Shapeman Assignment

Sprites

All Sprites were made using Game Maker.

Pentagon (spr_me) (spr_pentagon)(spr_pentagon2) (spr_enemy)

Diamond (spr_diamond) (spr_diamond)2

Arrow (spr_arrow) (spr_arrow)2

Circle (spr_circle) (spr_arrow)2

Curved Square (spr_curvedsquare) (spr_curvedsquare)2

Wall (spr_wall)

Objects

All sprites in the game are the same as the objects

 (obj_me) (obj_pentagon) (obj_pentagon) 2 (obj_enemy)

 (obj_diamond) (obj_diamond)2

 (obj_arrow) (obj_arrow)2

 (obj_circle) (obj_circle)2

 (obj_curvedsquare) (obj_curvedsquare)2

 (obj_wall)

Rooms

Rooms were also made using Game Maker.

Turns you into that shape =

Enemies =

Process

Object: obj_me (create: Execute a piece of code) (create: set the friction)

This is to control the variables                                     To be able to stop the character moving

Object: obj_me (begin step: Execute a piece of code)

A ground check

Object: obj_me (collision with: obj_diamond, obj_circle, obj_arrow, obj_curvedsquare and obj_pentagon)

So when obj_me touches any of those objects, they will turn into the objects duplicate.

Object: obj_me (left, right, up, down: Set moving in direction)

So that when you, for example, press the left arrow key, your character moves left.

Object: obj_enemy (create: execute a piece of code)

To make the enemy wander about in a random direction

Object: obj_enemy (alarm 0: execute a piece of code)

Another code to make the enemy change direction.

Object: obj_enemy (Step: Execute a piece of code)

The speed that the enemy should be moving in.

Object: obj_enemy (Collision with obj_me: execute a piece of code)

To make sure that when the playable shape touches an enemy of the same shape, the enemy dies.

Object: obj_enemy (collision with obj_wall: bounce against solid objects)

To make sure that the enemies aren’t able to fall out of the game.

Object: obj_enemy (draw: execute a piece of code)

So that the code to make sure shapes kill each other know which shapes are meant to die or kill.

Object: obj_controller (create: execute a piece of code (x2) and draw the value of score)

To be able to set the score when you earn one

Object: obj_controller (Step: Execute a piece of code (x2))

To set the countdown for when the enemies change shape.

Object: obj_controller (Draw: Execute a piece of code)

To set the font and font colour of the score.

Improvements I would make are to have better coding, better looking sprites, being able to search for the right thing to be able to get the game working.

This is a manual for the game

video of me testing the game can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIZj7_1OZVA

Concept Art

Year 1 - L3 Games Design

Unit 78: Digital Graphics for Computer Games

Assignment 2

Brief

Sprites:

·         Bob, he wants to collect cupcakes for his girlfriend

·         The Purple Blob, wants to stop him collecting cupcakes

·         Orange Blob, wants to stop him collecting cupcakes, they can jump

·         Cupcakes

·         Walls

·         The exit

Sounds:

·         Jumping noise

·         Getting attacked

·         Got to the exit

·         Finished the game, celebration

5 levels

Platform game

Online game PEGI 7

Anyone, boy or girl, any age above 7.

Bob is going to have to dodge monsters to try and get as many cupcakes for his girlfriend. The Purple Blobs are going to run up to you and try and kill you. The Orange Blob will try and attack you, but they can jump and run. Cupcakes are collectables for Bob to collect for his girlfriend. The walls stop Bob from falling out of the world he is meant to be in. The exit will be his girlfriend, who wants the cupcakes Bob is collecting.

Concept art for Bob.

 Concept art for cupcakes

Game Pre-Production Techinques | Unit 1 | Assignment

Nathan Bolton

BTEC Extended Diploma in Computer Games Design

Unit 1: Pre-Production Techniques for the Creative Media Industries

Pre-Production and Planning for a Computer Game

In the pre-production of video games development, you must consider all the things you will need, like equipment, staff, financing etc.

Finance

Most important things in pre-production are finance and deadlines. You can finance you game in many different ways, such as funding the game yourself, and you can produce your game and put it on Steam Greenlight,  and publishers might want to sign it, but it does cost quite a bit to put on consoles and around £70 to get Steam Greenlight.

Indie funding is a popular way to fund a game, a company called “The Indie Fund,” helps independent game developers fund their games, and if the game sells, you can spend time making another game and earning more money. But if the game doesn’t do well, then you will have to try and make another game and fix the already sold game in your free time.

Crowd-funding is one of the most popular ways to fund a game. Crowd-funding is where you suggest an idea for anything, and then people all over the world provide a donation for it to be done. If the world likes the idea and goes over the amount of money you have set for them to reach, then you have to do the idea or else you could face a lawsuit. “Kickstarter” is a site that does this.

Using grants loaned to you can also help fund your game, it has advantages like being able to publish a game whenever and you can use funds without any restrictions. But if the game doesn’t sell, you might have wasted money and if the company who loaned you money has given you more money than they would often give to somebody, then they will ask for their money back.

Using a publisher to fund your game is very good for you, as the take financial risks, and they might sign you if you have a good enough demo for people to play. But if you do use a publisher, then that means that they will own your game and they might own a part of your company. Also, if you don’t have any experience with the industry, then the chances of them signing you are reduced.

Deadlines

Meeting deadlines is one of the most important things in games development as people aren’t going to just sit there waiting to play your game. Also, the more time that you spend making a game, the more money you will have to spend for production. To make sure that you don’t spend any more money on production, then the best thing to do is make a timetable, and set a deadline. You will have to pick days and times for you to do work, and decide what you are going to work on before you start working on it so it doesn’t start to delay you. Using this method with every game you make will help you make more money and will let people know that you’re a reliable company.

Personnel

There are several different roles in the production of video games.

Roles include:

·         Assistant producer – work with staff to ensure a high quality and punctual release.

·         Animator – Responsible for the movement and behaviour of characters and objects within a game, taking advantage of the games engine.

·         Assistant producer – work with staff to ensure a high quality and punctual release.

·         Audio Engineer – responsible for the soundtrack, music, sound effects, voices etc.

·         Creative Director – Responsible for overall look and feeling of the game, making big decisions.

·         External Producer – Ensures delivery of the game and gives publishers the important information for them to advertise.

·         Game Designer – works out what a game will consist of and how it plays.

·         Game programmer – Designs and writes the coding for a game.

·         Games Artist – Creates visual elements in games, such as backgrounds, characters, objects, surface texture and vehicles etc. and drawing concept art.

·         Lead Artist – Responsible for the look of the game, directing the production put into making the game. They also manage the art and animation team.

·         Lead Programmer – Leads the team which codes the game and manages the entire coding process.

·         Level Editor – Creates the architecture for the buildings in a game.

·         Product Manager – Makes marketing campaigns to try and maximise the sales of a game.

·         Project Manager – Makes sure that the game will be released on time and within the budget.

·         QA Tester – Tests, tuning and debugging a game and suggest improvements.

·         Technical Artist – A bridge between artists and programmers. Investigates new techniques and commuting and training the team.

Facilities

The equipment you will need are software such as GameMaker to create the game. When thinking about all of this, you must consider the costs, how much is the game going to cost you? And if all the equipment you need is available at the time of development. For my game it to be sold, Gamemaker costs around £100 and it costs around £70 to publish it on SteamGreenlight, other publishing services might cost considerably more and it might depend if the game sounds good or not.

Before starting the game you must have some idea about how the game will actually look, so it might be good for you to do some concept art, sketching the characters, backgrounds or objects, and a mood-board, putting a bunch of photos together to give yourself an idea or to tell the story in a different way.

Be Able to Generate Concept Art Ideas for Computer Games

Unit 78: Digital Graphics for Computer Games

P2: Be able to Generate Concept Art Ideas for Computer Games

Stimulus:

What is a brief? 

A brief is a set of instructions given to someone about a task and what they want in a game.

Client brief: 

A task given to someone else by someone who wants something specific in a game, e.g. genre, style, animation.

Own brief: 

What you draw as concept art. E.g. characters, locations, background, weapons, sprites.

Market research: 

Social and Opinion Research.

Ideas Generation:

Brainstorming:

Written ideas for games design.

Mood board: 

A arrangement of images to to present a style

Thumbnail sketching:

A quick sketch of characters, backgrounds etc.

Concept drawings: 

backgrounds, sprites, characters, weapons, location

Legal & Ethical Considerations:

What is copyright law?

The current act is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

What is Libel? 

False statement damaging the reputation of someone.

How are female characters represented in games?

In a lot of games, women are seen in the traditional sense, mainly being underrepresented and stereotyped, seen as the weaker sex.

What is intellectual property? 

Refers to creations of the mind, e.g. designs, symbols, names etc.

Understanding Digital Graphics used within Computer Games

Nathan Bolton

BTEC Level 3 Games Design

Unit 78: Digital Graphics for Computer Games

Assessment 1: Understanding Digital Graphics used within Computer Games

I have done some research on different art styles used in many different kinds of games, such as cel-shaded and photorealism. I have also researched other aspects of games, such as pixels, files etc. Here are two games, one 2D and one 3D to differentiate between the two.

The 2D game is Corpse Party.

The 3D game is Life is Strange.

Corpse Part is a 2D game with a manga/anime kind of style for the PC. It is mainly an exaggerated version of humans and other beings. Mostly the facial features, just like most anime, shows characters with extremely large eyes, tiny noses, a weird shaped mouth and extremely sinister facial expressions. More exaggeration is shown specifically with the female characters are kind of over sexualised.

Life is strange is a 3D game with a photorealism/cel-shaded feeling to it. The game is for the PC, PS4 PS3, Xbox One and Xbox 360. Though the characters look like they should be photorealism, it doesn’t fully look real, but more like a cartoon, a mix between the two styles.

No image capturing was used to design these two games, it is completely made from scratch on a computer.

Corpse Party probably doesn’t use as much pixels as they use in Life is Strange, as Corpse Party gameplay is quite grainy and you can see the little squares quite extremely.

In Life is Strange, because of the detail placed into every corner of the game, it would be easy to understand that this game uses quite a bit of pixels to create the atmosphere as well as the characters themselves. All the colours seem to merge together in an object to give it its 3D effect and you can’t see any graininess, like you do in Corpse Party.

Both games have been optimised for different platforms. Corpse Party has been optimised to work on the PC and their controls.

Life is Strange is optimised to work on the PC, PS4 and PS3, XBox One and XBox 360. The game is compressed for platforms such as PS4 and XBox One. It is less compressed for the PC. Corpse Party is also compressed for the PC.

Life is Strange uses Storage of Image Assets because they need to release 5 episodes in a year and they have to meet a specific deadline. Corpse Party might use storage of image assets as the game is also episodic. Life is Strange probably uses more as it has more pixels and therefore larger amount of space needed, and also because it uses vector images.

Corpse Party uses Raster images because it uses more pixels than Life is Strange uses. Life is strange uses more pixels and so when you zoom into the image, it still looks clear, making it use vector images.

Concept art for Corpse Party was basically drawing everyday anime characters with slightly different skin tones and hair.

Concept art for Life is Strange showed the two main characters of the game, the concept art was shown in colour.

Pre-Production techniques for the creative media industires: Finance Task 2

Unit 1: Pre-production techniques for the creative media industries

Finance: Task 2

Self-Funding:

Self-funding is making and financing a game by yourself, and then pay for it to be put on Steam Greenlight and consoles.

Advantages:

·        Rewards can be very good

·        Indie games can be easier to do

·        If good enough, publishers will want to publish it

Disadvantages:

·       Game might not sell well enough and no one will publish it

·       Costs a lot to put it on a console and Steam

Indie funding:

Most indie-funded games are self-funded and is usually made in a person’s free time.

Advantages:

·       If first game sells, then you can spend your time making a second game

·       The Indie Fund is a funding source to help independent game developers

Disadvantages:

·        If first game doesn’t sell, then you have to carry on working  part time working on the game  in your free time

                                                         

     Example of a game help published by "The Indie Fund"

Crowd Funding:

Crowd funding is when you suggest an idea, then, if people online like your idea, then they will help fund it by sending in money.

Advantages:

·        A lot of people might help fund your game

·        The more people who fund, the more people might buy it

Disadvantages:

·       If enough people have funded your game, then you have to make it or else you could face a lawsuit

·        You might not be able to get enough people to fund you and you can’t release your game

Grants:

Funding can be used via grants, no fee to pay and you can publish a game whenever.

Advantages:

·        You can publish however

·        Use funds without any restrictions

Disadvantages:

·        People might not buy your game

·        If you are loaned more than usual, you might have to pay them back

Publisher:

If you can’t fund a game yourself, then publisher funding is an option for larger games.

Advantages:

·        Publisher may sign you if you have a good demo, good team and good presentation

·        They take financial risks

Disadvantages:

·        If you don’t have any industry experience, the chances are reduced

·        They own your game

·        They might partially own your company in return for cash