Paul Morgan Unit 72 & 74

Monday, 2 June 2014

Game Dialogue and finished audio

Thursday, 22 May 2014

Natural Destruction Presentation

Natural destruction presentation from Nathan_West

Monday, 25 November 2013

PM2 - Spiffin Games - Game Ideas

Task 1 – High Concept Documents

For each genre your idea needs to be developed as a high level concept document which is aimed at an audience outside the game industry and should be brief, efficient, energetic and inspirational. The concept document is not expected to involve complex technical descriptions or to discuss how ideas are to be implemented; rather it will present a design that can be expanded and worked on later by experts. You should include evidence of your ideas generation in the form of a blog.

Your high level concept document should have the following sections

· Overview of the game – Title, brief summary of setting and story line.

· Player motivation. This is a short statement that indicates what the player is trying to accomplish in the game—his role and goal. This helps indicate what sort of person the player is. He can be driven by a desire to compete, to solve puzzles, to explore, or whatever.

· Genre. Indicate the genre of the game, or if it is a mix of genres, indicate that.

· License. If you intend for the game to exploit a licensed property, say so here. Also include any facts and figures about the property’s popularity, recognition value, and appeal to particular markets—but no more than a sentence or two.

· Target customer. What kind of person will buy this game? If age or sex is relevant, indicate that; more important, tell what other kinds of games they like to play.

· Competition. Are there already games on the market like this one? If so, list their names and indicate how this one is different or better than they are. This section isn't absolutely necessary, but it can reassure your reader that your game isn't just a copy of something else.

· Unique selling points. What’s new in this game? How will it stand out from what has gone before?

· Target hardware. Tell what machine the game is intended for. Also indicate whether the game requires or can make optional use of any special hardware or accessories.

· Visual Style. In this section, outline the look, feel and atmosphere for the game via a mood board and some sample concept art

Game Play Features. In this section outline your aims for the game as an experience.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Action/Adventure

Until Dusk

Inspired by the popular titles Professor Layton created by Level 5 games series for the Nintendo DS family & Tomb Raider series by Square Enix (1996)

Set in the year 2015 you take the role of Max Delleary, a 32 year old war veteran with a hidden passion for Archeology, Max has gathered many allies in his time with the army but has also made many enemies along the way. Using his knowledge of archeology and the techniques he learned whilst in the forces you will travel to parts of the world long forgotten to search for the ancient Treasure the Seal of Anubis, only obtainable every 1,000 years. Once Max enters the location he only has until nightfall to find the treasure before the land is dragged to the bottom of the sea for another thousand years.

There is no specific target audience for this game, although it would contain element preferred to that of an action adventure fan. The game would require a person above the age of 15 to purchase the game as it contains a mild amount of violence.

The game is unique to other action adventures type games As this title combines the elements of games such as tomb raider with the mystery mind bending puzzle aspects of the professor layton series.

Until dusk is a cross platform next get console game with the possibility of a later PC release, as it need's the specifications of those systems to run smoothly, if it were to be made available to the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 4 community it would be limited and unable to reach it's highest potential.

Until dusk will immerse you into a third person over the shoulder open world adventure shrouded in mystery, filled with secrets only you can unveil by progressing through the game and finding the treasure in which you seek.

Puzzle/Adventure

Professor Layton: Cryptic Annihilation

Set in the aftermath of Professor Layton: Azran Legacy, Cryptic Annihilation introduces a new enemy commonly referred to as Haze who wreaks havoc on a global scale unseen by the untrained eye.

Hershel comes to hear about this obscure Menace whilst discussing the event's of his older brother Desmond Sycamore from the destruction of which he caused in Froenborg during the events of the previous title, they meet Shortly after Inspector chelmey's arrival back from his honeymoon with his wife Amelie.

Cryptic Annihilation, much like it's predecessors does not have a target age limit, it only seeks to catch the eye of those who love the adventure/puzzle experience it brings to the table.

This game is unique to all past Layton titles simply because it covers more ground, the mystery is not in a cosy town where everyone socializes with one another, no for this mystery to be revealed you will need to circle the globe finding little fragments of information, even if that means retracing your steps and visiting an area you thought looked out of the ordinary.

Cryptic Annihilation will be available for both the 3DS & 2DS members of the Nintendo family and will feature a 3D experience like never before.

All Intellectual property & license belongs to Level-5 inc.

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Role Play

The Adventures of ZINK

Inspired by the creators of the Legend of Zelda (Nintendo) and Ratchet and Clank ( Insomniac Games)

The adventure of Zink places you in the cells of Zink a next Generation humanoid based android created by doctor Luther Vixon, head of a Project to bring robot's up to the same qualities as the human race, unfortunately they could only produce a prototype which Vixon began to love like a sibling, the prototype was referred to as Zero. Intelligence. Next. King, upon realization that Zink possessed the abilities available to none other, Dr Luther's piers organised for the interrogation of the Luther which lead to the dissapearance of Zink's Creator. It is your job to discover information about what happened to the Dr and reunite android Zink with his developer.

The adventures of Zink is rated T for Teen & is only recommended for people beyond that age limit as Zink contains Content not suitable for children.

Zink features all the usual elements of the average RPG with unique customization & Accessibility options to fulfill your every wish. Zink is fully customizable and programmed to upgrade whenever encountering something for the first time.

The Adventures of Zink will be available for the PC, PlayStation Vita & Nintendo's Wii-U Gaming Systems.

Monday, 30 September 2013

Task 3 - Mission possible

Assassins Creed Revelations

Assassins Creed is an action, adventure stealth video game created & published by well known developers Ubisoft in mid November 2011.
The game was exclusively released for the Xbox 360 & PlayStation 3 consoles.

Revelations is the fourth major instalment of the Assassins Creed series which brings a close to the story of Ezio Auditore, a 16th century Constantinople Assassin on his journey to unlock the secrets of his ancestor Altair.

(Not actual gameplay footage.)

(In game footage)

The setting of the main storyline is in Constantinople, istanbul 1511 containing the districts known as Constantine, imperial, Bayezid & cappadocia at the time of the Turkish empire.The game covers a total of 3 different points in time all of which are covered by the third person over the shoulder perspective.

During a sequence whilst playing the game you will need to successfully beat a soon to be recruit named yerman who doubts your skills as an assassin at first glance.

In the opening sequences of the game Ezio is quite cheerful and shows signs of laughter towards his new comrade Yusuf Tazim who shows off some new gadgets which Ezio can bend to his will.
Once you dive deeper into the storyline however there will be many scenes & sequences where the protagonists will show signs of anger towards the enemy & vengeful for the ones who have perished by the hands of the templars.

Around halfway through the games completion Ezio encounters a young Italian book collector named Sofia sartor who he begins to show signs of affection to but doesn't reveal his feelings for her so that she may live her life in freedom until he reaches his goal, once Ezio recovers the disc fragments his intentions were to return to Sofia.

During the course of the game not only the main protagonists but also the other main characters show signs of fear that Desmond will not recover from his sudden coma due to the murder of his closest lady friend Lucy Stillman by his own hands, but in order for him to retain the disc fragments and gain entry to Altairs vault he soldiers on with some signs of regret.

There are many secrets, puzzles and mysterys both hidden and mandatory for completion in game and every one of them should prove difficult to the average player.

As well as being one of the best single player journeys of the 21st century this game excels in bringing those features to a more wider audience with the multiplayer game modes it has to offer.

Multiplayer features on Revelations include all new game modes such as death match, corruption, count & capture the flag as well as all previous game modes making a comeback from the previous game Assassins creed Brotherhood.

For more information about the multiplayer game mode & what it has to offer click on the video below.

Task 1 - Game on - Game Guide

Visual style

o world (terrain, architecture, objects)

Here is an example of cel shading visual style being used in street fighter four.

Cel shading is where a three dimensional model is made to look two dimensional like that of a comic book or a cartoon.
Developers do this by using a limited number of colour shades depending on the depth of view & calculating values for each individual pixel.

Some games like to stick to the retro or basic look and go with 8 bit worlds, the most popular game that uses this style would be the highly successful Minecraft.

screenshot

Here is an example of traditional architecture used in assassins creed, to give more of a traditional Turkish look, so the player gets captivated even more when playing the game, providing an even better gaming experience.

o player characters - A player character is a playable character in any video game or role playing game who is able to be controlled by the player, in most circumstances this would be the protagonist and lead role character in the game.

A great example of this would be Link from the Zelda series.

o player action - A player action is when the character interacts with an object or surface, which causes something to happen, an example of this would be in an action game where the player needs to breach a door and take down the enemy, or just something like pulling a leaver in a role playing game which opens an entrance to a new area.

o non-playing characters - A non playing character is a character that can't be controlled by the player, typical examples of non playing characters will be characters like the doctor from assassins creed, the mad scientist from Luigi's mansion or even the the nurse based in poke centre from Pokemon.

o feedback interface - The feedback interface, also called menu's or heads up display is a display that shows data without having to stop and look to see where you are going or how close you are to death.

Here is a few examples of HUD's in games -

- GTA V - This heads up display is very compact and simple which enables the player to quickly check their stats and location little to no difficulty making the game more joyous and less confusing for someone being introduced to the title for the first time.

- Metroid Prime - This Example places all the features and aspects of the games in the left and right view with a transparent glass like texture covering the characters vision, this gives the illusion that the player is controlling these functions using a high tech helmet or headgear of some kind in a first person perspective.

"Like its equivalents in aircraft and in video gaming, heads-up displays are elements of the graphical user interface in personal computing systems. They allow for the transmission of information concerning the current task in a running desktop application in a separate window that is designed so as to not distract from the current task."

o perspectives (2D, 3D, first-person, third-person, scrolling, aerial, context-sensitive) - Perspective is essentially how the player see's things, there are many different perspectives in games but the ones used most frequently to my knowledge are as followed:

First person - This is where the player see's things through the eyes of the character they are controlling, this perspective enables the player to a better gaming experience as they may feel much more in sync with the protagonist, villain, side character they are controlling. A few titles which have used the first person player perspective would be successful shooters such as the The call of duty series, battlefield series and the newly released bioshock Infinite.

Scrolling - This is when the character stays in a fixed spot and the background moves alternates between left and right giving the illusion that the character is advancing, a popular example of a scrolling perspective title would be Sonic the Hedgehog

Third person - This allows the player to see the whole figure and form of the character they are controlling from an over the shoulder perspective, this player perspective proves useful where the game offers customization and a vast use of accessibility for the player character , developers which focus most of their titles in this persepctive would be ubisoft and nintendo examples of games that would feature this view would be Ubisoft's infamous Assassins creed and Nintendo's Super Mario sunshine.

Below is a collection of images displaying the in game view of the different player perspectives

Sonic the Hedgehog (1981)

Dead rising -

Call of duty:World at War

Gameplay models and gameplay features

o interaction model, eg avatar, omnipresence; single player; multiplayer;

An interaction model is the relationship between what the player executes whilst using the device and the result of that act.

An example is if a player were to never pick up the controller and interact with the game, there would be no movement and no progression of the game.

Where as when the player picks up the controller and uses the provided keys and functions correctly the character will perform the action programmed to the key, such as melee, crouch, equip, pause and resume, In most titles throughout the course of gaming history the developers have taken into consideration the players preference and provided the options for preset variations of the controls such as the tactical button layout in call of duty and then their are other titles which offer the player complete customization such as Ronimo Games Awesomenauts.

o Narrative - This is where a voice, in most times, the protagonist talking about events that have or will occur in the game, an example of this would be in Assassins creed 3 the main character Connor speaks of what he plans to do about the man that made him suffer, Haytham Kenway.

o game setting,(physical, temporal, environmental, emotional, ethical - The game setting is when, where or how it is based, a few examples would be,The Elder Scrolls Skyrim, Zombie-U and Assassins Creed Revelations.

Elder Scrolls is set in the medieval roman times with fantasy elements & creatures such as dragons and ancient Humanoid races that have features like that of a lizard or cat.

Zombiu is set in the modern british times in london where there has been a zombie apocalypse which has caused the survivors to be shut off from the rest of the world.

Assassins Creed Revelations is set in three seperate points in time due to the protagonist revisiting past events to collect information to help him progress further in the current times.

o goals - An objective set for the player of which he must accomplish.

Example - Call of duty Nazi zombies - The goal is to survive as many rounds as possible of an incoming wave of zombies using the equipment positioned within the selected area, for example if the player would progress to the 20th wave, the zombies would require additional damage before they were eliminated, these are some of the features that enable the user to keep playing without them realizing it is just a recurring event with little additions.

o challenges - A task which must be carried out with a great deal of strategy and concentration

Example - Sonic Rider Time Trial - The player is given a set time to complete a selected course and overcome the record of one of a computer programmed set time, little features which are commonly added to these challenges are elements of extended time, slow motion and a pause of the timer, these elements are usually placed in hard to reach points on the track which provides the player with a sense of accomplishment upon completion of the challenge.

o Rewards - Elements of a game given to the player for accomplishing a certain task or event set to them.

Example - Luigi s mansion 2 -Certain milestones feature in this game,one of the examples of a reward system is the upgrade elements of the game, these occur when the player has collected a certain amount of ghosts, when the player returns to the collector of these ghosts he is rewarded with upgrades to his selected weapon of choice, which in this title happens to be a vacuum used to collect advance to different areas of the game.

o Rules - This is a code of conduct put in place to enable balance and strategy within a game

Example - Assassins creed - Throughout certain sequences within the games progression the protagonist is given the task to collect information from a source, this is commonly an enemy and the player will need to use the many strategy elements within the game to enable themselves to stay hidden, such as climbing on roofs to observe the actions of their target, blending within the populated environment and eavesdropping to collect the information from the nearby source.

o difficulty and balance - Options in a game which allow the player to pass with little struggle at all or with decreased health regeneration or a smaller ammount of gadgets in their arsenal.

Example - Battlefield 3 contains a Veteran difficulty this alters all the features of the game to that of a real life simulation such as loss of breath after running, ammo reload times and miniscule health which forces the player to take precautions before they make their move.

o game mechanics (inventory, scoring, win condition) - " the purpose of a game mechanic is to constrain a game’s interactivity so that it guides the player toward a fun experience." In game mechanics are commonly used in the mmo and fps genre's and allow the player a sense of achievement upon arrival of the different milestones, examples of these features are the call of duty kill/death ration and win/loss leader boards, these features can lead to prolonged enjoyment of the game as the player set's themselves goals to overcome the others featured on the leader board.

o addiction - Addiction is where the player becomes almost obsessed with playing the game and disregards everyday activities, bathing and tends to confine themselves in their playing room and possibly forget about the outside world.

Example - A player becomes dead set on completing a game and doesn't intend to move from the spot until they do so, leading to lack of:

Eating
sleeping
drinking
showering.

Game genres

o Action - Typical action games contain fast paced events which have to be executed effectively and accordingly.

o Fps - Action games where the player is behind the eyes of the character in a first person perspective.

o Tps - Action games where the player is over the shoulder of the character in a third person perspective.

o Racing - Place the player behind the wheel and consists of a limited number of other drivers to compete against or a set time to achieve.

o RTS - Games typically deﬁned a number of goals around
resource collection, base and unit construction.

o TBS - Similar rules to turned base strategy but the players take turns submitting their actions.

o Adventure - More often than not the player is a protagonist of a story and in order to proceed must solve puzzles

o Role play - Mainly fantasy setting, most known for flexibility in the characters development.

o Simulation - Simulates a physical activity such as driving a car or flying an aircraft.

o Puzzle - Requires the player to solve puzzles or problems and often requires some logic or memory.

Interactive story telling techniques (

o Cinematics - This is when something is filmed and presented as a motion picture.

o cut-scenes - Often shown on the completion of a level or goal, it is a scene that develops the
storyline.

o triggered events; - An action which is already inside the game set off by a certain time in the game and can not be modified.

o Full motion video - the display of video images at a rate (as thirty frames per second) at which objects appear to move smoothly and continuously.

Cave Painting -

History Of Storytelling

Origins - Cave or rock paintings are paintings painted on cave or rock walls and ceilings, usually dating to prehistoric times.

Rock paintings have been made since the Upper Paleolithic, 40,000 years ago.

They have been found in Europe, Africa, Australia and Southeast Asia.

It is widely believed that the paintings are the work of respected elders or shamans.

Oral traditions -

The spoken relation and preservation, from one generation to the next, of a people's cultural history and ancestry, often by a storyteller in narrative form.

Origins - The Grimm Brothers and Milman Parry (1902-1935) are some of the big names in the academic study of the oral tradition. Parry discovered there were formulas (the mnemonic devices) the bards used that allowed them to create part-improvised part-memorized performances. Since Parry died young, his assistant Alfred Lord (1912-1991) carried on his work.

Theatre -

A theatre may be an elaborate structure in size, decoration, and functionality. The only requirement of a theatre is, however, an empty space with a place to act and a place to watch.

Origins - The origins of theatre are ancient. The English words for theatre and drama have their roots in Ancient Greek, from the time of organized theatre's first great emergence. Today, we use the word "theatre" in a variety of ways, as a place for dramatic performance, a company of players with a vision that animates them, and an occupation.

Text -

Words, sentences, paragraphs. This book, for example, consists of text. Text processing refers to the ability to manipulate words, lines, and page.

Origins - The word "text" originated between 1300-1350 from the Latin "textus."

Film -

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still images which, when shown on a screen, creates the illusion of moving images due to phi phenomenon.

Origins - The first talking movies were produced in France before 1900 by Leon Caumont. They were short films, starring great performers such as Sarah Berhard, in which the movie pictures were synchronized with a gramophone record. By 1912 Eugene Lauste had discovered the basic method for recording sound on film, while Thomas Edisonproduced several one-reel talking pictures in the United States. An American, Lee de Forest, improved the system.

Tv -

Short for television a TV or telly is an electronics device that receives a visual and audible signal and plays it to the viewer.

Origins - Although debated the TV is often credited as being invented by Vladimir Kosma Zworykin a Russian-born American who worked for Westinghouse, and Philo Taylor Farnsworth, a boy in Beaver City, Utah who was backed by George Everson. Vladimir held the patent for the TV, but it was Farnsworth who was the first person to first successfully transmit a TV signal on September 7, 1927.

Approaches to storytelling

o three-act structure (beginning, middle, end) -

In Act One the protagonist meets all of the characters in the play. We also find out what the main problem of the story is. Everybody can usually plot Act One because we have to know the problem to have the idea.

The complication usually comes at the top of Act Two. The problem that we already set up in Act One, now has to become much more dangerous and difficult.

This is simply the resolution of the problem. From the rubble laying around him/her, the protagonist picks up a piece of string and follows it to the eventual conclusion of the story. Some stories have downbeat endings, where the hero learns a lesson, but dies or is defeated.

o hero’s journey (12 steps) - All stories consist of common structural elements of Stages found universally in myths, fairy tales, dreams,
and movies. These twelve Stages compose the Hero's Journey. What follows is a simple overview of each
Stage, illustrating basic characteristics and functions.

o Episodic - An episodic novel is a narrative composed of loosely connected incidents, each one more or less self-contained, often connected by a central character or characters. It is one way of constructing a plot.

o Setting - science fiction or fantasy, you need to know the world where your story takes place. An eye for details will allow you to ground the audience in the story. The setting has a tremendous affect on what happens in the story.

o Conditions - This is how the story must be layed out and under what circumstances.

Representation and emotional themes in story design

o Characterisation - How the character looks, feels, personality and how they are feeling.

o Stereotypes, eg gender, ethnicity- - Terms typically used to describe what a selected person, race or gender is expected to do.

o Symbolism - The practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships.

o Emtotional themes - happiness; fear; anger; perseverance; heroism; valour; hope; - A mental state that arises spontaneously rather than through conscious effort and is often accompanied by physiological changes; a feeling

Writing strategies

o pre-writing, eg brainstorm, research, storyboard, list, sketch, outlining, - Appropriate tasks handed out to help simplify the process of the creation of the story.

o
drafting (working title, write content); - Preparing for a document which will contain more data at a later stage.