Week 10 - Interactive Prototype 2

This week, we had to present the games with their physical prototypes. My game was essentially the same as it was in the last post. Here is a link to a video of one of my peers testing the game-play (Blogger can't upload a video of its size!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZMJnWPNKqA

Furthermore, after testing, the users were asked to fill out a survey asking about details for the game, the results of which are seen below:

Overall from this results, people are happy with the game so far and are looking forward to additions and bug fixes. A major bug that seems to be a problem is the fact that the game seems to lag after a certain score has been reached. Hopefully, the problem can be found soon and resolved!

Week 9 - Adding the Collision Detection and Scoring System/The Physical Controller

This week saw the addition of the collision detection between the players and the 'food supply' and also the addition of the scoring system. The collision system is quite straight-forward - as soon as the player comes into contact with a piece - it will instantly delete that piece and spawn another one in that will be fired in a random direction. Furthermore, if the piece is not eaten and collides with the outside rim, it will have the same effect and be reset to the center of the screen again.

In regards to the scoring system, it works as stated in the video prototype - if a player collects their own food supply, then they will have a point added to their score. If they collect food that belongs on another player, then they will not get any points - however this provides a tactical advantage as it can reduce the food your opponent can have. The game screen can be seen below: 

Furthermore, I have decided that the physical controller that is required for the second prototype to be a spoon, as it both represents the 'food' theme of the game and is easily conductive. However, the controller is fairly basic as the user simply has to tap the controller to make it change the players rotation. 

Week 8 - Improving the Gameplay!

From the feedback given, I was able to get a good standing on what people thought of my game. Overall, the general consensus was if people had seen my video, then they understood the prototype. However, if they had not seen the video, then they required an explanation.

Furthermore, those who did understand the prototype approved of the rotation features, stating that it was probably difficult to implement - and as the person who actually did it, I most certainly agree. I have begun to add more players and more pieces into the game itself. From this point, I need to add a score and collision detection into the game, which hopefully will not be too difficult.

Interactive Prototype 1 - Week 7

Now that I had a firm foundation of AS3, I needed to finish the first prototype. After discussing the complexity required for the first prototype, I was told that it doesn't need to be the full game - as long as the 'skeleton' of the game is present, that would be good enough.

 After working off a tutorial that taught me how to implement rotation I managed to have the 'game' be the following: a constantly rotating player around the central point, while the tetris 'food pieces' are constantly being shot out of the central point.

Overall, the game is far from complete - however, I believe that after the video prototype, the basic concept of the game is definitely visible to users.

ActionScript!!

This week saw the beginning of us learning ActionScript 3 - A Flash-based language that will be the core of how we make our website. To learn the basics of AS3  and how it can be used to make games, I've been working on the tutorials which are done using the game of Pong.

 Pong was, in my opinion, a great choice for teaching us how to use the language as it teaches us ways on how to create important things for games. For example, it teaches us about object movement, controlling directions, collision detection and how to keep scores - all of which will be used in my game. Hopefully, this will become a reality in later weeks!

Week 5 - Going over the first wave of feedback!

Continuing on from the last blog post, I've been going over the evaluations given to me about Zoo Frenzy. Its generally quite positive, with a lot of people liking the general idea! (All the results from the survey can be seen below):

The only issues that was pointed out was the relevance of the tetris pieces and issues with fairness in gameplay - which will hopefully be addressed as soon as possible! Furthermore, there were several great ideas pointed out, all of which will definitely make the game much more interesting. Depending on how the base game is and how much time will be left will determine how much of these extra ideas I can implement. But it can be said without a doubt that Zoo Frenzy is now sailing strong! Next week will be the beginning of ActionScript 3 which will also be the beginning of the game making stage!

Week 4 - Video Prototype of Zoo Frenzy

Over the course of the last few weeks, I have been developing a mashup of two well known games - Hungry, Hungry Hippos and Tetris, called Zoo Frenzy. By taking key elements from both games, It was possible to remove the major problems from both games. By using the skills gained in the last few weeks, the following video was developed as a video prototype:

This video was designed as part of the Major Assessment and is the initial step through the evaluation process. After showing the video to the remainder of my DECO2300 Contact group, this short survey was conducted:

1.       Is the concept of the game easy to understand? Are there any features that do not make sense?

2.       Is the game fair? If not, what could be done to change this?

3.       If any aspect of the gameplay could be changed to enhance the overall game, what would be changed?

4.       If any aspect of the gameplay could be changed to enhance the overall game, what would be changed?

dHopefully, the answers gained from this evaluation will allow me to further develop the prototype. 

Video Editing

In week 3 of DECO2300, the process of video editing was discussed in greater detail. We went over what makes a video decent, how audio can affect a viewers impression of a video and different ways of ensuring that the audio and video are at the highest level of quality.

To begin the process, we were shown example videos to which we had to identify what was wrong with them. For example, in one of the videos the music was completely drowning out the speaker and in another, the lighting of the video was causing dark shades to block out everything of importance. After going into greater depth to discover ways to fix these videos, we were introduced to software in which video editing could be done - with the main software being Adobe PhotoShop.

From here, we were tasked with filming several short videos, after which we were required to edit them to the highest level possible using PhotoShop. This would be enhancing our skills for later on, as we are required to complete a video for our prototype assessment.

DECO2300 Week 2 Shenanigans

During the first contact of the week, we were shown more fundamental aspects of prototyping such as precision and evolution - aspects that are crucial to the prototyping process. Following this, we were tasked to select a common household appliance, something that we knew how to interact with, and change that interaction to something that could be associated with virtual reality. The object that I chose was the fridge - with the obvious interactions of buttons and pulling doors being changed to voice commands and gestures. 

The first practical of DECO2300 had us being introduced to the basics of the assessment that we would be facing. The lecture was initially a brief walk through of the Statement of Delivery and the assignment itself. This was followed by a walk-through of the games that we would be able to use for our assessment and these were split into 3 categories: Pencil & Paper, Board Games and arcade games. From here, the task was to select two games from each category and write down two defining features of that game.

For the Pencil & Paper games, we chose Hangman and Naughts & Crosses. For Hangman the two defining features were: the guessing of the word and the drawing of the stick figure. For Naughts and Crosses, the Naughts and Crosses themselves are a defining feature alongside the 9x9 grid. 

The board games that were decided were Snakes and Ladders and Battleships. For Snakes and Ladders, the element of chance and the Snakes/Ladders were the defining features and for Battleships the placing of the ships and choosing were to shoot were the features of choice. 

For the Arcade Games, Space Invaders and Minesweeper were the games to be chosen. The two features that were decided for Space Invaders were the time limit and the fact that the aliens would be moving towards the player. For Minesweeper, the key features were decided to be the mathematical aspect of the numbers around the mines and the mines themselves from which the game is named.

After this process was complete, the next task was to 'mash up' two games to form a completely new game. The games that were chosen to be fused were Twister and Minesweeper, from which MineTwister was born. MineTwister is essentially the game of Twister with the mines from Minesweeper placed on random spots to take out players. After the initial step, the 'Spinner' would place numbers on wherever the player had stepped to allow them to determine where the mines have been placed. 

The final activity in the practical was to think of an embarrassing event and make it even more embarrassing. From this, the event chosen was if a person was in a public environment and their phone/device were to start playing some form of audio loudly. To make this more embarrassing, we made the phone/device capable of detecting whether or not the place is public and if so, then the audio playing would be set at maximum volume and the audio would be locked for 15 seconds. We believed that any longer than that would just be annoying and that 15 seconds would be perfect for the maximum amount of embarrassment. 

Introduction to Prototyping!

Prototyping is an essential part of designing as it allows for much improvement to be made. Below is some information regarding them!

What is a prototype?

A basic form of a concept that allows the viewer to see its basic functionalities. Not necessarily stable,

What form does it take?

A prototype can take many forms including a basic paper prototype or a small model. There is no definable template - it can literally be anything.

What do you need to make one?

A basic concept of whatever it is you're prototyping and the basic materials that you would use to represent the prototype.

What is it used for?

To show the concepts basic shape and its functionalities. It is also meant to show the viewer what the concept is as a physical representation.

What is its purpose?

The purpose of a prototype is to test the concept it represents or to act as a replica of the concept.

When would you need to create one?

After the initial concept has been finalized; the prototype would be created to show what the concept would look like. Furthermore, it would be done when the concept needs refinement and a physical representation is required for analysation.