Author: sejohsejoh

Going to this event was better than I expected. Although I didn’t really know what I was going to be attending, I was in an environment that was all about the games. The people were friendly and open to discussing the games being presented. There was a strong presence from both staff of the University but also from the students.

It was nice seeing the creativity of the other students in the doom class, seeing what modifications they chose to create to the game DOOM. I have a friend named Daniel that created a mod that shot rockets at enemy robots that looked like Star Wars machines. There was also some sort of a robot attached to the ceiling of the game that shot lasers at you, forcing the player to shoot back to continue the game. I thought he did a nice job of adding a “Collision Detection” like interactions in the game. For instance you also had to navigate through the level to find keys that eventually open certain doors. On top of that whenever the character came close to the door, the door told the player which key was needed to open the door, this was well executed.

Daniel also created a game object that changed the state of the game after touching. Making the game trippy, changing the way the game looked. Altering the color scheme and I think he also added new objects. The lady next to him had an interesting mod as well as the objective was to collect apples. Not only was the aesthetic of the game interesting but the song choice that accompanied the game was pretty funny and fun. The song was like a kid song singing about eating apples. I found this to be a nice touch that complimented the gameplay.

Playing Giana and Mikes games both showed interesting gameplay objectives. Giana’s gameplay was underestimated by a few people, as they it was going to be easy to evade the randomly generated  enemy bots. But people still had fun with her game, including myself. For Mike’s game, I though it was cool how you had to find a coin located on this massive map. A dope detail he implemented was the Chinese writing on the coin. The map layout was also pretty fun to navigate around. Hopefully I can provide some music to yall’s game.

For this second prototype I wanted to trim down my amount of levels from 10 to 7 levels,  being I feel that is a number of completion. I ran into the issue of the scenes not being able to go all the way to 7 then. I would be able to advance to the third and then 4th level, but I would not be able to go to the fifth. Once I got to the fifth the game would go to the 3rd level rather than the 6th. The first few levels began rather easy but as the game goes on the levels get modified and the user is pushed to work harder to complete each puzzle. I also needed to make changes to the color scheme. The first few prototypes were to bright, I needed the colors to be more earthly and a bit flatter. I felt as if the strong colors had no soul to them.

One way I wanted to juice this project up was by having the enemy characters either follow the main character around or move around randomly, creating a harder level to pass. I initially had the main enemy character move around in its area but I didn’t feel like it worked to well. So now with the implementation of additional enemy bots I want them to move around like fellow classmate Giana’s dodgeball game.

One addition I failed to create was a score that had the current amount of points plus the amount needed to reach to advance to the next level. This would be cool for the user to be able to see, “ok I need to see how to get this score and I’ll be finished with this level.” As a stylistic choice I would have went with a natural hand write style font, with a bit of a wiggle to it.

Another idea was to have a timer implemented into the game creating a sense of urgency to figure out the puzzle. Without the timer the game is to easy. If you think about this life we have currently indulged ourselves in, it runs on time. I know currently I have to make decisions based on time, so I felt I would benefit the game to implement that.

A bit more polish would’ve been added to the main character with the addition of a code that would make the color of the main character change when the user moved the character. A slow wave like change of color would take place if I was able to obtain this task. There was also the addition of a sound that would be heard every time the player collected food, and passed the food to the lover. As well as sounds heard when the player touched the enemy. Both of these sounds would have been different from each other; one being a Mario like coin sound, and the other being a deep buzz similar to the sound a Mac makes when you hit a key that currently isn’t allowed.

Revisiting project three has been real cool. Outside the fact that I liked the assignment, this project allowed me to take a basic game to the next level. In doing so I initially planned to have multiple levels that one will go through by the location of the player. Say the player runs in to a certain object, this object would propel the player to another level. Although this idea was cool it didn’t last once class critique came. Instead the idea evolved to the game changing levels once a certain score in that level was achieved. The new objective of the game is to now complete the puzzle of each level to be able to advance.  Now the game will begin simple and progress in difficulty as the player plays through the game, while being able to learn how to win.

With my initial idea of being able to change levels, mid level, I think I will try to implement that into the game at later stages of the progress of the game as the puzzles get harder.

I also had want to try an experiment with sound in this game. So far I’ve placed music on the title screen and music on each level. Currently I am having an issue with the music restarting after each level is started. What I want to do is have the music play once the first level is begun and continue throughout the levels. If the user is still playing when the audio is finished I want it to loop.

The nice thing about this project was learning that this clicking interaction can be applied to many different types of games. I had the idea that there would be a player playing a basketball like shooting game where the player had to precisely click on an area to shoot and score. Now thinking about it, this code would need some physics to measure distance as well as the arc of travel from the character to the placement of the basket.

All I was able to create for this game was the basic tutorial the professor walked us through. But I made a stylistic choice of not adding any animal icons to create a sense of button smashing. This game is essentially that, whenever the user clicks the buttons a small click sound is heard. The score also adds up each time the user clicks, after the amount of clicks hits a certain number the user can by another button. One but needs ten clicks to add the count of those those buttons. Another button needs one hundred clicks to add to that button count. I find it interesting how I was able to set up a game that is able to play with numbers. Thankfully it is in the code that I am able to subtract and add. This gameplay feature can be used best with puzzle games.

Now thinking about it, it would’ve been better to replace the click sound with a 808 boom. Or if the four buttons all held a different sound that could be played when clicked, this could create a dope game. The other sounds could be a clap, a synthesizer stab, a vocal chop, something interesting and space-like.

Starting this game I was able to get rolling on the foundation of building the level, while following the tutorial of the professor. I was able to find a model online that had this really cool piece of land created. It had the feel of a clay town with bright colors, a modern almost futuristic plastic trees and rocks, as well as other objects. Very pop like.

Going through this process of creating a randomly generated game was very beneficial to support the opportunity to apply this to future games. The function alone of randomly generating the placement of a tree every time the level loads allows for a game to constantly provide a new challenge for the player. If I were to add this to my project 3, I would be able to make the game unpredictable by applying this randomly generated function to the placement of enemy bots.

Within in this game I created a game loop that the game was completed after the player found the cloud that is located somewhere within the level. Everything within the level is randomly generated, so the player will have to relocated the cloud each time played.

For a future improvement I would like to add sound to this game. Sound that will have a steady beat to provide a sense of rhythm to support the journey of the player seeking to find the cloud. Additionally I would change the sound of the footsteps to be the sound of walking on grass, fresh grass that was watered early in the morning.

If I were to Add  a timer to the game, this would increase the engagement with the user. This would decrease the chances of the player getting board just walking around a map trying to find an object. Along with a timer would be a score count out of 1. This would be added so the user would know what is needed of them for them to complete this level of the game.

Greetings folks, in this game “Comida,” I set out to create a game that made you share the food you ate throughout the level. As sharing is essential to life, so is not being greedy. If you eat to much in the game, the game will not function as it needs to. If you don’t eat you will die, especially if you try to share when you have nothing to share. But you also have to be able to feed your loved one by sharing. When feeding your loved one, while sustaining your health, you will win the game.

One way to lose the game is by sharing with the wrong person. If you share with the wrong character on this game you will slowly die and if you give the wrong character all you got, it will be a wrap. So essentially share wisely.

The playing field of the game is meant to represent the obstacles life will have in place for everyone. In this particular case, these obstacles are meant to make it hard for you to succeed, but once you continue to persevere through the obstacles you will succeed. I choose to use earth like colors to make it feel more relatable or grounded but I know I can do a better job.

To begin this project, its best that one have an idea of what they want to create. Doing so will generate momentum to create the ideas, allowing a steady pace to completing the project. My idea was to have a Human wake up on an Island surrounded by animals, then having to work with the monkeys to get where the Human wants to go.  Thankfully I’ve taken a coding class before which helped me understand how to approach creating this interaction between a Leader Monkey and a Human. What intrigued me into wanting to do this project was the possibility of creating an opportunity to respond to a text. I did so with this project by having the Human say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the Leader Monkey. But the twist is that if you say no to the Leader Monkey 3 times you will get stuck on the island, so you must go through with the process to get where you desire.

A few task took a lot of work, beginning with: figuring out how I was going to use an array to hold the sentences, using the space bar to advance the text, how I was going to keep track of the sentences and change sentences with the space bar, and efficiently allowing user response to continue the game, specifically the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ interaction. Thankfully I had the professors code which allowed me to draw from the functions he used to use in my game. Without the help of his code my project would have been a mad house.

For my first video game creation I wish I gave myself more time. Being able to put more thought into the overall design and concept would have created a better out come and experience. Seeing the work of other students and the thought put into there projects inspired me to take my next project to the next level and to strive for a more thought out “Concept.”

I’ve also learned that the message and objective must be made clear as day for the players to be able to decipher what was intended. What I intended for my game was for the players to find their way to the bottom and find the “treasure chest.” During the process of finding the treasure chest, the player will get a feel of a dope environment to be in. For me, I felt a dope environment would be, brick wall warehouse with MAD studio equipment in it. On top of that there is a treasure chest? I thought that would be dope.

Thankfully there was a positive to come away with this first attempt. I was able to have the player intriguingly find the objective of this level. This will keep the player glued to a game. I will try to keep this strategy for the rest of my created games.

For my next game I hope to create a REAL environment and create the music as well!