Wednesday, 21 September 2016

Game Design Idea

Level Design Idea.

Plot: A man/woman was abandoned by a taxi driver on the road, due to some issue with the road ahead. The character is given directions quickly before the driver drove away. The character (man/woman) then travels through a natural environment (Level 1). In this level you are introduced with combat, due to a wild animal wanting to kill you. Then finally you arrive at a village (Level 2) The character wants to find the reason on why most of the population of the village has left so suddenly. With t problems talking to the villagers due to them locking themselves in there homes. the character then sets of to the main square, which he finds a clown in centre of. The clown then fights you with some help of other clowns. When the clowns are killed one of the villagers shouts you over and explains. The person explains on the history of the village and the "Killer Clowns" and where they live. This then takes you to the "Killer Clown tent" (Level 3). The villager that most of population didn't leave and in fact have been taken. Your objective is to collect (save) them before they are killed. When all the villagers are safe the character/player has to fight the boss in which eventually killed all the clowns in the place.  

An alternative story-line would be that the player is hunting down the clowns and that he has finally found there home. (The levels will be the journey for the character)

Weapons: Mostly melee but the odd fire-arm
Guns are less likely to be found compared to the melee weapons and so you will have to explore the game more to find these weapons.

An alternative style in weapons may just result into one weapon. (If we struggle to design multiple)

Genre: First Person-Shooter which allows free-roam which you can explore the map in more depth.

Platform: This would be made primarily for PC, yet could work for other platforms such as the console or mobile device.

Objects: The items and buildings will be made in Maya and anything to do with the environment or nature will be likely be taken.

Sounds: The sounds will be classic clown sounds (Laughter/footstep) and classic environment sounds (Birds/wind)
The weapons will be ordinary and have the sound of an ordinary pistol or it will sound like a toy gun.

Function of the clowns: The primary function of the clowns is to chase then kill the player.
The secondary function is to sneak behind you and kill you.
This depends on the characters (style of play) the 3 levels will have different problems.
Level 1: Is the first level and so it will contain little to no clowns. This will likely be a level for the player to get to grips on the controls and the style of the games
Level 2: This level will contain clowns that have waited for a long time for humans to arrive and so they will try to sneak up on you and kill you. 
Level 3: This level is based in there tent which they live. This results the clowns into running at the player rather than sneaking up on you due to them wanting to keep there home safe.

An alternative function of the clowns could be that they run, no matter the situation

The Main Screen: 
When in the main screen for the game it will have two options:
"Play"
"Chapter"
The title screen will have 3 original backgrounds relating to the level:
Level 1: Will have a peaceful background of a mountain side and a lake.
Level 2: Will have a village in the background with some clowns seen in the shadows.
Level 3: Will have a clown and a tent in the background.
These images will be taken when you "PrtScn" the level. The animations will be created individually.
The main title screen will be identical to the last level design with some miner tweaks.
A idea would be a clowns eye following the selected option (play/chapters) or for PC it would follow the mouse cursor.

Level 1.
This will be designed by:
This will be based in a natural environment, that is peaceful and untouched. 
This level will be set in the morning.
Ideal objects created:
Rocks, water, path, trees, mountains, grass, cliffs etc.

Information:
This level won't have any combat compared to the other levels as the characters are investigating the clown tent and they wouldn't have weapons going in, they will have to stealth their way past the clowns whilst exploring, if a player gets caught they will be chased until either the clown catches up and kills you or you lose them by finding a hiding spot, before escaping the player would have to find the room filled with all the human bodies which are encased in cocoons, the player would find their first weapon here and it would end with the player running away from a horde of clowns and out of the circus tent whilst avoiding obstacles and enemy projectiles that would slow them down. 

Level 2.
This will be designed by:
This will be based in a village that has little to no people in it, due to its stories of the "Killer Clowns"
This level will be set at mid-day. and have much vegetation due to many people not leaving there homes.
Ideal objects created:
House, rocks, grass, trees and other items related to the village etc,

Information:
Level 2 is the second level and less places for the player to hide from the clowns. The player will have the ability to find melee weapons easiest in this stage and there will ranged weapons scattered about the town. Their will be clowns in the street which you can sneak around but there will enough melee weapons to fight the clowns but not enough for you to beat all of them. 
When you head to the police station to get weapons, a clown how is controlling Officer Mooney like a puppet will attack you as a boss. The boss can use: Officer Mooney's gun, his baton and his taser. To defeat the boss you have to attack the clown that is controlling Officer Mooney, you only need to attack the clown three times but he is using Officer Mooney as a shield so you can't attack him until he let's his guard down to taunt at you.


Level 3.
This will be designed by:
This will be based in the abandoned circus which no one dares to enter.
This will be set at night. 
Most of the level will be set inside the tent, however the level will contain a outside environment.
Ideal objects created: 
Clowns, tent, environment (objects), and simple puzzles. 

Information:
Level 3 is the last level and has a much different game style in the game. In this level when you enter the tent the player will drop their gun and lose it. The player will be vulnerable to the killer clowns until the player finds a weapon of some sort. Having no weapon makes it difficult to kill the clowns which results into the player having to make up a strategy when avoiding the clowns. This makes the player go through the maze hoping they find all the collectables (survivors) before being found by a clown.
When all survivors are found a exit will be shown and which you can go through. When the player exits they have to fight a boss which cannot be damaged by bullets, yet can be damaged by the surroundings. The boss brings in a wave of clowns which you have to kill, after each wave is destroyed a item will glow that you can shoot, this will damage the boss (clown). The boss has 3 lives that results into having 3 waves, each wave gets increasingly hard.
When you kill the boss all the other clowns will be killed and all the items relating to clowns such as the tent would disappear. Then a small credit screen will appear, which would then take you to the main screen.

This game may contain environments that are used to travel the player to other levels, this will also be used to allow the player to explore and find areas that maybe of interest.
This makes the game longer, much bigger and easy to travel to certain levels.

(Alternative game brief ideas will be on my groups individual blog accounts).
Padlet Link
https://padlet.com/korichambo/uwz47s6vggnv

Tuesday, 26 April 2016

10 Questions

So what did you think of the assignments?
I found the assignments fun and interesting, as I learnt more than expected. I found that most of the assignments were very similar yet very different, which helped me create the games as I had already learnt some stuff about it.

How would you rate the assignments in terms of difficulty?
The assignments were surprisingly easier than expected, with more maths and code involved I expected it to be much more challenging. I began to actually enjoy the coding at some level as it can make your game very cool.

An example of a subject I have learnt
For example the platform game had to contain gravity, which I had no idea on how to place it, with some little research I found how to code it, and since then I have been doing the same technique to all my games that involve gravity. In this game I also learnt how to make enemies and to to animate them which was fun.

In the Space Invader game, name one thing you learned during its development.
In Space Invaders I learnt to place cool effects such as an explosion, by using the drag and drop technique. I also learnt how to get enemies to fire and to have a health bar.

In the maze game name one thing you learned during its development.
In the maze game I learned how to animate players and enemies, I also learnt how to use the "control" which all the game needs for it to function correctly.

Did you learn any maths during this experience? These assignments?
I don't think I learned any new maths skills during the experience, as it was basic maths that were involved.

How do you rate your maths?
Okay I guess

How hard did you find the maths during these assignments?
I found the maths very basic

Do you think your opinion's towards maths has changed?
Nope

Do you think you gained any maths when you did any puzzles for the maze game?
No, as the maths I placed in that game I knew.

Thursday, 14 April 2016

BTEC Extended Diploma in Games Development
  
Assignment 2; Creating and applying sounds to a video game
Unit 73: Sound for Computer Games
"Space Invaders": Sound effects (5)
"Brain box" (Maze Game): Soundtrack applied (Loops)
"Food catch" (Platform): Soundtrack applied (Loops)

The Plan: (Space Invaders)
The sounds are recorded as Mono then edited to Stereo.
The game will be Space Invaders.
The platform should be for computers so the sounds would be recorded using MP3
The sounds wanted: The death, collectible, win, next level, explosion, alien, spaceship, NASA.
The voice for the aliens would just have the pitch, tone and echo changed.
The soundtrack would either be a simple wind affect or a soundtrack that I would create.

Plan: (Platform game) If the sound effects were placed.
Stereo, Platform, Character sounds, enemy sounds, collectibles, death, next level,
Character (Man) the sound recorded: eating, odd remarks, death
Collectibles (food) the sound recorded: activates sound of player eating.
Death (collision with body builder/health inspector) the sound recorded: (voice) “darn it” “nooo!”
Next level the sound recorded: (voice) “mm more food” or door opening
Enemy (health inspector) (voice) “no, you’re not eating that” (body builder) “Stop!”

(Time) voice recording first, then environment recording second.
Soundtrack done after sounds are recorded.
Applying sounds.
Then record gameplay. 

Two soundtracks: 
This will be placed in my platform game and the space invaders.
The platform game would have a good and jolly atmosphere with high and medium tones. The sounds should be a mix of free copyright sounds and music.

The space invaders would have a gradual increase in sound when in combat and a higher level. The game could also contain the original soundtrack for "Space invaders" at the end of the game which would be edited. The sounds would be edited using "Audacity".
(Soundtracks are placed on a loop and are Stereo.
(Most of the sounds needed for the games are voice recordings).
  
Soundtrack 1: (For Platform)
These sounds that I placed in and edited with are all copyright free sounds. 
In editing I used:
Crop, cut, move, fade in, fade out, pitch, stereo, sounds (High/low), mono (which ear), 
9 tracks 
Last's for 6 minutes and is on a loop. 
Soundtracks: (Original)
Fade
Force
Fire burst
blank 

The first track was "Fade" this was cropped and placed at the beginning. With "symbolism" fading in then fading out just before the next track. "Force" was the track that continued the sounds with a fade in, so that it built up the atmosphere. Just before half way I place the bigger version of "symbolism" that was changed in pitch to be a little higher and the tone to be louder. This track also has fade in and out to join the next track. The track "fire burst" had no additional edits except cut and crop. Mid in between the track I placed a sound of a man saying "yeah" which I thought went well with the sounds. "Firefly" was next and had similar edits i.e. fade in/ out and had "force" in between when the sound got lower. I took a small part out of "miles away" which helped continue the sound for the other opening track. which was the same track that finished the previous.
This is a gamble for the this platform game, due to the sounds not being related to any group of sounds or genre.

This is a video of gameplay with the soundtrack enabled.

The game was changed to Shape man game which I feel makes the soundtrack more suitable due to the fast paste movement. The other platform was originally the game that would of had the soundtrack however the gameplay of that platform isn't great.
Next time I would create this piece of sounds that will go very well with the game, and try not to do to much of originality on a soundtrack that im gambling on to work well with the type of game.
However I do feel the soundtrack itself was okay and that it would of been better if I had a more suitable game for it.


This is the full soundtrack without gameplay

The last part of the track was edited before recording to make an echo so that in gameplay the sounds don't suddenly change to another track.
The edits made it seem that the beginning was joined with the end which worked well.

Due to it being such a long soundtrack, I wasn't able to record the gameplay for that long because the game is short.

"ALL SOUNDS ARE COPYRIGHT FREE"

Project rate (Hz) 41000

Soundtrack 2: (For "Brain box"-Maze game)
Tools used:
Pitch, echo, fade, copy, crop, cut, paste, import, export, volume, pitch, speed, duplicate, 
Project rate (Hz) 32000

The steps to making this track was very similar to the first soundtrack I made. With the move, crop and copy tool it helped me moved certain sounds in places which I thought went well.
This sound isn't like the first and takes a similar root to what platform soundtracks sound like. The sound placed at the end suddenly drops in volume which doesn't require me to use fade. At the beginning I used fade in which helped the end of the soundtrack link with the beginning.

Applying sounds:
Original sound: Fan
The sound was changed using a range of tools for example the pitch was increased to give the sound a more futuristic and robotic effect. When this was changed I edited the length (cropped) so that the effect of the (bullet) doesn't seem silly when applied. Due to the amount of bullets that are going to be shot at once, the volume of the bullets are turned down dramatically, while also making the effect of a fade out, The effect of the "fade out" isn't gradual compared to normal and i wanted a fast ending of the shot without completely removing all the sound.
originally, I thought it would be very cool to use this sound effect on a generator or laser, however I wanted the effect to go with the shot, because it would be unique as most shots sound the same in video games.

Original sound: Voices
The sound was an error in one of the recordings, however I decided to keep the recording and edit the sound so that it could be used for the aliens in the game. The sound was cropped at the beginning and at the end as most of the wanted sounds were in the center.
I highlighted the areas I no longer needed and removed them using the cut tool.
The pitch was increased to give the same wanted affect as the first sound, yet had no fade in or fade out edited in it. I placed a simple echo in the sound which you can barely hear as I don't want it to remove the effect of the aliens.

Versions: I decided to use this effect for all the different alien types. The first version was changed in speed by a percentage of -14.000 This gave a similar effect to the original edited version that I did, yet has a more deeper and slower sound effect, which I want to use for my larger enemy.
Version 2: The only thing I decided to change for this version was by reversing the sound so that it was backwards. This made the sound effect sound rather different compared to the last version.
And saved me time when editing, this also gives a cool effect that they make different noises.

Original sound: burp
This sound was going to be used for a zombie game that I had in mind, however I decided to change some settings and edit where necessary to make it sound good. Firstly, I copied the sound and repeated it four times. Each individual sound had a space in between them to give an effect like an alarm.
Then I used the fade out tool for the sounds, which gave the basic idea on what I wanted the sound to sound like. Then I changed the speed and tempo of the sound the speed was increase by 153% and the tempo by 15%. This is placed on a loop until the player kills all enemies or if the asteroid is destroyed.    
This is the image after the editing was completed.

The black lines are where I can merge the sound tracks together, however I decided to leave it because of the gaps I want in the sound effect.

Original sound: voice recording (blowing)
This sound was wanted to make a wind effect within the game, so that it doesn't seem quite and that the gameplay seems always active, which makes it seem more realistic. The sound was copied then placed after the sound which then were merged together. The sounds had to be edited using fade in/out so that the tracks don't suddenly sound like it has changed in pitch dramatically.
This will be placed in the controller with a chance of 1-500 which means that the sound wont always be happening.    

Original sound; paper
This sound was all cut except a small piece that i took and edited with the pitch and speed, this is going to be used for the sound of my bullet in gameplay.

Extra sounds: Wind
This was edited and cropped and to last half a second with the pitch decrease and the speed increased.

Original sound: voice
This was edited to a high pitch which made it sound like a baby crying. This gave me an idea to make the sound appear when a alien baby is created.
The Sprite would be changed to a small alien instead of a bullet, however it still behaves like one, this is to make the sounds more suitable.

(When activated) This sound happens when the bullet gets reflected by the enemy boss, the bullet turns into a small alien that makes this sound effect.
In this image you can see the edits of fade in and out. The fade out is more important, as its leaves the area (room) of the game, which makes it more realistic.


Video of Gameplay with sounds (Level 1 and Level 6 show)

Level 1: Sounds (Player-shot, enemy-shot, wind, explosion,)
Level 2: Sounds (Enemy boss noise)

Overall:
The Sound effects were exported out of "Audacity" then placed into (Game-maker) Space Invaders is the game that contained the 5 sound effects, which I think went okay, I understand that most of the sounds are not very unique to others, however my favorite effect was the bullet collision with the boss, I think that went really well. Next time I would record most of the sounds with a mic if I did this game again, due to most of the effects being voice acting.
The First soundtrack (Shapeman) was a big improvement to the original idea that I had with the platform game. The soundtrack looked as if the game was a similar speed.
The Second soundtrack (brainbox) was much more suitable for the game and made it really cool effect. The effect is slow and has a classic feel towards it which made the gameplay more enjoyable and helps the math game more fun.

Tuesday, 12 April 2016

Space Invaders

Space Invaders

Plan:
I have decided to do Space Invaders instead of Blackjack due to me knowing my skill set. I didn't know how you played blackjack and I knew that most but all of the making of that game would be code, and I knew that Space Invaders would be less challenging with code and that it would be more to do with art.
The idea that I have for the game is to make it completely different from the classic yet keeping its key features (function of game) and then half way through (6 levels in total) would contain the classic sprites (enemy).
I wanted to design a futuristic design of a background, and then a simple black background for the ending.
I also want to add a boss that doesn't get destroyed and doesn't attack except reflect bullets that the player fires so it acted more like a support unit.
I want two different designs of the future aliens and two different designs for the classic aliens.
(Spr-alien 1) looks like a turret that fires at a chance of 1-500 and a alien that looks like its in a UFO which has a fire chance of 1-250
The classic aliens have different colours (green and white)

Sprites
Alien-1

 This is the first sprite, this was created to look like a turret and to act like one. The animation will spin every time it shoots. This also goes red in colour before it fires.
The reason for this animation is that the player will know and expect the shot.

The Sprite is the smallest of all the enemies and for that reason is has less detail.



Alien-2


This enemy was created using Gamemaker but in a bigger size format. This gave me the chance to make edits I wanted then I made a smaller size version with the same detail, to give the effect.
The animation to this sprite is that the alien and the top part of the sprite went down with it.
The fire at the bottom chances so it looks more realistic.

This effect happens every 30 seconds.




Classic alien-1



This sprite doesn't have any animations and has the same function as the original games sprites.
The bigger version of this sprite has the same function except has more health and fires more often.




Classic alien-2


This is a different colour to the first to show the difficulty difference. Because this isn't the original colour it keeps my game my own style.
This has the same function as the first.




Background
I designed this using a variety of different paint tools.
I first placed random layers of paint and filled them in, in light blue going purple, I then blurred the colours together so it doesn't look cut and then used "58" paint tool to give the effect shown. I then added in the alien I created and then blurred inwards to give a grass feel at the bottom.
Other edits followed
(Colours changed and more stars (white dots) added to give the effect of distance.


Second version
This background is for the classic part of the game. I removed the layers that I designed the other background with and filled it white a black background, and left the alien there.
The alien was hardly noticeable which made me have to increase the colour (green) so that it would standout. I also wanted to give the effect that it was fading in the darkness, so I painted over the ends of the alien and painted over it, with the flow decreased to 38% so that it doesn't look like someone has just thrown paint on it.



Object

Obj_wall
The wall's sprite size was edited to 16, so that it was half of what the original size was so it wouldn't seem that something random is blocking the players way.
The sprite doesn't have any design and was left after editing size.
Then the sprite was given commands ("drag and drop") so that no player or enemy could go through it

The Obj_boss was changed in size when first created and imported into game-maker, due to it being much larger than intended.

Obj_player has the most commands (code/drag and drop) which makes this object one of the most important. This object contains the code for the movement, lives, shots and effects. The V2_player also contains most but all of the same code as its used as another life for the player.

Obj_enemy also contains some of the code that the player used but edited in ways which doesn't relay on certain buttons being pressed

Second player:
This is another sprite which is for the same player, the function of this object is exactly the same when movement and collision is involved. I wanted the player to have lives, however I wanted to have some originality, so I designed another sprite similar to the first, yet increased in size to make it harder. When the player is killed the rock in the left part of the screen will blow up and it would contain the other object which it allows you to control.
The problems:
Basic error codes when trying to control the other object. I fixed the problem without code and used the drag and drop technique, (when collide with "enemy_bullet" destroy player and rock) and then added a simple command to change object when killed.
Death when spawn. When the player died the enemies were already on the other side where the player spawns again, which doesn't give the player a chance. I fixed the problem with invisible walls that makes the enemies only travel where the player can shoot, this fixed the original problem with instant death, but it also fixed a problem that I didn't intend, when the walls were not there it gave the chance for the enemies to evade the shoots and cause the player to struggle when killing the aliens.

Effects
When the Obj_player, V2_player, and the Obj-rock are destroyed the effect is an explosion which gives a grey effect.
The enemies on the other hand have "Smoke up" as the effect to give a different feel when taking out aliens. The sizes of the effects are determined by the size of the object in game. An example is the third level, as it contains two different alien objects that have the same effect yet different sizes, this is to give a more realistic feel for the game.
I decided to use the effect of "Smoke up" because it makes the death of the aliens look as if the aliens travelling when they are not.
(I decided not to make the aliens go down due to the game already being difficult as it is).

When bullets are reflected by the enemy boss the bullets change object and turn to a similar sprite but red.

The player doesn't continuously move when no key is active which makes the game much more easier for the players.
Maybe next time it would be enabled and if so I would have to change the bullet rate chance to be lowered it would be more fair.

Functions

Boss:
The Boss is on the last level (level 6) the boss is seen through out the game by being placed on the background. This was intended to make consumers excited and wonder if the alien in the background would be the boss. I had many ideas for the boss to be strong and powerful, yet I wanted to keep it different from the original, so I made it become a support unit. The alien doesn't die and doesn't fire back, yet makes the last level difficult. The alien reflects any bullets that the player has shot at the boss and fires at a much faster rate.(Problem: difficult to notice enemy shots) I decided to make the reflected bullets different and made them red with the same design which gave a nice effect. The boss also hides the aliens behind it which results the player to wait for an available hit, as the last level is more about slow and careful decisions. With a large amount of aliens on the level it makes it very difficult as the player has to make the decision on if they want to play slow and careful or fast but dangerous.
If I did this again I would keep the idea of reflecting bullets but instead place suicide alien bugs that are used as bullets.

Video of gameplay. (All levels)


Monday, 7 March 2016

Unit 13 Assignment

Mortal Kombat Series

Mortal Kombat X was developed by NetherRealm studios and was published by Warner Bros, Interactive entertainment.

Mortal Kombat X Official Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSi2LDkyKmI
In the trailer they had Scorpion and Sub Zero that are classic characters from the Mortal Kombat series which made fans excited when they saw them battle. The trailer included X-Rays and Fatalities with some combos that the game contains.

This is a fighting game that is the tenth installment in the Mortal Kombat video game series and was released on April 14, 2015 for Microsoft windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox one.
Like the previous Mortal Kombat games, Mortal Kombat X's gameplay consists of two players, or one player and the CPU, fighting against each other with their selected character, each character has a variety of combos, x-rays and two different finishing moves. The energy meter, first introduced in the previous Mortal Kombat game, allows players to perform techniques such as X-ray (Special moves).
Mortal Kombat from the very first release to latest version, has always been known for the graphic content. Which over time has gotten worst due to the new available software that the creators have. Mortal Kombat X was designed using the unreal engine 3 which made most computers struggle to run the game due to the high requirements that the game had (At first release).
This game also works online which you and a friend or random can fight.

Fatalities were one of the most controversial arguments within the game, due to it being unnecessary in the game. When the player had won the fight you have the choice to use 1 of 2 different finishing moves which are very graphic. Each character has two finishing moves which makes it a big topic to talk about. Most people disagree with the ending of the battle when the man asks you to finish your opponent as people think it could effect later choices in life.
Mortal Kombat X was released worldwide (except Germany) for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on April 14, 2015 . for reasons relating to the initial refusal by Germany USK  to issue the game with an age rating, the official German release of Mortal Kombat X was delayed until September 1, 2015, On August 28, 2015, the PlayStation and Xbox 360 ports were cancelled.

A Quote taken from a parent "if you let your child play this game, you are a bad parent"
This is one of many parents feelings towards this game and they are concerned about how the game is so graphic. As time has past through the Mortal Kombat series people have been more understanding on the design and function of the game. "One of the best games I have ever played" "This is very creative" People that were against it are now beginning to understand that its only a video game and its not reality, however there is still some negative press that the game gets when it comes to the violence. Some described this as art and that some people will not understand it while others will see the beauty in the design of the game as they know its a game not reality.

Legal: look and feel, risk management, costing,
The games series has improved the graphics with the latest unreal engine 3 and violence. The Mortal Kombat fans said "i'm so excited that I know some of the classic moves and characters are in the game" the has also released an XL DLC which gives the player access to new characters such as Leather face and Predator. Most people that have played the game had gave similar responses to the gameplay "It has the same feel as the older versions" by keeping the same feeling of the game and having improved motion and graphics makes this game a top choice in the genre for fighting. The costing for Mortal Kombat was high yet made its money back in a couple of days.

One argument about the game would be about why the game has to involve two players (Can be online) which they both have to fight using a variety of different moves until a player dies. Having this as a goal and achievements involving different combos and moves to fight and kill your player makes people disagree with it.
Others believe that it is one of the best and unique fighting game of "2015" and that it offers a lot to a player, involving several different play modes i.e. "Tower"dynamically changing challenges and
"Krypt" a mode played in first person perspective which involves you exploring an area for in-game items.

Another argument would be about the violence and graphic content that the game contains. The very first game of the Mortal Kombat series, was a huge jump in the gaming industry as it contained violence which most people was not ready for. This became a problem among the public and was sent to court, as was the creators for GTA. Due to the games containing a lot of violence people placed the blame of deaths of young teenagers on the gaming industries. As a result the court warned the designers and made the age restriction sign on every single video game case, this was the reason why we have age restrictions on games today. Games like GTA and Mortal Kombat designers continued to design realistic and graphic content for gamer's

My drawing of the classic Mortal Kombat character Scorpion 

This is a drawing that I did for Mortal Kombat X which is the character "Scorpion" The character Scorpion was in all the Mortal Kombat series, and was developed with high end graphics.
This was designed using a variety of different pencils i.e. B, 2B, 4B, 6B. and a paint brush to smooth the tones,
I decided to draw "Scorpion" as he was very popular and became very easy to recognize as a character from the game series.

Each character has an ability which involves some sort of power. This character uses fire as its super power and can use a variety of different moves (combos) which is unique to that character choice. The character has a yellow mask and a yellow suit which has brown straps which represents the power he has. The characters eyes are pure white which shows "its not real, yet it makes him seem more powerful" Some people believe its to due with fire and how he's that hot the colour of the flames have changed.
Many people were shocked with the amount of options the game offered, and the other half were disturbed on the idea that each character had their own killing style. A university member of staff looked into this game and came up with this conclusion. "With all these creative ways to kill someone, it seems to encourage young people to think and do wrong", as some students said they liked playing as those characters even though they should be seen as "Bad guys"

Thursday, 25 February 2016

Brain box

Brain box 
Brain box is a maths maze game.
Customer
What the customer wants:
The customer wants to have fun while learning GCSE maths that would help them pass.

Design brief:
A GCSE maths game that has at least 5 levels in it.

Target audience:
The target audience is mainly aimed at students that are around 15-16, while also aiming at people that are still studying GCSE maths.

Development
Sprites: In this game I have created the player, enemies, questions, walls, gates and wrong answers.

Sprite-(Me)
This was the changed design of my main character, due to the change of theme of my game.

This was created using a circle tool and then paint to give this effect. With gradual tones to give the basic effects of this 32 by 32
shape.

This was made white to make it standout on a darker background that I have in mind.



Sprite-(Enemy)
This is the second design of my enemy due to the change of theme.

This is a basic pixel art of the anonymous mask which turns to be a error as its animation.

This is a 32 by 32 image which looks much better in gameplay.

This became an idea to design when i thought about hacking as an idea for the game.



Sprite-(Wall)
These are the walls that are used to block the player or enemies in places. The wall on the left is the ordinary wall which doesn't have any function except animations. The one on the right has a animation and has a function that allows this wall to be destroyed.
These both have similar styles with different animations.


Sprite-(correct and wrong answers)

These are the tip boxes and questions that the player wants to reach to be able to proceed further into the level. The yellow box is at the beginning which gives the player tips on how to play the game. The blue box is seen throughout the level which is for the questions that the player will be answering.

Sounds:
The sound of the game ideally would be on a loop that may quicken after a long period of time. It could also have a simple sound.
I have created 5 sound effects in the game:

I have a soundtrack that is on a continuous loop which is played on all five levels. The soundtrack is the anonymous main theme soundtrack.
Information: (Due to copyright conditions)
Creator: Zhinar Bakr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zuFIP35SDM

Levels:
I have made five levels that have different sections in the game which you have to unlock by answering the correct answers

Room 1:

This is my first room that I created with a screen shot of the first question which was very simple to answer so that the player understands how the game works.
In this level there are two parts which you have to answer correctly to access the end of the level.

This level has two wrong and two correct answers which determines what happens after the collision.

The enemies have been placed at random and have the movement to move anywhere.

Room 1 Edited:
The room was then edited, due to the bad black and white colour scheme and the sprites. I decided to go with my other design idea and make it seem like you are hacking.

The background was changed which made some sprites look bad when in play which made me have to edit most of the sprites.

The room has the same format and has the same amount of enemies within the game.




Room 2
This is a screen shot of room two in progress. The format changed to make the gameplay harder, and to trick the player the correct answer isn't the furthest which most people would think it would be.

The room has the same idea as the last yet with more enemies and harder questions.

There are three gates that i had placed to open when the correct answer has collided with the player.



Room 2 Edited:
Because i decided to change my mind when designing the game this was the last room that was changed.

The top section was edited so that there was three access points, with five different answers.

There are 6 question boxes that contain the same question due to the different entrances.

The room contains more enemies and harder questions that is a big step up compared to the first.


Room 3
This room had three questions and a total of 14 answers. Each correct answer allows the player to proceed to the next part of the level.

(The correct answer triggers the next gate to open)

The background of this level was changed and the other levels had the same style, due to the game looking to difficult.

More enemies have been placed in the game to make the player feel like its more of a game than actual work.

Room 4
This has a similar difficulty from the last one yet has a different function. This level has three questions and 14 answers and has three sections. The center of the level is enemies which are released when you get your first answer correct.

This level gives the player thinking time for the first part then continues to be difficult further on. Some walls have been edited to be thin which made it much easier for the player to move about, yet makes more room for enemies to take up.


Image of Room 4 (Gameplay)

This is a screen shot on what happens when the enemies are released.

This image also captures the games animation on both the walls and the enemies.

Each question has two boxes for each answer, so that the player doesn't have to travel far.
The background links with the idea that your hacking to prevent a virus from anonymous.



Room 5
This level is the last level, so i made most of the walls thin and gave open space which 25 enemies were placed at random. This level has two questions and 16 possible answers.

The background was changed to the main theme of the game, as this is the last level
Although this level has less questions and sections, the difficulty has been increased, due to the placement of the enemies.

Answers have a range of sizes depending on where they are placed, sometimes used to hide answers

Room 6 (First room which gives the player basics)
This is the room which the player is placed at the beginning of the game, which explains how the game functions and how to play it; (Goals, keys)

This also contains my name

The level is surround with enemies which would be released when you touch the last tip box.

The level also has the same background as the last, due to the games focus.



Level 6 (in gameplay)
At the end of the game the player is told that you can go back to previous levels by pressing:

(Number lock active)
Keypad 1 = Level 1
Keypad 2 = Level 2
Keypad 3 = Level 3
Keypad 4 = Level 4
Keypad 5 = Level 5

This is a tip which the player can use if they are stuck on a level, or a error occurs (Only).



Other elements:

Animations:
Enemies
Walls: The first wall has an animation that gradually turns to red. The second wall has a different animation which makes the player know that the walls can be broken. This is why the animation looks like the wall is pix-elating.

Player:
First design was a pencil which was edited into a mouse (Tech)
It has an animation that made the pencil look like it was drawing.
The updated version of the player (Mouse) has no animation due to it being small.

Enemy:
It originally  was a "F" which was a fail for the test, however I changed it so that it was "anonymous and errors" which are the enemies.
The "F" animation was the effect that it was shinning.
The enemy has an animation which the colors invert and then two different colours switch.

Questions for each room

Room 1 =
Q.1. A Multiple of 7
Q.2. 72 x 3

Room 2 =
Q.3. 162 divided by 3
Q.4 What is 25% of 276

Room 3 =
Q.5. Share 28 in the ratio of 9:5
Q.6. An amount was increased by 36%. The new amount is £979.20.
Q.7. An amount was increased by 34%. The new amount is £1675.00.

Room 4 =
Q.8. Miguel's balance at the start of the month was £428. During the month £5 debited and £944 was credited to the account. What is Miguel's balance at the end of the month?
Q.9. A sector of a circle has a radius of 3.9 cm and a subtended angle of 312° what is the area?
Q.10.  Convert the following recurring decimal into a fraction in its simplest form. Give your answers as a improper fraction. 1.454545454...

Room 5 =
Q.11. 243 - 1/5
Q.12. How many enemies are in this room?
Some questions are easier than others at random to make the game seem more fun.

Screen shot of me playing the game:

I like how the games difficulty is even to the gameplay and the questions. I like the overall design of the game but next time I would like to have created a longer game with a animated background.

Feedback:

James: "The game was fun and had appropriate questions, it looked very good and had smooth animations, however the game was incredibly difficult at times" Improvement: less enemies