Homework 8: Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Questions and Answers

1.) Is the Space in your game discrete or continuous?

As you know, we are designing a platforming fighter where the player will have control of a astronaut fighting different enemies as he transverses towards an objective. The space of gameplay will be continuous as he or she can freely move within the boundaries.

2.) How many dimensions does your space have?

The player will have only 2-dimensional movement accessibility, but will be playing in a 3-dimensional world. Elements of the world may have full 3-dimensional movement. 

3.) What are the boundaries of your space?

The boundaries will be defined as an invisible rectangular box  placed on the surface of the moon with access to the backside being blocked off by some object, the end of the course being the ending objective, the ground for the bottom, and the top leaving the moon's gravitational field.

4.) How many verbs do your players (characters) have? What are they?

Verbs are considered the actions of the player and the player will be able to:

Move

Jump

Strike

Throw

All together, that is four actions, or verbs, that the astronaut can perform. My teammates may mention more actions.

5.) How many objects can each verb act on? What are these objects?

The two main objects that the verbs will act on are the ground or surfaces of different platforms (for jumping and moving) and aliens or enemies (for the striking or throwing). Jumping may be able to be used on the enemies as well.

6.) How many ways can achieve their goals?

The number of paths to reach the end of the level depend on said level. One level may be very linear, only having one or two paths, or the level may have more and different paths may be shortcuts to the end. However, there are virtually infinite ways of disposing of enemies with the variety of weapons.

7.) How many subjects do the players control? What are these subjects?

The player only has one subject that he or she can control which is the main character, the astronaut. Have more subjects to worry about would not make much sense in our fighting-platforming game.

8.) How do side effects change constraints?

As the combating astronaut, the player will have to achieve an objective that usually will be placed at the end of the level. The path(s) to get there will have enemies waiting to assault the player creating a constraint of a blocked path. Once the combating astronaut defeats an enemy, the path will become available for the player to travel on.

9.) What are the operative actions in your game?

The player will have access to the four operative actions of moving, jumping, striking (swinging), and throwing which will be used in combination to achieve the objective. The enemies will have similar operative actions that will be used against the player.

10.) What are the resultant actions in your game?

The player's operative actions will create the resultant actions of providing an advantage over an enemy, fighting and defeating an enemy, and reaching the objective in which the level will end. The enemies primary resultant actions will be blocking the player's path and ending the astronaut's life, causing the player to start over.

11.) What actions would you like your player to do that they cannot presently do? (based on your current knowledge of blender)

Everything that we want the player to do is currently able to be performed within the blender game engine with the exception of running the game in a custom engine.

12.) What is the ultimate goal of your game?

The ultimate objective is to defeat all enemies of the Lunar Space Colonies.

13.) Are there short and long term goals? What are they?

There are short term and long term goals that the player will focus on achieving. The short term goals will be the individual level objectives as well combating and defeating the enemies that block the player's path. The long term goal is the completion of the entire game which will be independence from whatever oppresses the moon colonies, whether it be aliens or earth.

14.) How do you plan to make the game goals known and understood by the player?

The player will be notified via text of what the goals will be. The player will quickly understand once the game starts and he or she transverses the level.

15.) What are the foundational rules of your game?

The foundational rules are as followed:

1. The player will have to stay within the boundaries of the levels.

2. Any actor of the game will not be able to transverse through objects.

3. The player is restricted to 2-dimensional movement only.

4. The current level must be completed before moving to the next one.

16.) How are these rules enforced?

The mechanics of the game engine will ensure that all of the foundational rules are enforced to where it will be impossible to break them.

17.) Does your game develop real skills? What are they?

This game, as with any other fighter or platformer, will develop reaction time and hand-eye coordination. 

18.) Does your game develop virtual skills? What are they?

Currently there are no virtual skills for the player to develop, but we may implement a weapon upgrade system to where a sword may do more damage after a certain amount of enemies perish from it.

Homework 7: Blender animation in the game engine

Here, I have made a simple crane animation. In the background, you can notice model space stations. I have made the surface of the moon for my scene. The camera being viewed through is parented to the crane and I have made the space station in another blender file. The crane has two types of materials.

The crane model can be modified to fit into a level as part of the platforming aspect. The player can use it to his advantage to jump higher or escape enemies.

LINK TO BLEND. FILE

http://www.pasteall.org/blend/24272

Homework 6: Chapter 4-5

1. For each of the four elements of the Tetrad, explain how it is addressed by your game. If one of the four elements is not used, please state this. 

AESTHETICS

The Lunar world and scenery of the environment adds to the aesthetics. The designs of the surrounding colonies with a few still under construction will give the appearance of a group of people separating from Earth. The fragile appearance of the space suits will force to user to be careful when piloting the avatar.  Even if our models will not turn out to be highly detailed, they will be detailed enough to portray the mysteries of space, mainly from the surface of the moon and the imminent future of human civilization.

STORY

 The story will have a broad scope on the time period and will focus less on the actual character the user will be controlling. The game will be set during a time when the lunar colonies are breaking away from the earth, mirroring the American Revolution, and as one of the lunar civilians, the user takes his or her stand to fight off the united countries with the tactical knowledge of the forces governed by the moon's small gravitational field.

TECHNOLOGY

We will be using blender for most of the modeling and game making, but we will also use ogre for the multi-player aspect. Ogre may as be used to play the game as well, but that is still in debate.

GAME MECHANIC

Our game will use the lunar gravity physics mechanic as the center of gameplay. The player will quickly realize how movement and actions on the moon's surface is very different from earth's gravity. Another aspect of the gaming mechanic is the use of unorthodox-ed weaponry. The player will have the ability to pick up a variety of weapons to attack his or her enemies with.

     2. Do the four (or less) elements work towards a current theme? 

All of these elements work towards are game's theme.

    3. In your own words, describe the meaning of a "theme", and how does it differ from an "experience" (see book for examples in Chapters 2 and 5. 

          Theme is the unifying idea that ties all of our game's elements together into one package. It is the reason each of the aesthetics, story, technology, and game mechanics were chosen.

          The experience is what the player will undergo as he or she will play the game. The experience will tie into the theme as we want the player to experience what has been drawn out by our reoccurring theme.

    4. What is your game's theme? 


The theme is the independence of the lunar colonies and how they go about retrieving it. 


   5. What are the elements in your game that are meant to reinforce this theme? 

The game mechanic of lunar physics reinforces the theme's implication of the colonies using what they have to fight back. Also using what weapons the player can find shows desperation-driven ingenuity his or her character has come up with to fight his or her enemies. The scenery of space in the background with the makeup of colonies being constructed will give personality to the lunar colonies.

   6. What is it about your game that you feel makes it special and powerful?

There have been games in the past that experimented with gravity mechanics, but the game we are designing has the factors of use of unusual weapons, a great story, and a unique map for the player or players to fight on.

Homework 4: Teamwork

Here are the questions to answer:

1. Do you love your project/game. If not, how can that be changed?

Love is a strong word. I am very fond of our project, yes, but I feel like it needs to be developed a lot more with more input of ideas from the whole team. We are centered around one idea, but I would like to add more ideas from all the members.

1. Does the team as a whole love the project? If not, what can be done? 

It would seem that every one is just accepting the idea rather than being thrilled about it. It is an interesting concept that we just went with, but the more ideas we get from each teammate, the more appealing the project will become.

1. Are the team members communicating with each other?

Yes, we are communicating, though not on the level we should be. I believe we are communicating enough to produce a solid game, but during the semester, we will start meeting up a lot more.

1. Does the team have a regular meeting schedule? What is that? 

Are meeting schedule is a brief brainstorming session before and after each class.

1. Describe the modes of communication between the team members. 

The most efficient way we all communicate is through text. The most important way is through the google docs though.

1. Regarding game documents, what must be remembered while designing your game?

The roles must be remembered. We all have designated parts to play, and if we do so efficiently, a beautiful Space-Fighter-Platformer genre will manifest.

Homework 3: First objects in blender

What I have done in blender

I made a few objects in a blender file, mostly centered around the main object I focused on which is a space station. A generic UV sphere was placed behind it to act as a planet. Also I made a set where the actual game would take place. I had the task of architecture, so I pieced together some of the factors that will take place in gameplay including crates that hold items and barrels that explode when enough damage is done to them. Also, using subdivision and extrusion, I created to cranes that give the platform the appearance of a construction site in space.

How this plays into the space fighting/platforming idea 

 This particular level could be set in the moon's orbital space where the player does some mission before or after doing tasks in the space colonies on the surface. The map's focal point will be the actual space station itself, whether the player is actually on it or in a location with it in the background. An immense structure like such will add a certain aesthetic to the scene. I also included some moving parts such as the solar panels on top and bottom and huge rocket thrusts on the outer ring.

As for the small platform in the file, it is part of an idea that is extremely beta. As I said before, the player could be on or off the actual space station, and in this concept, the player is off the station and in some type of orbital construction location. I would like to see the surrounding environment become part of the gameplay as much as any other mechanic, so the cranes could play a part in helping or hindering the player. Also, the barrels could be explosive, causing instant death to anyone nearby and the crates could hold special items that could give the player an advantage.

Link to the Blend. file
http://www.pasteall.org/blend/24024