B00219590
So here is the final post of this blog. Our team has come a long way as the game idea has as well. When it started out as a top down RPG and now when it is a realistic first person RPG. We have finished the design document and the pitch as well. This has been a great experience for me, I feel I have improved my communication skills, and I can get my ideas across in a group environment. I am most certainly going to use the skills I have learned in this class in the future and may be even as a game designer if I am really lucky.
If I was going to move on and and start a new project there is one thing that I would improve, communication between team members, although our team did communicate well in some cases, i feel that there was a need for us to communicate more and do more planing of the game design.
All in all I have really enjoyed working in my group and the module has given me a look into what the game industry is actually like and I feel like I have improved because of this class. After this class I will try my hand at designing games and building up a portfolio and advance what I have learned here.
Goodbye
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Character concept art
B00219590
Last post I discussed that I would be looking for concept art online and i would be using cghub.com to do so. Well in this post i will be showcasing some of my findings and talking a little bit about them
This first picture is for our human character. I am very happy with this as its exactly how I wanted the human character to look, that is a man in his late twentys, looks young and smart but also has a dark side to him. The lighting in this picture is great as well, as I learned in my other module people are drawn to contrast and they like pictures with more contrast.
This next picture accurately resembles the Pangaran people and what we want them to look like. The picture says all the things we want it to say, they are alien, they look like they could be slaves but the also look nimble, as if they are good with their hands. The picture however doesn't show the strength of the Pangaran race and that they are physically well defined.
This last picture is supposed to give a idea of how the Draco are going to look as a race, however we do not like this one as much as the last two for the simple reason that it doesn't give two much information about how they will actually look. One point that is does show is that the Draco wear the full body suits as a means to increase their strength and their ability in battle.
I just want to leave this picture here as well, i feel that this single picture is able to put forth the basic ideas of the game. A high octane sci fi shooter where the players tech wear suits and they have freedom of movement.
Friday, 7 December 2012
week 10 - Pitch
Pitch - B00219590
My main job in my team is the pitch, I have to design and write out (with some help from my team members) the pitch that we will present to a group of teachers. I have read all of the articles posted by Jim and have studied all of the pitches on moodle, I feel however there is a lot of contradicting views on the subject, such as some say you should start with this while others don't and some say you should add this while others say to add this and so on. This tells me that there is no right way to pitch your game and that it all depends on the type of game and how you feel about it.
There is however one thing that they all agree on, a picture tells a thousand words. Since none of our team are any good at drawing, we have the need to find images off the internet, which is pretty difficult since the images are not made with your game in mind. I have however found a great website called cghub.com , this is where art students and people that want to share there ideas come and post their images, its a great source of uncopyrighted content.
Our game has a lot of great ideas within it and it shouldn't be too hard to put these into the presentation. The real issue is how Iam going to lay the pitch out this will hopefully not be too difficult.
My main job in my team is the pitch, I have to design and write out (with some help from my team members) the pitch that we will present to a group of teachers. I have read all of the articles posted by Jim and have studied all of the pitches on moodle, I feel however there is a lot of contradicting views on the subject, such as some say you should start with this while others don't and some say you should add this while others say to add this and so on. This tells me that there is no right way to pitch your game and that it all depends on the type of game and how you feel about it.
There is however one thing that they all agree on, a picture tells a thousand words. Since none of our team are any good at drawing, we have the need to find images off the internet, which is pretty difficult since the images are not made with your game in mind. I have however found a great website called cghub.com , this is where art students and people that want to share there ideas come and post their images, its a great source of uncopyrighted content.
Our game has a lot of great ideas within it and it shouldn't be too hard to put these into the presentation. The real issue is how Iam going to lay the pitch out this will hopefully not be too difficult.
week 9 - Audio Style
Audio Style - B00219590
When discussing the audio style of our game we knew a two things about what we wanted:
The first being that we wanted the music in the game to be dynamic, meaning that we wanted the music to change on the fly by reacting to the players decisions and how the game world changes. For example say the player is traveling though a dark crime ridden city alleyway, we want the tone of the music to be dark, suspenseful and low. Then say the player is attacked, we want the music to reflect this by livening up with an increase of pace and be louder and give the player an adrenalin rush.
The second thing we wanted from the music in the game is for it to reflect the story, the story in Artesian conflict is deep, dark and serious and we want the music to mimic this, however we also want the music to convey a sense of exploration and mystery (this is another reason my dynamic sound is the best choice).
Music in games is a very complicated issue and we are still looking at all the options we still don't know if it should have a big bombastic classical soundtrack or a futuristic techno/house number. One thing we do know now is that music in games is just as important than visuals.
When discussing the audio style of our game we knew a two things about what we wanted:
The first being that we wanted the music in the game to be dynamic, meaning that we wanted the music to change on the fly by reacting to the players decisions and how the game world changes. For example say the player is traveling though a dark crime ridden city alleyway, we want the tone of the music to be dark, suspenseful and low. Then say the player is attacked, we want the music to reflect this by livening up with an increase of pace and be louder and give the player an adrenalin rush.
The second thing we wanted from the music in the game is for it to reflect the story, the story in Artesian conflict is deep, dark and serious and we want the music to mimic this, however we also want the music to convey a sense of exploration and mystery (this is another reason my dynamic sound is the best choice).
Music in games is a very complicated issue and we are still looking at all the options we still don't know if it should have a big bombastic classical soundtrack or a futuristic techno/house number. One thing we do know now is that music in games is just as important than visuals.
Friday, 30 November 2012
week 8 - demographic
Demographics - B00219590
Right now, for our pitch, we are looking at demographics and wondering what is best for our game. To decide this we looked at the basics of what our game is , Its a sci-fi RPG with a deep and mature story being a main part of the game, with this in mind we have decided that the main demographic will be men aged 18 and up, there are a few reasons behind this decision:
With this game we want to create a story with depth, we want the characters to be fleshed out and we want the player to not only identify with the character they are playing but we want the player to see the player as an extension of themselves into the game world. Knowing all of this we feel that players under the age of 18 will not fully appreciate the story that we hope the game will have.
The reason that we have chosen men as our main demographic is simple, there are more male players with a xbox or PS 3, now this isn't the only reason for our decision. There is also the fact that studies show that the male gamer prefer games with fast paced action and from a first person perspective, which is exactly what our game is all about. Of course the gender doesn't really mater in the whole scheme of things, female players will enjoy the game just as much as males will
The age rating for the game will be 16+, we feel that since the game will not have over the top violence or too much strong language there is no need for a higher rating, however this may be changed over the course of development
Right now, for our pitch, we are looking at demographics and wondering what is best for our game. To decide this we looked at the basics of what our game is , Its a sci-fi RPG with a deep and mature story being a main part of the game, with this in mind we have decided that the main demographic will be men aged 18 and up, there are a few reasons behind this decision:
With this game we want to create a story with depth, we want the characters to be fleshed out and we want the player to not only identify with the character they are playing but we want the player to see the player as an extension of themselves into the game world. Knowing all of this we feel that players under the age of 18 will not fully appreciate the story that we hope the game will have.
The reason that we have chosen men as our main demographic is simple, there are more male players with a xbox or PS 3, now this isn't the only reason for our decision. There is also the fact that studies show that the male gamer prefer games with fast paced action and from a first person perspective, which is exactly what our game is all about. Of course the gender doesn't really mater in the whole scheme of things, female players will enjoy the game just as much as males will
The age rating for the game will be 16+, we feel that since the game will not have over the top violence or too much strong language there is no need for a higher rating, however this may be changed over the course of development
Monday, 19 November 2012
week 7 -Controls
Controls
Here we have a layout of the way we want the controls to be, its been difficult to get a the right balance of features and usability. We have borrowed some of the layout from some games with similar gameplay themes, such as skyrim with the dual wielding of weapons and the menu mapped to the directional buttons. I feel the control layout is intuitive and would be easy to grasp for people with experience in these types of games, the controls however may daunt newcomers to this game type but I hope they would be able to understand them with out too much effort.
Friday, 9 November 2012
week 6 - User Interface
User Interface
Overview
This week we looked at user interface, more on how the game will look while playing rather than the menus. As the game is from a first person viewpoint and we want it to be as immersive as possible, I wanted the UI to be as minimal as possible this will allow the player to be totally within the game while playing. To achieve this kind of immersion we will have to cut down on screen objects that aren't necessary for our game and reduce the size of any that are.Details
We looked at what UI game objects the player needs on screen for them to understand what's going on, this is what we found:
- Crosshair, in the center , for aiming.
- Health bar, for a graphical view of how much life the character has.
- Compass or Map, to let the player determine where they are in the world and where they have to go.
- Ammo and Weapon indicators, to allow the player to tell what weapon they are holding and how much ammo it has left.
These are the essential items that a UI needs for the game to be successful, especially in a RPG such as ours.Here is a list of how we are going to set it out:
1. The crosshair will be very simple, a dot for melee weapons and a cross for ranged weapons.
2. The health bar will run along the top of the screen, but only appear when the player is under attack or if there health is really low.
3. There will be a compass at the bottom of the screen but it will be much like the compass from skyrim or fallout where it is unrolled into a rectangle shape. This will tell players where to go and give the player a sense of spacial awareness.
4. As the game will feature dual weapon holding there will a ammo and weapon indicator at the bottom corners of the screen giving a readout of what weapon you are carrying and how much ammo is remaining
Ideas
I have a few ideas of a how we can make the UI even better :
1. The UI slightly changes when the player puts on better armor. example. when the player buys a better suit of armor the UI is changed in certain ways such as, customizable color, the ammo and health readouts are graphically displayed in a better way and may be damage detection is more precise.
2. May be the user could arrange their UI the way that they want to, like they could move the health bar to the bottom and the compass to the side.
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