Saturday, 26 February 2011
Week 5: Virtual world effect the real world
Second life the game where the player controls an avatar and socialise with other players, has had numerous cases where in game actions effected the real world. According to the Guardina.co.uk a married couple in real life divorced after the wife found out that her husband has been having an affair with another avatar (full story here http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/13/second-life-divorce). One of the points of this game is to become someone else but is having a relationship in this virtual word cheating if you have a relationship in the real world? I believe it is as it is no different from if you where flirting on Facebook or any other social network. How far will virtual word relationships effect real life? Resent games like Sims, Mass Effect and Dragon age origins have the player role-playing as the main character and giving them the choice to form relationships with NPC. Games are evolving very fast and soon we might not be able to tell the different between a NPC or a real persons in these virtual word . Will people start divorcing their partners because they are having a relationship on games? Or will people start to find companionship in games instead?
Monday, 21 February 2011
Week 4: Mechanics Of CCA & NetHack
Colossal Cave Adventure
Colossal Cave Adventure is a player versus environment game with loads of possible outcomes. If the player makes the wrong choice it will have dramatic impact. Taking the wrong path or not picking up an item can lead to the players death. Sid Meier said gameplay is “A series of interesting choices” and that’s what this game is about. This game heavily deepens on causality (That’s basically what the game is mainly made up of) every action will have a consequence for good or bad reasons, there will always be a consequence for every action. The challenges in this game is to think logically about every action you take and think about what actions you should do in every area. You could be standing in a forest and you see a bird so you killed it. killing that bad will have consequence. Good news is you got a free meal but bad news is that bird belongs to a rich fellow who wants you dead now (Although I’m sure that this event does not happens in the game). Colossal Cave Adventure is a turn bases game, the player enters a command/ phrase the game outputs the information, this process repeated throughout the game.
NetHack
NetHack is a player versus environment game set in dungeon style levels. Although the game seems like its in real time its actually a turn based game. The games gives the illusion of it being real time as you can walk around the area like it’s a real time game, but like Colossal Cave Adventure the player enters a command and the game outputs the information. this process repeated throughout the game. The game lets you take alterative root and use different weapons, by choosing going down one path your may encounter a hard enemy or get a powerful weapons, this is a good example of causality.
Colossal Cave Adventure is a player versus environment game with loads of possible outcomes. If the player makes the wrong choice it will have dramatic impact. Taking the wrong path or not picking up an item can lead to the players death. Sid Meier said gameplay is “A series of interesting choices” and that’s what this game is about. This game heavily deepens on causality (That’s basically what the game is mainly made up of) every action will have a consequence for good or bad reasons, there will always be a consequence for every action. The challenges in this game is to think logically about every action you take and think about what actions you should do in every area. You could be standing in a forest and you see a bird so you killed it. killing that bad will have consequence. Good news is you got a free meal but bad news is that bird belongs to a rich fellow who wants you dead now (Although I’m sure that this event does not happens in the game). Colossal Cave Adventure is a turn bases game, the player enters a command/ phrase the game outputs the information, this process repeated throughout the game.
NetHack
NetHack is a player versus environment game set in dungeon style levels. Although the game seems like its in real time its actually a turn based game. The games gives the illusion of it being real time as you can walk around the area like it’s a real time game, but like Colossal Cave Adventure the player enters a command and the game outputs the information. this process repeated throughout the game. The game lets you take alterative root and use different weapons, by choosing going down one path your may encounter a hard enemy or get a powerful weapons, this is a good example of causality.
Monday, 14 February 2011
Week 3: Kismet Interactions
List of kismet interactions that will be in the level:
Automatic open/close doors.
Door that require key cards
Flashlight
Custom player camera
The automatic door will use a tiger volume that is a linked to a touch event. When the player is in the trigger volume a matinee sequence will start up that will cause the doors to open, when the trigger volume is not touched the matinee sequence will reveres causing the doors to close. This event can happen as many time as it wants. If I add a lift in my level it would work the same way as how a door opens and close.
The key card will be a interp actor with a trigger volume around it. When the player walks in the trigger volume the key card actor will be destroyed and set the “has key card bool” to true. When the player walks in the trigger volume for the door it will check to see if the “has key card bool” is true, if its true the door will open.
Using a spot light movable I will attach the actor to the player with the attach actor option is kismet.
With the custom player camera I will do test to see what type of camera angles I want.
I Will add more kismet interaction later on but these are the one I have came up with so far throughout my planning
Automatic open/close doors.
Door that require key cards
Flashlight
Custom player camera
The automatic door will use a tiger volume that is a linked to a touch event. When the player is in the trigger volume a matinee sequence will start up that will cause the doors to open, when the trigger volume is not touched the matinee sequence will reveres causing the doors to close. This event can happen as many time as it wants. If I add a lift in my level it would work the same way as how a door opens and close.
The key card will be a interp actor with a trigger volume around it. When the player walks in the trigger volume the key card actor will be destroyed and set the “has key card bool” to true. When the player walks in the trigger volume for the door it will check to see if the “has key card bool” is true, if its true the door will open.
Using a spot light movable I will attach the actor to the player with the attach actor option is kismet.
With the custom player camera I will do test to see what type of camera angles I want.
I Will add more kismet interaction later on but these are the one I have came up with so far throughout my planning
Week 3: Chosen Game Idea
After much consideration I have chosen to go with game idea 2 (Waking up in the military base). Although the detective idea would offer more to the player every time they play the game because the murderer and clues will change each time they play. but for the game to succeed successful I would have to create a lot of my own models and textures what would take a lot of my time up and time is a issue on this project. The reason why I would have to create my own textures and models is because the ones that came with UDK are to sci-fi or dirty looking and would not go with the detective game idea. But the textures and models in UDK will go with the military idea game.
The feeling I want the player to experience when playing the game are: alone, deserted, scared, suspense, fear. All these emotion will be achieved by what the player see, hears and do.
I will have 4 main puzzles that will advance the story by unlocking different sections of the military bases that will explain what has happened to this place. To activate these main puzzles the players need a key card and turn the power on in that section. Reason why I am doing this is because I want the player to explore the area more. I would compare my game to the old resident evil and dino crisis games.
The feeling I want the player to experience when playing the game are: alone, deserted, scared, suspense, fear. All these emotion will be achieved by what the player see, hears and do.
I will have 4 main puzzles that will advance the story by unlocking different sections of the military bases that will explain what has happened to this place. To activate these main puzzles the players need a key card and turn the power on in that section. Reason why I am doing this is because I want the player to explore the area more. I would compare my game to the old resident evil and dino crisis games.
Week 3: Game ideas
I have to make a game that consists of:
1. No fighting \ guns \ weapons
2. The player cannot be killed
3. The player must use skills of logic and deduction to win the game
4. The game must be based around a plot of mystery or exploration
5. Puzzles should be a central part of the player experience
6. Has to be made in UDK
I have been using UDK and the unreal engine 3 since 2007 and I am very familiar of what the engine consists of and its capabilities. As the game cant have any fighting or guns\weapons I will have to remove the default gun that the player is given when they spawn in to the game. The player cant died in the level so I will have to toggle god mod on when the player enters the level, but if for some reason the player falls though the level will the kill z volume still kill the player? The puzzles in the game cant be to complicated as I want any one to be able solve the puzzle but I also don’t want the puzzles to be easy and boring. Having a mystery story that goes with the puzzle could work to an advantage to keep the player interested. To advance the plot of the story the player needs to solve the puzzles and without solving the puzzles the player will not solve the mystery. Giving the player the opportunity to explore the level instead of having puzzle after puzzle can help to create a better atmosphere of the level, as the player has the freedom to walk where they want, but its also important to let the player know where they need to be heading to advance the story.
Basic Game Ideas:
Idea 1: Murder mystery where the player is a detective and needs to find clues to solve a murder. Each clue will give the player a hint on who did it. The culprit is randomly selected each time the player plays the game and the clues change each time as well.
Idea 2: The player wakes up for a deep frozen sleep on a military bases where everyone is dead, your goals is to escape. While escaping you start to uncover what happen to the military bases and why you where there.
1. No fighting \ guns \ weapons
2. The player cannot be killed
3. The player must use skills of logic and deduction to win the game
4. The game must be based around a plot of mystery or exploration
5. Puzzles should be a central part of the player experience
6. Has to be made in UDK
I have been using UDK and the unreal engine 3 since 2007 and I am very familiar of what the engine consists of and its capabilities. As the game cant have any fighting or guns\weapons I will have to remove the default gun that the player is given when they spawn in to the game. The player cant died in the level so I will have to toggle god mod on when the player enters the level, but if for some reason the player falls though the level will the kill z volume still kill the player? The puzzles in the game cant be to complicated as I want any one to be able solve the puzzle but I also don’t want the puzzles to be easy and boring. Having a mystery story that goes with the puzzle could work to an advantage to keep the player interested. To advance the plot of the story the player needs to solve the puzzles and without solving the puzzles the player will not solve the mystery. Giving the player the opportunity to explore the level instead of having puzzle after puzzle can help to create a better atmosphere of the level, as the player has the freedom to walk where they want, but its also important to let the player know where they need to be heading to advance the story.
Basic Game Ideas:
Idea 1: Murder mystery where the player is a detective and needs to find clues to solve a murder. Each clue will give the player a hint on who did it. The culprit is randomly selected each time the player plays the game and the clues change each time as well.
Idea 2: The player wakes up for a deep frozen sleep on a military bases where everyone is dead, your goals is to escape. While escaping you start to uncover what happen to the military bases and why you where there.
Monday, 7 February 2011
Week 2: Design documents samples
1. Why do you think there is so much variation in the structure of each design document?
Although each of the design documents have different structures none of them are the correct or wrong way of making them. A design document has to start somewhere but I believe that the start of the design document has to have a big impact on the people who is reading it. The reason I think this is because no one is going to read a whole design document if the first section does not get them interested in the game idea.
2. How much technical information is contained within the design documents?
Each of the design documents varies in how much technical information they contain within them. The Claw and the Technomancy: The Shadow War design document contains a lot of technical information while the Grim Fandango Puzzle design documents does not. I believe that there is a slight advantage from this as the person who created the design document will have to sit down and discuss with the different departments. Although they would still have to do this even if they did add the technical details in the document, but creating ideas for the levels looks and gameplay for scratch with the different department can give the departments a better understanding of what type of game they will be making as they help to fill in the missing asset from the design document.
3. Discuss a few good points about these example documents, and then identify a few areas which you would improve in your own design document.
I find that the Claw design document is well organised and seems to try and cover every aspect of the game they want to achieve. The one thing about this document that I dislike and would improve in my design document is the continues lines of text. I would add level layouts and images of the type of feeling I want the player to feel when playing that game as I want the reader of my design documents to know exactly what type of game I want to make.
The Grim Puzzle design document has images on nearly every page what tells us what the game atmosphere is going to be like. One thing that I will put in my design document that the Grim Puzzle design document does not have is better level layouts and a description of the gameplay I want the game to have.
The Technomancy: The Shadow War design document has more detail level layouts than the other two design documents which shows how big each of theses level will be. What I also like about this design document is that it compares the type of gameplay they want with other games. Although the design document has images of the level layouts it still lacking images as the main majority of the design document is text.
Although each of the design documents have different structures none of them are the correct or wrong way of making them. A design document has to start somewhere but I believe that the start of the design document has to have a big impact on the people who is reading it. The reason I think this is because no one is going to read a whole design document if the first section does not get them interested in the game idea.
2. How much technical information is contained within the design documents?
Each of the design documents varies in how much technical information they contain within them. The Claw and the Technomancy: The Shadow War design document contains a lot of technical information while the Grim Fandango Puzzle design documents does not. I believe that there is a slight advantage from this as the person who created the design document will have to sit down and discuss with the different departments. Although they would still have to do this even if they did add the technical details in the document, but creating ideas for the levels looks and gameplay for scratch with the different department can give the departments a better understanding of what type of game they will be making as they help to fill in the missing asset from the design document.
3. Discuss a few good points about these example documents, and then identify a few areas which you would improve in your own design document.
I find that the Claw design document is well organised and seems to try and cover every aspect of the game they want to achieve. The one thing about this document that I dislike and would improve in my design document is the continues lines of text. I would add level layouts and images of the type of feeling I want the player to feel when playing that game as I want the reader of my design documents to know exactly what type of game I want to make.
The Grim Puzzle design document has images on nearly every page what tells us what the game atmosphere is going to be like. One thing that I will put in my design document that the Grim Puzzle design document does not have is better level layouts and a description of the gameplay I want the game to have.
The Technomancy: The Shadow War design document has more detail level layouts than the other two design documents which shows how big each of theses level will be. What I also like about this design document is that it compares the type of gameplay they want with other games. Although the design document has images of the level layouts it still lacking images as the main majority of the design document is text.
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Week 1: Colossal Cave Adventure & NetHack
Colossal Cave Adventure
Q 1. Which elements of the game did you find enjoyable?
As there are no images and the game describes your surrounding for you, your imagination takes over and it feels like your in a book. I have played games like this before but they used images but this game has a completely different feel to it and it also seem to me to be more enjoyable.
Q 2. Which elements of the game did you not find enjoyable?
I did not enjoy how you travel, as I found my self going in circles and getting lost most of the time.
Q 3. For those elements of the game which you did not enjoy, why do you think the game has been designed in this way?
To move forward you need to type the compass direction of where you want to move, But its very difficult to do with out a map. I think they made the game like that so if your travailing long distances you will not get lost if you have a map and head north, while if you just movie forward, back ,left right you will not know what direction you be facing.
Q 4. At the time this game was originally released why do you think it was so popular?
I think the game was popular when it was originally released because it feels like an open world where anything is possible. When playing the game your imagination take over and your picturing a world that only you can imagine while picking up item and interacting with the environment.
Q 5. How does the game attempt to compensate for the lack of graphics?
The game describe the scenery for you, so instead of a image to look at, your picturing your own world in your imagination with the help of the game describing the scenery of where you are in the game world.
Q 6. In terms of the ‘player experience’, does Colossal Cave Adventure offer any advantages over modern adventure games? Describe your views on this.
In modern-day adventure games, when travailing from place to place the player tries to get to points a to b fast as they can and look out for any thing on interest to advance the story. But In Colossal Cave Adventure you take in the scenery more when travelling to place to place and interactive with things more like killing a bird.
NetHack
Q 1. Which elements of the game did you find enjoyable?
This game reminds me of a very simple version of a game called Diablo where you go around a dungeon style map killing enemies while levelling your character. The game seems very fast pace and no long battles what I like, unlike some modern day RPG games where you some times spend minutes just killing one enemy with the same move.
Q 2. Which elements of the game did you not find enjoyable?
I did not enjoy all the different key commands you had to use to perform certain task as it gets confusing.
Q 3. For those elements of the game which you did not enjoy, why do you think the game has been designed in this way?
Because the game does not have the capability to use a mouse the player cant not just press icons to bring up menus like today’s game, so every action needs to be assigned its own key. Although it might seems easier if you type the actions like eat *items name*, Inventory, or use *Item name* this will slow down game play.
Q 4. At the time this game was originally released why do you think it was so popular?
When this game came out game console were in its third and forth generation with games like sonic and super Mario bros what had good coloured graphics for its time. Although NetHack does not have good graphic as other games in it time it does have many options for the player to use like changing your weapon and armour, using tools to get to you objective. This is different to other games in its time as most of the game that I know about where getting to the other side of the screen by jumping and attacking, while this game gives you the option to go down different paths. I think one of the main aspects that made this game grate for its time was customising your character as it give the player the opportunity to player the game again with a different class and use different weapons.
Q 5. Are there any elements of gameplay within HetHack which are not used in modern role playing games? Describe your views on this.
Although taking care of your health is vital in this game you also have to make sure you feed your character or they will faint. Modern games do use food in games to restore health but I have never played a RPG game where you need to eat just to make sure the character does not faint. I think this adds a bit of realism to the game but I can not see this being used in today RPG games as players would not want to spend time making sure their character does not faints in battle and this would also mean there would also be a lots of breaks between battle to feed your characters.
Q 1. Which elements of the game did you find enjoyable?
As there are no images and the game describes your surrounding for you, your imagination takes over and it feels like your in a book. I have played games like this before but they used images but this game has a completely different feel to it and it also seem to me to be more enjoyable.
Q 2. Which elements of the game did you not find enjoyable?
I did not enjoy how you travel, as I found my self going in circles and getting lost most of the time.
Q 3. For those elements of the game which you did not enjoy, why do you think the game has been designed in this way?
To move forward you need to type the compass direction of where you want to move, But its very difficult to do with out a map. I think they made the game like that so if your travailing long distances you will not get lost if you have a map and head north, while if you just movie forward, back ,left right you will not know what direction you be facing.
Q 4. At the time this game was originally released why do you think it was so popular?
I think the game was popular when it was originally released because it feels like an open world where anything is possible. When playing the game your imagination take over and your picturing a world that only you can imagine while picking up item and interacting with the environment.
Q 5. How does the game attempt to compensate for the lack of graphics?
The game describe the scenery for you, so instead of a image to look at, your picturing your own world in your imagination with the help of the game describing the scenery of where you are in the game world.
Q 6. In terms of the ‘player experience’, does Colossal Cave Adventure offer any advantages over modern adventure games? Describe your views on this.
In modern-day adventure games, when travailing from place to place the player tries to get to points a to b fast as they can and look out for any thing on interest to advance the story. But In Colossal Cave Adventure you take in the scenery more when travelling to place to place and interactive with things more like killing a bird.
NetHack
Q 1. Which elements of the game did you find enjoyable?
This game reminds me of a very simple version of a game called Diablo where you go around a dungeon style map killing enemies while levelling your character. The game seems very fast pace and no long battles what I like, unlike some modern day RPG games where you some times spend minutes just killing one enemy with the same move.
Q 2. Which elements of the game did you not find enjoyable?
I did not enjoy all the different key commands you had to use to perform certain task as it gets confusing.
Q 3. For those elements of the game which you did not enjoy, why do you think the game has been designed in this way?
Because the game does not have the capability to use a mouse the player cant not just press icons to bring up menus like today’s game, so every action needs to be assigned its own key. Although it might seems easier if you type the actions like eat *items name*, Inventory, or use *Item name* this will slow down game play.
Q 4. At the time this game was originally released why do you think it was so popular?
When this game came out game console were in its third and forth generation with games like sonic and super Mario bros what had good coloured graphics for its time. Although NetHack does not have good graphic as other games in it time it does have many options for the player to use like changing your weapon and armour, using tools to get to you objective. This is different to other games in its time as most of the game that I know about where getting to the other side of the screen by jumping and attacking, while this game gives you the option to go down different paths. I think one of the main aspects that made this game grate for its time was customising your character as it give the player the opportunity to player the game again with a different class and use different weapons.
Q 5. Are there any elements of gameplay within HetHack which are not used in modern role playing games? Describe your views on this.
Although taking care of your health is vital in this game you also have to make sure you feed your character or they will faint. Modern games do use food in games to restore health but I have never played a RPG game where you need to eat just to make sure the character does not faint. I think this adds a bit of realism to the game but I can not see this being used in today RPG games as players would not want to spend time making sure their character does not faints in battle and this would also mean there would also be a lots of breaks between battle to feed your characters.
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