FSU Game Design

Homework 15

2011-11-14T08:15:00.000-08:00

Thursday November 17th,

Read Chapters 14 (Interest Curves) and 15 (Stories)
This is an individual assignment
Explain how interest curves are used in your game. What is the general shape of your interest curves? What in your game is meant to keep users interested in the game?
Discuss how stories are used in your game. How free are the players, how constrained?
If your game does not have a story, could players invent their own stories? How?
If your game does not have a story, would it be better served with a story (now that you have started development)

Homework 14

2011-11-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

Due November 8th.

Every game must incorporate balance in some sense, so ...
Based on Chapter 11, discuss the various types of balance that your game incorporates
I do not expect 10 pages, but I would like more than one page

Homework 13

2011-10-26T09:35:00.000-07:00

Due November 1, 2011.

Homework is individual, written to your personal blog.
Email us when homework is complete. Use pictures, videos, as needed.
Reread chapters 10 (including probability section from Chapter 10)
Please answer the following questions as it relates to your game under development:

What elements of chance are you using in your game?
Describe the skills used in your game, and their relationship to chance and probability.
What elements of your game are out of the gamer’s control?
Can the player influence chance in some way? in your game?
Is there a way that the player can estimate his opponent's (the computer) skill?
Estimate the probability of drawing a king of diamond AND an ace of spades from two full decks of cards (that are shuffled)
Throw three dice (with faces 1-6). What is the probability that the sum will be 10? 12? 14? Explain how you arrive at your answer.

Homework 12

2011-10-19T08:22:00.000-07:00

Most Blender assignments will now be primarily team based. We want the individuals in each group to begin focusing on their specialty. With each assignment, each team will have to produce a .blend file or executable for those using RPG Maker. Also, each team member must blog about their contribution to the project thus far and what their responsibility will be for the future.

Due Thursday November 3rd.

Teams must produce a single .blend file with the first level of the game.

Teams can use proxy objects(essentially just place holders for where real objects will go) for now to populate the level. Be sure to name your proxy objects so you can remember what should go there!
The level should include some basic mechanics of your game as outlined in the teams game document.

Space
Attributes and States
Actions
Rules
Skill
Chance

The level should also reflect the storyline that was discussed in the game document.
For those teams who have music/sound specialist you should begin creating/integrating some of these elements into the level.

Each Individual should post on their blog of how they contributed to the completion of this phase.

Must defend their contribution.
Describe their responsibilities for next 2-3 weeks.

Homework 11

2011-10-19T08:18:00.000-07:00

Due October 25th.

Homework is individual, written to your personal blog.
Email us when homework is complete. Use pictures, videos, as needed.
Read chapters 10-11 (except probability section from Chapter 10)
Please answer the following questions:

State the rules of your games.
There are 8 kinds of rules (see book chapter). Consider each of these, and discuss each one of them with respect to your games. All games should consider at least a few of these 8.
What is the ultimate goal of your game. Is the goal achievable?
Is there more than a single sub-goal? Are they related to each other? Why? Why not? Would it help your game if they were?
Are the goals rewarding? How?
Can the players control their own goals?
What forms of balance does your game have? Describe them.
What are the operative actions of your game?
What are the resultant actions of your game?
Discuss the real and virtual skill developed in your game.
Discuss the notion of balance in your game (chapter 11)

Homework 10

2011-10-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

Due October 27th

Each individual will blog about their responsibilities to the group.

Give yourself a title, or combination of titles.

Artist
Animator
Programmer
Level Designer
Story Writer
Musician
...

Explain particular responsibilities as it relates to your project. Please elaborate on your choices and give some examples that you will work on.

If you are a artist.

2D texturing
Character Modeling
Static object design (objects that will be placed in the levels for aesthetic purposes.
User Interface (UI) Design
...

If you are a programmer.

Game logic
Special effects
Artificial Intelligence
Attributes
...

If you are a Story Writer.

Back Story
Setting For Various Levels
Story Progression.
...

If you are a Musician

Sound Effects
Background music
Action Music(music that plays during fights or other encounters)

The Blogs should give us a good idea of what you will be doing for the rest of the semester.

Homework 9

2011-10-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

Due October 20th

Homework is individual, post on blog
Read Chapters 7 (Iteration) and 8 (Player)
Answer the following questions:

What steps are members of your team taking to prototype the game?
How are you applying the principles of iteration (chapter 7) to your game design? Each member should discuss his/her approach and contribution
What could go wrong in your team’s game?
What are some changes that you “might” have to make to your game to improve it?
What are you doing that “might” not work as expected?
What are the characteristics/experiences/features that players will like and not like? What are your expectations from the players of your game?
Will men and women like your game equally? What could be done to enhance the game for one or the other gender?
What would have to be done to your game to make it appealing to 15-18 year group. Same question for group between 40 and 50.
What pleasures does your game provide to the players (Chapter 8)

Homework 8

2011-10-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

Due October 11th,

Use constraints and/or armatures to construct something relevant to your teams’ game
Each team member must construct something
Include in your blog some details of what you have presented in your blend file
You may demonstrate what you have done within the context of your game (as opposed to in isolation)
Examples might include sliding doors, bar doors, windows, chains, pendulum, deforming objects, etc.

Homework 7

2011-10-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

Due Thursday October 6, 2011

Put assignment in your blog. Describe what you did and what you learned.
Describe how to “play” with your creation (keys, etc.)
Start from your previous project, or create a new one, but it must be related to your game
Use animation curves (IPO) or shape keys to animation different parts of your scene. For shape keys, see tutorial in Blender Basics 4th edition.
Use keys in the logic blocks to control different aspects of your scene
Use my door example to give you ideas.
There is no need for Python, but if you are adventurous, go for it. We’ll do Python one of these upcoming weeks.
REQUIREMENT: Must use game engine to control animation.

Homework 6

2011-09-27T09:59:00.000-07:00

Due October 4 2011.

Everybody writes his/her own blog entry
Feel free to illustrate with images and/or video snippets
Consider your team’s game, and describe the four tetrad elements:

Describe the mechanics, aesthetics, story elements and technology for your team’s game, in its current state
Describe the impact each element has on the three others

How is each of the four elements working towards a common theme? What is the theme of your game?
What elements of the game make the experience enjoyable? Which of your current game elements might detract from the experience?
Give some ideas that could improve the game experience.

Homework 5

2011-09-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

Due September 27 2011.

Use more complicated game logic.
Try and add an objective to your game, no matter how elementary it may be.
Add more models to the game and have them interact(physically or otherwise).
Be creative!

Homework 4

2011-09-19T19:30:00.001-07:00

Due Thursday September 22nd

For this assignment You are required to create a "game" using the Blender Game Engine that Gordon talked about in last Thursday's lecture. The game doesn't have to be sophisticated. It should however have the following:

At least 1 game logic sensor, controller, and actuator that provides some basic input/output(similar to the example in class where a caused some motion of an object)
At least 1 model (preferably the model created in assignment one)
Try to make the "game" have some relevance to the game you are designing. Maybe create some small feature that your game will need.

Homework 2

2011-09-09T09:25:00.000-07:00

Due September 13, 2011.

Meet with your team

online, Skype, in class, during lunch, etc.

Develop a game concept

game objective
story line (unless there is no story)
main characters + attributes

Describe this game concept in your team googledocs
Use your scratch Googledocs to share ideas, make drawing (scanned hand drawings), links to google images, etc.

Homework 1

2011-09-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

Your first assignment is:

Create a Blog at http://www.blogspot.com

email the name of the blog to the gerlebacher@fsu.edu and asy10@my.fsu.edu
create a video with voiceover (your own voice) describing the
content of the video.
upload this video to YouTube
put this YouTube link inside your blog as the first entry with a
textual description of the video contents in the blog
add one or more images to the blog, along with descriptions

To help you, use one of the software programs at

http://fsugd.blogspot.com/p/useful-links.html

Homework 20: Story and Indirect Control

2010-11-30T10:20:00.000-08:00

Due: 11/30/2010

Homework is individual, written to your personal blog.
Email us when homework is complete. Use pictures, videos, as needed.
Read chapter 15 + 16
Chapter 15

What is the relationship between the main character and the goal.
What obstacles must the character overcome to reach the goal.
Do the obstacles increase in difficulty (if more than once)
Does the protaganist transform in some way throughout the game? If so, how?
How is the game world simpler than the real world?
Does the player ever get transcendent power? How could that be achieved without removing challenge from the game?
What is the weirdest element in your game/story? (as opposed to surprises)
If your game does not have a story, would it be better served with one? If your game has a story, would it be better serve without one?

Chapter 16

What forms of control on the player does your game exert (direct or indirect).
All your games have some degree of control Address control (in your game) through

Goals Interface
Visual Design
Characters
Music Collusion

Suggest a change to your game that would involve each of the 6 elements above (of course, you will not implement these).

Homework 19: Modifiers and Scripts

2010-11-30T09:40:00.001-08:00

Due: 11/23/2010

In this assignment, you are to construct a more elaborate model using one or more modifiers, and perhaps one of the scripts made available by blender
Make your work available on your blog and return it to us.

Homework 18: Balance

2010-11-30T09:39:00.000-08:00

Due: 11/22/2010

Homework is individual, written to your personal blog.
Email us when homework is complete. Use pictures, videos, as needed.
Read chapter 11
Please answer the following questions:

What elements of balance are you using in your game? How is skill balanced against knowledge/thinking?
Do you have an economy. Please explain? How is it balanced?
How do you control boredom versus frustration curve?
Are there quantitative elements in the game (scores, hits, health, et.) How are they monitored?
What kinds of reward system or punishment are included in the game?
How simple or complex is your game? Explain.
How long would you expect your game to last assuming all levels were constructed. Explain why this is good.
Consider two objects (not the main characters) in your game, and enumerate their purposes (the more the better). Establish an elegance rating
Go through the various section in Chapter 11, and address any aspect of balance contained in your game, and not included in the previous questions.

Homework 17: Mechanics and Chance

2010-11-23T09:48:00.000-08:00

Due: 11/09/2010

Homework is individual, written to your personal blog.
Email us when homework is complete. Use pictures, videos, as needed.
Read chapters 10-11 (including probability section from Chapter 10) Please answer the following questions:

What elements of chance are you using in your game?
Describe the skills used in your game, and their relationship to chance and probability
What elements of your game are out of the gamer’s control?
Can the player influence chance in some way?
Is there a way that the player can estimate his opponent’s (the computer) skill
Estimate the probability of drawing a king of diamond AND an ace of spades from two full decks of cards (that are shuffled)
Throw three dice (with faces 1-6). What is the probability that the sum will be 10? 12? 14?

Lecture: Part 2 of Intro to Python Scripting in the Blender Game Engine

2010-10-28T12:29:00.001-07:00

[FSUGD] Part 2 of Intro to Python Scripting from Ian Johnson on Vimeo.

Homework 16:

2010-10-28T11:47:00.000-07:00

Due: 11/02/2010

Homework is individual, written to your personal blog. Use pictures, videos, as needed.
Email us when homework is complete.
Read chapters 10-11 (except probability section from Chapter 10)
Please answer the following questions:

State the rules of your games.
What is the ultimate goal of your game. Is the goal achievable?
Are the goals rewarding? How?
There are 8 kinds of rules (see book chapter). Consider each of these, and discuss each one of them with respect to your games. All games should consider at least a few of these 8.
Is there more than a single sub-goal? Are they related to each other? Why? Why not? Would it help your game if they were?
Can the players control their own goals?
What forms of balance does your game have? Describe them.
What are the operative actions of your game?
What are the resultant actions of your game?
Discuss the real and virtual skill developed in your game.
Discuss the notion of balance in your game (chapter 11)

Lecture: Intro to Python Scripting in the Blender Game Engine

2010-10-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

[FSUGD] Intro to Python Scripting in the Blender Game Engine from Ian Johnson on Vimeo.

In this lecture Gordon introduces Python scripting to manipulate the Blender Game Engine. He takes us through basic examples that show us how to get started. Along the way he shows not only how to use the API but also how to find out what's in it. By the end of the lecture you should be able to manipulate actuators using a Python controller.

Homework 15: Status of Your Game

2010-10-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

Due: 10/28/2010

This homework is individual. Post to your blog.
In each of your blogs, please describe your contributions to your team’s game, and your use of blender.
Illustrate your contributions with pictures, videos of your work, and descriptions.
Make sure you talk of your own contributions.

Lecture: Team Presentations of Game Prototypes

2010-10-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

[FSUGD] Team presentations of prototypes and game documents from Ian Johnson on Vimeo.

In this class we have the 4 teams present their current progress in the making of their games. They show what they have implemented so far as well as what their current plans are based on their game documents.

We have a drunk science experiment trying to escape from the lab, a haunted mansion where any object could come to life, a pissed off construction worker facing off against the aliens playing tetris with his city and of course teddy bear pimps!

Homework 14: Reality is a State of mind

2010-10-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

Due: 10/26/2010

Homework is individual, written to your personal blog.
Email us when homework is complete. Use pictures, videos, as needed on your blog
Please answer the following questions:

What about the real world is modeled by the game?
Give some ideas on how you will control the Challenges versus skill graph
Where in the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs does your game lie?
List some of the objects of your games
For these objects, list their attributes For 5 attributes, create a state diagram (following pacman example)
What is the space of your game? Discrete? Continuous? What is its dimension?
Will players see all game data, or is some of it secret?
List some of the operational actions in your game
List a few anticipated resultant actions in your game
List some verbs that apply to your game
List some rules for your game (you’ll change these later ..)

Homework 13: Iteration and Players

2010-10-18T10:13:00.000-07:00

Due: 10/19/2010

Homework is individual, post on blog
Read Chapters 7 (Iteration) and 8 (Player)
Answer the following questions:

What steps are members of your team taking to prototype the game?
What could go wrong in your team’s game?
Will men and women like your game equally? What could be done to enhance the game for one or the other gender?
What would have to be done to your game to make it appealing to 15-18 year group. Same question for group between 40 and 50.
What pleasures does your game provide to the players (Chapter 8)
How are you applying the principles of iteration (chapter 7) to your game design? Each member should discuss his/her approach and contribution
What are some changes that you “might” have to make to your game to improve it?
What are you doing that “might” not work as expected?
What are the characteristics/experiences/features that players will like and not like? What are your expectations from the players of your game?

Lecture: Text for Menus and HUDs in the Blender Game Engine

2010-10-11T13:37:00.000-07:00

[FSUGD] Text for Menus and HUDS in the Blender Game Engine from Ian Johnson on Vimeo.

Lecture: Intro to Animation in the Blender Game Engine

2010-10-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

[FSUGD] Intro to Animation in the Blender Game Engine from Ian Johnson on Vimeo.

[FSUGD] Intro to Armatures in the Blender Game Engine from Ian Johnson on Vimeo.

Homework 12: What's up Doc?

2010-10-07T09:41:00.000-07:00

Due: 10/12/2010

Assignment is team-based
Scan the two design documents:

Freddy Design
Torin's passage

Based on the two game documents provided, take everything you have regarding your game, and combine/restructure the data into a game document.
Include (some elements might not apply): brief story line, more detailed story line, list of characters, their description (attributes), different scenes where the characters take part, list of scenes (minimum: two), composition of scenes, puzzles to be solved, objects to pick up, weapons, under what conditions objects are manipulated, weapons fired, etc., concept art (whatever you have).
Results should be in your Google Doc file.

Homework 11: Animated

2010-10-04T09:15:00.001-07:00

Due: 10/07/2010

Put assignment in your blog. Assignments are individual. Return your
blender file by email (for all blender assignments)
Describe what you did and what you learned. Describe how to “play” with your objects (keys, etc.)
Start from your previous project, or create a new one
Use animation curves (IPO) or shape keys to animation different parts of your scene. Use Armatures if you’d like
Use keys in the logic blocks to control different aspects of your scene
There is no need for Python, but if you are adventurous, go for it. We’ll do Python one of the upcoming weeks.

Homework 10: Theme party

2010-09-28T15:03:00.000-07:00

Due: 10/05/2010

Homework is individual, post on your blog
Read Chapters 5 (Themes) and 6 (Ideas)
Answer the following questions on Chapters 5 and 6

What is the theme of your game?
Name one experience from your own life that could be built into your team’s game
How could you incorporate this idea into the game?
Give 5 ways you are reinforcing your theme (or plan to reinforce the theme)
View your game as the solution to a problem statement:

What is your game’s problem statement?
What are the constraints imposed by the problem statement?

Homework 9: HUD and Menu

2010-09-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

Due: 09/30/2010

Homework is individual. Do it in your blog
Design a menu system relevant to your game (on paper, not on the computer)
Design an HUD system that your game might use (on paper, not on the computer)
Use the logic panel to construct a menu with two items, that are clickable. Use scenes to achieve this (or some other means). Menu should have “Play”,“Help”,“Prologue”,“Exit”
Create one or more panels that with a brief description of your game (“Prologue”)

Homework 8: The Elemental Tetrad

2010-09-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

Due: 09/28/2010

Everybody writes his/her own blog entry
Feel free to illustrate with images and/or video snippets
Consider any non-computer game that you enjoy playing, and describe the four elements for that game. For example: monopoly, battleship, dungeon and dragons, etc.
Describe the mechanics, aesthetics, story elements and technology for your team’s game, in its current state
How is each of the four elements working towards a common theme? What is this theme?

Homework 7: Game Elements

2010-09-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

Due: 09/21/2010

Lenses #4-6 + Chapt. 4

The homework is individual, post to your blog
Describe some surprises in your game
Describe the goal of your game (as opposed to the experience)
Why would a player wish to achieve the goals stated in your game ?
What is valuable to your game players?
What problems are the players asked to solve?
How could your game generated additional problems so that the players keep playing?
Give some initial thoughts to the four elements (mechanics, elements, story, aesthetics) of your game. (We will go into more detail in the following week.)

Lecture: Sensors, Actuators and State

2010-09-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

We've uploaded two more lectures. In these Gordon makes some flying guns that track and shoot a target all with no Python!

[FSUGD] BGE Basics (sensors, actuators and logic) Part 1 from Ian Johnson on Vimeo.

[FSUGD] BGE Basics (sensors, actuators and logic) Part 2 from Ian Johnson on Vimeo.

Homework 6: It Builds Character

2010-09-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

Due: 09/23/2010

Post homeworks to individual blogs
Build on previous Blender assignments (hopefully related to your team’s game). Incorporate the following into your scenario:

Two characters (can be simple objects)
Characters can

walk, run (jump, etc.)
define when the character goes from walk to run or run to walk (or jump, etc.)
each character should be able to shoot a weapon (his hand/arm could be that weapon), or throw an object, etc. towards the other
the characters should be able to move (you are free to choose how, except that one character’s motion is controlled by the keyboard)

You are permitted to use any component of any program discussed and developed in class

if not your own, mention sources in your blog report

Textures are not required
Post a video and description. Add photos if desired to enhance the presentation
Late blender file: 40 points off

Homework 5: Game Logic

2010-09-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

Due: 09/16/2010

Post homeworks to individual blogs
Design a simple game concept, related to your own game: include the following:

multiple objects (relevant to your game) and object types
use of properties
use of groups
use of motion actuator
mouse and/or keyboard sensors
tracking

Textures are not required
Post a video and description. Add photos if desired to enhance the presentation

Homework 4: Experience

2010-09-07T10:07:00.000-07:00

Due: 9/14/2010

Post homeworks to individual blogs
Meet as a team (in person or virtually) to start developing your game. Follow the procedure demonstrated in class
Describe the essential experience of your game
Provide a brief storyline

background
general scenario (a typical level)
at least two characters (with several attributes for each character)

Provide supporting graphic art (can be shared among team members)

create on computer or scan into computer or take a picture and transfer to computer

Lecture: Intro to the Blender Game Engine

2010-09-02T14:11:00.001-07:00

Here is the lecture from today!

[FSUGD] Blender Game Engine Basics (keyboards and physics) from Ian Johnson on Vimeo.

Homework 3: Action!

2010-09-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

Due 9/9/2010

Using the objects created in the previous blender homework (or creating additional ones), use the game engine to make these objects interact. Use each of the sensors below:

keyboard sensor (perhaps with the mouse)
collision (or near) sensor
motion sensor

You may use anything more to enhance the desired effects
Take a video of the game play demonstrating these effects and post it to your blog, as usual with a written description
Email the .blend file (along with a note of what version, 2.49b or 2.53) to both Gordon and Ian

Homework 2: Blend!

2010-08-27T10:03:00.000-07:00

Due 9/2/2010

Create a character, animal, house, etc. using a collection of mesh objects, extrusion, subdivision, smoothing, and shading
Set your “character” within a hilly terrain Create some lighting (ambient, world)
Shade the scene
Render the scene
Take a snapshot of your scene and add it to your blog with a description of your experiences
Create a video of you constructing something in Blender and post it to your blog
Email the .blend file (along with a note of what version, 2.49b or 2.53) to both Gordon and Ian

Homework 1: Make a Blog

2010-08-24T14:23:00.000-07:00

Due: 8/31/2010

Create a Blog at http://www.blogspot.com
email the URL of the blog to the instructor and TA
add one or more images to the blog, along with descriptions
create a video with voiceover (your own voice) describing the content of the video.
put this YouTube link inside your blog as the first entry with a textual description of the video contents in the blog

To help you, use one of the software programs at

http://fsugd.blogspot.com/p/useful-links.html

Fall 2010 Game Design Course

2010-05-26T11:43:00.000-07:00

We are very excited to offer Game and Simulator Design again in Fall 2010!

You can see what the students in our first ever Game Design class created in Spring 2010.

The course includes both practical hands-on experience as well as design theory, with homeworks that exercise both aspects. Students are placed into interdisciplinary teams to create a game over the course of the semester. Some topics that are covered include game engines, 3D modeling, design processes. Some topics that are touched on briefly and can be explored further by students include programming, physics and artificial intelligence. The practical exercises and final games are built with the free Blender software which includes 3D modeling software, a physics aware game engine and a scripting environment.

For registration details, textbook and class times click here.

Instructor: Dr. Gordon Erlebacher
TA: Ian Johnson

Homework 16 (individual)

2010-04-13T09:37:00.000-07:00

Last Assignment
Questions related to book
Assigned:April 13, 2010
Due:April 20, 2010

Rules

This homework is individual. Each person does it without help from the others
Answer the questions related to your own game
Put the answers into your individual blogs

Chapter 19
Characters

Is your avatar and ideal form likely to appeal to the players? Why?
Does your avatar have iconic qualities that lets the player project himself into the character?
What roles do you need the characters to fill? What characters have you already imagined? Which characters map well to which roles?
What traits defined your character? How do these traits manifest themselves in your character?
What are the relative status levels of the characters in your game? How can your characters show appropriate status behavior? How does each of your characters change throughout the game?

Chapter 20
Spaces

What is the purpose of your game
What is the purpose of each subsystem of your game?
Is there anything in the game that contradicts these purposes?
Does your design have a special feeling of life or do parts of the design feel dead? What would help make the design feel more alive?
Which of Alexander’s 15 qualities does your design have? Which ones?
Could your game have more of these qualities? Which? How? Where does your design feel like your self?

Homework 15 (individual)

2010-04-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

Assigned: April 6, 2010
Due: April 13, 2010

Rules
   • This homework is individual. Each person
   does it without help from the others
   • Answer the questions related to your own
   game
   • Put the answers into your individual blogs

Interest Curves
   • What is the general shape of the interest curve?
   • What aspects of the game will capture the player’s interest immediately?
   • Does the game let the player see/do something they have never seen/
   done before?
   • What base instincts does the game appeal to? What higher instincts?
   • What aspects of Beauty does your game contain?
   • What is the meaning of beauty in the context of your game?
   • What is the game can players relate to?
   • Do the players get to do things they would like to do in real life bu can’t?
   • Are there any activities in the game that are hard to stop once they are
   started? Which ones?

Stories
   • What is the relationship between the main character and
   the game’s goal?
   • Do the game obstacles gradually increase in difficulty?
   • How is the game world simpler than the real world?
   • What kind of transcendent power does the player have?
   • What is the weirdest thing in the story?
   • Are there multiple weird things? Too many? Too few?
   Should they be increased? Merged?
   • Does the game really need a story? Why?

Homework 14 (team)

2010-04-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

Assignment: 3/25/10
Due: 4/1/10
(not April fool joke!)
Thursday, March 25, 2010

Team work
Do not depend on a single team member for the homework
Team members should read what other members write
Somebody should take everything written and consolidate

Chapter 13
Interfaces
In a separate chapter of your assignment document, address the Lenses in Chapter 13: lenses 53 to 60, in particular:

what kind of interface(s) does your game provide the user what is the objective of your interfaces?
do your players feel powerful? How? is your interfaces virtual? If yes, how is it done?
does your interface interfere with the game?
does your interface let the players do what they want?
is the interface intuitive? Is written help necessary?
what is the interaction process between the interface, the player and the game?

Homework 13 (team)

2010-03-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

Due date: March 16, 2010

Using your game address the following:
   - Lenses #41 through #47 in the classroom
   book.
   - You don’t have to answer every single
   question, but address the lenses as they
   apply to your game.
   - Provide a separate chapter for this
   assignment.

Specifically Answer the following
   • Is there a notion of punishment in your game? If yes,
   what is it? What is its purpose?If no, imagine how
   punishment could be used, and state it. How are
   punishments balanced against rewards?
   • What is innate complexity? What is emergent
   complexity?
   • Does emergent complexity arise in your game?
   • Establish an elegance rating for your game? What are
   the elements and their purpose? Do some elements
   have more than one purpose?

More questions ...
   • Does your game have quirks?
   • What is exciting about the game?
   • How is imagination used in your game?
   • What high quality details in the game could (or is) replaced
   by low quality + imagination?
   • What details in the game stifle or enhance imagination
   • Does the game have an economy? Is there notion of
   currency?
   • Does the game “feel” right? What is meant by that question?

Homework 12 (blender)

2010-02-28T11:47:00.000-08:00

UV Textures
This homework is due Thursday, March 4

Create UV Textures using objects from your previous assignments, from your game, or new objects
The object must move in the game environment and the texture should be visible
There is no need for two textures per object. Consider using photographs, web images (not copyrighted), or create your own textures.You can bake procedural textures if you wish
Other than that, go at it.

Homework 11 (team)

2010-02-23T09:44:00.000-08:00

Using your game
This homework is due Tuesday, March 1
Address the following:

Lenses #30 through #40 in the classroom book.
You don’t have to answer every single question, but address the lenses as they apply to your game.
Provide a separate chapter for this assignment.

Homework 10 (team)

2010-02-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

Due Tuesday and Thursday, Feb 23 and 25, 2010

Create a prototype of your game. Teams will make a short presentation and demo of their prototype in front of the class.

Homework 9 (team)

2010-02-16T18:44:00.000-08:00

This homework is due on Tuesday, Feb 23th, 2010
Be sure to clearly separate this chapter from the rest of your google doc!

Describe elements of chance that your game has
How is randomness used?
How is does chance inﬂuence surprise?
How is expected value use?
What kinds of questions regarding randomness and probability would you need answered to help improve your game?
Are there elements where the player takes risk? Is this affected by random elements in the game?
What is the relation between randomness and skill building in your game?

Homework 8 (team)

2010-02-08T15:31:00.000-08:00

This homework is due on Tuesday, Feb 16th, 2010 (the pdf due date is wrong)
Be sure to clearly separate this chapter from the rest of your google doc!

Using your game Part 1
• Starting from current game document, create a chapter with the following information on your game
- A problem statement
- Some experiences and themes for the player
- A description of the game audience and how the game targets this audience
- What is appealing in the game (for males and female genders). Present some
   evidence to corroborate your statements
- What pleasures do you expect your game to provide the player? (p. 109-111)
- What is (are) the player type(s) that your game targets? (p. 110)
- What about the real world is modeled by the game?
- Give some ideas on how you will control the Challenges versus skill graph
- Where in the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs does your game lie?

Using your game Part 2
• Starting from current game document, create a chapter with the
   following information on your game
  - List some of the objects of your games
  - For these objects, list their attributes
  - For 5 attributes, create a state diagram (following pacman example)
  - What is the space of your game? Discrete? Continuous? What is its dimension?
  - Will players see all game data, or is some of it secret?
  - List some of the operational actions in your game
  - List a few anticipated resultant actions in your game
  - List some verbs that apply to your game
  - List some rules for your game (you’ll change these later ..)
  - List the objective your game (it might have changed from previously)
  - List some skill the user will have to learn to achieve the game objective(s)

Homework 1 (individual)

2010-02-08T11:43:00.000-08:00

Posting old homework for reference

From Introduction:

Due Jan 11 2010

Create a Blog at http://www.blogspot.com
email the name of the blog to the instructor and TA
create a video, or find a video
from camera for example, or downloaded from the web
upload this video to YouTube
put this YouTube link inside your blog as the first entry with a description of the video content
add one or more images to the blog, along with descriptions
Explore the links to free games on the web and make sure you can play them in your browser on your laptop

Homework 2 (individual)

2010-02-08T11:35:00.000-08:00

Posting old homework for reference
From Jan 11 lecture:

Due Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010
Play (for a while) the flash game assigned to you Answer the following questions in your blog:

Is the game fun? Why? Why not?
What are the goals of the game?
What is the game theme?
What experience(s) does the designer wish the player to enjoy? Does the designer succeed? Why? Why not?
Read chapters 4-6 of the book (hopefully chapters 1-3 as well)
Put some pictures in the blog, captured during game playing. If you can, a small video of your playing would be nice.

Homework 3 (team)

2010-02-08T11:33:00.000-08:00

Posting old homework for reference
From Jan 18th lecture:

due Jan. 26, 2010
This is a team assignment, it will be graded from the team google doc

Generate at least 20 ideas for your project Describe the experience you’d like the user to have Describe some of the “surprises” you would like in your game
Describe the four elements of theTetrad:Mechanics,Story,Aesthetics and Technology.The descriptions can be crude.They will be refined as the game takes form over the next few weeks. (Lens #7)
What are the constraints of your game?
What will make the game enjoyable?
What can be done to increase the experience?
Is there a Powerful Theme in your game? A resonant theme ?
Try to pose the game as a problem statement
Read chapter 7 of the Game Design book

Homework 4 (individual, blender)

2010-02-08T11:29:00.000-08:00

Posting old homework for reference
From Jan 21 lecture:

Due Thursday January 28th, 2010

Put assignment in your blog Using the techniques described in class, create a house or other object
Create a situation where something will bump into whatever object you create and have consequences (bumping, pushing, bouncing, etc.). Objects can initiate their motion by falling, or simply rolling.
Creativity counts! Use boolean operations for interesting terrain creation Hint: use subdivision, especially if the terrain is curved
Hint: Experiment with proportional editing as an alternative to boolean, try the fractal subdivision, and smoothing.

Homework 5 (team)

2010-02-08T11:21:00.000-08:00

Posting old homework for reference
From Jan 26 lecture:

due: Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010
This is a team assignment, it will be graded from the team google doc

• Each team will do the following based on their own game:
  - categorize each of their ideas (+ additional ones) into one of the 4 elements
   of the Tetrad
  - combine elements from the 4 categories to generate new ideas
  - explain the details of iteration 1 of your game design:
   • problem statement
   • solution
   • risks
   • prototypes (what are they, create some)
   • results
• Read pages 92-94 of Game Design book for better understanding
• Read Chapters 8-9 of the Game Design book

Homework 7 (individual, blender)

2010-02-06T15:17:00.000-08:00

From the Feb 3rd lecture:

Due Thursday February 11, 2010

Put assignment in your blog. Describe what you did and what you learned. Describe how to “play” with your creation (keys, etc.)
Start from your previous project, or create a new one
Use animation curves (IPO) or shape keys to animation different parts of your scene.
Use keys in the logic blocks to control different aspects of your scene
Use my door example to give you ideas
There is no need for Python, but if you are adventurous, go for it. We’ll do Python one of the upcoming weeks.

Homework 6 (individual, blender)

2010-02-06T15:14:00.000-08:00

From the Jan 28th lecture:

Due 02/04/2010

Starting from the previous Blender Assignment
Manipulate your toy through the game engine Use keys to move/rotate your objects Create object properties Use keys to control objects
Programmers: experiment with very simple scripts (see examples)
Experiment with forces, torque, motion, mass

Interesting video: Behind the scenes of Enigmo

2010-01-29T11:48:00.000-08:00

Check it out:

clicky

Blender Resources

2010-01-18T12:57:00.000-08:00

The resources in this post have been moved to their own page:

http://fsugd.blogspot.com/p/blender-resources.html

My first screencast

2010-01-15T09:06:00.001-08:00

I created a video to demonstrate how to subdivide the edges of the cylinder parallel to the axis only, and not the edges that make up its circumference.

How did I do it:

1) I used SnapZPro video, with the Apple animation codec at high quality (37Mbyte)
2600 kbit/sec bandwidth
2) I used quicktime to export to mp4/H264 format, with a keyframe every 96 frames (3.6 MBytes)
I also converted to the same format with keyframe every 24 frames (5.0 Mbytes)
(about 300 kbit bandwidth)

I also learned to create a voiceover after the video using iMovie. It is important to create the video high resolution first, then do the voiceover, then save in compressed mp4/h264 format.

Files:

http://www.sc.fsu.edu/~erlebach/cylinder_I24.mp4
http://www.sc.fsu.edu/~erlebach/cylinder_I96.mp4
http://www.sc.fsu.edu/~erlebach/cylinder_voiceover.mp4

Converting from SnapZPro to mp4 directly did not play properly in Quicktime 7 Pro on my Macbook Pro 13", although it play properly in Quicktime Player (different application)

Useful Links

2010-01-15T08:52:00.000-08:00

Here are some useful links:

Screencasting software:
http://www.livestream.com/procaster
http://www.taranfx.com/best-screencasting-tools
http://klauskjeldsen.dk/2007/07/06/screencasting-on-mac/

Coming soon:

Del.icio.us links

ISC4933 Game and Simulator Design

2010-01-15T08:49:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the course blog for the Game and Simulator Design class at Florida State University.

Here you will find links and resources, as well as highlights from the class.

Enjoy!