Ba2a Game Art & Design Blog

For the next three weeks we will be working in our areas of specialism, developing our skills. We must choose carefully in which areas we need to improve. This will be done through research and practice. I'm going to start our by researching what sort of jobs are available in the area I'd like to work in, which is primarily 3D Artist, but I also like the sound of Texture Artist and Environment Artist. Texture Artist Some companies separate the modelling and texturing job roles, which naturally means that some artists become experts in 2D texture creation and application. Games rely very heavily on high quality texture mapping. The creation of these texture maps and their application has grown ever more complex as game art has steadily increased in quality. There are now so many different processes and applications available for creating and applying them that game artists can easily specialise in this area. The close relationship between model topology and texturing me...

For the game jam I worked with the fabulous team of: Kirill Everatt - 3D Modelling Jonathon "Jonno" Wan - 3D Modelling Emily Hang - Lead Graphic Daniel Holdsworth - Lead Blueprinter and 3D Modelling Finn Sylvester-Edwards - Texture Artist and Graphic Design (ME) We worked under the name "THE PROFASIANALS"  and felt very cool. We were given the prompt "Boiling Point" and told to create a game based on our response to this as a group. Our initial ideas all centered around water, which seemed a little too obvious so we ventured into the area of sweat, which just sounded gross so we went back to our initial thoughts. We decided to make a game about a little droplet of water that had fallen onto a hotplate. The player had to avoid food being thrown down by the chef and pick up other water droplets to survive for as long as possible. If they survived long enough they could progress to the next level. We decided to go for a cartoon style,...

We started this week with a lecture on our sell sheets, letting us know how we should display them on submission of our prototype games. We were shown some good and bad examples of sell sheets and asked as a group what made the bad ones quite so terrible. It was interesting to see how easily these mistakes could be spotted. This exercise gave me insight into how I colour my sell sheet to make it more interesting and legible. Our skills workshop focused on how we could go about starting up an indie development project, it was nice to see how easily this can be achieved and to see all of the potential roles in even a small company. I have been polishing my prototype a little more by using the spike shaped damage causing actors as stalactites. This makes the world that the player is in seem a tiny bit more believable than plain black platforms, minimalism is what I'm going for so I don't want to overfill the screen with unnecessary clutter.

We started this week with a recap, which I found incredibly useful as it showed me quite how much progress I had actually made in the past 6 weeks. I had a prototype video game, that was playable and a sell sheet to go with it. This lecture was also massively helpful with getting my blog up to date (something I often fall foul of) Our lecture also covered flow in video games, we watched a couple of Extra Credits videos that I found quite interesting. One was "When difficult is Fun, challenging vs. punishing games" Which gave valuable insight into how developers can make their games much more entertaining to play whilst still retaining difficult/challenging elements. Another was "Awesome Per Second - Don't Waste Time" which focused on how having more content doesn't necessarily make for a better game; the content has to be "awesome". At this point my game prototype is looking about ready, I just need to keep tweaking it until I'm completely ...

This weeks first lecture was on narrative, pacing and tutorials in games We looked at simple AI and dialogue in UE4. My Game features and AI follower, who is able to press buttons for the player so that they may progress through the level. The player may be damaged by spikes and heal themselves using the "+" shaped pickups. As the player progresses through the prototype level, there are no more buttons to press, so the follower becomes more of a hindrance than anything else. This is to signify a toxic relationship, the follower only clinging on because it's all they know how to do, regardless of whether they stand to gain anything from it. This is developed further by the colour of the background sprite changing to red and then to an even deeper red. It's by the end of the level that I hope players will grow distasteful of their follower and have some kind of emotional reaction to that. In playtesting I noticed several players became happy when they intera...

Our lecture this week covered the importance of playtesting in the video games industry, I'm going to need to get my prototype to a playable standard extremely soon if I want to implement anything around the feedback I receive This week I created a respawn mechanic using blueprinting in UE4 and tested this using a damage causing volume. I'm using this in my game when the player hits a damage causing actor (spikes), this will damage the player character and they will lose health. (I have also implemented the health system and UI that we learned how to create last week. I made a collectible that increased the player character health which I will also be using in my game. I also created a jump pad, though I will not be using this in my game as the mechanic of jump pads seems a little too playful for the emotions I am trying to convey We created a blueprint for opening a door using a keypad, I had some difficulty following this workshop and didn't fully understand the pro...

1. Unicursal Final Fantasy XIII - Renowned for it's starkly linear gameplay is a unicursal maze. There is only one solution, this upset many fans as they felt as if they were watching a film rather than exploring an interactive experience. Runescape - The Temple of Light is a place only accessible through maze like puzzles Call of Duty - There is only one way to complete each level, whilst the route taken may differ. This is difficult to categorize but given the linear storytelling I'd say this game fits in the unicursal category Portal - There is only one way to solve each puzzle Sniper Elite Nazi Zombie Army Smite Multicursal Super Monkeyball - Whilst many of the levels/stages in this game are most definitely unicursal there are also multicursal elements at some of the more difficult points in the game. Motherlode - This game doesn't exactly contain mazes, but it's interesting that a player may almost carve out their own maze (which they would ...

This week we looked at Variables and UI in UE4, what each variable's function is. We used these to create Ammo and Health mechanics for a character controller. We also created a start menu, blueprint pictured beneath. I have been working on my sell sheet for my game idea "Frankenstein's Friendship" which will be a side scrolling platformer about friendship and loss We created a teleporter blueprint class in UE4 using provided assets for visuals. I pitched my game idea to my group in our first group crit session and received some absolutely fantastic feedback. I was full of ideas that I desperately wanted to implement in my prototype.

Frankenstein's Friendship - Feedback - You're a cube - Give other cubes pieces of yourself to make friends - In doing this you will decrease in size, making it easier/harder to complete challenges - You can make friends through other means, for example interacting with them and solving puzzles/problems for them - Your friends will help you to complete levels by getting to the exit and proceeding to the next challenge - It's possible to reclaim pieces of yourself by destroying your friends -

MDA - A formal approach to Game design 8 Aspects of Game 1. Sensation - sense pleasure 2. Fantasy - make believe 3. Narrative - drama 4. Challenge - obstacle course 5. Fellowship - social framework 6. Discovery - uncharted territory 7. Expression - self expression 8. Submission - pastime ((Loneliness - A Notgame)) ((Spec ops - The Line))

This week we started working in UE4. I created my first player character controller, this was difficult at first but after three or four repetitions I understand how it works. Though I did keep forgetting to add the input mappings to my project settings at first. I'm feeling less confident in my abilities than I'd like to, currently. I'm sure I will understand the ins and outs of UE4 in no time. I was given a door mesh and all of the required maps to texture it. I made a material using all of these maps and applied it to the mesh in engine. Using the timeline node I animated the door's circular locking mechanism and made the door open. I then created a button trigger mechanism to trigger this animation. The player character would walk onto the button and then be able to progress through the door. We also looked at creating character controllers again just to ensure we understood the process. I've been having difficulty deciding in what direction I want to take m...

“One of the most common misconceptions about videogames is that they are an interactive medium. By this, I do not mean to draw attention to the problematic and ideologically charged notion of "interactivity" (see Aarseth, 1997 for example) or even to the difficulty in conceiving videogames as a medium as Friedman (forthcoming) has noted. Rather, the misconception reveals a more fundamental misunderstanding of videogames and the experience of play. Quite simply, videogames are not interactive, or even ergodic. While they may contain interactive or ergodic elements, it is a mistake to consider that they present only one type of experience and foster only one type of engagement. Videogames present highly structured and, importantly, highly segmented experiences. Play sequences, from where the idea of the interactivity or ergodicity of videogames derives, are framed and punctuated by movie sequences, map screens, score or lap-time feedback screens and so on. Moreover, by examinin...

Mazes [Reading - r ules of Play - Game Design Fundamentals - Katie Salen, Eric Zimmerman An Introduction to Game Studies - Frans Mäyrä ] There are two kinds of maze Unicursal / Multicursal Call of Duty is a unicursal game, Bioshock infinite is also Silent Hill and Mass Effect are both multicursal Mazes induce a sense of ilinx or vertigo Unicursal mazes are places for contemplating reflecting and can also be used to control Multicursal mazes are challenging disorienting, they can also be used to control Mazes have been an integral part of many video games since their creation /((We're being taught about poetry))\ A concrete poem is a poem in the shape of its subject (((Fractal repetition)))

Game Ideas from Random Prompts Creamier aching A game in which the protagonist has applied TOO much cream and he begins to ache due to the extreme quantity of said cream. Your aim is to remove all of the cream within the provided time limit. There are three tools at your disposal: water, sponge and sandpaper. Be careful with the sandpaper, if your character bleeds you will lose valuable HP (happiness points). This game will function in a similar way to surgeon simulator. Bead Modular Bulk Jewellery designing game, the player must search through a pile of beads for a specific or suitable combination. The unique selling point of this Misjudge sage exchange Using your sage powers, you remove illness from GOOD people and infect BAD people. However you cannot hold an illness for too long or you will die. Equalize pontoon circumstance Sailing game, player must keep their pontoon afloat in even the most unruly circumstances Exciting adventure story Nudist Frustr...

2D audio memory game 2D rhythm game with basic drum & bass music 3D obstacle avoiding game (music for timing)

3000 word essay 8 sources (Task - In a short paragraph for each explain the significance of these sources - how will they help you write your essay?)

This week I was given the briefing to design a game based around the word "Inference". I took it to mean that I should design a game with an emergent story, or one left for the player to decide. I was given a task to create several game ideas using random word generators or just any ideas that popped into my head. I found this task entertaining but didn't fully understand the application. I guess it's more to trigger creative ideas than to decide the final name of your game.