November 18, 2011 15:58
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Prototype 3 Done
October 31, 2011 00:10
Blogger
Prototype 3 is Underway
We got some good feedback, like we needed to make sure that the circuits looked a little more complicated and that it had to make sense on how it all works. I thought that the layout I made would get the idea across that it was a bomb and that everything was connected, but I guess it needs to be a little more clear.
I still don't know if any of the prototypes that we showed will actually get deployed to the Mechanical Engineering students like we were told at the beginning of the project.
Since then, we've started on our next prototype. This time our client is the Utah Museum of Natural History. They just finished building a new building for the museum and they are in the process of getting all the exhibits ready for when they officially open their doors to the public. But they have one problem, one of the exhibits that they had wasn't working the way that they had hoped.
The exhibit is called Futures (or something like that) and it has to do with technology and the future of Utah. They want to have a short game in that exhibit that will teach the visitors about how Utah will be impacted by its doubling of the population in the next 40 years and what we will have to do to manage all of our resources.
The game that they have right now has all that information, but its too wordy, too long, and really confusing. So we were called to try and save the exhibit.
We have to incorporate as much information about water conservation into our game, but it has to be a short game (about 2-4 minute play) that will be fun and teach something to the visitor about the future of Utah.
My team this time consists of: Brandon Karratti as the producer, Jorge Elola & Pace Sims as engineers, and Christine Olinquevitch & I as artist.
I'm so happy that there is another artist in my team this time, it means that I won't fall behind like on the other 2 projects because there is too much art to do and I have to do all of it.
So for our game, Pace got the original idea of coming up with a game that you have to "shoot" your resources to parts of Utah that need it the most. While making sure that you keep everyone happy and keep track of your limited resourced. We hope that this will make it easy to understand and fun to play for children and adults.
We are going to make this game using flash, I'm still not sure how all the technical stuff will work but I can leave that stuff to Pace and Jorge to figure out. In the meantime, Christine and I have to come up with some placeholder art so that the engineers can start to put stuff in place since we only have 3 weeks before the museum opens.
If we succeed over the other team (there is only 2 teams working for the UMNH this time, everyone else is working for another client on a different project) we will have our game shown on the exhibit.
I will have to brush up on Flash, but I don't think that it will be too hard since Christine is a graphic design major (or something like that). :)
That's all for now, thanks for reading.
October 19, 2011 19:49
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Prototype 2 Presentation Today
Overall, it went really well. Our game really emphasized that it was going to be used for educational purposes and we managed to get our idea across of how it would look once it was finished.
It was still a little confusing for some people, but they managed to get the idea in the end and gave us some input on how we could make it look better.
One of the things that someone said that really got burned in my head is that the assets have to scaled up, never down until you have had time to experiment with them. This was because the grid for our game was really big compared to the size of the circuit/problem on the board. So basically the cells needed to be bigger to allow the player a more clear view of the art and it also gives us more room to work with.
Finally, I don't know if any of the games will actually be used/fully developed but it was a nice experience getting to work for a client.
After all the presentations, they told us a little about our next project. Apparently there are a few people that will be flying in from a company that is looking to expand but don't have much experience with games. We weren't really told what we were going to do, so will have to wait until next week to find out.
In the meantime that is all, thanks for reading.
October 17, 2011 15:33
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End of Fall Break
I manage to do the following things: a new game board, title screen, icons, and some text for the buttons of the title screen.
Most of the art work that I made was done in maya and then I just rendered it and tweaked it in photoshop.
Here is the new title screen:
Bomb Defuser is just a working title for now, and it will most likely change.
I still have a bunch of stuff I need to work on before the presentation on Wednesday, thanks for reading.
October 2, 2011 20:13
Blogger
Simple Layout
September 26, 2011 17:38
Blogger
Prototype 2 Coming Along
Our group sat down and talked about some specifics of our game. We talked about how the game is going to be laid out, and how we are going to do it. For now, we will stick to the "bomb diffuse" idea that we have and I've altered an image that I found on the internet to be our bomb for the game. I made the fuse longer and straight so that Felix and Derek can use it as a timer for the player.
The idea is that we won't so how much time the player has left to solve the puzzle, but the length of the fuse will sort of tell him how long he has before the bomb explodes. This will add some tension and hopefully get the whole "bomb diffusing" idea across to the player.
Josh will be helping me with the icons and I will try to focus on the layout to make it look as good as possible. This will be our "one sliver" of final art on how the game will look if it were ever to be developed beyond this prototype.
Here is the image that I reworked for our prototype:
That's all for now, thanks for reading.
September 21, 2011 19:38
Blogger
Presentation
We sat down and decided on what tasks each of us was going to work on to get a solid version of the game by next week on Thursday. After that, we will polish and add more levels if we have time.
In the meantime I have to work on better art than what I submitted yesterday. One thing that we added is that since we need a some reason to motivate the player, we decided with defusing bombs. So for now, the idea is that there will be a bomb with a lit fuse and it will move slowly. Once the fuse reaches the end, it will blow up if the student didn't finish the circuit in time.
So to start out, I will be working on the bomb. I will also be working on some tiles and icons for the game.
That's all for now, thanks for reading.
September 21, 2011 01:53
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Stuff For Circuit Mockup
Here is my stuff:
September 19, 2011 23:16
Blogger
Prototype 2
September 14, 2011 18:02
Blogger
First Prototype Finished
It went a lot better than I thought it would, but we still had some feedback that made me reflect on some things.
For example:
- Since this is an internal prototype, we can use existing material and modify it to suit the needs of our game. I tried to make original art, and got "marked down" for it because none of the art was close to finalized.
Also, we were told some details about our next game.
This time around, we are going to make a game for incoming freshman students in the Mechanical Engineering department. The games that we make here will be deployed to students to try and get them interested in Mechanical Engineering and teach them core Mechanical Engineering concepts.
I'm still not sure what the last part means, but we will find out more information on Monday.
I'm already in a new team, and this time the producers were in charged of putting together their own team. The only catch is that everyone in the team hasn't worked together in the last game. So this is an entire new team.
We will be using XNA for the next game, but I'm not too concerned since Felix is the same team I am and he has experience working in XNA.
Other than that, we are not required to but we can do some research over the weekend. I think I might ask a few questions to one of my cousins in California who is now a sophomore mechanical engineer, and see what it is that he had to know before starting and if there is anything that he didn't know, how did he go about learning all the necessary information.
That's all for now, thanks for reading.
September 13, 2011 23:11
Blogger
Factory Character With Gun
I don't know if we are even going to add it, but if we do then we have something to work with.
I also made a really simple factory to place at the end of the level so that people can see where are going to go "next". We just won't have a next level for this prototype.
That's all for now, I will post another entry if there is other stuff I end up working on before the presentation tomorrow.
Thanks for reading.
September 13, 2011 10:54
Blogger
Improved Background
So I had to go in and tweak it just a little and I added some islands that I made in illustrator (btw, my skills in Illustrator are definitely getting better) and not it looks way better.
Here is an example:
Compared to how it was before, it looks much more like a beach now.
I still have some stuff I need to do before we present tomorrow. That's all for now, thanks for reading.
September 12, 2011 15:07
Blogger
Factory Character Finished
Here is what I did:
I think the first one looks better, but I don't know if people might think that the character has his knee caps really high, so I brought those things down a bit. But I don't know if it helps since he looks a little square now.
I still have to add a gun to the guy to finish him. That's all for now, thanks for reading.
September 5, 2011 18:44
Blogger
Main Character Sprite Sheet Done
After finishing the background, I started to work on our main character and the sprite sheet for the actions.
It's not very complicated, but when you don't really know what you are doing it makes it really hard to get anything done.
So here it is:
I still have to make 2 more sprite sheets, hopefully the next ones won't take me 7 hours to complete. :(
Thanks for reading.
August 31, 2011 22:04
Blogger
Background Is Done
Here is a section of the background I made:
Now that the background is done, I have to create a mask for them and I still have a ton of other stuff I need to work on. Troy is going to help me create assets, but I also have to make sure that these next few days I don't slack and that I try to get as much work done. That probably means that I will have to spend a few hours after work in the MGS lab. :(
That's all for now, thanks for reading.
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