Semester Done

So we have finally come to the end of this semester. Remind me to not take 17 credit hours again.

Anyways, we made our presentation today and it went really well. Brandon and Pc were working on a really cool level that would spawn a squadron of enemy ships and attack. Then once all the enemy ships were dead, a capital ship would also appear. But they were having some issues, so we had to present using the old level we used on the last presentation two weeks ago. Bummer.

Anyways, I can finally catch up on my sleep because I haven't had much of it in the last few days.

I didn't really do anything else other than what i posted last night. I was going to work on the texture for the enemy ship today, but Charlie already had a texture ready to go, so we just used his texture.

But just because the semester is over, it doesn't mean that we get to do nothing for the next few weeks. It just means we now have more time to dedicate to the game. :( We won't be working on it as much as we have during the semester, but we are still expected to keep working.

Charlie said that I should UV and texture all my ships because they are most likely going to end up as enemy ships. Then if I really don't have anything else to do, then I can either make more space content (debris and stuff) or make more ships.

Also, after class I went down to L130 and reviewed a game called Break Limit. I can't remember who it was, but someone in our group said to try and review games that have to do with what we are doing. Even if I was somewhat constrained on what I could/should review, this game seemed fun from the description that they give.

Prepare to go mind-numbingly fast as you Blast, Smash and Break Limit through every one and thing in your way! Powerful weapons that get stronger as you play, will help to power a ship that becomes an invincible wrecking ball while accelerating. Alpha Centauri will never be the same! Featuring online scoreboards for Gold subscribers, and local scoreboards to prove you’re better than your siblings!

It actually turned out to be really fun. I spend around 1 -  1 1/2 playing the game before I realized what time it was. I wasn't really good at it, but it still kept me hooked for a really long time.

Anyways, that's all for now. Thanks for reading!

The End is Near

So tomorrow we have to present out Alpha version of the game to the class.

I've been working on the enemy ship for the demo, but it wasn't the one that I had originally made. The one that I made was funky and had triangles in it, which we can't have. So Charlie game me one of his models that he had made a little while back and I cleaned it up and tweaked it just a bit before I started to work on the UV mapping.

I don't think that I've said this before, but I hate UV mapping. Its time consuming and its hard to get it just right. I was trying to take a shortcut and used Maya's auto mapping tool... huge mistake! It did an OK job at mapping out the UV with out distorting them too much. The only problem was that it had broke it up into a ton of little pieces.

So thinking that it was still going to save me time, I sat there putting together the pieces into bigger chunks. But it was taking too much time just trying to figure out which pieces went together. After almost 2 hours of work, I saw that I had made little progress so I decided to start over and do the UVs by hand. After another 2 hours of work, I was done.

The UVs don't look too great, since I just did them in a rush. Also, the lack of sleep might have had something to do with it. Last night I didn't sleep because I was working on a project for another class. I've had around 3 hours of sleep total.

Anyways, here are a few renders from the model the Charlie made and that I UV mapped:

That's all, thanks for reading.

Junk Space Ship - Reworked

So I have to rework on the junk space ship. To make it look beat up, I was trying to use deformers in Maya. But I couldn't make it look the way I wanted it to look, so I will probably have to work on it in Mudbox and get a bump map on it instead. But I will leave that for the next sprint in the mean time. We have to demo our Alpha version this Thursday, so I have to make sure that the ship we are going to use as enemies look as good as possible.

In the meantime, I'll just post the renders of the ship that I did before I used the deformers.

I've also started to work on making the enemy ship that we will be using for the demo. I had to rework the model because my original model's geometry was really messy. But fixing the problem was more difficult than I originally thought. In the process of cleaning up the geometry, some triangles formed. I'm trying to get some help in fixing the triangles.

Once that's taken care of, I will work on making the UV maps and a texture for Thursday's demo. 

That's all for now, thanks for reading.

Junk Spaceship Done

So today we didn't have anything in class as far as a lecture goes. Bob and Roger left open for us to talk about the stuff that we want to do and just keep working.

I finished a NASA space ship and made it look old and beat up. I finished it today and I didn't have time to do renders of it, but I'll do them and post an update on my blog about it.

In the meantime, our last sprint starts today and I have to focus on making one of my ships really good since it's going to be the main enemy ship in the meantime. I have to finish it in the next few days so that I can layout the UVs, make a texture, and maybe even a bump map on Mudbox.

Thats it for now, thanks for reading.

10 Days Left

So we have 10 days left in the semester before we have to have an Alpha version of our game done. We have to finish nailing down the features that will be in our game, this means that we have to cut out all the stuff that we won't be able to do with in the next 10 days.

This is because next semester we won't have time to insert new features since we will have to focus on inserting content, polishing, and submitting out game for approval. Roger and Bob said that we might be able to insert some new content, but only if we finish everything before schedule and as long as we don't have to do much tweaking. But we shouldn't count on it.

Us on the art side are going to have to crank out models, levels, and content. And programmers are going to have to optimize the code and make sure that none of the code violates any of the things on the evil list. So we will have out work cutout for us.

Today we nailed down the pods and the control scheme.

We decided that we will be limited to: one shield pod, one engine pod, one laser/weapon pod, and a handful of special pods. We also said that only the first three will have a passive effect, and then a consumable effect. For example, when you use your engine pod, it will make you go faster for a few seconds. The special pods won't have a passive effect, but will have some cool effect when launched.

I didn't work much over the break, and I was planning on finishing my stuff today while at school but I forgot my external hard drive. So I will have to finish it sometime in the next two days.

After I'm done, Charlie said that the ships that I created will act as the enemy ships for the Alpha we have to turn in. I have to take my crest like ship and make it  better. I have to work on the base model and make it look as good as possible.

Thats all for now, I'll see how much I can get done in the next few days. Thanks for reading.

Space Station

So I forgot to do a blog for Tuesday the 23rd, so this post will be for that day.

Due to some really bad weather, campus was closed at 2PM and classes were canceled. So we didn't get a chance to see the professors or the other people in the group. We did exchange some email on that day, but nothing too importnat.

For this sprint, we moved to one week sprints instead of two weeks. I was assigned to model a space station and other random space debris.

I've finished the space station, all I need to do is scale it up and uploaded to the repository. I'm not going to add anymore shaders because they do no good. We have to texture them eventually, so there is no point on wasting time and effort into adding a simple shader.

I'm almost done with  one other model that is suppose to be an old NASA space ship. I need to finish modeling it and then deforming it to make it look all old and worn out.

That is all, thanks for reading.

Second Sprint is Over

Today is the end of our second sprint. We had to do another presentation to the class about the progress of our game.

James and Charlie explained what we've done in the last two weeks and so far it looks great. They showed the new ship that Charlie made that has laser guns attached to the ship and is able to shoot lasers and pods. They also collide with asteroids and enemy ships and are able to destroy them and take them out of the game.

Since last time, I started to look on an old space ship and in a space station for the game as space debris. I haven't fixed my models because Charlie said that we should focus on just one ship at the moment, but I'm still not sure how I can help him make one ship look really good.

As last time, our next sprint starts today. Last time they took a while to assign me a task in ScrumWorks, so I'll just keep working on the old ship and the space station for the meantime. Then once I get an update task list, I'll know what to focus on.

With Thanksgiving next week, hopefully I'll be able to get some work done. Also, we are moving to one week sprints instead of two weeks. This is going to put more pressure on us to get things done instead slacking for a week and then rushing to get things done. We will also have smaller tasks since it's only once week, but this way we will constantly be busy working on the game.

Thats all, thanks for reading.

1st Satellite Done

So I managed to finish my first satellite, but it looks really bad. The model its self looks really good in my opinion, but the shaders that I put on the model look horrible. In order to make it look good, I have to layout the UVs and use Photoshop to make the colors look descent, so I'll get to it sometime this week before Thursday.

Here are the renders for the model with out color:

Here are the renders for the model with color:

Today during class, the art team meet up with Roger to talk about where we were at in the art side of the game. We talked about the idea that we have about having two corporations in the game and Charlie said that he would be in charged of one corporation and I would be in charge of the other one. Brandon showed him the mock up of the HUD that he made and Roger told us to switch to a virtual HUD instead of the of what he made. Roger said that it would end up being a lot easier for everyone in the end.

Roger also told us that we have to focus on completely finishing at least one ship before we keep going.

Before I can start working on the art for one of the corporation, I have to go and fix the geometry of the ships that I made. Even if there isn't anything technically wrong with them, the geometry is a little messy. Brandon also said that I should probably try to round the edges of the ships since it might cause problems with the normal map technique we are trying to use to keep low poly models that look like high resolution models.

Thats all, thanks for reading.

Making Space Debris

So I've started to work on space debris and miscellaneous space objects for the game. I decided to start by making a satellite for the game. Basically the satellite will just float out in space, not doing anything besides looking pretty. I'm not sure if they will have the satellites just moving in random paths or if they are going to designate a path in Maya since we are using Maya a level editor now (it was Brandon's idea).

This is the picture that I'm using as a reference for the satellite that I'm making:

And I think that I will add the antena dishes from this satellite:

I will try to finish this today and add a shader on it and uploaded to our art svn. I will post a render of the finished satellite once I'm done.

Also, today during class, Roger gave a lecture about reviewing games. He gave us some info from the origins of game reviewing. This is because we have to review at least one indie game before the the end of the semester to get us to be active in the XBox Indie Game community.

That is all, thanks for reading.

Working With Locators in Maya

So I finally went into Maya and split the ship into pieces just the way that the guys in the tech team wanted. This is so that they can use the different bounding spheres around the separate meshes of the model for collision detection. This way they don't have just one giant sphere with a ton of empty space.

Pace made a program that can draw the spheres around the models that we make to better give us an example of the "final product." But I noticed that even with the separate meshes, there is still a ton of empty space. I don't know if I have to separate the model even further or if I'm just missing something. I'll have to ask everyone next time we meet since I think that it might be a little to difficult to do it over email.

Also, during class the tech guys said that they wanted to have locators attached to the models that we give them so that they could use those points to attach pods to the ship. Sounds easy enough, but I've never actually worked with locators until today. I attached a total 13 locators to the ship for different kinds of pods like: lasers, engines, cockpit, and a few extras for the tech guys to play around with.

Ideally, they want us to model a laser gun (for example) and attach it to the ship. Then attach a locator to the gun so that they would know where a beam would be coming from. Also attach several locators that would function as pod slots for the ship so that the player would be able to choose what kind of pods would be equipped to the ship.

Also, I've decided that I will start to work on miscellaneous space debris since we have enough concept ships at this point. We talked about making a total of 9 ships that the player would be able to use, 3 ships for each faction or corporation in the game. Pace mentioned that we might want to make 2 more ships (one for each faction), these would be the "super ships" that would be unlocked towards the end of the game.

I still don't know what kind of space debris I will make, but probably not asteroids since they already have a ton of those in the current version. I'm thinking of making something like old space ships or satellites. Or if I'm feeling up to the challenge, even a space station.

But probably not.

Thanks for reading.

Another Ship

So I don't have any tasks assigned to me right now, so I didn't know what else I need to work on. In the meantime I finished the ship that I started last week and I put the same shader that I've been using on the other ships that I've made. Charlie should be assigning me some tasks before the end of the day, so I'll know what to work on by next time.

Here is the renders of the new ship that I've made:

I still have to go thru and split the ship into pieces so that the programers have several binding spheres for collision detection. I also have to add attachment points on the ships so that the programers know where to attach the pods. I will get all of this done before the end of the day.

That is all for now, thanks for reading.

First Sprint is Over

So today marks the day that we finished our first sprint. We have come a long way as a team.

We had to do a presentation on where we are at this point. The tech team put together a demo game that has a working space box with some debris and used the first ship that I created a few weeks ago. We also showed that we have an options screen that can manage: the brightness, contrast, and other things. We also have a save and load screen.

After class, most of us that were there, got together for a quick chat and discussed about getting a poll up on our Google Groups site. The poll would take everyone's point of view into consideration of what they would like the ships to look like and other stuff that we need to figure out before we can move on.

Also, we talked a little about what we wanted for the story of the game. A while ago, we talked about there being two corporations in the game, each with their pros and cons; the player would be able to choose sides and stuff like that. Each side would have different ships that would vary in the way they look, the color of the ships, what type of ships are available to the player, etc. But one persons on the group (I can't remember who it was) mentioned that what if instead of having just two faction, we have three.

Since there is three of us doing the work on the art side of the project, each of us would create a "corporation" for the game and have our own art style for the ships. In my opinion this sounds really cool, and its something that I would really enjoy. That would be like creating my own little world inside the game. But on the other hand, this would increase the work load for all three of us. This would also increase the assets necessary for the game and endup taking way more space than needed.

Since Tuesday, I started to work on another ship because I don't know what else to do in the meantime. Also our second sprint starts TODAY! There is no break for us, specially now that we have to make sure that in two weeks we have something more impressive to show the class. We have to outdo ourselves every time! Sounds horrible, I know. But that's the way it has to be. Hopefully I'll get my assignments this weekend so that I can start to work on them.

That is all. Thanks for reading.

Not Much to Report

On Tuesday we didn't have a lecture during class, so we used the time to go to lab L130 in the WEB. I used that time to learn how to export both of my models into the FBX format. Once I did this to both of my models, I uploaded them to the SVN repository we have for the assets.

I got to see the progress of the game so far and it looks really promising. The programming guys have been able to set up a 3D space and have my first ship fly around in it. The camera follows the ship and it even has a cool effect that makes the camera pull back a little when the ship speeds up.

We also had a conversation of where we wanted the art style and the game to go. At first we talked about probably making the ship modular. This means that the player would be able to build their own ship and customize it how ever they see fit. The player would be able to either buy or get upgrades throughout the game. But James said that it might be too complicated to put it in code and actually get it to work properly.

I belief that we should not take a modular approach because it would require too many assets in the game to come up with a bunch of different parts for ships. I think that we should create a handful of ships and create something like a garage where the player would be able to keep the ships that he or she buys. This would also allow the player to have different types of ships each having their pros and cons.

But since not everyone was there, we weren't able to come to a decision. So we decided that we would put it to a vote on our Google Groups site. This way it will be fair, and once we know for sure we can move forward.

Also, our first sprint will be coming to a close on Thursday and we have to present to the class where we are and what we want to do for the next sprint. We also have to explain what worked and what didn't.

I've finished all the stuff that was assigned to me on ScrumWorks, but I will still work on more ships and try to have one more done by Thursday afternoon. I want to do one that resembles the SA-23E Aurora.

That is all I have to report, thanks for reading.

New Concept Ship

So today I uploaded a new ship to the assest repository that was set up for our game. And I had a break of about 2 hours, so I made a new ship in that time. It's not that fancy, but we are suppose to be coming up with different variations of the ships.

Here is a few renders of my new ship:

Also, I've been assigned the ships and the texture that go along with those ships on scrumworks. I haven't make any textures yet, but I will try to at least do one by next time.

I'm still having trouble coming up with ideas for ships. I'm not really good at coming up with art, but if someone gives me a picture of something I can model it without a problem.

All of us in the art side have decided that for our art style, we should try to make modular ships. Or even if they aren't truly modular, we should make them look like they are. So we can model parts of ships instead of complete ships. 

Thats all for now, thanks for reading.

Shaded Model

So, I'm too lazy to actually layout the UVs for the model that I made so I just added some shaders to the model and gave it a metallic feel to it. The thing is that I have to work on the shader a bit, because some of the paint on the model looks more like a sticker. I think that part of the problem is that its also a little too bright.

Here are some renders of the model.

Other than that, I haven't done much. I will try to find more reference images to make more ships in the next day or so. In the meantime, thanks for reading.

Presentation to the Class

Today, all the groups had to do a small presentation about what stage we are in our games. We had to present any code and art that we have.

The only thing is that our groups hasn't done anything. 

We had Fall Break last week and Bob and Roger were gone last time so we haven't really had a chance to decide what we are going to do. The good thing is that we weren't the only ones. The Gravity Shift team didn't have anything to present, they mainly talked about what they were doing and what they wanted to do in the future.

The Twin Stick group presented a 3D version of their game. They showed that you can move and have a very rough 3D world in place. They showed that they were able to attack and interact with the enemy.

We had a few things to present. We presented the sky box that Brandon has been working on and some of the models that Charlie made.

After class, I decided to finish a ship of my own. I found this picture on the internet and I used to make a model.

This is a few pictures of the model that I made.

Thats what I have so far. Since we are still in the concept stage for the art and the models, I'm debating on whether I should lay out the UVs for the ship or not. Anyways, thanks for reading.

Back From Fall Break

So today is the first day back from Fall Break.

Bob and Roger (the teachers) weren't here today, but we had a couple of student from last year talk to the class. I don't remember their names, but they were part of the team that created Urban Space Squirrels.

They talked about the level editor that they created for their game and how important it was to not take it lightly. They said that they actually spend a great deal of time developing the editor, constantly making changes or adding features that they needed in order for it to work the way they wanted it to.

Basically, they created a game that is based around tiles. Their game is a bunch of little pictures put together to create a level. But they also created tiles for different things that happened in the game. They had tiles for lasers, buttons, platforms, etc.

It was really cool what they managed to do with their level editor because it looks really easy to use but very good at what it's suppose to do.

They also talked about what they struggled with. Overall, they were there to tells us what not to do, but how to do it in a way that will save time.

We are also going to start our sprints by next class, so pretty soon I probably won't have a social life (their words not mine). :(

Anyways, thanks for reading.

Fall Break

So even if we are in fall break and we aren't working on our sprints yet, we decided that we should probably start working on some of the modeling so that we don't fall behind. The thing is that it's easier said than done. :P

I have to admit that I got really lazy over Fall break and I didn't do what I originally wanted to do, which is have some sort of model done by tomorrow (10-19). But I did manage to go online and look at some pictures of space ships from other games and I think I know what I want to do now, but I first want to run it by the group to make sure that it matches our "art style" that we are suppose to stick to.

So here are some of the picture that I found that might be of some help.

So those are the pictures, thanks for reading.

Trimming Down the Backlog

So yesterday, we got together again to talk about the Backlog that we worked on Tuesday during class. But this time, instead of adding more ideas to the backlog we started to talk about what were the essential parts inorder to have some sort of working model by the end of the semester. This means that a lot of the stuff in the backlog are not going to be worked on immediately and might not even make it to the final game.

In the mean time we've decided that some of the most essential things for the game are:

• Menu screen
• Control scheme
• User interface (first person/third person) HUD
• Player's ships
• Enemy's ships
• Load out screen
• Save/Load game system
• Pause system
• Pods functionality
• Space box
• Planets/space content
• Radar system
• Combat system
• Mission screen
• Buy/Sell system or Ship upgrade system
• AI system (enemies and allies)

We will try to focus on these things and try to have a Beta out by the end of the semester.

That's all. Thanks for reading.

Brainstorming Ideas

So I forgo to update my blog for Tuesday October 5th. So this will post will cover what happened on that day.

So on Tuesday we got into our groups and started to brainstorm ideas for our Backlong of all the features that we could possible have. We also included all the things that we would need to actually make the game work. This includes: 3D models, art, programing, etc.

This is our complete list of ideas:

Game Modes

• Versus - split screen/networking
• Campaign - split screen co-op/races/challenges, possibly salvage lost player's ship and lost player could operate in an auxiliary mode (gunner)

Environments

• Environments with gravity due to planets, black holes, stars
• Nebula
• Space stations
• Trash/Junk sectors

Enemies

• Fighters of different sizes and classes (bomber, interceptor, swarm, etc.)
• Capital ships (larger "boss" ships)
• Space stations
• Fixed weapon placements
• Medium cruisers
• Freighters
• Aliens

Targeting

• Target different parts of ships (hull, engines, weapons, shields, etc.)
• Switch targets
• Lock on

Missions

• Escort civilians
• Disable instead of kill
• Attack convoy
• Start with missions that are critical to the story and add more as time permits

Ship Customization

• Money
• Locations to purchase upgrades (stations, home base)
• Find loot/salvage

Gameplay

• Dog fighting
• Keep it "busy" - fast paced, lots of action
• Arcade fell instead of exploration
• Customization - find loot, buy parts
• Objectives - Could affect future missions? Dynamic objectives?
• Missions follow a story
• Pick your missions
• Soft abort/escape?
• Squadron of teammates? - Possibly command them
• Fast travel - select coordinates and jump to mission location
• Switch between fight/defense/travel mode
• Multiple ships
• Lose ships if you die
• Lose money if you die
• Different classes of pods - offensive, defensive, tactical
• Tutorial on ship functions, fighting, navigating, etc.
• Different corporations have different tech/upgrades available - need to earn renown with each corp. to purchase

Features

This is a list of all the things Roger went through with us to help us figure out what we need to develop.

• Menu screen
• Tutorial mission - combat, flight controls, mission structure, etc.
• Control scheme
• User interface (first person/third person) HUD
• Player's ships
• Enemy's ships
• Load out screen
• Save/Load game system
• Pause system
• Pods functionality
• Warp animation
• Jump to active mission
• Space box
• Planets/space content
• Radar system
• Combat system
• Space loot/recover pods
• Mission screen
• Buy/Sell system
• Ship upgrade system
• Hangar/Home base
• Ship to ship communication
• AI system (enemies and allies)
• End game scenarios

---

So as you can see, this is a really long list. But that's the whole point of a Backlog, to writedown all possible ideas and then eventually trim it down to the "essentials" for the game to work and to give the player a good gaming experience.

That's all, thanks for reading.

New Team

So I forgot to update my blog last Thursday (9-30-10), so this blog post will be for that day.

Thursday was the day that we found out which games out of the 9 that we presented on the 28th of last month were picked to move on to be fully developed into a game. So the team that I was on for the Gravity Shift game got picked to be one of the 3 games that we will be making. The people of the other groups were then assigned to one of the other three teams.

So the games that we will be making these next 2 semesters are: Gravity Shift, Creep Commando (originally Twinstick DotA) and the Space Fighter game. 

So I got moved from my team and got placed in the Space Fighter game, which is good because I think that I'll be able to do more in this game than in the Gravity Shift game. Mainly because this game is going to be a 3D space arcade game which will need a lot of 3D models done and I can definitely do that. The other game was going to be a 2D game, so I don't know what I would've done there except maybe get in the way. :(

Anyways, we got to meet the rest of the people in the group and we were introduced to a software development work flow called Scrum.

We also had a brief discusion to see where we wanted this game to go. Anyways, that is all that happened on Thursday. I'll post the video that we were show in class that better explains what Scrum is.

Thanks for reading.

Second Presentation

So today is the second presentation for our games. We are going to present the prototypes infront of experts and teachers from other departments and they are going to judge our game ideas.

For this presentation, I had to finish the background for the game. Since we have an art style that looks like a sketch or pencil art, we decided that a background that looks like paper would be better. So I used a picture of graphing paper that I found on the internet and expand it.

Here is a piece of the background. Its nothing fancy, but it matches our art style.

Also, on the last video you had to land on a sign to "win", but it was also kind of hard to see. So I made two others that we could use instead of a sign. Here they are:

Here is the video that I made for the presentation.

That is all, hopefully this game makes it through this round and eventually becomes a full game. Here is the link to the final pitch doc for our game. Thanks for reading.

Some Art is Done

So another one of my classes has been sucking up a lot of my time during the week, so I haven't really been working on the art as much as I should. But since the final presentation for the games is this coming Tuesday (9-28) I have to finish it before Saturday night. So have this is the only thing that I've worked on.

These arrows are going to help us show which way the gravity is pulling our character in the game. The reason I made them this way is so that it matches the art style of the rest of the game. If you look at the video that I posted earlier, the arrows stand out too much. This way they will look more natural.

I will post the rest of the stuff when I'm done. Thanks for reading.

Gravity Shift Game Pitch Video

So this is the video that we are going to use for the practice run of the second pitch. Since this video was done, the game has changed a bit. I made this video using Final Cut.

I need to finish the art for the game because we still have the ball on this prototype.

Main Character Revealed

So we decided that the main character is going to be a blob. Unfortunately, we are still not quite sure about the background story for the game. We need to come up with something over this weekend because we have to do a mock presentation this next Tuesday (9-21-10).

I worked a bit more on the art that I posted on Tuesday, and this is what I have so far. Please don't be too hard on me.

The head looks a little too pointy, so I need to fix it. This will be the sprite used when the character is not moving. I'm also working on another sprite where we see the sprite being thrown into the air.

My assignments for the weekend are as follows:

1. I have to draw and complete the sprite for when the blob is in mid-air.
2. Fix the sprite when the blob is not moving.
3. Make a video for our mock presentation that shows some sample gameplay of the prototype.

The video shouldn't be too hard to do. But I need for Tyler (one of the group members and author of the original pitch for this game) to give me the raw footage. Hopefully he won't take too long, but I know that he's also working on some code for the game.

Anyways, I'll post the art when I'm done with it.

Thanks for reading.

Art for Gravity Shift

So I had to come up with "art" for the prototype that we have to present next week. I have to say that I'm not the best artist in the world. So here it is:

So that is a sketch of a simple level that I came up with. Its horrible art, but the basic idea gets across.

For our character, we are still not sure if we want an animal, a person or a blob. So this is some of the stuff that I came up for a blob from different angles and movements.

And if we decide to go with a cute hamster, this is a good place to start.

I still need to work a lot on the art, hopefully I'll be able to get some more work done in the next few days.

Thanks for reading.

Theme and Goal for Gravity Shift

Today we had the whole class time to work more on our game pitches. Remember that we have to come up with a working  and playable prototype in less than two weeks. We had to come up with a theme and a goal for the game. We are going to focus on those two things for the presentation.

We have been working on the pitch a bit and we've decided on this. We've decided to place the video game in space on a giant space station. We replaced the red ball with a man that lost the ability to use his limbs in an accident, which is why he is trying to get out of the space satiation. But in the accident that caused him his limbs, he gained the power to control gravity. He's using his new powers to escape.

We decided that the theme is going to be "urgency". The players will have a certain time limit to clear a level before the space station blows up. The goal of the game is to make it out of the space station alive.

That's all for now. I still need to work on the art that was suppose to be done today. I'll get it done over the weekend and post it here when I'm done.

Thanks for reading.

First Assignment for Game Pitch: Gravity Shift

So unfortunately my game didn't make it through the first round of voting. :( I'm kind of sad because I thought that it had some good potential, but I guess we will never know. T.T

Anyways, today (9-7-10) we found out which games were selected and we also got placed into a group to further develop one of those games. I got placed into the group that will be working on a game called: Gravity Shift. And it actually sounds like a cool game. Heres the details of the game (keep in mind that this is the original game pitch and it hasn't been developed further yet): game pitch. (Your going to need a google account to view the document, sorry.)

So now that we have been dividen into small groups, our job is to make a simple prototype of the game with in the next two weeks. For this, we'll have to create a very rough design of the game using simple art and borrowing code from the web. This prototype will be used in the presentation where the judges will be able to test out our game and ask question about it. We will eventually throw away everything that goes into this prototype, so we don't have to work too hard as long as it looks ok. :P

So as I've said before, I'm on the film side of the EAE program. So my first assignment for this game is to come up with some simple concept art for the character (were not sure if we want to keep the main character as a red ball) and some level designs by this Thursday (9-9-10). 

Hopefully I'll be able to come up with something cool.

Thanks for reading.

Game Pitch: Battle of the Ages

So this is my game idea that I've come up with, feel free to tell what things work well and which don't.

Battle of the Ages

Battle of the Ages is a Odin Sphere meets Guilty Gear game that will allow players to master different sets of controls, character development, exploration, and epic boss fights on a one-on-one basis.

Game Overview

Battle of the Ages takes some of the elements from Odin Sphere and combines them with the fighting and art style of the Guilty Gear series.

Control Sets

Players will be able to switch between two different control sets. The first set will be used when the player is roaming around which is structured in a beat’em up style to get rid of many enemies at once. The second set is activated when a player meets a boss, which will switch the game from a beat’em up to a fighting game.

Character Development

Players will be able to level up during the game, this will increase the damage they can output and the amount of damage received before the character dies. Players will also be able to collect stronger weapons or armor at the end of certain levels or after boss fights.

Exploration

The beat’em up side of the game will have multiple levels. Players will be required to revisit levels to explore sections that they weren’t able to access the first time. Players will be rewarded with items or experience points for this exploration.

Boss Fights

Boss will be fought one-on-one. Players will be able to do different moves than when roaming the world that focus on a single opponent. Players will be able to link moves to do combos and even do destructive finishing moves.

To get a better idea of what I'm talking about here is some gameplay videos from Odin Sphere and Guilty Gear.

So that's my game idea. I'm having second thoughts about some of the stuff that I presented. But I'll just wait and see if my game even gets picked to move on to the next stage.

Thanks for reading.

My Introduction

Hi, my name is Christian and I'm a Film student on the EAE Track. I'm the first one in my family to go to college and, if all goes well, I'll be the first one to get a degree once I graduate.

I love to play video games and watch movies. I mostly play on my PS3 or on my PSP, so I tend to be a bit of a Sony fanboy. I don't play many PC games mostly because I have a Mac, but I have been thinking of getting Windows 7 for my MacBook Pro.

Some of the games that I've played recently are: Assassins Creed 2, CoD: Modern Warfare 2, Star Ocean: The Last Hope International, and Final Fantasy 13.

Apart from being on the EAE program at the U, I'm also trying to get a degree in Japanese. People often ask me why I want to get a degree on Japanese, and I tell them that it's because one day I want to move to Japan and hopefully work in the game/animation industry over there. While I know that it will be very challenging, I think that I should be able to do it.

I'm not very good when it comes to programming, so I tend to go on the art side of things (which is why I'm on the film side of the EAE and not on the CS). I'm good with Maya and I know my way around Photoshop.

Anyways, that's me.