TCS110 – Experimental Games

For project 4 I really had no clue where to start, maybe that’s why I worked on the game until 4AM the day it was due…

When looking through models on the internet I found a pack of fish models that were incredibly cute and multi-colored which I believed would lend itself nicely to random generation.

 

The first scene I created was an ocean floor. I didn’t know what else to add or how to proceed so I decided to add a desk model that I had collected a while ago. I wanted something to attract the player to further a narrative that at this point was being made as I continued with the project.

What I ended up with was Three Waves. This game consists of 3 scenes- the ocean floor, falling fish portal, and the compressed corpses of a ton of fish. I really had no real story behind each scene as I was completely delirious while making it. It was however really cool to see what others believed I was trying to portray.

 

 

 

This week’s game reminded me heavily of a procedurally generated app I made in processing. Though aesthetically different I had similar problems with the instantiation. It’s very encouraging to know that once you get a general idea of how coding works, putting time into learning the syntax for each language can open so many doors!

In the last week’s presentation, I have been amazed by many projects that other students created. Especially when I saw those amazing visual and graphics that other students are able to create with unity, I was really impressed. I realized we are already able to do so much with everything we learned this quarter. However, what I have done was very simple and using very little of what we learned. I should have spend more time on developing something more complex and have more content. It would be great if I could change my game into many mini games that players could pick in a menu and play it. I could add my other projects into it too since they are pretty similar in some ways. Maybe I just like to make games that let people feel nervous or something.  I feel like those games really enable players to focus and it will be more excited when you finally beat it.

Overall this is a very interesting and helpful class. Hope everyone have a good year:)

In prototype B, I have added two level into the game. One require players’ jumping skills. As I was designing and testing the levels, I have figured out some tricks to play this level. You get more control on your character if you just rotate your mouse without clicking A and D to jump left or right. I think the process of finding out tracks and improving your skills and score is pretty interesting in this level. Also I have added some unnecessarily blocks to distract the  players from focusing.

In the third level, this level requires players to think about how to find the key before the time run off since it is impossible to run through it in 5 seconds. Especially after the first two levels, which just require players to just try to run as fast as possible, players most likely would not expect to run backward in the third level.

 

For my beta I managed to get SOME stuff to work.

This is how the game is broken up

2 Scripts:
-A script that pulls audio frequencies and splits them into
8 audio bands.

– A script that takes those audio bands and manipulates the 3d objects transform. Simple!

BUT SO EFFING ANNOYING.

At this point I had two versions of the project. One that would instantiate 215 bands and flip around(which i later corrupted somehow) and a kaleidiscope that was actually made using pikachus I got from here. I got most of my 3D-models from there. It’s a great resource for old videogame models and can give you a closer look on how they are textured. At this point my games code was mostly complete. I had previously tried to use mic input to allow for a different type of interaction, but i could not figure out how properly set up the mic to allow for low latency, I tried everything. It might be because the tutorial I checked for mic input was on a windows machine, but Im not quite sure. However, despite my inability to implement mic input in this game, I really want to explore the idea of having an interactive installation where audio from the viewer can create a composition similar to my final game.

 

 

 

Sorry for typing these in reverse order, or rather, uploading them in a messed up order. I actually typed these in word before uploading and…ANYWAY,

My pitch for my final project was an audio visualizer. I was heavily interested in making a game with a strong emphasis in music.

For my alpha I went through a few tutorials to get an understanding of C# and Unity syntax. I was having a difficult time understanding the proper way of scripting something that would change a material. My next goal was to see how I was going to use audio to manipulate the parameters. I managed to get one scene going.

This scene is one of the countless iterations that came from that first scene.  It did not make it into the final game because it still needed some tweaking in the code to fully have a ‘groove’ to it. If any of you want to try something similar check out this tutorial!  It shows you step by step on how to setup the script, but keep in mind you’re going to spend a TON of time tweaking and trying to get some stuff working to your liking. I personally did not like the visual examples the youtuber demonstrated, but the explanation is top notch! Don’t stop with the tutorials though, try to tweak the hell out of it(try no depth in rendering in your camera and watch things melt) and have fun!

I was incredibly excited for day of the devs after realizing that I could finally participate and check out new games by up-and-coming indie devs. I had first heard about it through a podcast that covered the event a couple years back. I was also interested in playing Harold Halibut. I had first heard about this game through the tech blog, Prosthetic Knowledge  which praised its choice of animation and technique which has the look of a stop-motion animation film in the visual style straight from a Wes Anderson film. It was one of the first games I got to demo as it was in the hallway between the main rooms. I got to speak with one of the modelers who worked on sets and characters. I asked him about the process of transferring the clay figures to digital. They use a process of digitizing the figures in many angles to get a full rendering and from there they rig the models. You can appreciate the characters during dialogue scenes where the camera zooms to each of their faces.

I also spoke with one of the designers behind the game Aegis. He, along with one programmer were the main staff behind this cute, but dense pixel rogue-like. I asked him about the parallax effect their game incorporated, a ‘juicy’ element I thought was essential to his game to add depth and character. He gave me pin with their main pixel characters after the conversation. The overall experience at Day of the Devs was satisfying. I had always heard of events like these and being able to play games that I had only heard of through the internet was wonderful and gave me insight on the development pipeline. Many of the other developers I briefly talked to all mentioned that they would be tweaking parts of their games and that their participation in events like these are essential to get player feedback.

Also, my partner picked up this cute monument valley pin at the event. I unfortunately was NOT able to pick up the REZ: Infinite Vinyl >:/

So I was late, arriving after Prof. Clover let us out of English 167 at 6pm, but I caught the last hour of presentations and discussions.

Not gunna lie, I was so done with last week at that point, so I was feeling just a little salty and difficult to control. I’m so fed up with the current state of affairs in this country and the world because I know how it is all connected to the struggles everyone and I have to overcome to get through our daily lives.

First of all, this image really annoyed me cuz I’m so sick of the sexualization of femme’s pain in video games–it just encourages and contributes to this rape culture that we live in that fetishizes and sexualizes femmes in pain.

One of the speakers, Anne-Marie Schleiner (^Pictured above), mentioned that she’s a video game activist and talked about her new book, The Player’s Power to Change the Game, which is about the gameification of war, and the power that games hold over the player, and the player’s ability to change the game. At first I was hella stoked that she’s also an activist. So I asked her, “How can video games actually aid a revolution? Not reformist “revolution” but an actual revolution that abolishes capitalism. Like can we make games that simulate a militant revolution by the means necessary for an anticapitalist revolution that actually results in the eradication of classism, racism, sexism, homoantagonism, ableism, and other forms of systemic oppression?”

And she responded saying that she believes in non-violence.

What a privelaged thing to say; like of course that shit sounds good in theory but in actual practive non-violence doesn’t work when you’re going up against a capitalist military state system that is the most powerful in the world. I responded by asking her if she knows of any successful revolution in history has ever not been militant (rehtorical question; none have). I’m not advocating violence perse, I advocate for militancy and revolution by the means necessary, which is probably going to come off as violent to some (ignorant) people.

I hope I wasn’t too disrespectful, I wasn’t trying to be, I was just confused and trying to figure out if, and if so, then how video games can aid an anti-capitalist revolution, and if it would be worth it to dedicate my time to developing games like that. It sounds like a good thing to do potentially, if it’s worth the effort. This was an interesting talk and I’m glad I went.

Project 2 was the only project that I was unsure about. I tend to gravitate towards the visual aspect of what I create and creating a game that was without graphics pushed me to think differently. I knew I wanted a narrative but was unsure how to go about it. I went to a Halloween party the weekend before the game was due and I decided to watch different interactions and how they unfolded. It was interesting to see the many aspects of human interaction whilst inebriated. I also used some of my personal experiences that night. Dealing with anxiety like many others, parties and social gatherings are debilitating it’s difficult to push yourself to hang out with friends. This game is a look into the irrational thoughts that are prevalent when anxious or insecure, something I go through often. Every situation in the game however ends with one possibility and that is to breathe.

 

The soft pink background and the glitched text were intentional from the start. I wanted something nauseating and to create uncertainty in the players. To further this feeling, every choice ends with the same action which leads to the beginning of the game. This loops means that a player quickly start from the beginning and make a different choice.

 

Project 5 had us working with a clicking mechanic and I was struggling with what to do. I knew that I did not want to create a clicking game where I had to manage resources or anything similar to the cookie clicking game. The first thing I did was add a kick drum sample to the click sound and made a small looping song with a muted kick. The player must follow the beat of music as to not make the kick drum feel out of place or off-beat. I downloaded a few 3d models of old videogame consoles for extra ‘aesthetic’ and had them flip around to each click. I love the idea of using unity for videogames that can be used in different contexts and my goal with this game was to provide the ground work of where I could go with my final project. I could have done so much more with this idea- beat recognition, color changes, but I couldn’t decide which aspect to implement further. This along with my final videogame are projects that I want to expand further in the near-future. I would love to display visuals with games similar to these for music shows and events.

 

 

This was a LONG ride for many of us and I’m so glad to see all your games turn out great! I know i sure as heck had a difficult time coding for this class(and…. 🙁 another), but everyone pushed through it.

My visualizer inspired by the demoscene and chiptune communities is now PUBLIC. It contains three songs, two being from the awesome net-label  Zoom Lens! Check them out and if you want an entry into chipmusic make sure to check out 8bitpeoples. The game consists of 4 scenes. Title, Visual 1,2, and 3.  I really wanted to include other variants, but to keep it simple and for the sake of not overwhemling the player with options I decided that these three ‘compositions’ would work. I would really like to develop this game further by adding many things that Patrick brought up like allowing player models, expanding/shrinking text, and the ability to change the visuals even further. I also hope to use anbd expanded version of this game for my personal endeavor of being a VJ for live shows in the area, maybe in shows for our local radio station KDVS 🙂

I had an incredible time sharing and learning from each others games and I want to thank Patrick for a great class! Im hoping to see more from ya’ll. See you around.