Cartoon Network Game Creator In-class exercise week 2

Class use the following links to build simple side-scrolling platform game levels.

When the splash screen appears, choose 'build':

Do one level for each of the following online 'game creator' sites at Cartoon Network:

BATMAN

http://www.rcampus.com/rubricshowc.cfm?code=U6A964&sp=yes

BEN 10 ALIEN FORCE:

http://ben10gamecreator.cartoonnetwork.com/

STAR WARS THE CLONE WARS 

http://starwarsgamecreator.cartoonnetwork.com/index.html

TAKE A SCREEN SHOT OF THE GAMES LEVELS YOU CREATE (hold down command, shift, 4 at the same time and drag the crosshairs around the area to capture - the images will be placed on the desktop) and place these into a new blog posting and:

Answer the following questions for EACH of the levels you create:

How would you describe the challenges and actions that make up the game level? 

What is the camera mode?

What is the nature of the user interface (how does the player use the controls to play the game)?

What is the goal of the game? 

Seven Ways a Videogame Can be Moral - slides

Click here for the slides

Empire Magazine - top 50 videogame characters

Useful overview by Empire Magazine (British film buff magazine) of 'top 50 videogame characters'

Hero Machine exercise

Today's workshop

part 1:

Go to:

Hero Machine - make your own hero

In class exercise number 1 - create three different kinds of hero for an imaginary videogame - e.g. RPG, MMORPG, FPS, etc. Consider scale, gender, body type for each of the three and try to vary them as much as possible.

As you build your three characters with hero builder, clearly identify and document those functional and cosmetic attributes of the avatar that the player may modify. In the case of the functional attributes, indicate how they affect the gameplay.

As you build your three games characters with hero builder, clearly identify and document those functional and cosmetic attributes of the avatar that the player may modify. In the case of the functional attributes, indicate how they affect the gameplay.

Post the pictures to your blog with a brief written description of each character and those attributes the player can modify. Explain very clearly how these modifications assist in the gameplay.

Part 2

Think of an idea for a game that permits the player to construct something you
have not seen in commercial games (no cities, buildings, or vehicles). Assume that
you will constrain the player’s abilities via an economy but allow him to earn new
tools and features for his construction over time. Design a set of elementary parts
from which the item may be constructed, and specify a price for each part. Include
a number of upgrades—more expensive parts that replace cheaper versions. Write a short blog entry explaining the domain in which the player will be creating, and supply your list of parts, giving them in the order in which the player will earn the ability to buy them (cheapest to most expensive). Also indicate in a general way how the player can use the item s/he constructs to earn money.

The scope of the exercise - limit yourself to the iPhone/iPad online 'app store' type casual game for this job.

Go to the apple store for ideas.

Add your team name, member names, project name and presentation date to this online form

Class,
I have made an online spreadsheet for everyone to add their team name to along with the members names in each team, and the name and type of game design or game prototype they will be working on.

Please fill it out by 1:15 today - 9/23/11

Thanks

David Cox

Us versus It Iterative Game Tuning Exercise - do this ONLY if you have completed your group powerpoint presentation for item 2 assignment

This board game designing activity is one of a number  of workshops undertaken at the games developers conference to help  build the craft of gameplay and game design.

This link has all the  components you need to build the game - the pieces and board need to be  transferred to cardboard (i.e. printed then glued, or printed on sticker  paper then stuck onto card), but I will bring prepared items to class mounted on cardboard (thanks to our printing department!)

This will be an in-class activity for the Feb 11th 2011 Class.

DC

Customizability Links

Database of Online Customizable Products

http://www.milkorsugar.com/

Open Directory listing of Avatars

http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Chat/Virtual_Places/Avatars_and_Gestures/

Make a powerpoint to promote your own main game design idea

Using the skills developed last week, make a new powerpoint that explains clearly the type of game you will develop in your main assignment (item 2):

Answer the same questions as addressed last week, and answer each one in turn in your powerpoint:

Notice - this is a team project, so form a team and work together to build the presentation.

This time, make the graphics yourself, or adapt existing images off the internet in some way using photoshop (alter the images to make them more your own)

1)     Write a high concept statement: a few sentences that give a general flavor of the game. You can make references to other games, movies, book, or any other media if your game contains similar characters actions or ideas

2)     What is the player’s role? Is the player pretending to be someone or something, and if so what? Is there more than one? How does the player’s role help to define the gameplay?

3)     Does the game have an avatar or other key character? Describe him/her/it

4)     What is the nature of the gameplay, in general terms? What kinds of challenges will the player face? What kinds of actions will the player take to oercome them?

5)     What is the player’s interaction model? Omnipresent? Through an avatar? Something else? Some combination?

6)     What is the game’s primary camera model? How will the player view the game’s world on the screen? Will there be more than one perspective?

7)     Does the game fall into an existing genre? If so, which one?

8)     Is the game competitive, cooperative, team-based or single player? If multiple players are allowed are they using the same machine with separate controls or different machines over a network?

9)     Why would anyone want to play this game? Who is the game’s target audience? What characteristics distinguish them from the mass of players in general?

10)   What machine or machines is the game intended to run on? Can it make use of or will it require any particular hardware such as dance mats or a camera?

11)   What is the game’s setting? Where does it take place?

12)   Will the game be broken into levels? What might be the victory condition for a typical level?

13)   Does the game have a narrative or story as it goes along? Summarize the plot in a sentence or two.

Upload the powerpoint to google documents, then 'share' this link - post the link to a) your own individual class blog, as well as to the area set aside for it on the class in insight area.

Google Sketchup "Game World" Exercise

Use google Sketchup to create a 3D game world setting.

Please Note - Sketchup is already installed on the room 474 Macintoshes - it can be found in the Applications folder:

Using Sketchup - create:


Either an interior - e.g. a room, or inside space - domestic, industrial, commercial
(e.g. a house, a shop, a factory, a theme park, a mall etc)

Or an exterior - e.g. a street corner, a small airport, a section of a town or village,

Include:

1) Buildings
2) Vehicles
3) Characters (people, animals)
4) Urban details - e.g. roads/traffic details

Keep the dimensions of the setting simple - e.g. a collection of buildings

Use the large archive of online 3D objects to create a scene suitable for one of the following:

a) 3D Shooter Game

b) Top-down role-playing game

c) 2D Game - e.g. platform game

A tutorial on using sketchup can be viewed here :


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsfH_cyXa1o

Questions to answer as part of today's exercise

Once you have a game idea in mind, these are the questions you must ask yourself in order to turn it into a fully fledged game concept. You don't have to be precise or detailed, but you should have a general answer for all of them.
Cut & paste the following questions into word, text edit or directly into your blog and answer each with a paragraph. When you have answered all the questions be sure they are viewable on your class blog.

1)     Write a high concept statement: a few sentences that give a general flavor of the game. You can make references to other games, movies, book, or any other media if your game contains similar characters actions or ideas

2)     What is the player’s role? Is the player pretending to be someone or something, and if so what? Is there more than one? How does the player’s role help to define the gameplay?

3)     Does the game have an avatar or other key character? Describe him/her/it

4)     What is the nature of the gameplay, in general terms? What kinds of challenges will the player face? What kinds of actions will the player take to oercome them?

5)     What is the player’s interaction model? Omnipresent? Through an avatar? Something else? Some combination?

6)     What is the game’s primary camera model? How will the player view the game’s world on the screen? Will there be more than one perspective?

7)     Does the game fall into an existing genre? If so, which one?

8)     Is the game competitive, cooperative, team-based or single player? If multiple players are allowed are they using the same machine with separate controls or different machines over a network?

9)     Why would anyone want to play this game? Who is the game’s target audience? What characteristics distinguish them from the mass of players in general?

10)   What machine or machines is the game intended to run on? Can it make use of or will it require any particular hardware such as dance mats or a camera?

11)   What is the game’s setting? Where does it take place?

12)   Will the game be broken into levels? What might be the victory condition for a typical level?

13)   Does the game have a narrative or story as it goes along? Summarize the plot in a sentence or two.

In-Class Exercise based on Chapter 3 of Adams

1) Imagine that you could use any content you liked in a game without regard for copyright. Choose one of hte following game genres and then select a famous painter,photographer, or film maker, and a famour composer or musician, whose work you would like to use to create the appropriate emotional tone for your game.

Create a short presentation (e.g. use Powerpoint or similar) that shows how the images and the music work together for your purposes. The genres are:

ACTION (survival horror sub-genre)

REAL-TIME STRATEGY (modern warfare)
or

CHILDREN'S NONVIOLENT ADVENTURE game

Feel free to use google to search for images from fine art history, photography, painting. You can use the sites of the major galleries around the world - e.g. Tate gallery, museum of modern art, Guggenheim Gallery, or wikipedia - assemble a number of images and put together a presentation on a game based on one or more of these images.

This link has links to the major Art Galleries of the world

Post your finished presentation to your blog using google docs 'share' function (it gives you a URL when you have uploaded your file; - post this URL to your presentation on your blog.

Email me the blog address - dcoxexploringgameworlds@gmail.com

Game Concepts Powerpoint link

Click here for the powerpoint file of today's lecture, based on Chapter 3 of Adams.

Pinball Playfield Exercise 9/2/11

This exercise is to enable students to better understand the nature of gameplay as it applies to the game of pinball, using online pinball games as the basis for a playfield component mapping assignment.

In-class exercise - 45 minutes.

For this exercise, follow the below steps:


Step 1) Play at least three of the following online java pinball games and report your favorite to class afterwards.

http://www.onlinepinball.net/

http://internetgames.about.com/od/webgames/tp/freepinball.htm

http://www.thepinballzone.net/game.php?id=online_pinball

http://www.guzer.com/games/pepsi_pinball.php

Use any other pinball resources online in addition to the above if you wish.


Step 2) take a screen capture of the playfields of three (3) different online pinball games from the above sites

e.g:





















To make a screen capture like the one above on the mac, hold down 'command', 'shift' and the number '4' key at the same time. The arrow-shaped cursor will turn into a crosshair. Click and drag the crosshair across the area you wish to capture, release the mouse button when you have defined the area to be captured. This will place a 'screen capture' image file on the desktop of the computer and save this as a .png file.

Step 3) Open the screen capture image of the pinball playfield in Photoshop, then add a layer to the image. In this new layer use the paint tools to mark out the various components of the playfield like this (the names of all these components are listed in the wikipedia entry on the subject)

1) yellow - flippers
2) orange wire ramps
3) blue - magnetic holes
4) light blue - flippers
5) green - rollovers

Thus:

Step 4) When you have posted both images of the playfield, write a brief paragraph describing the nature of the gameplay of this pinball machine in terms of its a) speed b) dynamism c) challenges d) gameplay 'fun' level and e) any other details you feel are relevant.

Answer these questions:

i) What is "good gameplay" when it comes to pinball game design?

ii) How do pinball playfield designers create exciting experiences?

Repeat above stages for two other online pinball games.

Homework on insight

Class,

Please visit the class insight area - http://www.insight.ccsf.edu

Post to the forum topic for week three and upload a 1 paragraph description for your main assignment game idea. If you are in a team, each team member should upload the same description.

DC

Pinball Terminology - Wikipedia entry

Click here for the wikipedia entry on PINBALL

In-Class Pinball Playfield Mapping exercise

In-class exercise - 45 minutes.

Play at least three of the following online java pinball games and report your favorite to class afterwards.

http://www.onlinepinball.net/

http://internetgames.about.com/od/webgames/tp/freepinball.htm

http://www.thepinballzone.net/game.php?id=online_pinball

http://www.guzer.com/games/pepsi_pinball.php

Answer these questions:

1) What is "good gameplay" when it comes to pinball game design?

2) How do pinball playfield designers create exciting experiences?

Tilt - the Battle to Save Pinball

We will be watching this movie in its entirety today.

Ex 2 - 8/26/11

Using the chessboard and the types of pieces and moves available in chess, devise a cooperative game of some kind for two people, in which they must work together to achieve a victory condition (You do not need to use the starting conditions of chess, nor all the pieces). Document the rules and the victory condition.

After you have done this exercise - several groups will be invited to do a 'show and tell' of their version of collaborative chess to the class using the document camera (10 mins per group show & tell)

Exercise 1 - 8/26/11

Working in teams of 2 or 3, create a competitive game for two players and a ball that does no involve throwing or kicking it. Prove that it is a game by showing how it contains all of the essential elements.

Some Free Chapters of Ernest Adams Book on Google books

Click here for several free chapters of "The Fundamentals of Videogame Design" by Ernest Adams to read until you get your own copy.

Much of Chapter one is there, so read what is available by this week.