Conclusion & Evaluation

Having now finished the 3 day end of year show I can look back and evaluate what I have produced.

All in all I feel that the overall show was a big success, everything which we had planned for in terms of the room had been constructed and painted to a fairly high standard. One area which could have had a bit more attention was possibly the overall advertising for the show. Even though we had many visitors to our room most of them were there to see the art and photography exhibitions, and therefore had little interest in what we had to offer. There was some interest from local games companies however the overall show would have clearly of benefited from a private viewing one night. This being the first year of this course, some holes & areas for attention was always going to appear & this is something which can now be amended for next year.

For my final piece I felt that it operated very well and was pleased with how it went. The soft toy on the rod worked well with the plain white background and the overall length of the rod was just right for all heights of people. The overall feedback from players of my game was fairly positive and it was enjoyable watching people playing a game which I had created, it also showed that my target audience prediction was accurate as it seemed apparent that my game was quite appealing to a wide range of people of all ages.

One problem which did occur when the game is being run for long periods is that the overall game speed seems to slow down. This may be because of the web cam or an error in coding; the overall slowing down process didn’t however really affect the game play noticeably. This is something which I would like to have a look at if I have time in the coming weeks after the show.

Because we had all the lights switched off for the 3 day show I needed to make sure that lighting around my web cam was of a suitable level for it to operate properly. Tests were done in the week before the show began and I found that the lighting levels were just right for the web cam to detect movement.

One thing which I would change if I had to carry out this project again would have to be including a written poster containing instructions of what to do once someone has walked over to my game. I found that many people wandered over to my project and didn’t know that they could get stuck in and start playing the game. They just needed a little prompt to say it was ok to play around with what was in front of them.

Another thing which I would change / alter is the on screen character which the gamer controls. Many players were unclear as to what part of the monkey they had to make go over the items of fruit to collect them. All it really needs is an added graphic which makes it clearer to all the gamers. Finally I would also like to of included a top score board, where the gamers could enter their name along side their final score. This would add to the competition of the game making it more interesting for longer periods of time.

Finishing touches

To add the finishing touches to my final piece I brought a selection of fruity sweets which the visitors could help themselves to. This just makes the stand look nicer and more appealing to look at, also everyone likes a freebee.

The initial idea was to buy the foam shrimp and banana sweets as used in the game, however all the local stores had sold out around the time of the show, a suitable fruity alternative therefore had to be found.

Room Preparation

Almost all of our time over the last week has been spent preparing the exhibition room for the final show. The room had fake walls put up, creating a more suitable shape, these walls then needed to be scraped and painted white.

Once dry we had to install the correct number of PC’s, and televisions into the room and ensure that they all work properly.

For my individual piece I needed to measure out shelves for the monitor and web cam to sit on and construct a second wall to enable the camera to work properly. These then had to also be painted white to tie in with the rest of the room.

Posters and wall art then had to be lined up and stuck into place, before testing the overall lighting and sound quality within the room.

Finally after tiding the whole room up the floor had to be painted, covering up all the scratch and old paint makes giving the room an overall professional look.

Creating a Background Poster

Perhaps a little late in the day but I spent this evening designing a possible background poster to sit in front of the web cam to give the game more depth. This idea came out of a discussion between myself and Sam Butler as we both agreed that it would only add to the experience.

Because the overall theme of the game is bananas & monkeys it seemed logical to create a jungle scene. Because I wanted to print this out on a large scale I created the scene using the vector based Adobe Illustrator. This will allow me to rescale the image to a large size without pixilation.

Updating My Website

To make sure that everything is up to scratch I spent the afternoon updating & tiding up my online portfolio website.

Hand in Date

Today was the final day for any little finishing touches to the software side of the Final Major Project. All the work from now on would be around the preparation of the room, and creating any art work for the game.

Before giving in my CD I played through the game one last time to make sure there were no obvious errors. Because I used a downloaded font I also included this on the CD for safety just in case it is wiped from the machine during transportation.

Suitable Fonts

One design consideration which needs to be looked at is what font I am going to use for the final piece. My chosen font needs to fit in with the overall theme of the game as well as being easy to read and of a suitable colour. A key factor in good design is not to use any more than 2 different fonts, and keep the range of font sizes down to a minimum.

With this in mind I went onto http://www.dafont.com/ to have a look for any fonts which I think will be suitable for my game. Quickly I came across a number of fancy fonts which could have been candidates however I didn’t feel that any of them were just right. Eventually I came across the font ‘Copa Banana’ after doing a search for bananas. I felt that this font was suitable as the aim of the game is to collect all the bananas on the screen.

Creating a Backdrop

Now that I have a little clearer idea into the best way to control the character I was now able to look into / sketch out possible end results for the final show. In other words design drawings of how the visitors would interact with the final piece at the show.

One idea which I was keen to progress was having a soft toy on the end of a thin rod, the gamers would come in and wave the rod in front of the camera in a attempt to collect the on-screen items.

A key factor which I have to always consider is the unrelated background movement behind the web cam. This would seriously affect the overall game play and is something which needs to be carefully planned out when constructing the exhibition room.

Testing A Little Bit

In a random experiment into what was the best way in which to control the on-screen character I happened to dangle a Playstation 2 controller down in front of the web cam.

This proved more successful than using your hand because the thin wire was almost undetectable by the camera, therefore allowing you to easily position the character anywhere on-screen without errors.

Storyboarding It Out

To get a clearer idea as to exactly how all of the components will fit together in the final piece I started to put together some story boards.

Currently I am working on that the game will consist of 3 levels in which the gamer has to collect all the items within each level before the time runs out. As each level progresses the overall time scale becomes shorter, and the number of collectable items will increase.

Once the gamer has collected all of the items in each level an ‘exit’ symbol will appear, which they then have to catch allowing them to progress to the next level.

Dropping the Sound

Today I made the decision that I would drop all the sounds which I have created from the game. The reason for this is because it wasn’t very practical to play my game whilst wearing headphones, as the wire could prove a dangerous hazard whilst waving your arms in the air.

Speakers were also not really an option because of interference from surrounding TV’s and over-head projector, leaving me with no real choice but to drop the sound completely.

Losing The Maze

After a discussion with the course leader about the direction in which my project is going we both came to the conclusion that I was perhaps making things too complicated for the time scale available to me.

Because my initial idea was all about reflection and mirrors I decided to scrap the keyboard controlled maze completely and focus on a simpler web cam controlled version.

This will now consist on the gamer controlling the character using their hand to collect a set number of coins before the time runs out.

Counting lives

Currently when you are hit by one of the monsters roaming the maze the game automatically ends as you are killed. This can get really annoying as you only have one chance to get it right before you have to start over again. This after time would get really annoying and gamers would soon lose interest in the game.

Therefore I started to look into creating lives for the gamer, so that when you are hit by a monster / obstacle you don’t die instantly and have another chance to complete the level. The code for this was fairly easy to put in and I managed to get it fully working quite quickly.

One problem which did occur was the monster sometimes took off more than one life at once; this therefore wouldn’t be very good in an actual game so I started to look into ways around this. The solution I found to this problem was to add a slight time delay to the monster timeline where the code was. This gave enough time for the monster and player to move away from each other without making the time delay obvious to the gamer.

Solution to the end

After much trial and error I have finally managed to make the ‘END’ sign appear once the gamer has collected all of the item in that level. This will now allow me to add more structure to my levels and hopefully increase the game play experience.

Also as an experiment I have added a secret button which when pushed transforms the maze, opening up new areas to explore and revealing new items to collect. This feature would likely appear in later levels of the game making the overall challenge harder.

Working with flash

Whilst away from college for a week I kept on working on my flash files in an attempt to get all of the code working so that I could start to add the final graphics to my game when I return in a week’s time. The code which I really wanted to get right was making the ‘END’ sign appear once the gamer had collected all the items in the level.

The other code which still doesn’t work is the collision detection with the maze walls when you are playing with the webcam. I have tried many different was of getting this working but so far with no luck. I will continue to work at this problem but if it still proves unsuccessful I may have to find another way around it.

Working with Flash

Today I did further research into controlling an on-screen character using a webcam. Before today this was capable however I was unable to make it interact with other on-screen items such as collectable coins, maze walls and the level exit. After a couple of hours of trial and error I have succeeded in making the coins and level exit ‘active’ in the sense that they now work with the character when controlled by the webcam as opposed to the arrow keys on the keyboard.

The maze walls however still fail to detect the character and therefore do not work at this moment in time. If I am unable to find a solution to this problem then I will properly create to mini games, one controlled by the webcam where you just collect items before leaving the level, the other a keyboard controlled version of what would have been the webcam game.

Planning the game & sounds

Game Design:

>Title screen
> Level Number
>Collect coin > coin disappears > exit sign appears.
>Avoid roaming monster(s) > If hit move to a ‘character dead screen’ > Return to main menu.
>Work your way through the maze
> Hit the exit sign > Level complete sign appears > move to next level.

Sounds appear when:

>Main title screen, sound track playing
>Count down to start of the game, similar to the Pac-man countdown, Short sound lasting about 4/5 seconds.
>Collect a coin, short ping noise.
>The exit sign appears after collecting the coin, short teleport, futuristic type noise.
>Killed by the monster, dull and dark noise.
>Hit the exit sign, short ‘well-done’ sound, happy and jolly.

Sound for Games

After further discussions with Jim about including sound affects within my FMP we came up with the following list of what I will need to consider over the next week or so.

>What is the character going to be?
>What should be represented by the sounds? (Pac-Man as an example)
>Music? For levels and menus.

Flash Webcam Tutorial

Over the last week or so as well as starting a Sound for Games assignment I have also started to look into a possible game which I can feasibly create with the time scale that I have. The current idea which I am working on is a combination of two tutorials which I have worked my way through. These are the collision detection maze, and the motion detection sniper point, which follows your movement on screen.

The gaming idea therefore being you, the gamer controlling a little character through the maze on-screen aiming to collect little items before reaching the end and moving onto the next level, also trying to avoid the little monsters which roam the maze.

The only real issue with this I have is how responsive I can make the motion detection taking into account possible background movement which would affect the gamer’s experience.

Useful Sites:

http://www.nastypixel.com/prototype/?page_id=73

Flash Webcam Tutorial

To learn how to import the webcam feed into Flash 8 I worked my way through an online tutorial which showed how the code works and why it is inserted. This now works fine however I now need to come up with a gaming idea, to do this I am going to have a look at other flash webcam games to see what they have done.

Also I am going to work through a collision detection tutorial; this will give me greater possibilities in terms of games as I could use it to create obstacles and challenges to overcome within the game.

Useful Sites:

http://www.neuroproductions.be/portfolio/misc/webcam_tutorial

http://www.webwasp.co.uk/tutorials/b32-collision-detection/index.php
http://www.flashkit.com/tutorials/Actionscripting/Basic_4_-JDAndr-131/index.php

http://flash8.betaruce.com/

Sound Discussion

Monday morning, started a new unit named sound for games, run by Jim Horn. During this mini project we will look into creating sounds for our FMP. As well as looking at how sound is used in both films and games.

After talking with Jim, about my gaming idea I am looking to create ‘action’ sounds for my webcam game. These hopefully will occur when collisions occur, or goals are met. If I am unable to include the sound effects live, as the gamer plays I will create a sample track of what would be included in the real thing.

Customisable Interface Experiment

One other side-idea which I did have was to create customisable display fronts for games. For example the gamer would be able to choose where things were positioned on screen, such as the health bar, ammo, time etc. Also they would have the ability to adjust the colour should they wish.

To experiment what this would look like I took a screen grab from Grand Theft Auto and played around with it in Adobe Photoshop.

Current Update of Final Show

My current idea for the final show is to have a mini flash webcam game projected onto the wall/ceiling via a mirror which the audience could play. This would give an example of motion detection which is currently still emerging in online mini games.

Further Results

One useful feature of WindowsXP is the ability for the user to rotate what’s being shown on screen. This could be useful to me in my final show as I potentially could project what ever is on the screen onto a series of mirrors which in turn can rotate and then be shown on the wall.

Research Results Summery

On Tuesday 17th I went into town and brought two mirrors which I could play around with trying to reflect a light across the room, in an attempt to simulate a projector being reflected onto the wall.

From this experiment I discovered that the best way of doing this with the mirrors I had was in a completely dark room, also I feel that much larger, plain/flat mirrors would be more suitable to reflect a projection should I use it in the show.

Below you can see how I have setup my experiment model of a parxinoscope in 3D studio max. The middle column has had the ‘Raytrace’ material added to it so that it will reflect the objects spinning around it, giving the effect of movement.



From doing this experiment I found that it worked much better with the camera spinning around the centre column as opposed to the outer objects spinning around. In real life the camera (human eyes) would remain still as they turn the objects giving the effect of animation.

On to the Pier

Today I started looking at reflections in 3D Studio Max and looked into seeing if I could create a Parxinoscope, (a mirrored version of the old Zoetrope).

To do some research into how games are setup for public viewing, how sound is used, the use of reflections and extra peripherals in games. I travelled down to Brighton Pier to look at how the arcade room is set up.

Finally as a group we went to have a look at a possible location for the final show; this allowed us to get a feel for the room, and the space potentially available to us.

After Easter

After my talk with Gary on Monday 16th April the following areas came up which could be of intrest to research into.

• Reflex cameras, non reflex cameras
• Get some mirrors and play around with reflecting lights / leaser beams
• Look at rotation of the PC screen, and look into possibly reflecting a projection of it. (Ctrl, Alt and arrow keys)

Further things to look at:
Tim Head – Taite Brition
Station House Opera Group

Useful Sites:
http://www.unmuseum.org/exreflec.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/10_11/see_things_fs.shtml
http://laser.narr.as/

Brighton Library

To carry out further research I went down to Brighton library to see what I could find out about mirrors, and how they are used in projections.

The following book shows how mirrors were used in traditional films such as Superman (1978) or King Kong (1933). The film makers then used a combination of mirrors to project a image behind a onscreen character to make it look like he is flying.

Book:
Readers Digest, How Is It Done?, Chapter – Just For Fun, Page – 406

Ideas from group chat on 28th March

Before the end of term we had a group chat, where everyone gave feedback on each others projects.

During my presentation the following points came up which could be areas to look at over the following weeks.

Use mirrors to project / angle light onto a sensor which in turn affects things onscreen.

Idea from John, to use mirrors in a game where you have to move them around so you can light up the path you are travelling along.

Use pressure sensors to turn on/off display elements in a game. Eg squeeze a little ball whilst playing gta and the map will appear. Custom made sensors which come with the game, for example Fifa would come with a little squeezy football which allows you to show information when pressed etc.

Using a projector you could project onto mirrors which in turn beams the image onto the floor / wall / water etc.

Do a google search for ‘webcam input for flash’ for tutorials in creating interactive flash movies.

Further Research:

Today I started looking deeper into how I could use external components such as webcams to control elements on screen using flash.

Also I have created a simple scene in 3D Studio Max with a camera panning across it. This is a test to see if I can create the effect of the computer screen following the movement of somebody walking in front of it. At the moment this will only be very basic and will not have any interactive elements to it.

Useful sites:

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/webcam_motion.html
http://nastypixel.com/prototype/?page_id=73

Monday Morning:

After having a meeting with Gary Barber about the final major project and my ideas I’ve come up with another list as to what I can research into.

The main focus of the discussion was based around reflections and illusions looking at how these could be used to set up the area around my FMP. He also suggested looking into the history of films from the early stages of the Zoetrope to the modern day and seeing how techniques have change.

Things to do; go to the film section of the Hove Museum, looking at the start of moving images such as flip books etc

Useful sites:
http://www.filmsite.org/filmh.html
http://www.hove.virtualmuseum.info/new_galleries.asp

Next Step:

Over the next 4/5 days I am going to go out and gather as many images of different types of user interfaces which currently exist in both the real world, and in the virtual world. These images will consist of screen grabs from games, digital images from car dashboards, and any other machine control panels I come across.

Also I am going to install and subscribe to the online game Second Life, and try and work out why interacting to other people online is better in 3D as opposed to 2D software such as MSN.

Finally I am going to use Second Life to look at how they have used reflection within the game, as reflection is also a method of providing information to somebody.

Useful sites:
http://secondlife.com/

Interactive Research:

Started looking into the possibilities of creating interactive components which I could use in the final show. This will help make my final piece my attractive and interseting to interact with.

These components need to be created from scratch using ‘Wiring Board’, a varieity of sensors and a basic software & programming language, to combine all the components, linked to the PC via USB.

Useful sites :
http://wiring.org.co/ioboard/index.html
http://www.arduino.cc/

The Beginning:

This is my Final Major Project, for the BTEC National Diploma in Games Development.

Starting in mid March, my first and initial idea is to create a game / simulation involving and exploring the use of reflections. This area interests me because it’s not really a noticeably common aspect within many games.

Another Idea which I do have is looking into ways how data is displayed on the screen to the user. Here I will look into the different types of dimensions e.g. 2D 3D etc... & see how they can all be combined.

Over the next few months I will be keeping you all up-to-date on my progress creating regular blogs online.

http://www.paul-matthew.co.uk