My original power point presentation

This was my first presentation. After I got to a certain point in making my game I had to change some of the game play mechanics from what I had originally planned. This power point shows what I was going for at first. My website shows what I ended up doing as far as game play is concerned.

Google Drive folder with Space VASE files

This will link to my Google drive folder. It contains images, sounds, and GameMaker files from different stages of production.

Link to my Space V.A.S.E. website

http://hills.ccsf.edu/~wbowen/vase.html

"Metaphysics of Game Design" lecture by Will Wright questions

1. Wright talks about companies asking for advice on 'gamification'. What does "MSG" stand for in this context?

Make it seem game-like.

2. What does Wright mean by the idea of "Interdisciplinary Entertainment"?

The stuff happening between the main fields of entertainment. Similar to the stuff that maybe happens between geology and chemistry.

3. Technology, Culture, Psychology are described as being different types of:

Platforms.

4. Wright argues that "Play builds models"

and that "Games test models"

What kinds of models is he talking about?

Mental frameworks of how phenomena work.

5. Will Wright talks about the following schema

*Light bulb joke schema

*Classification schema

*Causality schema

*False Schema

Why are such schema important when it comes to working with interactive media and entertainment?

They help to make models that everyone can understand.

6. Wright describes how network culture has given rise to a world of "narrowcast" where everyone is a publisher but to a small narrow group. What is a good example of this?

Blogs and social networks that are targeted at specific groups.

7. Using the example of the '20 Questions' toy, Wright argues that we are moving to a world in which the power of collective effort is playing a larger role online. 

What is another name for this type of activity?

Crowdsourcing.

8. What does Will Wright say about the future?

He says it is becoming less and less  predictable.

9. Despite the rise of online distribution in almost every arena in digital culture, what two formats continue to enjoy sales, albeit in fewer numbers?

Record LPs, Audio Cassettes, Compact Disks

10. What did you find most useful from the Will Wright lecture on "The Metaphysics of Game Design"?

I liked the part about interdisciplinary entertainment and how the stuff happening between fields of entertainment is becoming more important and blending together. I enjoy all forms of entertainment and I like that they are embracing each other more and more.

Mass Effect 2 Mind Map

screen capture UI

1) Does the gameplay require a pointing or steering device? Should those be analog, or will a D-pad suffice? What do they actually do in the context of the game? The game will require the ship to be steered to the left and right and shots to be fired in 360 degrees. Analog will be needed for accurate shots to be fired.

2) Does the Function of one or more buttons on the controller change within a single gameplay mode? If so, what visual cues let the player know this is taking place? The majority of the game will be controlled with the two analog sticks, one for firing and one for steering the ship. There will also be four buttons for distributing power-ups. The numbers on the right side of the screen will show how much of each power-up you have at your disposal. There will also be a button to activate special weapons. Special weapons become available after the ship collects them from different areas on the play field.

3) If the player has an avatar (whether a person, creature or vehicle), how do the movements and other behaviors of the avatar map to the machine's input devices? Define the steering mechanism. The steering is simply left and right movement. Press right and the ship moves right. Press left and the ship moves left.

4) How will the major elements of your screen be laid out? Will the game use a windowed view, opaque overlays, semitransparent overlays or a combination? The screen will be a windowed view. The game play takes place in the middle and all relevant information will be in windows to the left and right of the gameplay.

5) What camera model will the main view use? What interaction model does the gameplay mode use? Is it one of the common ones or something new? (review chapter 8 if you are unsure as to what gameplay mode is) How does the camera model support the interaction model? It is a top-down static view. It is a common gameplay mode.

6) Does the game's genre, if it has one, help to determine the user interface? What standards already exist that the player may be expecting the game to follow? Do you intend to break these expectations, and if so, how will you inform the player of that? Most players are should be familiar with top-down shooters so the genre will help determine the UI. My game will differ from traditional Top-down shooters because you attack enemies from above and collect power-ups from below. Also your avatar is in the middle of the screen and can only move horizontally. The game will have a tutorial explaining all this to the player.

7) Does the game include menus? What is the menu structure? Is it broad and shallow (quick to use, but hard to learn) or narrow and deep (easy to learn but slow to use)?

The game will have very basic menus to adjust music/sound and change the difficulty.

8) Does the game include text on the screen? If so, does is need provisions for localization?

There will be no text on the screen.

9) What icons does the game use? Are they visually distinct from one another and quickly identifiable? Are they culturally universal?

There are icons for health, weapons, and oxygen. They will be color coded and easily identifiable.

10) Does the player need to know numeric values (score, speed, health)? Can these be presented through nonnumeric means (power bars, needle gauges, small multiples), or should they be shown as digits? If shown as digits, how can they be presented in such a way that they don't harm suspension of disbelief? Will you label the value and if so, how?

All numeric values will be represented with power bars.

11) What symbolic values does the player need to know(safe/danger, locked/unlocked/open)? By what means will you convey both eh value and its label?

When the player is near death the screen will take a red tint. When the player or planet is nearly out of oxygen the screen will take a blue tint.

12) Will it be possible for the player to control the game's camera? Will it be necessary for the player to do so in order to play the game? What camera controls will be available? Will they be available at all times or from a separate menu or other mechanism?

The camera is fixed at all times.

13) What is the aesthetic style of the game? How do the interface elements blend in and support that style?

It is a bright and colorful game. The UI will be bold and simplistic with bright colors contrasting to a gray background so everything is easy to see and understand just by taking a quick glance.

14) How will audio be used to support the player's interaction with the game? What audio cues will accompany player actions? Will the game include audio advice or dialog?

Each power-up will have a different sound when collected so the player can associate sounds with what they are collecting. When the ship fires, takes damage, hits an enemy ship, etc. there will be an appropriate sound to go with it.

15) How does music support the user interface and the game generally? Does it create and emotional tone or set a pace? Can it adapt to changing circumstances?

The music will be upbeat and cheery for almost all of the game. Boss fights will have more intense dramatic music.

Game Screen Capture

My game will be similar to shooter games like 1942 and Space Invaders. Like 1942, enemies will fly down and attack you from the top of the screen. Destroying enemies will give you power-ups and health. Like Space Invaders, my game will have a static background. You will get score points for destroying enemies and collecting items.

This is office pinball. It was not a very good game because the physics were very bad. It did allow you to "shake" the table to slightly move the ball which was mildly interesting. The goal of this table is to earn points and money to get promotions which are shown in the middle just above the flippers.

 This is the Son of the Mask table. It is an awful table based on an even worse movie. As soon as the ball gets to far to the right or left of the table it is basically game over. Not much going on with this table other than the rockets which fly off the screen when the ball rolls over them three times in a row.

 This was the best table I played. It is basically two tables combined with a total of five flippers. It also has tons of holes that transport the ball from one area of the table to another awarding you points. Hitting the targets at the top of this table and getting the ball up the ramp and into the dogs mouth was kind of a pain though.

hero maker characters

Princess Corinne

Protector and lover of animals. She was put into hiding as a child when her kingdom was being attacked by the evil Lord Crusher. She was raised in the woods and knew nothing of her royal heritage until an unlikely knight named Sir Christopher came seeking her aid. For once again the kingdom is under siege and Princess Corinne must take her place at the throne to stop it.
                                                                     Sir Christopher

Not the brightest or strongest knight in the land, but without a doubt the most loyal. Sir Christopher will fight any foe of the kingdom to the death. In the royal city's time of need, Sir Christopher took it upon him self to find the missing princess and in doing so restore peace to the kingdom. His quest starts in the Deep Dark Woods...

Lord Crusher

A truly evil man. He and his forces were defeated in battle 20 years ago and they were thought to be destroyed. But recently villages have been reporting attacks by Kremlee, Lord Crusher special forces. If Lord Crusher has returned he will seek to destroy the kingdom and all living things within it. It is up to Princess Corinne to banish this wicked man to the very depths of Hell.

First Person Shooter Street corner v. 1

I did a street corner in an urban setting. It would be used in a first person shooter. Buildings, brick walls, and barbed-wire fences would help contain the player in the scene. The player would start at one end of the road and work to the other side of the street fighting enemies along the way. The player could find cover behind walls, broken down cars, etc. Its kind of a rough draft but it gets the idea across.

 This is the top-down view of the street corner I made. You can see a tank in the park and the top of a parachute floating down.

 Here is a side view of the scene. You can see the parachuter is about to touch down.

 Here is another side view of the scene facing down the other street where you can see a broken down Camaro next to a store.

This is a perspective of the entire street corner showing all the details.

High Concept Statement for my Game

My game is an RPG with gameplay elements similar to early Zelda games. It will be set in the late 90's/early 2000's and draw heavily from pop culture of that time period. The main concept of the game is a child with the power of their own imagination must over come obstacles to proceed through the game world battling various enemies and bosses along the way. He/she will gain new imaginary powers and items by defeating bosses and exploring the game world. The powers and items will allow them to open new areas and eventually lead them to a final boss battle and the end of the game.

Game Idea

Will Bowen

1/25/13                                            Game Idea

The game I am going to design is a top-down perspective action RPG. The protagonist of the game will be a child. The flow of the game will be traveling through a world map, entering towns to gather information, and entering “dungeons” to gather new items. It will be set in modern times and the “dungeons” will be a product of the child’s imagination. The basic gameplay will revolve around the child’s power of imagination, which can be upgraded through leveling up and finding specific items. As new imaginary skills are learned new areas will become accessible. The child will gain the ability of switching from the real world to the imaginary world. For example: In the real world the child might find a fork. They can then switch to the imaginary world and the fork will become a skeleton key allowing them to pass through a previously blocked door. Enemies and abilities will also change between the two worlds. A squirrel becomes a rabid wolf and a normal punch becomes a Haduken… Or something like that.

It is still just a rough idea but basically it is an action adventure RPG type game that revolves around imagination and exploration of two very different worlds.

I, Videogame Survey

1. Videogames emerged from the culture of the "Cold War" - what does Henry Jenkins from MIT compare the period to in terms of a famous board game?

Battleship because its a war simulation

2. Who was the inventor of the first Video game according to the documentary?

What was the name of the game?

William Higginbotham 1958

Tennis for Two for oscilloscope

3. Steve Russell is credited with the first true computer-based videogame (in terms of its use with the PDP100 mainframe computer) with SPACEWAR - what popular science fiction book series also influenced him?

Lensman by Scott Smith

4. What innovation did Steve Russell's SPACEWAR introduce in terms of input hardware?

Joystick-1961

5. When the USA was aflame with internal conflict in the 1960s and 1970s, what new home entertainment system let consumers finally control what was being seen on the home television?

Who was its inventor/developer?

Ralph Baer created the Magnavox Odyssey aka APB

6. PONG emerged out of the counterculture spirit of the early 1970s - its natural home was what type of entertainment setting?

Who does Nolan Bushnell say were generally best at playing the game?

The bar is its natural setting and Women are generally the best at it.

7. "Space Invaders" emerged in the late 1970s as the first game from Japan.

How did the production team intensify the emotion of the game via the use of the four-note in-game theme?

The more invaders you hit the faster the tempo of the notes gets.

8. Steve Moulder reflects that the first arcade games tended to result in the player's defeat and that 'defeatism' in turn reflected the view by the designers that war itself is defeatist. Has this view changed since that time? Do today's latest games still convey this sense? Why? Why not? (use your own words)

Games don't really convey this sense anymore. Games usually have a final goal and multiple objectives that often lead to achievements, trophies or similar things.

9. Have you ever played any of the games shown in this the first episode of "I, Videogame"? What was your memory of playing it? Where were you, when was it?

I played a table cabinet version of pac-man in my grandfathers living room years ago. I've played pong and space invaders many times in different arcades and remakes on different systems.