High Priority
Gang Member's
Repair Shop attendant
Trader (also in Repair Shop)
"Mayor"
"Mayor"'s Associates
Rebellion staff sargeant
Rutalian Elite Soldiers
Medium Priority
Optional quest givers
Rebellion Bounty Organiser
Rebellion troops
Wasteland Citizens
Low Priority
Stray animals
Burlesque Women
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Interfaces
For my level I have decided to do a few interfaces for what the player will see when they see the health and energy bar, the power and abilities menu. The Interfaces will all be using GUI and no 3-d writing as 3-d writing would require a stationary camera with a set background (which may work for small time games) but some of my interfaces (namely the powers and abilities menu) will have the game slow down so that it seems like the character has a split second to decide what power of ability they want to use, but after 3 1/2 seconds, the game speed will go back to normal as it would be an unfair advantage for the player to have the game pause during the abilities menu opening or slowing down to a near halt (a game that uses a similar thing is 'Prototype') which lets them have all the time they want to decide on their next course of action.
The Interface shown below is what the H.U.D. will look like. It will have Health in Red, the Blue bar next to it will serve 2 purposes, the first will be that it is additional health and can only be there if the player heals more than the red bar, the 2nd purpose is that it will be reserved for Critical attacks (when the player upgrades their character). The bar underneath health shows how much energy the player has in reserve, this can be recharged by purchasing vials that have the energy of the class inside it (i.e. a vial of energy for air manipulation would glow a colour of white + light orange light yellow, a vial of dark energy would be a dark midnight blue + dark purple and water would be glowing blue) and these would be put into an injector the player has in their inventory and once the player uses it on themself by injecting it in to their upper arm, their energy would refill depending on what sized vial they purchased.
The Health bars shown below are for the 3 characters the Top is for James Shaden, the Middle is for Jason Dilby and the bottom is for Nicholas Rider. The semi circles on the left will show a small image of the chosen characters face.
The Interface shown below is what the Start Menu would look like in Game should the player need to do anything such as gain skill points (i.e. weapons or power duration) or change their equipment. It also includes options, mission log, upgrades and a map. The circle in the middle will either show a 3d image of the chosen character of it will just be left black.
The interface shown below is the Abilities Interface, as mentioned, the top section is reserved for protection (water), Agility (Air) and Vision (Darkness), the left side if reserved for Offensive abilities for Darkness, Air and Water, whilst the right is reserved for switching between weapons and fists (or fist and claw should the player choose to be Dilby). The circle in the middle of this interface would show the face of the character that is being played and in doing so, only the skills for them specifically will show their colours whilst all other skills will be gray and unusable to the ch
aracter.
The Interface shown below is what the H.U.D. will look like. It will have Health in Red, the Blue bar next to it will serve 2 purposes, the first will be that it is additional health and can only be there if the player heals more than the red bar, the 2nd purpose is that it will be reserved for Critical attacks (when the player upgrades their character). The bar underneath health shows how much energy the player has in reserve, this can be recharged by purchasing vials that have the energy of the class inside it (i.e. a vial of energy for air manipulation would glow a colour of white + light orange light yellow, a vial of dark energy would be a dark midnight blue + dark purple and water would be glowing blue) and these would be put into an injector the player has in their inventory and once the player uses it on themself by injecting it in to their upper arm, their energy would refill depending on what sized vial they purchased.
The Health bars shown below are for the 3 characters the Top is for James Shaden, the Middle is for Jason Dilby and the bottom is for Nicholas Rider. The semi circles on the left will show a small image of the chosen characters face.
The Interface shown below is what the Start Menu would look like in Game should the player need to do anything such as gain skill points (i.e. weapons or power duration) or change their equipment. It also includes options, mission log, upgrades and a map. The circle in the middle will either show a 3d image of the chosen character of it will just be left black.
The interface shown below is the Abilities Interface, as mentioned, the top section is reserved for protection (water), Agility (Air) and Vision (Darkness), the left side if reserved for Offensive abilities for Darkness, Air and Water, whilst the right is reserved for switching between weapons and fists (or fist and claw should the player choose to be Dilby). The circle in the middle of this interface would show the face of the character that is being played and in doing so, only the skills for them specifically will show their colours whilst all other skills will be gray and unusable to the ch
aracter.
Priority List- Organic Environment
**NOTE:** Due to Blogspot not allowing me to post me neat priority listings (which is in Red, Orange and Green), I have had to resort to posting the text only.
The Organic essential of this level is larger than the manmade props as the environment surrounding the town is larger than the town itself as the entire level is, however a majority of the organic props is 1 prop alone, and the rest consist of large rocks that are found in the flat ground areas outside the town.
Priority List- Organic Environment
High Priority
Mountains
Imploded Craters
Dead End Valley
Basin Entrance
Basin Exit
Town Debris pile-up
Wasteland plains
Medium Priority
Low Priority
Exploded Craters
Dust Storms
Rocks
Large Boulders
The Organic essential of this level is larger than the manmade props as the environment surrounding the town is larger than the town itself as the entire level is, however a majority of the organic props is 1 prop alone, and the rest consist of large rocks that are found in the flat ground areas outside the town.
Priority List- Organic Environment
High Priority
Mountains
Imploded Craters
Dead End Valley
Basin Entrance
Basin Exit
Town Debris pile-up
Wasteland plains
Medium Priority
Low Priority
Exploded Craters
Dust Storms
Rocks
Large Boulders
Priority Lists- Man Made Environment
**NOTE**: Due to Blogspot not allowing me to copy + paste my neat tables of priority listings (which is in red, orange and green) I have had to resort to copying the writing only with no tables attached.
Priority list- manmade environment
High Priority
Berlesque House
Repair Shop/ Stall
Entrance Bridge
Safehouse
Rebellion Hideout
Gang Members hideout
Medium Priority
City Walls
Low Priority
Light Posts
Telephone Cable Posts
Destroyed Cars
Destroyed military vehicles
Makeshift Shanty town area
Priority list- manmade environment
High Priority
Berlesque House
Repair Shop/ Stall
Entrance Bridge
Safehouse
Rebellion Hideout
Gang Members hideout
Medium Priority
City Walls
Low Priority
Light Posts
Telephone Cable Posts
Destroyed Cars
Destroyed military vehicles
Makeshift Shanty town area
Game Genres
3. Question: How does a game’s genre affect the way its levels and environments are
designed? Choose one level from three different games—each from a distinct
primary genre—and compare how these levels are designed with regard to
setting, goals, puzzles, and risk–reward system.
Answer:
1. Strategy
Warcraft 3 is the best known Strategy based game, this type of game is ecstatically pleasing to the sky down view because since the units of the game are smaller and the map can be explored by the player quickly (instead of FPS which can take forever to travel 5km by foot in game). For this game the goals vary but most of them revolve around getting to a certain section in the map to finish the level, other goals may include time levels where the player either has to accomplish the goals within the limit or has to survive for said amount of time. The risk reward system is balanced out, such as, if the player encounters a large group of enemies that may be medium, the enemies will drop valuable items that the player can use since it may be difficult to do this, whereas singular easy/ medium enemies won’t drop anything or will drop something minor (unless it helps progress to another section of the level). Bosses will have a high risk reward ratio, since they are the most difficult to defeat and they will have items of great value in this level. Some levels may include puzzles such as finding your way through dungeons and caverns which act as mazes, or flicking switches for certain doors that will allow the player to continue. A strategy game such as this is set in a fantasy land with creatures and being that would not exist in this world, though this is common for many strategy based games, there are some that revolve around historical armies, such as age of empires or command and conquer. But like all strategy based games, the cost system is the common type and uses gold for spending on workers and soldiers and wood for resources for building buildings.
FPS
First person shooters are ecstatically pleasing for the first person perspective because it gives a sense of realism. The most well known FPS would be the Call of Duty series, the most favoured being Call of Duty Modern Warfare (and Modern Warfare 2) since they come with settings that would allow the players character to play the game with the players character taking and dealing damage like actual warfare. The strategies are realistic too as players make decisions that can be similar to official military strategists, which involve strike points for air strikes, calling in helicopters, acquiring U.A.V. support, in battle strategies involve placement of claymore mines, firing through walls and killing the enemy, throwing grenades into areas that will kill an enemy or cooking it to try and get a quick kill (cooking meaning pulling the pin and holding the grenade until the last second). The genre of this game is set in the modern time using modern military warfare which people can understand how the military works in combat and during training and a basic grasp on how the enemy tactics work. The goals for this game would be to reach the designated zone on each map as they have the keys to finishing the levels, each zone will vary, from retrieving secure and secret dossiers, to meeting up with the rest of your team after being separated, getting through enemy lines to get to a pick up spot, climbing to a high point for sniper assassinations etc. There aren’t any puzzles for this game type as it is all about reaching critical areas and killing the enemy along the way, however they do have tactic testing as the player will need to think on how to use stealth to slip past patrolling enemies, using stealth to kill enemies to progress further without alerting nearby enemies and other similar tests. The risk reward system is different between multi player and single player, single player is being able to finish the level using tactics that can keep the player on edge and aware, in multi player, defeating other enemies who may be more skilled than said player will yield achievements that will allow the player to have access to player mods, weapons and upgrades.
Puzzle
There have been numerous game that have incorporated the use of puzzles to test the users creativity rather than their skills at strategy and shooting or cutting up enemies. Though games that are puzzle based straight up can grab an audience's attention for a time, however, the ever popular shoot- 'em- up games take the lead for the gaming community. However, with this being said, there have been actions games, Shoot-'em-up or hack and slash that have incorporated puzzles into their game to make things more interesting and to keep the player on edge and to use their creative reasoning to try and reach the goal of the area. 2 types of these games that do this are the 'God of War' series who use puzzles such as pushing a box to a certain section of the room to allow the player to climb to safety before punji sticks spring up from the ground and kill the player. Or the Metal Gear solid series where the player must use stealth and problem solving to get to the goal undetected by stationed guards, or getting past security cameras, these puzzles are useful to put into games such as that so that shooting or cutting up enemies doesn't get boring and repetitive.
designed? Choose one level from three different games—each from a distinct
primary genre—and compare how these levels are designed with regard to
setting, goals, puzzles, and risk–reward system.
Answer:
1. Strategy
Warcraft 3 is the best known Strategy based game, this type of game is ecstatically pleasing to the sky down view because since the units of the game are smaller and the map can be explored by the player quickly (instead of FPS which can take forever to travel 5km by foot in game). For this game the goals vary but most of them revolve around getting to a certain section in the map to finish the level, other goals may include time levels where the player either has to accomplish the goals within the limit or has to survive for said amount of time. The risk reward system is balanced out, such as, if the player encounters a large group of enemies that may be medium, the enemies will drop valuable items that the player can use since it may be difficult to do this, whereas singular easy/ medium enemies won’t drop anything or will drop something minor (unless it helps progress to another section of the level). Bosses will have a high risk reward ratio, since they are the most difficult to defeat and they will have items of great value in this level. Some levels may include puzzles such as finding your way through dungeons and caverns which act as mazes, or flicking switches for certain doors that will allow the player to continue. A strategy game such as this is set in a fantasy land with creatures and being that would not exist in this world, though this is common for many strategy based games, there are some that revolve around historical armies, such as age of empires or command and conquer. But like all strategy based games, the cost system is the common type and uses gold for spending on workers and soldiers and wood for resources for building buildings.
FPS
First person shooters are ecstatically pleasing for the first person perspective because it gives a sense of realism. The most well known FPS would be the Call of Duty series, the most favoured being Call of Duty Modern Warfare (and Modern Warfare 2) since they come with settings that would allow the players character to play the game with the players character taking and dealing damage like actual warfare. The strategies are realistic too as players make decisions that can be similar to official military strategists, which involve strike points for air strikes, calling in helicopters, acquiring U.A.V. support, in battle strategies involve placement of claymore mines, firing through walls and killing the enemy, throwing grenades into areas that will kill an enemy or cooking it to try and get a quick kill (cooking meaning pulling the pin and holding the grenade until the last second). The genre of this game is set in the modern time using modern military warfare which people can understand how the military works in combat and during training and a basic grasp on how the enemy tactics work. The goals for this game would be to reach the designated zone on each map as they have the keys to finishing the levels, each zone will vary, from retrieving secure and secret dossiers, to meeting up with the rest of your team after being separated, getting through enemy lines to get to a pick up spot, climbing to a high point for sniper assassinations etc. There aren’t any puzzles for this game type as it is all about reaching critical areas and killing the enemy along the way, however they do have tactic testing as the player will need to think on how to use stealth to slip past patrolling enemies, using stealth to kill enemies to progress further without alerting nearby enemies and other similar tests. The risk reward system is different between multi player and single player, single player is being able to finish the level using tactics that can keep the player on edge and aware, in multi player, defeating other enemies who may be more skilled than said player will yield achievements that will allow the player to have access to player mods, weapons and upgrades.
Puzzle
There have been numerous game that have incorporated the use of puzzles to test the users creativity rather than their skills at strategy and shooting or cutting up enemies. Though games that are puzzle based straight up can grab an audience's attention for a time, however, the ever popular shoot- 'em- up games take the lead for the gaming community. However, with this being said, there have been actions games, Shoot-'em-up or hack and slash that have incorporated puzzles into their game to make things more interesting and to keep the player on edge and to use their creative reasoning to try and reach the goal of the area. 2 types of these games that do this are the 'God of War' series who use puzzles such as pushing a box to a certain section of the room to allow the player to climb to safety before punji sticks spring up from the ground and kill the player. Or the Metal Gear solid series where the player must use stealth and problem solving to get to the goal undetected by stationed guards, or getting past security cameras, these puzzles are useful to put into games such as that so that shooting or cutting up enemies doesn't get boring and repetitive.
Games from 80's, 90's and 2004
2. Question: Play three games—one from the 1980s, one from the 1990s, and one
released after 2004. Compare and contrast how levels and environments are
designed in all three games.
Answer 1980: Pac man- This game was very basic but very effective... It is a 2-D side view platform, which has different level’s and only uses pixels and sprites for the characters. However it is the same design of level with the exception of the enemies/ “Ghosts” being faster with each progressing level. The environment is the same level over and over after each level, it is just a maze which has 2 paths leading off screen, which unfortunately send the player to the other side (e.g. If the player goes into the left screen path, they will come out of the right path.
Answer 1990: Small Soldiers- This was a 3-D environment that uses 3-D characters too. The levels used nothing organic and was either rock, wood or metal and flat. The Game play was mostly shooter, however it did involve some puzzle solving as the player would need to think about how to overcome obstacles
Answer 2004: Unreal Tournament 2004- This game is a large FPS that uses 3-d environment which also includes organic models and textures unlike the previously listed game “small soldiers”. The game play has no story line to it, as all it is, is shooting the hell out of the computer and winning the match to progress further. There is no thinking to this game, such as overcoming obstacles or solving puzzles, only if you enjoy shooting people in the virtual world, then you can go all out to your heart's content.
released after 2004. Compare and contrast how levels and environments are
designed in all three games.
Answer 1980: Pac man- This game was very basic but very effective... It is a 2-D side view platform, which has different level’s and only uses pixels and sprites for the characters. However it is the same design of level with the exception of the enemies/ “Ghosts” being faster with each progressing level. The environment is the same level over and over after each level, it is just a maze which has 2 paths leading off screen, which unfortunately send the player to the other side (e.g. If the player goes into the left screen path, they will come out of the right path.
Answer 1990: Small Soldiers- This was a 3-D environment that uses 3-D characters too. The levels used nothing organic and was either rock, wood or metal and flat. The Game play was mostly shooter, however it did involve some puzzle solving as the player would need to think about how to overcome obstacles
Answer 2004: Unreal Tournament 2004- This game is a large FPS that uses 3-d environment which also includes organic models and textures unlike the previously listed game “small soldiers”. The game play has no story line to it, as all it is, is shooting the hell out of the computer and winning the match to progress further. There is no thinking to this game, such as overcoming obstacles or solving puzzles, only if you enjoy shooting people in the virtual world, then you can go all out to your heart's content.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
N.P.C's
Rutalian Elite Soldier; these soldiers are one of the higher division of soldiers within the Kingdom Army, they are trained to be the best marksmen in the world with any kind of weapon, but they are also trained in C.Q.B. (Close Quarter Battles) which deals with hand to hand or using their 2 handed swords. Their uniforms are light- medium armour; they wear chest plate that protects the ribcage, with pauldrons (shoulders), bracers, light armour on their legs, neck protection, light abdomen plating that looks like a six pack and a full helmet with a main, single optical lens that also uses night vision, thermal vision and ultra violet vision, and 3 smaller lenses on the side of the helmet for aiming guns, the helmet is also fitted with a gas filter.
Rough Sketch
Refined Drawing
Final Image
Wasteland Citizen; the clothing of the wasteland citizen is that of the salvaged look, their clothing is taken from whatever can be found in the ruins of the town, they wear multiple layers of clothing to protect themselves from the dust storms that are frequent from the aftermath of the battle that occurred there. They also wear clothing on their heads to avoid sand in their faces, many wear simple strips of cloth that make up a makeshift balaclava, but others also wear sunglasses or goggles to shield their eyes. The physical appearance of the people is that of malnutrition since there are few resources. The facial appearance of the men vary, but they all generally have 2 looks, the first is messy unkempt hair with roughly shaven/ unshaven faces and dirt smeared on them, the second is having rough shaved heads and rough shaved/ unshaved faces to try and keep their heads cool in the heat. The facial appearance of the women is generally alike, they all have messy, unclean hair and dirt smeared faces like the other citizens.
Wasteland Gang Member; the gang members are nearly parallel in appearance to the normal citizens, minus the gang tribal tattoos visible on their body which is exposed at all times to incite fear into the already fearful surviving citizens. The clothing that they wear is like the citizens, but their facial appearances are what gives away their identities, as many gang members have shaved heads (or skin heads) because their gang tattoos are etched on their heads and/ or faces, though there are a few who don’t have the skin head look, and opt for the unshaven, aggressive look, though their tattoos may be visible on their torso, one arm or both arms. And a majority of them carry a weapon on them at all times, which can range to a makeshift shiv to a metal pipe and even occasionally guns.
Mission Givers; the mission givers are put into 2 categories; the first are the main mission suppliers whose appearances are more cleaner than the citizens, since they are the authority of the town, they would live slightly more comfortably, the second type of mission suppliers are the citizens themselves who need a hand with something personal, the mission they give are optional to the player, though the rewards can help boost their character a little bit. The citizens are occasionally traps, as the gang members threaten to hurt them if they don’t get your attention, and with that the player would have to fight off a group of gang members (between 6- 8 should they get to a high enough skill level)
Rough Sketch
Refined Drawing
Final Image
Wasteland Citizen; the clothing of the wasteland citizen is that of the salvaged look, their clothing is taken from whatever can be found in the ruins of the town, they wear multiple layers of clothing to protect themselves from the dust storms that are frequent from the aftermath of the battle that occurred there. They also wear clothing on their heads to avoid sand in their faces, many wear simple strips of cloth that make up a makeshift balaclava, but others also wear sunglasses or goggles to shield their eyes. The physical appearance of the people is that of malnutrition since there are few resources. The facial appearance of the men vary, but they all generally have 2 looks, the first is messy unkempt hair with roughly shaven/ unshaven faces and dirt smeared on them, the second is having rough shaved heads and rough shaved/ unshaved faces to try and keep their heads cool in the heat. The facial appearance of the women is generally alike, they all have messy, unclean hair and dirt smeared faces like the other citizens.
Wasteland Gang Member; the gang members are nearly parallel in appearance to the normal citizens, minus the gang tribal tattoos visible on their body which is exposed at all times to incite fear into the already fearful surviving citizens. The clothing that they wear is like the citizens, but their facial appearances are what gives away their identities, as many gang members have shaved heads (or skin heads) because their gang tattoos are etched on their heads and/ or faces, though there are a few who don’t have the skin head look, and opt for the unshaven, aggressive look, though their tattoos may be visible on their torso, one arm or both arms. And a majority of them carry a weapon on them at all times, which can range to a makeshift shiv to a metal pipe and even occasionally guns.
Mission Givers; the mission givers are put into 2 categories; the first are the main mission suppliers whose appearances are more cleaner than the citizens, since they are the authority of the town, they would live slightly more comfortably, the second type of mission suppliers are the citizens themselves who need a hand with something personal, the mission they give are optional to the player, though the rewards can help boost their character a little bit. The citizens are occasionally traps, as the gang members threaten to hurt them if they don’t get your attention, and with that the player would have to fight off a group of gang members (between 6- 8 should they get to a high enough skill level)
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