Monday 29 July 2013

Drafting Together Each Iteration


I have amassed what I should hope to be enough footage. Maybe 20 different files, ranging in length from 1 min to just over an hour. As this project is only 1min per iteration, I think I might've gone a bit over board. 

I've started to import my files into premiere and have a bit of a toy around with the editing techniques designated (by myself) to each iteration. 

With the scary clip in particular, I'm trying to decide how many jump cuts becomes overkill. I suppose it's when the effect is lost from overuse. 

And the hardest thing is to make it abstract. I want to make the video logical by default, so I just have to  make sure I don't slip back into telling a story.

Game Ideas


1. A  Side Vertical Scrolleing game where you dig up fossil fuels and other pollutants to run on while using the earth you collect to build up to broken wind farms. Repairing these and placing found solar panels on the even higher platforms allows you to swap from pollutants to renewable energy and complete the levels. How freely available resources are would decrease with level as the platforms get higher to increase difficulty. 

Control is the directional keys, with dig and jump as two action keys.

Storyline - An accident caused from a failed experiment (aimed at increasing the planet's mass to accomodate the ever-growing population) has caused devastation to the planet; with chunks of the earth now floating in the sky and the remaining earth a polluted landscape. The planet wont recover until it switches over to renewable clean energy entirely. A little robot was created for this purpose.


2. A birdseye game where you have to survive as long as possible and get a high score. Points are amassed from collected fuel, collected ammo, zombies terminated, map uncovered?, bonus items found by breaking rocks; but mostly how long you manage to last. The map will randomly generate each playthrough to prevent any "learning of the map". After the first playthrough however, a new start screen will appear, allowing you to save up and spend your score (which gets converted to $) on permanent upgrades. Such as a radar, ammo at the beginning of the map, larger fuel tank, larger ammo capacity, increased speed etc. etc. The map will be more populated, the more upgrades the robot has, allowing for exponential score increase.

Control is with the mouse predominantly. Left click as where you want to go, and right click as where you want to shoot. Right click is also the action button, eg. when a rock is shot, the goodies can be collected by driving over them; right click on the lake will collect it's fuel, same with collecting poisonous fume clouds.

Storyline - After the future nuclear war, the human race has been forced underground. Now, many years later, the surface has become tolerable for robots. A robot was dispatched to go and collect the polluted water and filter it into fuel to run. This allows it to collect the poisonous clouds of fumes and turn it into ammo used to defend and annihilate the mutants of the surface. Humans will be able to return to the surface once he has completed his mission.


3. Another birdseye game (although not from directly above) but this time it involves infiltrating an enemy camp, taking out all those who mstand in your path. Find a grass clearing large enough for the trees to grow and defend it while they do. While defending this area, you need to dig a hole and plant the seed. Once the central tree is grown, a secondary ring of defense trees must be placed, allowing for a healing tree, and a seed generating tree to be grown in secure environment. Once this setup is achieved, the mini forest becomes self sufficient and the camp is overridden. This makes the game a part Hack N Slash and part Defense Tower variant.

Controls are left click to move, right click to lock on to an enemy and space bar to attack. Movement is quicker when locked onto an object (enemy/seedling) with the seedlings being able to be healed instead of attacked (hold down space bar to heal). Fast attack = spacebar tap. Hold and release does harder hits, but at a slower speed. Holding down until character flashes before release will result in an surrounding attack (hits everything around you).

Storyline - Pollution demons have taken over the forest and cleared it out for their camps. Mother Nature has sent you (A beefy forest hermit) to help return the land to forestry. Start by breaking into a camp, taking out all enemies in your path, and planting a sacred defense tree. Defend this tree from attacks until it can take care of itself, via additional tree units. Once a decent defense has been grown, the camp is captured and the level is complete.

Sunday 28 July 2013

Game ideas draft



Initial dig reconceptualising sketches for game idea 1 and a couple for game idea 2.

Saturday 27 July 2013

DIG - EXPANDED FEATURES





CORE MECHANIC - DIG



While these are all using the dig mechanic in a similar manner I wanted to do something a bit different. Instead of dig being a primary mechanic, I want it to be secondary but essential.

Friday 26 July 2013

3 Game Breakdown



LEFT: Need For Speed                  RIGHT: Pokemon
BOTTOM: Motherload


DRIVING

The Driving mechanic ranges far and wide, from the hardcore racing of Gran Turismo and Forza with their driving simulators; to the arcade style of Need For Speed and Sonic All-Stars Racing. With the first having a focus towards realism (handling and damage) with the latter promoting fun and generally boost manipulation.
Although I enjoy both, the arcade style is much more fun; and the multiplayer modes expand on this, with the driving simulators primarily being solo play (except for online leaderboards).
 
I find driving games to involve an adreneline rush, more-so when winning or making good time. They rely heavily on fast reactions; dodging traffic, avoiding crashed opponents, anticipating corners and eventually finding shortcuts upon learning the track(s).

BATTLE

The Battle mechanic is somewhat ambiguous, but in terms of pokemon it is related to the turn-based battling. In other games such as Final Fantasy, there is still an element of turn-based battling, but they include other variables, such as a turn bar, which can allow for each character to get their turn when the bar reaches full. While essentially the same, this can allow for multiple attacks from a character before an enemy gets a chance to retaliate or vice-versa.

Most of the fun in these battle orientated games comes from the character customisation. Either through skills, moves, equipment, or team-building; you can create an efficient force capable of handling many scenarios and coming out on top. The relaxed style of turn-based battling prevents pressure on the player, allowing for a chilled experience.

DIG

The Dig mechanic is a strange one. It allows players to create their own path, find and collect resources, and use these to upgrade equipment etc. In motherload, it's all about finding rare resources (always worth more the deeper you go) and spending the money made on upgrading your ship to allow for deeper progression. In minecraft, any resource mined or dug can become a building block. But there is still the rare resources at greater depths which can be used for upgrading or even more options for building your own creations.

The element of fun for digging is the idea of: "what else is down there?" or "if i upgrade my ship, I can get down deeper faster". In motherload, you have to return to the surface to sell off resources and more importantly to refuel the ship. Minecraft is similar with the need to return to the surface to collect more food, or to unload resources when the inventory is full.

Thursday 25 July 2013

Collecting Found Footage and Music


I have been searching Archive.org and Open-video.org and building up my collection of clown material, juggling, circuses, carnivals and fairs. From Jamendo.com I have started collecting music for project 1. I have found a track for the scary video, 2 for the happy clip and I have 7 to choose from for the Sad/Dramatic iteration. I am also building a list of movie sources to help me keep up with which licenses I need to adhere to for my credits.

Wednesday 24 July 2013

Visual Diagrams

 

src=http://www.funstormgames.com/blog/2012/06/designing-around-a-core-mechanic/

These help to easily portray an idea and to help break down a game into layers.