Module Twelve: Movie Madness

Module Twelve: Movie Madness

Excalibur

1981 - John Boorman

"Forged by a god. Foretold by a wizard. Found by a king."

This would be an RPG/RTS where the player takes on the role of King Arthur, trapped by illness in his castle surrounded by dying lands you would send out your knights on a quest for the holy grail. Each of Arthur's Knights would be controlled by the player and responsible for bringing back some portion of the kingdom into repair and uniting outlying villages and fiefdoms to the kings Cause. Once all of the nights have completed their quests and united the kingdom the grail will be brought to the king and restore him to the ruler he once was curing the curse/ailment then with the army of the kingdom behind him you ride to battle against Morgana and her allies for a large scale battle.

Two aspects of Game play. Overhead kingdom sim/rts where reclaimed assets of the kingdom generate ore, food etc to slowly build and army. RPG aspects where each knight completes quests gains levels and special abilities and gear to become generals in the army for the final battle.

Module Twelve: Chapter Six Book Work

Module Twelve: Chapter Six Book Work

Question 3.

After playing Dark Fall for a few hours, concentrating on the melee aspect of its combat system I found it rather addictive. They use a skill base system so the more you use an item the better you get with it, the items use is effected by abilities and attributes. So the more you mine stone for example the more your strength increases and the more damage you due with your weapon. The more you swing your sword your sword skill increases thus allowing you to hit more often and increases your chance to do a critical hit. The combat is "Twitch" based meaning you do not click and highlight your enemy, you have to swing your sword at your enemy and try to hit it, the better you get within the skill you unlock combat skills that you can activate before you try to hit the opponent. Every battle is a chance to improve your character and master the controls needed to be an efficient fighter. Other then a few mechanical tweaks and a lay out changes I think they have a pretty sound model.

Module Eleven: Card Game

Module Eleven: Card Game

Four Player Game

Goal is to assassinate the king of the suite or to capture the enemies kingdom  

King (controller of the kingdom)

Ace (assassin only thing that will beat a king)

The deck of cards is divided into royal families and their subjects.

            (Royal Mini-Deck)

(all of the Clubs, Spades, Hearts, and Diamonds are separated into these Royal Mini-Decks)

These mini-decks will have a royal family (Jack, King, Queen)

An Assassin (the Ace)

Guard ( 10 )

Subjects (all other cards) (numerical value = strength

Cards are shuffled and the Royal Mini-Deck is placed face down.

Every one flips over the top card highest card wins.

             ( so if some one flips a king and every one else flips over subjects the king wins taking       the others cards placing them into a captured pile, all won cards become subjects, all     royal family cards captured become guards, {worth 10})

All captured cards are place face down in a separate pile

Aces beat everything accept other aces, if more then one player turns over an Ace they "retreat" going back in the players Royal Mini-Deck on the bottom.

If the player flips over a king and another flips over an ace then the king is assassinated and that player is out and the kingdom (the loosing players cards, both the Royal and Captured) go to the winner and are placed in his captured deck.

Once the Royal Deck is emptied the captured deck is used until all players kings are dead or all the kingdoms are won by a single player.

Module Eleven: Character Development Revisited

Module Eleven:  Character Development Revisited

"A character in a game is never just the character, but the character in that

particular world, designed to compliment him or her, and giving

sensual shape to his or her existence."

Continuity in design seems to be the theme here, you would not have a character set in a medieval world with machine gun skills or demolition skills, the character would need to seamlessly exist in the environment in which it is created. Take WOW (World of Warcraft) now move all of the races into a space race, where technology and magic create a way to traverse and conquer the stars. The characters would need a different set of skills to navigate the new world, mounts would be replaced with vehicles both interstellar and on-world based. New combat skills would need to be added to utilize the advances in weapons or focus items for magic. Races would have advantages and disadvantages such as Gnomes and Dwarves, Humans and Orks. The total feel of the game would change and the characters abilities and skills would have to reflect the changes. Even the models would have to change graphically to reflect the evolution of the race/character type into the technology based futuristic WOW.

Module Eleven: Basic AI

Module Eleven: Basic AI

* Copy write infringements.

"Mr. Roboto" by the Styx 1983

I cant get the flash player installed without errors on the machine.
I understand the overall Princeiples of the flash tutorial and the AI, butt he example drove me nuts. I would like to see this presented in a more professional manner. One that explained what you are looking for in black and white instead of a flash movie that I cant get to play all the way through. I will try to find another student to watch and create. 

Module Ten: Paper Simulation

Reverse engineer GALAGA


12 index cards of each enemy

4 Capture Cards
3 index cards of ship

2 6-sided dice




1 roll initiative

1-3 miss
4-6 hit

If a Capture card is flipped then one of the players ship cards is taken and when that boss turns up again and is killed the player gets the ship card.

When the player has two ships in play he always wins initiative.
Miss enemy card goes on bottom of deck.

Hit your ship card out of play another card into play.

Survival is the core game element.

Module Ten: Chapter Five Book Work

Module Ten: Chapter Five Book Work

Grand Theft Auto IV

Sandbox

I have always like the term Sandbox to describe the type of game where you have the feeling of freedom to explore or exploit the gaming environment. To me a non linear "sandbox" is the best way to create a game with RPG elements and a feeling of emersion. Triggers placed in the game will set into play events or actions that will effect the sandbox experience either adding to or taking away from the players enjoyment. In my original game I would have to start with dynamic world, one that lives through actions and cycles even if the player doesn't interact. If the player aids or hinders these actions the play environment would change. This would start with a large play area/areas, to me Sandbox means Non-Linear, this may not mean the same to all but I do not see how a linear Sandbox could work, in my eyes its an oxymoron and a waste of resources and time to try to create this type of mechanic. I can see the need for game "paths" visible or invisible interactions that pushes the player in certain a direction in the form of quests or story. The end result may be some sort of character cap, in level or the end of a main story line, but the replay element would be there as you could play it a different way each time you loaded it up.

Module Nine: Dice Game

Module Nine: Dice Game

Battle Bones

Six, six sided die make up the Battle Bones Set.
(Keep them in a pouch for fun and function)

Undead warriors clash in a battle of Bones!
Teams or a free for all will work rules are the same.

One dice determines initiative

Another keeps track of hit points and is used as a counter.

Set the counter to six.

Roll a die for initiative.

Highest roll starts the battle

Attacker rolls 5 die adds total to the initiative roll
Defender rolls 5 die (excludes initiative roll)

If attackers total is higher then the defenders total an attack gets through

The attacker would then roll one die for damage

A roll of:

1-2 = 1pt
3-4 = 2pt
5-6 = 3pt

The defender would then take the damage from the counter dice

Then the defender if still alive attacks following the same progress over again starting with the initiative roll.


(15 minute Tweak)

Damage was reduced to:
1-3 = 1pt
4-6 = 2pt

* Initiative dice added to winners pool for attack roll.

Module Nine: Design Chemistry

Module Nine: Design Chemistry

Depending on the size and scope of the game a design team should be that, a team. Now this team can be broken into groups of teams, for example if I were making an RTS game I would have the programmers in a group, the artists in a group and the designers in a group, all of these groups would be connected by a lead, and like a Venn Diagram those leads would become a group who made decisions and choose directions that would be taken back to the corresponding groups for completion. The lead group would be instrumental in prototyping the game. The design group for example would give the plans of the levels map to the artists and they would work from them creating assets, those assets would go to the programmers and so on. The overall balance and work flow of the group would be determined by the size and type of project.

Module Nine: Prototyping

Module Nine: Prototyping

Prototyping is a fundamental aspect of creation and testing a design, this allows you to visually see the spatial aspects of the game, the layout and visual quality. Multiple prototypes may be necessary to tweak certain aspects of the game. Prototyping just the map or course of the game to see the flow, be it from dice rolls or cards, the progression through the map or maze is crucial to the over all balance of the game. If it is dice driven then this will need to be tested for the obstacles and bonus spaces the map may have. You may need to add an additional die to the game to balance movement and statistical or tactical achievements or pitfalls. After all you can not play test without some sort of prototype, so get busy with the paper and glue.

Character Development

Meet Juriah


As the son of a blacksmith Juriah grew strong, and at twenty standing at the forge with the reflection of the embers making his blue eyes glow orange, he faced the his biggest challenge to date. Today was the day he was to craft his family sword from the steel and fire that had forged him into the muscle rippled man he had become. Pulling the long black locks of hair that fell in ringlets on his shoulders, into a pony tail, keeping it out of sparks grasp, he hefted the steel blank from the adjacent barrel and using his tall frame he laid it on the bed of smoldering embers. With his other hand he reached to the anvil and grasped a large hammer, his favorite, the one that will start crafting this glowing rod of steel into the weapon that would shape his future in ways he could not imagine.

As a boy he would craft swords from sticks or whittle them down from lumber with an old hunting knife, waiting for this day, the day he would forge his own and take up arms for what ever life had in store.

With his fathers careful direction he began to hammer the glowing rod into the shape of a mighty blade, working it like a sculptor would clay the rigid properties of the steel became pliable and its shape was well defined. When he pulled it from the embers and cast it into the cooling barrel with a hiss of steam he beamed at his father, and his father looked on proudly as his son had created one of the finest blades he had ever seen.

Chapter Four Book Work

After reading chapter four I settled in for a few hours on the couch playing some games and observing the characters in each. In each of the games my character was the hero of the narrative, actions I did along the way impacted the world around me in the form of altered quest lines and difficulty in puzzles and or combat, depending on the game. All of the characters had a similar relationship to the game world and that tied in with them being very much alike but placed in different Genre. The fluid movements created by the animator made the world seem that much more real, the way your character reacted to the elements or even to the movement around the maps on different vehicles or terrain grounded the player to the world that was created. This is crucial to the mechanics that are built on the ability for your character to manipulate the game environment.

Game-mechanics examined

I think that the marketed games of today that attempt the "sandbox" style are paving the way for the next generation of free style games, that will allow the player to immerse him or herself in a world that seems more alive then most. I also agree with the writer that the games attempting that today do feel more like a job then a game. Spending hours gathering the skills needed to mine or harvest materials needed to create an in game tool such as a weapon, then being killed after five minutes of play and loosing that weapon, leaves most players of that type of game with a bad taste in their mouth...

Accessibility

This exercise allowed me to fire up my old Galaga machine for some play time.

The controls on this classic arcade game were left and right using a joystick for basic movement and a big red button to fire. The simplistic nature of the controls and the overall ease of use made it very easy to master. I played the game for some time warming up, then I got a stool and sat at the game and played for ten minutes with my feet. I did not get as far in this manor but I was able to play the game for the full time.
Blowing the dust off of the top of the machine I located the recessed button that turns the monitor on and off on the cabinet, needless to say I did not get very far playing blind. If the joystick had the ability to allow some kind of audible feedback or vibration to allow the play to know when a ship was in view or when a missile was heading at you the game could be playable with impaired vision.
The next challenge was to beat my neighbor with one hand tied behind my back. This was done with some difficulty but using my left hand I sat on the stool controlling the joystick and with my right bare foot I pressed the fire button. The easy remedy to this would have been to place the fire button on the joystick for an easy one handed operation of the game.

Chalk Free Play

Was the game a challenge, fun, entering? Why?

It was challenging to keep me interested long enough to complete the assignment, this is not my type of game nor do I fall into the age group I think this would appeal to the most. I had no reason to care or no desire to aid the little character from her chalky dilemmas. I on the other hand would have had a much better time trying to capture the intended player as apposed to moving her through the obstacles.

Does the game have replay value?

If I were say 10 there maybe some replay value, but that is subjective as some may enjoy this immensely. To me there was not enough staged puzzles, other then the mini boss and main boss. The rest just seemed rather bland, even the boss battles had little to no thought on how exactly you could beet them.

Is the game story driven or game play driven? Explain your opinion.

As there was no textual story coupled with the fact that a stylized girl was moving through stages that seemed more like abstract dream sequences rather then a well designed level would lead me to believe this was driven by game play. Even though the game play was not my cup of tea the planning was there and the execution was done well enough to get the hang of what was needed easily enough.

How was the game's presentation? (Graphics, sound)

The sound and game style seemed like a nostalgic throw back to the early days of console gaming. The creator defined a style in his art assets and the sound bites he used to create the game and did that part well, the overall style chosen complimented the simplistic nature of the game itself.

How are the controls? Describe the games feel.

The controls were intuitive but redundant which made the game feel quite hollow. The constant clicking and dragging, while created as a part pf the "chalk board" adventure was just to repetitive and for no clear reason.

Any other special features you enjoyed?

No

If you could change one mechanic, what would it be and how would it affect game play?

The one mechanic I would change would be the course in which you navigated as the player. There was no real labyrinth feel even though you were assaulted buy strange chalk creatures there were now boundaries. The ability to change direction, say go up if the maze allowed for that would add another dimension of depth that was lacking in the whole experience.

On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate the game? Why?

I would say a solid four. The overall execution was there, effort was placed in the game and its creation, but it lacked so much for me to see it as a repayable title. Unlike Desktop tower defense, where I could play for wave after wave and kill copious amounts of time at work.

Module Six "Chapter Three Book Work"

Chapter 3 Review Question One

The subject today is Darkfall an MMO that is full on PVP in first person, this is a departure for most MMO's are played in third person. The key to making this game unique is the first person experience. The field of view is kept as close to true as possible this allows for the ability for stealth and the overall feel of the hunt or hunted to generate a certain amount of anxiety. If I were to redesign the system using the standard third person view port the field of vision would allow the player to see all around his avatar and the dynamic of the game would be shot, stealth instead of actually using cover and distance so as not to be seen would be replaced by the player using stealth to seemingly disappear except to those in the party. You also move into the point, click and attack mode the third person games seem to rely on, instead of the twitch based combat found in the first person MMO.

Module Five "Journal One"

London 1910 Dominated by the first world war, you take on the role as an orphan, raised by the clergy. Fascinated by the stone relief of a family tree, you wonder what grand tree you are a part of, constantly tracing with your finger over the different branches, lost in the daydreams of an innocent child. One of the windows in the church always reminded you of your station in life, a tree of its own but a tree of divine right, with the powerful men at the top and all of those that give their life and lively hood arranged neatly below, strangely sharing the same sun that illuminates the shards of glass, just like the ground they will all share in the end.
Your first few years in the orphanage shape who you are but the longing to know more about where you came from drives you to seek answers. The years pass quickly and as you approach the age of 14 war rears its ugly head, aerial bombing and id cards become the norm. For the next four years you use your knowledge of the streets to help you with your job loading munitions wagons and leading them to the docks for load on transports. It was at these docks you became obsessed with a life and endless freedom the open waters represent. Making up your mind at 18 you steal away on a merchant ship heading for the New York, leaving the empty life of an orphan behind, you take your only belongings, the etching you made of the family tree, a sketch of the window, the memories of the orphanage and the clergy that raised you, and make your way to America... little did you know what was to await you there.

Made Man, a search for identity leads to the rush for power on the streets of New York in the 1920's

Genre Vs Type

I think its important in any growing field to establish ground rules and terminology as part of the foundation. As the gaming industry grows, different fields of thought will immerge. The Difference in Genre and Type the article illustrates is very clear, I would have to agree with the categories put forth in both the genre and type. Keeping the game industry inline with the film industry is a wise move as the two cross. Genre as defined is a class or category of artistic endeavor. As the atmosphere, time period and other examples of the game environment fall into the artistic category its hard to argue that this would be considered as type. The type refers to more to the mechanics of the game, viewpoint from which it is played i.e. first person or third person, movement, flow, all of these help build the type of game not the genre.