Silard's 385 Game Design

Wrap up

2008-06-18T05:48:00.000-07:00

I am extremely happy with how the game turned out, I can say without a doubt that the game is everything we hoped it to be and than some. We also made allot of effort into presenting it well with preparing posters and game cases and whatnot.

At the end of the day I think that every one made an awesome effort in the team, and we all put in ideas and thoughts into the game to improve upon the design, and I think this really shows in the final product.

The team have also been talking about taking the game even further and build on it and trying to get it out into the public, I might look into trying to maybe get the game up on unity3d.com as an example game.

CD picture

2008-06-18T05:46:00.000-07:00

I created a picture to be printed on the disc itself, but unfortunately the CD label printer went nut and printed something completely different. So the team decided to just go with that HAHAHA. So that is the story behind that!

Final Game box

2008-06-18T05:39:00.000-07:00

I have printed and made the final game box, it is made of 2 piexels, 1 being the box itself and the other being a slip case. The box is going to be complete white while the slipcase will add all the details such as description, this will go along with our central theme of which is some details are hidden until the colour is changed

Game Slick (above)

Transparent Slipcase

Game slick

2008-06-16T03:00:00.000-07:00

The presentation of the game is really important, so the game slick and cover is getting printed so hopefully I can construct a physical case by Wednesday!

FINAL LEVEL (LVL3)

2008-06-16T02:52:00.000-07:00

I constructed the final level, it was important that the final level of the game is really challenging to stop people from just blasting through the game. But it was also important that the puzzles and challenges contained in the level are fair and does not frustrate the player!

LEVEL 3

Main Menu

2008-06-16T02:47:00.000-07:00

I made the Main Menu for our game (with the help of Tom) .

It was important that the main menu reflected our game's main theme, Which is switching from black to white in order to see parts of the level that was not visible before hand.

Here is a picture, the back ground rotates to reveal the title WHITE-SPACE which can only be seen when the back ground is black!

Game Box and Game Menu

2008-06-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

Just been working on the game box and the main menu of the game. The goal for both was to convey the experience of our game into aspects of the game box and the main menu. Its important that they both successfully convey the idea of the game.

Game box (Working Progress)

The game box is important, its what ultimately promotes and sells the game. Also it defines the overall experience.

The game box will be made up of 2 parts. 1 is the game slick, which will just be a white box. But to complete the box, one has to pull on another transparent slick that will have pictures and the information on the game. This will show off the idea of switching colours to reveal detail, which is a huge aspect of the game.

Level 2

2008-05-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

I made level 2 of our game, unlike level 1, level 2 is more challenging and also less linear. This time the player can choose the path he or she wants to take. So for example the shorter path may be more challenging, but the longer path may be a little bit easier.

Here is a sneak peak image:

The game itself is coming along very very nicely.

Alpha Sounds

2008-05-24T22:08:00.000-07:00

Been working on getting some sounds for the alpha version of the game today, came up with a few.

Here are 2 samples of what i think the transition sound should be like (the transition sound is when the level changes from black to white or vise versa.

Transition 1 Sample: Here

Transition 2 Sample: Here

**Because I tunes was not working when I made the sounds, I cannot export them, so the sounds will be uploaded later**

Update

2008-05-23T23:31:00.000-07:00

On Saturday me and Tim started putting the levels for the alpha, the game seems to be coming together rather well, We should have the game looking good by Wednesday! YAY

Health Render Test

2008-05-23T22:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of render tests in blender of the health object

These will be scattered across our game world, it is important that the player picks up the health objects or else he will die!

Level 2 Design

2008-05-18T16:23:00.000-07:00

In level 2 the objective is to start making the game a little more challenging for the user, as well as continue to educate about the game's controls and mechanics.

But this level also provides moderate challenge for the user, there are alot of situations here where the user could potentially loose their lives

Note that this mock up does not reflect the quality of the final level, Tim is currently working on the level aesthetics.

Level Design

2008-05-18T15:51:00.000-07:00

I started making mock ups of what the levels will look like. Puzzles and Obstacles are inserted in this non functional mock up.

This is the 1st level. The idea is that the 1st level is very easy, this is to intruduce the player to all the gaming mechanics including jumps and the concept of colour change, of course the game will gets harder and harder. But its important to start the player off easy and have a very balanced learning curve for the game.

Note that the mock up does not reflect the true quality of the game.

Update

2008-05-13T22:17:00.000-07:00

our concept was slightly changed (for the better). The changes are outlined in Tim's Blog. But here is a quick overview, this time the character is able to take on 2 colours from the get go, White and Black. The characters environment will feature white, black and gray blocks. If the character is black, the character is able to see, walk on, be blocked by Black and Grey Objects. If the character is white, the character is able to see, walk on and be blocked by white and Grey objects gray. So the character is able to be blocked by grey objects no meter what it's coulour may be.

I have been put in charge of making the puzzles in the game and designing the level layout.

Health Items

2008-05-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

I have created the health items for the character. 5 examples (we have not chosen a final one as of yet). These items will be scattered around the level, and the character needs to pick these up to survive.

Update

2008-05-11T05:31:00.000-07:00

Project 3

2008-05-09T05:58:00.000-07:00

After pitching the game idea for the game, out group got together to discuss more features for the game that will make it more unique and less repetative.

These features include:

The player himself lights the level, as the player looses health, the level will start to dim and the game will start getting harder.

We came out with a general aesthetics for the game (which will be posted later)

We also came up with the idea that the level should be building itself while the player is advancing, this may or may not be included, this all demands on how hard it will be to code.

The game is online

2008-04-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

Tom is hosting my game until I can get my server running, the game is located at http://www.tomrevill.net/ozosil/Silardp2Final01.html

Thanks Tom

Server problems

2008-04-29T19:13:00.000-07:00

Due to problems with my paid server, I can not upload my unity game onto my blog as yet. I will upload the game as soon as the my host fixes the problem. And because my game is just over 10mbs I cant upload it to a free host

Finished the game

2008-04-29T19:11:00.000-07:00

I have finished my game, it still has alot of bugs and issues, but I am pretty happy with the environment, I just wish I could make my character work.

here is a behind the scenes shot of the game:

Ok gone back to my old char : (

2008-04-29T18:22:00.000-07:00

Due to technical issues with this new character on blender and unity, i was forced to quickly go back to my old character for my game :(. this is kind of crap because i did spend a lot of time on this

Character Preview

2008-04-27T13:56:00.001-07:00

Here is a picture, i know what you are thinking so STOP IT! Let me explain what this character is about and what it is supposed to represent.

Now my whole environment is based on creating a 2D game world using 3D tools and conveying the experience of 2D gaming. The idea behind this character is 2D but still somehow 3D. The boxes are supposed to represent pixels, the picture on the box is a sprites. The way this character animates is that every box has a different picture on each side, so when the character is running, the boxes turn to animate the picture that all the boxes represent (an obvious reference to pixels). So you have to actually ask yourself, is the character the series of well placed rotating 3D boxes, or the 2D picture that the box represents (which is the character created in Project 1 by the way)

Whats out?

2008-04-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

Here is a platform I have made that was actually included in the concept drawings, but will probably not get time to include in the game. Just thought I will show it off.

This was supposed to be a platform where the player can actually enter a tree and get taken under ground, thought this would change the mood of the game a little. but due to time constraints this "might" not be included in the game. But if I have time I might throw it in... who knows

some textured Platform

2008-04-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some final textured platform renders, sorry about the bad camera angle and lighting on the second picture, for some reason when I select anything in the scene on my home computer unity crashes. So i had to render everything as I left it on the computers at Uni...

Here are 2 platforms, I can only show 2 because I left the rest on the computer at uni. They will be uploaded later.

Fingers crossed that they will come out looking as good as they do in the above pictures when I import it into unity!!

Textures

2008-04-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

Hello, Just pointing out that most of the textures featured in my environment was taken by me. Here are some of them:

Of course I will add in some filters to make these textures a little more simple and colourful in order to fit in with the intended aesthetics of my level

Character update

2008-04-25T17:33:00.000-07:00

Running behind a little on my character, I have spent 8 hours the other day trying to make my character work, But I am still far from finished. I am hoping I can finish it on Monday. I cant show you any work in progress pictures of this character because I left the files on the macs at uni. The environment is pretty much finished and textured hurray!! but an environment without a character... I dont know. I hope I can get it all done. I did have to work full time these holidays, so i do feel i am a little bit behind

Some game Objects

2008-04-25T17:21:00.000-07:00

Here are some game Objects that will also be included with the game, Not a lot at this point I know, But I have spent so much time with getting the platforms done that I have run out of time. Here are the objects, the first object is a tree, the second object is a cloud and the third object is a bush:

Platforms

2008-04-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

Since my game is a 2D platformer, here are a collection of platforms that I have made in blender and will be featured in the game:

Project 2 Concepts and Ideas

2008-04-22T17:59:00.003-07:00

Here are some of the concepts and Ideas I have been drawing. For this level it is important to me to convey the idea of old school 2D Platforming games and convey it into a 3D environment without loosing the simplicity and charm that old games stand for. I am mainly sticking with the research in creating the experience of the level, but being a gamer myself in the 1990's, I am also applying my experience to help in this project.

Also I have been designing a new character, what I have come up with is keeping my and character, but I will be adding a 2D twist which I will reveal in a later blog entry, but below is a little sketch that might give away what I am doing : )

Research Cont

2008-04-22T17:59:00.001-07:00

Project 2 Research

2008-04-12T22:07:00.000-07:00

My goal for project 2 is to recreate old 8 and 16bit games of the late 80's and early 90's using 3d technology and looking at 3D vs 2D in an artistic sense. In order to achieve this its important to look back and see how i can re create the experience for people who grew up with these games and also for people who never played these games before.

So to begin, I looked at WHAT made old 2D games unique and an exciting experience for ME. I looked at a few factors, they are:

Pixels

Back in the early days of gaming, characters and environments were made up of visible coloured pixel. Even though pixels still exist in gaming. they are alot less noticeable and significant then they were before.

Colours

Simplistic and colourfull graphics stood out from games, this was mostly because of the limitations of hardware. Most games only had around 256 Colours with only 16 - 64 that could be displayed at a time.

Simplicity

These games used to be simple, with only one goal "fun" and nothing else. The levels were also simple and straight froward.

GamePlay

The Gameplay must be simple and easy for anyone to just pick up and play. The best part about old games is the really uncomplicated gameplay and straight forward game goal (Getting from point A to point B). It is important that this will trenslate into my game!

Project 3 Game Proposal

2008-04-08T03:30:00.000-07:00

My game is a 2.5D puzzle/action and side scroller game, 2.5D means that the environment and the characters are 3D but at the same time the character may only navigate in a 2D fashion (left, right, up and down).

The goal of the game is for the character to drop objects into the level in order to advance. So every level starts you off with a specific set of building objects, they can range from Boxes to even something crazy like a trampoline, these object also very is size and weight. As the character moves through a level some obstacles appear (Like pits, walls traps etc...) that can only be solved by placing an object into the game world. Here players will be challenged to think about object physics and object form in order to advance.

So the way the game controls is that the character movement is is controlled with the keyboard (A to move left, D to move Right, W to Jump). while the selection and the placement of the objects provided is controlled by the mouse. so the character does not physically have to be at the place where the object is dropped, but the place has to be visible on the screen. So just have to point and click in order to drop an object. Remember that the camera follows the character and not the objects.
Here is a quick sketch of what the game will look like, the object selection is at the top corner of the screen.

So in a way this game is about manipulating your environment in order to get past obstacles in your way. Its hard to actually compare it to any other games. But if I had to compare it with something it would have to be lemmings, lemmings is a game where the game environment had to be manipulated in order to advance, which is kind of what I am aiming at.

I found a video of a game called "Little Big Planet" where the player can drop objects into the game and interact with those objects, which kind of relates back to what I want to do:

Level Design Insperation

2008-03-31T14:57:00.000-07:00

The game that featured a really unique level design is "Super Paper Mario" on the Wii I believe. What makes this game really unique is that the game perspective can be changed from 2D to 3D. So from the start the game has this really retro 2D platforming game feel, but a little way into the game you gain the ability to change the perspective of the game to 3D to overcome obstacles and challenges. The trailer below demonstrates how this game mechanics work:

The reason I choose the game is because I really enjoyed playing 2D platformed in the early and mid 90's, super Mario for example. And I really want to re crate the fun, look and simplicity of a 2D platformed, with an added 3D twist!

End of Project 1

2008-03-31T14:55:00.000-07:00

Start of Project 2

One last image : )

2008-03-25T16:37:00.001-07:00

Finished character

2008-03-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a rendered picture of my finished character:

Finished animation

2008-03-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

I put this video together to show off my character, This includes the walking animations and some rather excellent 3D views. Please enjoy.

I am pretty happy with the way my character turned out, if only I could import it into unity without any mesh loss...

Where are my faces??

2008-03-25T02:38:00.001-07:00

Just when I got my model all done and textured, Unity gives me a huge kick in the nuts. When I imported my Mesh some 20% of the faces have become invisible (As seen in the below picture), and also the animation is messed up :(. I tried to find out why but I am stumped. Cant find any reasons.

But at lest I got a the mesh all textured and animated, and I am pretty happy with it : )

UV map

2008-03-25T02:36:00.001-07:00

Here Is my totally crazy UV map, I finally got it sort it (Like a puzzle :)

After countless days and countless seams, I think I managed to cut up my UV map so at least it makes some sense (only took me 4 tries).

I will add the textures tonight, since I am running out of time I hope it all works out

The character of many faces....

2008-03-25T02:27:00.000-07:00

Here is my problem, the UV map that I finally managed to unwrap (took countless hours) is so complex it leaves me scratching my head and thinking what the hell do I do now. I started looking into other methods of texturing, like texture painting or vortex painting for example, but I cant be 100% sure that Unity will like that... O well I will try and sort this UV map out.

Development

2008-03-25T02:26:00.001-07:00

I decided to post some development images of my character, just so people can see the process...

Little change in character's characteristics

2008-03-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

Since I was told that the characters walking animation is not that good, I decided to change the character just a little. So from now on the character will be using the Tree's "Roots" to get around and preform actions. I want to make it so the roots will grow as the character needs it. Will hope to have some new concepts of the characters actions and also hoping to upload some texture shots.

Thank god for that extension! yay

Update

2008-03-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

I found out that making the roots on my character 3D is not the best way to go, because once I start animating the movement there will be problems with clipping. Also there are way too many polygons that make up the character. So I decided to start again, but this time keeping polygon count in mind, and I will also make the roots of the character a little less complex.

Update

2008-03-04T19:43:00.000-08:00

Here an update of how my character is coming along in blander.

you can see the characters basic shape and also the roots are coming along nicely.

It might be a little hard to get the textures on, but I am not up to that stage as of yet.

Update

2008-03-04T12:28:00.000-08:00

I decided to try and create roots in 3D for now. Might be a little hard, but I will give it a go.

Character Concepts

2008-03-02T23:35:00.000-08:00

Here are some character concepts I have designed:

Character: Stump

This character is called Stump, Stump is a rather heavy creature who jumps around like a rabbit. A special ability of Stump is that he can actually dig himself underground leaving only the tree stump on his head visible.

Stump is around 1.5M tall and .85M Wide

Character: Puddle

This characters is called Puddle, Puddle's entire body is made of water, it can do some neat stuff like transform itself into many shapes and forms. Puddle is tiny and can only move on water or other wet surfaces

Puddle is around 1.5cm Tall and 1cm Wide (this can very from shape to shape).

Character: Roots

This character is called Roots, this gigantic character is huge, while he is very slow, he is also very strong. It's very hard to tell what this character looks like because his whole body has been coverd by the roots of a tree, which is kind of an advantage because this gives him the ability to easily camouflage.

Roots is around 5m tall and 2M wide.

Update

2008-03-02T18:41:00.001-08:00

Made some concept sketches of some characters for my game, but because the scanner in the digital media lab does not work i will have to find other means to upload the pictures onto my blog.

Character pictures and descriptions should be uploaded by tonight.