Team Summary - Despite all of the ups and downs of trying to work together in a team, I think we pulled this project off really well. We were all working in areas that were strange and new, and we all came out on top. A few snags here and there, but nothing that stopped us from hitting our main goal -- a finished game. (Or finished levels, but hey. We did what we wanted to!)
What went right? A lot of things did. I managed to learn how to animate in Flash, and learned so much about character concepting in the first term! It was really fun and interesting to develop an art style that was both fitting to the game style and for the rest of the artists in the group. This biggest thing for me though, was learning how to animate and making all of the animations that I did, and making them work for the game. Despite some mistakes along the way, i'm really proud of the job I did on this project.
What went wrong? Some things did go wrong, but not enough for me to be too upset about it. There were a few tiny things in the animations that I never got round to adding in. Small things like Zalien's head bounding as he runs, or just smoothing some things out. There were also some small animations that I was nevre actually assinged, but wanted to do anyways. Like an actual fall animtion, or one that makes Zalien push himself against a wall when you run into one, instead of just running like it's nothing. There was also that thing I did in the last few weeks where I really sucked at getting things in on time and posting on the blog was scarce. Despite kind of sucking those last few weeks, I did pull through and get my work done!
What I'd have changed? If I'd had known that my immune system was going to take a break this term I would have liked to cancel that before it started. Being sick all the time put a huge damper on my work schedule and it sucked. But really, I would have liked to work on my time managing skills. No matter how many times I did animations I kept thinking that I could get them done reletively fast and that was never, ever, the case.
It was a fun project though! And a real eye-opener for a lot of things. Good job everyone!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Daniel Cunningham Post Morterm
Daniel Cunningham
Game 420
August 27, 2009
Post Mortem
The first thing that went right was everyone got assigned to the right position. Everyone who got assigned to each job was good and experienced at what they were did except for me. I had a steep learning curve. Tom, he knew a little about Action Script, but he had to learn more in addition to trigonometry. Justin was his right hand man and helped him code also. Joe is a level designer, but he had to learn how to make level maps. Adrianna and Malina learn and did UI interface and GUI interface for the whole game.
The second thing that went right was we had to pick an art style. We picked from three different art styles which were from the 70’s, 80’s and the 90’s. Eventually, we found art style for Zalien and the dinosaurs. Shelby’s art style itself dealt with black outlines with color inside of them. To even know that this art style would be carried throughout the whole game that the artist had to mimic.
The third thing that went right was the environment art. The environment art had three people working on it, Todd, Me, and Christy. A lot of good things came out of it. She made thorns on the ground, crystals, and vines. Todd did the tar pit, caves, trees, and rocks. For me, I did the ground and cave roots. All the pieces we brought to the table brought the level to life.
The fourth thing that went right was the animations. Christy, Todd, and Shelby had to learn the basic of animation. Without those three learning animation, we would’ve never got the game done. They spent days and nights of learning how to make a creature move, Zalien move. They all benefited from this experience because now they can go into any application that has animation and do it with no problem.
The fifth thing that went right was sound. The sound itself was special to me. I had to learn it from the first game production class. I worked on a lot of sound from tar pit sounds to Zalien’s death. I also learned a new program, Acid. Acid kept me busy with fixing sound, editing drop offs and pickups. Also editing volume to the sound that was created.
The first thing that went wrong was the ground. Me not knowing Flash how I was suppose to; the level 1 ground toke longer than expected. My first problem was turning everything into one movie clip. I didn’t like redoing the ground over and over which wasted precious time that could’ve been spent working on fixing sound.
The second thing that went wrong was flash itself. Flash hampered the sound because none of the sound made it into the game. Flash as a program, it wouldn’t recognize the bounding box for sounds and they didn’t respond to Zalien running into sound bounding boxes. It would either do two things, the sound wouldn’t play or it would go into a continuous loop.
The third thing that went wrong was losing three weeks of work. We were working in version 30 to version 26 and it got corrupted. We had to fix everything all over to get back to our once lost version 30 from version 25. That was the only thing that went wrong with the game as a whole. But the only thing that I would have changed would have to be working in flash. It was really a hard time for me getting to do the ground in the first level and just doing it over and over. It just became something that I didnt want too do sometimes but I didn't want to let my team down. I may have wasted a lot of time doing the ground but I have to say that we did rock the socks and I would love to work with you guys in the future but not in flash it is too much of a pain for me. I also think working in a team was something that we had to learn,we have done it before in small groups but it was 9 of us and sometimes I was like this is crazy how are 9 people going to work together? But in the end we got a product and it was good. I think these 10 weeks made us stronger and closer and I am glad I got to know you all. Thanks again.
Game 420
August 27, 2009
Post Mortem
The first thing that went right was everyone got assigned to the right position. Everyone who got assigned to each job was good and experienced at what they were did except for me. I had a steep learning curve. Tom, he knew a little about Action Script, but he had to learn more in addition to trigonometry. Justin was his right hand man and helped him code also. Joe is a level designer, but he had to learn how to make level maps. Adrianna and Malina learn and did UI interface and GUI interface for the whole game.
The second thing that went right was we had to pick an art style. We picked from three different art styles which were from the 70’s, 80’s and the 90’s. Eventually, we found art style for Zalien and the dinosaurs. Shelby’s art style itself dealt with black outlines with color inside of them. To even know that this art style would be carried throughout the whole game that the artist had to mimic.
The third thing that went right was the environment art. The environment art had three people working on it, Todd, Me, and Christy. A lot of good things came out of it. She made thorns on the ground, crystals, and vines. Todd did the tar pit, caves, trees, and rocks. For me, I did the ground and cave roots. All the pieces we brought to the table brought the level to life.
The fourth thing that went right was the animations. Christy, Todd, and Shelby had to learn the basic of animation. Without those three learning animation, we would’ve never got the game done. They spent days and nights of learning how to make a creature move, Zalien move. They all benefited from this experience because now they can go into any application that has animation and do it with no problem.
The fifth thing that went right was sound. The sound itself was special to me. I had to learn it from the first game production class. I worked on a lot of sound from tar pit sounds to Zalien’s death. I also learned a new program, Acid. Acid kept me busy with fixing sound, editing drop offs and pickups. Also editing volume to the sound that was created.
The first thing that went wrong was the ground. Me not knowing Flash how I was suppose to; the level 1 ground toke longer than expected. My first problem was turning everything into one movie clip. I didn’t like redoing the ground over and over which wasted precious time that could’ve been spent working on fixing sound.
The second thing that went wrong was flash itself. Flash hampered the sound because none of the sound made it into the game. Flash as a program, it wouldn’t recognize the bounding box for sounds and they didn’t respond to Zalien running into sound bounding boxes. It would either do two things, the sound wouldn’t play or it would go into a continuous loop.
The third thing that went wrong was losing three weeks of work. We were working in version 30 to version 26 and it got corrupted. We had to fix everything all over to get back to our once lost version 30 from version 25. That was the only thing that went wrong with the game as a whole. But the only thing that I would have changed would have to be working in flash. It was really a hard time for me getting to do the ground in the first level and just doing it over and over. It just became something that I didnt want too do sometimes but I didn't want to let my team down. I may have wasted a lot of time doing the ground but I have to say that we did rock the socks and I would love to work with you guys in the future but not in flash it is too much of a pain for me. I also think working in a team was something that we had to learn,we have done it before in small groups but it was 9 of us and sometimes I was like this is crazy how are 9 people going to work together? But in the end we got a product and it was good. I think these 10 weeks made us stronger and closer and I am glad I got to know you all. Thanks again.
Programming Postmortem
Doing the programming for Time Blunders was one of the craziest things I think I've ever done.
What went right?
The game works. You can jump into the game and start playing. There are two levels that we ended up getting out of this game. I think putting everything into consideration, that's not bad. Programming-wise I believe most of the code was put together without too much of a hassle. I can definitely feel myself becoming a better programmer. Working with classes, both public and private, was something I didn't really do before. Also in the beginning there was very little global variables. Which I was always told are bad to use.
What went wrong?
As far as my position goes I don't really believe that a lot of things went wrong. I worked closely with Justin to complete this game. The main problem we had was putting our work together. We started off going line by line to check to see if the code was different on that line. That was a stupid idea. Other problems we had were just the normal things. Little glitches and annoyances that came popping up for no reason. However, that's half the fun of being the programmer. You have to deal with all the little stuff so that the game doesn't break when the player is in a crazy situation.
I was also in charge of documentation. Everything was going fine on that until the end. I bought the wrong size binder. I was at Staples picking up a binder and some of those plastic sleeves that you put the pieces of paper in to keep them all nice and neat, when I thought to myself:
"Hey Tom, I wonder if this binder is big enough?"
"Well I don't know. We do have a lot of pages."
"Hmm. Well this package of sleeves carries 200. But we're only going to need about 165 (thanks to double sided goodness). Plus these are in a cardboard box. I think if we put the sleeves in the binder and it fits we should be alright."
"That's a great idea!"
As it turns out it wasn't. The 1 inch binder was NOT big enough. Looking back on it I think to myself: "Why only 1 inch." That may be one of the stupidest decisions I've ever made. Of course that binder was going to be too small. Thanks to the smallness of the binder it made the end result look sloppy. That made me a sad panda. It was also very hard to put the little plastic sleeves in. Because all of them didn't fit well they would start sliding out whenever I opened up the little tong things to put more in.
Oh yeah, we also lost about 2 weeks of work at one point. That wasn't cool.
What went right?
The game works. You can jump into the game and start playing. There are two levels that we ended up getting out of this game. I think putting everything into consideration, that's not bad. Programming-wise I believe most of the code was put together without too much of a hassle. I can definitely feel myself becoming a better programmer. Working with classes, both public and private, was something I didn't really do before. Also in the beginning there was very little global variables. Which I was always told are bad to use.
What went wrong?
As far as my position goes I don't really believe that a lot of things went wrong. I worked closely with Justin to complete this game. The main problem we had was putting our work together. We started off going line by line to check to see if the code was different on that line. That was a stupid idea. Other problems we had were just the normal things. Little glitches and annoyances that came popping up for no reason. However, that's half the fun of being the programmer. You have to deal with all the little stuff so that the game doesn't break when the player is in a crazy situation.
I was also in charge of documentation. Everything was going fine on that until the end. I bought the wrong size binder. I was at Staples picking up a binder and some of those plastic sleeves that you put the pieces of paper in to keep them all nice and neat, when I thought to myself:
"Hey Tom, I wonder if this binder is big enough?"
"Well I don't know. We do have a lot of pages."
"Hmm. Well this package of sleeves carries 200. But we're only going to need about 165 (thanks to double sided goodness). Plus these are in a cardboard box. I think if we put the sleeves in the binder and it fits we should be alright."
"That's a great idea!"
As it turns out it wasn't. The 1 inch binder was NOT big enough. Looking back on it I think to myself: "Why only 1 inch." That may be one of the stupidest decisions I've ever made. Of course that binder was going to be too small. Thanks to the smallness of the binder it made the end result look sloppy. That made me a sad panda. It was also very hard to put the little plastic sleeves in. Because all of them didn't fit well they would start sliding out whenever I opened up the little tong things to put more in.
Oh yeah, we also lost about 2 weeks of work at one point. That wasn't cool.
Kristina Brown - Environment Art and Environment Animation Post-Mortem
Team Summary -
This team project was, and is, a great experience to have. We have learned the process of making a game from beginning to end along with witnessing both success and failures. Everyone pitched in on taking in a job, sometimes the job is not even in are field but we pulled through it and made a working prototype with two working levels along with working interfaces, pick-up items, and enemies. We work hard on this project and it shows not only in our game but also in our 300+ page design documentation.
What I believe went right –
For the project I work with Todd and Daniel on the environment art and environment animations. Many of the animations and art that I have work on the in the game came out better than I thought it would. I am mostly proud of my bug and bug animation that I did for the game, even though Kim thinks it’s the most hideous thing there is. The bug did went through a few design changes, he was going to be more of a Rolly-Polly Bug (aka Pill Bug) but that would have been a lot of animation to do for him. I did keep his big exoskeleton shell but I take away a lot of his little legs away. Then he became a cross between a Rolly-Polly and a beetle. But I still love him. Many of my animations and art went though changes. With all things in a team, one person might like something else or see something that is off, it can be for the best and most of the time it was. I was working in a program that I haven’t used in a while and there was a lot of changes since CS2 came out. But I was able to work with the learning curve and many of my art and animations that I did, I am proud of.
What I believe went wrong –
There were times that I wanted to kill Flash and other times that I did not want to get out of bed. There were a few times that I couldn’t get the animation to move the way I wanted it too, but with the help of the team I was able to get them animated the way that I wanted them too. That one animation was the vine animation and spark. As for the vine, it work fine but the team want to a bit smoother so after some a few painstaking hours and with the help of Justin, we were able to get the animation to work and look right. Then came the spark, for the longest time I could not see how I was going to animate this, and it took the longest time to figure it out.
For me, the biggest thing that went wrong was my time management. Even though I was getting work done, many of which could have been better, but I was juggling work from two more other classes along with this project and sometimes one thing will get pushed back and fall through the crack.
What I would change –
I would change how I manage my time for a project. Even though we had the sprint and milestone system, for me it helped a little bit but not enough. I would need to figure out a system for me to keep me motivated through the project to keep me going and being more aware of my abilities as an artist. It’s just something that I need to work on for any future projects that I am going to do and are coming up.
All in all, I would like to say that I am proud of everyone and the work that we did for this project. And that I am glad and proud to be part of this team, good job everyone. I do hope we can still continue with the game the after the class is over. Keep up the good work!
Go Team Superfluous!
Team Lead and Programming Postmortem
Team Lead
What went right?
That's a tough question and at this moment in time I'm finding it hard to answer. We did manage to keep it together enough to put together an actual game. Well, the tutorial level and the first level. Were they missing certain tidbits to make them complete and polished? Undoubtedly yes. There were quite a number of things that I would have liked to see go into the levels to make them complete but due to time constraints and uh, well let's not sugar coat the situation, team abilities, these items simply were out of reach. Regardless of that we did make something that interested people in the industry. I heard lots of things, both good and bad, fly out of the mouths of the portfolio reviewers at Interfaces and one thing that held constant across the board of reviewers was: "I'd like to get a copy of Time Blunders when it's done." That's pretty impressive.
What went wrong?
I wonder if there is a limit to post length... In the interest of science I'll keep this short. I had a very hard time convincing people that Tuesday at 6pm did not mean Thursday at 3am. I'm not sure if this was due to a lack of ambition, lack of care toward my and Tom's time and sanity, well mostly Tom because he puts up with that crap, or an actual overworked team. I heard a lot of "I didn't have time", or "I had to work on other projects". What's funny is I had a lot of the same classes as everyone else and I heard the same excuses in the other classes from the same people. I guess this begs the question "If you didn't have time for Time Blunders or capstone, or senior project, what were you spending time on?" I think this has to due with the lack of being able to fire someone. Early on in project 2 it was made clear that there was no longer the ability to fire anyone and everyone was going to pass regardless since it's so hard to fail this class. I won't try to sound like I did 100% of my workload 100% of the time. But that was one week and I paid for that time off with double work duty the next week.
Programming
What went right?
Lots. I feel that we accomplished so much in the programming aspect of Time Blunders. This is by far the most complicated scripting I've ever had to work with and I'm proud of how Tom and I built the scripts. I learned so much about the magic of keeping code dynamic that I think it's opened new doors (as corny as that sounds) for me. I've got a nasty habit of hard coding things which makes it very difficult to interact with the code later. Working so closely with Tom and reading page upon page at http://livedocs.adobe.com/flash taught me a fairly large amount in a relatively short time.
What went wrong?
The biggest thing that sticks out in my mind is the velocity. Both a huge achievement and the bane of my existence all wrapped up in a Ram's Horn signature Saucy Burrito. At first it seemed to make the game more believable and smooth. It sort of created another dynamic to the game. Unfortunately it almost broke the raptors jumping mechanic, or at least increased it's difficulty ten fold. By the time we decided that we wanted to take it out it had already weaved in and out of the code so deeply that it was almost impossible to take out. We would have had to rewrite the animation system, jump system, climbing system, etc. This is another example of code not being dynamic enough. In a perfect world I would have just had to remove an add velocity function but I ignorantly took the hard coding route and made it much more difficult that it needed to be.
What went right?
That's a tough question and at this moment in time I'm finding it hard to answer. We did manage to keep it together enough to put together an actual game. Well, the tutorial level and the first level. Were they missing certain tidbits to make them complete and polished? Undoubtedly yes. There were quite a number of things that I would have liked to see go into the levels to make them complete but due to time constraints and uh, well let's not sugar coat the situation, team abilities, these items simply were out of reach. Regardless of that we did make something that interested people in the industry. I heard lots of things, both good and bad, fly out of the mouths of the portfolio reviewers at Interfaces and one thing that held constant across the board of reviewers was: "I'd like to get a copy of Time Blunders when it's done." That's pretty impressive.
What went wrong?
I wonder if there is a limit to post length... In the interest of science I'll keep this short. I had a very hard time convincing people that Tuesday at 6pm did not mean Thursday at 3am. I'm not sure if this was due to a lack of ambition, lack of care toward my and Tom's time and sanity, well mostly Tom because he puts up with that crap, or an actual overworked team. I heard a lot of "I didn't have time", or "I had to work on other projects". What's funny is I had a lot of the same classes as everyone else and I heard the same excuses in the other classes from the same people. I guess this begs the question "If you didn't have time for Time Blunders or capstone, or senior project, what were you spending time on?" I think this has to due with the lack of being able to fire someone. Early on in project 2 it was made clear that there was no longer the ability to fire anyone and everyone was going to pass regardless since it's so hard to fail this class. I won't try to sound like I did 100% of my workload 100% of the time. But that was one week and I paid for that time off with double work duty the next week.
Programming
What went right?
Lots. I feel that we accomplished so much in the programming aspect of Time Blunders. This is by far the most complicated scripting I've ever had to work with and I'm proud of how Tom and I built the scripts. I learned so much about the magic of keeping code dynamic that I think it's opened new doors (as corny as that sounds) for me. I've got a nasty habit of hard coding things which makes it very difficult to interact with the code later. Working so closely with Tom and reading page upon page at http://livedocs.adobe.com/flash taught me a fairly large amount in a relatively short time.
What went wrong?
The biggest thing that sticks out in my mind is the velocity. Both a huge achievement and the bane of my existence all wrapped up in a Ram's Horn signature Saucy Burrito. At first it seemed to make the game more believable and smooth. It sort of created another dynamic to the game. Unfortunately it almost broke the raptors jumping mechanic, or at least increased it's difficulty ten fold. By the time we decided that we wanted to take it out it had already weaved in and out of the code so deeply that it was almost impossible to take out. We would have had to rewrite the animation system, jump system, climbing system, etc. This is another example of code not being dynamic enough. In a perfect world I would have just had to remove an add velocity function but I ignorantly took the hard coding route and made it much more difficult that it needed to be.
Level Design Postmortem
What went right?
Believe it or not, mostly everything went right. As far as striving to be a level designer, I feel that these levels have had the most real testing. There were tons of feedback and tons of iterations. All to come out with a product that is receiving similar results. To me, that's pretty amazing. I know I have a long way to go in order to be considered a true, "level designer" but, my actions through out the past twenty weeks makes me feel really good. Don't take that wrongly folks. It's teamwork, we all did are parts. I'm sure y'all are proud of your contributions. I feel that mine was pretty darn successful. It started out really rough for players, but it got much better...some even say "fun." Basically, (1) the levels have come a long way.
Bottom line, I feel that the level design process for Time Blunders was very successful.
What went wrong?
Velocity. That changes things in a bad way sometimes. Oh, oh...don't get me wrong, I love velocity, it's real. It just changed a lot of plotted gameplay mechanics, quickly. However, that really wasn't a problem. The level design is so dynamic that it's literally just going in and moving things around. Not tough. Just time consuming. The art folks on the other hand, sometimes they get upset. Just read their postmortems and I bet you'll find out. Honestly, nothing really went terribly wrong with the level. The sleepless hours of Nintendo Power flowchart research proved to be very useful. However, it's dated...but so is Mancala.
As far as milestones, I hit a majority of them on time. Some were delayed...and one week was set aside for Capstone, my choice. Hey...what a ya gonna do...life's tough.
What for the Future?
In the event of another 2D platformer. I would like to make a base array of "bug free" level features. Certain shapes pre-created that have respectable/correct flow capabilities that match the players abilities, allowing for a Lego-like level construction. In other words. Don't perform the mechanics & fix while walking through the level. Create all jump/platform heights, jumpThru platforms, hills, bumps, ledges, lips, hang-offs, slopes, and etc. in, (essentially on an "L platform", programmer art) the beginning of the level. Allowing all level properties to be fine tuned in one specific area. Then they can be duplicated, (as groups or individual pieces) and positioned as needed. I think that would speed up the development process a bit. I think it would also lend more to the creative styles of the individual level features.
Thanks. Cheers.
Believe it or not, mostly everything went right. As far as striving to be a level designer, I feel that these levels have had the most real testing. There were tons of feedback and tons of iterations. All to come out with a product that is receiving similar results. To me, that's pretty amazing. I know I have a long way to go in order to be considered a true, "level designer" but, my actions through out the past twenty weeks makes me feel really good. Don't take that wrongly folks. It's teamwork, we all did are parts. I'm sure y'all are proud of your contributions. I feel that mine was pretty darn successful. It started out really rough for players, but it got much better...some even say "fun." Basically, (1) the levels have come a long way.
Bottom line, I feel that the level design process for Time Blunders was very successful.
What went wrong?
Velocity. That changes things in a bad way sometimes. Oh, oh...don't get me wrong, I love velocity, it's real. It just changed a lot of plotted gameplay mechanics, quickly. However, that really wasn't a problem. The level design is so dynamic that it's literally just going in and moving things around. Not tough. Just time consuming. The art folks on the other hand, sometimes they get upset. Just read their postmortems and I bet you'll find out. Honestly, nothing really went terribly wrong with the level. The sleepless hours of Nintendo Power flowchart research proved to be very useful. However, it's dated...but so is Mancala.
As far as milestones, I hit a majority of them on time. Some were delayed...and one week was set aside for Capstone, my choice. Hey...what a ya gonna do...life's tough.
What for the Future?
In the event of another 2D platformer. I would like to make a base array of "bug free" level features. Certain shapes pre-created that have respectable/correct flow capabilities that match the players abilities, allowing for a Lego-like level construction. In other words. Don't perform the mechanics & fix while walking through the level. Create all jump/platform heights, jumpThru platforms, hills, bumps, ledges, lips, hang-offs, slopes, and etc. in, (essentially on an "L platform", programmer art) the beginning of the level. Allowing all level properties to be fine tuned in one specific area. Then they can be duplicated, (as groups or individual pieces) and positioned as needed. I think that would speed up the development process a bit. I think it would also lend more to the creative styles of the individual level features.
Thanks. Cheers.
Todd Dinius Environment Art & Animation Post Mortem
What I thought went right
The environment art and animations that I did were a bit better than I expected. I think thought I may have just settled on some of them that I still liked. The best parts I think people liked were the tar pits. Justin’s dynamic system helped with this. The way that the trees turned out I felt were nice in that they have a feel like they were prehistoric. I saw pictures and those seemed to contain trees like they would belong in a modern swamp. The gum trees and cypress trees fit into the prehistoric theme better. The caves were too cavernous and by the end I thought they should just be more of an earthen dugout in the ground with even lighting to not feel like you were entering a separate section of the game.
What I thought went wrong
Ill says first here that the delays on the art were my fault. I needed to focus more and manage my schedule better. The art I should have chosen a lot of reference art from the beginning. The way I was make most of the art was starting with what I thought was the most icon form, except for the animations for the most part. Those I knew what they had to look like and went with what I thought would fit the game. The think I wished I would have done differently the most I would have to say is that I made an iteration of all the art and just got out a quick version to show and changed it from there instead of trying to get it right the first time. Following the blog better to get things on time and just generally keeping up with updates.
The way I did iterations by the end I realized were off. I should have followed my vision more and used the comments as guide lines instead of just following them directly. I think the final version of the caves were a product of both. The trees all did not make it in the game and my vision for what ones you could jump on were different than what Tom thought. I could have redone a lot of them to have the pieces match the gum trees or have separate larger trees that hold them but I felt that I should not delay the game anymore than I all ready have. The geode caves I thought could also have had the particle system play a couple of shines or shimmers coming off of the geode to play into more that it is a shiny object.
Malina Landreth Post Mortem – Time Blunders
Malina Landreth Post Mortem – Time Blunders
Team Summary
The game Time Blunders was a great experience. Everyone provided their share of the project and even though we faltered at times the end product was worth the time and dedication. With everyone taking on a job from concept art to programming we came together to produce two levels of our game.
Overall as a team we produced two playable game levels that included interfaces, animations, artwork, programming and sounds. Beyond the game we also managed to do marketing and produce posters, t-shirts, website, banners, flyers, and a CD case. With all the different parts of the game we managed to also put together a 300+ page design document that showed just how much work we put into this project.
Looking back I now see all the work we put into our project and I can say that I am proud to have been a part of this team. All of us have learned a great deal through this project.
Self Summary
I was involved with the Interface and Marketing Design with Adrianna Dimech. Together we managed to do hundreds of thumbnails and several digital compositions. My work for the games interface included doing flowcharts, font charts, thumbnails, and digital flash compositions (main menu, instructions, quit, in-game pause, in-game instructions, in-game volume, in-game quit, and the games game interface).
I also worked on the games marketing which included the website (main menu, about us, characters, story and play game), posters, banners and t-shirts. These required me to do some more flowcharts, thumbnails and digital compositions.
Project Introduction
In this project our goal was to produce a playable two level game. After a rough start the games story took place and we came up with our main character, Zalien. With this in mind our game seemed to best fit the market for flash games. Our target market went through many changes and after testing we found that the game actually fit an older target market.
Background Research
Since our games story was based on the prehistoric period we had to do some research on both the creatures and plants at that time. We also had to compare our game to its competition and we ended up with the SNES Metal Warriors, Adventure Island, and Congo’s Caper.
Other research had to be done for each part of the game. For me I had to do individual research for the games interface, website, website banners, game posters, and even for the t-shirts. The process was extensive and required a lot of research online and in books.
Proposed Solution
The games interface went through many revisions and I had difficulties with replicating the art style and with the layout. The solution to these difficulties was to communicate with the both the team and instructors.
Another proposed difficulty was for the games website which required some action script programming. I had to do some research and get help from both instructors and students. After several attempts the issue with getting the game to load online was solved by having the website call the swf file through programming.
Project plan
Our game required me (us) to hold weekly reviews, meet weekly deadlines, blog updates online, do revisions, continue with new parts of the game and most of all communicate and work with team members.
Production Team
Team Superfluous
o Justin MacAuley – Team Lead & Programmer
o Tom Stankavich – Documentation & Programmer
o Joseph Serra – Level Design & Audio
o Kristina Brown – Environment Artist & Animation Artist
o Shelby Flagg – Character Design & Animation
o Todd Dinius – Environment Artist & Animation Artist
o Daniel Cunningham – Audio & Environment Artist
o Adrianna Dimech – Interface Design & Marketing
o Malina Landreth – Interface Design & Marketing
Success evaluation
Our game has met its deadline and we have succeeded with producing a two level game called Time Blunders. The team at times made milestones without issues and other times we faltered. As a team I believe that we have learned some great lessons. Some of us learned or relearned programs while others had to overcome weaknesses in their parts of the game. In the end we overcame weaknesses and developed a playable game.
My References
Game Interface References
Unknown, Unknown. "Flash Games ". FNC games . 07/2009
Unknown, Donna. "Photoshop & Flash Tutorials". Pixel 2 Life "Learning made simple" . 07/2009
Unknown, Unknown. "Play Games - Free Online Games". MTV Networks Company. 07/2009.
Page, Larry. "Google Images". Google. 07/2009 - 08/2009.
Unknown, Unknown. "Flowcharts". EHow Inc - Demand Media Property. 07/2009.
Unknown, Unknown. "Top 50 Flash Games". Gadgetphilia. 07/2009.
Saunders, Kevin, and Novak Jeannie. Game Interface Design. Delmar Cengage Learning, 11/02/2006.
T-Shirt References
Unknown, Unknown. "Black T-Shirt Template". aaa enterprise in corporated. 08/2009.
Page, Larry. "Google Images". Google. 07/2009 - 08/2009.
Poster References
Benjamin , Yobie Benjamin . "Video Game Posters". Zazzle. 07/2009.
Unknown, Unknown. "AllPosters.com-The Worlds Largest Poster and Print Store". AllPosters. 07/2009.
Website References
Unknown, Unknown. "Top 50 Flash Games". Gadgetphilia. 07/2009.
Ensha, Azadeh. "10 Ways to Design a Good Website". New York Times. 08/2009
Unknown, Unknown. "10 Principles of Effective Web Design". Smashing Magazine. 08/2009
Unknown, Unknown. "Game Website Design: Going Beyond the Usual Game Entertainment". Net Recon. 08/2009.
Unknown, Unknown. "Video Game Design Showcase". Elements of Design. 08/2009.
Banner References
Unknown, Unknown. "Flash Tutorial - Banner". Tizag. 08/2009.
Secusender, Tarnaka. "Standard Banner Sizes". Simply Graphix. 08/2009.
Arun, Steve. "Make A Video Game Website Banner". Adobe Person. 08/2009.
Team Summary
The game Time Blunders was a great experience. Everyone provided their share of the project and even though we faltered at times the end product was worth the time and dedication. With everyone taking on a job from concept art to programming we came together to produce two levels of our game.
Overall as a team we produced two playable game levels that included interfaces, animations, artwork, programming and sounds. Beyond the game we also managed to do marketing and produce posters, t-shirts, website, banners, flyers, and a CD case. With all the different parts of the game we managed to also put together a 300+ page design document that showed just how much work we put into this project.
Looking back I now see all the work we put into our project and I can say that I am proud to have been a part of this team. All of us have learned a great deal through this project.
Self Summary
I was involved with the Interface and Marketing Design with Adrianna Dimech. Together we managed to do hundreds of thumbnails and several digital compositions. My work for the games interface included doing flowcharts, font charts, thumbnails, and digital flash compositions (main menu, instructions, quit, in-game pause, in-game instructions, in-game volume, in-game quit, and the games game interface).
I also worked on the games marketing which included the website (main menu, about us, characters, story and play game), posters, banners and t-shirts. These required me to do some more flowcharts, thumbnails and digital compositions.
Project Introduction
In this project our goal was to produce a playable two level game. After a rough start the games story took place and we came up with our main character, Zalien. With this in mind our game seemed to best fit the market for flash games. Our target market went through many changes and after testing we found that the game actually fit an older target market.
Background Research
Since our games story was based on the prehistoric period we had to do some research on both the creatures and plants at that time. We also had to compare our game to its competition and we ended up with the SNES Metal Warriors, Adventure Island, and Congo’s Caper.
Other research had to be done for each part of the game. For me I had to do individual research for the games interface, website, website banners, game posters, and even for the t-shirts. The process was extensive and required a lot of research online and in books.
Proposed Solution
The games interface went through many revisions and I had difficulties with replicating the art style and with the layout. The solution to these difficulties was to communicate with the both the team and instructors.
Another proposed difficulty was for the games website which required some action script programming. I had to do some research and get help from both instructors and students. After several attempts the issue with getting the game to load online was solved by having the website call the swf file through programming.
Project plan
Our game required me (us) to hold weekly reviews, meet weekly deadlines, blog updates online, do revisions, continue with new parts of the game and most of all communicate and work with team members.
Production Team
Team Superfluous
o Justin MacAuley – Team Lead & Programmer
o Tom Stankavich – Documentation & Programmer
o Joseph Serra – Level Design & Audio
o Kristina Brown – Environment Artist & Animation Artist
o Shelby Flagg – Character Design & Animation
o Todd Dinius – Environment Artist & Animation Artist
o Daniel Cunningham – Audio & Environment Artist
o Adrianna Dimech – Interface Design & Marketing
o Malina Landreth – Interface Design & Marketing
Success evaluation
Our game has met its deadline and we have succeeded with producing a two level game called Time Blunders. The team at times made milestones without issues and other times we faltered. As a team I believe that we have learned some great lessons. Some of us learned or relearned programs while others had to overcome weaknesses in their parts of the game. In the end we overcame weaknesses and developed a playable game.
My References
Game Interface References
Unknown, Unknown. "Flash Games ". FNC games . 07/2009
Unknown, Donna. "Photoshop & Flash Tutorials". Pixel 2 Life "Learning made simple" . 07/2009
Unknown, Unknown. "Play Games - Free Online Games". MTV Networks Company. 07/2009
Page, Larry. "Google Images". Google. 07/2009 - 08/2009
Unknown, Unknown. "Flowcharts". EHow Inc - Demand Media Property. 07/2009
Unknown, Unknown. "Top 50 Flash Games". Gadgetphilia. 07/2009
Saunders, Kevin, and Novak Jeannie. Game Interface Design. Delmar Cengage Learning, 11/02/2006.
T-Shirt References
Unknown, Unknown. "Black T-Shirt Template". aaa enterprise in corporated. 08/2009
Page, Larry. "Google Images". Google. 07/2009 - 08/2009
Poster References
Benjamin , Yobie Benjamin . "Video Game Posters". Zazzle. 07/2009
Unknown, Unknown. "AllPosters.com-The Worlds Largest Poster and Print Store". AllPosters. 07/2009
Website References
Unknown, Unknown. "Top 50 Flash Games". Gadgetphilia. 07/2009
Ensha, Azadeh. "10 Ways to Design a Good Website". New York Times. 08/2009
Unknown, Unknown. "10 Principles of Effective Web Design". Smashing Magazine. 08/2009
Unknown, Unknown. "Game Website Design: Going Beyond the Usual Game Entertainment". Net Recon. 08/2009
Unknown, Unknown. "Video Game Design Showcase". Elements of Design. 08/2009
Banner References
Unknown, Unknown. "Flash Tutorial - Banner". Tizag. 08/2009
Secusender, Tarnaka. "Standard Banner Sizes". Simply Graphix. 08/2009
Arun, Steve. "Make A Video Game Website Banner". Adobe Person. 08/2009
Wow.
It turns out our game takes 350 pages, 2 color ink cartridges, about 3 hours to print, and another hour to put into a binder. Damn.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Hey Tom Documentation is done.
Documentation Has been redone and I had to fix somethings but its all their. So tom there you go,and thank you. Hope you get some sleep. Take it easy.
Got it!
So after struggling with Visio for about an hour becasue no matter how many times I reloaded it or downloaded it it didn't want to open properly I got a good version from someone to use and made up the "Next Level" Flowchart real quick.
Doc Update 2
Here is the CD Cover in all it's updated glory:
I believe I have addressed everyones issues as for Zalien on the screen I lowered his opacity a bit to make him blend into the screen more. Let me get som feedback if there is something you like or dislike.
As for that iny flowchart I was supposed to make for when the player goes to the "Next Level" at the end of the first level, it does not currently exist. For some reason Vios, no matter how many times I load it or where, won't work it's frozen to a point where you can see everything but does not allow you to interact with it because everything is greyed out. The trial isn't over yet.
I believe I have addressed everyones issues as for Zalien on the screen I lowered his opacity a bit to make him blend into the screen more. Let me get som feedback if there is something you like or dislike.
As for that iny flowchart I was supposed to make for when the player goes to the "Next Level" at the end of the first level, it does not currently exist. For some reason Vios, no matter how many times I load it or where, won't work it's frozen to a point where you can see everything but does not allow you to interact with it because everything is greyed out. The trial isn't over yet.
Update
Almost there with documentation. Visio does not want to work for me though. I've tried downloading my trial on various computers and it still will not allow me to interact with anything on the screen.
The breakdowns are up as well as the cd cover blockouts and everything for the logo. I just need to get in these things:
CD Cover References
CD cover Citations
Final CD image
Next Level Flowchart
Current Time: 6:30ish
The breakdowns are up as well as the cd cover blockouts and everything for the logo. I just need to get in these things:
CD Cover References
CD cover Citations
Final CD image
Next Level Flowchart
Current Time: 6:30ish
Documentation
Tom I uploaded new flowcharts and I wrote a short paragraph description for my responsibilities and teamwork. Both of these are in the documentations folder under box.net.
Update Website & Documentation
The website is finished. I did a movie clip of the screen shots. The screen shots go from tutorial to level 1. Justin remember that the game file in order to work has to be named time blunders. Tom I have dropped the documentation for the website and a couple images for the banners.
Monday, August 24, 2009
CD Cover
While putting this together I kept a couple of things in mind:
It had to be able to connect to what is actually in the game.
It had to be made in the game's color pallet.
It had to have some personality.
Cover:
So keeping these in mind I decided to expound on one of key points in the mechanic and that was riding a dinosaur. Zalien riding a raptor on a console screen introduces the one of the key mechanics as well as the games interface before the player even starts playing. The Zayleons watching the console are meant to enforce the feeling that the player is being watched, that they are gathering the elements for a reason. The alien script "explaining" the mechanics of dino riding is not just fun but put the emphasis on the mechanic again. While I could have put a catchy title or dramatic plotline on the cover I didn't want to break the feel of a "schematic/computer manual" feel of the cover so I simply marketed the game as an experience and integrated it as part of the console as yet another bit of computer information.
Back:
Keeping with the technological schematic feel I intergrated a set of "command screens", similar to the ones we used in the C++ classes for our text based games, as the "menus" which will contain the pertinent information such as the copyright, the team, the story, and the other important tidits. I didn't want the whole thing to be a mass of black square however so I put our log in the blue "screen" area, I figure that it wouldn't be too awkward since computer screens can have graphics on their screens as well as windows open, and I put an image of Zalien that we haven't used in the game quite yet. I didn't want Zalien to fade into the background so I popped him up a bit by having his graphic over the command boxes thus giving the impression that he is showing of the screenshots and drawing the eye towards them. The fact he is wrapped in bandages is funny and gives the impresssion that playing this game is a challenging adventure.
Alright let me know what you think and while that happens I will be ironing...XD
It had to be able to connect to what is actually in the game.
It had to be made in the game's color pallet.
It had to have some personality.
Cover:
So keeping these in mind I decided to expound on one of key points in the mechanic and that was riding a dinosaur. Zalien riding a raptor on a console screen introduces the one of the key mechanics as well as the games interface before the player even starts playing. The Zayleons watching the console are meant to enforce the feeling that the player is being watched, that they are gathering the elements for a reason. The alien script "explaining" the mechanics of dino riding is not just fun but put the emphasis on the mechanic again. While I could have put a catchy title or dramatic plotline on the cover I didn't want to break the feel of a "schematic/computer manual" feel of the cover so I simply marketed the game as an experience and integrated it as part of the console as yet another bit of computer information.
Back:
Keeping with the technological schematic feel I intergrated a set of "command screens", similar to the ones we used in the C++ classes for our text based games, as the "menus" which will contain the pertinent information such as the copyright, the team, the story, and the other important tidits. I didn't want the whole thing to be a mass of black square however so I put our log in the blue "screen" area, I figure that it wouldn't be too awkward since computer screens can have graphics on their screens as well as windows open, and I put an image of Zalien that we haven't used in the game quite yet. I didn't want Zalien to fade into the background so I popped him up a bit by having his graphic over the command boxes thus giving the impression that he is showing of the screenshots and drawing the eye towards them. The fact he is wrapped in bandages is funny and gives the impresssion that playing this game is a challenging adventure.
Alright let me know what you think and while that happens I will be ironing...XD
Hi
Box outlines coming up soon for the CD. I will be recycling art that we already have and place it according to which ever layout seems best suited.
QUESTION!
About the CD case. Who has one that can have an insert place din the front AND the back? I myself don't have an uncracked music CD case to use or the money to buy one at this time. If someone from the group could donate one to class on Tuesday I would be most appreciative.
Thanks guys!
QUESTION!
About the CD case. Who has one that can have an insert place din the front AND the back? I myself don't have an uncracked music CD case to use or the money to buy one at this time. If someone from the group could donate one to class on Tuesday I would be most appreciative.
Thanks guys!
So the new ground is in folder 9
Hey you guys I have been working nonstop on the problem for the ground. And I Finally Fixed it, So now all I have to do is update my documentation. Malina when the ground is put in the game I will be able to take pictures. And also I would like to thank Krissy for her help. Thanks again. Yeah no Mini movie clips. lol
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Documentation Stuff
The documentation stuff is going to print Wednesday morning. Not Wednesday afternoon, not Wednesday night, not Thursday morning. Wednesday morning.
What does this mean?
This means that all the stuff I need for the document needs to be in by 6 on Tuesday. Box.net. 6 P.M. Otherwise it will not go in. There is still some stuff I believe I'm missing from everyone. I know I need the testing analysis I asked for from Adrianna a couple weeks ago. I also need the Main Menu flowchart redone from Malina. There was also the paragraph that Kim was talking about that everyone should do. Things that talk about the choices that not only the team made but you as a (insert whatever job you did here).
This will make the document better overall. And who couldn't use that extra 100 points?
What does this mean?
This means that all the stuff I need for the document needs to be in by 6 on Tuesday. Box.net. 6 P.M. Otherwise it will not go in. There is still some stuff I believe I'm missing from everyone. I know I need the testing analysis I asked for from Adrianna a couple weeks ago. I also need the Main Menu flowchart redone from Malina. There was also the paragraph that Kim was talking about that everyone should do. Things that talk about the choices that not only the team made but you as a (insert whatever job you did here).
This will make the document better overall. And who couldn't use that extra 100 points?
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Shelby?
I still need those paragraphs with abilities on the three characters (bird, compy & bug). I dont see them yet? I checked the documetation box and milestones.
Guys I'm going to post what I have on the website thus far. I put in the new logo and cleaned up some alignment issues. I just need to add in some character descriptions and the screenshot gallery. I will see you all on Tuesday.
Guys I'm going to post what I have on the website thus far. I put in the new logo and cleaned up some alignment issues. I just need to add in some character descriptions and the screenshot gallery. I will see you all on Tuesday.
"Times up, three bucks off.
Wise man say 'Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.'"
Platforms
I have updated the platforms with out the crystal and changed it color to match the cave more. It is pretty close to the color that Todd used for the stalagmites and matches the better. Also I have added the new thorns to the milestone 9 folder as well. I forgot that I drop them in milestone 7. So I re-loaded them up. I know that I few people hinted on the bug's body being a little fast for his tiny legs in the walk cycle. I've played around with it and I would like to stay with that we have.
So if anyone thinks that I should take a look at something let me know.
The stuff is just upload in box.net in milestone 9 in my folder.
So if anyone thinks that I should take a look at something let me know.
The stuff is just upload in box.net in milestone 9 in my folder.
Tom
Please check this post through out this weekend. I will add to it what is being turned in. This is all the documentation stuff that you will need. Most of it will be turned in at 4pm on 8/22/09.
What's in the BOX:
The "lost" testing results have been added to the "testResults.txt" file in the Tutorial Testing data. That has been updated. Disregard the previous version you have.
The Level assessment is also gold starred. It's right below my reference .txt.
The latest versions of the Level 1 flowcharts are also in the BOX. Gold star...not the sticker.
What's in the BOX:
The "lost" testing results have been added to the "testResults.txt" file in the Tutorial Testing data. That has been updated. Disregard the previous version you have.
The Level assessment is also gold starred. It's right below my reference .txt.
The latest versions of the Level 1 flowcharts are also in the BOX. Gold star...not the sticker.
Problem with the "Land_noarm" animation
The problem is it's not an animation, it's a picture. I know it's gettin late but Shelby we need this animation.
Friday, August 21, 2009
I need the latest version of the game.
So yeah if I am to take pictures of the game I need the latest version of the game. So Tom or Justin can you guys please send it to me so that I can take these pictures. The power went out at the school and I was downloading it from kims drop but well it didnt finish. So when you read this send it to me.
Shelby & Daniel
So the website programming is complete! I got some help and was able to get the game to load more smoothly and on every page. So now I need the following to add to the website and then I can turn it in.
Shelby
I need the character info for:
Compy
Bird
Bugs
Daniel
I need the screenshots of the game
Thank you guys and gals and good luck with all your finals
Shelby
I need the character info for:
Compy
Bird
Bugs
Daniel
I need the screenshots of the game
Thank you guys and gals and good luck with all your finals
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