My "Lazy" Saturday

Yep, I only worked for eight hours today, it's like a vacation! I spent the rest of my time playing Persona 3, or catching up on random chores and errands I've been meaning to do. Tomorrow's a work day though. I need to have the prototype code basically written up by EOD Tuesday, while simultaneously learning C#, XNA, Torque X, and trying to keep up with my other classes. It's gonna be another long week...

The real sad thing is my group had a scheduling meeting today to plan out the schedule for the rest of the project and looking at the time we have a lotted we were forced to seriously cut down the scope of the project. We are keeping the core gameplay mostly intact, but it's a little sad (though not terribly surprising) that we had to cut out some of the stuff we were all excited about. I guess that's the whole point though. Alright, I think I'm gonna play with the Bioshock demo some more and then head to bed. Night all!

TWO WEEKS to Alpha?!?!

Ummm, so I should have realized this from looking at one of those analog date tracking devices (I think they call them calendars), but our team game needs to be done in the next four weeks and our alpha version is due in two...TWO!!! What this means is that we need to have a working version of all the prototype code (that would be yours truly's responsibility) by somewhere around next Thursday. Add to that two midterms and a large level design project and you've got one hell of a week. Man, I really thought I was gonna get a breather. Oh well...

My brother has been clamoring to see these "tiles" that I have been complaining both on and off line for the past couple days. So with further ado, here they are, my 2D chapel tileset...

Mausoleuem


Moon


Rope


Cross


Dead Tree


Door


Grave


Ladder


Swamp (animated sprite sheet)


Wood Midground


Baptismal Font


Foot Bridge


Floating Candle (animated sprite sheet)


Roof


Stone Foreground


Wood Braces (Foreground)


Stone Midground


Stone Stairs


Windows


Wood Braces (Background)


Wood Background


Fence


Ground


Ground Top


Clouds Light


Clouds Dark


Hill Background


Night Sky


Stone Background

That's all of them. Most of the stuff was hand-painted/rendered in Photoshop and some are reference images with a nice artistic filter over them. Hopefully I can share a few screenshots the completed composition next week. But, that can wait until at least tomorrow...

My First All-Nighter

While I recognize I have technically missed two days in a row, I am counting this post for Thursday regardless of what the blog calendar says. Anyway, the reason I couldn't post yesterday was because I spent the majority of the day (and night) preparing tiles for an Art project that will later be used to actually build an actual level in level design. Both are big projects so it was a lot to do and with all the the Team Game Production stuff going on I hadn't had much time before yesterday.

I had to stay up all night to get it done (the first time in my academic career actually), but I was overall pleased with the results. Though my productivity and sanity took a little bit of a nose dive around 5:30 A.M. Remarkably not tired except for a few more drawn out points in lecture, I still haven't slept, though my bed is calling to me at this very moment.

We had our level design midterm yesterday as well, I think it went well, not perfect but plenty good enough. My team also got an A+ on our concept doc and presentation, hooray! Anyway, I have to get to bed so I can get up a little early to churn out a Asset list for tomorrow's Team Game Production class. It's looking like this weekend might actually have some free time, which will be exciting. If only Bioshock was already out...

Bioshock in a Word: Awesome

Yeah, so this isn't a strictly game design related post, well maybe it is. I guess since I've started here I look at games a little more critically than I used to. Instead of just seeing a game as good or bad, I tend to break it down to what is it about that game that makes it that way and how can it be improved in either case. That being said, I had the good fortune to try the Bioshock demo on XBL last night and I was just stunned.

Anyone who reads the Den or talks to me about games can tell you that I have been pulling for Bioshock for quite a while now. A spiritual successor to System Shock 2 made by many of that games original developers? Count me in. The demo even surpassed my expectations. Everything I had seen up this point had been cool and showed that the gameplay was going to be interesting and offer the player a lot of interesting choices in their adventure, but the presentation had been...well, lacking. The demo completely changed my perception, the visuals were amazing, the environment was immersive, the audio was solid and genuinely creepy in places, the gameplay was fun and non-linear, at least in approach. This was definitely a game I was excited for, but it has become a game I am willing to lose sleep over in order to play (ended up staying up until about 1:00 A.M. with the demo) which is good since that is very well what I might have to do.

As for school there's a lot that I need to do between now and Thursday and I'm not entirely sure it's possible. For example, here's the rough list of tiles I came up with that I will need to create before Thursday:

• Night Sky w/ Stars
  
• Clouds
• Moon
• Ground
• Top
• Base
• Stone
• FG
• MG
• BG w/ Windows
• Stone Stairs
• Baptismal font
• Candelabra
• Top (animated)
• Middle
• Bottom
• Wood
• FG
• MG
• BG
• Wood Cross-slat BG
• Roof (FG)
• Cross
• Rope
• Middle
• Bottom
• Ladder
• Top
• Middle
• Bottom
• Fence
• FG
• BG
• Mausoleum
• Graves
• Dead Tree
• Water (animated)

I started on it last night and got a couple done, but that still leaves many left to do. Anyway, I'm on my way to finish off one of the tiles before I go to write my paper about you Starcraft has changed the videogame industry, but if you haven't tried the Bioshock demo yet and you own a 360, go download it right now.

I've got a VIRUS

Heh, I wish that was entirely just a play on words, but I have in fact gotten sick. A flu/cold virus has been slowly moving through my circle of friends so I guess I shouldn't find it surprising that I have contracted it. Still, the irony that I managed to get sick right before I had to present our game concept, VIRUS, isn't lost on me.

The presentation went well I think and the first version of our Game Design Doc is solid, but there's still plenty to do. Many of my classes have big projects or midterms this week and that's only the tip of the iceberg. Who knew that going to game school would actually give me less free time. Also, being sick isn't helping any. I still really enjoy it and I feel like I am learning things a hyper speed, but I think it is starting to tax me a little more than is healthy. Anyway, I'm off to do a little work before class. As always, if you are interested in seeing any of the docs just let me know, thanks!

Too Busy to Blog!

How can I write a post that conveys I am too busy to write? Wait, I'll just call it "Too Busy to Blog!" Brilliant!

Everybody's working on the weekend...What? They aren't?!

Yep, I am sitting here slowly churning out page after page of game design document on this lovely Saturday evening. Actually, I just got back from a meeting with my group and now I am returning to the page churning. I miss weekends, I really do...

I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if it was the only think going on. Oh well, I'm sure it will all manage to get done, it's just a question of how serious an impact it has on my health. Things are definitely continuing to ramp up though. Spending at least one night a week up until the wee hours of the morning working on something has become almost expected and I can only imagine that will continue to grow.

You can find me on Google!

Since I have no idea how to get to this site without knowing its exact address, I was curious how others might find it. To my surprise, if you search for "Adventures In Game Design" I am the 9th hit, first page! A restrictive search to be sure, but still it excited me to know others could potentially find it without knowing the exact address. Anyway, I have a little work to do on this Friday night (yeah, it sucks). Later!

Gphoria, I'm bored with you

Seriously, how many times can G4 show Gphoria 2007 in one 24 hour period? It was on when I woke up, it was on while I ate lunch, it was on while I was eating dinner last night. I suppose the question is how many times can I leave it on instead of changing the channel? The answer is a lot, the show isn't even very good, but during the middle of the day there's really nothing on, and so it makes good background filler with pretty pictures.

VIRUS: The Concept Doc

Well, our first formal document, the concept doc has been officially submitted for our 2D project. For your reading pleasure I have included the 'High Concept' section of the document. Let me know if you want to see the rest and I can send it out (I really wish I could post documents).

High Concept

VIRUS is a 2D, top-down action game with RPG and puzzle elements in which the player controls a genetically-engineered super virus (referred to only as ‘the Virus’) as it travels through a host. The Virus has been designed with only one objective: to proliferate by taking over the host’s brain and using the host to infect others before the body gives out.

The gameplay of VIRUS is an exciting mix of traditional top down shooters and action role-playing games wherein the player will combat enemies using both melee and ranged attacks, grow in strength and develop new abilities, configure the Virus’s “equipment” to accommodate different play styles, and solve innovative puzzles to advance in his or her quest through the body.

The story of VIRUS is about the Virus and its creators. The Virus is a genetically-engineered super virus, capable of mutating within a host and controlling the host’s mind by infecting the brain. It is a project of H.E.L.M., a government-sponsored biochemical weapons development agency. The story begins when, during an autopsy, the lead H.E.L.M. scientist accidentally drops a bloody scalpel on his foot and releases the Virus into his system. The Virus immediately sets off to accomplish its designated task; meanwhile, an elite team of H.E.L.M. agents have quarantined the lead scientist and are doing everything in their power to stop the spread of the Virus before it is too late. Now, the Virus must contend with the team’s healing efforts in addition to fighting off the scientist’s immune system, traversing the body’s enigmatic terrain, and competing with other pathogens. Both sides are fighting for their survival and the survival of their entire species.

The look and feel of VIRUS is a cartoon abstraction of the human body, which will accentuate the very alien and organic feeling of the environment. The art style is focused on maintaining the esoteric look of the internal environment while simplifying complex biological systems to make the game accessible to the average player. Also, art and design choices will incorporate scaled versions of familiar objects (e.g., syringes, medicine capsules, bones, and internal organs) to achieve a believable sense of scale. The style will make the player feel like a very small part of a very large, hostile environment that appears biological but not distastefully gross.

The Choice

If faced with choice between doing something easy and relatively unspectacular or stretching to your limits and possibly falling flat on your face, which would you choose? What if a grade was involved? What do you think I would choose?

As anyone who knows me (or can see where this post is going) could tell you, I choose the latter option. While developing the concept for my 2D game I recently got in a discussion with the professor that basically communicated it would be difficult to implement. He loved the concept but felt that a lot of new code would need to be developed in order to work. Well, I like a challenge and also I've been known to let my creative ambition overwhelm my technical limitations before, so whatever.

Anyway, there's still a lot of concept stuff still to flesh out before this even becomes an issue, but I think reading the C# book just went from optional to required. So here I go...

Perfect Pebbles are Perfectly Crappy

The title refers to an art assignment we have called 'Perfect Pebbles.' Basically we have to create a tiling texture from this pile of rocks that do not tile well at all (as you imagine rocks wouldn't). It's a lot of time starting intently at Photoshop trying to create new edges and blend everything together, and it's a giant pain. We start on 3D Max tomorrow which should be cool, but we also have to create all the tiles for a simple 2D level, in addition to all our other stuff, which is crazy.

Anyway, we finally managed to nail down the concept for our 2D game during our meeting today, so everyone is working feverishly to get our concept document done for this Friday and then move straight into creating the 40+ page design doc which is due Monday. Hooray! At least it's stuff I'm excited about...if it doesn't kill me. We got to create a simple level in Torque today with a player character which was cool. It's all very exciting stuff, just a lot of it. Anyway, I am off to eat dinner, craft pebbles, and write a concept doc. Later!

P.S. I found out you can make recurring tasks in Outlook (who knew), which may in fact convince me to post to this every day. We'll see how it goes...

Busy in Paradise

I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted something. I guess time flies while you're having fun and/or drowning in work. Still I love it here, I feel like I am learning all these different pieces of game design at crazy intense speeds. It's great. All my projects have been going very well and I'm pretty sure I did well on the two midterms we had last week. I know I aced one of them, but I have no idea when I even expect to find out how I did on art. I imagine I did "alright" not great, but good enough.

We got assigned our groups for team game project and my level design counterpart is the venerable Jane (previously, if not obscurely, mentioned). She's smart, very organized, and way more artistic than I am, which is good wince she is the art level designer (LD). The way it works is LD splits into two specialties art and programming (i.e., scripting), so for this term, each team is composed of two artists, an art LD, and a programming LD. Not surprisingly, I chose programming. Anyway, we have a concept document due this Friday (and unfortunately the much larger game design doc the following Monday) so we are still working out the details of the final concept, but I will try to make you all aware as things develop.

I had the funny idea on Sunday night that I could try to write at least once a day on this thing, even if it was just a few short sentences. It seems simple enough, and yet I have no idea how I went seven days without posting anything at all. Maybe if I can work it somewhere in my daily routine (around a meal, or my morning/evening routines). I'll see what I can do. Just keep harassing me with comments and emails and I'll try to get my butt in gear. Anyway, I've got a game concept to go develop. I'll catch you later!

Photoshop is Phun!

It's amazing what you can do with Photoshop in a few minutes once you know what you are doing. Check out this mock-up of a PC game based on the card game speed:

I recognize it's not terribly advanced, but it's just a rough draft so I can talk more intelligently /persuasively about the interface at a team meeting tomorrow, and the whole thing only took about 20-30 min. to throw together. Neat!

Actually, I made the wooden tile in the background as part of a recent art assignment (more on that later), does it look like wood? Just curious.

Source Images Galore!

I know you all have been wondering if my artwork has at all resembled the source images, so I though I'd provide them to you at this point...

Christopher Lloyd



Rock Pile (my texture is taken from the rocks in the upper right)

Sadly, I couldn't find any source images for an inverted, floating, Arabian castle. So you'll just have to assume I got that one right ;).