Journal #1

Game Journal

Limbo initially I wasn't to sure about its game play, as i'm more of a fully 3D person, however while playing it, I slowly became more interested as I learned the mechanics that made the game work. As i progressed through the levels I could easily see as the obstacle difficultly increased as well as the margin of error between a correct jump or death. 

When it comes to the games artwork and atmosphere, its perfectly executed with black and white dark, dreary scenery. It gives the player a sense of urgency when controlling the young boy through the forest and eventually civilization, which brings a point that, when progressing through the game, the environment gets more modernized, leading from a forest to a village, to farmland to sewers and so on. Overall, Limbo is a game that from looks alone i probably wouldn't play, but after playing it a bit, i feel compelled to continue the journey.

Street Fighter IX unlike Limbo, i knew about and have played a few times with friends so i knew a bit about it beforehand. Overall, its a good game that's best played with real people as the computer isn't the best of an opponent once you understand the fighting mechanics.

Overall the game play of each character felt unique and different from each other that it was easy to find one that suit you play style, for me personally M. Bison was the one  felt i did best with. 

As for story, it honestly gets away without have one pretty easily considering the core game.

Toy Solders, like Limbo, i haven't heard of nor would I have taken the initiative to buy it for myself, however the game play of it had me captivated with keeping my base safe till the waves ended. While playing the first mission i quickly pressed random buttons looking for some sort of prompt, and soon afterwards, i was manning a turret gun myself. After a few minutes i could notice a pattern with the allied AI and their weapons where they had a max radius before they started attacking enemies.

The aesthetic of commanding toys and protecting a toy box brought back memories of my childhood playing around with plastic army men and different animals and it was quite relaxing until the first boss apeard where i actually felt heavily pressured to take it out.

"The Isle" Game review

DeJon Horton

COM 3342

Hall

1/26/17

The Isle - PC

When this game was first revealed, not much was known about it apart that you could play as dinosaurs and that it was multiplayer. As of now, the game has been release for a bit over a year and there has been a tremendous amount of work that's been put in it since then. 

Initially, there were only 6 playable dinosaurs, (Tyrannosaurus, Carnotaurus, Austroraptor, Shantugosaurus, Gallimimus, an Pueretasaurus) and as of now there are 24 playable species (Velociraptor, Herrasaurus, Allosaurus, Acrocanthosaurus, Giganotosaurus, Baryonyx, Suchomimus, Spinosaurus, Psittacosaurus, Dryosaurus, Maiasaurus, Diabloceratops, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Pachycephalosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Therizinosaurus, Utahraptor and the original six, not to mention mercenaries and tribal's are nearly done as well. 

Also since the release of the game there have been many new mechanics that refine it, such as progression over sandbox (Sandbox being you join a server and select any dinosaur you want, which normally ends up with a bunch of top tier dinosaurs in giant packs which is very problmatic) So what is in at the moment is a point based progression where you start of as either a velociraptor (Carnivore) or psittacosaurus (Herbivore) and work your way up to a larger dino via progression points. Herbivores earn them by eating blue progression plants that are scattered around the island. Carnivores earn then by the minute. For example, to get a rex, you need 30pts as Velociraptor, -> 120pts with Herrarasaurus, -> 120pts with Allosaurus, -> 180pts with Acrocanthosaurus -> Tyrannosaurus (7.5hrs). Now at first glance that may seem a bit extreme, however, if you were to go onto any nearly full server (50 or more players), there is going to be at least 4+ rexs, 5+ Giganotosaurus and 7+ Spinosaurus (Because atm spino's damage is bugged with its weight class making it do more than it should) The other way to get progression points is by nesting other players in and raising them to sub-adulthood (.8 scale) at which the "parents" will get a massive amount of points. (Eventually points can also be used to upgrade you dino or humans stats (Aka, Stamina, Damage, Bleed, etc)

Pros: 

Dinosaurs!

Graphically gorgeous

Time absorbing

Very fun with friends

Updates nearly everyday

Passionate Devs

Have to work to get a top tier animal

Highly Immersive

Cons:

Whiny community (Some)

Time consuming

Early Access

(Click pictures to view them if they don't show up)

(Albino Tyrannosaurus)

(Austroraptor pack)

(Shantungosaurus)

(Quetzalcoatalus)

Week 11 Assignment

Increasing scheduled time- We didn't have to add too much apart from fixing a few bugs.

Adding resources- Apart from adding in a few features such as art or minor details, nothing major was added on game-play wise.

Cutting features- We had to cut character customization, some art work, and some locations.

Reducing quality- In terms of detail, all that was reduced would be the artwork. Instead of having high resolution characters and backgrounds we used pixel art.

Build notes

Dev team- The Main menu artwork needs to be done
Management- Added a new document to discord.
Marketing PR- Added updated art assets

In13Tween Project

The goal of the In13Tween project was to create a vertical slice game concept of young teenagers and concerning the choices they make. Primarily, it deals with drugs and partying. What we expected was that we were initially going to have a the player choose a character during middle school, where the player will interact with other students and make decisions on whether or not to hang out with them,as each choice will effect their grades, health, parent approval or student approval.

During the process of creating assets, we kept the basic pixel design throughout the project without changing its concept. We also kept our deadlines down and got all of our content turned in. However, there were some communication issues that resulted in two parties designing the same assets without any communication between the two, although we did resolve the issue without much of a problem.

I learned that if we don't communicate between teammates, problems can easily sneak up on you without you knowing till its too late. Also, even if you've completed all of your assigned work, there's still work that can be done or a teammate that needs help.When you have a deadline to meet, do not wait till last minute to turn it in even if its simple, there's always a chance for something to go wrong.


The School background setting

 The yes button

In-game screenshot

The game I chose to use is Primal Carnage Extinction and I listened to its many sound effects.

Roars, No they don't loop, they are around 1-6 seconds long, sound effect
Bite/attack sounds, don't loop, are all under 3 seconds, sound effect
Gun shots, do not loop, about .5-2 seconds, sound effect
Eating sounds, they do loop, are between 2-7 seconds, sound effect
Heavy breathing, loops, around 3 seconds, sound effect
FlameSaw fire, loops, base sound is about 2 seconds, sound effect
FlameSaw's saw, loops, 2-3 seconds, sound effect  
Idle, loops 1-3 seconds
Reloading, do not loop, 2-5 seconds, sound effect

Birds, do not loop, 1-5 seconds, foley sound
Outdoor ambiance, loops, foley sound
Light fixtures, loop, 5 seconds foley sound
Rain, loops, 10 seconds, foley sound
Wind, loops, 5-10 seconds, foley sound
Footsteps, do not loop, less than 1 second, foley sound
Clothes moving, do not loop, under 1 second, foley sound
Electricity, loops, 3 seconds, foley sound
Lightning, does not loop, 2-4 seconds, foley sound
Human talk, do not loop, 1-3 seconds, foley sound
Bushes, do not loop, 1-2 seconds, foley sound

The intro music: loops, about 60 seconds, composition
Battle music: loops, 10- as long as you are in combat, composition

Dr. Nido Qubein shall be playing as a protagonist here and we will have a few animations that he'll have to perform.

Idle
Attack 1
Combo Attack
Attack 2
Walk
Sprint
Sprint Attack
Crouch
Counter Attack 1
Counter Attack 2
Push
Block
Jump
Jump Attack
Double Jump
Ground Smash
Injured
Limp
Limp Attack
Interact
Use Item
Grab
Throw 1
Throw 2
Crouch Attack
Death

FlowChart



Shot List

N(Nido), I(Idle), LO(Loop), A1(Attack_1), A2(Attack_2), G(Grab), TH1(Throw_1), TH2(Throw_2), IT(Item), IN(Interact), CB(Combo_Attack), L(Limp), LP(Limp_Attack), P(Push), BK(Block), IJ(Injured), JP(Jump), DJ(Double_Jump), JK(Jump_Attack), GS(Ground_Attack), CH(Crouch), CK(Crouch_Attack), W(Walk), SP(Sprint), SK(Sprint_Attack), CT1(Counter_Attack_1), CT2(Counter_Attack_2), DH(Death)

SWOT Analysis

Our game is called In|13|tween, the game itself will be a teenage life simulation with a point and click decision making type of experience. Our target audience are ages 10-18 because it would be the most relatable age to the users experience.


SWOT Analysis

Strengths
Our team has a drive to complete this.
We each have a bit of experience in different areas, (Sound, art, etc)
The fact that we are near the age of our target market, so we can relate to them.
The fact we have a small group, it makes getting us together and assigning us to tasks is easier.

Weaknesses
We should avoid trying to get too complicated due to our limited time and numbers
Our limited amount of time we see each other to communicate and overall time to complete the project.
The fact that we are all fairly new at this, we don't have a strong impact compared to other companies.

Opportunities
The fact that we are students we have access to resources that others don't.
The fact that the younger population seems to be more at risk than our generation was at their age.

Threats
Because we are in school, there's a chance that other classes will interfere with our progress.
The other group working on a similar game as us along side us.
Our experience level could be a threat if we don't try to learn what we don't know.

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"Childhood Diseases" (Google play app store)
"This application dedicated to giving you the best possible information to help you make educated decisions on your health care needs.

You will find reliable health information such as diseases description, it's causes, risk factors, treatment and complications, questions to ask your doctor."

Strengths
On a mobile platform, so its easily accessible
Available offline
Large database available to the user
Has a steady target market. (Parents to young children)

Weaknesses
Not a game
Lack of interest to younger players
Primarily text based

Opportunities
Made for a permanent group of people, as parents are going to be a steady population.

Threats
If a similar software is released but is more image and game based, it could be overtaken.
Data based could be used for other software.