Maths Maze Game Assignment Progress Week 4

By the end of this week I aim to have created most of the levels in the game. This means programming the objects and creating the level geometry. In the second level I wanted some simple enemies and obstacles to overcome so I started exploring the use of paths and objects. I added in the lightning bolts and tesla coils to add a simple horizontal back and forth moving enemy. This is the simple path of the lightning bolts

I then created several lightning bolt objects that have varied speeds but use the same path. This is a quick walkthrough of the first level. If the player is hit by the lightning bolts they are sent back to the start of the level.

In level 3 I decided on a simple maze design. My initial idea was to have the player search a maze for particular collectables such as wire cutters and then chase a moving bomb around the maze to try and defuse it. I could not make this work however as when the player collided with the moving bomb, if they got the maths question wrong then I wanted the bomb to move off in the opposite direction. I couldn't figure out how to do this and the result was when the bomb collided with the player they got stuck together and neither could move. I decided instead to have a moving bomb that the player could not interact with and when the player found the wire cutters the moving bomb would change to a regular bomb and become defusable. This is the Game Maker code for the wire cutter object.

1. The event is a collision with the BrainBox object which is the main character object.
2. First it destroys the Wire Cutter object.
3. Then it displays a message that congratulates the player and tells them that they Moving Bomb is now defusable.
4. It then changes the Moving Bomb object into the normal Bomb object.
5. Finally it ends the path of the new Bomb object, making it stop altogether.

 

I wanted to put some background music in the game and I spent some time picking out appropriate music for each level. I went for a distinctively futuristic sound. It was mainly techno and electro type music. Unfortunately when I tried to implement the sounds into the game, Game Maker didn't recognise the music properly and it sounded incredibly distorted and was not good enough. This was very confusing as I had tried to upload the music in mp3 format, which is a very recognisable format and is compatible with a large array of software.

For levels 2 and 4 I used lightning bolts with varying speeds. This meant that for each individual lightning bolt I had to create an individual object. This led to me creating about 10 different lightning bolt objects that had varying speeds. This is not ideal as it clogs up the object list and creates unnecessary assets that increase the file size and slow down the loading speed.

In level 3 there is a bug where one of the Teacher Enemies gets stuck and fidgets back and forth.

I don't know what causes this problem but I changed the dimensions of the object to make sure that it was not that the object was getting stuck on the walls of the maze. It didn't fix the problem so I decided that it is most likely due to the path of the object.

For the final level I did some concept designs for the final boss BrainBoss. He is an evil genius and is not dissimilar to the main character. I started thinking that maybe the main antagonist could be some distant relation to BrainBox himself, such as another bomb defusal robot that went rogue. Here are some of the concept designs for BrainBoss.

Jetpack Design

Walker Design

Main Bomb Design

I then did some basic level designs for the final level. They mainly revolve around the idea of collecting items from each corner of a small maze and then using these items to open doors or defuse bombs on the way to the final boss. The player will have to answer a maths question each time they defuse a bomb and then will  have to answer a series of questions in sequence to defeat the boss. If the player gets a question wrong they will have to start the sequence over again. Here are the concept designs for the final level.

 

These are some concept sketches made in Adobe Illustrator of what the last level of my game will be. It is a boss level where you come up against the main antagonist BrainBoss.

1.       Player Spawn: this is where the player starts

2.       Keys: the player must navigate the maze to find three keys

3.       Doors: the keys are used to open up these three doors to get to the boss

4.       BrainBoss: the player then has to answer several maths questions in succession to defeat the boss.

Below is an alternate version of this level where the player has to collect wire cutters and answer three maths questions to defuse each of the three bombs to get to the boss.––

Maths Maze Game Assignment Progress Week 3

By the end of this lesson I am to edit sprites so they are suitable for Game Maker and to add some basic functionality to some of the sprites. I want to add animation to certain sprites and to program the interactivity between sprites such as hitting a wall or damaging an enemy. I have edited the Brainbox sprite so that it is more square shaped. This is to add uniformity to the sprite sizes and make it easier for the sprites to fit into the maze and move around without unintended collision.

These are my early attempts at trying to make the object BrainBox move. They way that I had it set up was that when a key is pressed it sets that directions speed to 4, then when the key is released it sets that directions speed to 0. However it does not work as intended as when any of the directional keys are released it sets all speed to 0. This is a problem because it means that if you release a key slightly after pressing the next key it will immediately stop your movement altogether.



I then decided to look on forums on how people use Game Maker to program simple movement functionality. I found a guide that shows the syntax of the code Game Maker uses and how to program an object to move. I then coded this piece of code that works perfectly when coupled with the "friction" function that slows down movement to a stop.

I ended up spending a lot of time trying to develop an extremely precise control system. I wanted the game to utilise a lot of tight spaces that would cause the player to feel pressured when running away from enemies or trying to quickly get to the objective. This fits in with the genre of a maze type game and so I wanted to make it so that it would be either very difficult or impossible to move diagonally, thus creating more of a Pac-Man control scheme and feel. I eventually settled on this piece of code that does not allow for diagonal movement. This is to prevent the player getting stuck on the walls in the maze. I later learnt that Game Maker has a bounce function that means that when a player hits a wall they keep some of their momentum and bounce off the wall slightly. If I was to do it again I would use this functionality as it would allow for precise navigation of tight corners without restricting the player to not be able to move diagonally. As the ability to move diagonally will give more variety in ways of dodging the enemies in the game.

I programmed the walls to just stop the movement of the main character altogether. In retrospect this is not an ideal way to program walls and the bounce and friction functions are more appropriate. However the system I used, does work with the main characters movement and it gives a distinctive "Pac-Man like feel" to the movement.

I also had a lot of trouble with the camera view in the game. I wanted the camera to follow the BrainBox object as it moved along but I encountered a problem that meant that it was recognising the BrainBox sprite as not quite in the centre of the screen. This meant that the players view ended up like this:

It turned out that it was because I had not specified that the origin point of the sprite was the centre. So it scrolled the camera according to the top left corner of the object rather than the middle of it.

In the first level I decided to keep it simple and have a door that had to be opened to progress. This door would be opened by solving a maths problem. I looked through tutorials on the internet to try and find the appropriate code to ask the player a question and then take their answer and compare it to a variable. I managed to find the get_integer() function that shows the player a question and presents them with a box that they can input the answer. The function returns the answer which I then saved as a variable called "answer". I then wrote an "if" statement that would run if "answer" was the same as the actual answer to the question. This would then destroy the door object and give the player a "well done" message. I then wrote an "else" statement that would run some code that would give the player a "wrong answer" message and the doors would stay the same so the player would have to attempt the question again. Below is the code described from the door object

answer = get_integer("What is 90 divided by 10?", 0)

if answer = 9

{show_message("Well done! You got it right!")

instance_destroy()}

else 

{show_message("Oops wrong answer, try again.")}

Here is a video of the door object functioning in the game.

I wanted to animate all the objects in my game but I decided that this was not a necessary feature and so prioritised other aspects. I decided that if I had time at the end of the game's creation then I would animate the other sprites. I did however animate the main character BrainBox. I did this by starting with the original sprite in Adobe Illustrator and changing them partially and then saving the new image. If I was to do this again I would most likely copy the original image and leave that as the background as I am drawing the new sprite. This would help me to visually compare the two animation frames thus contributing to better precision and a smoother animation. This is a picture of all of the animation frames that the object BrainBox uses.

This is a breakdown of the first level of the game. There isn't any combat and there are not many difficult elements as the first level is just meant to teach the player the controls and how to interact with the environment.

1. Player Spawn: this is where the player starts in the level
2. Hint Board: this is an object that when the player walks into it, it tells them hints about how to progress further in the game
3. Door: this door is opened by solving a simple maths puzzle that introduces the player to the question and answer mechanic of the game.
4. Enemy_Teacher: this is an enemy that moves up and down to introduce the player to the enemies and how they should expect them to move.
5. Wall Arrows: these arrows point the direction in which the player has to head to progress to the next level. They also force the player to move sideways which will make certain that the player is familiar with the movement system i.e. they realise that you cannot move diagonally.
6. Next Level: these are invisible objects that progress the player to the next level when the main character object touches them.
7. Easter Egg: this is just a little secret image of Pac-Man in the game. I thought it was appropriate considering the style of movement that I went for. The easter egg is not visible when the player starts the game because of the view that I used. So they would have to ignore the impulse to walk towards the door or the hint board to find this mini secret. 

Unit 78 Digital Graphics in Computer Games (Exercise)

BTEC Extended Diploma in Computer Games Design

Unit 78 Digital Graphics in Computer Games

 

 

What are Computer Game Graphics?

 

Types of Digital Graphics

 

 

Computer game graphics are both in game graphics such as characters, interface and environment and print media such as the game manual, box art, posters and concept art. They can be incredibly detailed or they can be very simple like a super Mario sprite. They can be either Vector or Raster graphics.

 

In Game Graphics:

Characters- These can be 2D or 3D and are anything that depicts a singular person or entity in the game world. These can use a variety of visual styles and do not have to be realistic. Popular software to create these are 3Ds Max or Maya. These graphics can be very simplistic. The early Super Mario Bros games had a  very simple design (picture right) because of the limitations of the console. However in photorealistic games these graphics often have a lot of detail, as it is very difficult to emulate real life faces and expressions.

Interface – These are graphics on the game screen that aim to help the player in playing the game. These are things such as the HUD (heads up display) and Start Menu. Things such as the HUD help the player out by showing important values such as a players health. The Start Menu is there to help the player navigate the games content such as starting a new game, loading a save game or viewing extra unlocked content. Nearly all games have some sort of graphic on screen while in game and almost one-hundred percent of games have a Menu Screen.

 

Environment – The environment of the game is the graphics that make up the games world or the area in the game that you are in. They can be very complex and feature realistic detail projected on to a 3D mesh or they can be simple and be a plain 2D background. Usually the environment of a game takes up the most time and is the hardest to create.

 

Print Media:

Manual – The game manual is a leaflet inside the games case that usually instructs the player on how to set up and play the game. Older games manuals try and immerse you into the game world by giving background information and pictures that are not available in game. The art in video game manuals are usually designed to entice the player into playing the games and are often very similar to the box art.

Box Art – The box art is the most important piece of print media. It is used to grab the consumer’s attention and interest them into enquiring more about the game. It should be very visually appealing and should give a vague idea of what the game is about so as to interest newcomers.

Posters – Posters are very much like box art and have to be appealing to the new viewer. They can be a little vaguer however, so as to add a feeling of unknown and make the consumer curious about the product. They can be placed in various locations in public places or developers could pay a company to display them on their site to endorse the product.

Concept Art – Concept Art is art that is drawn early in development to give an idea or outline of the game world and its characters etc. They are usually very artistic, hand drawn pieces that are originally created for the games production. Sometimes they are sold in art books that are separate to the game or they can be given away with exclusive versions of the game such as pre-order editions. They can also be included in the special features of the game.

Types of Graphics

Vector - Vector graphics are primitive geometric shapes that are made up of things such as points, lines, shapes, polygons and curves. They are based on mathematical expressions and have the advantage of not losing image quality when scaling and de-scaling.

Raster - Raster images are commonly known as bitmaps. They are different from Vector graphics as they use individual coloured pixels to form a complete image, thus they scale very poorly. Raster graphics are more commonly used for things such as photographs because of the fact that each pixel can be a different colour. This allows for a wide variety of colour blends that mimic real life detail.

 

 What is Graphics Specification?

 

Specification - A specification is a statement of precise requirements

 

Graphics Specification - A graphics specification is a detailed document of precise requirements for the graphics of a particular project. In the video game context this may be given by a video game publisher such as Electronic Arts or Ubisoft. In the video game context this would detail exactly what graphics will be needed for the project such as specific character, environment and interface graphics and what type of graphics would be utilized. It will also cover what the target audience is of the project and what exactly will be expected from the final project. It would detail the artistic style that the employer requires from the final product.

 



Copyright and Libel exercise-Josh

Level 3
Extended Diploma in Games Design

Unit 78 Digital Graphics for Computer Games

Handed out on the 5^th November 2014

Unit 78 - Exercises

1.       Complete and upload to blogger ANY artwork which you have created for a computer game(s).

 

 

2.       Legal & Ethical Considerations

Research and answer the following questions.

What is copyright law?

Copyright is a legal right, created by the law of a country, that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights to its use and distribution, usually for a limited time, with the intention of enabling the creator to receive compensation for their intellectual effort.

What is Libel?

Libel is false statements made by a party that harm or tarnish the reputation of others. It is often known as written defamation. Slander is the same as Libel except Slander is through spoken word and Libel is written. Because of this Libel often occurs through media such as newspaper articles, biographies, e.t.c.

How are female characters represented in Games?

Female characters in video games are often poorly represented. Most depictions of women in video games are that of the damsel in distress or with some romantic plot purpose. There are very few games that feature women as the protagonist of the story and there are even fewer realistic depictions of a tough non-sexualised female lead. Fighting games such as Tekken and Dead or Alive show the sexualisation of women in video games.

There are however some good representations of women in video games. The new Tomb Raider game shows more human qualities of the protagonist Lara Croft and The Last of Us has Ellie, a teenage girl, who is one of the central characters who you play as, at one point. Both these games give their female characters strong well rounded personalities.

 

 

 

 

 

Maths Maze Game Assignment Progress Week 2

Game Design Doc

Week 2 Lesson 1 November 3rd:

By the end of this lesson I aim to have finished many of the sprites that I will use in game. I have currently completed the main character sprite and so the priority for this lesson will be enemy sprites and walls and environment sprites. I have managed to create a decent wall sprite and a detailed enemy sprite. I spent around the entire lesson of three hours on creating the enemy sprite. My focus is to create exciting and interesting main character and enemy sprites to engage and immerse the player.

Here is a screenshot of some of my sprite creation, it is the sprite of a cyborg teacher. Here you can see I used shapes to form a basis for the design and then used brushes to build up some colour and shading for each part. I made each part of the sprite individually so that I can modify them at will and this will also help with animation so that I can edit parts of the sprite without having to create a whole new one.

I created a basic wall sprite that can be used as a basis for any other wall sprites that I want to use. I then created neon coloured wall sprites that set the scene of a futuristic school with such things as cyborgs and robots.

The enemy cyborg teacher sprite as I am making it and when it is complete (below)

 

 

Wall sprites (below) basic wall, neon wall green, neon wall green (flipped) You can see how the two green walls would interlink together creating a pattern. This was intended to appear as if some sort of power supply is running through the walls. 

 

 

 

Below are some images I used for inspiration for my enemy teacher sprite. You can see the likeness to the teacher with the moustache.

 

 

 

Week 2 Lessons 2 & 3 November 4th & 5th:

 

For these shorter lessons I am continuing on with creating sprites. I have nearly created all the sprites that I need for the enemies and characters. If I have more time left over in later stages I will create boss sprites for boss levels, but my main priority is to create a working game with some attractive sprites first. I first re-skinned my enemy sprite to create a similar sprite that was easy and quick to make but adds some variety in enemy type. I did this by adjusting proportions and changing certain features and changing the colours of the sprite. This has saved lots of time than if I created a whole new sprite. (Below) The Enemy Sprite (Alternate Skin)



.

This is the process of me drawing a sprite. The sprite is a corner wall part that is meant to resemble a tesla coil.

 



 

As you can see I start by drawing a basic outline for the bulb part and the nucleus part. It is intended to look like a tesla coil which I will add detail in later. At this point I actually lost my work. I saved my work in a different file by accident and could not find which file I had saved it to. This meant that I had to start again on this design and wasted valuable time that could be used in Game Maker.

I then added in some detail to make it look like the electrical energy moving through the sphere. I then grouped together everything I had done and made it slightly transparent to give the impression that the it is behind glass.

 

Next I added an extra layer for the outline and some glare effects on the glass to make it look more 3D and realistic.

 





 

 

I then created a base for the design with a lightning bolt on it. This is to signify that in game this sprite will be used to shoot lightning bolts around the level that the player must avoid. They will look much like the lightning bolt on the base.

Finally I added some more colour to the sprite with grey in the box and blue and red microchips. This sprite is now complete and can be put into Game Maker.

I then copied and scaled up the lightning bolt to create a separate sprite that will serve as the lightning that jumps between tesla coils.

Here are any leftover sprites that I created for the game.