Project Mapping - Update 5

All of the work I included in my video projection, is from various past shows here at NUCA.

Here is a list of the students that I sampled from;
-Richard Booth
-Keyinde Ajayi
-Colin Ainsworth
-Terry Curtis
-Laura Cain
-Wai Li
-Gary Norman
-Jack Stewart

I have also included a link to all of the students work below : 

http://www.nuca.ac.uk/thegallery/archive2010-11/madegreeshow2011

Projection Mapping - Update 4

So, now I have a collection of images from which to choose from. I now need to devise a visually attractive way, of displaying them in sequence. For inspiration, my first stop was the brief itself. I looked back to the links that were attached to the end of it. All of them gave great examples of very slick, very creative light shows and projections. All were promoting various products, events etc. Our goal, was to promote the work here at NUCA. From the original examples the tutors had provided for us, I searched the web to find more of them. There I saw some spectacular shows, that illuminated the facades of buildings, and transformed them into  incredible visions.

One such video, was projected onto the immense 'Christ the Redeemer' statue in Brazil. It consisted of various urban and natural vistas, followed  by the statue being outlined with bright neon. The most memorable part came last. Firstly, the statue returned to its original look, but with a small, delicate butterfly fluttering up towards the chest. When the butterfly settled onto Christ's chest, the arms folded inwards, gently clasping the butterfly with his hands. The illusion was so believable, as the space where the arms would be, were completely blacked out, and with the combination of the night sky it was an incredible effect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2STmHsZiUr4

Projection Mapping - Update 3

I took lots of examples of student's work from our website, and grouped them together into overlapping fields, based upon various parameters. Such as; text, dark imagery, fun etc. I did this so to have a smooth transition in my projection. Where artwork would roughly match with what was coming next, giving it a nice sense of cohesion.

Dark Imagery

Text Art

Projection Mapping - Update 2

I've chosen the main building on Duke Street to show my project on. Its a large, impressive building to look at, with beautiful, old architecture. Its got three main plains, or 'layers' to work on. These are its; roof, the main body of the building, and the three forward jutting facades. Its often used as a foyer to visitors, or to potential students on open days. Therefore, I think it would be suitable choice to showcase NUCA artwork on.

Projection Mapping - Update 1

 The first thing I have planned to do, is to visit all the Universities buildings. I will take some reference photos of them, and decide from these, which building to focus on. Hopefully, the buildings will inspire ideas from which I will work from.

Apple Interactive Concept - Update 5

I have tightened up the look of my game a bit since last. I had a very photo-realistic u.f.o. to begin with. I decided to reduce it down to a handful of flat, neutral colours. This was to keep it cohesive with the game's look as a whole. It now looks a lot more 'Apple Macintosh', with its cool shades of grey. I also altered the look of the scoreboard, which had started out as a simple black rectangle, with red digital numbers spread across it. I then changed its colour scheme, with a light blue rectangle and black numbers. For this latest change, I made the scoreboard a lot smoother and slicker. I added gentle colour gradients to the bar, and made the numbers match the font I had used elsewhere in the game, as well as in my design document.

My AIC

Apple Interactive Concept - Update 4

I have changed the look of my game somewhat. I started with a fairly standard background. Which had a faded blue sky, and a flat plain of green to represent the grass the people stand on. I thought this was too bland, and didn't really follow the look of the rest of the game, with its clean, clinical and mechanical elements. I changed the background to a more appropriate urban setting, with a skyline of variously sized buildings. Furthermore, by this stage, I had included some converted 'Apple People', as well as the unconverted 'blanks people'. These 'blanks' were a single-toned white manikins, statuesque on the ground, like sitting ducks. As well as adding the 'Apple people' I put in someone in the process of being converted, having just been hit by an Apple product, with a swirling vortex of energy around them, warping them into a black silhouette.

Apple Interactive Concept - Update 3

I have scrapped my first idea to make a free falling platform game, based on titles like ; 'Cow in a Shaft, 'The Dangerous Descent' from 'LittleBigPlanet', or 'Abduction', from the App store. I now thought of another fun online game I had played in the past. 'Gun Run' is a bold, slick looking, side scrolling shooter. I wanted to make a homage to this great little game, with my own creation. For content, I thought I revolve the whole game around 'Apple' itself. As we had to create an Apple iOS game, I thought I  would poke fun at the idea, and make a game that would be satirical and not too serious.

The basic premise for my game is that you, the player, is in control of a little U.F.O. which has the 'Apple'logo emblazoned on its flank. Your goal is to covert as many earthlings into 'Apple People' as you can, by firing various Apple products at them. The 'Apple People' are the striking black silhouettes you see in their adverts, dancing around with white earphone leads whipping about them. Really, the goal is to rack up high a score as you can, by converting everyone into these 'Apple People'.

Gun Run

First concept art

Apple Interactive Concept - Update 2

So, my initial idea is to have a free-falling game, which is fun and very simple. I took inspiration from various games across a number of platforms. There is an old flash game online called 'Cow in a Shaft'. As the rudimentary title suggests, it involves a free falling cow hurtling down a shaft, which the player must control not to go too fast or too slow. The cow must leap from platform to platform, which are all constantly moving upwards and disappearing off the top of the screen. As well as this, the cow must try to avoid dropping too fast and fall into the abyss at the bottom of the screen. So it is a basic judgement of timing and speed. This particular online game stuck in my mind from several years ago, and because of that fact, I chose to emulate this memorable game in my own fashion. Although 'Cow in a Shaft' may no be an original concept. I have found other similar games in other platforms. In 'LittleBigPlanet' for example, there is a minigame which is very similar to 'Cow in a shaft'. It introduced the possibility of having up to four players on screen, instead of the one solitary cow. Additionally, LBP has totally different graphics to 'Cow in a shaft', it being released exclusively on the PS3 back in 2008.

After looking into some more games on Apple's app store, I found even more games with the same idea. There was one game, called 'Doodle Jump', which took the concept, and literally flipped it on its head. In this game, you play as acute little 'doodle' monster, who's aim is to continually jump up the screen, with roughly the same parameters and rules as 'Cow in a Shaft'. It took advantage of its platform however, and made good use of the IPad's tilt function, to control the creature's trajectory. Another game in the same vein, would be 'Abduction'. This also involved a cow, which would be trying to travel up the screen, instead of falling down it. It looked a lot like 'Doodle Jump', with practically the same layout and controls (once again making use of the in built motion controls). Albeit with a different visual style.

I originally wanted to make a game just like these ones. But I went on to think of a more interesting and more socially outspoken game concept.

Cow in a shaft

Doodle Jump

Contextual Studies - Greg Costikyan 10 points of Interest 5/10

I have never really thought about the relative redundancy of the term 'good'. In his introduction, Costikyan talks about this. He says good does very little to describe a game, book, film etc. "Saying "it has good gameplay" is about as useful as saying "that's a good book."" I agree with him on this point. Saying something is 'good' generally implies a positive outlook on the game, book, but it does not tell us what it is that is good about it. It is too vague a phrase for defining the exact features of a subject. Costikyan also says "good doesn't help us understand what is good about it, what pleasure it provides, and how to go about doing something else good". Therefore, he says if you were able to understand things with the help of better wording, you could use what makes other things great, and apply it to your own projects.

Greg Costikyan talks about how someone else, called Will Wright, held a speech at a games developers’ conference some years ago. I find it very interesting how , in the conference, Wright describes SimCity as more of a 'software toy', rather than a game. He goes on to compare the game to a ball. A ball is just a toy, until a person lays their own set of rules and clearly defined boundaries upon it. Thus making it into a game. The same can be said about SimCity, which is relatively free form. In which, the player can choose his or her own objective, and try to accomplish this goal. I think this is a good comparison, the similar nature of the ball and the game SimCity, both goalless, until the player applies his or her own goals. In addition, Greg Costikan argues that struggle is needed in a game, to generate the 'thrill of victory'. If there is no build up, no conflict, no struggle, there will be no feeling of accomplishment when you do succeed. Greg uses the example of 'Plucky Little England'. In this example, the player is presented with two simple choices A and B. Choose B, and you win. Game over. Costikyan explains with "There is no thrill of victory, of course; it was all too easy, wasn't it? There wasn't any struggle.'  I agree with Greg, when he talks about the freedom offered by RPG games, such as Dungeons and Dragons. These games are where "adventure is a plot skeleton". Where the players journey through a totally imaginary world, dictated by the Gamemaster, who acts as a kind of "referee and playwright". The participants of the game are led into a world of fiction, much more like a book than a stereotypical video game. I like this sense of freedom he alludes to. I have seen friends of mine become totally embroiled into this make-believe world, even without the digital stimulus of computer graphics. I found this to be quite a special experience of mine.

Structure is important in games. Even in children's 'let's pretend' games, they invent their own rules set. Costikyan gives the example of a child's game. "You can only transform into a bird when you’re on the climbing structure in the park. If you want to attack someone, you have to ‘tag’ them". I can think of similar instances from my own childhood. We developed our own rules and parameters when we played. We had teams with their own bases, within which, you couldn't be killed, or were safe from monsters etc. Where problems arose, was when people weren't exactly clear on the rules. “Bang bang, you’re dead.” “No, I’m not! Who says? Why am I dead?”. Situations like this are to be expected from children's simple games, but this can spell doom for games on the professional level. If not everyone is clear on what the rules are, issues can quickly arise and ruin a game.

Apple Interactive Concept - Update 1

I have has so many ideas on what to do for this project, that I've been stuck on which one to choose. I know I want to make a very simple game. Something that is 'old fashioned', in a video gaming sense. An old-stlye platformer would be the aim. Much of what I have seen of Apple games, is remarkable and very clever. Although the technical looks of these IOS games are not on par with modern console and pc games, they are very impressive, in the fact of what they can add to a game. I personally do not own any handheld Apple products, so seeing the abilities of what the Ipad, Iphone can do in computer gaming terms, is amazing. There are games that 'add' to the real environment around the player. This is called 'augmented reality'. It crosses the seemingly impenetrable barrier between the screen, and reality around you. Although this is by no means a new concept for video games, what with the Playstation Eyetoy, Nintendo Wii and earlier versions preceding it, these apple games are still so imaginative. Some of the games utilize the in-built camera within themselves, turning nearby, physical people, to appear to have a giant rat's head on their shoulders. You can point the camera at a desk, look back at your Ipad's screen, only to see a line of digital ants crawling up it's side and onto the table! It really is astounding to see all of this today. Apple are really encouraging developer's to use the technology available and push the boundaries of what a video game can do.

Contextual Studies -Earliest, simplest game

When I was a child, I played Crash Bandicoot 2: The Wrath of Cortex. This was a basic, characterful, colourful ps1 platformer. A trivial, silly narrative was introduced at the start of the game to support the player’s actions. This was appropriate however, as it was primarily a child’s game. I then spent time concentrating on the execution of two moves; the jump and the spin. These were needed to get past pits, and dispatch enemies. I was just a mute orange character, wearing blue shorts and red sneakers. Running down a linear path through a jungle. Killing enemies, breaking big cartoon crates, collecting items, timing jumps and retrieving a big, unmissable pink crystal on each level. The gameplay was easy, fun and simple. Moving consisted of four directional buttons. Whilst all the remaining controls you needed, were; a button for a spin, and a button for a jump. Nothing else was required to play through the game. There was also no customization, no inventory, no branching storylines, no multiplayer, and no minigames. There were a small number of types of crate you could find. There were three levels of protective witch doctor masks you could have. Enemies’ actions were uncomplicated and predictable. The game was effectively split into 5 sets of 5 levels. Each section had a consistent theme running through it. Which gave you a comforting sense of familiarity, amongst all the dangerous traps and enemies you had to face. This game had such a lovely, childlike simplicity and delight about it, which it made it a pleasure to play. Even now, when I play it, it does not seem ‘old, dated and rubbish’. Its nostalgic to play, and a childhood classic of mine.

Contextual Studies - Roger Caillois

I agree with what Robert has said here, but only to a certain extent. It is completely true, that playing games does not acquire you any physical wealth. He is right to call it waste. At the end, you have gained nothing. You have only lost things. An alternate way of looking at it is that you may have gained or accomplished various things within the game universe. Therefore, not making your actions a waste of time. I think it depends on how you look at it. Yes, you may have built an amazing; building, castle, city within the game world, but ultimately, all that doesn’t matter in the real world. But then, if you take that standpoint, you could also argue that nothing in reality matters either. One human life, and all of its achievements are ultimately futile, insignificant and pointless in the long timeline of the universe. So this question of ‘play being a waste’, can go into enormous depth and detail.

Contextual Studies - The feel of Bioshock

Suddenly plunged into a frightening , mysterious, mad , bizarre world. NO KINGS OR GOD, ONLY MAN. As soon as I arrive, I’m assailed by impossibly powerful madmen. I struggle to repel them, and flee further into the city. This is a beautiful city, a utopia under the sea, but with a rotten cancer at its heart. Who’s effects are all around me. Madness, desperation, raw, feral instinct, running wild through the streets. I loot shops, corpses for food and supplies, which raises feelings of moral disputation within me. With no ethical, religious or governmental restraints, the excessive minds here have harnessed the powers of the Gods. And bottled it. I drink this ambrosia down greedily. I unleash it gleefully upon my enemies, who do the same in turn. Yet amidst all this chaos and depravity, glimmers of innocence appear. It falls to me if I am to crush these budding hopes in my fist, for my own personal gain, or set them free, and lead them away from this place. The great omnipresent creator of this city watches and studies my every move. I feel the sensation of constant observation everywhere. He communicates directly with me, questioning my presence here, my goals, my motives, undermining my confidence. I am embroiled into the strands of fate of the city.  `I feel small, threatened and real.

Board Game - Update 3

Now, we have decided on a type of game, (an abstract strategy game), a name, and a number of possible themes. So, things are progressing. Our game is a strange cross between chess and checkers, with 2 or 4 players. The pieces will be D4's, or four-sided pyramids. These will then move about the board, from their 'base' to destroy opposing pieces, and/or take any objectives, which we have also devised. One of our core elements, is that the pieces now have 'ranks'. These different ranks create a sort of rock-paper-scissors system between the pieces. Where one can take another, but can in turn, be taken by another rank, and so on. All of a players pieces start on 'rank 1' and can progress up to rank four. Currently, a player may move two pieces a turn. Or, alternatively, use those moves to 'upgrade' up to two of his pieces.

For example, a player moves one piece one space, and decides to upgrade another of his/her pieces one rank. Therefore, you cannot upgrade or move a single piece twice in one turn. In addition, you can turn a 'rank four' into a 'rank one' if you so wish. As only 'one's' can take 'four's'.

After we had created this system, we thought about extra objectives and victory parameters, to add to our game. Adopting a classic game mode from various video games,( and some tabletop war-games) we added our own version of 'Tower Defense' or 'King of the Hill'. This involved placing a central objective on the playing area. The idea was that players would fight to capture and control this over the course of a game.

Board Game - Update 2

This morning, we gathered in the Union, to discuss our findings. We had done well as a group in gathering information about board games, with a couple of us even going further and developing simple ideas for our game. This was excellent, as it acted as a catalyst for others to think up additional concepts. I thought several games during the course of the morning, including a time travelling game, which would have players answering questions from history. This then revealed itself to be a rather eleborate history test, which would be attractive for the wrong audience. I thought of developing this into some sort of Doctor Who questionnaire. But soon realised that this has almost definitely been done before, in the form of some Doctor Who trivial pursuit game. 

I then thought up a simple game, which was based on 'looking nice' rather than having riveting game mechanics. It involved three players, as the three primary colours. They would go around the board colouring in the dots with whichever colour was theirs. They could go over other players dots, to add to their own score. Their would be gradients of colour, so not just red, blue and yellow, but all kinds of different shades, were players had gone over opposing dots, and coloured them more to their own colour. I imagined a something similar to a 'lightbox' underneath this playing triangle, with coloured 'gels' over the top, representing the different dots shaded by the players. I thought this would be a good concept for a digitalised, online game, as this would perhaps be too much for a physical board game. To that end, we shelved the whole idea for now, and talked about another's idea, involving a grid-based, strategy game, with strong and weak units. This would potentially be four player. We then spent the afternoon discussing the exact mechanics required to get the different units balanced. This is still ongoing, and is where we have left it at for now, but this remains the strongest idea yet.  

BA1 - Fundamentals 1 : Board Game - Update 1

Its my theory, that to give us a good base knowledge of computer games, we have been asked to think about their natural predecessor : the 'board game'. Our task was to design, from scratch, a board game. This would then include the core game mechanics, (which even as I type, we are currently working on) the target audience, overall theme, concept artwork for ;the board, pieces, counters, rulebook etc. and everything else in-between.

On the first day, after being herded into our groups, my group decided to start by dispersing and doing some research into the history of board games. What are the most popular ones today. Why is this so etc.
This was a good idea, as it would hopefully give us a bit of knowledge to spin our own creation off of. This was all before we ventured off to ToyR'us to do some first hand research, into what was already out there. Needless to say, we discovered overwhelming rank upon rank of board games, stacked high and stretching down the length of the store. This was a good indication of just how appealing board games are to children, and the masses of companies wishing to capitalise on this fact. After examining the shelves of the store, we came to the conclusion we were going to follow the majority and market a game to children aged 8-12, which their parents could play with them. This would emulate the classic family format of Father, mother, son and daughter, which so many great board games base their concepts around. Namely; Monopoly, Scrabble, and to a lesser extent; Trivial Pursuit, Risk, Cluedo, and Mah Jongg.