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  • 17/01/17 – The Results

    Today I began work on the shop feature that I am going to include in my game. The main focus was to make sure I could use the sprite selected when loading into the game. After figuring this out, I began to look at texturing the game.

  • 12/01/17 – Rizing Games

    I am now going to use these sessions to continue and expand on work I am completing in other sessions like “The Results“. Today I began to add code to the objects and get the basic character movement down.

  • 10/01/17 – Creating my mood boards

    Today I created some mood boards for inspiration regarding my game:

    The above mood board is surrounding what the main character, the princess, will act/ look like. Getting a good mix between these characters is a good goal. Lara croft is in place center of the mood board to represent how the princess will begin to act as the game progresses, and will help when designing the more “tough” looking princess

     

  • 10/01/17 – The Results

    Today I began work on my game. This involved opening game maker and getting the basic structure for the platformer game. As of now I will be using coloured boxes for sprites and will add the actual textures in at a later date.

  • 05/01/2017 – Rizing Games

    Today I started to play around with different textures for the game. I am definitely going to settle with an 8-bit-esque design.

  • 15/11/2016 – Game Menus

    A menu is the graphical control element that is the navigation part of the game, outside of the actual game itself. The tend to be made up of buttons that allow the player to set up/configure the game, and start the game they have just determined the information for.

    Menus usually consist of a title, background and a group of easy to understand buttons which each perform a different function(typically continue, play and options/settings). As this is the first thing the player will see (excluding splashscreen(s)), it is important the design, look and feel of the menu is good. The menu should also be easy to understand and navigate, otherwise you will lose the players interest straight away. Get these right and it will entice the player to continue to play the game.

     

    To help with making the right game menu, there are 10 commandments:

    • Allow players to skip splash screens
    • Make the first option on the menu to be a ‘continue’
    • Do not place a video montage before the menu
    • Automatically save settings when they are changed
    • Don’t remind the player the game is auto-saving
    • subtitle should go under video, not audio, y-axis inversion should go under controls, not gameplay, and difficulty should be place under gameplay
    • You should be given an option to invert the y-axis before the game starts
    • Always use “A” to continue and “B” to go back(or “X” and “O” for Playstation).
    • Always make the map easily accessible – eg.not behind multiple levels of menu.
    • Always allow the player to quit to desktop.

     

    An example of a good game menu would be Dead Space, as it is visually appealing, has all of the necessary buttons and is easy to navigate.

    dead-space-menu

     

    An example of a poorly designed menu would be Battlefield Bad Company 2 as there is too much going on, has a poorly designed colour scheme and is very cluttered.

    bfbc2-menu

     

    For my menu, as it will be optimised for mobile, I will not need an exit button. I have tried to keep the design simple and easy to navigate, which I think I have achieved.

    false-promise-menu-high-res

     

     

  • 15/12/16 – Rizing Games

    Today I looked at what I will be doing next term and began to prepare for it, making sure all ideas relating to my game are ok.

  • 01/12/2016 – Rizing Games

    Today I finalized all of my blogs and Stage 2: The Big Pitch.

  • 29/11/2016 – Photoshop

    Today I worked on editing and manipulating photos in photoshop. I was assigned to use a Breaking Bad photo and change it using photoshop:

    Before:

    breaking-bad3

    After:

    breaking-bad3

    I am happy that I have managed to remember how to use photshop, as I have been using it on and off for around 4 years. This was a nice recap.

  • 29/11/2016 – Legal and Foley

    Legal Sound

    There are 2 kinds of sound available to download:

    • Copyrighted – Owned and registered to a person or company
    • Copyright Free – Anyone can use it for anything, but the creator may want to know the following:
      • You may need to credit the creator
      • The creator may want to be contacted first before use
      • If you are making a profit, the creator may claim/want a percentage, so it is in your best interest to check first.

    PRS/MCPS

    An audio creator earns money known as “Royalties”. The user of the audio is required to pay a fee before using this audio, and both parties register with PRS/MCPS.

    PRS means that the artists pay for “Performance” of work (Audience does not keep a copy), whereas MCPS means that the artists pay for “Mechanical” use of work (Here the Audience would keep a copy)

     

    Where to find sounds:

    COPYRIGHTED COPYRIGHT FREE
    www.studiocutz.com www.royaltyfreetunes.co.uk
    Contact the Artist?

    – Talent Release Contract

    		 You make the Sounds?
    Contact the PRC/MCPS? www.royaltyfreesoundeffects.co.uk
    Cover mount CD www.royaltyfreemusic.com/sound-effects.html

     

    Foley

    To make your own sounds, you can employ the use pf Foley Artistry. This is the reproduction of everyday sounds for use in filmmaking that helps to create a sense of realism in the scene. This was orginally done by Jack Foley in Universal Stuios in 1927.

     

    These sound effects can be split into 3 main categories:

    • Feet
    • Moves
    • Specifics

     

    Foley sounds can be created using virtually anything, and here are some examples:

    foley-examples

    Source: PowerPoint Presentation