ANOTHER POST

Here’s a screen grab from what I’ve been working on today. I’m still playing around with the tool set, experimenting mostly, really getting to grips with the programs UI. Apologies for the texturing… I haven’t got that far yet…

I’m still yet to grasp outdoor terrain and sun lighting…etc, so for now I’ve just created a big room to put everything else in… n00b! As you can see in the screen grab below the lighting is all wrong, I’m currently reading through the Light Concepts chapter...

MEH... UPDATE

Last Tuesday evening I presented my map / level plan to the class (as shown in my previous post - 22/04/08)

Not much of a reaction, maybe because the military out post theme has been done to death, but hey… that’s the kind of maps I digg! I did pick up some constructive feedback though, mainly about the vast scale of my initial plan. I’m now focusing on a re-design one quarter of the size, results… smaller but more polished... still changing and developing the idea…

I’m also currently scouting Ebay, trying to get my hands on a copy of S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl. A game advised by my tutor for the level design and location themes, very similar to what I described apparently…

I’m getting more engaged with the UT2004 Editor, discovering new abilities each session I use the engine. I’m currently working on a test map for next week’s games gathering, something to play test with the group.

Apart from that I’ve been finding myself scouring every games site under the sun for GTA IV info and updates, just to satisfy my relentless GTA thirst.
I have a copy pre-ordered and I’m pretty close to pissing myself with excitement just waiting for Monday, 12am to appear… just 3 more days!

OUTPOST

Over the last week I’ve been doodling out map / level layouts and designs. I’ve decided to use Flash to show some of my plans in a presentable form…

The main theme behind this level is an old militia / military out post. This out post is out in the sticks, no other form of settlement or life is located anywhere near by. This out post isn’t very well funded or looked after, the buildings are old and this location has visibly come under attacked in the past and has changed hands a good number of times. Bullet holes can be seen in the structures, crumbling brick walls and buildings, smashed windows, crater holes in the ground from past explosions… etc

This location is surrounded by grass and foliage. The main road into and out of the outpost is tarmac, some regularly used dirt tracks can be seen also...

1. This building is actually 2 towers that are connected by a walk way in the middle. The tower on the left is higher than the one on the right. This building is main HQ of the outpost, offices

2. This building is the sleeping / living quarters. They have long been abandoned and left to ruin.

3. This area is the main entrance to the complex; a stationary gun has been set up here looking down towards the HQ. There are also some sandbags and crates here.

4. This building use to be the mess hall and kitchens for the outpost, yet again due to neglect this building and its contents have long been left to rot.

5. This building is where vehicles use to be maintained, it also use to be host the armoury.

6. This building is a small structure housing several prison cells.

7. Guard tower, this structure is a small hut raised up on stilts, only accessible via a ladder. This gives a good vantage point over much of the map.

As you can see this particular design is still in the very early stages.

I’ve talked more about the aesthetics rather than focusing on the exact details of every location on the map. I try to focus on visual feel more to begin with because I feel it gives me a greater sense of how the map / level will look. Details can always be refined later...

WRESTLING WITH TUTORIALS

I’ve spent a decent sum of time this afternoon going through the terrain chapters and tutorials for the UT2004 Editor.

Tutorials are a mixed thing with myself, sometimes I get them and all is swell, sometimes I get lost and I abort… this time let’s say that my final file didn’t look like the screen shots in the book, pretty disappointing but it’s obvious that I screwed up somewhere along the lines. I plan to attempt it again tomorrow, with a fresh head.

Even though my tutorial attempt failed I absorbed and understood the rest of the reading in the terrain chapters. I now know and understand the main concepts of how terrain is handled in the UT2004 Editor.

You win some and you loose some….

CRATE

I’ve started to think about the static meshes that I am going to be creating to populate my Unreal level / map. I’m not so hot at 3DSM, don’t get me wrong, my basic skill set is there, just pulling verts and polys around a screen for hours on end doesn’t enthuse me that much… I’m not much of a graphics whore basically, I’d much rather focus on design.

Today I learnt about Bump Mapping and how it’s subtle use can really add some extra detail to a mesh. Check out my humble crate below…
the old crate is always a classic.

GOALS

I had a review last Monday to talk over my progression and development as a GAMES practitioner. It went well, made me reflect about the games industry as it is today and how difficult and frustrating it is to “get your foot in door” so to speak. I have set myself some essential goals to achieve next term and over the summer months…

1. Contextualize MORE! Dissect, analyse and discuss what I’m playing, reading or watching, as for purposes of study.

2. Contextualisation leads to Specialisation! Start to narrow down my areas of interest with-in a production team, make a final choice about what role I want to Specialise in.

3. On-line portfolio! At the moment I have THIS blog (the one you’re reading right now) and I feel it suits my needs and outputs… for the time being. Eventually I want to have my own dedicated address and web space, but I feel that’s all irrelevant if I don’t have a decent amount of solid work ready to showcase. I’m working on that by the way…

4. Research Project, final year. As I understand it this assignment requires me to investigate and research an area relating to digital entertainment, games. From there I devise a path of enquiry that spawns five small projects relating to that question; from these projects I will hopefully determine an answer. David Downes (the D man) is going to outline this in an upcoming lecture; perhaps the brief will become clearer then...

5. Live Client Project, final year. This venture is set between me and an actual client who requires some… stuff done... it is down to myself to find a client and secure a brief with them. I understand that the client can also be a competition.

6. Work Experience. Since March I’ve been trying to get ANY work experience possible, but so far I’ve had a no response at all or a polite ‘not interested’ (I won’t mention names). I’m finding this aspect pretty tasking… trying to get myself and how “worth while” I am across to whatever company I'm making contact with. This is something else I’m working on.

* Note to self – plenty to be getting on with…

ASTROPOP

I’ve maybe been playing one to many games recently but the other day me and my girlfriend (Claire) came across Astropop on Xbox Live Arcade, a game by PopCap Games. Astropop can only be described as the video game equivalent to crack cocaine! I have no ground for comparison... apart from watching Claire get jacked up on the colourful puzzle madness…
“just one more game!” is the phrase I now hear very often.

Arcade puzzle action is the game and it’s a dang good one at that, I’m hooked just watching let alone playing. Grab, group, and blast bricks to clear a path through hyperspace… all I can say is… “I want my Xbox back!”

YAHTZEE REVIEWS

I’ve been informed to post more contextual material, that isn’t of my making, so contextualise this…

Stumbled across this video whilst browsing Beyond Unreal
(an awesome Unreal community site - www.beyondunreal.com)

There is some strong language in this video, so be warned. But I think the issues raised justify the level of language, it certainly puts across several good points about today’s console FPS market.

Agreed… Turok is a big pile of MEH!

Check out Yahtzee’s blog HERE for more video reviews and ramblings...

The following are a few of my favourite reviews that he has spewed out so far… Guitar Hero III, Halo 3, Assassin's Creed, Burnout Paradise, Devil May Cry 4, Mass Effect, The Orange Box, Call of Duty 4 & Mario Galaxy.

2D SHAPE EDITOR

Today I discovered the 2D Shape Editor with-in UT2004… AMAZING!

Now I can produce brushes of almost any shape and size... quickly and easily, thus allowing for much more interesting level design through the use of shapes.

Below is a 2D layout for a map that I am currently working on, I produced this level using the 2D shape editor.

Below is the same map layout but in a 3D perspective. I have applied some basic textures to illustrate the different sections of the map and I also did a quick lighting job, just to illuminate things... the 2D shape editor is my new best friend!

AI & BOTS

Over recent days I have been learning about AI and Bots for UT2004.
Looking into path nodes, multiple paths, attack areas, defence points,
sniper spots, pick up areas… and so on...

Here is a screen shot of me blasting the shit out a Behemoth Brute that I stuck in my test level... I’m still very much experimenting and exploring with the program. I'm really enjoying it and I’m finding map designing with the UT2004 Editor very rewarding.

UT EDITOR 2004

With the last project finished I've had a few days off relaxing and as always playing games. I have also started to draw my focus back to making games (much more satisfying) this time with the Unreal Editor.

UT isn’t my kind of shooter, It’s a little too sci-fi for my liking, but I’ve been playing them ever since the first in 1998 and I can defiantly see why it has become so popular amongst FPS fans.

I am currently reading through “The Art of Level Design” by the 3D Buzz guys Busby, Parrish and Eenwyk and watching a series of video tutorials by the same people.

Through following their guidance and tutorials I have created my first map with the UT2004 editor. I decided to keep things simple so I can get accustomed with the editor’s user interface, so I just created a single room. Yeah, yeah easy I hear you say, well it is… but there are things you NEED to keep in mind before starting out…

The collision radius and height of your character for example… how tall they are when standing and when crouched and how their measurements in UT relate to real world measurements, the technicalities of scale basically.

There are other aspects and work flows that I needed to familiarise myself with before I started to create my first map, i.e. the UT2004 editor is a subtractive tool, so essentially you are carving out your map from a solid block.

I also learnt about the use of snapping to the grid and that by doing so prevents BSP errors and the nasty HOM effects at the seams.

Below is a screen shot of me running about and firing off a few rounds in my room... it’s a lovely room isn’t it... (click to enlarge to full resolution)

I also came across a really useful Unreal resources website, check it out - http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/wiki

________________________________________________________________

Below are the links to some very interesting videos about the Unreal Engine and the wonder that is Epic Games...

The History of Unreal Tournament

Part One

Part Two

The Making of Unreal Tournament 3

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

DUCK POND - PLAY HERE

It’s finished, click the image link below to play the game, hosted at newgrounds.com

As well as newgrounds.com I have uploaded the game to various other Flash sites that allow you to submit your work to be played and rated by other gamers. I really like how gamegum.com has projected and framed my game. Click the image link below to play it hosted at Game Gum.

You can also download the game in .EXE and .SWF formats via the image link below. The downloadable versions run a lot faster than the Newgrounds hosted version, not sure why, net lag maybe, they are all the same file.

If you do play please post your feedback, reviews and SCORES in the comments link below (no account required to comment) I’d really appreciate the feedback.

MY NEW KEYBOARD = SH!T

The other week I bought myself a new keyboard on an impulse buy, it was cheap and I needed a new one. I HATE it and I am completely regretting not looking over the key layout before I purchased... all because of one blinding design flaw, see image below.

Whichever employee at Genius (the company who made this keyboard) gave the green light for this model to be put into production needs a sharp slap to the face! no joke!

Take a look at where the power shortcut button is situated in the below image… it sits right underneath the Delete key, one of the most commonly used keys on the humble keyboard. This is a BAD place to put this pointless, un-needed, un-wanted shortcut button. Especially if it’s a power button, devastating if it is accidentally pressed - FOOLS!

If the powers that be at Genius insist that they need those shortcut keys, power, sleep & wake then this problem could have been easily solved by placing them above the F keys, or even above the num pad.

Granted I didn’t spot it at the time of purchase but didn’t Genius user test this layout?! If they had done properly then they would have come across this design flaw very quickly.

"Genius" my ARSE!
Think I’ll be modding this keyboard, bye bye power button!

THE HOME STRETCH

It has been a good few weeks since I last posted and yet again a LOT has happened with-in a short period of time. As always I’ve been hard at it, working flat out on my current game… “Duck Pond”.

What has changed and why…?

1 – The player now has a set field of vision which they can throw items into, where as before they could throw items anywhere upon the pond. This field of vision enhances the game play greatly; it is linked directly to the avatar and gives the player a defined reason to move the old lady left and right.

2 – Most noticeably I have added TNT as an extra item, this allows the player to throw in explosives to clear away unwanted ducks for a short period of time. If the player hits the BAD ducks then points are gained, if the player hits the GOOD ducks then points are lost. I have given the user a set amount of x20 TNT, originally I had x10 but after play testing the game with various players I observed that they used x10 very quickly into the game, so I increased it.

3 – I have altered the background and given the ducks more room to swim about, thus allowing a bigger play area; this improves the game play yet again.

4 – I have increased the movement speed of the avatar (old lady) she is now a lot quicker on her heels and easily matches the ducks in speed. This allows the player to chase around a chosen duck and target in on them more easily.

5 – I have changed the way that I have coded the avatars left and right movements. In previous versions of my game the user pressed the left or right arrow keys and the avatar moved once, then paused, then started to move again. In Adobe's attempt to improve every aspect of Actionscript, they deleted some features that arcade game programmers have used for years. Thanks to a helpful explanation from a course mate I now have smooth character movement, cheers Chris!

6 – I have added several water animations to boost the visual feel of the game, a splash animation and a water ripple animation. I have also added an explosion animation for the TNT.

7 – Bonus ducks (little yellow ducklings) are a recent addition, if the player hits certain score targets BONUS ducks are unlocked, if the player feeds these ducks bread they will earn BIG points.

I have also been working on the menu screen and various other screens that appear throughout the game. The looming deadline is just a few short days away and I feel pretty confidant with my progress and what stage I am at.

I’d post the latest version up here but I want to wait till the game is complete, so for now here is a screen shot, click the image to enlarge to full resolution - (800 x 600)

FINAL PRODUCT VISION

Here is a screen shot of how I envision the final version of my game to look with all the elements and functions added, click the image to enlarge to full resolution - (800 x 600)

CHA-CHA-CHA-CHANGES

A lot has happened in just a few days so this is going to be a fairly sizable update to go with some big changes to my game...

The other evening in my games session my Duck Pond game took a harsh beating from Brad (my games tutor). Rightly so I have to say, the game at that stage was very simple and there wasn’t much to it. In my defence I must say it has taken me this long (80% of the project time) to get to this far with the coding… and it’s been a one hell of a struggle! (thanks for the continuous help & tutoring with this Adam & others)

Negativities aside myself and Brad set about coming up with changes and additions to improve and add more depth to the game play. The set brief states my submission has to be a platformer; my game seems to be stretching the platform concept a little, so to drop it into that category I have given the avatar some movement. The position and perspective of the avatar has changed, the old lady now faces towards the pond from the bottom of the screen and she can move LEFT and RIGHT only (using the arrow keys). When she disappears off the stage in one direction, she will appear on the opposite side of the stage. This actions isn’t very ‘realistic’ I know but this ability will boost the game play somewhat.

I have also changed the crosshair as show in the previous post; to be honest I implemented the target crosshair on the fly just to test out the mouse over and out function. I didn’t realise until later that it gives off the wrong connotations... SNIPE THE DUCK!

I’ve now dropped the idea of a shop / store menu at the start of the game, only because the requirements to make this happen are way out of my coding league. Don’t get me wrong I don’t want to seem like the wuss who isn’t prepared to challenge himself but believe me when I say that this simple game concept is challenging my coding skills enough! To compensate for this loss of the shop menu I am going to implement a difficulty setting, easy (2 good ducks, 1 bad duck) medium (1 of each) and hard (1 good duck, 2 bad ducks) this I can accomplish easy enough with-in the time given.

My next step is to work out how to create selectable items, very much like an inventory or a weapons selection function. I’m going to have another item or two for the player to choose between other than just bread. This also makes up somewhat for the missing out the shop / store menu again.
IF I can get this function running it opens up a whole variety of different game play modifiers, for example I could have point based rewards if the players scores X amount.

Another bug has developed with-in the game, if a thrown item crosses over a duck before landing the score goes crazy! This happens because the ducks are repeatedly hit testing with the item whilst it’s still on the move, another issue to fix.

Play about with the current version HERE, it is a lot different from previous versions, use the LEFT & RIGHT arrow keys on your keyboard to move the old deer about. If you do play please leave a comment telling me what you think. It’s still very much in development but I can see an end in sight.

TODAYS ADVANCE

Today I accomplished some small additions to my game…

1. Pointer changes to crosshair on mouse over water area (image above)
2. Water area made click-able, outside of water area none click-able.
3. Enemy duck added (black duck) - that's not a racial slur!

It is starting to take shape, click HERE to play about with the current version.

TWO MAJOR CHANGES

Adam (one of my course mates) has really helped me out on the coding front. He has looked over and re-worked my script in several ways so now the whole game is looking a lot more… alive!

I’ve just spent the last few hours picking apart what’s been altered so I can fully understand the changes and how they benefit my game engine.

Apart from re-organising the script layout and generally scrapping the un-used code there are 2 major changes…

1. Getting rid of the trajectory of a projectile equation that mapped out the thrown items path. The main issue was that it constantly needed updating (looping code) to continue moving the thrown item along its path. Also this equation relied to heavily on velocity, trajectory and gravity, making the thrown item over hit or under hit the users clicked position 8 out of 10 times.

The thrown item now moves along a defined path using a Bézier curve, the Bezier code lays out four positions… initPos, EndPos, ContPos and perPos. The ContPos & perPos parts of the code can be altered numerically to increase or decrease the curved effect. The EndPos is determined by where the user has clicked the mouse, so this means the item travelling along the Bézier curve will STOP when it reaches the chosen EndPos… thus I can also loose the hidden platforms that I introduced a few posts back.
2 birds, 1 stone.

2. The problem of the duck suddenly taking flight and buggering off out of the game screen, never to be seen again, this has been a frustrating bug in my game since the very start of the project.

Every time the duck hit one of the invisible walls that was boxing him/her in, a new random direction was generated. Because I didn’t declare the numbers as integers (a number that has no decimal places) the game engine couldn’t calculate a random direction from numbers that had so many decimals in them, thus breaking the code and leaving the duck to break free and carry on travelling in its current direction. Now that the numbers generating the new directions are declared as integers, nice simple round, decimal free numbers, easy for the game engine to handle.

Big thanks Adam for helping me out. Your name has valiantly made its way into the game credits along side myself and others.

The following are issues that I am tending to next...

a. There can only be one item upon the water at any one time, so the player has to wait till the duck eats it and then the player can throw again. I’m looking into making it so multiple items can be thrown, say 3 or 4 at the most.

b. At the moment the user can click anywhere on the game screen and the item will be thrown to that mark, I am going to limit the ‘”click-able” area to just the water sector, where the duck swims about.

______________________________________________

Click HERE to play about with the current version.
Its still very minimal & flawed but its alive!

PHUX0R AS3

I’ve come to a point in the project where I have the code for every main function of the game, in theory I should be able to get the game up and going.

I’ve developed the code for each action separately, each function being produced in its own .fla project file, I did this because it made constructing the code easier, free from conflicts caused by other functions in the script.

Now I’ve come to the stage where I can piece the blocks of code together to make one “working” game engine. After doing so half of the functions cess to work, great. Odd thing is I get no errors spat back at me from Flash… creepy. I’ve spent the last few days working out what could be wrong with it, no joy.

Since it’s the weekend and the coding work isn’t going anywhere I decided to re-work my character designs, please see below…

ABOVE: the hero of my escapade.

ABOVE: good duck & evil duck.

Another function that I can tick off my list is the pre-loader, see screen shot below. I plan to have some audio in my game so that means I MUST have a pre-loader or else it’s doomed in terms of accessibility (slow connections…etc) My pre-loader’s source came from an awesome tutorial that I found at Newgrounds.com here, very easy to understand and customise.

X+Y+Z = 3D

I’ve come up with a way of making the items that are thrown into the pond stop when they hit the surface of the water. The big problem with this project is that I’m trying to do a 3D physic in a 2D environment… let me TRY to explain…

Clicking the mouse activates the old lady to throw an item across the screen, this involves the X axis (horizontal, length) and the Y axis (vertical, height)… pretty simple… until I came to the stage where I wanted to land that thrown item onto a flat surface, the Z axis… X+Y+Z = 3D… my game is 2D with a side on view - DOH!

I could have gone back and re-designed the whole perspective of the game, maybe make it isometric. Instead I decided to put tiered platforms into the area where the thrown item travels through. I then applied a hitTest variable to these platforms so the thrown item can land on any platform it connects with.

Man I found that hard to explain, hope it made some sense. I’ve printed a screen shot to try and further explain my solution, please see below. Obviously the platforms won’t be visible in the game.

*** Addition *** as feared it seems my explanation wasn’t as crystal as I’d hoped. Adam’s comment prompted me to add the additional image below to expand on my explanation, hopefully it shows what I mean by the action that I was trying to achieve was a 3D one. No worries now though, platforms to the rescue!