DONE

... well actually finished last Thursday, but have been busy. Game fest is tomorrow and our game looks pretty sweet. During this last week I also managed to implement a few features such as rumble, shadow trailing, threw in the story screens the art people sent me, and also made simple event message system. I also placed the menu content onto a separate content manager to lower the memory usage a bit. Well all thats left is the game fest :P

LAST POST

well its been fun but games almost done.

What I've done:
This week I basically just added in art assets, changed flow of game slightly, and fixed various bugs, and worked on some optimizations.

When and Where I've met with group:
This week i met with the team during the lab on Tuesday, where we finally got the chance to port our game onto the x-box-360, during this port fixed some bugs and discovered the 360 file system doesn't support '+' symbols, we also discovered what without an HD connection that the 360 may show some artifacts. Met again with just Cody on Friday to demo our game to Microsoft dude, there we also ported new build of game onto 360, and took video of our game.

What you are going to do for next week:
Well essentially the game is done except for a few minor art assets I'm waiting for to put into the game. On top of this I'll most likely be doing QA work and making optimizations.
Additionally team is going to meet on Thursday or Friday, to produce our final build of our game onto the 360. Furthermore time permitting I may try to add a few last touches to our game aesthetic such as additional visual effects/ rumble pad (i think a 360 controller has rumble pad support).

Weekly Assesment from 11/27

What I've done:
This week I, basically just added artwork, programmed music, and added additional platforms into the game. I also spent some time working on bug fixes, adding additional objects/ creatures/ animations for an inhabitant.

When and Where I've met with group:
this week i met with the team during the lab on Tuesday, where we basically decided what more had to be done for the game in order to finish as early as possible.

What you are going to do for next week:
Well as this is the home stretch I'll be programming whatever left to program in the game >_<

Weekly assesment from 11/20

What I've done:
As usual this week I did more code on this project, in particular I:
- figured out how to put sound effects/music into the game, (1 music file already placed in)
- added additional pieces of artwork into the game
- made/updated changes to the layout, GUI, and game flow
- added additional objects such as missing platforms
- fixed several bugs/made a few optimizations
- added tweaks to game balance/physics/screen scrolling code

When and Where I've met with group:
this week i met with the team during the lab on Tuesday, where we basically decided what more had to be done for the game in order to finish as early as possible.

What you are going to do for next week:
well although I'm going to be quite busy this next week i'll most likely be putting in additional sound/music/art files sent in by the team, and making balance/game play changes wherever necessary.

Critiques from 11/13

Aquila:

Well since so much time has passed this game apparently changed drastically compared to its first prototype stage. From the teams presentation it is a multi player strategy shooter game, with a point and click/moving mechanic. As for dynamics this game promises a variety of options/weapons/power ups, to add complexity to the basic mechanics of the game. Apparently the session went well for this team and they learned allot through their testing, they also realized the existence of some bugs such as stacking which they are also thinking of leavening in/ altering to use as a feature. Unfortunately since its been so long since their prototype session the ascetics have apparently changed considerably since then, however from what they showed it seemed fairly simple, and reminiscent of classic console games.

Chop Stick Chung

This game seems fairly impressive considering its basically a collection of mini java games. Unfortunately this team has only implemented/tested 1 mini-game based on the point/click mechanic. However they seem to be working on implementing other mini games containing various other mechanics, although they didn't elaborate. This game also promises to use story to give the player motivation to continue playing the game until end, which seems like a good choice. As most of this game is not made/ designed, not much was shown in terms of aesthetics.

Deep Field

This team chose to use a physical prototype instead of a paper prototype to better test their game. This seems to have been a good decision as some things can be better prototyped physically as opposed to paper. This game appears to focus on a strategic mechanic, tested by using humans to simulate games ai/player in reality. This game added allot of complexity for its dynamics, although i didn't really understand it. and because they used a physical prototype they didn't show much aesthetics in their presentation except for their fast paced game play.

dynasty

this team uses a role playing mechanic, as the player seems to solve educational trivia based on the last five Chinese dynasties. At first through this teams explanation I though this team was using flash to create their game, and have it run online but apparently their using game maker. I'm not to sure how game maker interfaces with the web but it sounds fairly interesting. additionally their role playing mechanic seems similar to the old choose your own adventure style children's books, which is probably the dynamics of this, as the player seems to make choices leading them to different URLs. As for aesthetic, they claimed to be using cartoonish sprites similar to the old snes style rpgs, although no images were actually shown.

Weekly Assesment 11/13

What I've done:
Well this week I did allot of code again. Since theirs quite allot I did I'll list what I did in point form.
- Using soopahs open source .dll and bogas tutorial, class wrapper I've added support for pc game pads.

- Allot of memory optimizations, mainly by loading level background and character animation textures on entering level, and unloading previous level textures at the same time. (This was quite complicated, and also involved fixing crashes, although the memory saved is quite significant)

- Placed more art into the game, including color variations, such that as the player kills more enemies the color from each level will disappear in phases.

- Added main menu, (still missing some art screens)

- Updated modifications to Battle system (still in progress)

- Wrote up effects class/ added jump effects, such that theres an effect whenever the character jumps

- did some research into pixel shader effects, although due to the complexity of this I may not be able to implement this into our game. Based on tutorials and sample code, these effects look quite impressive, although I don't really understand High Level Shader Language (HLSL), or the weird calculations/code required to implement them myself.

- also did some research into implementing sounds, and it looks like I'm suppose to use the xact converter which comes with xna not the latest version in the latest (augaust 2007) direct x sdk, which causes version conflicts.


When and Where I've met with group:
- met in lab on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday, and again on Thursday. During these three meetings, we intended to be ready to prototype an alpha version on Thursday, however we decided due to some interface issues, and newly discovered holes in our current system, we should postpone our user testing to next week, and we also decided on further tasks to do for next week.

What you are going to do for next week:
- This week I'll most likely be putting in more art, attempting to put in sounds, and code up any loose holes in our system.

Presentation Critiques Part 3

Zodiac War
- Well to be honest I didn't really understand how rock paper scissors, had the same mechanic as a fighting game. Apparently the group claimed they learned allot from their testing session so I suppose its ok. In terms of mechanics , it seemed their mechanics didn't map well to their actual game, the ascetic of the prototype seemed vaguely similar to their intended game, and the dynamics didn't seem very dynamic.

Crack Quest
- Another team that went with a digital prototype. Well this teams prototype looked fairly impressive, and I really like the teams choice of both theme and art style. Because this team went with a digital prototype it felt like they learned allot compared to other team which used paper. Additionally their game looked quite fun although simple. Personally I really liked the aesthetics of this game, which was really tested well since they used a digital prototype. Additionally the mechanics although simple were also tested well since they had a digital prototype. And in terms of dynamics, it looks like they discover that their game needs more in terms of dynamics through their testing session, such as story/complexity.

Stick Ninja
- :P this is my team so i guess it'd be too bias to write anything.....

Weekly Assesment 11/06

What I've done:
well this week I've done quite allot (all code work) so ill list things in point form:

- managed to read texture alpha buffer for terrain (discovered per pixel collisions can't involve resized textures)
- programmed battle logic, random numbers/getting stats/ gaining spoils if winning
- setup exits
- setup platforms in levels
- setting up win/lose conditions
- several alterations to code structure, (for speed, maintainability, debugging)
- coded HUD art in
- added support for various player/enemy statistics
- fixed several bugs
- performed cpu related optimizations to the code, (specifically the terrain collisions)
- coded several creature/item objects, and placed coded additional art/animations into game
- added support for 360 controller, (untested, so i'm not sure if it works)

When and Where I've met with group:
- this week i met with the group on tuesday october 30, during the lab, and we basically discussed what needed to be done to have an electronic prototype for next week

What you are going to do for next week:
- well next week seems pretty busy but i'll most likely be coding in more art, and helping with the prototyping. additionally i might also have to start helping to see if the code can be ported from pc to 360, which may be trouble some due to system resource issues.

11/06 Critique 2nd

3rd Cloud:
well this game seemed fairly interesting, as they were able to put together an electronic prototype for the first prototyping session. From the looks of it their game's aesthetic is similar to the very old style or RPG. Not sure what else to say except the game gives of a feeling of nostalgia. The presentation was fairly well done and they seemed to test the mechanics of their game well. And the results of their testing seem to point to their team needing in improve the interactivity of their game.


Food Fight:
this game also seems interesting, and i thought that this team chose an unique way of prototyping their game, as they used the battle ship model to prototype a worms/gunbound type game. apparently they still learned quite a bit of stuff from the prototype so it seems like it went well for them. based on their testing report, it sounds like their mechanic is quite solid as battle ship style strategy maps fairly well to a worms style game. Although they didn't show much art to give a feel of their aesthetic, and I didn't exactly get a feel for the dynamics of their game.

Drive thru tycoon:
what i liked about this team was the fact that they tried a real time paper prototype which seems to be an optimal solution for prototyping their type of game. This team also seems to be making good progress on their electronic prototype, although i do find their game a bit hard to understand. The mechanics of this seem to be based on the same mechanics as dinner dash, which doesn't seem to be a bad choice. The aesthetics of the game seem very simple (flash style), although i suppose it works for them. In terms of dynamics it looks like this team is changing their dynamics, and improving them, adding complexity / challenge as the game progresses, looks quite interesting.

Circular Strife:
This team seemed pretty interesting as they also had a real time prototype and used an rc car/ pieces to prototype their game. what seemed best about this method of prototyping is that it seemed to match up with their electronic prototype very well compared to other methods of prototyping. The mechanics / dynamics of this game look very interesting given the fast paced action demerit system, although as little of their final game was shown i don't see much aesthetic. However from their presentation it seems like this team learned that having a smooth control system can be very important for the aesthetic of a game.

Paper Prototype Critques from 10/23

Antlion:
overall this presentation seemed well done, the team seemed to learn a fair bit from their presentation. The game itself seemed to use a simple chase mechanic which seemed fairly interesting. And the aesthetic of this game seems quite well done.

Fins of Fury:
well this presentation seemed to be about fish, not sure what to say. Their testing seemed to go well for them, as they had people with different backgrounds test their game, but I didn't really understand their game. Although i didn't really understand the mechanics / dynamics of this game the aesthetic seems to rely on quality 3D graphics which looked quite nice.

Mizu:
This game seemed like a typical adventure game, apparently their testing didn't help them out much, due to limitations of the prototype being made from paper. their mechanics/dynamics seem very nostalgic to old super Nintendo style games. Again due to a lack of elaboration I didn't get much of a feel for the aesthetics of their game except for the fact that its a fantasy adventure game.

Untitled:
This game seemed quite complex compared to the others, making it somewhat hard to understand. Their testing seemed to go well, especially since they had people from various backgrounds/ fields of expertise test their game. The mechanics seem quite complicated although very interesting (sounds like Zelda/Mario mix style) . The dynamics seem quite closely tied to the mechanics, involving various power ups/mini games. As for aesthetics, it wasn't overly elaborated on although they seem to be using their own custom 3D game engine which can have some interesting outcomes.

Weekly Assesment 10/30

What I've done:
this week i focused on adding in art, coding up item support and researching/attempting per pixel collision detection by reading a texture2d's alpha channel

When and Where I've met with group:
I met with the group on Tuesday Oct. 23 at surrey during the lab. Basically we just discussed what had to be done to meet the next prototype deadline.

What you are going to do for next week:
As usual I'm not sure what I'll be doing next week but seeing as how the next prototype is coming up, I'll most likely be implementing various features required for the game to be playable for the next prototype :) .

Weekly Assesment 10/23

What I've done:
this week I worked on more code, placing in some of the animation sprites and screens into the game. I also added support for intro screen and in battle screen, as well as additional bug fixes. I've also begun working on menu screens for selecting various items/captured creatures.

When and Where I've met with group:
I met with the group on Wednesday Oct. 17 at surrey and we basically discussed, what tasks each of us should be working on for the next week in order to reach our alpha test demo.

What you are going to do for next week:
As our team tends to decide such things on Wednesdays I'm not too sure exactly what I'll be doing over the next week, but I'll probably be adding support for items and combat system attributes, and placing more art into the game. Additionally if I have time I may get to creating an ending condition for the game. However this is all hypothetical assuming I'll be able to figure out how to do these things using XNA over the following week, and have enough time to code it all up.

Weekly Assessment 10/16

What I've done:
- This week I played our teams paper prototype and gave feedback on it to help improve it before we had outsiders play test it.
- I also, present at our official play testing session.
- Made minor progress with our code assets, (debugging/small changes)
-I had code assets written up from the past 2 weeks demonstrating some minor core functionality with out engine of choice XNA

When and Where I've met with group:
- I met with my group on Wednesday Oct,10 2:30 to test, give feedback and make adjustments to our paper prototype
- Also met on Thursday Oct 11, 1:30 for our play testing session

What to do for next week:
- Not too sure what I'll be doing for next week, most likely trying to come up with some more finalized designs, before i make more progress on the code

Test

test post