Week 10 - Game Design & Plan

Started the class at 10 and as like told last week Team Batman well presented their game prototype and it was super awesome. We never presented ours because Andy found out the prototype was not working because of some minor code error which was rectified later on. But we did manage to share the prototype with DR. John during our team meeting. Prototype means no working level has been done but just the game title screen with music and a first level layout with a controllable sprite!

I did manage to draw a top down look alike character sprite (left) but unfortunately that didn't met the expected standard. It doesn't look like a drop down version right! So back in the lab i tried to draw out some images on a paper but my team said it's better to develop the images using digital software's as it's easier to edit. The images itself need be in 32*32 pixels so i found harder to draw it out in paint after some several tries. Then using the photo shop "like a master" and nailed down a top down version of the main character. My team mates were happy with my drawing concept and i was like yaaass! I left the university afterwards and decided to finish off the images at home, the only place i could more concentrate.

Graphical Assets which i should complete in 2 weeks are allocated as below:

* Section 1 character (Done by 28/11/12)

• Civilian
• Carter without weapon
• Carter with fibre wire
• Image of fibre wire
• 1 white and 1 black computer terminal

* Section 2 characters (Done by 05/12/12 attempt by 28/11/12)

• Security guard
• Carter with knife
• Image of knife 
• Piece of paper 
• Red key card 

* Section 3 characters (Done by 05/12/12 attempt by 28/11/12)

• Elite PMC guards
• Carter with gun
• Image of gun, dynamite
• Security camera
• Another top down person pick a random colour this will be used as a main objective character for a demo level

          

                 

I have managed to make half of the sprites/objects which highlighted in red and sprites are above. Andy advised me to take a tutorial for Melon JS that could help me with map editor and how sprites and tile sheets (for level design) are to be layed out. I also thought that i could help Callum with tile sheets using a portable application called "Tiled" while Andy and Stephen working on the major coding. I didn't manage to get time to look at the Tiled and Melon JS due to my weekend job and looking forward to work through it next week only. 

Week 9 - Game Design & Plan

Came in to class a bit late by the time all teams were about ready to share the game updates and progression. When it reached our turn we shared all the evident and updates such as artworks, fan page, group page, team websites etc. During the one hour private section with DR. John we talked about the current risks that could affect the game.

We back in to the lab for further discussion. As we are flying towards the deadline we are aware that lot of tasks need to be completed so we reallocated the tasks again for each team member. I had to leave quite early today due to my work. Stephen gave me a list of assets (top down game character sprites) which must produce in two weeks time. I left university at around 2 PM.

During the rest of week i went easy on game artwork but spent most of the time working on other module assessments. I will try to produce some images by next week but confused which application should i choose - paint or photo shop?? Andy made a stunning game cover screen was another major development happened during this week :)

Week 8 - Game Design & Plan

Today we have no class/meeting with John or Group. Couple of my group mates and John went to Dundee to attend an Enterprising Youth Conference. I didn't went due to some personal matters so i don't know yet what's all about the conference, but i assumed that it was interesting when i gone through one of my colleagues blog. I will definitely try to know more about the conference in detail once i see my group next week. Still i wish i was there :(

Since last week i didn't made any contact with any of the group members. During the week days i concentrated more on the other module assessments as I know it is the best time for it since we are all having a short temporary break (I mean no class this week). As i agreed last week, i have developed the full shot image for our hero in Photoshop. I also tried to draw out some additional images for the project i.e. weapons, communication interfaces, enemies, but none of them are at the completion. I am thinking of adding those images to my blog next week after a final validation with my group.

On our team website i see the changes in project name “Late Panda” and logo as per out decision last week to alter the project information to attract and get support from more people. A rapid increase in fan database along with a fair amount of followers noticed since we renamed our project :)

That’s all from this week and looking forward to meet up the team next week ;)

Week 7 - Game Design & Plan

We groups went through the game progress during the lecture slot. Team Bane now got a menu screen working also a demo type game play with nice graphics but less interactivity and that too they developed their game in Unity 3D. Still they dominate our group and team Batman, based on the work done so far and we think we dominated Team Batman, when we compared.

After the lecture we had our meeting with John. We discussed the current progress, risk and the qualifications needed to become a computing teacher at school/college/university level. At the moment the risk we are facing is an unresponsive fan base, without them we cannot promote our game neither release the prototype. At the moment we know the consequences of changing the studio name but we decided to change it from "Joker Team" to "Late Panda" to attract more fans also we are thinking of developing a new game together over the next summer so we need a real studio name anyways.

We are back in the lab and Andy updated my images using some effects in Photoshop. I got my villain image also, again hand drawn, ready for today to finalize the game design document for Stephen. In the meantime Andrew is working on the technical analysis document. Still i need to create a full shot image of hero, which needed for our game title page. I will try to do that for the next week. There is no class next week due to Dundee trip but i will post it in our group page in Facebook. We called off the day

Below are the updated links :-

Team Website - Facebook Fan Page - Game Documents