everyone did a wonderful job in the program. Let's see where it takes us.

Post 16 - Next Step In Evolution

Next Step In Evolution

How do we destroy it?

With major limitations in function and scale, the team was split up into several groups. We have three producers focusing on time management, scrum process, and other tasks of general help. We have three engineers focusing on camera movement, weapon implementation, user interface, and general play. Finally, we have three engineers focusing purely on level design. I was one of the members that focused on level design.

The base idea of our game had goo falling through the level, so I thought it might be interesting to mix it up. I suggested to Chris Rawson that we have a level that forces the goo horizontally, while gravity still affects it's vertical movement. The goo will have to fill into a bucket at the end of the stage, instead of directly at the bottom. We focused on the use of force generators, to push the goo to the right. We have an entire level mocked up and are waiting to implement its use.

Is it our enemy?

The current hurdle we have now is time. We are spread too thin on multiple tasks, while the end of the semester is here, and we don't have as much time to focus on the game. This is normal for most projects, but with group members being gone for vacations, and communication not being perfect, we are doing our best. We have so much time removed for the open house, we have basically lost two days of work at the school. We will have to make it work.

Everything will be done by next week for presentations. I am excited to have everyone play our game and to see what the others have developed.

Post 15 - Real Goo

Realistic Goo

What makes it goo?

With limited discussion with the artist about animation and how the blob will look when it moves, we worked on a semi-phyics driven fluid model for the goo. The goo contains multiple spheres that interact with one another representing a fluid. They will break apart from one another when given enough force and will join back together when close together.

This caused a discussion that had our artist requesting us to remove the living blob, and the laughter idea. I believe they would like to keep the idea for a future project, and I completely understand.

So, now we are currently iterating on level builds, traps, environment conditions, etc. Weird stuff will occur.

Smaller Bits

With our focus on different interactions with the goo/level design, we are going to incorporate multiple ideas all at once. This will be interesting, but I see some major challenges leading into next week.

We may have more hurdles to overcome than we were expecting.

Post 14 - Creation from Goo

Creation from Goo

Slimy

We found that we have been split into three groups, rather than seven, as per usual. Our group consists of one artist, three producers, and six engineers. Crazy!

We were tasked with creating a game that is "Indie". What does this mean? We determine this to mean that our game shouldn't have standard tropes, and will need to do something different in the game.

We discussed ideas of guiding objects through puzzles, or using a character that laughs to taunt our enemy (Note, this does not cover nearly all of the topics we discussed), and we finally landed on this blob of good who might slide down the level, from top to bottom. Our objective is to split this blob of goo into smaller pieces, until it is small enough to be destroyed.

Changing Colors

What differences can the game contain? You can fire at the blobs of goo with a projectile (rocket, bullet, etc), place bombs in the level to blow it into smaller pieces, sticky tape to slow it's progress down or even stop smaller pieces of goo from moving.

This is our next step of creation and iteration. Onward!

Post 13 - Game Ahoy!

Game Ahoy!

IGDA

We were able to meet many from the group of IGDA (Independent Game Developer Association) and have them test and play our game. It went great, and the discussion about programming in flash was also interesting. Maybe flash isn't 'dead'. Hm.

Game Done

The game is finished and we have given the presentation to the customer and it went over great! The gameplay is solid, and the use of the language was right on the nose for all of the materials. The customer loved it, and we may be building a game next summer. Let's hope so!

Thanks to my group for working hard, and all of the effort put into making the game sincerely fun! Well done.

The game is at the link below. Please, run it in Chrome, and let me know what you think!

http://home.utah.edu/~u0749809/movement.html

Post 12 - Solid Structure

Solid Structure

Base

The current base has a solid structure, due to Chris' implementation and his complete setup of the classes used. The Enemy class is simple, in fact it is too simple and many of the features/knowledge materials are done in the base Game class. We can't really alter/simplify it as this point, due to time.




It does run very smoothly. We are finishing implementation of all or our code materials. Speeding to the end.

Dressing

Our classes dressing has been an extreme difficulty. By dressing, I mean that making animations, and art work run smoothly, has been frustrating.

Chris has been great at helping me understand more about the class, and using its features. I really have appreciated his help. The art work is too good for a prototype, but he really would like it to look as good as the game feels.

Let's get done.

Post 11 - Building Blocks

Building Blocks 

Legos

The most basic structure of our game has been processed, and rough sketched. The building process began, and it is off to a flying start. We have had a process that has allowed input from each member, and we have learned that we didn't have the same views on key points, whether that be character movement past terrain edges, controls for that movement, inventory selection/alteration, and sound setup.

The communication happened quickly, which is what was needed. I think we have a project that is moving well, and the controls seem to feel simple but 'good'. Whatever 'good' means.

We like it.

Bendy Pieces

So, we have had to be flexible.

By this, I mean that we have had to deal with not just learning, communication, and structure, but also dealing with each member's drive, time, and capacity. I think this has been difficult. We are feeling drive for the project in different locations, but struggling to feel like we are making a part in it.

We will keep adding on to each piece. This will allow the depth of the structure to build, but allow us to test whether it holds weight, or crumbles. That part is extremely difficult, but it is a good learning process. This is what we are here to do. Learn.

Post 10 - Discovering Childhood

Discovering Childhood

What was that?

What game did you love when you were around the age of 13? I couldn't honestly answer this question.

I knew that I loved action games, fighting, etc.

This question stemmed from our current project working on a game that helps young adults learn/hear the Shoshone language. The best part about this project is that we are focusing one hundred percent of the game on "FUN!" This was the key focus from the client, and this will allow us to do our best work. We are truly excited to be working on it!

Our game description is: Bastion meets Metroid

We are designing the game as a top-down view exploration game, where your may fight off animals that have been "cursed" or are "sick" and you remove this outer shell by attacking them. You search throughout the land finding new equipment and Shoshone words of power, which allow you to unlock hidden areas of the game, attack and fight in new ways, and open up general exploration.

This is great!

Focus

We are purely focusing on game design this week, involving player interaction with the world, control schemes, visual cues, etc. We will bring our ideas to the table on Monday and show what we have developed.

We will be focusing on HTML5 as our language for this project...So, we will be learning this, as well as Shoshone. I wish I had Rosetta Stone to help with the HTML5.

Post 9 - Kinect & Respect

Kinect & Respect

 

 Truth

I believe that we gave our most useful and honest answers in our presentation this past week. We showed off a game, which was actually in prototype form, instead of a fully fleshed-out game. I am proud that we spent so much time on design, and actually discussing the sense of what was needed for the project, from the users and teachers views.

Fullfillment

We showed that a game didn't exist in our use of the materials. The true desire of the 'customer' was that they wanted the students to focus on the calculations in the project. We took that as completely true.

Next, we decided what would be fun for the users to do with these calculations. This allows the user to complete the tasks the teachers have decided, but be rewarded completely. This is gamification, not game creation. I don't think it is what we truly wanted for the project, but I feel that sometimes things will change. As creators, we will have to be very flexible with creation. It's important.

Side note, the Kinect Gardening was amazing! I am truly inspired, and hope that this project is pushed forward.  Great job!

Discovery

I am terrified to work with HTML5, but I am excited to see what is around the next corner. I am sure that the next project will truly challenge us as programmers, artists, and producers, but also as designers. Let's reveal the next project!

Post 8 - A Break In The Storm

A Break In The Storm

So, this week has been a break from school. Tightening things up for the demo, involving video capture of game play, commenting code, and being happy with some relaxation.

Woot!

Post 7 - Recovery Efforts

Recovery Efforts

We are very focused on design, and have been successfully understanding XNA and C# code. It has been very kind with all of the tutorials, videos, etc., and we appreciate it. :)

Setbacks

It isn't fun.

Really, that is the major setback. We are still iterating on the idea of working on a ship, but then we altered it to focus purely on a power plant.

We will hopefully find something that is fun.

Achievements

Our communication has improved greatly, and we are all on the same page of what we would like to create, but we are not sure of how to make it more fun. Roger has suggested implementing a negative feedback of "Three strikes and your out!" function.

This created an idea for a cash mechanic, and we are now thinking of having the game play more like your typical "Tycoon" games. This will allow the player to run their own power plant, improve equipment, be hired to greater positions in the plant, and learn how to become a better engineer.

Move Forward

Due to our late design iteration, we may need more time to alter the XNA code. We have a great template of a 2D point and click style tycoon game, but our animation knowledge is limited, and it just needs more time.

I am sure that is true of every group and their project.

Post 6 - War, War Never Changes...

War, War Never Changes...

9/28/2012

When creating new software, the hiccups abound. We are still in the process of figuring out how to have the user access materials, and have it be "fun".

Not going great.

Successes

We agreed to focus on the problem input, but we cannot determine how this is any different than a story problem from a text.  More work is needed.

Failures

I feel our person-to-person communication is great, but long distance, text, email has failed a little. Nothing harsh, just not what we need.

Time

Never enough. True statement. We will keep working on making this work.

*XNA - Not too bad. Extremely well documented, and preferred over MOAI.

Post 5 - A New Beginning

A New Beginning

The new grouping has been completed and we are now onto new projects.

Thermodynamics

The new focus is creating an educational game that will help the engineering department teach their students thermodynamics.

We are currently starting a project to focus on the actually learning aspects in thermodynamics. We have decided to attempt two key features.

The main key feature is a "Helper" and a "Hint" to help prod the player suggestions on how to complete their current tasks. This may sound simple, but having this be particular for each individual thermodynamics problem is difficult. We are excited for the challenge, and terrified of the hours ahead.

The secondary key feature is the idea of a sandbox for learning thermodynamics. This has been placed into the backlog until we are able to complete the main feature, but the idea of people being able to use tools to learn about thermodynamics is very exciting.

I wish I had this type of tool when I learned about thermodynamics. Abacuses (abaci) are difficult to use.

Post 4- ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED

The materials for the first pitch have been completed, presented, and passed on. I hope we are able to see some of the groups projects completed into more full game projects.

We will see.

Closing Process

 

Teachings

The closing process consisted of mapping out the materials for the project, and then having each of us write on post-it notes positive, negative, and neutral occurrences that we noticed. The key points that I remember being key to myself, were having better preparation techniques. I followed the process of learning the language by example, due to poor tutorials. Sagar suggested that I look into more key tutorials for the LUA language and then focus on the language aspects, rather than modifying examples found for the language.

My plan is to focus on the language itself, rather than key examples that are presented to me. This will give me a more thorough understanding, and allow for a better design process on new prototypes.

Brianne pointed out an app building contest for the new Windows tablet. I will use these materials learned from the group to work on this project as well.

 

Wins

The points we realized that we succeeded at most in our project was all of our abilities to sincerely hear each other. I contribute this to our constant communication and our ability to be flexible and reasonable for the project. I will focus on carry this through to other groups and new projects.

 

Batter Up!

The new project and new team is coming soon, and I am extremely excited to see what will be next. I think that one key feature we can take from this first project is that we should be able to communicate with anyone in the cohort. This will allow us a greater wealth of knowledge to be passed around, new ideas to form, and more camaraderie.

Let's do it!

Post 3 - Aftermath

Aftermath

After much hard work and some stress we are almost complete with the game demo.  We were able to implement our user interface, player controls, modify our art assets, and even transport the demo over to an iPhone.

Pretty cool.

We are still tweaking controls to make the game more accessible, move smoother, and Sager is still working on art.

Setbacks

We had to cancel our meeting with Dave Matney for sound design again.  Schedules seem to change every week. I spoke with him, and suggested some other opportunities to work on.  I think this will allow us to work on projects outside of coursework, and allow him to grow in his art as well.

We have had a very difficult time with some basic timer functions, but we are working on them to add more characters, position and speed randomization, and any other visual tweaks we can add to make the game more visually interesting.

Achievements

We have improved our code combinations, group discussion, and I feel we have become better friends.  I know that the last part of that sentence sounds out of place, but I feel that if you don't have a sense of trust and companionship with those you work with, it can be difficult to work on a project.

After speaking with Mike, I feel I was more open to ideas of change with the project.  I noticed I was being pretty harsh about the project on some parts, and that I need to learn to be more flexible.  This is something I will continue to work on.

I also realized that many other groups were open to our ideas for code, discussion, and helping one another.  This felt very positive and welcome.

Move Forward

I hope that as we move on to new projects we are able to carry that idea of enjoyment and fun when working on new projects.  This has been a great three weeks and I can't wait for the next challenge.

Post 2 - Reality of War

  Reality of War

8/31/2012

When you work as a group, you realize not just how you work with others, but also your own limitations.  It lets you realize new ways that you can learn and improve.  We had a strong focus of confirming some hopes and fears regarding MOAI and what we want to accomplish in the game.

Successes

Proper input, output, and the use of our brains!  We have been successful at placing objects, moving objects, developing a general UI for the game, as well as player input for moving the objects as requested.

Failures

Sound was an opportunity I really wanted to use in the demo, but with the major complications and limited documentation with MOAI, we have placed sound design into the project backlog.  We are still meeting with Dave Matney next week, to discuss future ideas and contract information that will be required/needed.  If we have time before we polish the game, we will look back into sound implementation.

Time

Time goes by quickly when you are having fun.  I heard someone mention that they were looking forward to the stress...I cannot agree, but I can agree with looking forward to future projects, gaining knowledge, and success.

It has been a wonderful learning experience and I cannot wait to learn more!

Post 1 - Prepare for War

Prepare for War

8/26/2012

So, here it is.  The first blog I have ever created.

Here you will find my thoughts and findings for rapid prototyping games.

Studio

We have roughly 30 people, split into groups of fours, working on developing game ideas for customers.  The main focus for us is currently learning the basics of MOAI, a language that none of us have dealt with before. There are similarities with C++, so it should not be too difficult.  We will see.

Everyone has been wonderful!  It has been great to learn more about them and see what knowledge everyone has. This will allow all of us to learn more from each other and develop great products for exciting companies.

Beehive Cheese Company

The company that we are currently working with is Beehive Cheese Company (http://www.beehivecheese.com/).

They came to us with the idea of creating a game that will help others be educated about their products, and have fun on the go.  We are currently developing a game for iOS, with simple touch controls, and focusing on the idea of playing the game in one hand.

We are looking into the social aspect of the gaming space, allowing social media to be included, as well as potential coupon codes for the customers' next cheese purchase.

The group of people are full of knowledge and ideas.  This is going to be great!

Stay tuned for more.

*Thanks to Katie Johnson for all of the information, and the delicious cheese! @KatieAJohnson