Assignment 2

I found this project very enjoyable.
I learnt a lot and it was really nice to tie the project in with one from another class. It synergised the whole process and actually gave purpsose to what I was creating.

It gave me great insight into how the process works industry and it was nice to fully complete the process. It cleared up many grey areas in my knowledge. Those grey areas troubled me somewhat before embarking on the project so now they're resovled I feel much better as a games designer. I'm confident that I could tackle bigger projects now.

I'm not particularly proud of the work I did, but I'm proud of what I learnt throught the project. I'll be able to apply it to many other projects that I embark on.

Beauty Shots of Modular Assets

These are some example shots of my assets in engine.
Overall I'm happy with  the assets however, I don't feel that the texture work was as good as it could have been. This is something that I feel I really need to improve on.

Especially in light of recent events and research in which I discovered that being and Enviroment Artist may be the career path that I want to take.

Jenga Game

War Variants

War: New Variant Ideas

We came up with several variants of War that might make the game more interesting, rather than broken.

1:- Deck is shuffled and divided evenly between players- Players take top 5 cards from deck, these are in the players hand- players have a choice of 5 cards to play each round- Highest value card wins, both cards on go to the bottom of their deck  -Each round the player takes a new card from the top of their deck so that they always have 5 cards in their hand. However if the player doesn't 'own' 5 cards then all the cards they have will be in their hand - The winner is the player to get all the cards

2:Deck is split into multiple piles (2 or more)- Players draw a card from whichever pile they want. Highest card wins, winner of round takes both cards and puts them in a "win" pile. - The winner is the player to get all the cards

3:- Each player is dealt 23 cards each. 

- The remaining 6 cards are placed into the center as 'reinforcement' cards.

- Before each turn of play the players can check the top card of their deck.
if they so choose they can play a card from the reserve deck by saying "reinforcements"

- If the Player 1 uses a reinforcement card and wins they win both cards. Player 2 must replenish the reinforcement deck with a card from the top of their deck.

- If Player 1 uses a reinforcement card and loses, Player 1 must surrender both cards to player 2 and replenish the reinforcement deck with a card from the top of their deck.

- If both Players call for reinforcements in the same round they draw one card from the reinforcement deck and one from their own. The sum of both cards determines the winner. The player that wins takes all 4 cards. If it's a tie all the cards used are added to the reinforcement deck

- If either player runs out of cards but there is still reinforcement cards on the table the following rules apply;

The reinforcement deck is shuffled.

The player with cards remaining must "battle" the reinforcement deck to the best of 3.
Tied battles fall in favor of the player. All of the hands played in the best of 3 battle must be placed to one side.

If the player beats the reinforcement deck they win they win the game.
If the player loses to the reinforcement deck then all 6 cards played in the battle are added to the reinforcement deck and given to the other player as there new deck.

From this point on the game is played with normal war rules applied. 
- Each player is dealt 23 cards each. 
- The remaining 6 cards are placed into the center as 'reinforcement' cards.

- Before each turn of play the players can check the top card of their deck.
if they so choose they can play a card from the reserve deck by saying "reinforcements"

- If the Player 1 uses a reinforcement card and wins they win both cards and player 2 must replenish the reinforcement deck with another card from the top of their deck.

-If Player 1 uses a reinforcement card and loses player 1 must surrender both cards to player 2 and replenish the reinforcement deck with another card from the top of their deck.

-If both Players call for reinforcements in the same round they both draw a card from the reinforcements deck and from their own deck, the sum of both cards determines the winner. Which ever player wins takes all 4 cards. If it's a tie all cards in play are returned to the reinforcement deck and play continues as normal.

-If either player runs out of cards but there is still reinforcement cards on the table the following rules apply;

The reinforcement deck is shuffled.

The player with cards remaining must "battle" the reinforcement deck to the best of 3.
Tied battles fall in favor of the player and the hands are put to one side. All of the hands played in the best of 3 battle must be placed to one side.

If the player beats the reinforcement deck they win they win the game.
If the player loses to the reinforcement deck then all 6 cards played in the battle are added to the reinforcement deck and given to the other player as there new deck.

From this point on the game is played with normal war rules applied. 

Interview: Chris Kay, Level Designer at Crytek

http://level-design.org/?page_id=745

Good Design Portfolios

http://www.mayvin.be/index.php

^^ This Portfolio was extremely inspiring for me, I found the enviroments that vincent had created were jaw dropping. I Also feel that some of the work in his portfolio matched similar briefs to what we've had at university.

http://www.littlelostpoly.co.uk/portfolio/

^^ Robert Brisco was an obvious choice when looking into level designers and enviroment artists since Dear Esther was one of the most beautiful games know to man. I have a huge respect for what he did with Dear Esther and how he helped it become what it is. This portfolio was good since it included Mirrors Edge work which was obviously built in UDK (The Engine I'm accustom to) So it's nice to see what a professional can do with it.

http://www.andersjansson.net/

Anders Jansson worked on the Bionic Commando remake, although I didn't particularly find the game that fun, I think the level design is highly commendable especially the way the designs accommodated the core swinging mechanic. This is a more pure 'level design portfolio rather than an Enviroment Artists Portfolio. This portfolio could do with being made to look better however I'm more interested in the content at this moment in time.

This gave great reference for where I see myself now, and where someone who's employed in the industry is. This is one of the most vital and important pieces of research for me. It gives me a milestone, a goal if you like to work towards, instead of some bewildering future of uncertainty ... seeing these portfolios defines what I need to do and where I need to be.

Crytek - Game Designer Job Requirements.

Game designers are expected to concept, design and execute the core mechanics and user experience of the title, working closely with all departments to develop new features and maintain existing ones. Working solo or in teams, designers need to be able to communicate well and own the design process from concept discovery to ship.

Requirements:

- Minimum 2 years professional experience
- 1 or more shipped AAA titles on PC, Xbox or PS3
- Good written and spoken English
- Excellent sense for design and creating outstanding user experiences
- Excited, passionate and self motivated
- Excellent communication skills
- Must be willing to relocate

Preferences:

- Prior game design experience
- Working knowledge of CryEngine Sandbox toolset
- Strong communicator, able to easily present ideas and information to the team
- Strong understanding of game design theory, practice, pacing and mission flow

XB2178 - Concepting the Game

...

XB2178 - Scrapping of the ideas.

I set out on this module with the intention of creating a 2.5D game based upon a chameleon called Mel. I was intially very enthused about this project and I had done lots of work for game.

However, mid way through the first semester I had realsised that the game was somewhat limited and I couldn't really innovate or be creative with the concept. Innovation and creativity is something I value highly! So I bit the bullet and decided to scrap the project and all the work I had done for it.

Although this sounds like a huge waste, i'm extremely glad it happend for 2 reasons.

1) I have learnt (early on ... whilst in education) the most valuable lesson I think I could have learnt, which is not to persue something that a) your not passionate about b) you're having far to much trouble developing and innovating for and c) something that doesn't inspire or impress your peers.

The game, despite my confidence in the concept at the start wasn't very good and didn't have much potential in the long run. I was so tempted to continue with it and push through the hardship however I chose to scrap it which resulted in the best out come.

2) I have ended up creating a concept and idea that has not only broadened my horizons as a designer but it's also allowed me to hone my skills in aspects of game and level design that are more suited to my skill set. It's also allowed me to develop skills i'll need to get a job as a level designer.


I had also planned to create a cheat sheet booklet for this project and my intentions when starting out were to do loads of research, then compile a booklet of tips and references that I can use for my projects. But yet again this didn't go to plan!

I found that as I was trying to utilise what i'd found from my research I was getting frustrated that the methods and techniques i'd found through research weren't working for me. I couldn't understand why and I hit a low point in the project where,