UNITY: MAKING A CAR GAME (FIRST ATTEMPT)

     My first year at university officially ended yesterday, but that doesn't mean I'm going to procrastinate over the summer - I want to go back next year with more applicable knowledge than I did this year. Maybe with this goal in mind, I can actually develop the game ideas I have into working prototypes (or at least proof of concepts).

    So I have two goals - one, learn Unity and two, read Rules of Play. With both practical knowledge and technical knowledge on game's design and development, I can design better games and develop them. My first step towards this is learning Unity and today, I took my first step towards this goal. 

I STARTED USING UNITY!

    Looking at countless tutorials online, It seemed that developing a simple car game was the first and easiest step to take to introduce me to Unity's features and mechanics. I spent 1 hour attempting to develop this and I'm quiet proud of it. Not because it's a masterpiece (because its not), but because already, an hour later, I can develop an simple game! So, before I start to ramble, my first attempt is below.

UNITY TEST - SIMPLE CAR TEST 20/04/2013
by Christian Whelan

    I've used Java and C++ before, so I know the basics of programming such as classes, variables and class calling etc so getting used to C# Script wasn't that hard (which is awesome!). Using Primitive Objects, Materials, Render Settings, GUI Text, Parents, Prefabs and C# Scripts, I put the above tester together. It has movement, lighting, scenery, collision detection, respawn systems, kill boxes, position resets, cameras and physics - pretty much everything I need for a basic game. 

    All I need to do now is delve deeper into Unity and extrapolate everything I have and will learn to develop a game. My goal is to develop a basic first person indie horror game for my honours projects (the third year university project), so I think Unity is a great place to start. Once I've gotten the hand of Unity, I'll move onto learning advanced UDK techniques such as Kismet and packages etc (which I've just about already figured out).

Expect many more Unity posts in the near future!

NEXT POST: COMING SOON!

YEAR CONCLUSION

              At the start of this academic year, I wrote an introductory blog post on my goals as a Games Designer and as a Games Design student. These goals I set covered this year, and my final two years at Futureworks University in Manchester. I wished to develop and implement my knowledge in not only understand games, but in developing them along with the crucial documentation that is required in the industry and development process.

           Within the first week, my expectations of the course were completely shot down - I had to design and develop board games, puzzles and levels along with the expected prototypes and documentation. This surprise was by no means a negative one however, as over the year, I have grown to understand the fact that games come in all packages, and to truly understand Game Design as a whole, I needed to start with the platforms that exhibit the basics until eventually, implementing all that I had learnt into a final game design - this turned out to be Synergy.

   My secondary goal was to document my year long progression as a Games Designer. Regular updates on work along with miscellaneous posts were a priority  consistency in updates and post content was important.

          Considering my primary goal, I believe I have succeeded tremendously. Over the course of the year, even with all of the personal issues that effected my attendance (and in some cases, the work), I have received straight 1st's throughout this year's module (I'm still yet to find out if I have gained a 1st for the GDD). All the hard work paid off, and I'm confident in saying I am a far better Games Designer than I was 7 months ago. I've developed Board Games, Puzzles, Smart Phone Games and Console Games, all of which I believe are good designs (even if deadlines prevented them from reaching their full potential). In this design venture, I've received brilliant feedback, feedback that has really given me that much needed criticism, advice and recognition I have lacked in the years before starting University - I'm really happy with my work, my working environment and personal progression in Game's Design! 

      Considering my secondary goal, I believe once again, I have succeeded. With over 60 posts and over 1500 views for this blog alone, I can honestly say I have kept this blog up to date whilst even adding in the odd miscellaneous blog that interested me and hopefully, other people. At every single milestone in my work, I have written a blog post, eventually increasing the different forms of media content within these posts - images, .GIF's, and starting from the next post, even videos to document my individual progression and course progression. What I am left with, is a week by week timeline documenting my entire year at Futureworks University. Which leads nicely onto my final goal.

   My true aim was to look back at my work a year later, and see how I have clearly progressed. My first board game "I Do" was a real challenge to get my head around. After all, it was the first game I had ever designed and developed a prototype for. Looking at Synergy, I can see a clear progression in not only my ability  but my confidence to attempt something a little different both visually and technically. With each assignment, I have progressed, and as the months passed, I have slowly began to implement knowledge from other modules into my Game Design work, resulting in more comprehensive work. My work has been on the most part consistent, and on the most part, successful, but I still have room to improve. Before I conclude and discuss my new goals, I shall provide a link to each of the assignments I have completed this year.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ASSIGNMENT 1

GAME DECONSTRUCTION (NO LINK)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ASSIGNMENT 2

"I DO: THE BOARD GAME" (WHAT'S MINE IS YOURS")

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ASSIGNMENT 3

"IT'S DA BOMB: THE THREE PUZZLES"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ASSIGNMENT 4

MIRRORS EDGE: THE BOARD GAME

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ASSIGNMENT 5

CHANCE CHESS

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ASSIGNMENT 6

DEAD ISLAND: MAKE IT ACCESSIBLE

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ASSIGNMENT 7

MIGHTY MOUSE: THE PURSUIT OF OIL CAN HARRY (PROPOSAL DOCUMENT)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ASSIGNMENT 8

UDK LEVEL

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ASSIGNMENT 9

REVENANTS: CHARACTER AND LEVEL NARRATIVE

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ASSIGNMENT 10

TWISTER: KINECT (INTERFACE DESIGN)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ASSIGNMENT 11

JACK'S ASYLUM (REPETITIVE BOARD GAME)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ASSIGNMENT 12

SYNERGY: THE GDD DOCUMENT AND PRESENTATION

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    So looking at all of my assignments, I can say that there are some inconsistencies, and some truly rough game concepts, but they all did the job for that specific time. But before I get into where I went wrong or where I should improve  I'd like to talk about which assignments I enjoyed.

The Pitch Document, the UDK Level, The Character and Level Narrative and the GDD - those were a whole bunch of fun! They developed my knowledge, tested my knowledge, and showcased my knowledge, the three things I wanted to do when I applied for this awesome course! However, there where a few assignment It though weren't to great - the Repetitive Game, the Twister Interface and Chance Chess. It's not that I lacked ability, it's just that personal issues and in result, deadline issues, forced my hand on these assignments. Even so, I still got 1st's which is great! So now I can move onto my downfalls and my goals for next year.

     In retrospect, I think my only real issues are one, time management and two, hardware. When it comes to time management, I think on the most part I was fine, however, half way through the year my father lost his battle with cancer. The events leading up to that required my priorities to focus on family, which understandably made work a second priority (if one at all). Ever since my father passed, I seemed to be 1 second behind my work: work was late, and work was not up to my own desired standard. Along with this, the aftermath of my family loss required my time, which again, made work a second priority. Up until the GDD, this continued to be the case, and I'ts clearly evident in my work above. Considering the issues I've been through, I can honestly say that I am truly surprised and proud of my grades. Next year is a new year, and hopefully I can keep on track with my work as I did at the beginning of this year. I must say though, that if it wasn't for my tutors, my year would have been a lot harder! They are amazing! I cannot thank them enough.

      When it comes to hardware, I don't really know what to do. My computer simply cannot run any software,  whether Photoshop or UDK, my computer constantly crashes and prevents me from completing work. Towards the end of the year, I had to spend at least 30 hours of the year in University using Futureworks facilities, which is fine, but I'd rather get things done at home - it's more efficient for me. It  can't tell you how many times I have lost hours or even days of work. I have an £800 computer eyed up for next year, whether or not I can get it is a different matter.

My goals for next year? Better time management, better work organisation, less deadline stress, a better computer, and most importantly, better games!

My goals for the summer? Read Rules of Play, read even more, learn Unity, learn UDK and attend game conventions and Game Jams!  .... oh, and play lots of games!

     I've loved my first year at University, it's been the most amazing experience of my life - I found my educational stride! I truly believe that this course will change my life forever, I'm already seeing the signs now! Hopefully next year, I can look back at this year, and laugh at how ridiculous my ability was. And if I try as hard as I did this year, I don't see why that's not possible!

NEXT POST: UNITY: MAKING A CAR GAME (FIRST ATTEMPT)

SYNERGY: GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT AND PRESENTATION

           Finally, after many weeks of work, communicating with other members of the group, and desperately trying to design a consistent game to present to tutors as the final assignment of the year, the Game Design Document for my game idea 'Synergy' has been completed along with the Pitch Presentation.

With 17 pages, this slightly larger 'ten pager' design document covered the most common sections of the typical GDD document. With a game like Synergy, we found it quite the challenge fitting in all the details we wanted into the 15 pages we were set and restricted to, thus I believe we could of done a better job - the time limit did effect the document's quality.

It's worth nothing that both this and the presentation was a complete group effort, both in developing the document and presenting it to our university tutor. However, as a group, it was sensible to delegate the workload to get the document and presentation completed as efficiently as possible.

WHO DID WHAT IN THE DOCUMENT?

    I myself, developed the game's initial concepts, visual style of the game and therefore, both the document and presentation. Along with this, I wrote and developed the Front page, the Contents page, the Mechanics pages, the Enemies and Bosses pages, the Digital Strategy and Competition page and finally, the Chosen Engine page. It is also worth nothing that I set out the layout of David's pages to ensure the document was both consistent and completed on time - he wrote his own page information.

David wrote the content for the Story pages, the Character pages, the Gameplay Page and the Game Flow and Controls page - he was assigned the first section of Synergy's GDD. He did a great job and understood the game's concept fully.

Nicolas on the other hand was assigned the middle section. He wrote the content, developed the artwork and set out the page layouts for the Main Gameplay Concepts and Platform Specific Features page, the Game World page, and the Interface pages. Unfortunately, due to Nicolas being absent for the majority of the games low level design and brainstorming, he didn't really understand Synergy, which was real shame, and due to time constraints he himself had to develop the pages, resulting in a lack of consistency and flow. Regardless of this however, his artwork was amazing, it really gave the game an identity - without that, Synergy's GDD would of severely suffered. Thanks Nick!

Look at the document below!

COMMENTS AND CRITICISMS APPRECIATED!

SYNERGY: GDD - FRONT PAGE
by Christian Whelan

SYNERGY: GDD - CONTENTS 
by Christian Whelan

SYNERGY: GDD - STORY
by Christian Whelan and David Barker

SYNERGY: GDD - STORY (2)
by Christian Whelan and David Barker

SYNERGY: GDD - GAMEPLAY 
by Christian Whelan and David Barker

SYNERGY: GDD - GAME FLOW AND CONTROLS 
by Christian Whelan and David Barker

SYNERGY: GDD - CHARACTERS
by Christian Whelan and David Barker

SYNERGY: GDD - GAMEPLAY CONCEPTS AND PLATFORM
by Christian Whelan and Nicolas Piskorski

SYNERGY: GDD - GAME WORLD
by Christian Whelan and Nicolas Piskorski

SYNERGY: GDD - INTERFACE PAGE
by Christian Whelan and Nicolas Piskorski

SYNERGY: GDD - INTERFACE PAGE (2)
by Christian Whelan and Nicolas Piskorski

SYNERGY: GDD - THE MECHANICS PAGE
by Christian Whelan

SYNERGY: GDD - THE MECHANICS PAGE (2)
by Christian Whelan

SYNERGY: GDD - ENEMIES AND BOSSES
by Christian Whelan

SYNERGY: GDD - ENEMIES AND BOSSES (2)
by Christian Whelan

SYNERGY: GDD - DIGITAL STRATEGY AND COMPETITION
by Christian Whelan

SYNERGY: GDD - SELECTED GAME ENGINE
by Christian Whelan

WHO DID WHAT ON THE PRESENTATION

The presentation was also a group effort, and was vital aspect in presenting Synergy to our tutor - it had to be good!

Again, I myself developed the visual style and layout of the presentation, along with the slides that covered my pages. In addition, due to work load and time constraints, I also wrote in the information for David's slides which he dictated (so that he understood what he was reading). With my slides and David's done, it was down to Nick to finish his slides.

Nick competed his three slides on his own - fortunately, his slides were great! Being visually rich, the slides kind of spoke for themself, but again, it was the much needed identity Synergy needed. 

Considering the 10 minute time limit we had, and the scale of an idea Synergy is, we could have shortened the presentation down a little bit, but again, we didn't have time. Regardless, the presentation turned out fine (I think).

Have a look at the presentation below!

SYNERGY: PITCH PRESENTATION

    Looking back, although I love the game idea, I think I should gone with a  much simpler concept - one idea, one mechanic and game play built around that and only that. It would of been much simpler, as I bit off more than I could chew, which I believe is entirely to blame for the quality of the GDD. I like it, but it's not perfect by a long stretch. Fitting all this information in 15 pages and 15 slides was one of the hardest things I've done in a while.

   However, although it could be improved, I think we did a great job considering the size of the idea and the time and resources we had! Here's to hoping I get a first for this final assignment!

NEXT POST: YEAR CONCLUSION

UDK LEVEL: FINAL ADDITIONS

           The only assignment I did not get a first grade on this year was the UDK Level and it was for two reasons - one, I did not have any sounds or triggers and two, my level didn't make use of packages (UPK's). I must admit, the level I created was buggy, but I was proud of it considering it was my first ever attempt at using UDK.

    Even so, I couldn't bare finishing university without getting an entire years streak of first grades (you just can't put a price on that). So, in an attempt to achieve this goal, I went into university outside of hours and added what needed adding in. It was hard, I'll be honest, figuring out UPK's with very little assistance had me dumbfound for a little while, but eventually, I did it! I added in preset sounds and tweaked the triggers etc and added in a custom sound that required the creation and exporting of a UPK for future use on other computers.

I'm fully aware that further use of UPK's will take place next year, as the course begins to focus more on level design and the use of UDK, so this challenge I have been posed with has been beneficial. Hopefully, after these additions, I should get a first for the UDK Level!

Here's to hoping I get a first on my group GDD document!

GDD: SYNERGY: GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT AND PRESENTATION

GDD: UPDATES (DIGITAL STRATEGY / COMPETITION)

     So after completing the Pitch Presentation, I realised the Competition section of the GDD wasn't as credible as it could of been. So in an attempt to fix this, I did some sales research on the games and franchises that offer competition to Synergy. To my surpise, these games didn't sell that well internationally... weird, I loved Prototype and Infamous (Infamous maybe a little bit more... ok, a lot more).

Anyway, I updated the Competition page of the GDD to keep consistency between the GDD and Pitch Presentation. The updated page is below.

GDD: SYNERGY - COMPETITION PAGE UPDATE
by Christian Whelan

NEXT POST: UDK MAP: FINAL ADDITIONS

GDD: PITCH PRESENTATION

       Finally the pitch presentation for Synergy, our game idea, has been finished (besides Nicolas' parts). Me and David wrote it and I proof read it. We tried our best to get the slides down to a minimal, and I think we can present it effectively within the 15 minute time limit for sure, but the hard part was cutting down information that was already hard to cut down in the GDD, hense the 16 slides.

Anyway, mine and David's parts are finished, we just need to add in Nicolas' parts and develop speaker notes when we're all next in the same room (tomorrow). Have a look at it below!

SYNERGY: PITCH PRESENTATION

 

     The next task is to add Nicolas's pages into the GDD and his slides into the Pitch Presentation. Once that's done, it's a case of developing the speaker notes and presenting this bad boy.

Oh, and in a disucssion with Nick today, it turns out there are some inconsitencies between mine and David's sections in the GDD regarding the King Pins of Synergy (the bosses), so I'm going to have a look over them tonight and tweek a few details here and there - David doesn't mind.

NEXT POST: GDD: UPDATES (DIGITAL STRATEGY / COMPETITION)

GDD: PROGRESS 02/03/2013

         Today, me and David met in University to get the entire Game Design Document for Synergy, our Action Adventure RPG, completed. Although Nicolas's middle four pages are missing, me and David have realised the idea and documented it - we're really confident about Synergy.

   As for the missing pages, we don't really know, we've both added in aspects that 'should' be in his pages just as a fallback, but when it comes to the Pitch Presentation (which we're working on) we have a problem - we want the presentaiton to flow. Most importantly though, we just want Nick to understand Synergy as well as we do - we want consitstency and flow both in the GDD and presentation.

Anyhow, the pages me and David wrote are below. Once we wrote our information, I took it, put it into Photoshop, developed a visual style and devloped the pages as you see them below.

MY PAGE'S: Title Page, Contents Page, Mechanics, Enemies and Bosses, Digital Strategy and Competition and The Chosen Game Engine.

DAVID'S PAGES: Story, Gameplay, Game Flow, Controls and Characters.

MISSING PAGES: Main Gameplay Concepts, Platform Specific Features, Game World and Interface

COMMENTS AND CRITICISMS APPRECIATED

 

SYNERGY GDD - FRONT PAGE
by Christian Whelan

SYNERGY GDD - CONTENTS PAGE
by Christian Whelan

SYNERGY GDD - STORY (PAGE ONE)
by David Barker

SYNERGY GDD - STORY (PAGE TWO)
by David Barker

SYNERGY GDD - GAMEPLAY
by David Barker

SYNERGY GDD - GAME FLOW / CONTROLS
by David Barker

SYNERGY GDD - CHARACTERS
by David Barker

SYNERGY GDD - MECHANICS (PAGE ONE)
by Christian Whelan

SYNERGY GDD - MECHANICS (PAGE TWO)
by Christian Whelan

SYNERGY GDD - ENEMIES AND BOSSES (PAGE ONE)
by Christian Whelan

SYNERGY GDD - ENEMIES AND BOSSES (PAGE TWO)
by Christian Whelan- IN PROGRESS

SYNERGY GDD - DIGITAL STRATEGY / COMPETITION
by Christian Whelan

SYNERGY GDD - SELECTED GAME ENGINE
by Christian Whelan

 

      Regardless of the pages Nicolas has yet to complete, the document is closed to finsh. The only thing that needs to be completed is the second Enemies and Bosses page - it needs some character sketches.

 

Once this is done, the presentation could be completed (besides Niiolas's pages) - I'll get that done today and then fianlly, this GDD woul be completed.

NEXT POST: GDD: PITCH PRESENTATION

EASTER WORK PLAN

     So, after my massive setback with my huge games design assignment, I decided to shrug it off and set a strict work plan for over Easter. That way, when I get back into University after Easter, I'll have the majority of the work done (if not all of it). So here it is;

• 01/04/2013 - GDD
• 02/04/2013 - GDD / UDK REWORK
• 03/04/2013 - GDD PRESENTATION / WEAPON UV MAP AND BAKE
• 04/04/2013 - WEAPON TEXTURING AND SPECULAR MAPS
• 05/04/2013 - WEAPON TEXTURING / PRESENTATION SHEETS
• 06/04/2013 - CREATIVE THINKING ASSIGNMENT
• 07/04/2013 - CREATIVE THINKING ASSIGNMENT
• 08/04/2013 - CREATIVE THINKING ASSIGNMENT
• 09/04/2013 - CREATIVE THINKING REWORK
• 10/04/2013 - BLOG POSTS AND PRINTOUTS
• 11/04/2013 - YEAR CONCLUSION BLOGS

    I think I've given myself some room to take my time. I'd rather take my time than rush everything. Who knows, I may get things done before I expect to (in my dreams). 

Can't believe the year is almost over though! I just need two more firsts (from rework) to get 100% streak of firsts! I'm chuffed considering I though I was going to be the worst in the year at the interview! haha Yeah Boiiii!

NEXT POST: GDD: PROGRESS 02/03/2013

GDD: MASSIVE SETBACK

       I had planned to do a progress blog post today, showcasing and detailing all of 'my' pages of the design document. However, by some massive stroke of bad luck, when adjusting my monitor, my speakers fell off the desk, landed on the tower and crashed the computer.

I tried saving using the control and S keys, but it hasn't worked. The issue is, that all of the work I had done on Photoshop (which was around 4 hours of work) has corrupted, leaving nothing but a scrambled mess of layers that for some frustrating reason, has flattened, leaving the result below for all pages.

    Along with this, all the text that was to be in the design documents pages has been lost. Meaning I have to start from scratch. I'm not exaggerating when I say I'm devastated and seriously pissed. I saved the work at every update, but it seems even that hasn't saved me from this crap setback.

This is going to have a massive knock on effect with the rest of my work. I will no longer be able to create pages for David's or Nicolas's pages due to other assignment commitments. 

I hope this doesn't effect mine or our marks.

NEXT POST: EASTER WORK PLAN